I've Been Knitting Dishcloths

   That's all I've been doing.  It's been very relaxing.  I have four dishcloths to show for my efforts. 

    While I was knitting these green dishcloths, I decided that I needed some pretty blue yarn to make more.  I ordered four balls of Knitpicks Dishie in the Navy colorway (now that I know blue is my daughter's favorite color which is amazing that I didn't know that before).  So I have to knit up about one and a half balls of the green, jalapeno, colorway then I can start working with the blue yarn. I'm getting about three dishcloths from each ball. 

    I ordered more two cotton yarn cones from Amazon in a beautiful variegated yellow and blue colorway, but it got lost in shipping and I never received it.  Then I had to fight with the Amazon website to find the right place to report my lost package and request a refund.  It is not easy to find the right screen in Amazon to report a lost package and I couldn't even send a complaint about how hard this is to do because there isn't any place to lodge a complaint.  I haven't ordered anything from Amazon since.  I don't think my postman cares very much, so I'm laying off the mail orders for a while.  I'll buy cotton yarn in a local store if I want more.

    Yesterday I was looking at quilting blogs and I found some beautiful applique and embroidery that I wanted to share with you.  Through The Needles Eye.  She made a beautiful robin with a forsythia branch that is just stunning.  Here is the link to her post.   Click Here.  I have beautiful memories of forsythia from my childhood.  We had a large forsythia bush in our backyard and every spring while I was in elementary school, my mother would clip some sprigs off, wrap them in aluminum foil, and make me take them to my teacher.  She would do the same thing with the roses from the single rose bush that bloomed in our yard. 

    I haven't done any sewing on my quilt top.  I did make up about 30 pink and 30 orange hexies to make more flowers, but that was as far as I got.  I have also made headbands from t shirts.  I don't have a picture, but I do have a link to a short YouTube video on how to make a headband from t-shirts.  I bought new t-shirts to make these and they are super cute.  I got two headbands from each t-shirt.   I hand sewed them instead of using my glue gun like the person did in the video.  I don't like glued wearable items.  Here is the link to the video:  Click Here.   Have Fun.

Quilting Book Purchase

    I couldn't resist getting a used copy of Playful Petals by Corey Yoder from the Alibris.com website saving about 47% off the Amazon.com new book price including shipping.

    I love the cover quilt.  I've done a little fusible applique for wallhangings and door decorations but I haven't made anything larger than that using this technique.  It should be a fun book to have in my library.

Christmas Tree Wall Hanging Project Moving Forward

   I finally put the binding on the two Christmas tree wall hangings that I started in March.  I did simple quilting around the trees and I'm really happy these are done

   This week I've been working on making hexies for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I have all the scrappy flowers hexies ready (210) and all the flower centers (35) ready to be sewn together.  Those are the first two rounds of my hexie blocks.  I still have to make a lot more hexies for the next two rounds of my blocks.  I should have a couple of blocks to show in the next week.  This is definitely a long term quilt project.

   I'm starting a new knitting project.  There is a free pattern on Ravelry called 198 Yards of Heaven that is a pretty lace shawl.   I tried to make this shawl a couple of years ago but it did not go well.  I finished the shawl but it didn't look anything like it should have.  I'm trying again with a skein of my current favorite acrylic yarn (Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable in Cappucino) and a pair of size 8 knitting needles.

Weekend Sewing Fun

    I had some fun with my new hexie obsession the last couple of days.  I made some hexies to turn into a flower decoration for my purse.  I couldn't stop making hexies so I also made the same type of decoration for DD for her use.  I used yellow centers for my flower decoration and ladybug fabric for DD's decoration because her friends call her ladybug.  These are double sided and hand sewn except for the machine stitching on the strap.

   This morning I finally created the Christmas tree forest.  I decided that each tree needed a different fabric for the trunk and I only had 3 brown fabrics in my stash, so I placed a request on the Quilting Board for 4" squares of 9 different brown scrap fabrics so I could get the trunks done.  Several lovely people responded to my request.  I took the offer of the first person that had 9 fabrics.  I received them last Monday and got my tree trunks cut out.  My Christmas Tree applique wall hanging is now ready to sew.   I had to stand on a chair to get all the trees in the one shot.  I placed 11 of these trees in this wall hanging and I'm putting the last tree in a square all by itself.

    I did send my brown scrap fabric angel an appropriate thank you gift by return mail last Thursday and she should get it tomorrow.  I made her a lovely quilted wristlet in a black fabric with royal blue polka dots.  I hope she gets a lot of use from it.

Cutting Christmas Tree Appliques

  I have cut twelve Christmas tree appliques for my Christmas tree decoration wall hanging.  I drew the wonky Christmas tree pattern myself.   I was going to put a couple of trees on several wall hangings so I could put them all over the house, but I have decided to put all twelve trees together on one wall hanging.  I'm going to give each a brown fabric trunk, and I want each trunk to be a different fabric.  I need 9 more pieces of brown fabric to finish the trunks and it will be ready to assemble and sew up.


   Here are the twelve trees.

2016 - The Year Of The Christmas Tree Wall Hanging

       I just went through pinterest and found nine applique designs for Christmas tree wall hangings that I want to make to decorate my home next Christmas.

     I don't put up a Christmas tree anymore.  I love Christmas trees, the lights and the decorations, but ever since I got the cats 10 years ago I gave up Christmas trees.  I never wanted to find out just what they would do to one.

  So next year I will spend some time making small wall hangings featuring appliqued Christmas trees.  I'll be shopping for lots different shades of green fabric, some red fabric for bindings and decorations, muslin for background and backing, small beads, sequins, and maybe some green yarn because I have an idea for a tree that involves crochet.

My Favorite Wonky Christmas Tree Wall Hanging

   This was one of the first raw edge applique projects I ever did.  I hand drew the Christmas tree pattern (love the wonky branches) and cut the trees out from three different fabrics.  Each tree has a bunch of little colored beads on it.  I wanted sequins but could not find any so I settled for beads.  I made this originally to hang on my front door for the Christmas season.  It has been replaced on the front door with a cardinal decoration and the trees now hang on the inside of the door.

Another Project To Add To My List

I bought a kit from connecting threads to make this mini table mat.  I'm thinking sewing it to a larger square of fabric to hang.  Fun.