My Christmas Wish

 My wish is that you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy & Healthy 2012!

Keep it Simple & Enjoy the Day!

~ Dawn

A Little Show and Tell During This Busy Month

Wow, I just looked at the date of my last blog post ~ time is flying by this month!  I have been busy designing, and I've done some more repair work, but other than that I've been mostly busy with shopping...decorating...wrapping...shopping...baking...(did I mention shopping)... I've even had some doctors appointments and a little oral surgery thrown in the mix :(  But I wanted to take the time and stop in for a little show and tell.  This is my Jungle Buddies Quilt made with the cute Jungle Buddies fabric collection from Wilmington Prints.  On top of being made of the cutest kid fabric I've seen in a while, the design makes up really quick and easy using a panel as the main focus with some borders and simple piecing, so it's perfect for a quick kiddie quilt :)

The pattern for the quilt can be found in the current issue of Quilt Magazine on news stands now, and I have kits available for it Here!  I also have the fabrics available as yardage on bolts Here (While supplies last.) 

I pieced the sample quilt, and my good friend Sheri Thompson of Pieceful Completion machine quilted it for me with a really cute all over swirl pattern that I thought was the perfect touch :)

And I made this bonus coordinating pillow that's large sized and just right for TV watching.  You can get the pattern for the pillow as a free download Here from the Quilt Magazine website!

I love the modern look of this cute kid fabric, and I combined it with some traditional block piecing ~ I love combining the old with the new :)  I think it makes a great gift quilt for a favorite little guy (works for girls too, but I had little boys in mind when I designed it because it's harder to find cute quilts for the little guys).  Hurry to buy any kits and fabrics though if you're interested, they are selling out quick! 

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

What's Been Keeping Me Busy...

This baby has lived on my dining room table for months now.  I've been repairing her for a customer off and on between other projects ~ I had to do it that way to keep it affordable for the customer, and to keep my sanity :)

The old girl needed lots of work.  Where it had been folded in storage is very evident.  Take that as a lesson for anyone with quilts in storage ~ make sure the folds are "soft" and not sharp folds by making rolls using wadded up archival tissue paper* and placing them inside the folds of the quilt...and rotate the quilt every now and then: Take it out of it's storage box, let it spread out on a bed for a while and "breath", and then when you are ready to re-store it make sure the folds fall on different areas of the quilt. 

*Also, fold rolls can be made by cutting a foam pool noodle (floating device) to the lengths that you want, and wrapping them with archival tissue paper or batting and placing them in the folds of the stored quilt.

...And it's a good idea to make a "pillow case" for the quilt out of muslin to protect the outsides of the quilt.  At the very least, use scrap batting to lay between the quilt and the vessel it's being stored in. 
 ...Ok, I'll hop off the soap box now :)

Some of the damage on this quilt is just from really thinning fabric.  Some areas are just shredding.

Since all of the fabrics are so thin, it was decided that I would try to preserve the quilt by adding tulle netting over the worst areas to minimize future tearing.  But first I hand stitched some stabilizing stitches on the torn areas.  (You can click on the pictures to get a better view of what I'm talking about.)

Then, where I could I appliqued new fabrics over patches that were completely gone.  (All of my work is "removable" and the original quilt wasn't permanently altered to maintain any value it may have as an antique heirloom.) 

So after (probably millions of) stabilizing stitches, replacing missing patches in the rings, and applying tulle netting over the major damaged areas, and around all the edges she is finally ready to head home to her owner.  Even though she has some wear, I think she's still sweet :)

Then I shifted gears and spent some time this week quilting this little Chirstmasy wall hanging for a customer.

This one was a quick, short and sweet project :)   I love the colors in this one ~ it's put me right in the Christmas spirit, so I think I'll take some time today to "deck some halls" at the Stewart house :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Quick Little Project for the Holidays

I'm so excited, I got my Create & Decorate Magazine in the mail yesterday, and look what's on page 40!  It's my Baltimore Applique Tablemat ~ and it looks so cool in the magazine's photography :)

 

I designed it in a Folksy Baltimore Applique style, and used wool on a homespun background.  The shapes were machine appliqued, as I like to do, over a little doily, and in this picture I was previewing little accent medallions for the center ~ this is the one that won out. 

The little medallion is nice and flat, so I can still set a candle on it on my table :)   The mat has some sturdiness to it because instead of using batting, I used Timtex stiff interfacing in the center.

It makes up quick and easy ~ so it can be made to decorate for Christmas, and with the little hearts and doily it's still appropriate through Valentines Day :)

The pattern can be found in this issue of Create  & Decorate Magazine on news stands now...and how stinkin cute is that cover snowgal!  It's so adorable, I'm using the magazine as a Christmas decoration on my coffee table :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Little Down Time = A Finished DJ Block!

I was able to capture a few minutes for myself this weekend for little hand stitching, and I finished a Dear Jane block!  This is my version of B-3.  This can be pieced, but you know me...I appliqued mine.  (I just made two Four-patch blocks, and used one of them to applique a circle on top of the other.)

That makes block number 13 for me on my Dear Jane Quilt.  I'm not moving at lightning speed, just fitting it in when I have the down time, and keeping it stress free.  I have two doctor appointments this week, so who knows ~ with all that waiting room time, I just may get another one done :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Little TLC and a Bunch of Spray Paint

This is my "new" Hoosier Cabinet base that I picked up through my local Freecycle group this summer.  She's sitting  pretty in an upstairs bedroom now, but needed a little TLC to get here.  

This is how it looked when we hauled it home in July...

Inside there was no bottom, but there were plenty of spider webs.

A little scraping was in order.  After removing contact paper, at least four distinct layers of paint, and a bit of rust it was time for the spray painting to commence.

The original color of the cabinet was Ivory, so that's what I decided to go with for the cabinet, and I used white appliance spray paint on the porcelain top.  I re-used the original hardware, but because it was so marred up after removing the layers of paint, I painted that black. 

Hubby took pity on me and put a bottom in it so now I can actually use it to store things, and he even fashioned this cool shelf that pulls out :)  He did do a bit of joint repairing and tightening up too...because he's the best :) 
 

All in all I'm happy with how it turned out.  It only cost me a bit of elbow grease and the price of some stripper and spray paint.  Now I have to keep an eye out for a Hoosier Cabinet Hutch to go on top!

While I had the spray paint out I painted this little shelf that I had in a closet to match it.  I think it all looks good with this old mini quilt that I made years ago ~ I knew I was saving it for something :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn