Quilting Fun

 I am loving the new location for my sewing room!  It is light and bright.  I can be in the center/front of the house, and feel more a part of what's going on.  I am sewing every day.  Nothing big.  Nothing fancy.  But I am getting more familiar with my new machine, and learning what all it does.
Last week one day, I decided to make the cake block I was seeing all over my friends' blogs.  It is a Lori Holt design, and she provided it for free in celebration of her book Quilty Fun.  If you go visit her blog, you can also print out the instructions to make this block.

I made a little boo boo.  If you have already made this block, you can probably spot it.  I loved this block.  I used scraps from my scrap bin.  The cake fabric, is from a quilt I have that my Great Grandmother, (Nana's mother) made.  I have several of her quilts.  A couple of them were in pretty bad shape.  One of them, was very bad, so I snipped off all of the usable backing pieces that I could save, and then I made a couple small blocks with the front that I saved.  The back of that quilt was done with flour and sugar sak fabric.  It is a very thin, and beautiful floral.  Mom and I figured that this must  have been made sometime in the 20's, when Nana and her siblings were small.   This is what I used for the cake piece on this block.

I love that fabric, and am so glad that I saved it!  I quilted the cake in a sort of upside down U shapes, to simulate icing strokes.  The rest of the piece I did a small stipple.  My stipple has gotten better with each piece I have done.  I am getting more and more comfortable with it.

I added a small applique flame to the candle on top of the cake.  I added red borders to it, and bound it in a floral pink.  Then hung it in my sewing room to enjoy.

Fun block...go check out Lori's blog, Bee In My Bonnet, to download the instructions and make one.  The link is included in the top of this post, just click on her name to get there.   Also from her blog, I saw that she made these darling little design boards for keeping your block pieces together when piecing a block.  You can make them in any size.  They are simply portable design walls.  I have a large design wall in my sewing room that is nailed to the wall for larger pieces.  But these are terrific for small pieces and classes!!  So I made one for me, and one for my friend Jae.

She has a good tutorial on her blog for these too.  I think that these would make a great gift for your quilting friends!!
The little mug rug I have on the design board is just a small block I did for practice with my machine blanket stitch, and then a couple small appliques.  I added a green border and stippled it, put some definition on the pumpkin, some eyes on the ghost, and machine quilted the word Boo down on the bottom right.  I bound it with some left over binding I had.  A mug rug was made!
I am certainly enjoying my new sewing room!!!  I have been in there every day!  So have my dogs.  This bad boy won't stay out of this chair no matter how hard I try to keep him from it!

These chairs were in my living room  But I moved them to our little dining area off of the kitchen, and made a sitting room.  He looks pretty stressed doesn't he?
And then my Dusty Boy.  He has to be as close to me as  he can be.

We had our granddaughter's over for the night last weekend.  We had so much fun.  They got into my bag of scraps and a bag of costume fabrics, and they designed dresses on my wedding dress and wicker dress form.  They had some pretty creative ideas too!!

They had a blast, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching their creative play!!!

A really fun twist on playing dress up!  If you have little girls, or granddaughters, and a box of fabric you don't mind them playing with, let them have a go at this.  So fun!!!!
Today we are going to my Mom's for a Halloween party for the kids.  Her neighborhood hosts a darling carnival, and then on my Mom's street, they all go to the culdesac where their garages are, and they set up their tables in front of garage and the kids all trick or treat through in a long parade of cuteness!!!!!  It is so fun.  We usually have a simple dinner and sit out there and watch the fun.  So our grandkids are all coming, and very excited for the festivities to begin.  I will see you soon with a new post.
Til then, get out there and make it a GREAT day!!!
XO  Kris