For a number of reasons, 2016 was a challenging year for me. However I still have many things to be grateful for so I’m not throwing myself any pity parties!

So I did not have a lot of quilting time available, but I did take advantage of a cold wintry weekend to make a top for which I had an idea brewing for quite a while.  This is the result:

This was made with what I call a “double-snowball” technique.  When you “snowball” the corners of a square, you take a small square, line it up in the corner of a larger square right sides together, and attach it by sewing a diagonal line down the middle then trim off the excess and press out.  You end up getting a somewhat round block that is commonly called a “snowball”.  Like the photo below:

However I did a variation of this by first sewing a border around my center square, then I attached a smaller square on each corner, trimmed and pressed out, then attached a smaller square to the corners again to make a block that looks like this:

After I made several of these blocks I sewed them together, sewed on borders, and ended up with the quilt top pictured, which had a squares and diamond pattern.

If you would like to make a similar quilt, click on the following link to see a tutorial for my Squares and Diamonds quilt.  You can also click on the Tutorials tab and get to it there as well.

Do you have friends or family members that are avid readers?  Well here is a quick and easy holiday gift you can make them!

This bookmark was made with cloth ribbon, a decorative button, and a cloth-covered pony-tail elastic.  Here’s how I made it. I used ribbon that was 7/8 inches wide and a button that was 1 1/2 inches round:

Take your ribbon and wrap it around the cover of a standard size book.  Lay your button on top of one end of the ribbon so that the bottom of the button is about at the end of the ribbon.

Lay the pony-tail elastic so that the top is about where the button holes are. Trim the other end of the ribbon approximately 1/4 inch from the bottom of the elastic.  I cut the ribbon with pinking shears just to make sure there would be no unraveling.  The goal is to be able to “button” the bottom of the ribbon to the top using the elastic, so you want it to be a little snug at this point. Remember, it’s just wrapped around the book cover to get some basic measurements, not the whole book or a bunch of pages yet.

Then with your ribbon right side up sew your button to the end. On the other end fold the ribbon about 1/2 inch around the elastic and stitch it closed.

There you have it!  A bookmark that won’t fall out or get lost.

You can also make this with a spare 2 1/2 inch fabric strip from a Jelly Roll, however that’s a little more time-consuming.  You measure and cut the same way, but to have clean edges you need to fold and press them under (on the sides and ends) then sew them down before you add the button and elastic.  However it does give you an opportunity to sew some decorative stitches on it if your machine has them.  Here’s one I made.  I rushed this as I was just trying it out, but would probably be a bit more careful if I was really going to give it as a gift!

So using a left-over Jelly Roll strip is an option as well!

I hope you have fun experimenting with colors and buttons to make some custom bookmarks for your loved ones!

My daughter and her husband are a military family.  They have lived the last 3 years in Anchorage, Alaska, initially to my daughter’s dismay (she hates cold weather).  But once there she embraced the natural beauty and outdoor adventures available, skiing, ice fishing, hiking, and more (picture a moose walking up to her patio door) and made some really good friends.

They are now being reassigned to a new base and she asked if I would make a going away quilt for one of her best Alaskan friends.  She chose a Friendship Star block and picked a variety of fabrics with prints that reminded her of shared interests and the fun that they had together.  Since she wanted to pick out the fabrics herself and ship them to me, the only direction I gave her was to try to get contrasting colors for each block so the star shapes wouldn’t blend with the background. It was a fun challenge to get the fabric in the mail and put the quilt together.

The end result is pictured below.  I left one square plain white so that she could write a message for her friend in that corner.  Her friend cried and cried when she received it.  A reminder that something made with love will always be a masterpiece!

Photos are from my phone as I forgot to take pictures with my real camera, LOL.

If you would like to learn how to make a Friendship Star block, here is a link to a great tutorial: Friendship Star in 5 Sizes.

I have woefully neglected the blog due to several commitments that have kept me away.  One of which included a quilt I’m about to finish as a gift to someone.  However since I over-bought the fabric I needed for the quilt design she chose, an idea for another quilt using the leftover fabric has emerged.  I will be posting that soon so hang in there!