Hooked on Needles


Monday, October 31, 2011

More Progress on Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt

My goodness but things have been crazy around here lately! I just wanted to pop in here real quickly and show you some progress on Karen's quilt...


More Progress on Karen's Postage Stamp QuiltAll the 5 by 5 blocks laid out and ready to be sewn together...so pretty!

Don't forget to click over to The Girl Creative and sign up for a chance at a $25 shopping spree in my Etsy shop. You could start your Christmas shopping early!

I'll be back soon with some pictures of a new quilt I'm working on using Kate Spain's Fandango fabric line which I am totally IN LOVE with! I want a bolt of every one of those prints...just to look at...they are all so gorgeous!

Now back to the rat race on this cold rainy day. Hope you are enjoying a busy fall day too!

Happy Stitching!

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Kerry's Tote Bag and a Weather Trick

A few weekends ago, Kerry came over to my house for a 4 1/2 hour tote bag workshop. She brought her own sewing machine and one yard each of two fabrics. I supplied the interfacing, cutting station, ironing station and instructions. It was a fun afternoon and productive too. Come see what she made...


Kerry's Tote BagThe purple bag on the right is my workshop sample which I made a few weeks ahead of time so I could write down notes on measurements and order of assembly. The bag on the left is the one Kerry made during our workshop. She chose a canvas fabric and peltex interfacing for her bag and I think it turned out just great!


Kerry's Tote BagThe inside is lined with the striped fabric and has pockets on both sides for storing and organizing lots of stuff.


Kerry's Tote BagDon't you think this is a good looking bag? Kerry was a great student and worked hard to get this done in one sitting. Now she's practically a bag making expert, having learned just about all of my bag making tricks to use in her future bag making efforts! Great job, Kerry!

Have you heard that New England dressed up as January for Halloween? Well, it's true!

winter wonderland for HalloweenWe really got dumped on here in the northeast! Our house was without power for only 17 hours so we were some of the lucky ones! There are still many thousands of homes that will be without power for another few days while the utility crews replace and repair downed transformers and reconnect homes to the power supplies. The public works crews have been working non-stop clearing downed tree limbs and whole trees that came down from the weight of the 12+ inches of heavy wet snow on top of trees that have not yet dropped their beautiful fall leaves. A bad combination all around!


winter wonderland for HalloweenWe stayed warm and cozy by the fire all day Sunday until the power returned around dinner time.


First fire of the seasonWe were very grateful for a cozy house with no tree damage and enough wood to keep us warm for a really long time, thanks to that ice storm we had a few years ago!

To top that all off, our refrigerator died on us just before the storm arrived. We spent Saturday morning buying a new one and making arrangements for its delivery which won't be until tomorrow (Tuesday) because of the storm. So to get us through the four days without a big refrigerator, we picked up one of those little square ones like what you might find in a hotel room if you request a refrigerator in your room. We figured we could keep some milk and lunch meat and a few other small items cold. That plan was working just fine until we lost our power Saturday night! We had already thrown away every last thing from our big refrigerator and didn't want to lose what little we had in the small one, so my husband filled a cooler with snow and packed the contents of the small refrigerator into it and left it outside to stay cold!

School was canceled for today and has already been canceled for tomorrow because of the lack of power to that section of town, and Trick-or-Treating has been postponed until Thursday evening. Once the new refrigerator is up and running and school is back in session, things should get back to normal, but I've still managed to make some progress on Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt which I'll show soon.

I hope you are warm and safe and cozy in your home this week, with some stitching of one kind or another to keep your hands busy!

Happy Stitching!

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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt ~ Coming Along!

There's just something about working with lovely, top quality fabric that makes me happy. So I've been happy a lot lately! This Postage Stamp Quilt I'm making right now is such a pleasure to work on, especially in my newly cleaned out and organized sewing space. What a difference that makes! So come see how far I've gotten...


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt This is what I had accomplished up to this morning, a nice pile of 5 by 5 blocks.


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt And this is what I still had to sew together into 5 by 5 blocks.


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt The colors in this line of fabric are just so warm and rich. I love them!


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt Ok, just one more shot of this lovely pile!


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt And this is the same pile of blocks after I spent some time sewing this morning. I was able to finish piecing all the blocks that have the solid fabric in the corners, which is half of the blocks for the quilt.


