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It’s cold & blustery today. It reminds me of that Winnie the Pooh episode. I expect to see Piglet and his scarf fly by my window at any moment:)
We’ve been working on a few projects recently. A commission quilt for one of Paige’s friends, which I hope to show off soon and a couple of other things in the works. Recently, I found this back issue of American Patchwork & Quilting that had a cute purse made from tea towels in it and we really wanted to try it out.
We were just dying to use Sandi Henderson’s Secret Garden, so we made a little adjustment for fat quarters and went for it.
It has divided pockets on each side and these big wooden handles, which I love.
All that’s left now is to find the perfect embellishment for the front and Paige will have a stylish new bag!
It’s official. Her name is Rose, and she’s all dressed up because I just had to see what my new clutch looks like with some fancy clothes.
Paige and I worked on this pattern by Heather Bailey.
With this fabric combo
Added a finishing touch, a jeweled pin instead of a flower and now I have, or should I say, Rose has, a perfect clutch for her outfit!
Sorry for our lack of blog posts lately. It’s summer here in Chicago…finally, and I gotta say, it gets harder and harder to do any work inside when you know that you only have a short window of hot weather to enjoy.
But, I have managed to make some more gumdrops:) We had a couple of custom orders last week. This one is a large gumdrop made from the Hoo line. Alternating pink plaid and sweet flowers with the strawberries on top. So cute!
And my neighbor requested a small volleyball one for her 13 year old niece’s birthday.
Since it’s so nice out, I think I’ll take Daisy and my camera out for a walk and see if we can get some good flower shots…I’ll share my finds tomorrow.
My Flickr Tea Buddies theme/project this month, or should I say last month because it’s June, was Owls. Marja and Marjon were our hostesses. Everyone picked an owl project. Some were pillows, Diane made a pincushion, Liz had the cutest owl mug rug, and Marja made a needle case with an owl on it.
Throughout the month our hostesses showed us pics of live owls from the zoo. Marjon is a volunteer for the Dutch Little Owl Foundation so we saw all kinds of interesting owls. Marja even showed a cute pic of her grandson with an owl resting on his arm.
My project for May were these cute stuffed owls from a free tutorial on Karen Gray’s Blog. So easy, about 20 minutes to make, and sooo cute! Paige and I thought it would be fun to take pics of them in a tree outside of the coffee shop we met up at last night. Yes, I’m sure we had plenty of weird looks, but it wasn’t the first or will it be the last:)
Adorable!! 
Thanks for a great month ladies. I enjoyed all your pics!
This month is Butterflies and I haven’t decided what I’m going to come up with yet. Better get to thinking though. I don’t wanna be late again:(
I’m pretty sure that both Paige and I are a bit obsessed with dresdens. Paige is working on a quilt that has a giant dredsen in the center and I’m still pluggin away at my embroidered ones. We are planning on having both of those ready by summer. We have high hopes for a quilt show we’d like to enter.
Our latest is the sample we made with the Artful Home Table Runner…I’m in love!
I also made a set of 6 matching napkins to go with it. Both the table runner and napkins have a little extra touch with the teal flange. I think it really sets it off. And Paige’s quilting is awesome as usual!
Of course, I had to make a Christmas one! I used Heather Mulder Peterson’s Christmas line from last year, At Home for the Holidays. I embroidered 6 strand french knots in the middle like a dresden flower. This one isn’t quilted yet but soon will be. It will be available in the Etsy Shop also…that is, if I can part with it:)
We’re also kitting the Artful Home one and it comes with the free pattern! Hopefully I will have these posted on Etsy soon. We’ve been having nothing but rain here and my pics look so harsh with the flash. We need sunshine!
Yesterday, Jeanne, my Oklahoma Sista from my Flickr Tea Group asked us how our spring projects were going. Well, Jeanne here’s what I’ve been doing and I’d have to say they are going pretty well. I made these cute tea towels with some of my leftover Grandmother’s Flower Garden blocks.
These make me want tulips, warm weather, and green grass. Speaking of tulips, I was too lazy to plant mine last fall and they’re trying to bloom in my garage! Can you believe that! I did see signs of my Hyacinths coming up yesterday..Yay!
Isn’t that the cutest little embroidered bunny?
So what are you working on to chase away the winter?
**Update: 2/23/15 If you’re looking for the Tuffet Demo & the foundation piecing tutorial, it can be found here
The tuffet party for the SewMod group was a success!
We met on Sunday and I couldn’t be happier with how everyone’s turned out. Let’s start form the beginning, shall we.
1st there are tuffet “cakes”, 6″ foam and heavy plywood, sprayed together with upholstery adhesive.
Jelly roll strips are foundation pieced onto muslin and sewn together.
Cover the cakes and staple underneath.
And if you work really, really hard….
your cakes grow up to be tuffets.
I used a Soul Blossom jelly roll on mine. I still need to paint my feet.
I had a great time and I hope the other girls did too. Vicki suggested trying the Amy Butler Gum Drop Pillows next.
Sign me up Vicki. I’m in!
SewMod