My sister Michelle's daughter-in-law Amber had their 2nd baby a week ago. They named her Presley. I'm very excited for them. I'm also extremely happy that I mailed her baby quilts to her a few days before she delivered.
This is a Sunbonnet Sue quilt that Amber and her mother made. They used orphan blocks Amber's grandmother made years ago. Amber set the blocks in sashing and then bordered them with sweet fabrics. Amber sent the flimsy to me to have them quilted by Wendy. I love the quilt. It turned out so darling. I really love the real vintage fabrics in the blocks and the black embroidery. I bound the quilt before mailing it back to Amber so she would have it all ready for her baby's room.
I took the quilt top to Wendy of Eagle Mountain Quilting. You can see the quilting in the photo above. I wanted to keep in line with the vintage blocks and choose a vintage type quilting design. This is a Baptist fan with flowers design. I think it finishes off Presley's quilt perfectly. It is a lovely theme for a baby. Love vintage Sunbonnet Sue.
This is the quilt I sent to Presley. You can't have too many baby quilts. I've made lots of baby quilts over the years. This is a pattern of mine that sets fabric into bows. I think it goes well with the vintage theme Amber has designed for Presley's room.

Congratulations Amber and Scott!! And of course congrats to my sister, Michelle, on her new granddaughter. Michelle will have 4 new grandchildren born this year. The next to deliver will be Melanie with twin boys. I'm working on baby quilts for the boys but won't complete them until I know their names. I want to put their names into the quilt design. Hmmm, I wonder if I will have a new grandchild born this year??? After all I have a lot of daughters....will one of them surprise me?

-nanette

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Now that Christmas is over I really thought I would be able to get back into blogging and visiting like I used to. That has not happened yet. The weather is plenty cold like most Januarys and I wish I could wave a magic wand and create my very own snow day to sew and sip hot chocolate. I have a pattern to write and 2 quilts to bind but I must fit them in between life. I have had a cold this week, too, which hasn't helped productivity. On to fabric Friday. Fabric always brightens any day.This Melody Miller fabric is really capturing the spotlight right now. It is selling like hotcakes. I love the 60's life portrayed in this fabric. Casseroles, housekeeping, and shopping in dresses. I could escape into this lifestyle.
Both these fabrics are linen blend, not quilt weight, but perfect for bags, table toppers, home dec sewing and fun projects. I've been known to put a linen blend into a quilt now and then, though.
Last Friday when I was at American Quilting with Lori and Rae Ann, I saw this fabric in Rae Ann's pile so I had a little bit cut for me too. I see something for Allison in this. Not sure what yet.
I also indulged in a few new fat quarters. Dear Betty is a sweet line and I've wanted a tiny piece of this since I saw it online.
I'm always excited to get a cute orange. This is another Dear Betty.
I thought this owl fabric would be really fun to fussy cut. I can see it in the center of a block. It really is cute.
This Lecien is a reprint of a fabric I purchased back in the early 2000s. I used all of it over the years so I was excited to see Lecien reprint this sweet novelty fabric. Speaking of Lecien. Have you seen their new USA website yet? I see a little bit of Monica there.

Wish me a blizzard so I can be snowed in! Unfortunately Utah has great snow removal so this rarely happens.

-nanette

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Ayumi of Pink Penguin (such a great blog) asked me to be part of a little group making coasters for Japanese designer and author Suzuko Koseki. You can read about Ayumi's idea in this post on her blog. And read more about Suzuko in this post. Many of you might know Suzuko from this book.
Each of us took a letter from Suzuko's first and last name and made a 4 1/2" coaster with that letter in the coaster, also putting a bit of fabric from Suzuko's designs into the coaster. My letter was S. I put an S in the door of my little house. The strawberry window shade and the roof are fabric from Suzuko's lines. I used binding from some fabric Lori Holt gave me in my snowman box.
Oops this pic got put sideways. Taking pictures from my iPhone and getting them on the blog is not always easy. Anyway, I used this linen blend from the new Ruby Star Rising by Melody Miller. I forgot to take a finish photo. These pics were obviously taken while I was binding the little coaster. Oh, I also put in a little tag showing that I made the coaster. I hope Suzuko loves what everyone has made.
I'm making myself a quilt in 2011 that is just for me. I started it and I'm going to work at it a bit at a time so I plan on finishing it by the end of the year. It will be a flag quilt showing my heritage. I'm 50% Slovak, 25% English and 25% Danish and of course, 100% USA. So my quilt will have 4 flag designs when I'm finished. I got the idea from Amy. This is as far as I've gotten with the UK flag. Check out Amy's quilt. I love it.
Shelbie helped me make my own ironing/pressing spray over the holidays. I even made my own label. I used a bottle from the dollar store. Here is the recipe and idea at Tinkerfrog. I did notice a little corn starch powder at the bottom of my bottle. Mr. Hive suggested next time we heat it (just bring it to a boil) to make sure the starch is all dissolved. So far though, I love how it works. I just shake the bottle before I use it for now. I used geranium oil I ordered at some Internet site. Essential oils are sold lots of places. It smells really great.

So I've been doing several things. I realize it has been a while since I've actually shown some sewing!

