Batik Log Cabin Quilt

Finally! It's finished! A very, very, very late Christmas present for my Dad.

It's made from 5 colors of batiks and solid black fabric. It's mesmerizing that way, isn't it? I used a 6 inch log cabin block pattern from All About Quilts. And then arranged them in the traditional "Barn Raising" pattern.

Here's a closer look at the quilting thread pattern.

My hubby picked the thread color, a silvery grey and helped me map out the lines. I originally wanted to do feathers on the black stripes, but ran out of time and will-power, let alone lack of that skill at the moment.

I don't care how precise you cut all the tiny pieces, but they never seem to line up like you want them to. How many of you ended up stretching your fabric a little to meet the edge of the other piece? It's supposed to be a 60 inch square quilt, I have no idea if it did meet that measurement at the end.

If you're looking for the 5th batik, it's in the binding.

Easter Treat Boxes

These were our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt treats for this year. The candy is from Jelly Belly, Sour Bunnies and Sunkist Fruit Gems. It helps if you can get them in bulk on a wholesale account. The acrylic pillow boxes are from Clear Bags, the food safe kind. And, the Easter Egg embossing folder is from Darice. Yes, you can put acrylic boxes in your embossing folders without damage. I just used my Big Shot multipurpose platform with no tabs on my machine. Just to get rid of some random pieces of ribbon, we used just about every ribbon scrap I had, and then some I didn't like. It helps keep the boxes closed.

Succulent Spring Wreath

I was asked to post a picture of this wreath when I finished it. It's a wreath kit from S.E.I. that I bought at the ScrapbookUSA show last month. I liked the colors in the kit and that it used some foam flower shapes with the double sided paper flowers.

It has almost everything you need to make it. The kit says that hot glue is recommended. I say it's required, or all those pinned flowers in the foam will pop off really fast. I added the lavender grosgrain ribbon as a hanging loop. I don't know how they hung that one up. It's kinda soft styrofoam you're building on.

I'm sure you can take all your personal flower punches and dies to make lots of layered flowers out of your own designer paper to create your own wreath. This particular kit has tons of leftover flower pieces that you can use for other projects. I had enough leftover that I could probably make a second wreath.

Color Block Quilt

Hey! It's a new blanket for a baby shower...again. This time it's a co-worker.

This was a fast one. While finishing the crocheted blanket below, hubby cut all the fabric for me. Then we finished putting it together in two days. Let's not do that again.

This one is flannel backed with a stripe of color down the middle. Mostly because the fabric wasn't wide enough. If you must count, there are 12 different colors plus the backing. Had 6 of them and got the rest at K&H Quilt Shoppe. Oh, and the co-workers loved it.

Bavarian Stitch Crochet Blanket

I finally finished it...a year's worth of Sundays and a rush at the last two weeks before gifting it away to my sister-in-law for her baby shower. It's mostly Caron brand yarn, my favorite Simply Soft, and the white is the One Pound yarn (about 3 of them). This is the kind of blanket you make when you have a big yarn stash and want to cut it down, it uses a lot of yarn.

I had a picture in my head of what colors I wanted in it, and it turned out really big after I got all the colors in. That is hanging over the railing off my kitchen. It will probably drape really nicely off a twin size bed.

The pattern is a variation of a Catherine wheel stitch with the back post treble crochet in the tops of the fans that give you the diamond shaped ridges. The back is smooth and flat, and just as pretty. You work in the round and each color stripe is two rows. Here are the instructions to get you started, on Sarah London's blog for the Wool-Eater Blanket.

P.S. Sis-in-law loved it!

My Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration order

It's my usual brag of how much I saved on my Stampin' Up! order during Sale-A-Bration. Here's the pile of boxes from my workshop order.

Then, here's the pile of stuff I paid for...fun!

And, here's the pile of stuff that was free with hostess dollars and my 50% off items. There should be another 5 free things in that pile from SAB, but I sneaked them in the bags of my other guests' orders. Hope they like them.

Ruffled Ribbon Topiary

I made 15 of these topiaries last year for party centerpieces. The ribbon and elastic took the longest to complete. And a LOT of straight pins.

They cost about $20 each in supplies. Good luck finding matching color ribbon all over town if you're making more than one. I found the tutorial for making them here: Ruffled Ribbon Topiary They use a smaller styrofoam ball and therefore a smaller amount of ribbon. I think there were about 8 yards of ribbon on each 5" ball of mine.

There are a few places that make it easier to find some supplies. I used 4" terra cotta pots from the hardware store ($0.79) and the Dollar Tree actually had green styrofoam pot inserts that fit the pots. Then I could push the dowel through and pin the red tulle to the foam better. Paint your pots and dowels first of course. Try your own color combination.