Fleur de Lis Quilts Best of 2016

Oh my goodness! Earlier in the week I wrote a "look back and evaluate" post for 2016. But when I decided to add it to the Meadow Mist Designs linky party, I discovered that this party is for your five best posts. Well, I didn't do that! It that just like me? So I'm writing another post and this time I've read the instructions!

My choices for top five in 2016 and why I chose each one:

5. a wave of little finishes:  Ford sun visors / studio chair / hundreds lots garment repairs / just a bunch of little things

4.  The Quarry / Quilty 365 / pretty impressed / stuck to one project for a long time (not 365 days) / circles and circles

The Quarry

3.  scrap projects / scrap control / this scrap quilt / using lots of scraps / attention grabbing popular post 

Scrap Quilt

2.  learn to paint / my ideas / combine painting and quilting / my favorite project / working on a third piece

Blue Cotton on the Stalk

1. For the second year in a row: Most viewed tutorial / best tutorial / most good for the world / number one post for 2016 and all time / updated version of the pattern and tutorial for the preemie gowns / Children's Miracle Network hospital / find the original post on my tutorials page / why these little gowns are important to my family / why I make them (too many words but okay somehow)

And there you have it: my top five posts for 2016. If you happened here from the Meadow Mist party, thanks for visiting and please leave a comment. If you found me some other way, please click on over and visit a few more of the 80+ blogs (as of Thursday night) that are participating in the party. Lots of fun seeing which posts others chose and why.  And even more fun for me is finding out who comes by...leave a note and I'll visit your blog.

Pin It Weekly #185

What does one do when a babysitter chooses to listen to her charge and attempt to make silly putty? Join in the "fun" to prevent real disaster. Nos to almost every request don't necessarily work, you see. Especially when both the sitter and the charge are grands. 

They watched videos on how to make the silly putty and then decorate a glass jar to store it. 
Note a couple of problems: 
1. The recipe does not work. At all. 
2. Glass jar? For children? Who didn't think this through? 
3. Not every ingredient is readily available in the amount specified. But we were good. 

Then we ran errands...and returned to the idea from hell. Why can't a 7-year-old forget something that grown-ups know is going to be a disaster? Aaarugh? So we made silly putty using the recipe on the right.

Epic fail. Epic mess. Epic clean-up. Epic let's-go-do-something-else-and-get-out-of-grandmay's-hair-until-she-cleans-up! 

Ask if we decorated a glass jar to store the mess. Ask if the Dawn dish soap that we wasted is expensive. Ask if there's any cornstarch left in the house. 

Now ask if I pinned any of these silly putty recipes. Ha!

But I have pinned a few other ideas. And thank goodness, because this DIY is not the one to choose. Try these instead.

You'll find these ideas and about 50 more on my "DIY, with kids" Pinterest board.  But take note, the silly putty pins are there no more. 

2016 Wrap Up -- Looking Back for Growth

In early January I decided to make and post some resolutions for my quilting and blog. I suppose it’s time to revisit those and analyze how well I did.

8 Baby Quilts all together

Plan: Increase blog content.  Apparently I’ve hit my stride in writing blog posts. This is the fourth year that I’ve written 200-250 posts.  So while I didn’t increase my writing numbers, I did learn something from the goal.

Plan: More finishes.  Here’s one that is a success! I have completed 21 projects this year. I had planned to challenge myself to make smaller projects because I tend to make bed-size quilts. I made eight baby quilts plus a few larger quilts, including one huge (king-size) quilt.

Large and larger quilt projects (except LSU) and one green chair

Plan: Use more scraps.  Another win! I’ve made several small quilts using scraps and many pincushions.

Sunvisors for Dusti's Ford

Plan: Keep track of fabric usage. I’ve faithfully posted my fabric usage each month (except once when I forgot, but I added it in with the following month). I’ll post totals for the year in a few days.

Plan: Better photos. At least I was honest with myself about this goal being, “the almost impossible one.” I even tried a Craftsy class, Mobile Photography with Jack Davis, to improve. I don’t think it was successful.    

Plan: Keep pinning.  “Pin It Weekly” and “Sunday Quilt Inspiration” are my thing. I decided to continue with both through 2016 and found that apparently a few followers do as well. Hopefully you are one.

I am very happy to say that this look back at the past year has been a great reminder of all the things I tried: recovering sun visors, painting and quilting art pieces, recovering my office chair, and now the rag rug that I am currently working on for the camper bathroom. If nothing else, I'm versatile and willing to take risks, but I think I've always known that.

I hope you had a wonderful 2016 and are looking forward to new dreams and learning in 2017. Thank you for the friendships and the joy that you've shared with me. I only hope that I paid you in kind--well, as much as that is possible anyway. I'll be around to visit as many blogs as I can to read your reviews and see how your resolutions for the new year.

