Burning Sugar

Today was dark, cold, and gloomy here in central Oklahoma. So, what’s a girl to do, except make some Aunt Bill’s Brown Candy? I always forget how much stirring is involved, but it sure is tasty!

I put the pecans on top because I don’t like them mixed in. I also only do half the pan for those who don’t like them at all. A 9x13 pan makes a ton of 1” squares of candy!

And, of course, I made some stars too!

Seeing Stars (Part 1)

Probably a year ago I saw an episode of Sewing with Nancy that featured a quilt author named Lynn Harris. She was making quilts from all manner of scraps, and a quilt filled with teeny tiny 3”(!) stars was one of them. I knew I needed to make that quilt!

I bought the book Every Last Piece and hit the scrap pile. It takes 434 3” stars and a background fabric. The centers of the stars are scraps of printed fabrics, and their points are all solids.

Here are a few I finished today.

And a few more I finished at an all day Open Sewing event with my Guild. It was nice to be focused just on the stars and not have pets or chores for distractions.

**The pattern is Stardust from Every Last Piece by Lynn Harris.

Dashing through the snow....

I say that with a little tongue in cheek. Starting December 1st our local news stations in central Oklahoma began massively hyping a huge winter storm that was to land on us Friday night and last until Sunday. Well, I did what you’re supposed to do and bought the bread and the milk with everyone else.

In the end it did not snow, and it didn’t even get cold enough to stick if it had snowed. But I made the most of it! I made several star blocks for an upcoming quilt, and I embroidered this little Peekaboo Santa.

I love making Peekaboos, but I don’t really NEED 100 stuffed animals, so I share them with one of the tellers at my bank. They decorate for all the holidays so she likes having a cute little something at her desk.

The pattern is Peekaboo Santa from A Creative Medley stitched on my Brother PE770

Cruising Route 66

So my customer made this totally cute Route 66 quilt. It’s got some great novelty prints with notes from Chicago all the way to Los Angeles. I had a fun time quilting it, even though the sun was not out in central Oklahoma today.

The piecer chose a basic double-bubble (is that a thing?) meander for the main part of the quilt, but she asked me to break out the borders as something different. I like a challenge so here’s what I did:

You can see the center portion of the quilt is meandering around in a light oatmeal color. Then, I used the same double-bubble in the green border with a matching thread, and then she requested wishbones in the red border. I really prefer the textured look, rather than seeing the thread, so it was worth it to me to change the thread a few times.

Without much sun, I had to use the machine’s lights, as well as an add-on LED setup I have to light it up to work. My eyes are tired, but I think the results are worth it!

Entering a Blogging Challenge

So, for the last (hmmmph) years, I’ve followed the blog of Cheryl Sleboda of muppin.com. I first saw her on a program where she was describing the little quilts she made on a regular basis to develop her style and her skills, and she had a lot of them. I was so inspired!

Flash forward a few years, and every year Cheryl hosts a blogging challenge to encourage us to blog every day during the month of December. Every year I say I’m going to do it, but if you scroll through my site, you’ll see I have not accomplished the goal. But here I am this year!

What I’m working on today is cleaning up a few projects I want to finish before Christmas. Here is some embroidery I have done to make a dog coat for my friend’s chihuahua. It’s actually a free-standing lace project from Kimberbell. Normally, It would be stitched on tulle and mylar with a wash away stabilizer in the middle. Cut apart, the three pieces stack and can be used as a hair bow, applique or other accessory, but I have layered the mylar and tulle directly on fleece and will cut my coat back from that. Enjoy!