Karrin's Crazy World

Sunday, December 09, 2018

Hand Quilt Along (HQAL), Slow Sunday Stitching

For purposes of the Hand Quilt Along, I'm going to repeat a couple of finishes. I've been busy recently getting things ready for Christmas. I finished hand quilting the Angel Quilt, designed by Cheri Payne.

I also made this ornament. It was in the book Just Be Claus by Robin Kingsley of Bird Brain Designs.

I just finished this stitchery by Kathy Schmitz. I just joined her One Stitch at a Time Club.

I'm going to make this into a little cushion by granddaughter Kyleigh.

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Lori, Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan, Nanette, Sassy , Edith, Sharon, Karrin, and Gretchen

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

In other news, after I got some designs downloaded into my embroidery machine, I did this little nutcracker for grandson John who has inherited my love for nutcrackers. This came out rather small, and I was thinking of enlarging it.

I wanted to embroider a car on a zip up sweatshirt for my son-in-law who owns a used car lot. I embroidered one for him about 13 years ago, and he is still wearing it.

This was the design I purchased. A pretty blue 69 Mustang. The color chart provided was very tiny.

So I started stitching it out. The first color my embroidery machine said was blue, and it stitched the ground and part of the car. Then it asked for cyan, and I did that teal looking color. Then it asked for yellow and green. By this time, I didn't know what to do.

I went back and printed out the sheet on the Bernina software and this was what it came out as.

So I decided I was going to start over with a lighter fabric and follow the tiny color sheet instead of what the embroidery machine was suggesting.

I put the embroidery hoop on, loaded up the pattern and I keep coming up with an error message that says to attach the embroidery hoop. Multiple times. I played around with this for about 2 hours. I called the sewing machine place and it will be $199 to take it in. I drove it down to the shop last night before they closed. Hopefully they can get to it quickly.

Need to go bring out another sewing machine so I can work on this week's Good Fortune Mystery by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, December 05, 2018

Good Fortune, Clue 2 Finished, New Ornament

Bonnie Hunter@ Quiltville's new mystery quilt started 2 weeks ago called Good Fortune. This is the first time I have done one of her mysteries, and I am trying to keep up.

I finished my pieces for Clue 2. Clue 3 comes out Friday, so I am doing better than last week!

I also finished an ornament. This is from Robin Kingsley's book called Just Be Claus. I like how it came out. I am going to give it as part of my Christmas gift to someone at Bunco.

In other news, after struggling with my older Bernina Artista 185 embroidery machine, and trying to download designs with the Artlink software after my laptop died, I was able to contact support at Bernina and they helped me with my problem. So I will be able to embroider some gifts this year. So it has been a good week already. I have been struggling with this issue for several months now. My laptop was designated for use with the Bernina and was running on XP. I lost a lot of designs that are on the hard drive. If I could find the exact same laptop that ran, they could transfer the hard drive to the new machine. Overall it was an expensive fix. I'm so happy I can use their new software, and transfer the designs to my machine now. The first up is going to be a sweatshirt for one of my son-in-laws who owns a used car lot. I made him one about 13 years ago and he is still wearing the same sweatshirt.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, December 03, 2018

Good Fortune Mystery, Part 1 and 2

Bonnie Hunter @Quiltville Blogspot started her 2018 mystery quilt called Good Fortune on Black Friday. The link up to Part 2 is here.

I finished my part 1 pieces this week. There are actually some extras in here. The majority of my fabric is Civil War repros. I didn't have any scraps, of repros. I was cutting into yardage. I have 4 drawers of these repros, and I am happy to be using them again.

Then I started on Part 2. I'm about 1/2 way through sewing but I have them all cut out.

I'll be linking up with the Mystery Link-Up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, December 02, 2018

SLOW SUNDAY STITCHING

My slow stitching this week has been working on an ornament. The pattern is by Robin Kingsley in the book Just Be Claus. I just need to add some beads and then I can finish it.

My next project will be this one. It is by Kathy Schmiz. I recently joined her One Stitch at a Time Club and this was one of the past stitcheries. It will be perfect to make into a cushion for granddaughter Kyleigh, and me too. Several years ago, when I bought the Just Be Claus book, I also bought something called Stick and Stitch by Sulky. You can print your design on this item and it has a slightly sticky back, that you attach to your fabric. When you are finished, you wash it away with cold water. I used it on the above stitchery. It is sort of wrinkled up because I rinsed it out and it is drying. I decided to bead it after I washed it out. It came off pretty good. I am pleased so far.