Scrap Busting on Two Fronts

I'm determined if nothing else! I have a couple of scrap bins that are full. I mean packed in and shoved down to keep it from bursting over the top. I have got to get it under control.

To that end, I am working on the scraps in two different ways. Firstly, I cut up some of the thin, cheap fabric that I've had for a long time. These skinny strips of about one inch each are now in a basket next to my favorite chair, ready for me to make fabric rope. 

I'm winding the rope onto a cardboard and plastic cone that held ribbon once upon a time. (I keep a few of these cones in a box along with other sewing organizers. You never know when you'll need a free organizer.) 

I filled the cone and piled on a bit more of the rope before getting started on the actual project. We need a small run in the camper bathroom, so yesterday I started sewing up the rope into a rope rug. It's much easier than I expected and I ran out of rope quickly. I still need to add about four inches to the rug, so I'm back to making rope while Rich watches television. 

The second scrap project that I'm working on is an improv quilt using the scraps in my neutrals bin. Actually the bin holds neutrals, browns and whatever is sewn onto either.  This is where I was last night, but I added a few more chunks today.

There's no guarantee that I'll use up most of these scraps, but at least I'm giving it a go. Plus, I can see the difference in the baskets, so there's that! 

How do you handle scraps? What projects have you found to bust up some scraps?

Linking up with

AHIQ with Ann at Fret Not Yourself and Kaja at Sew Slowly

The Crazy Bunch

My family is such a fun-loving crew. Traditionally we wait to have our get-together/gift exchange on Christmas night. This allows the kids to wake up to Santa surprises, go to mass, and visit their in-laws, or whatever they choose to do.

This year we decided to exchange gifts, have supper and then play games so the little ones could join in the fun. They had been running around screaming for most of the evening and the adults decided this would help to settle them down a little. Of course, not one made much of an effort to pick up or straighten the house, so excuse the messes in the pictures. 

Ha! It's crazy to think that we'd play a game and be quiet. It started relatively calmly, but that did not last long. We started out with some form of charade that didn't work very well but eventually got off the ground. I looked up a couple of family games and in no time we were rolling with laughter as everyone took turns acting out their animal for "White Elephant." Here's a minute of some of our fun and laughter.

When we got tired of animals, we turned to "Giants, Wizards, Elves." That's basically "Paper, Rock, Scissors" but using sound effects and your whole body. Even the shy ones got into that game. 

What happened here, I can't say exactly.  But we laughed way too much for such silliness. I'll only say retaliation is never good.

What are some fun family games your family plays? I can always add to our list...

One Pink Quilt to Welcome Christ

A few weeks ago I discovered that the pink scrap basket was overflowing. Really overflowing. So I decided to cut the scraps into two inch squares using the die for the Double Wedding Ring block. 


Actually, there are two dies very close to each other on this block, so I used both. It's just easier. 

The larger size (2½") I put aside to make a kit for our summer travel. I decided to use up as much as possible of the smaller size. I was successful. So much that I had to add some yardage to finish off this quilt. 

I have been working on the quilt in small spurts when I could get into the studio for something other than making repairs or headbands. I finished it just last night and tossed it in the washing machine this morning. Then I sneaked into Marley's room to take pictures among her toys. It was a perfect backdrop. 
 

The quilt is a last-minute add-on to one of Dusti's gifts. We found out not long ago that Dusti is expecting a baby in April just before graduation. It's been a bit difficult for me to come to terms with this news, but I've resigned to being a great-grandmother at 57. Interestingly, that was not the difficult part: It's that my first little grand is going to be a mom. I keep picturing her as a toddler with those beautiful, big blue eyes and trusting nature and sweet disposition. And I worry. 

However, I also must remember that God takes care of his own, and that it's wonderful news to receive during the Christmas season. In Matthew 18:5, Christ said, "Anyone who welcomes one little child like this in my name welcomes me." This quilt is my way of saying welcome to Christ during this season when He is also a new baby.

Merry Christmas

Pin It Weekly #184

Welcome back to Pin It Weekly. I hope you're having a wonderful last few days before Christmas! Richard decorated the house last week. Then yesterday we went together to get our shopping done. And today we wrapped gifts together. 

Our oldest came in from off-shore today, which means everyone is home, so we'll be seeing lots of them and the grandchildren over the next few weeks. In fact, supper tonight was at the Steamboat Warehouse Restaurant in Washington, LA. Oh my goodness! What delicious food.  Visit their website to see the beautiful old building (built in the 1820s and restored in 1977) on the banks a Louisiana bayou. And the food! You just have to taste it to know.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Visit my "Merry, Christmas" Pinterest board for more Christmas pins and ideas.