Nabby's Dowry Top No. 2

Still a bit wild and crazy, but I like it.

Meanwhile

Meanwhile, the Halloween bags are coming along.  9 of the original 13 are finished, and a couple have been given to the chosen recipients.  They both liked them so much that they decided to start using them now and not wait until October.  I decided to make one more from scraps, and it somehow grew to be larger than the others.  I decided to use 2 1/2" squares, so it had to be 1 inch bigger all around or 1 inch smaller all around than the others.  I opted for bigger.  Then, I decided that it needed a row of black on the top and purple on the bottom, so that added a bit more.  Oh well, I like big bags, I just wish that I had made the handles a little shorter. 

Nabby's Dowry Top No. One

Mackenzie's doll quilt is a top now.  I'm very happy with the pattern, it was fun to do and it turned out cute.  The colors aren't true here, it is cuter in person, and it's a good thing that Mackenzie's favorite color is pink.   I hit some snags with the side and corner triangles, as I had made a little smaller version (5 1/2 inch blocks instead of 6 1/2) and I had to redo them, but with the help of a couple or three or four websites, I figured it out.   I've only done two other quilts on point, and they were Bonnie Hunter mysteries, and I stuck to her sizes, so I just followed directions.  I'm a little wiser now, lol.   Hope Mackenzie and her dolly like it.
PS   I hope my wild and crazy version turns out as cute.

Nabby's Dowry Step Eleven of Twelve

Surprise, this step had 4 blocks, so there are thirteen now.  Anxious to see the reveal on Friday.

Kathy of Kathy's Quilts has an interesting guess of the reveal.  It's very pretty.   http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2013/09/design-wall-monday.html 

Working With My Daughter

My daughter came over yesterday and we worked on the Halloween bags.  We got somewhat of a late start, but managed to finish 4 bags.  I had  2 finished already, and I finished one more this morning, so 7 down and five to go.   She had the ones we did yesterday gathered up ready to go (along with her keys) and I thought I'd get a quick last minute picture.

Is it Worth It?

Most of my afternoon has been spent getting my long skinny batting scraps ready to reuse.  First of course, I had to cut them into the proper lengths and then trim them to neat rectangle size.  I have to ask myself was it worth it, do we save much when we spend our time trying to save money.  I still have a good bit of time left before they're finished, as I have to sew these into approximate 17 by 27 inch sizes.   A queen sized batt is on sale at Joanns for $26.99 and according to my math, I could get about 20 of my required size pieces from said batt.  I only need 10, so i am saving approximately $13.40 and using up several hours of my time.  I'm not so sure that I can stop trying to save (there is a certain feeling of accomplishment and self righteousness), but I'm very unsure that the tradeoff in time is worth it.  If I just cut a batting into pieces, in the same time, I could probably have them all meandered and ready for my daughter and I to make the Halloween trick or treat bags when she comes in a few days.  Also, if I found someone who made dog beds or such and wanted them, they wouldn't be taking up a good bit of room in my closet.  I can't help but wonder what others think.

On the other hand, this was on sale today at Hobby Lobby for half price, and I guess that I can say that my thriftiness paid for it and more.  How do you like my pin cushions, they are socks that I filled the toes with batting and stuffed in the pocket.  Hopefully, at some point I'll make something a little more attractive, plus, they are good socks that I may want this winter. 

Halloween Trick or Treat Bags for Grandkid and Great-Grandkids

After I made my Halloween quilt I had some fabric left.  I was watching Youtube and saw the Missouri quilt company video about 3 tote bags from one charm pack, dangerous thing.  I thought, I can make some of those for the  great grandkids and it'll be fun, because they'll be here for Halloween when they come visit from Germany.   I can't make them for them, and not make one for the two local ones, and I need to make one for the one who lives a couple hours away, but who we almost never get to see.  Ok, still manageable, that'll be five.   I was a little short of fabric (isn't that always the way) so I got some of the sparkly owl fabric.  It was so cute that I decided to rearrange what I had already done, and that left a good sized piece of the owl fabric left over.   This is the first one, it'll be for my great-granddaughter who lives a couple hours away and it'll need to be mailed.  I wanted to get things going early so they can have them to tote things around in in October and not just for the one evening. 

The inside of the first totebag.  I've since added a bit of velcro to the top, hopefully it'll prevent accidental spillage.

I got to thinking again (oh no).  I thought I have enough of that cute sparkly owl fabric for maybe 4 more totebags.   I went to the store and got some polka dot Halloween fabric to go with it, and some fabric that I thought would look good for a lining (the red, white, gray, and black) and on the way home thought maybe I need five not four.  Ok, I'll see if I can make it stretch.  I did, and then I thought that I probably need 1 more.  It'll mean another trip to the store for a couple of small pieces, and that will be the absolute last.  So now, I have 10 more bags to make, good thing my daughter is going to help me.  The last 6 will have a pocket, so they'll be a little more time consuming, but I'm going to try to get a bunch of batting pieced (trying to use up some of my long skinny strips) and put together the outside layer and get them quilted, and then when my daughter comes we should be able to finish them up in a night or two.   It's not easy being a grandma, or a great-grandma, lol.

Afghan

I finished my crocheted afghan.  It has the better part of 8 skeins of yarn and has already been used by my husband last night.  My kids weren't raised with quilts, they were raised with afghans just like this one, that their grandmother and I made.  I know my daughter is going to be jealous.

Nabby's Dowry Getting Close to The Big Reveal

The ninth block of Nabby's Dowry.  I think probably the last one, there are two more steps left, but I imagine that they are sashing and borders.

Mackenzie's nine dolly quilt blocks. 

And their evil twins for my wallhanging.

Nabby's Dowry is part of Pam Buda's Heartspun Quilts Pocket Patchwork Sew Along series.  Here is one of the previous ones, and below is another.  I'm sure she'll come up with something cute for this one, too.   This one is Forget Me Not here.

This one is Busy Work, lots more to see here.

Deck-ade the Halls - Cozy Cocoa Mugs

The cocoa cups are done, and it's a good thing they were saved until last.  None of the steps were hard, but this was the most tedious and it might have caused some of us to give up.  I'm tempted to go ahead and see about assembling it, but I'll wait, just to make sure that I don't goof something up.   I have plenty to do in the meantime.