I'm still trying to decide on the thread on this one. She suggested 6 strands of DMC. I was going to use pearl cotton, but I think maybe I will go get the suggested color.

Thanks for stopping by. I will be linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Saturday, December 01, 2018

One Monthly Goal, December 2018

I'm going to join Patty again at Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal. I love that it keeps me motivated to get my innumerable projects. So far I have made each goal.

My project this month is to clothe this doll I have gotten granddaughter Klara for Christmas.

It's an 18" doll this time. I have seen plenty of free patterns on Pinterest for 18" dolls. The problem with the Baby Alive doll I got her her BD, it is hard finding free patterns.

Yesterday I made a trip up to Chico, about a 1-1/2 hour trip one way to drop off my donations to Honey Run Quilters for the Camp Fire Victims. I knew through Lori at Humble Quilts that they were overwhelmed with fabric donations as someone had donated 50 boxes a few days before. I took up 4 quilts, some yarn and needles I heard they could use, some zippered bags, needles, hoops and a bunch of stitchery kits that had all the items necessary.

I was going to browse the shop while I was there, as I have not been in a quilt shop in 7-8 years. I have been working with my stash, and during that time, I didn't have time to quilt. Anyway I was looking forward to browsing. Well my navigation system sent me on a merry run, for about 1-1/2 hours. I was in Chico, on the right street, and it kept telling me to turn the opposite direction. I finally stopped and looked at the map and realized the navigations directions' error. My husband is disabled and can be for a 3 hour period of time, but I worried about leaving him much longer. I left him lunch, a drink and his pills in an ice chest. I tried calling him to let him know I would be later than expected, but he didn't answer. Luckily my daughter off work, and went over and spent a couple of hours with him till I got back.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, November 29, 2018

2018 Finish-Along, Last of Christmas Decorations

Just wanted to document 2 more finishes for quarter 4, co-hosted by Marci Girl Designs.

Back in October I stated my goals for quarter 4 here.

#1 on my list was the Angel Quilt, a gift for our oldest daughter for Christmas. I shared this earlier this week, but wanted to document for the purpose of the 2018 Finish-A-Long, Q4.

The second finish was #5 on my list, the owl table runner for our other daughter, who loves owls. Top of the head is grandson Jaeger. He gets taller every single time I see him! Someone asked thelast time I showed this owl redwork how many threads I used for the redwork, but left no way for me to contact them. I used 498 DMC Pearl Cotton #8, 1 strand because I wanted it to stand out some.

I will be linking these finishes up in January at Marci Girl Designs.

If you are bored with my Christmas decorations you can stop reading here. I am going to share some of the dolls I made. Some of the porcelain ones I dress up at Christmas time. Long,long time ago, I used to make porcelain dolls, and cloth dolls, and I have some especially for the holidays.

Grandma and Grandpa I dress up for the holidays

Hark and Herald

This is a cloth doll, Santa who is working on a baby. He has a pincushion and scissors attached to his arm. Somehow he lost one shoe this year,. He was wearing a toddler shoe. I knit his hat and socks too.

These are cloth dolls whose faces were stretched over plastic molds and I painted the faces.

This is a watercolor wreath I painted a long time ago.

On this ledge, I made the cloth Santa sitting on the left. I also made the Santa who is fishing with a star hanging from his pole, it says "Catch a Falling Star"

This prized painting of a nutcracker, my now 18-year-old granddaughter painted when she was about 3-4 in an art class. That year, I made this my Christmas card.

These two babies are dressed up in PJ's waiting for Santa.

These 3 folks I bought at a Harvest festival three separate years.

Guess that is it for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Karrin

Virtual Cookie Exchange, Last Day

Today is the last day of the Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop hosted by Carol @ Just Let Me Quilt. I'd like to thank Carol again for the chance to participate in this great blog hop!

The past two days have had some terrific recipes and holiday traditions. Below is a list with all three days' participants. If you haven't had a chance to visit check them all out.

November 27

Kwilty Pleasures

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Happy Cottage Quilter

Sew Many Yarns

For The Love Of Geese

November 28

Creatin' in the Sticks

Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Bumbleberry Stitches

Melva Loves Scraps

Beaquilter

TODAY - November 29

MooseStashQuilting

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Kathleen McMusing

DesertSky Quilting

Life in the Scrapatch

Ridge Top Quilt

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting

Operation Domestic Goddess

Just Let Me Quilt

Thanks for stopping by! Karrin

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Virtual Cookie Exchange

I was so thrilled to be able to join Carol @Just Let Me Quilt Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, I love decorating, making tins of cookies for family and friends.

