W is for Wonderful

While I was away, my partner Maria, a/k/a MollyJolly, finished my partner's first initial quilt.  What a fun little quilty it is.  Of course, she included the letter "W".  It was only after I mailed my little quilt that I thought about quilting it with "M's" or putting an "M" cloud in it.  Ah well...

So this is a story about a Witch with a Wart on her nose.  Notice that she has a magic Wand...  Apparently the witch was worried because her wart was getting smaller, and she was afraid no one would find her attractive without her wart, so she was in a rush to get married.

Or, as Maria tells it...

The wicked witch was lonely and feared her beauty was fading - her wrinkles were growing and a wart on her nose kept shrinking - if she didn't find someone soon, it would be completely gone.  How could a witch with no "beauty mark" attract a man?  

Luckily, she met a werewolf and they hit it off!  What you see on your mini quilt is the wedding scene.  Willy Wonka officiated, and Wonder Woman and a White elephant witnessed.  It was a beautiful ceremony, with wine and wedding cake, wisteria, a weeping willow, water, a wishing well, and some wild flowers setting the scene.  Guests had weiners to celebrate, but the witch played a mean trick on Willy - that's his wallet lying on the ground beneath her new groom's feet.

She became engaged to the Werewolf.  Willy Wonka (whose Wallet you see on the ground there BTW) is to perform the ceremony.

Wonder Woman and the Wolf whippett, with the Wishing Well in the background, attend the wedding.  (I'm not sure what W words are there in the flowers and the other details in this part of the scene.  Ideas?)

There is Wisteria on the Wall.  The White elephant looks on.  And of course, there is a spider Web on the wall. 

There is a Weeping Willow and Water in this view.

And what would a wedding be without a Wedding cake and a bottle of Wine.  It looks like they're having beef Wellington weiners as a main course for the wedding supper.  And is that a Weasel I see?  I'm not sure what the other animal is, or the round item...  That's a wombat stealing a watermelon...

Are you ready to see the whole little quilt?

Here it is!  I've been having a marvelous time discovering all the W words in this little quilt.  As you can see, I haven't identified them all yet.  It has been great fun.

Thanks, Maria, for a Wonderful little quilt.

M is for MollyJolly Part II - The Reveal

If you read this post, you know that I played along in the Mini QT Swap where we were to make a quilt using items that used our partner's first initial.  I really struggled to get a theme for my little quilt.  In fact, I drew 4 or 5 sketches between the concept, and the finished quilt.  I think the only item that was in the original sketch that ended up on the final product is the moon.

Now that Maria has received her quilt, I can tell you about it.

Since my letter was "M", these are the elements of the quilt...

The moon, of course, and some mountains...

Some marigolds...

A little mushroom house, a mail box, and MollyJolly, written on the mailbox...

A monkey...

A mouse in a meadow...

A magnolia tree, a mockingbird, and a moth...

A mermaid, singing (music) in her little pool...

A melon...

And a macadam road.

If I've counted correctly, that's 16 "M" words. 

I actually thought up a little story about how MollyJolly invited her friends Mouse, Monkey, and Mermaid over for an early Morning waterMelon picnic... (or should that be Meal?)  Mouse tiptoed through the Meadow on his way to MollyJolly's Mushroom house, while Monkey came down from his home in the Mountains.  Mermaid provided the entertainment, singing Music for the event, while the Mockingbird in the Magnolia tree echoed her Mournful song.

Anyway, you get the idea. 

Meanwhile, I'm off tomorrow to see the kids and the grands.  I'm not taking the computer, so it may be awhile before I post again.  I'm so excited to see these little people!

Can't wait.

M is for MollyJolly

Some weekends are just so frustrating...  I have such big plans and don't manage to get nearly as much accomplished as I would like.  This weekend was especially so because I just felt so exhausted, it was hard to focus.

The good news is that I did manage to finish one project that I have been obsessing about for weeks.  I'm playing along in the Mini QT swap, and this time it was to create a mini quilt using words that start with your partner's first initial.  I've made lists of M words, drawn scads of pictures, and generally been haunted by this since the partner assignments came out in August.  Then, I had difficulty paring down the M words so that my little quilt would make sense.  Then I had to pare them down again so that this little quilt would be manageable - maximum size is 8 x 10 or something like that.  I think this one is actually 9 x 11, but oh well.

