Crafts

New yarn bowl is uncommonly good

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Ceramic yarn bowlI received a beautiful ceramic yarn bowl for my birthday the other day. I know … “yarn” and “bowl” do not sound like words that belong in the same sentence. But trust me … it is a lovely gift for a knitter-type person. Right now I’m working on a colorful scarf. Yep … the bowl is coming in quite handy.

So the premise of the bowl is it also happens to be the perfect size for a hefty-sized ball of yarn. There is also a keyhole, or squiggly slot, in the side where a yarn strand can unfurl naturally. No more balls of yarn falling on the floor in a tangled mess. And it is a tad easier keeping our anything-knitted-eating dog away from my yarn.

My daughter purchased it on Uncommon Goods , a website that reminds me of Etsy, both great places to purchase unique gifts.

Did I mention my great experience on Etsy this last Christmas? I purchased for my son and son-in-law Breaking Bad cutting boards from Etsy. Heck, we are still having Breaking Bad separation anxiety since the series ended. At least the cutting boards make the boys smile until the next wonderfully written series emerges.

Jan’s house quilt

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I belong to an awesome quilt bee group called “Bloom Where You’re Planted.” We get together twice a month at someone’s house and generally do what ladies do … quilt, inspire each other, laugh a lot, chat and sometimes even go on field trips like to museums, movies, quilt shops … fun stuff like that. I can’t recall when I joined … well over five years ago I guess. I just know these talented ladies have also made me a better quilter.

So when someone moves away … I hate when that happens … we make the member leaving a house-themed quilt … in secret. The bee member that leaves may know we are up to something, but they don’t get to see our parting gift quilt until it is completely finished. Since I’ve been in the bee, we have made one for Karen and Toni … casualties of retiring husbands. I miss them both. Then Jan moved to Oregon. Another one of those retiring things. Miss her also! Only this time Jan’s house sold very fast and then … poof … she was gone. The moving van pulled out of her driveway way before we had time to get the quilt finished.

So fast forward a few months … Jan finally received her quilt in the mail this week. Now I can blog about it. I thought it would be fun to write about the evolution of our quilt to Jan! We’ve been taking pictures for a few months now. The first time Tina, Moni, Loretta, Carol, Gwenn and I all met to discuss the project, we tossed around quilt books with house patterns. We finally chose one from one of Loretta’s books. She has quite the awesome quilt library! The pattern we picked is a “Piece O’Cake” design called “Houses @ Maple Ridge.” We all agreed after we stitched the block it would probably be our new favorite.

After settling on the design, we kicked around the colors for the individual blocks. Everyone brought scraps from their stash and played with fabric choices. I chose a medium and navy blue house with a yellow and navy roof. Each block would have a white background. Once everyone had their blocks stitched up they were auditioned for a position in the quilt. Toni, who moved away before Jan, even made one of the blocks. Toni is not pictured in our final photograph, but certainly resides in our hearts as well as in one of the quilt blocks.

After the nine blocks were joined, sashing and borders were added to complete the top. Next, we pin-basted the top to the batting and backing. Tina worked her magic machine-quilting the quilt and making the awesome label for the back of the quilt. I sewed the binding to the quilt and Carol hand-stitched the binding to the back. It was definitely a team effort!

Tell me what you think!

Her bobbin is busy!

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A couple of years ago I decided to kick my quilts up a bunch of notches. I started bringing all my quilt tops to the fabulous Kim Norton, of A Busy Bobbin (www.abusybobbin.com). To say she is JUST awesome is an understatement.

In the past, I tried hand quilting. It takes a long time and I wasn’t very good at it. Blame it on being a lefty! I tried doing my own machine quilting. My results were nice enough, but with limited time, I wasn’t cranking out many quilts each year with the added work.

In the past, I’d inspected the details on many lovely quilts at various quilt shows, but didn’t think any of my quilts could look that good. When my friend Angela raved about Kim, I decided to give her a try. The rest is history!

The most recent quilt Kim quilted for me is for our grandbaby-boy-to-be. He is now the size of a cabbage, as that is the thing to do these days … compare unborn babes to fruits and veggies. We’ll meet him in person in early May!

I love bringing my quilt tops to Kim. It’s a blast watching her creative juices flow as the unfinished quilt top is laid over her longarm machine. We talk about the quilt’s vision and then Kim does this little dance with spools of thread that she takes down from her spool rack. She lays strands across the quilt top to see what will work best. We chose a variegated thread. Although I have several awesome custom quilted designs from Kim, lots of the quilts use an all-over, or pantograph pattern. For the little cabbage’s quilt, we flipped through a book and picked out one called “Animal Crackers” from Urban Elementz with zoo animals all over it. I love the results. What do you think?

Help astronaunt make a quilt!

