GREATFUL!

Scott's birthday cards. Scott got lots of attention, cards, gifts and facebook messages. He loves attention! 

Does he look 64? What a great guy!

Tumble quilt is basted, ready for quilting. Baby shower is soon! (great niece or nephew) Happy event, fun project for a cold, snowy weekend.

More snow this weekend - are we grateful for that?

As much as people complain about our long, cold and snowy winter, I guarantee - spring is on the way!

Mug Rug Photo Shoot!

Santa's elves were busy right up until Christmas Eve, making a mug rug for everyone who opens gifts here on Christmas morning.  It was a fun project for me during the busyness of the holiday season, and it was fun watching everyone pull them out of their Christmas stockings.

I got the idea from a blogger friend Kelly, over at pinkadot quilts, who had a great tutorial on making cute but simple mug rugs - you can see it here.

I decided to make each mug rug somehow personal and different.  This is for Emily, in pretty blue scraps (all mug rugs were made from my scrap bin, including the backings...did I even need to say that?).
I wish I had posed all of them for a group shot on Christmas morning, didn't think of it. Pretty soon everyone had taken theirs home, or to their offices, so I had to beg for some posed photos.

Genevieve's arty glamour shot, I love it! They have a lovely view of a forest preserve from their apartment. Her mug rug was vibrant reds, with some dogs (they have two pups) and some hearts.

This one belongs to Matt, Emily's boyfriend.  I had previously made him some coasters of these earthy batik prints, and he loved them, so more batiks showed up on his mug rug.

Here is Nick's - Nick is Genevieve's boyfriend, and I chose red, white, and blue for him because (a) he was born on the 4th of July, and because (b) he loves Captain America! Love this photo too.

Scott's mug rug - you'd think it would be easy for me to get a photo of Scott's, but he had taken it to his office, where he uses it every day.  He brought it home so I could snap some photos.  I chose brown prints for Scott - coffee colors, his favorite color and beverage!

Danny, Hannah's boyfriend, love the Chicago White Sox, so I chose black prints (you always wear black to a Sox game!), and did some fancy stitching in red, to mimic that done on a baseball. This one was fun.

Hannah's cute mug rug - I tried to include soft, Hannah-like colors in hers.  Also, the strip of a heart print in the center was also used in a Valentine quilt I made for her.
There you have it, 7 mug rugs completed in about 2-3 days, right before Christmas.  I guess I usually work best under pressure!

More snow! and a sewing play date!

Lucky us, we are getting more snow today - they say, 6-10 inches by the time it's done. This morning, we woke up to about 2 inches, so Scott wanted to clear it off right away, especially the sidewalks.  That Minnesota blood (our homeland) runs deep, must keep those walks clear! That's Minnesota pride!

Doggies watching and waiting until Dad comes back inside.  Or, maybe they are supervising?

I must work this morning (piano teaching), but then I get to play this afternoon! Bought some new fabric this week, for a tumbler pattern baby quilt (my nephew and his wife are due in May, so exciting!).  Not sure if the stripe and other prints on the right will play nicely with the others I just purchased...may search my stash for others as well.  Gotta love a scrap quilt!  But - I don't have a tumbler ruler, so I drafted a pattern with paper, ruler, and pencil, and cut a template from template plastic! I really had to search for that, bet I haven't touched it in over a decade. (note, the quilt photos above are from another blog, quiltstudio22, her work is lovely!)

I also might work on this project - this is just a teaser, don't want to show the whole thing as I am almost done! This project has been a long-time brewing...started summer of 2012, I think.  I can see the finish line, though, so stay tuned!
It's a new year, and a new month, and I have challenged myself to blog on a more regular basis.  Good luck to me!