Of course, I can't show you the whole thing yet, since you know who you are partners with in this swap, and she might see this, but I did manage to include 15 M words.  The little mini includes embroidery, buttons, and applique.  And quilting, of course.

And if you haven't guessed it, the first word is Moon.

Super Duper Swapping... (And Last Call for Giveaway!)

Last call for entries in the My Memories digital scrapbooking software giveaway.  If you're interested, go here to enter.  Ends tomorrow.

As I've mentioned a few times before, a week ago Saturday dawned a bout as ugly as a day can be.  Thunderstorms and heavy rain descended from the heavens as though it was the beginning of Noah's cruise.  And in the midst of it all, the poor FedEx man appeared at the door and dropped off a package.

It contained lovely swap items from marslaura, my partner in both Super Swaps swap and PP11.  Now, the first thing you need to know is that the Super Swap was for an oven glove.  Some people even sent two oven gloves, or an oven glove and a pot holder.  Even if you add PP11, which was for 2 pot holders, this is way over the top.  Would you look at this loot?  There are 2 placemats, 2 pot holders, an oven glove, a soap bottle apron and a trivet filled with scented rice!  It also contained some additional fabric in case I wanted to make some coordinating items.  What's left to make, I wonder?  I'm not sure there is anything Laura hasn't covered here.

I really love the soap bottle apron.

And look at the personalized embroidery on the oven mitt.  So cool.

So, I feel very spoiled.

And if that wasn't enough, I also received some other swappy stuff the previous week, and with all the rain and WH's surgery, just didn't get a chance to take pictures.

I received my ticker tape mini quilt from Denise.  I love the flower.  I love the mix of ticker tape, applique, and embroidery.

Denise had my name and I had hers.  In this swap, you know who your partner is, so you have to be sneaky about the pictures you post.  Denise received my pineapple mini.

Denise's creation has so much texture....  Would you check out all the French knots in the center of this flower?  There must be hundreds of them.  Wonder if she counted?

And the ticker tape fabrics she used were fun too.

Thanks, Denise, for a fun little mini quilt.

And I also received my pinnie in the Fab Little Pin Cushion Swap, or FLiPs as we affectionately call it.

Be13cca made me this lovely pinnie, and there is certainly no mistaking its purpose.  LOL

On a side note, I've been dying to try this letter piecing technique.  Now, maybe I won't have to.

Here's the back of the pinnie.  Look at the fun fabrics she used!  All that fussy cutting!  So cute.  And a little bundle of scrap fabrics.  Boy, can I have fun with those!

Thanks Becca.  I really love my pinnie.

So, it's been a great round of swapping and it's been a lot of fun.  I really love the stalking and creating, but it's fun to get these fab packages in the mail as well.

 Happy sewing!

Fun Mail

In this post I mentioned that Peggy (mydaytocraft) and I did a private Table Top Swap.  She made me these lovely napkins

 and I made her these

And I told how I was worried that mine were lost in the mail because I hadn't heard from her.  When she responded, she said she was distracted because she was making angel pot holders for the PP11 swap.  Well, little did I know that the person she was making the angel potholders for was me!

The theme was summer and I think she nailed it.  Aren't they fun!

And if you like irony, you'll love this...  See all that beautiful hand stitching on the kite pot holder?  Well, that is the thread I sent as "extras" in the napkin swap we did. 

Peggy, I love my pot holders.  So, so fun!

I also received a lovely package from Pam (imadelong) in the DS Quilts Doll Quilt Swap.  It is amazing.

The piece de resistance is the doll quilt itself of course.  I was blown away.   The embroidery, the quilting, the piecing, the color.... Pinwheels, stars and hourglasses, oh my! 

Check out the cool label.  In another burst of irony, Pam and I were double partners and didn't know it.  She received my circles mini.  What is ironic to me after seeing her label is that my first idea - the one that didn't work - was a zig zag quilt.  I love this idea.  I really struggle with quilt labels.  I may have to borrow (because stealing is SO tacky) her idea.

