Walking on water - a horrible mistake

Help! I loved this bird pattern the moment I saw it. Unfortunately I decided to use a "cloud-like" background, then thought I'd be smart and make the sky in different values, from light at the tip to darker at the bottom. Another unfortunate, I didn't put it up on a design wall first. So now, what do I have? Birds who clearly appear to be walking on water. What to do? Any suggestions? My only thoughts right now are to use a jumbo rick rack in brown, and stitch it under their feet so it looks like they are walking on something, then using regular-sized rick rack in green to make flower stems here and there, and then adding flowers to the top of the stems. Please, give me some other suggestions. On another note, my Bunny Hill Designs BOM is now fully pieced and almost ready to be quilted. I just need to prepare the backing and them I'm ready to quilt. And now, it's time to say good bye to 2009 and hello to 2010. I hope you have a safe New Year's Eve, a happy New Year's Day, and a great 2010.

A few gift items

Here are pics of a few of crafty items I've made for the holidays. Tutorials can be found here for the checkbook cover (by Crazy Mom Quilts), baked potato bag, and cooper bookmark (by Carla at Feathered Fibers).

What crafty items will you be working on in 2010? Please share.

A Vintage Christmas Wish

Well, we're on the final countdown for Christmas. Are you ready? I finally got my cards out yesterday. I wrapped some small gifts this evening and made some mock toffee and some Extreme Toasted Marshmallow Candy Bar Rice Crispy Treats. (Clearly this is not going to be a low-cal holiday.) And with that, I think I'm done. I'll make a quick to Sacramento tomorrow for 3 1/2 days, then will head back home to enjoy the holiday. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

A good sized ottoman

Each evening, my DH and I sit on the 8 foot couch and fight for foot space on the small ottoman. So, I had a vision. Why not make a huge ottoman? First I thought I'd use a child's sized mattress as a base but then remembered that I had (1) a door and (2) a king-sized memory foam, both taking up space in my garage. So, I'm half way there, right? A quick trip to Joann's for fabric and Home Depot for the legs and brackets, and I'm on my way. Now, just a bit of sweet-talking to my DH and woo-hoo! A great ottoman, 80" x 24". It's perfect for everyone sitting on the couch.

A few random things

Well, it was fall last week, but has turned to winter this week, with lows down to 21 or so the last few days. Burr! It's been a busy weekend. Saturday and Sunday I attended Cindy Needham's Good Time Weekend, with lots of quilting and chatting and, oh, must I mention the eating? Saturday was the day that the last Bunny Hill Designs free quilt pattern came out. Yes, I was right on top of it. I headed home Saturday evening, printed out the pattern along the way, and whipped the remaining block up. Now I just need to add borders and quilt (right, like a month project for me) but at least I have a plan. Monday and Tuesday were work, work, work, as well as today (Wed) and tomorrow. Somewhere in there I made a double batch of lemon cookies for an office get-together, and got some gifts together for Christmas. Also, my small quilt group, Material Girls, met last night for our annual dinner and gift exchange. I have been with the Material Girls from our first meeting (hosted at my house) and I believe this is our 12th year together. It's been so nice to get to know such a great group of women. All in all, a very busy few days. Tonight I'm headed to bed early and have no projects scheduled tomorrow or Friday. Maybe I'll get something done on Sat, we'll see. So, how are you doing with quilting/sewing projects? Are you busy shopping, too busy to quilt? I'm leaving you with a few pictures, in no particular order; Suzanne's Christmas apron (so cute!) Connie's Shining Sunflower (a class that I taught earlier in the year), and my Bunny Hill Designs block of the month quilt (without borders). Have a good few days and I'll check in with you this weekend.

The Look of Fall

This weekend I went to a quilt retreat weekend, called Good Times Weekend, put on by Cindy Needham. It's held at the local quilt shop, about 5 miles from my home. The route from my home to the quilt shop takes me by the park, which was in all its glory. The leaves are turning and it was so pretty that I couldn't help myself, I had to stop at the one-mile park to take a few pics. Since it was around 9 am there weren't many people out. During the summer this swimming hole is packed (and adequately supervised by my son, one of the lifeguards). It's just beautiful. I am so lucky to live in such a beautiful area.

A Pink Flower & A Vintage Linen Napkin

Here's a pic of a wall hanging I just finished. It started as a vintage linen napkin plus a vintage floral applique piece that I purchased off Etsy.com. While you can't see it, the back is a piece of old linen (hint: a good source of backing fabric that you can often find quite cheap, especially if it has a bad spot that you can work around). I started this wall hanging as a demo on how to use Elmer's Washable Glue in quilting at my local quilt show. I used Elmer's to glue the napkin to the background piece, then stitched the napkin in place and cut away the background piece behind the napkin. Then I glued the flower in place. Finally I started quilting and in the process stitched the applique piece in place. I marked the spine with the washable blue marker and then added the feathers as I went. The first picture shows my marking. The second picture shows the completed piece. The third picture is a little something I worked up on my phone with a kaleidoscope application. I simply selected the picture, hit the start button, and watched the picture turn into a really cool one. That's it for today. Drop me a note if you hae other ideas on how to share on incorporating vintage linen napkins into quilts.