Cute Little Stars - from Belinda

I got started making this little stars from Belinda's blog - and I couldn't stop. I cut and cut until I had stacks of squares.



Stacks of 2" squares



Stacks of 1 1/2" squares

Then I stitched some stars from Belinda's tutorial. It was so easy to do and I had such a great time. Belinda also made some pastel stars - very cute. Plus I got to tempt Sharyn into making some too.


My 5" stars


My 3" stars

I'm not as brave as Belinda with my colors - mine seem to be more plain. I want to loosen up and make some good scrappy ones like Belinda has made - I do, I really do. I'll dig through my scraps and see what I can find to jazz up the stars a bit.



My scrappy one wasn't the best choice of fabrics - but I did give it a try. I'll try again and get back to you.

Ok Sharyn - let's see some of your stars!!!

Uh oh - she's at it again - more fabric

Well, I have two new projects - one I can't tell you about because it is for a gift and I think the person I'm making it for reads this blog, so I'll tell you about that after the gift is received. Another is the little stars that Belinda is making - stars of all colors and combinations - I love her stars.

So off I went to the fabric store - and this is what I came home with. And best of all - everything was on sale - 50% off - and some was 50% off the clearance price -


I got this gorgeous blue for a blouse for me - for 1.50 a yard. It feels so nice and soft!!!



These are three different fabrics - but all go together and I am going to make me a patchwork blouse out of them - so springy.


For my secret project - I got these cute fabrics - piles and piles of them - and some are so cute they deserve their own picture.


The teddy bears are just the cutest things.


This reminds me of old fashioned pillow ticking.


Patchwork fabric for a quilter - now that's a good idea.


Dragonflies everywhere - I love the colors!


Everything is washed and dried - and I even made a little star with some of the fabrics from yesterday's post. Go on over to see Belinda - she has the best tutorial I've ever seen for making these cute little fellas - easiest block I've ever made. More about the stars in a couple days. I'd say tomorrow - but I don't know if I'll have more made by then. But I do have a nifty pile of those little 2" squares cut and redy to stitch up into stars.

More Christmas - and everything was just packed away

Well - that's what happens when you shop at JoAnn Fabrics and they have all the christmas stuff on sale for 90% off. That is almost free. I just couldn't help myself. Now that I know they have these sales after each holiday I am going to do my shopping the year before it is used - and enjoy the deals.



I got a darling primitive Santa for 2.49 - now that's a bargain. He is about 20 inches tall.





We do a family ornament swap every Thanksgiving and I got several ornaments for specific family members for next year. Cost - from 29 cents to 49 cents each. The ornaments are so "right" for the family members that I picked them out for.



A kitty frame to put Ben's christmas photo in on the tree.



And a cute star covered box ornament for Jahn's christmas photo.



And the christmas cards - aren't they darling - for just 2.00. They are a lot brighter but were still in the cellophane - kind of gives one an idea for a quilt.


This ornament was just too yummy to pass up - the colors sparkle. Don loves the lights on the tree, so this is an appropriate ornament for him. He puts all the lights on both trees each year.




And some ribbons - who doesn't need more ribbons? Wish I could have thought of more projects to use ribbons for - there were boxes and boxes and boxes of them - all at 90% off - many of them were the wired ones, but I just couldn't think of anything that I really needed ribbons for.


Have you ever seen these pipe cleaner garlands? I hadn't seen them before but I knew my teddy bear tree really needed them - each 9 foot length was 79 cents. Yay for bargains!!! I got three lengths of them.


And trays - one always needs a good tray at christmas - I got one for me and one for each of my daughters - we will serve in style next year - at 1.39 each!!

I had so much fun!

Grandmother's Flower Garden

I made this Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt last year - or maybe it took me two years to make it - but I finished it last year and had it machine quilted by my friend Julie, in Idaho. She does fabulous work - and with just her home sewing machine - she amazes me.

I'll be making another one with the fabrics that I blogged about yesterday.

I have a graph paper printing program and print out sheets and sheets of hexagons - 39 to a page - 1 1/2" across from flat side to flat side - and cut them up.


