Cardinal Neighbors

We discovered a family of Cardinals living in our Ligustrum tree just beside the house. It seems that at least one of the little babies is getting adventurous and hopped out of the nest. The other two babies have, stayed in the nest. They are so cute. Mommy and Daddy Cardinal have been busy gathering bugs to feed the babies. They even flew into our garage. I'm hoping they got that big roach I saw in there the other evening. I don't think the babies can fly yet. At least I haven't seen them trying, plus they don't have tails. Don't they need tail for rudders when flying? Anyway it's been fun watching this little family.

Clutter Keeper project....

Went to the Sweet Pickins Club meeting today and made this cute little Clutter Keeper. A fun little organizer which is perfect for the sewing table, desk or for storing make-up. These would make great little gifts. I made small Yo-Yo buttons for decorations on the front. I purchased a couple of different size Yo-Yo making templates which makes them quick and easy. This pattern called for one large Yo-Yo button, but I decided to add three small ones.

Calendar Quilt Wall Hangings....

This is my March, Bird House wall hanging. These are made using the Calendar Quilt patterns. Quick, easy and fun to do. The applique isn't too hard, but does require some time.This is called April Showers. I used variegated thread for this one.This is the May Flowers wall hanging, shown on my floral, wire wall hanger.

This is the June Watermelon quilted wall hanging. These little ants were a little tricky to cut out and applique. Still it was a fun project.

I've really enjoyed making these calendar quilts. They hang each month in a niche in our foyer so everyone who enters can enjoy them as well..

Tablet Case....

Today we had a class on using the Bernina Needle Punch Tool to do machine felting using decorative yarn and threads. We made this little case using the "The Reader" pattern by Susie Shore Designs. It's a cute travel case for storing most small e-Reader, i.e. Kindle, Nook, Sony and my Galaxy Tablet (pictured). It has a removable strap and a front pocket for storing stuff and a read-through vinyl pocket which doesn't interfere with the touch screen of the tablet or e-Reader. It doesn't require a lot of fabric. I used three fat quarters and had plenty of fabric left over. It was fun using the needle punch tool to create the butterfly. The gold metallic thread was a nice touch for a little extra bling. I used a glass bead and a purple hair band for the closure. The pattern can easily be adjusted to fit different sized e-readers or tablets.

Birthday quilts..

OK, I've finally finished and delivered the quilts, but managed to snap some photos before they went to their new homes. I had to hang them outside on the trellis in order to get the photosI was careful not to quilt too much over the horses so as not to distort their beauty. Haley just loved the quilt. Kierstin's dolphin quilt below was done using the lattice pattern around the center panel like Haley's quilt, then I had to make all the other squares the right size so it would all come together correctly. Gave me fits, but it finally worked out really well.

I stitched around the dolphins, turtles and some of the fish, then did a wavey pattern for a wattery look. I think it worked out really well for my first attempt at this type of quilting. Here's a little closer look. Kierstin was really pleased with the quilt and the colors. Me too. :)

The front of Kierstin's pillowcase is done with one of the quilt panels and the back side is done with the swirled fabric seen on the bottom and left.

The top of Haley's pillowcase is made with a panel from the quilt as is the cuff. Below is the back side of the pillowcase...

I've been working on two quilts for my granddaughters, Haley and Kierstin. Haley loves horses so of course hers is the horsey quilt and Kierstin loves dolphins, so hers has dolphins on it. I was able to piece together fabric to make pillow cases for them as well. The dolphin quilt backing is done in shades of blue with dolphins all over it, and the horsey quilt backing fabric looks like grass. I laid them out on Mom's bed to get pics and all I need to do now is finish quilting and binding them. I plan to shadow quilt around the horses and dolphins in the panels. Hope to finish them today, as today is their birthdays. Hope they like them. :)