Happily crafting

Hi and thank you for visiting me! How are you doing? All's well here...the kids had last week off for February Break. There's a question around here as to why this break is needed...it was started in the 70s during the energy crisis, to try to save the schools money. But 40 years later, the break still goes on. It just seems like it's unnecessary and interrupts the learning process. But hey, ask the kids and you get a different answer!

I finished blocks 11 and 12 from the house quilt, yaay! Here they are, November and December:

I am really digging November's block. I love the colors, and the mix of cottons and wool!

I wanted to do something different than the expected red and green. These go better with the whole quilt, anyway.

And here are all of them, laid out together:

I'm pleased with the way they've turned out. Trying to figure out my favorite. I keep looking at November!

 

Here's a closer look at the first six...

 

...and the last six.

I have some fabrics picked out for the sashing, borders, and cornerstones. I forgot to take a picture of them but they're pinks, yellows and blues. I think it will look nice. I couldn't decide when to add the embellishments...after it's all quilted? But then you'll see the threads on the back. After the top is all sewn together? Then it's bulky and a pain to work with. So I'm sewing them on now, pre-put together. I may regret this later but I really didn't know what the perfect solution would be. What do you do?

I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to Spring. I've been eyeing this candle mat kit on the Colonial Crafts website for a year...

image borrowed from Colonial Crafts website

...when I got a coupon code for 15% off (sorry, it's expired now), I pulled the trigger and ordered it. I also got a few other things. What can I say, I love Colonial Crafts!

This is a closeup of the wools included in the bunny candle mat kit.

 

And here's a closeup of the separate wool felt bundle. I thought these colors would be nice in the sheep candle mat.

image borrowed from Colonial Crafts website

They have the best wool felt bundles and coordinating patterns. Service is super fast too! My aunt used to go to their store when she travelled in New England, but I think they just have an online business now. It's wonderful, check it out when you get a chance!

Take care my friends...off to do some housework.

♥ Jen

Craftiness

Hi folks! How's everyone been? I've been crafty lately, believe it or not! It's funny, I went into Joann's a week or so ago and the manager said, "Wow, we haven't seen you in a while!" LOL Anyway it's nice to have some time to get some crafting done. I've missed it!

I've been trying to catch up on my Country Cottages BOM. I got August through October done (minus the embellishments, of course).

August

 

September

 

If you see some blue pen marks, I'm having a heck of a time getting them to erase and STAY erased. I'm not going to buy this brand of "disappearing" pen anymore, that's for sure.

October

 

By the way, if you're interested in doing this BOM, I think they're leaving it up til March on their website. After that the patterns will be for sale. I printed all the final months/finishing instructions out already.

I also got the cutest purse pattern and couldn't wait to make it. It's called "To Market," from This & That Patterns. This is a picture from their website.

Isn't it adorable? Plus I had gotten the purse handles from Sharon a while ago and I needed a project to go with them. Here's the one that I made:

I'm not an experienced purse-maker, but this was definitely NOT easy. I've done lots of zippers before but this one was the hardest. Plus, the last part of the instructions made no sense so I had to rely on my past-bag-making knowledge (ha!). But I got it done. Will I ever make another one? Most likely not!

As you might be able to see in the above picture, I'm trying to decide on a new paint color for our downstairs. The little strip of light color around the outlet is the old color; I want to go a bit darker this time. There are two swatches on the wall...I think I'm leaning toward the one on the left. What do you think?  They're pretty similar, I admit.

I hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by.

♥ Jen