Scrappin' at the Cabin

Saturday, March 10, 2018

SNOW DAYS - AND A LITTLE QUILTING!

We have had a crazy amount of snow in February & March this year so on those days when I've been snowed in, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get the sewing machine out & try my hand at quilting again.

I had pieced these blocks a year and a half ago & made the mistake of putting it aside. It didn't take long at all to sew the blocks together to make this nice sized twin quilt top (above) & it felt good to cross it off my list! I sent it off to the long arm quilter & should have it back in a few weeks. Next up was this lap quilt using Love You fabric by Sandy Gervais.

I straight line quilted it because I was in a hurry to get it done.

Then, because I had all my sewing stuff out & the house was a mess & I didn't feel like cleaning it up, I started another lap quilt using the Fruit Sorbet pattern & Sweet Orchard fabric by Sedef Imer of Down Grapevine Lane - love this quilt! I think my granddaughter will like it too. I managed to get it sent off to the long arm quilter as well. I was on a roll & decided to keep on going!

So I pieced this quick little quilt top (52 x 60") using a Hop, Skip & A Jump jelly roll by American Jane for Moda. I love the vintage look of this fabric line. The pattern was so quick & easy that I figured I might as well make another one for my grandson!

I used Puppy Love fabric for this one, I think it turned out really cute. Again, I was in a hurry so I straight line quilted it on the diagonal. And that's it....for now anyway! Time to clean up the threads & fuzz....& I'm hoping Spring will be here soon & melt all this snow.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Cozy Cotton Flannel Charm Pack Quilt for Grandson Bryce

Bryce is 3 1/2 months old now so this grandma needed to get going on this little quilt....especially since summer will soon be here & he probably won't need to be wrapped up in a warm quilt. It should work well as a play pad though!

Bryce's mom selected the fabric - it's so snuggly & soft, hope he likes it!

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Crayon Tote Bag

Last night I made this super-easy little tote bag for our granddaughter, Kendall. At 28 months, she is quite the budding artist - loves to color & paint. Of course, all of her 'drawings' look alike (basically just a bunch of scribbles ;) but she's always so proud of her masterpieces and enjoys the creative process....she gets that from her mom.

The bag (without the handles) measures about 10.5" wide x 13.5" high. I used a free pattern from Melanie Ham (http://melaniekham.com/how-to-sew-a-crayon-tote-bag/). She has very detailed directions on her blog along with a video tutorial. This was good practice for a grandma who hasn't sewn much in the last 25 years! I hope Kendall likes her new Minnie Tote Bag (and that it doesn't fall apart any time soon)!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Congratulations & Thank You Fish Cards!

I made the 'congratulations' card for friends of ours who just purchased a lake home. A simple card but I think it turned out kinda cute. I used my Silhouette to cut out the scalloped border then stamped it with a Hero Arts Scallop Border stamp. I covered the eye w/Glossy Accents & also used it to make some bubbles. Since I had the supplies out I made a few thank you cards as well.

* * * Mother's Day Luncheon * * *

I set the porch table the day before the luncheon...it was a beautiful, warm and sunny Spring day. But then the weather turned really cold the next day so I had to go to Plan B and moved everything inside the cabin to the island - not quite as comfortable but it worked. The ladies stayed all afternoon, wish I had taken some photos of them...maybe next time.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

What?! You made this fabulous little quilt just for me, Grammie? Why, I don't believe it!

Hahaha, are you pulling my leg? Well, I just LOVE it!

In fact, it's so soft & comfy, I think I might lie down and take a nap now.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Chevron Baby Quilt & Card

Our niece had her fourth child this month, a baby girl (lucky little girl - she has three older brothers!) so I thought I'd try my hand at making this quilt (can you call it a quilt when the fabric comes already quilted??) and a coordinating card:

Tuck in a pink teddy bear & it's ready to go.

The finished size of the quilt is 35"x42"; a good size to be used as a changing pad, play mat or quilt. I followed the tutorial by Amanda at: http://www.jedicraftgirl.com/2014/06/riley-blake-blog-tour-baby-play-mat-tutorial-with-matching-zipper-pouch.html. This quilt is so quick & simple because it uses Riley Blake's quilted cotton fabric (chevron) that I purchased online at Hawthorne Threads. To make the extra wide binding (5"), I followed this tutorial that Amanda provided: http://www.mccallsquilting.com/content_downloads/Making_and_Applying_Extra_Wide_Binding_WEB_BONUS.pdf.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

It's that time of year again....

One batch done.

