Children's Handkerchiefs...

I thought it funny that as I was sewing on these children's handkerchiefs that there was a debate on Facebook regarding the sanitary/unsanitaryness of them. Old fashioned, yes, serviceable yes, cute yes..to use or not--personal preference.


Personal take--

Whatever brand of Kleenex-its paper and it makes your nose sore. It tears.

Kids do not carry around boxes of Kleenex and commonly loose the little packages, and tear the Kleenex trying to get it out.

Kleenex with lotions and antimicrobial stuff is just more chemicals people don't need exposure to.

A handkerchief is better than a sleeve or shirt, the toy, etc.

And around the house nice (small children's/baby washrags are pretty soft too, but bigger kids don't like to use "baby" stuff.

100% cotton, prewashed, cut at 10" to finish at approximately 8.5", Juvenile prints, animal prints,spots, Micky Mouse, Tiger, Goofy...anything  kid likes is usable.

Did you know that the finished size of a Woman's handkerchief is generally considered to be 8" (if scalloped measured at the inside arc), A mans is generally 12, thought many men prefer 14".

Progress on the AQS Modern Mystery Quilt

So one of my helpers saw me bring out fabric. She knows I am getting ready to take a picture and is getting ready for pouncing the quilt pieces:

These are my inset half-circle, circle again strips. I am glad I got a bit behind and did some steps out of order, as I am using mostly scraps, I may have cut up the pieces I needed to make the half circles. I could have pieced the half circles if need be..but I am glad  I did them all in one piece. I am still not a fan of sewing them, I like how they turned out, but...

The pink in this picture washes out in the picture, its a bit light, but I wasn't takin' it back out!


Now to go back and do the step I skipped :-)

Thinking....

Dangerous I know. I have been very busy with real life stuff, you know, the stuff that gets in the way of quilting :-) So I have only made a little progress on hand quilting this quilt:

This is the last quilt top my Grammy made. It is slow quilting. She backed it with a sheet, and I am sure part of the top is sheet also. Tough quilting they are! I am not sure what it is batted with, it does not feel 100% cotton.

What I am thinking about is how to label this quilt. My Grammy made the quilt top sometime in the late 1980's or maybe early 1990's. For awhile it was too overwhelming to work on, because I still miss her soooo much.

The other thing I hope is that the pencil, she stenciled with washes out well. It is probably an old fashioned real leaded one (she owned a plumbing shop for a long time after my Grandpa died (I never met him), so she had LOTS of pencils..I know she added borax to most of her wash so maybe that will do the trick.anyway...any suggestions on how to label it are appreciated.

I also have to decide how to bind it. My bolt of white doesn't really match the majority of the white on the top (the whites are not all quite the same), but since there is some variation maybe it doesn't matter...or maybe I should put a colored binding on?  Yeah, still thinking....

Grandson's tool bag..

 Funky little Monkeys on the outside and bouncing balls on the lining. These bags make up super quick, they are Quiltsmart  Smart Bags, They come in a fun pack with interfacing to make 2 bags, or you can buy panels off a bolt, 2 bags to a panel (so you don't have to pay for the instructions over and over again. In Reno, Sierra Sewing carries a pretty good selection and can special order anything you need.

 Below are the tools inside. he played with a set here, his cousin showed him how to use them-his favorite is the hammer. She uses all of them to "fix" everything around the place. I love my Grandchildren-- and am very happy I live in the same town with them....

 To the right is the Birthday boy with my Mom n Dad, handsome fella
















The Hugs N Kisses Blog Hop was lots of fun, I enjoyed all your comments and was happy to share a fun project. I will have to do another blog hop soon. Below is part of a mystery project...

Its going to be very pretty when it is done. I still have other things to make from my cutting spree, and I will reveal more of the mystery as it comes along..yes, this part is done with a Jelly roll, and as a couple of my students (my daughter being the first) figured out you can do the project with 2 jelly rolls and 4 extra strips--anything that saves cutting I am game for...

Hugs N Kisses Blog Hop...

It's the 15th somewhere..so here we go. Welcome to everyone visiting today for the Hugs and Kisses Blog hop, along with my friends who visit me regularly.  Thank you to Madame Samm and Jane for organizing this and allowing me to participate in this, my first ever  Blog Hop. Hugs and Kisses to you both!!