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Did you know that one of our astronauts is a quilter? Her name is Karen Nyberg. I recall seeing a photo of her in our Houston newspaper hand-piecing a square in space while on board of the International Space Station. I was impressed.

So when I saw the flyer at the Quilt Festival last fall, I certainly grabbed one. Calling all quilters! Create just one star-themed block. Make it measure 9-1/2″ square unfinished. Your choice of colors … traditional or modern. No embellishments. And don’t forget to sign your block with permanent ink on the front with your name and location. In other words, c’mon quilters, here is your big chance. Mail your block by August 1, 2014, and you too can be a small part of a ginormous quilt in Houston’s 40th-Anniversary International Quilt Festival this fall.

Address is as follows: Star Block Challenge, Attn: Rhianna Griffin, 7660 Woodway, Suite 550, Houston, TX 77063. Be there or be square … or should I say … exactly 9-1/2 inches square!

It’s for the little rutabaga

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I knew when I first laid eyeballs on the quilt kit at the International Quilt Festival last fall, it would be my first purchase. I mean … our daughter and son-in-law will have our first grandbaby in early May. Hooray! Oh, and our daughter also works at the Houston Zoo (www.houstonzoo.org). Naturally, a quilter, and grandmother-to-be, I had to run out and make a quilt for the little rutabaga.

We used to call our grandbaby-to-be a “sprout” for the longest time. It seems now all the rage is to compare their current size to fruits and veggies. Today it is the size of a rutabaga!

Picking which animal quilt option was a no-brainer, as back last October we didn’t know if it was a boy or girl. I figured the giraffe was generally gender neutral, although the pink flamingo and the monkey were also pretty darn cute. I have to say applique is not my favorite way to manipulate fabric, but I decided to jump in anyway with both feet. With the help of my trusty “Applique Pressing Sheet,” I could do this project in no time. Made it easier to build the whole giraffe and then fuse one large piece onto the quilt top.

Next step is to sew around the edges of the applique pieces before sending it on to my long-arm quilting lady!

The adorable animal quilt is published by “The Teacher’s Pet,” http://www.the-teachers-pet.com, out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The quilt pattern is called “Peek-a-Boo Pals” and includes all four animals in the pattern. An alphabet chart is also included. I opted not to put a name on it since the first name is not entirely settled.

2013 … a look back

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I only managed to complete two quilts in 2013. I have loftier quilting goals for 2014! The first completed 2013 quilt was a Christmas present for one of my husband’s many, many lovely sisters. Dipping into my collection of Christmas fat quarters, I used a disappearing nine-patch pattern (future blog alert) that I learned to make at our church’s prayer quilt ministry. A real stash buster and lots of fun to make! Did I mention that Becky is one of nine sisters in the family? She lives in San Antonio and runs a soup kitchen. I finished the quilt in the nick of time … only one year late!

The other quilt went to a charity gala for The Village Learning Center (www.villagelac.org). I make one every year for them. It’s the least I can do. Among other wonderful things, the Center runs an adult day program that my special needs daughter attends. Mimi’s favorite day of the week is Tuesday when her class goes bowling! Life should be so simple.

Just so you don’t think I was a total slug in 2014, I did manage to make coordinating pillow cases, dust ruffle and a little skirt for under Mimi’s television. It goes nicely with the quilt I made for her wall in 2012 with a collection of Kaffe Fassett fat quarters. The fabric on one side of the pillow cases is blue and the other green. The pillow cases were a booger to make until I learned the “hot dog bun” method of making pillow cases from my friend Angela. Now I just gotta figure out what to do with Mimi’s curtain-less window!

I love my Christmas LED lights!

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I don’t know what boulder I’ve been living under. I’ve just discovered battery-powered LED Christmas lights. My friend, Gwenn, was telling us at our annual Christmas Bee Party (basically, we are friends who quilt) this week.

“I have them all over my house. I love them,” Gwenn said.

Since I don’t frequent hardware establishments unless hubby gives me a very detailed list, I didn’t have a clue what they were. Bells went off in my head as I looked at our mantle … decorated … but certainly lacking in the “sparkle” arena. Note the “before” and “after” shots.

My only complaint with the LED lights I purchased is you have to have a very teeny tiny cross-point (Philips) screwdriver (not included in the box). I struggled with my tiny sewing machine (common) screwdriver for 45 minutes before my husband came home from work. Give me a sewing machine over a screwdriver any day. I did get two screws out, but it was a struggle. Also, each LED strand requires 4 AA batteries.

Bottom line … love the lights! Get some before they run out!

Who ate my afghan?

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A bite missing“Is there something you want to tell me?” I asked hubby upon showing him the chunk missing from my favorite afghan.

