My Bucket Basket

Bucket Basket

Last Christmas, my sister Amy, of Amy Made That! blog,    gave me a charm pack of "Hollywood &  Vines" fabric ,   by 3 Sisters (Moda).  Isn't it gorgeous?!  (It's vintage!)

And, as a bonus....  It came in an adorable tin box!  Nestled inside were  26 gorgeous five-inch blocks.

Hollywood & Vines   by 3 Sisters

Amy gave me a challenge to see what I would create with these charm blocks, using this elegant and dramatic fabric!

I decided to  make my blocks into a Bucket Basket!   This is a free pattern, by Very Shannon  {HERE}   I love the curves in this basket bag.  And, I "happened" to have the perfect 3 Sisters fabric , to use for the lining and handles!  (Reason #1 for having a good fabric stash!!)

Bucket Basket   by Very Shannon

 I adapted the pattern: sewing 3 rows of four charm squares, rather than making a middle section of contrasting fabric, for the front and back panels of the bucket basket.

This Bucket Basket finished up at a size of :  12"H  x 14"W x 5 1/4"D

My Bucket Basket       by Susie's Sunroom

                  

    

And here is the gorgeous lining....

Did you notice something else that I made, out of the remaining 2 charms squares of the Hollywood & Vines?        

Yep!  The last 2 charms squares were perfect for making a Cathderal Window Pincushion!

I used the tutorial at My Go-Go Life blog , by Kim !!   {Here}  Kim has great photos to go with her instructions!

Cathedral Window Pincushion    by Susie's Sunroom

                                   

I am pleased with my projects, using these 26 charm squares of Hollywood & Vines !!

How did I do on your challenge , Amy?

My projects

                                             
                         

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:    Finish It Up Friday  @  Crazy Mom Quilts   and
                         Let's Bee Social  @  Sew Fresh Quilts  and

                          Can I Get A Whoop Whoop! @  Confessions of a Fabric Addict  and
                        Fabric  Frenzy Friday  @  Fort Worth Fabric Studio

A North Woods Christmas Tree

A North Woods Christmas Tree

A few months ago, I won a beautiful fabric panel :  North Woods { by Kate Spain for Moda !}  Thank you, dear Lara, at Buzzin Bumble blog!! 

North Woods fabric by Kate Spain   

After laying out my panel, and looking at it for days, an idea came to me.  Could this cute Scandinavian style  table topper be converted into a tree skirt for my little tree?   The diameter was just a bit small... at 32" across.   I did not want the green leg-ends of the tree stand to stick out from underneath the skirt.


Here is the tree that I wanted to make a Christmas Tree Skirt for...

My "up year-round" Pencil Tree.... with my Apple Picking Tree Skirt
Quilt Design by Lori Holt    blogged here

I ran through various solutions in my mind,  and after talking to my mom, she suggested I could make little cream fabric pouches around each leg- end.  Like the pedals on her piano...which had a velvet pouch around each pedal to prevent scratches.   Eureka!!

The printed table topper

It was fast and fun to  quilt the topper, using my favorite Aurifil #2021 50 weight thread and my walking foot, to make diagonal lines.

It was SCARY to cut into the topper, but I knew it would turn out to be sew cute!!***

**** Don't look at the below  picture if you get queasy cutting into quilts!!****

Cutting the slit into the center of the topper

I sewed up four red ties, 4 little cream booties, and  some cream binding.

Binding clips are sooooo handy

And before I knew it,  my North Woods Tree Skirt was all done!!

North Woods Tree Skirt and center ornament !

You can see how it perfectly fits my pencil tree!  Do you see the little cream booties peeking out under the tree skirt?  

My pencil tree and North Woods Tree Skirt 

It was fun and quick to make the ornaments from the panel, too!  I added some ribbon to the center that was cut out, and it became the first ornament!!

Birds, pears, hearts , stars and Christmas trees came after!

Cutting the backing for the bird ornament!

Bird ornament

Have you noticed this beautiful Star of Bethlehem ornament?  My beautiful friend, Esther, gave that to me!!

I quilted a little around the fun Kate Spain Doodle Designs from the panel, too!
Scandi cuteness!!

Pear ornaments

Tree with hearts and Christmas tree ornaments

My tree is slowly filling up with these Scandi ornaments!  

I may have to  finish them up in January, if I don't have time to make them all  before Christmas.   I like to machine sew and stuff them, and  then leave the handstitching (of the stuffing holes)  to do while I watch tv with my hubby in the nighttime.

Thank you , Lara, for my lovely giveaway gift !  I will think of you every Christmas!

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:        Can I Get A Whoop Whoop !  @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict  and
                           Fabric Frenzy Friday @  Fort Worth Fabric Studio     and
                            Finish It Up Friday @  Crazy Mom Sews   and
                           Let's Bee Social  @ Sew Fresh Quilts   and 
                           TGIFF   @ Sparrow In Flight   and
                          Finished Or Not Friday  @   Busy Hands Quilts  and
                            Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew @ Celtic Thistle Stitches
                                 

Twirling

Twirling in  the Fall 

Oh ,did you think I meant a baton twirler?  Not this kind of twirling!

This week, the leaves really began to turn colors and fall off of the trees.  I love seeing them twist and twirl in the air as they float down to the ground.

That definitely put me in the mood to make a fall mini quilt for my quilt stand in the kitchen.  I had the perfect pattern:

Mini Twirl   by Fig Tree & Company  ( available here )

Mini Twirl Pattern  { here }

 I rounded up my bag of  Fig Tree  "Oldies but Goodies" scraps....  and  got busy sewing up  four little leaf blocks.        

