hook holder

One of my favorite gifts that I am giving this year is a yarn basket filled with wonderful yarns and books on how to crochet. A girl friend of mine has been wanting to learn, so I thought it would be a perfect gift to help her along. As a finishing touch, I decided to make her a hook holder.

Using dot patterns from Kei, Lecien, Denyse Schmidt, and other various companies I do not know the name of, to back the hooks. The main pattern is one of Echino's new fabrics called Ornament Turquoise, which is just scrumptious in person.

I made a few extra slots, so her collection of hooks has room to grow. To make this holder, I modified the colored pencil roll pattern from the book, Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. I love this book, it has so many wonderful ideas in it.

This was such a fun project that I decided to make one for myself. Currently my hooks live on the bottom of whatever bag my yarn is currently shoved into, so this was a necessity for me. I think I just need to learn to make everything in pairs, one to give away and one to keep. I know that is a bit selfish, but it's hard not to fall in love with the things we make.

Good morning everyone, I am so sorry that this is coming a day late....sadly the stomach flu hit my baby girl, and yesterday was spent in a sea of vomit. She is feeling better today, but still running a fever, so we aren't out of the woods yet. I hate it when my babies get sick, especially her because she is so young.

Our lucky winner is.....number 3, Aneela of Comfortstitching, who said:

do I want a potholder.........I think I need yours!!

It would look lovely hanging up in my kitchen:)

Aneela, I will email you to get all your info, I hope you enjoy your new potholder!!

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first giveaway

My Guild meets once a month, and I really look forward to these meeting......there's nothing like being in a room of amazingly talented women who all love what you love. This months meeting was to include a Holiday pot holder swap. So on Monday, I was all ready with my potholder to go to my meeting, when my husband called letting me know that he lost his keys on one of his job sites and was stranded. So at the last minute, I had to cancel going to my meeting to bring that sweet hubby of mine the spare keys to his car. It was somewhat comical because I am the type of person who looses her keys (and have on many occasions) but my husband is not. He is far to on top of things to loose his keys....I blame it on the rain!! Needless to say, that leaves me with a potholder that needs a home, so I decided to turn it into my first blog giveaway.

Who is this giveaway for....well my wonderful followers of course. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed becoming part of this amazing online quilting community, and truly appriciate the comments left by all of those who stop by my blog. So if you are one of my followers and are interested in adding this potholder to your kitchen, then just leave me a comment. If you are not a follower of mine, then you can take part by becoming one and leaving a comment too! I will use the random number thingy magigy to pick a winner on Monday, December 14th. Good luck to all, and thank you for your support!!

a little girls quilt

I finished the little girls quilt for Give a Kid a Quilt, and although the design is a simple one, I really like it. I think what makes me like it is the Joel Dewberry fabric in the center.....I adore those birds, too cute!. I will have to make a quilt for my daughter with that fabric someday. Some of the other prints include Heather Bailey and Amy Butler.

Now that I have both quilts done, I need to make a trip to the post office. I am really hoping that these two quilts find their way to their owners before Christmas.

quilting for a purpose

While sipping on my extra hot Chai tea latte last week I stumbled upon something that really touched my heart. I was on the sometimes crafter's blog reading her feelings on an important issue...homeless children. I followed her link to the blog, Give a Kid a Quilt organized by Rachel (from 2nd avenue studio) and Christina (the sometimes crafter).....after reading for a few seconds, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be part of this amazing idea. They are collecting quilts to donate to homeless children, ok.....homeless children. I don't know if those two words hit you the way they did me, but just the thought makes my heart ache. So I immediately responded and told them to count me in. All other projects were put aside and I got to work!!

The reason I started quilting was to make something for my children that would represent me throughout their lives....something that would keep them warm and feeling safe when I couldn't. I get the most wonderful and fulfilling feeling when I make a quilt for someone that I love. What I learned this week is that I get that same feeling from making a quilt out of love for someone I don't know. I enjoyed making this one so much that I have decided to do another. This quilt was made with a little boy in mind, the next will have a little girl in mind.

I used some of my stashed fabrics for this quilt. The green dots are by Westminster, the orange and brown are from Denise Schmidt's Katie Jumprope line, the blue dots are Kei, the multi colored dots are by Alexander Henry and lastly the grey mushrooms are by Jay McCarroll. I am hoping that, when this quilt finds it's way to the little boy it is meant to belong to, it will supply him with warmth, comfort and hopefully a bit of safety.