“Friendship, love, health, energy, enthusiasm, and joy
are the things that make life worth living and exploring.” ~ Denise Austin

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Microwave Bowl Holder

 My sister Marilyn gave me a microwave bowl holder that she made....
And then she showed me how to make one...
 I used Tim Holtz fabrics and cut 11" squares of two fabrics and
11" squares of pellon Wrap-N-Zap....
 In the photo Marilyn is making an X from corner to corner....
You do this on each fabric with the batting on the wrong side of the fabric...
Sew an X corner to corner on both....
 Here she is marking the darts at the center of one side 1" in and 2½" down....
You do this for each side of each piece....
 Stitch all the darts and cut the excess off....
Then put right sides together and stitch all the way around leaving a 3" opening to turn...
Stitch next to the edge all around....
here is the inside of the bowl...
And here is the outside of the bowl..
My sister's neighbor made over 200 of these and sold them for $7.50 each!

Let me know if you make one of these and also if you have any questions.  Be sure to use 100% cotton fabric and no metallic in the fabric that goes in the microwave.

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Links to Linky Party Tuesday, finish it up Friday and Link a Finish Friday.
Will also link to Needle and Thread Thursday.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas


I just walked around the house taking photos of my decorations and this photo is a present I received many years ago and it is a rug that I have hanging on my wall.  

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!  Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Friday, December 20, 2013

Christmas tabletopper 4-patch and rectangles

 Here is the tabletopper I made last weekend and took to a party this week...
It finished at 12 x 20
 I started with jelly roll strips and made into twosies and then 4 patches..
The rectangles are cut at 4½".....
 I sewed right sides together and with batting and stitched around the edge leaving an opening for turning.
 Here is the other side...
 close up view of stitching with variegated thread....
 On my Bernina I used #643 stitch 4 length and 5.5 width...
 Then I wrote words.......hope..........peace.............love............joy...........
Every year we have a gift exchange and play the game where we draw numbers and #1 goes first and chooses a present.  Then #2 can either "take" that present or choose another wrapped present and on down the line and back to #1 again to keep their present or "take" another.  Does anyone else do these kind of games at their parties?  Every year I usually try to make something in addition to taking some kind of decoration for these parties.

I had a lot of new people commenting on my last post and thank you.  I will check your blogs, if you have one, and get back to you soon.

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Linking to finish it up Friday and Link a Finish Friday
And Linky Party Tuesday

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Hexie tree mug rug


This might be larger than the usual mug rug...
It is 9½ x 13...
 It started with some hexies I had been making with scraps of Kate Spain 12 days of Christmas...
 For the background I decided to use fabric from Ho Ho Ho Jolly Christmas by Camelot Cottons with
snowflakes as the top fabric and presents and trees at the bottom....
I sewed the hexies onto the fabric with batting behind.....
I used some squares for the side from the Kate Spain fabric....
And this photo is before I quilted the layers together....
I decided to not use a binding and just sew right sides together and turn and..
then topstitch around the edge...
Here is the back from the Ho Ho Ho fabric....
Another fun project to do.

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

I will be for the first time to Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation Needle & Thread Thursday.
Also will link with finish it up Friday and Link a Finish Friday.
And also linking to Connie at Linky Party Tuesday.


Saturday, December 7, 2013

coasters for quilt friends

Last evening was our Christmas party for our quilt bee group
The stack of coasters I made were an inspiration from Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation
I used jelly roll strips sewing two together 
then cutting and making 4 patches
closeup of one of them
The back is Bobbins and Bits batik so these can be used all year
 The table setting was lovely.  We usually do a potluck for Christmas but this year one of the daughters cooked us a really delicious meal.
Here is my awesome quilt friends.  They are so special and what a special evening we had at Jackie's.

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

I am linking to finish it up Friday and Link a Finish Friday
Also linking to Linky Tuesday Freemotion by the River

Thursday, December 5, 2013

I won in a blog hop giveaway

This is what came in the mail today.....I was the lucky winner.
Connie at Freemotion by the River had a giveaway and here is the post where I made a comment

The Strip-Smart Quilts book by Kathy Brown uses jelly rolls.  These quilts look like fun..fun...fun!
The ruler is one I am looking forward to using.  Bonnie of Quiltville used this ruler in her first mystery post last Friday.  (note:  I am not starting the mystery quilt now but will be later.)  
The Lovely charm pack.....sooo pretty.  Lots of purples and "lovely" florals.
All of these are awesome and such a generous gift.  

Smiles and hugs....Caryl