Thanksgiving Day & Dallas Cowboys

My parents came in for the Thanksgiving holiday but we didn't do the usual.  Instead we had TG dinner on Wednesday and attended the Dallas Cowboy game on Thanksgiving Day.

This is something my Dad had wanted to do for a long time, so the five of us went.  My Dad got tickets on the 40 yard line, 2nd row so we had spectacular seats. 

The half time show was Selena Gomez, which our daughter thoroughly enjoyed. 


The Dallas Cowboys won which was the best way to end the evening!  (Wish they could do that more often).  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Paris Mug Rug Set

Here is the second mug rug set I made for my partner, Nancy. I did free motion quilting on the mug rug, made a scrappy pin cushion, a crisscross scrappy tissue holder, and a little hoop art.  I wish I had taken better pictures because you can't really see the detail of ribbon on pin cushion, the cute back and the different fabrics on the crisscross tissue holder.  I was in a rush to get everything mailed.  My partner loves Paris, the Eiffel tower etc.    

Thanks for stopping by!

Wine Mug Rug Set

Here is one of the two Mug Rugs I made for my partner in the Mug Rug Swap hosted by Quilting Gallery.  My partner Nancy makes wine so I thought this wine fabric was appropriate, I guess she can use the mug for wine too...lol.

I made a zipper bag and a mug rug to match.  Here is a close up of the coasters

Here they are all tied together.

Thanks for stopping by. 

My First Mini Quilt

I've been sewing alot just haven't had much time to post.  I joined the Mini Quilt Swap hosted by Kristi at http://www.schnitzelandboo.com/ a couple of months ago .  I have thought about this quilt every day since I got my partner assignment.  The swap is secret so no one knows who is sewing for who. 

One of the reasons I like to do swaps is that it forces me to try new techniques. 

The questionnaire from my partner said she liked mixing vintage and modern and liked a "rainbow" color scheme.  It also said she collected vintage Pyrex bowls.  From that moment, I remembered the bowl fabric from Lori Holt which she happened to list as one of her favorite fabric designers.   

So, the first thing I did was order this fabric.  I love how bright and cheery it is

I decided I wanted to do a Dresden design.  I carried the fabric all over town for weeks to find matching/coordinating fabrics for the petals or blades.  Here is the first Dresden I made.  I used the Stampin' Up! Dresden die to cut everything out...
 

Long story short, this Dresden didn't make it on the quilt.  I started to hand sew and turn all of the petals and give up quickly-- it just wasn't turning out like I wanted.  Then, I decided to make it round.  Well-- then it got wonky and I decided to just start over about 2 o'clock in the morning

I made a whole new Dresden and sewed the blades with points instead so I wouldn't have to deal with the curves.  The second one turned out much better... but somehow I could not get it to lay flat, so I had to add another blade to make it work (17 blades total).

I appliqued the Dresden on white on white dot fabric, did a blanket stich around the points and sewed in the ditch of the blades.  I then added the bowl fabric for a border....  Here it is without the center and binding.

 

I debated about the color for binding and center circle.  Part of me wanted to go with black and white dots but I finally opted for a grey and white dot instead.  I had a difficult time sewing the binding... remember what I said about forcing myself to try new techniques-- well I got a good taste of binding!  I did the whole thing twice and finally got it to look right.  Here it is the finished.
 

Here is the back. 
 

I added one little extra handmade item... one of my zipper pouches.   

Here is the whole package with a few little Texas treats from a few stores in our Historical Square in Downtown McKinney...  Texas Bumpy Road Popcorn from Mom & Pop Popcorn, Goodies Chocolate in the shape of Texas from Goodies, Obleas from Mexico, Texas Chewie Pecan Pralines from our state capital and finally everyone needs a Texas license plate with their name on it! 

I hope she likes everything.  It really was hard to let this go but I hope my partner enjoys it and loves it.  The package is being delivered today and I look forward to hearing from her.  Thanks for stopping by.

Princess Zipper Pouch

Here is a Princess Zipper Pouch I made for a dear friends daughter.  She is totally into princesses and everything pink & purple.  This fabric actually shimmers so I thought it was perfect for her. 

 

I did the lining in white and lavender dots and I think it compliments the bag nicely.

 

I especially love the princess charm.  I loaded up on some fabulous charms last month when I went to my hometown.  I found two stores with every charm under the sun and went bananas, you'll be seeing them for months because I literally got about 100 different kinds.

Thanks for stopping by.

Spoons

We provided snacks for Micaela's class a couple of days ago.  I HAD to provide individually portioned store bought snacks (per school district policy) but reduced the carbon footprint by using real spoons instead of disposable ones. I think a couple of Moms thought I was crazy but it's the green thing to do.

 

 

All in all, I spent 5-10 minutes and less than a gallon of water to hand washing these and now there is 30 less spoons in the landfill.