T-Shirt Dress

I recently bought this t-shirt for my 3 year old great-granddaughter with the idea of just decorating it with a crystal iron-on design that I purchased on sale! When I ironed the crystals on ~ and yes I followed the directions ~ I pulled the plastic off, the crystals came off too and left all the glue there - ugh!! What a mess!!
So, I decided to make it into a t-shirt dress and I added a little vest to cover up the mess under! The vest is just on the front and is secured at the sides and shoulder and stitched closed. If you look at the closeup to the right you will see that I added some pink rick-rack to make it more feminine. I also made some cuffs for the sleeves. Came out kind of cute, eh? I haven't made one of these since my GD was a toddler ~ she is now 13!! I will make more of these for the DGGD as she is ALL GIRL and loves to wear dresses. I sure hope this one fits! I'm thinking it just might be too big!

Texture Magic Tote & Accessories

This is my latest project - samples for the shop in Bangor where I have a class scheduled for May 15th. There is the tote, a small zippered pouch and an eyeglass case. The pattern is called "Textured Tote and Accessories" from Patterns by Annie at www.byannie.com


This is called "Texture Magic" because it magically transforms your fabric - you quilt either in crosshatch or stipple, then hit it with a steam iron and right before your eyes it shrinks and puckers and you are then ready to cut it up and make something with it! I had this luscious piece of batik fabric that was just shouting "choose me, chose me!" This was indeed a fun project!!

Casey's Sewing and Knitting Circle

Our little group of 11 women met this past Friday for a day of sewing, knitting, talking, laughing and eating!! Sherry was our hostess this week. She keeps the coffee pot full!! Thanks Sherry!!

As I sat there in my space, I looked around and everyone that was "sewing" was using a Janome 720/760 machine - they weigh about 12 lbs are are virtual workhorses!! SueRap was sewing itty~bitty HST together to make her "Starstruck" blocks, SueBee and Pam were making pillowcases for charity ~ oh what fun fabrics they were using!! Laura was sewing blocks for a charity quilt and Chris was knitting. Janice and Sherry were doing hand embroidery and Kay was stitching on a binding. Helen was working on her blocks for a "Day & Night" quilt in green batik fabrics - stunningly beautiful!! Margo was hand piecing. I didn't get a whole lot accomplished myself but I did get a "granny" apron cut out and some of the rick-rack attached.

When we all get together, there are usually no less than 6 separate conversations going at once, and of course, we being women, we could keep up with all of them, including the one we were engaged in!! Never a dull moment with this group!!

We all bring our own lunch and then eat dinner together as a group!! Helen made a delicious cheese casserole, SubRap brought a green salad, Laura made her famous fruit salad and Pam made a scrumptious blueberry cobbler ~ we always have more than enough to eat!!

This is a group of women who truly love to quilt and knit and on top of that, we are very very good friends ~ I am so blessed to count these ladies in my small circle of friends!!

60 Degrees of Fun

I was asked by a local quilt shop owner to come up with a project that would utilize the new 2 1/2 inch 60 Degree ruler from Creative Grids and offer as a class. First, I cut out some 60-degree triangles with the ruler and played around with them for a bit and just shrugged - I'll never figure this out! Oh dear, what will I make?? I went to the Creative Grids website to see if there were any patterns - nope, nada, nil, zero, zilch, nothing!! However, there was a picture of a hexagon block. Ah, ha!!
I put my thinking cap on, opened my EQ6 program and started drafting some hexagon blocks - then inspiration hit me ~ I could make a wallhanging ~ sort of a fabric canvas. ***note~the hexagon block on the left is located on the 3rd row down, far right in the photo to the right)

So, I drafted the blocks and set them into the quilt and started playing around with color. This is what I designed ~ I took it to the shop and she loved it!! I have left this "canvas" intentionally blank so that I can demonstrate some other tools and finishing techniques. I will be teaching the class at Stitches in Newport on April 17th. Now, I just hope to have enough students to make it worth all the time and effort I have put into this project! Wish me luck!!

SNW - Fun and Done!

Well, I finished my last few SNW blocks and mailed them off to the coordinator a few days ago! The top photo is my fabric.


This is a sampling of my blocks. This was a fun swap and at times I questioned my sanity for even signing up!! Now, they're done - YAY!!

Here's how this swap works ~ there are 20 of us and we are each making 50 Stack and Whack 4-Patch blocks and mailing them to Linda, our coordinator. She will sort them out and mail each of us 50 DIFFERENT blocks!! I can't wait to get mine!!

More SNW

This is my 2nd choice of fabrics for the SNW exchange - it is called "Wild Rose Farm" from Robyn Pandolph. I should get 20 blocks from this fabric.

I've stacked, cut and sewed 10 so far today - this is a sampling.

Back to the cutting table!!

Stack and Whack Exchange

I am a member Connecting Threads' quilting community called QWU - Quilt With Us. I belong to several of the groups on the site and one has issued a challenge called "Stack and Whack Exchange Blocks" - there are 20 of us participating and each of us will make 50 blocks to send to the coordinator who will then package them up and send them back!! The theme of this exchange is "Flower Garden" so I will get 50 flowery blocks to put into a quilt!! The top photo is my 1st fabric choice called "From the Past" by Hoffman. I got 21 blocks from this fabric. This is the 4 patch SNW pattern ~ so very easy to cut out and sew together!! I am using 3 different fabrics for this exchange, so stay tuned.

This is a sampling of my blocks.

Guess I'd better get busy on the rest of them!!