Alphabet Book

I finally found enough things to finish the alphabet book. Some things I had to embroider pictures for, as I didn't have anything in my fabric stash that would work.

This is the front

Here are the pages

And, the back cover

This turned out to be a fat book. haha   I couldn't get it under the machine to sew it, so I used embroidery thread and made the spine of Xs.  I had to use a pliers to pull the needle through.

I learned a few things here that will be different if I make another book like this one. Hope it sees lots of kid action.

UFO Challenge...March

I seem to MAKE more UFOs than finish them. My to-be-quilted cabinet is now full and overflowing all over the studio. UFO busting doesn't seem to be working for me.

This month I played with new accu quilt dies that I got and made lots of goodies...

I cut about 75 hearts from some crumb blocks that I had.

I cut lots of cats....and have pieced a top with them. I have a few more embroidery things to add to the top yet.

I cut out a set of dogs for me and a set for my sister. she is going to make a doggie blanket with hers. i haven't decided on mine, yet.

I cut hearts from Christmas fabrics and put this together. Since this pic, I have added another Santa border to it.

I cut bears from crazy quilt type fabrics....a set for me and my sis.

The embroidery machine(s) have been working, too.

I am working on a numbers book and have about half of the pages finished.

And I am making some ducks for my sister. They are all cute as can be.

They are applique and machine embroidered.

She is making a doggie blanket with the ducks, too. this duck looks like he has some disease with the raised dots of the fabric. haha

Now, why would a duck need an umbrella?

I pieced a few tops, too. This is blue and tan scrappiness

This is hot and cold

And this is Pumpkin Farm

I am making an alphabet book and still need things for 8 pages....the hard ones.....E V X U Z Y Q and I.   I have looked through my fabrics twice and found all I could use. I even embroidered some things that I couldn't find in fabric. I am currently on the hunt for a vulture, a yam, a quill, and an x-ray.  and anything else that will fit the letters I am still missing.

I did manage to get 4 letters finished that go together and sewed those pages today. L M N O

When there was a small space left, I filled it with pieces of colorful fabrics....like the mouse print on the top of this M block.

O was a challenge. I embroidered the Santa Ornament at the top. and the number One was a leftover from making the foam numbers. The little covered wagon on the bottom is depicting Oregon. I found fabric with little stamps from all the states.

I learned with the nursery book to make 2 sided pages. this one got sewed together today. I didn't put any batting inside the pages this time. 

A couple of things got quilted....but I didn't manage to quilt the one I was supposed to for March. It is on the frame....and has been for about 10 days....I just haven't quilted it.

I did quilt Anita's baskets. the flowers in the baskets were added with the embroidery machine.

Jasper's train got quilted.

And I finished piecing and quilted the Dollhouse quilt....but I can't seem to find pics of it. They are here somewhere....i think.....i hope. haha

And that is my month of March. I always say the new month will be more productive. We'll see.

Stay tuned.  You can check my blog and see my progress.

Hearts .... last of the dies

I was giving consideration to making the hearts from leather....and then reasoned i might not be able to fuse some of them....and it would be a bear to quilt.....so, i had a pile of crumb blocks and decided to use those.

I have about 75 of them.

I have cut out something with all the new dies.....i am happy now. hahahaha

Christmas Stars

Since Helen said the dogs would look good in a border, I decided the stars would work as a border, too. I decided the stars should be Christmas. I dug through my piles of Christmas fabrics and came up with something that I thought worked ok together. I cut a whole pile of stars.....from all the Christmas fabrics that I had.

I put the red and white stripe around the panel and added stars all around.I had one star left over....and put it in the middle. haha

I had some Christmas fabric that was rows of things, so that was the next border.

Then I decided it needed another red and white stripe border....since I had lots of stars left.

It is very colorful and busy.....just my style.

I love the ho ho star

This strip is part of the same fabric and will be the final border. 

I will use the red and white stripe for the binding once it is quilted. .... maybe by Christmas....no promises.

I have come up with a plan for the hearts, too. 

Blue and tan scrappiness

This has been sitting for several months....waiting for me to finish a few rows and get it all together.

It is 60x85

I was trying to use up some blue and tan scraps. the blue rows are 7" tall and the tan are 5". This bear was in a scrap pile so he got to play.

And, look...I found a little snowman to go in here, too.

Since the rows were all scrappy, I decided to scrappy up the border, too. Used up some larger scraps for that.

Michelle's Kitties

Thanks again, Michelle, for the kitty die. It was seriously a fun one. I have a top together....sort of... it still needs a final border. I'm trying to decide to just do the brown or something else. my choices are a bit limited.

There's one in every batch...who doesn't stay where they are supposed to.

This one dreams of being a lion

This is the mouser

This poor guy got his tail stuck in the door.

Then I had to embroider some squares....they are applique.  Cats and bags just seem to go together.

Little kitty stole a sock

The mouse looks like he is just daring the cat to come after him.

And you need a neon kitty, too. I am so proud of myself....the yarn ball was a separate design from the kitty with a piece of yarn in his mouth and i managed to get it lined up perfectly.

Little teacup kitty is just adorable.

And butterflies for the kitties to chase.

I have a few more empty blocks, but need to wait for the main embroidery machine to get back from the shop. The backup unit can't do the size i want to put in those blocks.

I better get back to my regularly scheduled programming. haha