It took Bruce 3 hours to clean 288 ears of corn! It took Stacy & I much longer to make 18 batches of sweet corn for the freezer but boy, is it ever good this year. Thank you Kevin!!!!

Kevin's Sweet Corn Recipe

9 cups of sweet corn (Iowa grown, of course)

2 cups water

Use electric knife to cut kernels off the cob. Put the corn & water in a 5 qt. pot & bring to a boil (need about 16 ears for 9 cups of corn). Boil five minutes & cool (place the pot in the sink filled w/cold water...change water often or let cool at room temp. for a bit then put in the fridge to cool). Once it is completely cool, put in freezer bags & freeze. I put 2 cups per bag; lay the bags flat & they'll stack nicely in your freezer. Enjoy a little piece of summer this coming winter - yum!

Monday, June 30, 2014

Happy Tones Quilt - Done!

My very first quilt - hope it's not too obvious! It seems to have turned out okay...of course, it hasn't gone through the wash yet, not sure it will survive that. I have a new-found respect for quilters....it's not easy! And this is supposedly just a basic, simple quilt. Thank goodness for YouTube and Bloggers, how did we ever learn how to do anything back in the day?

Front of the finished quilt:

Back:

The sandwich is pinned. I used Fun Foam to cover the tips of the pins; just cut squares about 1/2" in size and poke them on the ends of the pins. Got this idea from Blair Stocker at: http://blairpeter.typepad.com/weblog/2013/03/how-i-baste-my-quilt-layers-together.html

Sewing w/the Janome AcuFeed Ditch Quilting Foot - fun!:

Wow - someone needs to straighten up this mess.

Now on to this quilt top...it's all pieced and I would love to try free motion quilting on this one, don't think I'll attempt that just yet. The fabric is Twice as Nice by Riley Blake - love the red and turquoise.

The directions for Annik Miller's "Four's A Charm" twin size quilt can be found here: http://www.minneapolismqg.com/2013_02_01_archive.html and here: http://minimushrooms.blogspot.com/p/fours-charm-baby-quilt-pattern.html. Her directions are very clear and concise, a necessity for a beginner like me. Thank you

Annik - I love your Blog!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

My First Quilt Top!!!!

I've always wanted to see if I could make a quilt...a friend and I took a quilting class for beginners about 20 years ago where we made a little table top quilt. I really enjoyed making it but I guess I was busy w/kids, work, life in general and didn't go any further with it, but the idea of making a quilt was always in the back of my mind. Then one day recently I was looking at some Blogs and saw this post at Sew Adorable Fabrics: http://www.sewadorablefabrics.com/easiest-baby-quilt-ever/. The bright colors of the Happy Tones by Michael Miller fabric line are so fun and cheerful and I wondered if just maybe I could make a small quilt using these fabrics for our 6 month old granddaughter.

So after a little more searching I happened upon this site: http://gogokim.blogspot.com/2012/04/happy-weekender-on-moda-bake-shop.html and Kim's Happy Weekender Quilt. I liked the borders she added to make the quilt a little larger. After watching several of Jenny Doan's (Missouri Star Quilt Co.) Youtube videos I felt brave enough to give it a shot and...tada!

It's a simple quilt and far from perfect but to tell you the truth, I'm surprised it isn't all wonky and misshapen.

It's a bit large for a baby quilt and I still have a couple Happy Tones Charm Packs left so I think I'll make another smaller quilt for Kendall. My plan is to try to straight-line quilt this one, we'll see. My new Janome 7700 sewing machine is supposed to be delivered Monday, can't wait to see if I can get this thing quilted.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Pretty Pink Posh Sequin Shaker Blog Hop

I created two cards for the Pretty Pink Posh Sequin Shaker Blog Hop...the first one is kind of sweet, I think. I like the brighter colors of the flower against the paler dsp. The flower is from Papertrey Inks Doodlie-Do set (one of my new favs); the stamped & and heat embossed butterfly is from a Stampendous set, Flutterfly Friends and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh (love!). The second sequin shaker card is a sunburst shaped card using the WPlus9 Blanket Stitched Blooms stamp set. This is the first time I've used stamps by WPlus9 and I was really impressed...they stamped very crisp and clean. Again, the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh. My sequins (& fabulous ribbons) just arrived two days ago, I can't wait to place another order...I heard Paulina is adding more 4mm sequins to her product line; love 'em, they're so cute.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Fun In The Sun & Best Fishes!

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My wonderful niece, Sara Jane, provided the supplies for each of us to make this St. Patrick's Day wreath at a recent family get-together in Marshalltown...isn't it cute? Thank you Sara!