What I am working on now

Good afternoon friends . I have been busy behind the scenes these days , nothing major but plugging along just the same . Recently there was a Christmas  mystery blog hop and this pattern was provided by Kathi from Heart to Hand  . I do love snowmen so just had to get busy with my wooly bits and create this project . I like to have something I can sit and stitch on those days that my body does not want me sitting at a machine .

 The lighting is not the greatest , it is a dull dreary day outside with showers plus the snowman does kind  of blend in a little too well , looks better in person  . Although this was meant to be a quilt block I thought a nice pillow that can be around all winter is best for me . Thanks Kathi for this adorable snowman .
 My next project also includes a snowman , this time the pattern came from the Winter issue of Primitive Quilts and is called Snow Days by  Gail Pan . I knew I had to make this one too , so sweet .

I should have had better contrast with my homespuns but I used what I had on hand and I am happy with it . Now to quilt it :-)
 I am working on a runner at the moment but no pictures to share just now . That's all from me today , thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day :-)
 hugs Sheila

Meet Bert

Good afternoon dear friends , and a fine day it is , what glorious weather we are enjoying on this November day , feels more like summer !!  I have a little finish to share today , our guild has a library with magazines and patterns we are permitted to borrow and I came across this little fellow and just had to make him , his name is Bert . The pattern is by Hooper Creek .

I will say the pattern was rather odd in the way it explained how to make this and the layout for the snowman was super confusing at least to this ol gal ,but we got through it and I think he is rather cute . I used Aurifil embroidery #12 thread for the blanket stitch and was able to do it by machine by simply using a #100 needle , so much faster .
 I am also thrilled to say my pinwheel quilt is now on the frames at the church and we made two turns on Tuesday so the picture I am about to share is rather inaccurate as it looks much smaller now . This was taken when we first put it on a few weeks ago . It reminds me of those little garden whirlygigs , so colorful and fun .

You can see the chalk marks on the pinwheels , we are stitching 1/4" inside the pinwheels and it really makes them pop .

Did everyone that is taking part in the postcard exchange get their partners??? I sure hope so , I think I handled them all but if you did not receive an email please email me asap and we will get that all ironed out . We have 26 participants this time , isn't that just wonderful , thank you all so much .
 Off to the sewing machine now , have a runner I want to make so times a wasting . Thanks for stopping by today and hope the sun is shining where ever you are .
 hugs Sheila

FNWF'S

I stitched along with my friends across the ocean last night for FNWF's hosted by Cheryll  , thanks Cheryll , it is always fun to have others to sew along with . So what did I do you ask , well I hand stitched down the binding on a table topper I just finished , I like to save those jobs for the evening while I sit and relax in my comfy chair . As I look at this I may go back and do a little more quilting :-)

This is a pattern from a Fons and Porter magazine a couple of years back , a special Christmas edition . Now from that same comfy chair a few nights before I finished this cute little ornament which is the OOM for November from a FB wool applique group, thanks to Trish for the cute ornaments each month .

I have had great response on the Postcard exchange and need a couple of addresses before I can send out names, I will start the process though as it may take me a while but if you haven't heard from me by Monday please email me and let me know , I don't want to miss anyone . Still time to join in but will cut that off before Monday , thanks .

 Thanks for stopping by today , hope you are doing something fun .

 hugs Sheila

Ok so I don't read rules very well :-(

Over a year ago I read about a shirt challenge that was happening on Tracee of Farm Gate creations and decided I would join in , well at the same time Terry of Terry's Treasures also announced a challenge and it was the Charming Stars challenge and I combined the two challenges and made a quilt . The shirt challenge involved using six shirts and one other fabric , no problem , my DH was more than willing to give up a few shirts and I added some white fabric to the mix and happily  stitched away .Here are my shirts that I used .

All yellows and blues , the first shirt doesn't look that yellow but it is the poor lighting . So now I will share what I had made for this challenge

This is the charming stars quilt I made using just those shirts , I was getting a little nervous when it came time to create a border as I knew there was no adding another fabric if I followed the rules so I started cutting up what was left of the shirts and started randomly sewing them together and I couldn't be happier with how this looks and the best part is my grandson who adores his grandfather is absolutely thrilled to own this quilt made from his shirts . Now here is my dilemma , I didn't read the rules that Tracee set out for us and I shouldn't have shared this quilt until the end of Oct. but I have already done so in an earlier post , however I thought it might be nice to share it again  .  Thanks Tracee  for this great challenge and be sure to hop on over to visit Tracee's blog to see some other wonderful quilts !       

Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in the postcard exchange  , I am really pleased with the fact we have some new people signing up and hope a few more will join us as well.  I have a tutorial on making postcards in a post in 2011 , couldn't believe it was that long ago .  check it out here 

http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.ca/2011/08/postcard-tutorial-and-swap-sign-up.html

Thanks for stopping by today , hope you have a very creative day .

 hugs Sheila 

How about a Christmas Exchange ?

 First off I will share my finish ,a pattern by Winter Wonderland called Seasonal Skinnies .

The snowman was fun to create with his strip pieced hat , a little challenging too as I do not have many fabrics in black . Had a little fun with some swirly free motion quilting too :-)
 
SO my big question for today is are you interested in doing a Christmas postcard exchange ? I have had a couple of requests so putting this out there with the hopes of getting some interest so we can get this set up . Of all the themes for postcards I would say Christmas is the simplest as there are so many things you can do , be as creative as you wish and for those who have never made a postcard before but have thought it was something they might like to try here is your big chance , come on you know you want to so just do it !! As before if you are interested please let me know as soon as possible , we will set December 1st as the latest a card can be mailed out but if you are speedy you can mail it anytime so your partner will have it around to admire over the holiday season . I will need your email address, home address and blog address if you have one although that isn't necessary . Once you receive your postcard let your partner know and post it on your blog or send me a photo and I will share it for you if you do not have a blog .  I will assign names as soon as possible but in the mean time you can start creating those cards so you will be all set to mail it out . Thanking you in advance for your interest , making and receiving these little art pieces is such fun and it will make your day when you open your mail box to see one inside so get off the fence and join us !!! Lets see if I can find some samples from last year , hey I know just go to the flicker page and there should be a few there for inspiration .
I nabbed this one from the flicker page , made by Linda of Scrapmaster 

I mailed off my postcard to Eglea today for the November swap so watch your mailbox , it will likely take a couple of weeks . I hope everyone is well on there way to mailing out there postcards or if you received them we would love to see them :-) 

I am off  now to do some Christmas sewing , the days are getting closer .   Take care and enjoy your day , thanks for stopping by it is always a pleasure to see you .
 hugs Sheila