Last Finishes of 2016

I finally made curtains for my sewing room.  I put up temporary ones after we moved in, back in April.  I just could not decide on what fabric I wanted to use.  I was going to put a ruffle on the curtains, but I think I like it the way it is.  The shutters were on the windows when I moved in.  They were specially built for these windows.  I was thinking of taking them off to open up the windows more, what do you think?

When we moved in, my realtor gave me a gift certificate for $25 to a fabric store.  This was in April, I lost the certificate (the fabric store was an hour away).  Last week when I switched purses, I found it in an old purse!  Yesterday, I went to the store and found Pam Kitty fabric for $5.99 a yard!

These are the curtains that were in my sewing room when I moved in, everything was still a mess.

I only got five yards of fabric, but it was some fabric I had been wanting!  Next time I got to Springfield, I will have to pay the store another visit!

This is how my cats spent their time while I was sewing.

 I also finished hand stitching around this cake block, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

This is all of the sewing I finished this week and I had the whole week off!  I did go ahead and take down my Christmas decorations and rearranged a lot of decorations.  I switched out this quilt with another quilt, easy way to change decor in my rooms by switching them around.

Have a happy new year everyone!
Missy

Christmas Conclusions

I hope you all had a great Christmas!  My husband heard me say several times that I wanted a little iron on a stick to press my seams open with.  For Christmas he bought me exactly what I wanted!  I have not had a chance to test it out, I've been busy packing up decorations before school starts up.  He also bought me a rotating mat, unfortunately he bought me the same size he got me a couple of years ago instead of the smaller size I wanted, however, at least he remembered I wanted one!

 Last week, before Christmas, we went to Kentucky and visited the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY, and they had a huge Christmas Town.

 Ice skating at Fountain Square in Cincinnati, OH (I have always wanted to ice skate outside!)

 We also went to see the life size replica of Noah's Ark in Williamstown, KY.  It is a museum all about Noah's Ark and is pretty awesome!

 https://arkencounter.com/

We finished the week out by going to two Christmas parties on Friday, watching Christmas movies in our pajamas on Saturday, and church on Sunday with lunch afterwards.

I hope you had a good Christmas!

Missy

Presents Finished!

Ten days until Christmas!  I finally finished making my last four snappy bags.

My husband is such a sweetheart, he cut and taped my tape measures for my snappy bags, while I sewed.  He saved me a lot of time!

Except for the one I gave at a Christmas party, here are all of the snappy bags I made.  I am giving one to my niece for her to keep her Barbie accessories in.  

Here are some of the ornaments I made, ready to give.

Cupcake likes hanging out in the sewing room with me.  You can see pieces of fabric and thread all over the floor.  I really need to vacuum!

My student gave Oreo a Christmas collar.  He actually does not seem to mind it.  Cupcake and Pippi took it right off and Tiger will not let it near his head.

I had to share this girl's hair.  Don't you love the Star on her head?

I need to get busy and finish wrapping all of the presents and get them mailed off today!

My favorite gifts are gifts that are homemade, what about you?

These are my finishes for the week, I'll be very happy if I can actually finish my husband's bath robe.

Missy

How to Backstitch on a Treadle Sewing Machine

I have often been asked how to backstitch on a machine that does not have reverse.  It is actually pretty easy when you think about it.  Of course there are many different ways to do it.

Scented with essential oils, cinnamon, clove, and orange.  

I was making gingerbread men on my hand crank sewing machine and needed to lock my stitch, so I made a video for you!

I hope this helps anyone who has had a question about it!

Missy

Christmas Parties!

I had two Christmas parties today!  I forgot to take my phone to the quilt guild party this afternoon, but I did take a picture of the food I took to the party.

 I made my stepmom's candy cane cookies.

As you can tell, it is a very old recipe!

This afternoon was the Christmas party at my Homemaker's group.  I made no-bake peanut butter cheesecake.  It was delicious!  Here is the recipe!

 The cookies were a chocolate cherry cookie I make every year.

I love the tablescape Miss Norma had on her table.

 Her daughter made the adorable table runner.  She loves to quilt but lives an hour away, so we never get to quilt together.

 We had a gift exchange with a five dollar sewing notion.  I wrapped mine in fabric and added one of the ornaments that I had made.

 I found this cute sewing kit at my LQS, it has practically anything you would need on the go.

 My favorite part was the scene with the treadle.

I enjoy Christmas parties and baking for them, but two parties in one day made for a long day!

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Missy

Festive Feline Friday

Pippi decided that my Christmas Village would be a great place to hang out.

 It is not a very big village yet, I just buy houses as I find them at flea markets.  For now, my penguins are the "people" in the village.

 My gingerbread village is my favorite part of my village.  I'm hoping next year, to have a separate place for the gingerbread village.
This is my newest house.  I got it at Hobby Lobby for half off.

My cats have not been too bad about messing with my village, Pippi is the only one I have caught up there.  I'm researching on how I might want to display it next year.

This is a new tradition I just started a couple of years ago.  Do you have a favorite decorating tradition?

Missy

Christmas Crafting

I have made a few Christmas gifts.  I have three snappy bags made, three more to go.  Pieces of a metal tape measure is what makes them go "snap".  I need to make three more.

I also made Christmas ornaments.  I was going to put a button in the middle, but I think I like it without.  What do you think?

 These were super easy to make, I just cut out the heart shapes with my pinking shears, sewed around the outside edge and stuffed them.  I added some pine essential oil to the stuffing, so there is a faint scent of pine to them.  I made six of them.

I won an awesome giveaway from Grey Dogwood Studio and Wyndham Fabrics.  First Blush fat quarter bundle and thread set.  I can't usually afford to buy fat quarter bundles, so I will save it for a special pattern.

Have you been busy making Christmas gifts?

Missy

Feline Friday

Yes Mommy, I know I am your 15 pound baby, but my paw is almost as big as your hand!

 I have an over sized love seat that is too big for my living room and does not match anything in my house.  I put it in my bedroom and put pillow shams from yard sales on the overstuffed cushions.  I also put a comfy blanket on it.  Oreo thinks it is his new bed.  He's still close to the bed, but does not get kicked at night.  LOL

 The cats love the "cat blanket" that gets put on the bed when it is cold.  The sisters are always cold and cuddling at night.

 Muffin has started cuddling between Chris and I on the couch.  He insists on getting under the quilt on the couch too.  He is so sweet.

I have not had any time to sew, I've been trying to put up some Christmas decorations.  No tree because of the cats though.

Missy

Finished Flimsy!

 I am so excited to finally be finished with my top, I got all of the borders on.  I think I am going to call this my birthday cakes quilt, even though it makes me think of Neapolitan ice cream with it's colors.  I love my chocolate inner border.  It will also be the binding.

 I'm trying to decide how to quilt it.  What do you think of a cross hatch over the cakes and FMQ around the cupcakes in the border, with thin lines on the chocolate border?  Or would a stitch in the ditch around all of the cakes and their layers?  I'm open to any ideas.

I sewed the sashing and borders on with my Singer 66, with Lotus decals, treadle.  I have often been asked how hard it is to control my material while I treadle, you can see how I slow down when I adjust my material.  I didn't bother pinning it together, but it probably would have made it easier.  I don't like wearing shoes when I sew, I like to be able to "feel" with my feet, althoough I'm sure it really does not matter.

One more picture of my quilt top, Oreo was inspecting it for quality control.  LOL

You can find all of the patterns here:

http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2016/09/cake-block-patterns.html

Missy