And look at the cool hanger she put on the back for me...

Sadly, her quilt has neither a label nor hangers.  The label, because I forgot and the hangers because I didn't think of it in the first place.

 Pam also included this amazing sewing kit, AND all the goodies inside.  I was blown away.  I can go anywhere now totally prepared to sew.

 It is entirely possible, however, that I would have been totally satisfied with this swap if I had only received the card.  This is so perfect for me, I think I may have to frame it.  I have always said that I'm not sewing, I'm doing FABRIC THERAPY.  I tell WH that fabric therapy is cheaper than a shrink.  The truth is, I'm not sure he really believes me any more.

I am over the moon with both these swaps.  I hope my partners like their items half as well as I like what I received.  Thank you Peggy and Pam for the great swaps.

I was really over-committed for May and I still have at least 3 swaps to receive and one more to make and send. 

Guess what's on the docket for today?  Yup.  This last swap for the Super Swaps group is due to be mailed by the 31st. 

And then I think I'm slowing down a little for the summer.  I'm only doing the Table Top Swap and the Modernista Swap, which, by the way, is still open to new participants until Thursday.  If you want more info, check out this post.  Care to join us? 

I think I'll head for the sewing machine to finish my oven glove for my Super Swaps partner.

Pineapple Ticker Tape Mini

 Note:  If you're looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, go here.  Sorry - the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway has ended.

One of the swaps I have participated in a few times is the Mini QT Swap.  Each swap has a theme, and everyone who wants to participate signs up and is matched with a partner.  Since you know who your partner is, you have to be a little sneaky in posting pictures.

Here is the picture I posted.  Sneaky enough?

This time, the theme was ticker tape quilts.  I have made a couple of ticker tape quilts and blocks, and the prospect is kind of daunting.  All those tiny pieces have to fit just so for it to look right.  Anyway, my partner was Denise (dwriter_3) and in looking through her photostream and the things she had created, it seemed to me she liked fruits and veggies and gardening.  Then I saw a picture of a quilty pineapple on Pinterest, and an idea was born.  I would make a ticker tape pineapple for Denise!

While I was sick, I set about the planning.  I printed out a pineapple coloring page off the internet and traced the shape onto my white Kona, which was slightly bigger than I wanted my little quilt to end up.

Then, I went through my scrap bag and pulled out every yellow and green I could find and arranged them into my traced shape, then trimmed them and pinned them down where I thought they would go.

When I finished the pineapple, it looked boring, so I echo quilted around the shape.

It still looked kinda boring.

Then I remembered that somewhere I had heard that in Hawaii, the pineapple is a symbol of welcome.  Perfect!  It's a wall hanging after all, right.  What better message to convey?  So I printed the word WELCOME in a nice big outline font, got out my Wonder Under (hate that stuff, BTW - will NOT buy it again) and traced my letters backwards onto the Wonder Under, then ironed pressed them onto the wrong side of my fabric.  (NOTE to self:  Wonder Under works much better with a HOT iron, NO steam, and NO iron movement.  Also, sometimes sticking a pin between the web and the backing helps to separate the two without losing the bonding qualities of the web.)

Once the letters were placed and the backing removed, I pressed them down and stitched.

Voila!

Add a little binding and you have one ticker tape mini quilt.  Finished!

Don't you love it when it's finished?

Sick Days

I thought I had miraculously made it through the winter without being sick, but alas, it was not to be.   And you know I'm sick when I don't feel like sewing.  But I did have some scraps and hexies don't take much thinking, so I managed to get some hexie blocks done.  I'm maybe 3/4 of the way to my GMFG quilt.  That's progress, especially considering that I never thought I would EVER do this much hand sewing.

I managed 5 blocks in 4 days.  Hmmm...  at this rate, it will be a long time until I get the other 20 blocks made. 

And I actually did a block with gray in it.  I even like it. 

And I planned the block for my Ticker Tape Mini Quilt for Denise in the Mini QT Swap.  Can't show the whole thing until Denise receives it on Monday.  Here's a sneak peek.

I think even this little bit of progress is way better than daytime TV.  I think I'd go crazy if that was all there was to do. 

Here's to feeling better!