I had just come back from our special needs daughter’s room. It was going to be cold that night and I thought the afghan would help to keep Mimi especially toasty. I saw the jagged edges where yarn ought to be as I spread the afghan across Mimi. When Rick looked as bewildered as I about the mysterious missing chunk of yarn, I knew he was not the culprit. I would stew about how it happened all week.

I knitted the multi-colored afghan about twenty years ago from a kit. I’ve always loved the colors and the pattern was so easy/breezy. It had a special spot all neatly folded over the couch for easy access. Heck, that afghan was just the perfect weight for an “anytime snuggle” on the couch and used often … very often. Until last week that is.

Did the cleaning lady do it?Everyone was suspect. Moths, the dog, spooky-looking zombies with milk-white eyeballs … heck maybe even the cleaning lady. OK, so I have recently hired a cleaning lady every other week to keep the Frantz house neat and tidy. Dusting is my least favorite domestic duty. So I thought perhaps she sucked part of the afghan into the vacuum cleaner and didn’t tell me. But how was that even possible? When she is cleaning, I am madly clicking keys on the computer 10 measly feet from where the afghan is parked on the couch. I have to confess I did turn the vacuum cleaner over to see if there was any yarn shrapnel stuck to the vacuum brush. Nothing!
LuluWhich leads us to our final logical suspect … Lulu! I vividly recall her “guilty face” after she ate one hubby’s favorite flip flops. But the dog is just so darn cute, it wasn’t hard to forgive. Heck, the last time she chewed on anything inappropriate was a year ago. So I reluctantly crossed Lulu off the list … with a pencil.

I am resigned to the fact I may never know what happened to my afghan. But now I have a great reason to make another one. My crystal ball says there is a visit to my favorite yarn shop in my future!

Pigeon beaks and quilt bee cookies

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Drake
My lovely neighbor, Marie, knocked on my door the other day. She was wearing a frowny face which was most unusual. In her hands were a youngster’s blue hoodie jacket and a couple of squares of yellow felt. Oh, and the hood of the little jacket had what looked like very large “peel and stick” eyeballs on the top of each side.

“Drake has to dress like a storybook character for school and I’m having a little problem figuring out how to sew on a beak. Can you tell me what I should do?” Marie said.

I had heard about Drake’s favorite book, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” by Mo Willems. Marie had told me a while back that her son belly-laughs whenever he reads it. Of course, Drake MUST be a pigeon!

I quickly inspected the jacket and had Marie follow me into my sewing room.

“I’ll just snip the felt here and make a three-dimensional beak. Then I’ll stuff it a little and whip stitch it on. It won’t take long at all. I drop it by in a little while,” I said.

Did I mention that Marie makes these amazing decorated sugar cookies? She sells them locally. I order from her from time-to-time and just love seeing my friends’ reactions to her little works of art. A couple of weeks back I ordered a batch for delivery this week after searching through her website selections (www.missmariescookies.blogspot.com). I challenged her to come up with either a “bee” or a “quilt” type cookie. And I mentioned that if that was not possible the autumn leaves I had seen on her site would do nicely. So of course Marie gave me both the bee and the quilt! And they taste just as yummy as they look.

Oh, so let me finish my story about Drake’s pigeon beak. When I delivered the pigeon jacket across the street a little while later, Marie thanked me profusely. Drake tried on the jacket and looked just adorable! Actually, Drake looks adorable without the jacket, but that is beside the point.

“I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you again so much,” Marie said.

I smiled. Did Marie know how honored I felt to be able to participate in such a small way? Before turning to head home I stopped.

“You know Marie … my gift is that I sew … and your gift … is your amazing sugar cookies,” I said.

Life should be as simple as a child’s favorite book and a delicious sugar cookie.

Talented ladies sew for St. Martha Fall Festival

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I can’t recall how many years I’ve been spending time with some amazing ladies at our church, but Wednesday is my favorite day of the week. Generally, we are all about creating lap-sized quilts that are blessed by one of our awesome priests for the ill in our parish. The ladies of St. Martha’s Prayer Quilt Ministry have also been sewing and stitching and creating for the past several months for this year’s St. Martha Fall Festival. It is being held this Saturday, October 26, from 3 to 8 p.m. at our new church campus. Come visit our booth where we will have such handcrafted items for sale as machine-pieced and tied lap quilts, wine gift bags and pillow cases made by Angela, tooth fairy pillows, receiving blankets and bibs, Christmas ornaments, seasonal table runners, religious bookmarks, lovely crocheted throws by Gina and Sid, Debbie’s delightful bun warmers, headbands, awesome knitted and crocheted items by Jacqueline, doll clothes made lovingly by our crafty Helaine out of St. Martha School uniform fabric, Sally’s adorable child’s tote bags, a couple of Cabbage Patch dolls decked out in St. Martha School uniforms, cute little St. Martha School purses and so much more. All monies benefit our prayer quilt ministry!