One of our traditions is for me, with the help of my grandchildren Kyleigh and Jaeger to decorate the day after Thanksgiving. It usually takes 2 days for the decorations to be up, with their help. Last year, due to my husband's ongoing health issues and being in and out of the hospital/and rehab from October to December, I did not feel like putting my village up or the tree. I did put my nutcrackers and nativity scene up,

Granddaughter Kyleigh helped with the tree before she left to return to college in Massachusetts on Friday.

It is hard to get a good picture, the lighting in my house, especially on a rainy day is not that great.

My dear mother-in-law painted a Nativity Scene for us just after we got married 43 years ago. Our oldest daughter when she was small used to beg and beg John to put it up.

Another of my favorites are my nutcrackers which I have been collecting for years. They take up 3 surfaces.

Then I have my village. I have a lot of sea-based houses, and boats, and lighthouses, with my love of the ocean. Jaeger, our almost 16-year-old grandson helps me organize and put these up, and makes sure all the cords are hooked up under the tables. Jaeger was not available to help this year, so 13-year-old Keaton helped, and somehow, I didn't put up one of the leaves in the dining room table, and things seemed more squished than usual, but it was too late to start over.

The whole setup

My sea and part of the fishing village

Jane's Quilt Shop

Fanny's Fabrics!

I also love getting my Christmas quilts out! This first one was one of my first quilts, from 1999, quilted by none other than Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville, back in the day when she did longarm quilting for others. Bonnie has gone on to author 7 books now, does extensive traveling and teaching, and the yearly mystery quilts, and soon to have a Quiltville Inn Retreat I hope to visit one day. This quilt was called Days Past was from a book called Christmas Or Not by Gerry Kimmel, Linda Brannock and Jan Patek.

This one Plaza Trees is from a book called A Nice Mix by Gerry Kimmel.. I didn't even label this one, but I probably made it in 1996 or so and quilted it myself.

I love these angels, called Joy, and it was also in the Christmas or Not book. I hand quilted this one.

Lastly my Angel Wreath. This was a pattern by Linda Brannock, in a book called Gardening for Quilters. I made this a goal in Quarter 2 of the Finish-Along. I had finished the top in 1997, and hand-quilted on it off and on over the years, and it would get stuck in a pile or in the cabinet, and if I didn't see it, I forgot about it. I was thrilled to finish this up and be able to have it out this year. I had finished the pillow top quilting,and was able to get the pillow made.

I have other decorations to share, but this post is getting rather long. Maybe I'll share the others another day.

Another of our traditions is to make around 10 or so kinds of Christmas cookies and to hand them out to family and friends. John used to make the sugar cookies, but is no longer able to do that. So I do them all now. Two of our favorites are Fudge and Crunchy Peanut Bark, recipes my mother obtained from a friend back in the 60's. I have been making these since then.

The recipes are here:

FUDGE

by Karrin Hurd

http://karrinscrazyworld.blogspot.com/

Place in large bowl:

18 oz chocolate chips

1/2 pound butter (2 sticks)

10 oz miniature marshmallows

2 cups walnuts or pecans

2 tsp vanilla

In large pot place:

4.5 cups sugar

1 can evaporated milk.

Grease a 13 x 9 inch pan with butter and set aside. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Cook 8 full minutes (I use my watch to keep track). When cooked, pour over mixture in bowl and hand beat until butter and marshmallows melt. Refrigerate and then cut into pieces.

Note, after sugar/milk mixture has cooked, need to immediately pour over the mixture in the bowl and mix thoroughly as it sets up pretty fast.

CRUNCHY PEANUT BARK

by Karrin Hurd

http://karrinscrazyworld.blogspot.com/

2 pounds white confectionary coating (sometimes called almond bark or candy coating

1 cup peanut butter (I use chunky)

3 cups crispy rice cereal

2 cups dry roasted peanuts

2 cups miniature marshmallows

Place the crispy rice cereal, peanuts and marshmallows in a large bowl. Place waxed paper on countertop to drop the spoonfuls of bark to set up.

Place confectionary coating in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave at until melted, about 2-3 minutes, then mix in the peanut butter. Pour the mixture over the peanut/crispy rice/marshmallow mixture in the other bowl. Mix thoroughly and drop byspoonfuls onto waxed paper and let set up.

The whole Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop participants are below if you haven't had a chance to visit. There are some wonderful recipes, projects and traditions being shared. Many thanks again to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for hosting this fun hop!