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt And this little pile will get sewn into the remaining 5 by 5 blocks and will have the print fabric at the corners. Rachel's instructions make this so easy to piece, never having to handle individual 2-inch squares! I'll start on that next pile after lunch!

I noticed that I am nearing my 800th post soon and I think that is something to celebrate, don't you? Who knew I'd find so much to say to people who start off as total strangers? I'm happy to report that after about 3 1/2 years of writing and sharing here at Hooked On Needles, many of you are no longer strangers, but wonderful friends I look forward to sharing with and hearing from. And I know there are many more of you who read this and never leave a comment, which is fine too. I'm happy just knowing that you find something useful or interesting when you come to visit every now and then.

So be on the lookout for a celebration giveaway sometime soon. I'll announce the giveaway before the 800th post, and then announce the winner on the 800th post. How's that for a party idea?

In case you missed my big clean-up recently, you can check out my destash boxes over in my Etsy shop and see all the stuff I am ready to part with! Lots of fabric and yarn is listed for a very minimal fee plus postage, just enough to cover my costs for listing and selling and mailing.

Happy Stitching!

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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Crocheted Reflections Afghan ~ Version Two

You may remember the first Reflections Afghan I crocheted as a wedding gift for one of my nieces not too long ago. You can see pictures of it HERE. When our daughter got married last June, I asked if she would like me to make her an afghan and she promptly requested a Reflections afghan, only in her choice of colors. We went yarn shopping and, after a brief warm weather break from crocheting, it is finally finished and here is the result...


Crocheted Reflections Afghan ~ Version TwoIf you took a look at the first Reflections afghan I made, you might notice that this one is just a bit larger, measuring a whopping 96 inches long by about 60 inches wide. Whew!


Crocheted Reflections Afghan ~ Version Two


Crocheted Reflections Afghan ~ Version TwoThis afghan will look great stretched across the back of a couch or hanging over the end of a sectional or love seat. Very cozy!


Crocheted Reflections Afghan ~ Version TwoI trimmed the fringe on this one the same way I did on the first and showed in THIS tutorial. It's a very quick and accurate way to get all your fringe the same length.


Crocheted Reflections Afghan ~ Version TwoThis is the nice little pile of cuttings from trimming the fringe. These leftovers will be thrown in the trash, but all the other leftovers will be crocheted into my scrap afghan which I'll be showing you very soon, still in progress of course!

Feels good to check one more thing off my list of projects! How's your list coming along?

Happy Stitching!

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Friday, October 21, 2011

Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt ~ In Progress

A few months ago, Karen commissioned me to make a quilt for a very special occasion that is happening next summer. So I showed her some I had made and she instantly fell in love with my postage stamp quilt that I had done during Rachel's quilt along in January. Karen picked out a new line of fabric called Lately Arrived From London by Barbara Brackman for Moda, and ordered a jelly roll from Judi over at Green Fairy Quilts, where you'll find fabulous fabric precuts at great prices and even more fabulous service. So that is what I've been working on since I finished my big clean-up. It's so nice to work on a lovely project in a clean and organized space! Come on in and take a peek...



Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt ~ In ProgressSorry I have no pictures of this project up to this point, but these are all the 5 strip sets that have been cut apart into 2 1/2 inch strips and stacked up for shuffling into 5 by 5 block sets.


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt ~ In ProgressHere are the first twelve block sets waiting to be stitched together...


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt ~ In Progress...and here are the next twelve block sets. I still have to shuffle up enough strips for another twelve of each block. You may have noticed the first twelve have print fabric in the corners, and these next twelve have the solid, which is Kona Bone solid, in the corners. That's all part of Rachel's easy to follow design for this fun quilt.


Karen's Postage Stamp Quilt ~ In ProgressThese fabrics are so rich and wonderful to work with. I am anxious to get back downstairs to sew all these blocks together because then the design really starts to take shape. I'll share more pictures as I go along.

Last night I finished a crochet project that I will show you next time. I still have to trim the fringe, but after that, it will be ready to deliver. It looks something like THIS project, only in different colors.

It's been so cool and crisp and colorful here lately so I thoroughly enjoyed working on that afghan that I just finished. Luckily I have a scrap afghan that I work on after finishing a project, and I just crochet all the leftover yarn onto it. It is big enough to keep my lap warm in the evenings when I sit down to crochet. So that will be my evening project until I get another order for an afghan. Gotta keep these hands busy! Do you?

