CARD MAKING

I have been reeled into the world of card-making.

A few friends have been doing this for a very long time

with a very large Card Making Company.

Once a month, someone in the group is hostess

and she makes lunch.

We all design and kit a card for all to make.

(and order stuff - our demo gives us credits so we

can earn free product - nice)

Here are some examples of what we have made.

My first card..from supplies I already had.

No surprises here...right?

My second card, also from supplies I had on hand.

I have had this Fairy "The Magic of You" stamp for a long time.

Third card...except for the saying...

supplies I had on hand.  Very sewy!

Fifth card...yep, supplies I had on hand

The Mermaid Stamp was sent to me as an extra

in a Beach theme swap.

Now we get to the SERIOUS cards...

designed by the pros...

but I put them together at our card making sessions.

Well you get the idea...I am buying more stamps and inks

and tools...yep that koolaide is good.

I find it silly NOT to use the supplies I have

but I will upgrade some inks and card stock

and I have bought a few new tools that will help

me in my endeavors.

My friends have been generous and given me

some of their supplies to "get me started"

(like I needed that 😉

BUT these two Scrapbook rolling cases

were given to me!

Card making is like making a small quilt.

It still takes time...but not as much time as a quilt

and I get to be creative. And spend lots of money!

Geeze...what was I thinking?

I still am not receiving your comments into my email inbox.
I do come by here and read them.  Thank you!
Responding to your comments is not a task I can easily do.
 Thanks for understanding 

BABY OH BABY

This is the 3rd baby for my Smith friends and
the 4th baby quilt they have commissioned me to make.

I must be doing something right!

Baby #3 will be a boy due for delivery this October.

A big brother and sister can't wait to meet him.

Daddy wanted a fox theme and I shared 

these fabrics and colors...approved! 

Perfect Ten pattern by Swirly Girls Designs

is my "go to" novelty print pattern.

Why invent a new wheel when this one

rolls just fine!

A design wall is helpful to layout this pattern

that requires attention to sew the rows together. 

I love seeing how the colors will play together.

All this fabric was in my stash.

Sewing is easy, but again....pay attention to the layout!

I had some dark gray Kona in my for the binding.

This just might be my favorite part of the quilting process.

You can see in this picture I did a straight line quilting.

I like to set my Bernina 740 machine stitch length at 4.0 

and use the dual feed foot.  

Its almost always Quilters Dream batting for my quilts.

It finishes at 46" x 58"...nice size for baby to toddler!

Waiting on Daddy to give me some verbiage for the label.

The backing is a light gray on white print, 
a wide back remnant, that was also in my stash.

I added some scraps of the quilt fabrics to make it pop.  

Sew you know...this is the second quilt I have made using

"Outfoxed" fabric by Lizzy House.

Here is the first one I made several years ago!

A Villa Rosa Designs pattern, Moondance

and you can find their card patterns here.  

They are only $2 and I have many of them. 

For this cute little boy, Miah...

and Mama sent me a picture of him on the quilt.

Miah, now has a little sister AND he

started kindergarten this year!

Making baby quilts is the most fun because

*fabrics are such fun

*babies make my heart happy

*the quilt will become a family heirloom

 I have been sewing my stash this year.

This  quilt makes #7 lap size or larger quilt 

I have made since January!

HE'S A YANKEE DOODLE DANDEE!

I have a Yankee Doodle Dandee who lives next door

to me and my front porch!

A perfect neighbor born on the 4th of July!

He lets the neighbor borrow his power washer,

his mower, he snow blows our drives,

He looks after our homes when we are away

be it a week or 3 months. 

I decided to make him a quilt to thank him

for all his does for my family...

and to help celebrate his birthday!

I found these "Freedom" charm packs by Moda

in my stash along with the solid cream fabric. 

I selected the free pattern from 

 the Fat Quarter Shop

Charm Pack Cherry quilt pattern

find it here

It wasn't quite big enough to suite me...

so I added a 3" border all around.

Then the top and bottom got a 5" border 

with more charms and cream fabric.

"Peas and Carrots" by American Jane...

that was perfect for the backing.

ahhh...this has been in my stash for about 10 years.

This is a very quick quilt to make...

and you can adjust to a size you need

by adding or removing charms.

I did a simple meander with a few stars to FMQ it.
And check out the label...
"TBDNITL"
stands for "The Best Damn Neighbor In the Land"
it's an Ohio State thing...

The end result...a very masculine
red-white-blue birthday quilt!

for a Yankee Doodle Dandee kinda guy!

Happy 4th of July America!

Happy Birthday Mark Wilson!

SEA SHELLS...

Once in a while I let the crafty girl inside me out.
She enjoys crafty mediums other than FABRIC!

Small white grapevine wreath found at a

thrift store for a couple bucks with a bit of fish net.   

The various seashells are from NC and SC beaches.

Simple but looks great hanging in my "beachy" bathroom.

I volunteer at Inniswood Metro Gardens 
in Westerville, OH  

Each month the "design interest group" members volunteer
to make a door decoration for the main house.
I asked for July so I could incorporate a beachy
feel with a little Red-White-Blue

There is a little red FREEDOM sign hanging below the ribbon.
 All the mussel shells are from Ocean Isle Beach, NC
(gotta love a hot glue gun)

This will hang on a white door at the house
 and will greet the visitors!

Enjoy your summer!
I am dreaming of the beach....again!

BAGGY FLOWERS

I can never resist a fun blog hop...

especially when FLOWERS are involved.

Carol, of Comment #21, is the WINNER
(random generator seltor)
of my fabric scraps giveaway!
The contest is now closed.  

When Carla over at Creatin in the Sticks 
asked me to join the fun with flowers..
I jumped into the dirt

and found these beautiful flowers in my stash.

I decided to make a special friend a retirement gift

as my project for this hop!

The flowery fabric seemed perfect for the

Noodlehead Poolside Tote.

I used the larger print for the exterior of the bag.

I was out of soft and stable, which makes the bag very firm...

So I used a layer of SF101 and Cotton Batting.

Worked pretty well.

The lining had to be the big polka-dots!
I just used SF101 on the lining and pockets.

The interfacing piece can seem intimidating.
 Read the instructions carefully and follow the basting steps!

Yes it is a couple extra steps to add a basting line where

the pattern indicates, but sew worth it.

I like to add a key fob to my totes

and if you use your zipper foot to sew it

you can get really close to the key fob metal

without hitting it.

Turned out great!

and since she just moved into apartments...

I am pretty sure she will have a pool.

Maybe I will go visit and take a dip!

Thanks for stopping by today! Leave me a comment 

and tell me if you prefer the pool or a beach...

you can enter to win my larges pieces of leftover scraps.

(Sorry, US only)

Here are the other participants for today...

Tuesday, June 12th

Life in the Scrapatch
Words & Stitches
Kwilty Pleasures (me)
Patchwork Breeze
AllThingzSewn
VroomansQuilts
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Why Knot Kwilt

For a complete list of hop participants
head on over to Creatin in the Sticks.

Now for the bad news...something is going on with
 bloggers NOT receiving notification of your comments.
 Up until a short time ago...I always got your comment
in my email inbox.   Not happening right now.
Sad for bloggers sad for followers.

I will return here to draw the winner of 
the fabric bundle on June 20th.
And if I can reach you by an email I will.  

If you don't hear back from me specifically to your comment,
please know I will be reading them here in the comments below.
I won't have time to actually look up emails to respond.