Scrappy Clothesline Baskets

Isn't she lovely? This weeks scrappy project is a basket made with 3/4 inch strips of scraps wrapped around cotton clothesline. I love making these baskets! They also make excellent gift baskets - you can use use a theme (here I used brights), or you can use a holiday theme and pack it full of holiday type items. I have made these for Christmas using reds, whites, and greens and then filled them with baked goods. What a gorgeous gift that was! How about just reds and whites for the Redword enthusiast? Or what about school colors for the college bound? Oh, oh, oh...! How about fall colors to sit on that wonderful fall table runner.... as you can see the options are limitless!

This one is going to be a handwork basket. I used Clover's new Kanzashi maker to embellish the basket. I love those things and what a wonderful finishing touch! There are three different flower makers, each in two different sizes, making six in all. I used an old button for the middle of the flower. I used my favorite thread, King Tut number 918, for the fun, blended and colorful look. You will be seeing Kanzashi flowers pop up on numbers projects in the future! A Happy, Scrappy Weekend to all!

Scrappy Balls

OK, so I am a few days late (probably Linda's fault) but I think it was more than worth the wait, wasn't it? Here's this weeks scrappy project, Scrappy Balls. What child doesn't like to toss around, or hopefully roll, a colorful ball? They ALL love to play with balls! These are made from 100% scraps - and a bit of new stuffing, a lot of love and very little time.

Aren't they happy balls? I had a pattern for a medium sized ball, similar to this one, and then I simply enlarged it twice to make two bigger balls and then I reduced the original to make a smaller ball. The directions are here...

Isn't is a wonderful set of balls? And seriously, this is a very easy project. My girlfriend, Renita, will attest to this. She was very skeptical so I invited her over and she was amazed at how easily and quickly these little stash busters went together. Renita was so pleased with her balls that she took them north with her to give as a gift! I loved them so much I am making a scrappy bag for them to go into. Wait until you see that! It is going to my newest grandchild when she is born at the end of August... this scrappy summer is mighty productive...

**UPDATE: Roni took the challenge and I am thrilled!! Go visit her place and see what she is up to... Sadly, Mare has NOT taken the challenge. She has instead opted to go to somewhere in the Great White North to swat mosquitoes or some such thing... I have faith that if she ever finds her way out of there, she will participate. That's IF she makes her way out of there...

My Scrappy Summer

This summer I am bound and determined to use up some of this copious stash. That is my goal, and as a result I will be posting photos of projects that use up stash. I will be posting every week. Hopefully YOU will be inspired as well.

This weeks project was the YoYo Elephant you see above. The pattern comes from Indigo Junction and is as easy as pie. It uses the Clover YoYo maker in two sizes. I used about thirty 5 1/2 inch scraps and about thirty 4 1/2 inch scraps plus some little bits for the head and the ears. By my quick mental calculations, that's about a yard of Aunt Grace scrap pieces gone. Wonderful! What child wouldn't have fun with this? So, a bit of my Aunt Grace scraps gone, and a treat for a granchild. Win-win in my book.

Mare, I am challenging you to attack your stash, too! Can you do it???

Roni, don't think you are getting off scott free. I challenge you, too!!! Now get sewing!!

Seriously Late Quilt Retreat Update

Yes, I know. Pathetic. But better late than never, eh? So.... here are some photos from our fabulous quilt retreat back in February - or was it January? I can't remember now... Funny thing is I couldn't even find the photos I took of my group of gals at the retreat. I actually had to Google "Camp Blanding Quilt Retreat" to find photos that hopefully someone had posted online, and as luck would have it, I found some!!! These photos are not mine. Once found, I had to phone the owner of these photos and ask permission to use them and after I left a rather long, rambling voice mail, I received an email and was granted permission by the wonderful Julie, from Stitches of Love. If you are on facebook, you can find Julie here. I lost several hours of my life drooling over photos in the many photo albums they have on facebook... It's worth the trip...

This is the view in front of the building where we sewed from 7 in the morning (if you were up!) until midnight! It was great fun and a beautiful setting. There were 180 wonderful quilters (not just women!) there and it was glorious! The hum of the machines, the chatter, the cocktail waitresses... whoops! Was I supposed to mention that?

Strolling through the large room to see what everyone was working on was inspiring! I loved it! Again, this was my first retreat and let me tell you, the bar is now set pretty high. This retreat is organized by the ladies of Olde Green Cupboard and let me tell ya, they rocked it! Camp Blanding was a marvelous setting, and boy oh boy did they feed us well. We were served prime rib, lobster and numerous other outstanding entrees. It was stellar. Even the accommodations were wonderful. Clean and incredibly comfortable.

A marvelous time was had by all and we fully intend to do this again as soon as possible!

My First Quilt Retreat - Camp Blanding, Here We Come!!

I know - it's been forever since I had a chance to write a blog but here I am, excited as can be to tell everyone that I am going on my first quilt retreat to Camp Blanding in Stark, Florida. I am going with 5 wonderful Quilty Chicas and I am so excited I can't even sleep. Seriously! Roni posted some of the details here. When I return I will post photos and let you know what I think of quilt retreats.... something tells me I am going to love this. Wish us luck and have a great weekend!

New Doggy Bags

I have been working like a dog making these custom Doggy Bags for customers. I just finished a few more and realized I hadn't done Show and Tell yet. I have been making these for sale in my etsy shop as well as here locally. Here are photos of the first two that started the craze...

Their "Grandma" is going to put them under the tree with a bag of their dog food, a few treats and maybe a few other items. Now when they travel to Grandogs house they will do so in style!
No more plastic store bags for these dogs!

New Grandbaby!!

Introducing my newest grandchild, Jackson Scott. He was born on Saturday, October 9th and let me tell you, he's a big boy! His momma was quite a trooper and she put in an amazing two days of labor to bring this wonderful little man into the world.

Look at that hair!! He sooooooo gorgeous!

And there he is, on the scale proving that he weighed 9 pounds, 13.6 ounces!! He looks three months old! I get to meet him on Monday and I can't wait! Just look at that face! He needs to snuggle with Grandma, don't you think?