Happy Stitching!

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Friday, October 14, 2011

Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!

It is finally complete! I have destashed my fabric and yarn, and reorganized my sewing room to accommodate my new birthday gift, and I'm ready to show it off to the world! Of course this also means it's time to draw a winner for my Fabric Scraps Giveaway, so hold onto your hat while we take a little tour of my space, then I'll announce the winner! Come on downstairs...



Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!Now imagine you just stepped into the door of my sewing room and looked a little to your left. This is what you'd see. There's my trusty old (and I mean OLD) Singer sewing machine with my handy dandy bulletin board above it and my nifty thread holder with overloaded wooden dowel for ribbon rolls. I hung another cafe curtain rod to display my siggy quilt, and I also hung up my snowman hardanger picture above the bulletin board. It's about time that snowman got a place of honor instead of hiding among the mess!


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!While still standing in the doorway, if you look just to the right, you'll see these two cabinets tucked neatly against the wall, with my bag stash peeking out from between them. I put some of those 3M sticky hanger things on the sides of the cabinets so I could hang up all the bags I use for all different things. Did I ever mention that I love bags? You can see one of my favorite bags hanging on the hooks against the wall. That one was a giveaway prize I won from Debi and it is so perfect for bringing along a project, so I keep that one easily accessible! Plus it's made out of such awesome fabric and I just like to look at it!

On the floor there in the purple bucket is what's left of my yarn stash. After I finish the afghan I am working on right now, I plan to use up most of what's in there on a scrap afghan I started a while ago. I love making scrap afghans with leftovers! The basket on top of the purple bin is full of fabric panels and matching backing fabrics for some baby quilts and tree skirts and the like. Those are projects I work on in between big projects!


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!If you step into my sewing room just a bit (which is all you can step in anyway because it's only 6 feet from the door to the opposite wall!) and turn to your left, you'll see this old dry sink which has been such a wonderful sturdy piece of furniture that we have used in all different places in our homes over the years. I was happy to finally see the top of it again!


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!And this is the far left wall at the end of my sewing room that is now home to my new HUGE ironing board top which my husband gave me for my birthday! It is solid wood and covered in white cotton duck cloth. It was made by a husband and wife team from the next town from me and they delivered it to me personally! Now that's service! I love supporting local business people. This new top is 5 1/2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, and it does not have that pointed end like a regular ironing board has, which is great for ironing clothing and curves, but for large pieces of quilting fabric, this new top will be a real dream! If you're interested in a top like this, I can share the contact information for the makers of it.


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!Opposite the ironing board wall is the cabinet wall, and on top of the cabinets I put the 3-drawer units that hold my fat quarter stash, ribbons, leftover bindings, jumbo ric rac and other small stuff that would otherwise get lost.


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!Inside the right cabinet, I have organized the top shelf to hold beading kits and other packaged projects that are waiting to be done. I also tucked my supply of white cotton yarn balls there which I still want to try dying with kool-aid someday! The second shelf is what's left of my fabric leftovers after destashing. A lot of this will be used to make aprons and other items with the denim that is on the third shelf. I have been collecting jeans that are no longer usable as clothing for years, but the collection was taking up so much space that I decided to cut it all down and keep just the usable parts of the jeans. So that is what I have left...no more thick waistbands or chunky pockets, just the flat parts of the legs to cut up and make useful things out of. And the bottom shelf holds some queen size battings that will be used in quilts I'll be making very soon, a nice piece of pink denim yardage, and my M&M bag full of all my beading supplies.


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!The left cabinet is now home to all my precuts and some yardage, both folded and still on bolts, and miscellaneous craft items on the two lower shelves, like scrap booking stuff and cross stitch and paints.


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!Now turn around and take one more look at this fabulous ironing board top! My iron looks so small on it!


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!Now step just outside of my official sewing room (notice there is no swinging door but instead a pocket door because I did not want one inch of my small space wasted!) and you will see the ping pong table, which hasn't actually seen a ping pong ball or paddle in years! It is my cutting table, and I just love it! When I am working on a really big project, I pull it out and lower the other half so I have a super huge flat surface to work on. It's nice to finally see the whole thing again...the 'before' pictures would have been much too embarrassing to show! My next quilt project is sitting there just waiting to be started. Underneath the table are all the items I have listed in my Etsy shop for sale, packed away safely and out of the way.



Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!And that box at the back of the table? That's what the winner of the Fabric Scraps Giveaway will be getting in the mail! It is STUFFED full...but I'll tape it well!


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!These boxes are all my destashed fabric and yarn that have been listed on Etsy and numbered so I can keep them straight. And there are some rolls of upholstery fabric that I will be bringing to my sister soon.


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!These are finished items waiting to be delivered.


Sewing Room Clean-up 2011 is Complete!And these items are things I've made or purchased that I need to move along for other people to enjoy. I may be doing a few more giveaways so be on the lookout!

And that's it for my tour. If you've made it this far, you probably want to know who will be getting that box of fabric scraps. So let's take care of that right now...give me a minute to write down all the names...ok, now I have to go back to my husband's office and have him pick one out of the hat since my two giveaway helpers are in school right now...and now I'm back with a winner...is it YOU? If you are Beth McDonald, then it IS you! Congratulations, Beth! I'll email you for your address! Thanks to all who entered and were willing to help me destash! I truly appreciate it!

Now it's time for me to get down to that clean sewing room and make a mess!

Happy Stitching!

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Dandoh Knitted Scarf winner is...

Merry! I've already contacted her by email and will be sending the scarf to her very soon. Of course this means that Sean, my little guy who has been out of school for two whole weeks because of a bad appendix, went back to school today! Hooray for him! It's so amazing how children bounce back from things like this. I worked in the cafeteria at lunchtime today and he was right there in the middle of everything, doing what boys do, eating lots of yummy lunch, and of course showing off his scar to those brave enough to peek!

I still have more work to do cleaning up my sewing room, as I mentioned HERE the other day. I've been adding to my bag of fabric scraps for this giveaway too, so if you are interested in a nice box of fabric scraps, make sure you click over to that post and enter the giveaway. But if you don't win, I do have lots more fabric packaged up and ready to ship out. It's all listed over in my Etsy shop as Destash Fabric and Yarn Boxes, so go check them out!

Now back to work!


Happy Stitching!

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Monday, October 10, 2011

Whew! Destashing is Hard Work!

These two little giveaways I'm running right now for the Dandoh Scarf and for the fabric scraps have really gotten me moving! I have cleaned out all my fabric stash and packed up seven flat rate priority mail boxes with a wonderful variety of fabrics. You can check them all out over in my Etsy shop. They should be easy to spot as they are cleverly named Destash Fabric Box 1 through Destash Fabric Box 7! Well, I couldn't think of a better name for them!

When I first got the idea to destash, and discovered I was in the mood to do it efficiently without the least bit of sentimentality about it, my first thought was to just pack up a few boxes and do a giveaway for each one. But after I saw just how much stuff there was, I realized that it was just too much for me to foot the bill myself. So that is why I've listed them on Etsy, each box for a very nominal price plus shipping. I rounded up the priority mail flat rate to the next dollar just so I wouldn't have to deal with cents. So if you don't mind paying a small price, go check out what's available and see if there is anything that interests you. These are all first come, first served, and once they are gone, they are gone. I can't wait to show off my newly cleaned and organized sewing room, once it gets to that point! Thanks for helping me!

It looks like the Dandoh scarf giveaway will end on Wednesday as Sean is just about as good as new after his appendix surgery and should be returning to school. The fabric scrap giveaway will run into this week, giving me a chance to find any other stray pieces of fabric to add to it!

Now back to work! Yarn and craft destash boxes will be available soon too!

Happy Stitching!

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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Fabric Scrap Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed! Thanks to all who entered. Click HERE to see who the lucky winner is.


It's time for another major clean-up and reorganization of my sewing space. Last time I shared all kinds of before and after pictures, but this time I will spare you the details! You're welcome!

Anyway, the impetus for this clean-up was the birthday gift I gave myself, or rather the birthday gift I arranged to receive and told my husband 'thank you' for! You all know how that is, don't you? Easy, efficient, everyone is happy, so why not! Once the clean-up is complete, I'll show it to you, but for now, I have something to give away...