I put them in a little tin, then when I have a lot of them cut out I use a washable glue stick and stick them to the back of the fabric.


Yellow for the centers, then a dark ring around that and finally a paler ring of the same color around that to make one flower. The flowers are joined with white hexagons -which I have to make by the zillions - or so it seems.


Being a bookkeeper in another life I always have to figure out how many pieces there are in a quilt. And in the GFG that I made last year there are 1,696 white hexagons, and 1,651 colored hexagons. That really seems daunting, so it is a good thing I love repetitious projects.

After I glue the hexagons to the fabric I cut them out - leaving a seam allowance and then fold that seam allowance to the back and baste it to the paper.

Then whip stitch the flowers together.
The start of one flower - with the papers still in the hexagons.



A little box full of pieces, some basted, some not.

I string the basted hexagons together in a stack, with 6 dark and then 6 light of the same color - purple and lavender for example - and those then wait to be whip stitched together into the quilt.

This will be a long term project - I'll post more pictures as I go along.

Happy Quilting

Fabric Shopping - what fun!!

On a cheerier note - I shopped for fabrics yesterday. I was looking for tone-on-tone fabrics for a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt that I want to start.


What a pretty rainbow of colors!

As my regular readers know - I have a rather cushy job - I work a 10 hour day - just one day a week (got downsized from two days a week), and in those 10 hours there is about 2 hours of work, but someone has to be in the office to answer the ocassional phone call and take a payment now and then for the whole 10 hours. When there is nothing going on in the office then I can do what I please - read, play solitaire or even do handwork - so I always like to have a handwork project with me.



Last year I made this Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt - English Paper Piecing - almost queen size - and it was the perfect project to take along - so I've decided to make another.


The fabrics were on special for 2.00 and 2.50 a yard - so I also got some pretty reds, for another project I have in mind.


And some blacks and whites - the bottom piece in this stack is for a blouse for me. Don't you love that rick-racky flower?

When Don came upon me with my huge load of bolts of fabrics the look on his face was priceless. I don't usually buy large amounts of fabric - so he was shocked. But when he heard the price he helped me look for more tone-on-tone colors. He's such a good sport. Most of the pieces are 1/2 yard or 1 yard cuts - since I don't need a lot of each color for the GFG quilt.

The red fabrics are in the washer now - the tone-on-tones are in the dryer - this is going to be such a fun project.

Oh The Flood Waters!!!

NW WA has been inundated with water - from rain - to snow melt - to floods everywhere. It is unbelievable how much rain fell this past week - some places received over 10 inches of rain in 24 hours - and the rivers just couldn't contain all the rain, which came with very warm temperatures and melted a lot of the mountain snows, which swelled the rivers to the breaking point. There were dikes that broke - rivers that ran over their banks - mudslides - avalanches and some towns were completely under water. What a shame - to see all that water and no place for it to go.

Many of my blogging friends have written and asked how we are doing - personally we are doing fine - others are suffering greatly. We appreciate all that the state and the citizens are doing for those in distress.

Fortunately for us - Bellingham was NOT one of the hardest hit areas. I know of no houses that were flooded - and mostly we had street closures due to water rushing down the streets from flooded creeks or lakes. By today we had only two street closures left in Bellingham. Our own house sits on a small hill so we were never in danger of flooding - though we are certainly soggy - walking on the lawn it is like walking on a sponge and it will suck your shoes right off your feet if you aren't careful.

Our hearts go out to those who have suffered losses and hope they are back in their homes soon.

The main north/south hiways - I-5 was closed for a couple days - but has opened up again tonight to truck and car traffic. There are several other main roads south of here - where the damage was the worst - that will be closed for some time until they are repaired.

The pictures, for the most part, speak for themselves.




In one of the hardest hit areas in Bellingham.



















This is one of my favorite buildings, just north of Bellingham. I always wondered what would happen to it in a flood - it sits right on the Nooksack River, near Lynden. Now we know. There is a home nearby.

















So Sad!!



No Speeding!!









You can see the river bed, outlined by trees.




















This is on one of the busiest streets in Bellingham, all the car dealers are on this street. Skidoos work better than cars right now.


No Driving!