I switched the bottom right two blocks and made pieced the extra border. Much better! and more complete looking.

I finished up the quilt top Wednesday and now am basting the layers together (of course with a helper) and thinking about the quilting pattern. Any suggestions? The back is a light tan with blue and red flora (should show the stitches well!) and I have navy quilting thread.

 As always you’re welcome to use my illustration for your own personal use. Enjoy!

Love’s Greeting to my Valentine (PNG) Download

So urged by Serena, I looked through a couple quilt books and thought the Union Star Quilt in Civil War Sewing Circle, The: Quilts and Sewing Accessories Inspired by the Era (That Patchwork Place) by Kathleen Tracy was perfect for a young boy. It’s not too big and if I keep to similar colors of blue and red he’ll probably like it. When I first browsed the book it was one of my favorite patterns and I had started setting aside some possible fabrics for it. After some shuffling these are what I came up with.

The last day and a half I’ve spent sewing blocks and have 4 finished and one more cut. I made a mistake on two but I’m probably not going to bother taking it apart and resewing them. I’ve already done some seam ripping to get the first 2 blocks to the right size. The 1/4 inch mark on my machine must be slightly off and made the finished blocks much smaller than should be. Most people probably wouldn’t notice the mistakes anyway especially with 8 more blocks. Would you have noticed them if I hadn’t pointed it out?

I also came upon this cute granny square turtle that he might like. Have the shell finished so far and not quite enough yarn for the head and legs. Might use some of my handspun merino yarn for those with some of Eleven Hills handspun for the underbelly.

I’ll probably make a few more animals for him too. I was thinking the lion from Easy Crochet Critters would be good.

It was one of my first poodle illustrations using a 1920 Norman Rockwell painting as inspiration. I always used this drawing for greeting cards and once or twice in a 12 month color-your-own calendar.  As always you’re welcome to use my illustration for your own personal use. Enjoy!

Poodle Reading a Thermometer (PNG) Download

My favorite Christmas card we received this year was this one:

I’m not a big on reflecting on the past, I like preparing for the future more, but I had a great year in 2011! Lots to be thankful for. I am looking forward to all that 2012 holds, particularly the arrival of our boy!

How do you feel about new year’s resolutions? I’m not a big resolution maker because I feel every day is a new opportunity to do better or try something new. This year, I will strive to be content with what God provides daily, will work on finishing some of my UFOs (especially before the boy arrives), and adding new download-ables to share with you.

I was meaning to make an apron for myself since September from this vintage pattern and decided Wednesday to just get ‘er done.

Used my machine to make this and am quite pleased that it was so quick even though it was a Simplicity pattern (it often takes me forever to figure out what the instructions mean). Even had enough time and thread to do a little fancy over stitching ( it’s about the only non-basic stitch on my machine ;o) ) on the waist band.

Merry Christmas!

These I did with a white gel pen and colored pencils for the drawings. I tried to keep with the theme of the stamp for the drawings.