Fabric Scrap Giveaway
Here is a lovely little pile of scrap fabric. Some of it is from projects you might recognize if you stop in here frequently, like that little fanned pile of rectangles on the right, which are the leftovers from what I sent for the Swap A Rainbow fabric swap. The cutting of those fat quarters was so efficient that I only had these little stacks of rectangles left. There are also scraps from my postage stamp quilt, the butterfly apron I made recently and gave to my craft fair helper, a nice little piece from the tote bag I made for Anna down in Australia for her birthday, some pink music note fabric which was used as a backing for one of my I Spy quilts, some pink fabric from the cancer walk backpack bags, a large piece of blue solid with fusible webbing already applied to it which came from the arch on the school charity banner, a few other pinks, and also a little denim apron which I did not make but would be great for your little kitchen helper...you could even decorate it with some of the fabric scraps!

So if you would like to receive this little package of scraps in the mail, just look over there on my sidebar for the new box that says Find Us On Facebook, and LIKE my new facebook page. Leave a comment on this post telling me you have done that (I'll check too!), and make sure I can contact you by email. That's it! I'll draw a name next week sometime when, hopefully, the clean-up is complete. I may even have a few more packages of things to give away, but I'll post each one separately as they may be different kinds of stuff like yarn or crafts. We'll spread the prizes around!

We are still celebrating Sean's recovery from his appendix surgery and his return home from the hospital after a week, so be sure to enter that giveaway too! Click HERE to join the celebration and for your chance to win a hand knit scarf!

Enjoy this gorgeous weekend, and get a little sewing, knitting, crafting done too!

Happy Stitching!

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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Celebration Giveaway!

And just what are we celebrating? You may remember a few days ago I mentioned that I had been spending lots of time in the hospital with my 8 year old Sean who had a nasty bad appendix removed last week. Well, he is home now and so we need to celebrate with a giveaway!


DanDoh Scarf ~ Free PatternI posted about this scarf pattern and yarn HERE a few weeks ago. You can read all about it there, but if you want to own it, you need to leave a comment below telling me what kind of project or activity you would bring along if you had to spend days in the hospital waiting for someone you love to get better. All are welcome to enter, but comments like "Love the scarf" will not count, even if you really do love the scarf! You gotta follow the rules! And I need to be able to contact you by email without hunting it down, so if your profile is set to no-reply make sure you leave your email address in your comment. Feel free to share this giveaway with friends, but please only one entry per person. I'll draw a winner when Sean goes back to school, so you have at least a few days!

It will be so nice to have dinner tonight with everyone at the table, and I think we will all sleep better being together under the same roof. What a week!

Happy Stitching!

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Hospital Project ~ Another DanDoh Knitted Scarf

Last Wednesday afternoon, I grabbed my purse, my knitting and a bottle of water as I ran out the door to take our 8 year old son to the emergency room for acute abdominal pain. Since then, a lot has happened. One nasty leaking appendix has been removed. That happened around 9:30 Wednesday night. Many nights have been spent with half our little family in the hospital and half here at home. And my knitting project that I grabbed on the way out the door, just in case there might be a few minutes of waiting that night, has been completed. And here it is...


Hospital Project ~ Another DanDoh Knitted ScarfIt's another Dandoh Scarf, just like the one I showed here last Monday, only made with different yarn. You can see in the picture above and below my little orange sticky note where I am keeping track of my rows, the same way I showed in this post some time ago. It's a very easy and efficient way to remember right where you are in a pattern, whether knit or crochet.


Hospital Project ~ Another DanDoh Knitted ScarfThese curly edged scarves work up so quickly and are so fun to make! I really enjoyed working with this Classic Shades yarn too. It just feels so good in my hands. I got this ball of yarn at the same time I purchased the yarn for my first Dandoh, from Nobleknits. This ball had more yards of yarn in it than the first one, so I actually added four extra rows in the middle of this scarf to make it just a bit more substantial. And you can see in the picture how much I still have left. Hmmm, what shall I do with that? I'll save it for a scrappy scarf or maybe a little baby hat or something.


Hospital Project ~ Another DanDoh Knitted ScarfThis yarn is self striping which make this scarf look extra fabulous.


Hospital Project ~ Another DanDoh Knitted ScarfYou can check it out over at Nobleknits, where there is always free shipping. They have lots of awesome patterns and yarn and kits and accessories for all you knitters.

So where is my sick little boy now? Sad to say he is still in the hospital trying his best to get better and hanging out with Dad for the night. When he finally comes home, I think I'll let all of you celebrate with me and we'll have us a little giveaway. The prize will be my first Dandoh Scarf, all ready to keep your neck cozy and pretty for the winter. So stay tuned for some good news, hopefully in the next few days!

Happy Stitching!

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