Four Mini Twirl Blocks     by Susie's Sunroom

                                                 
The pattern calls for making 9 twirl  blocks, but I only  needed my mini quilt to be about 12 inches square.  Four blocks , with a bit of sashing turns out to be the perfect size for my quilt stand.   I love making this twirl block!  It was so  fun making this leaf shape... with no half square triangles!  

Mini Twirl Quilt     by Susie's Sunroom

     Quilt Stats:

      Pattern:    Mini Twirl Quilt     pdf file   by Fig Tree & Company  (here)  
         *** I love this leaf, Joanna !!  **

       My mini quilt size:  12 " across by 13 " high

       Block size:  5 1/2 " unfinished
       Fabrics:    scraps of various older Fig Tree & Co. fabrics  ( including Patisserie,                 Millhouse  Inn, Breakfast at Tiffany's,  and Buttercup )

     Fusible Interfacing:  Heat N Bond      for the stems

     Piecing thread:  Aurifil #2021  50 weight

     Batting:   scraps of Warm and Natural  Cotton

    Quilting:  by Walking Foot using Aurifil #2026.  I tried some free-style, random wavy lines- to make it feel like wind blowing the leaves

    Binding:   Quarter Inch, Single Fold Binding aka Flat Binding, following a tutorial by Made by Chrissie D {here}.    I wanted a very minimal binding, and it was pretty easy to machine sew onto the mini quilt.  

   Hangers-  I made 2 little quilt hangers on the back - by using  Carole's  tutorial at From   My Carolina Home {here}  and { here }.  So easy and works like a charm!

Aurifil thread makes such beautiful quilting stitches!

This was a fast and fun little quilt to make! 
Fig Tree has a full sized Twirl  leaf block available , too.  Wouldn't that make a  gorgeous lap quilt, using  Fig Tree fabrics !

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:    Fabric Tuesday  @ Quilt Story   and
                        Building Blocks Tuesday @  Quilter in the Closet  and
                        Let's Bee Social  @ Sew Fresh Quilts      and 

A Kissy Fishy Finish

The Finished "  Kissy Fishy "  Quilt

I have been on a roll with finishing  up my quilts.  (Lots of Happy Dancing  going on now as I write this ... so  excuse any spelling errors! )

My latest finish:  The Kissy Fishy Quilt       ** Super Cute Pattern Alert  **

Kissy Fishy Quilt    pattern by Sew Fresh Quilts  { here }

Pattern:   Kissy Fishy Quilt    by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts   ( here )
Size:   54 " x 54"  approximately
Fabrics:  Fish-  Color Wheel Stashbuilders  by Connecting Threads  ( a variety of Quilter's Candy prints)
            Background:   Lotta Dots- a  white on white dots tonal ,  by Connecting Thread
Thread:   Aurifil  - # 2024  50 weight - for piecing
Batting:  Pellon 970  Thermolam   
Quilting:    wavy , horizontal lines, using my Walking Foot-  Aurifil  -  # 4655  - 50 weight- a varigated blue , to look like water

The quilt top-

And, then, for the back of the quilt,  I made a few more of Lorna's friends,  from the Elephant Parade Quilt Along (here)...  the turtle, frog and bird !  (Aren't they sweet?!)

The turtle, frog and bird, "the neighbors",  will be the stars of the back of my quilt!

I made the quilt sandwich, and quilted wavy lines horizontally across the quilt, using my walking foot. The quilting thread is  Aurifil #4655, which has a blue and white varigation. I hope this gives the feeling that the fish are swimming in water.  

The horizontal rows were marked  by pinning on both sides of my  1.5" - wide ruler.  I just had to keep the quilting  inside of  these  pinned lines.

Pinning to mark the boundaries of the wavy lines

I used a pretty blue Tic Tac   fabric for the binding-

My Kissy Fishy Quilt     by Susie's Sunroom

Here is the finished back of the quilt... featuring these cute characters!!  ( I am just going to have to make an Elephant Parade quilt some day!!)

The Kissy Fishy quilt is a perfect size for a children's quilt.  (I'll be saving this quilt for any grandchildren that may come down the road....)  

I think it's  a splashing success!   

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:     Let's Bee Social  @ Sew Fresh Quilts    and   
                          Fabric Tuesday  @ Quilt Story  and
                          Building Blocks Tuesday @  Quilter In The Closet  and
                         Finish It Up Friday  @ Crazy Mom Quilts    and
                          Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!  @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict  and
                          Fabric Frenzy Friday @  Fort Worth Fabric Studio    and
                           TGIFF  @  Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.       and
                          Finished Or Not Friday  @ Busy Hands Quilts

A Walk in the Park

A Walk in the Park

Whims and Fancies blog

                                                         

It was a cloudy day, and I was tempted to say it was not pretty enough for a walk .
But we went anyway...

The lush  vegetation contrasted with  the  jagged-edged barks ,  in the woodlands surrounding the old mansion .

I wondered what lie beyond the stone wall, topped by the elegant stonework arches...






Ivy-covered stones and  gangly pines in a row ...

and .... yet more  English Ivy vines , persistently creeping  towards the sky.

It  turned out to be a perfect day for exploring some paths. And for looking around an old mansion's gardens , at  Ridley Creek State Park.

Go on over to Soma's blog , Whims and Fancies,  to see so many beautiful photographs!

Linking up at-      Wandering Camera @   Whims and Fancies

I'm off to my sewing room!