Sock Monkeys

Sherry saw a sock monkey on my Christmas tree and asked about him. Bill has a small collection of sock monkeys and other sock creatures that sit on the computer desk in his office. There are old and new sock monkeys, plus a rabbit, an elephant, another bunny and monkeys in costumes.

I have fabric to make him a quilt out of sock monkey designs. I need to put it on the list to get done this year.

One Last UFO for 2006

Here is a trip around the world quilt that I made several years ago, again at the bag ladies class at Tiny Stitches. I used to go almost every month but rarely actually finished the quilts. I am trying to get caught up with the ones that I have partially completed.

When I first got my Gammill, I quilted this and several others but never got the binding done. Of course, I have lost the fabric that I meant to bind the quilt with but I found a nice plain yellow that worked fine. I can't imagine why I don't get the binding put on after quilting but it has something to do with sewing it on by machine and struggling with the bulk of the quilt - I just avoid it as long as possible.

I really love the handwork part of binding, it is just the machine part that I dread. I am going to try to get the binding made when I finish the quilt top from now on so hopefully it won't take as long.

I used a feather panto on this quilt and it turned out great - it has a lot more yellow than the photo shows and is really pretty.

Christmas Gift from Mary

My friend Mary made this beautiful quilt for me for Christmas. She first made it for a sample for Tiny Stitches, where we both work. I fell in love with it and I guess she knew how much I liked it. I think she actually made a second one for me and kept the original for herself. How lucky I am to have her as a friend. We have a good time working at the quilt shop and also belong to a guild together.

The pattern for the quilt was from a recent Fons and Porter magazine. It is made with chenille and regular quilting fabric for the 4-patches. It is backed with flannel and does not have batting in it. It is the perfect size and weight for taking a nap - one of my favorite things to do. I have already tested it with a quick nap on the couch today.

The quilt shop got new carpet today and tomorrow I will be there bright and early to help put the fabric back. That should be a fun time!

Another Ornament Exchange

I love ornament swaps - I just can't resist signing up for them. This is the ornament that I sent for an exchange with the FiberArtPostcard group. I sent out 4 and have received all the ornaments sent in exchange. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of them and they are on the tree. I can't remember which ones came from this exchange.

My tree is getting very full. I don't have room for a larger tree but maybe next year I will set up two. I just have to put every ornament on the tree, no matter how old and simple they are.

The gingerbread man is made from felt, with buttons, ribbon and dimensional paint. They turned out cute. Of course, there is one on my tree.

I added about 10 new ornaments this year - most are handmade but I did get a couple of Jim Shore ornaments and a beautiful crystal snowflake.

More Ornaments

Here are the ornaments I got in exchange for my paper doll that was posted a while ago. Each person in the exchange had a type of ornament that they needed to make. Of course, mine was paper dolls. The above ornament was an ATC. It is made from paper.
This is a beaded ornament - isn't it great!
This one was fabric - but she added beads and stuffed it.
This one was made from a match box. It is hanging on the tree partially opened to reveal the scene inside
Lastly, here is the polymer clay ornament. It has lots of beads also.

This was a really fun swap. It think it really worked that we were assigned a type of ornament - gave us a great assortment.

I went out shopping today to finally finish up the last of the Christmas shopping. Still need to get a few packages in the mail. Not sure if they will make it in time but at least they will be on the way there.

Gift Exchange and Artist Trading Pins

Here are the pins that I received in the ATP swap. I made four but only sent in three to be traded because I want to keep one for myself. These are so different and each one is wonderful. I have been wearing the Christmas one for last few days and have gotten many great comments on it.

I really love the little doll pin and can't wait to start wearing it but think I should keep it until after Christmas. The last one is wonderful also and will look great on a sweater.


I belong to the Georgia Crazy Quilters group and we decided to do a gift exchange this year. Here are my gifts before getting wrapped and on the way. We had 9 people sign up so we each made 8 gifts.

These little zipper bags were made using prequilted fabric that I had in my stash. It is a really pretty asian fabric. I made some of the bags with the front of the fabric and some with the reverse side. They are different sizes as I just cut up the fabric and started sewing. I have a whole plastic tub of zippers so just used ones that looked good with the colors of the bags. I found out that I like the zipper pull to be on the flat side of the bag, not at the point.

So far I have received a checkbook cover, bookmark, needle case, covered photo album, thread with pincushion and can't wait for the other 3 to arrive. It has really been a fun swap and not too much work for the pleasure we are receiving.

Last of the Calendar Round Robin

This is the last of the calendar round robin. I got behind and finished up two calendars to mail today. It was a lot of fun and I really like the work done on mine. I will try to post pictures of it in a few days. This is Effie's calendar. It was a weekly one instead of monthly so there were several pages for each month. The pig was already on the calendar so I just added to it. Second page was from magazines and stickers
Loved the dog - he just needed a few additions.
Tiger was on the calendar - added the cat photo to it. Right side is winter trees.
Sweet little kitten on left. Since this was the October round, I did a page for the Day of the Dead. I love Day of the Dead.

This is the right hand side of Christine's November calendar. I had fun with pictures of fabric from the Hancocks of Paducah catalog.
I used the cover of the catalog for the right side of the page. Very colorful!

Christmas Ornaments from Ruth

Here are two wonderful ornaments that I received at quilt guild last week from my friend Ruth. She makes beautiful paper pieced quilts with flowers and birds. I love both of these ornaments and they look great on my tree.

Christmas Tree

Here is a photo of my Christmas tree. I love each and every ornament on the tree. Most of them are handmade, from the ones my kids made many, many years ago to ornament exchanges from this year. We had an ornament exchange at quilt guild. While it was suggested that we make ornaments for the exchange, it was permissible to purchase one.

We played the left, right Christmas story game and there were about 45 ornaments exchanged. I ended up making a folded fabric pinecone and my friend Ruth received it. I got a box with 3 purchased ornaments in it - they were lovely and look good on the tree.

I think my favorite ornament is one that my daughter Christina made in school over 30 years ago. It is a pink yarn octopus (except it only has 4 legs) and sits proudly on the tree branches each year. If you look closely near the top of the tree, right in front, you can see it.

Artist Trading Pins

Here are my Artist Trading Pins for a swap on ClothPaperStudio. They are 1/2 the size of an ATC which means they are 1 3/4 inches by 2 1/2 inches. I used a red fabric as my base, added steam a seam to it. Then I sprinkled on cut threads and confetti. Topped that with organza. I then used some of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine and stitched all over the piece. I guess I should mention that I did all this as a large piece and cut them into smaller units after all the stitchin was done.

Next, I fused the completed fabric college to Peltex/Timtex, cut into the correct size pieces and then satin stitched around the outside - twice. Lastly I added the pin attachment to the back and a small charm on the front. I sent 3 of them off to be traded but kept one - just couldn't send it on.