-nanette

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Thanks to everyone for joining my little giveaway for the valentine fabric squares and reds. Your comments were sweet and entertaining. You are all such fabulous readers. Time won't allow me to say hi back to each of you individually but it is so fun and inspiring to get a message from so many wonderful women. As always I wish so much I could send each of you a little bit of fabric. But there is only 1 winner.

The winner is SueSue from Lagniappe blog. She said: "Happy New Year and Happy Valentine's Day! I don't usually celebrate because Mardi Gras interferes but this year it's going to be later so I can do more for Valentine's Day. Thanks for the chance, the fabrics are adorable!!"

I want to get the fabric right out to her as time for working on this year's valentine projects is coming at us fast.

Thanks again to everyone and congrats to SueSue.

-nanette

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It is time for a little giveaway to kick off Valentine's season. It is just a little tiny giveaway for my blog readers. I'm not going to advertise it or ask for you to jump through hoops. Just leave a comment. It doesn't have to be much, just a "Hi" or "Happy Valentine's" will do. I'll pick a number next week when I get a chance and post a winner.
The giveaway is for 50 charm squares in reds and a few valentine prints.
Some of these valentine fabrics I've had around for a while.
Some of them are Japanese novelty fabrics.
I love the shape of a heart. I really love red. And my specialty is novelty fabrics. So this is a great holiday to combine that.
Just leave a short little comment and I'll put you in the drawing for 1 try. That's all you have to do.
But please please be sure your email is connected to your comment or you leave me your email address so I can contact you. I can only pick a winner if I have your email.
I love reds. They are so full of life. The collection of reds are some old, some new, some vintage, some Japanese. Just fun reds. Thanks for playing this little game with me.

Good luck to everyone. I hope you all have a happy weekend. I'm still trying to get into step after the holidays. I've not made a lot of progress on my "to do" list. But I suspect many of us feel a bit of that in January.

-nanette

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More of my gift love to show you. I do have to say that I don't have all my wonderful presents to show. Some of them have been used, eaten, or put away. So forgive me for not having all the goodness displayed in my posts.
These incredible candlestick holders are from one of my best friends, Flora. I haven't been to see her for a while and I miss her but she left this sweet gift for me. I absolutely love these darling vintage angels. Shelbie has them very safely packed away for me now with extra TLC. Can't wait to use them next year.
The wonderful Laura brought me a basket of goodies. She's one of my most talented and thoughtful friends. Everything is so pretty and packaged so well.
I love it all. And I've pretty much used it all by now too.
This is a gift Lori gave me back in early December when I met the gals for lunch. I could kind of see what was inside but I put it under my tree anyway.
I have a feeling this is the answer to my morning "hot chocolate at work" problem. It is the most darling mug that I can take with me she made a sweet fabric cozy for it, too.
Look at it all. The lid fits securely on top. I've never seen anything like it. Love it all.
Lori gave me these little fat 6ths in the snowman she made me. I took them out and transplanted them to this cute mini strainer I won at family bingo. Isn't that cute. (Note to self: this strainer makes a great container for a gift.)
Whitney gave me this unique and amazing beehive cake plate and cover. It is a beehive! It couldn't be cuter. I love it.
Mr. Hive gave me this etched apothecary jar and bee plate. As you can tell my Christmas is taken down in the entry way and I've got valentine stuff up. I keep walking by that jar thinking of what red things I can put in it. I see big red jelly candy hearts or something.
I put vintage valentines on my 3 tiered stand after taking down my Christmas balls. I need to think of something else I can put in there with them, too.

I know that isn't all my gifts. But I'm sure I've shown plenty of good stuff. Thank you to everyone for my lovely and thoughtful presents.

There are only about 40 days before Valentine's Day. So bring on the red.

-nanette

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I think the holiday and disruption of my normal schedule has made me a bit lazy. I need to get back into my routine and get sewing. I haven't really produced much since Christmas and that has got to change. My Gmail "in box" and my blogger list is bulging and overlooked. I hope everyone is understanding. I will get to it all. I hope I'm not the only one that has put off my normal routine. But January means getting things done and moving on.
Before I move on I have a couple more posts of nice things to show you. Above is this sweet little pincushion made by Emily from Em's Scrap Bag. Emily is such a nice person and a good friend. The cute gift tags I decided were cute enough to use as ornaments. Those came from Susann. She's a new friend who is super talented.
This bag was made by Kim of Bitty Bits and Pieces in her signature red, white and black. She also made me the the most darling "N" charm but it is on my necklace that I left on my desk. So I'll have to show that later.
This pendant/locket is from my daughter Shelbie. I really think the colors will go with everything I have and it looks very quilty, don't you think.
I really love all Philosophy products. I use them all the time so these were welcome additions to my collection. One is from my SIL Lorraine (along with other goodies she brought) and the other I won at family bingo.
This cute surprise came from Carrie from A Passion for Applique. I wanted to wait to open it on Christmas but opened it a couple days early.
Look at the cute things inside! A really really cute ornament, vintage buttons, bee ribbon and the most fabulous personalized book mark. Such sweetness. I love it all.

I really got the most amazing presents. I have more to show. I hope you don't think I'm bragging. But all of them are great ideas for anyone for Christmas. Thanks to everyone for the lovely gifts. I get the best stuff!

Saturday I cleaned my sewing room a bit and made something! More on that later in the week. I gotta start on my new to-do list.

-nanette

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