Today's other stops:

Why Knot Kwilt 

NitaDances 

Sew Darn Quilt 

Quilt-N-Queen

 Fiddlesticks and Humility (you are here)

 Stitchin Therapy 

Moose Stash Quilting

 Gypsy Dreamer Quilts

Color My World 

Sew We Quilt 

So after I got the email from Jane that I was "in," I decided to use the  leftover fabrics from my class Valentines quilt . Here is kind of the step by step evolution of "Hearts on a String". It was a close call getting all the hand quilting done in time to bind, wash dry and and hang….

 In my cutting spree I cut 5" squares, 2.5" squares, some 2" (i think) strip, some 4" strips and some 1.5" inch strips--because I had lots of ideas but hadn't settled on anything yet..and packed them up in a project bag until the idea was kinda set

Having made hearts before I knew I needed HST--and yes I mark mine--and some snowballed pieces; at least in the manner I was going to construct them-I know there are a gazillion different ways to do it, but...this is what I choose this time around.

So on I continued, the pattern just kinda evolved, what I ended up with, which I love; is not what I started out envisioning.

This is when I decided to try the string option on for size..I would not have been happy froggin it (rip-it rip-it) ....so I am happy to have liked what I got. not everything I tried was as successful...

 I loved this first string...

So of course I added another..

And then  another--Then since I had decided to hand quilt this, I knew I needed to stop there if there was any hope of having it done in time...

So in the hoop it went:

Out of the hoop and ready for binding...

And remember I said that this was made from leftovers..well I had leftover binding too..and I had kinda measured.... thought there was enough...

good thing I had more leftovers...

Bound, washed, dried and hanging over my fireplace  :-)

Hope you enjoyed the trip, I had a lot of fun. Make sure you check out the rest of the neat projects on today's hopping.

And it is bound and in use!

But the flannel does not feed through my Simplicity Bias Tape Machine :-( So the old fashioned way of iron had to be used. So I had a big pile of binding (the machine nicely rolls it on a spool for you)

And now it lives on the couch with the rest, until I change them out the next time. My granddaughter will be glad to find a new tent making quilt on her next visit!

Yes, you guessed, these are my two angelic helper/inspectors...pretending they are not looking for their next prey... Sushi is the tiger strip (mostly Siamese--very talkative), Lilo is the gray n white (she is also part Siamese and has some very subtle stripes)

I was able to finish my block of the month block from last weekend..I have also been working on my blog hop project--you will get to See Friday. The quilting is going smoothly. 

And these monkeys and balls are going to be part of a Birthday present for my Grandson--he's going to be 1!  :-)



But I must be off to quilt on the blog hop project, it will need to be bound and washed so I can get a good picture before Friday.


And I have no idea why some of my text has a white background, and nothing I do seems to change it. Gremlins in the page I guess...

And the cats won....

So yeah, my last post I said the backing was on the floor undisturbed by the cats at that point, yes you all knew:

It is all basted together now, hopefully will bind it tonight or tomorrow.

Due to a visit from the stomach flu I did not get to go to girls day, but my girlfriend Tina picked up my BOM for me--I got it cut...

I did get the project top for the HUGS AND KISSES BLOG HOP - done, can't decide how to quilt it. I don't usually have a problem deciding, but this one is throwing me a bit...still have a few days to chew on it. You can see a few pieces of it on the pressing board above, that's all you get until the 15th.

I did take time out to make a Quiltsmart cell phone bag--and yes an I phone 5 fits!!

no, that's not the I phone 5 in it, I am taking the picture with it :-)

And I'm sewin'...

Cutting spree is done. I have completed the first quilt top and am getting ready to go sandwich and tie it (as soon as I finish this post). I am partial to flannel quilts being tied, how about you? At any rate, previous steps can be seen on my website main-page. Hopefully it will get bound on Sunday, tomorrow is a girls day trip to Gardenerville (Nevada) for a Tellustration BOM at the Quilt House, just a few more to go. Hopefully will get that block done Sunday afternoon as well..we'll see.

This is the Charming Fractions by Mountainpeek Creations-designed by Kari Nichols. I actually did a throw size this time instead of a King! My Granddaughter needs more tent quilts (yeah right--good excuse though-right?), she misses the uber King Row x row Christmas quilt.

Now, off to work on sandwiching an tying while the cats are sleeping, or hiding; they can see the quilt & batting, backing is on the floor already (at this moment-undisturbed-and yes I am knocking on wood)..more pics when its done.