July quilting

With all the traveling we did in July, I did not spend much time at the sewing machine. One advancement I made was in machine quilting. For the first time I am finishing a quilt with machine quilting instead of hand quilting! I will show the picture when I finish the border which IS being hand quilted. 

     I plan to have it done for my August UFO entry, since I made the quilt top many years ago. I realized that if it was going to be done this year, I needed to start learning how to machine quilt. I am not really satisfied with how it turned out, but it was a good top to practice on. I hope the next top will be easier to work on - and I remember what I learned on this one.

This small quilt was made for the grandson of my college roommate. It is my "go to" pattern now when I need something completed quickly - like before the one year old boy turns ten!! I think I counted 12 made so far.

It is another "quilt as you go" by Debbie Mumm, from her book - Debbie Mumm's Project Kids, c1999, revised 2001. ISBN:  0-9707811-4-8  I checked and there are copies available on Amazon from $0.01 and up!! 

I was able to send this one to 52 Quilts and the monthly UFO projects, although technically it was not a UFO. 

I need to write one more post to share my newest toy and another reason I am behind on my quilting. I also got the new Cricut Explore machine this month. I had it sitting in the box for three days before I had enough time to even take it out!!!

The Wild Christmas Reindeer for Jingle Belles

This is so cool - my idea has been used for today's Jingle Belles Christmas card challenge. As a retired elementary school librarian, I love children's stories.

If anyone has found the post from Jingle Belles, thank you! I appreciate your time in looking here. Please feel free to leave a comment of sign up as a follower.

A few years ago I saw a suggestion on Pinterest to wrap up 25 holiday picture books and open one each day during Advent. I no longer have small children who would enjoy opening the "gifts" each day, but I missed reading the many holiday stories at school. SOooooo, I do this each year for me! I gather 25 (or more) books and put them in a basket by the tree. Each day or so I read one of them, taking my time with the illustrations and remembering why I bought it in the first place. Everyone of these books is special to our family and I look forward to sharing the stories with our next generation.

The Wild Christmas Reindeer, by Jan Brett, has been a favorite for many years. I love her colorful illustrations. The borders help move the story along and are not simply decorative. I have heard Jan Brett speak several times, and she said that there are so many ideas for a story that do not fit in the appropriate number of pages for a picture book. Using borders, she is able to write a longer story that still fit the picture book format.

I made this card 4" x 9", to fit a long envelope. I used my Cricut Expression and the "A Quilted Christmas" cartridge for the reindeer and Teeka. The book is a Spellbinders Nestabilities-Labels Seven.

The possibilites are amazing and I already have a card for another popular book ready.

Catcing up on Christmas cards

I was so exicited to make another Christmas card for the Jingle Belles group. Earlier this year they asked for theme suggestions and I mentioned children's Christmas stories. They liked it! This will be the theme on June 20th.

I am still behind on my Christmas cards and quilting UFOs, but we have been busy! It is great to spend weekends with family, we were able to take care of our grandchildren for three days, and activities just seem to go on and on and on!

I have always enjoyed "Christmas in July" and this year it may start in June - temperatures were in the upper 90s today. I will put on some of those snow songs, make some snowmen cards and try to keep cool.

I realized that I have made more cards than those posted here. Usually I am a few days past the deadline, so I moved on to the next theme.

Here are a few that I got completed for the various challenges:

I usually use cuts from my Cricut Expression on the cards, although some simply have decorative papers and stamping. In the last photo there are two cards made with vintage post cards for the recycling challenge.

OWH Cards again

I have taken some time during our snow days this week to work on cards for Operation Write Home. One challenge was to make a card using stripes. As it so happens, I just got a Cricut cartridge with Winnie the Pooh and friends, including Tigger! A tiger has stripes, right?

There was also a request for generic cards for children. I hope these will fit as "love you" cards, since it is too late to submit Valentine's Day cards.

This week I was able to work on some paper projects, since my March quilt is done. I have made Easter houses for my grandchildren and the other four special kids in our lives. I am so glad I decided to get my Cricut machine, even if I did not plan to do scrapbooks! I have been making cards and now have found some wonderful 3D items, such as the houses here.