The PERFECTLY PLEASING PINCUSHION PARADE 2020

IT'S TIME!
THE PERFECTLY PLEASING PINCUSHION PARADE IS BACK!

Click HERE to join us

This first picture is the whole lineup for my pincushions this year.  Here they are enjoying the hot and beautiful Arizona sunshine.

Next, comes a grouping of pincushions that I made especially for the parade.  I think the tomato is my favorite.  I have always like the tomato pincushions and remember years ago my first pincushion was the red tomato with the strawberry sharpener (although I don't think I actually knew it was a pin sharpener at the time.)  In fact, I liked this pattern so much that I made one for my sisters and my daughter.  I'm sure you will see them in their parades this year :)

The next two photos are gift pincushions that I have received from my sisters.

Irene from Hilachas gave me the pincushions above.  I just LOVE the little houses they are just so cute!  The pincushion attached to the bag sits by my sewing machine because it is just so convenient to have the bag their for all of my "hilachas" as we all know the little threads can cover floor if you don't have something handy nearby.

My sister Ida who is responsible for this lovely parade sent me a  pincushion survival kit with all kinds of goodies for making pincushions including all of the fabric for the lovely little pinwheel pincushion above which was a snap to make since she had already cut all of the pieces I needed to complete it.

And last, but never least,  I decided to add my all-time favorite pincushion once again, It is the pincushion that my daughter Sara from One Piece At a Time made for me when she was just a little girl.  It will always be my favorite for obvious reasons.

Last Minute Entry!!!

Sara stopped by today and brought me this amazing slice of cake for my birthday!  What could be more perfect?  Well I had to add it so here it is.  I just love the colors and the the pretty decorations she used.  Thank you Sara :)

Ugly Duckling

...and here's the Ugly Duckling in its own post so that I can link it up separately.  Just in case you didn't get a good look before, here they are in a larger size :)

 

It's time for THE PERFECTLY PLEASING PINCUSHION PARADE!!

This is my second year to join the parade and I am so happy to be part of the fun.  Click the link below if you'd like to join in the fun!

           

My Sister Made Me Do It

These first three cuties are gifts from my sister.  I absolutely love how realistic the little pie looks.  I like having it out in my kitchen just for fun!  Ida knows how much I like southwestern style art and she created the adorable pincushion frame just because of that.  Who doesn't like a patriotic pincushion?  This little darling is just perfectly pleasing!

                           

I made these four pincushion recently.  All fairly simple.  I did struggle a bit getting the cathedral window correct but it is okay for a first try.  The one on the upper right is made out of a quilt I found at a yard sale one day.  I always feel so sad when I see the quilt that someone spent so much time making laying out in someones yard feeling rejected so I was happy that I could use it to make some fun pincushions.  Bottom left is my version of the old timey tomato pincushion and bottom right was made from someone else's hard work cross stitching.

Last, and definitely least in my estimation is my ugly duckling hedgehog wanna be!  He looked so cute in the instructions, but alas, he did not turn out that way!  Lucky for him the contest came around or he would probably laying in the scrap pile!  

New BOM 2017

Well, it is that time of year again!  Time to join a new BOM group.  This year, Irene and I joined the Growing up QAL Skill building BOM and our first new skill was to make a raw edge appliqué block. We created it using a single cut!  Here is my silhouette rose.  Thank you for the great design and instructions for this fun block Alida.

Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade

I am so excited to join the Pincushion Parade this year.  Click the link to see all of the great prizes and then be ready to share photos of your pincushions when the link opens!!!

Here are my entries to the parade:

Sara and I decided to try our hand at making at least one new pincushion.  Here is my little teacup cushion.  I think it turned out pretty sweet.

I found this cute little floral pincushion somewhere along the way.  It is now one of my favorites.

Here's one made out of a cute little basket.  I also picked this one up "along the way."

This last one is the one I have used for years.  You can see all of the pins and needles in it.  My daughter Sara made it for me when she took a home ec class in middle school.  I have to say that this is my all time favorite. ♥

That's it for now.  I am excited to start a bigger collection for next years parade.

In Our Garden BOM revisited

Since I keep forgetting to post my finished blocks I decided to put all in one post. This has been another learning experience for me. I have a much harder time with the pieced blocks than the appliqué but they are all coming along and I am enjoying working on each of them.  I am ready for July blocks now :).

In Our Garden Block of the Month

Irene and I joined this block of the month group.  Each month we are given the pattern for a pieced block and an appliqué block.  These are my blocks for February:

Here are my March blocks:

I am looking forward to Friday so that I can see what our next blocks will be!

Round and Round We Go!

I joined my sisters, Irene and Ida, my daughter Sara and fellow blogger Mary in a Round Robin group.  I first joined because my daughter wanted to do it and I agreed to help her and I decided as long as I was helping I may as well join too.  Sara and I are both new at this quilting adventure.  I have done a few things sporadically over the years but not with any consistency.  I guess I didn't really know what to expect when we started.  I was a little apprehensive about working on someone else's piece.  I guess I was afraid to mess it up.  Since I warned reminded everyone that I am a novice (along with Sara), I decided to give it a go.  I have to say it has been a lot of fun and each time I finish one round I am excited to start the next.  I can't wait to see all of the finished products.  Here is a picture of my center block.

Christmas Gifts....I was busy!

Once I got started I just kept going. I made a quilt for Michael (which I wish I had back now that I purchased a new sewing machine. )  Michael had been asking me for a quilt ever since I made Max his quilt several years ago. I had purchased the fabric, started the quilt, and then did not like the way it looked so quit making it. Fast forward 3 years and I ripped apart what I had previously done, added some different fabrics in and used the same technique I had used with Carson's quilt a couple of weeks earlier. Here it is.

Next, I made 3 afghans.  One for Mama, one for Sara, and one for Megan.  I used a really large crochet hook and double strands of really soft yarn.  They were very simple to make - I just used single crochet throughout.  I thought they turned out nice.  Here they are.

                                                     This is the one I made for Mama.

This is Sara's.                               

This is Megan's.

That is all for now but will have another picture soon when I finish my current project - I am making a t-shirt quilt for Sara.  Wish me luck.  (It should be easy since I have my new sewing machine. - Right?)

Christmas Goodies for Max and Carson

Well now I'm on a roll.  Sara and I decided to make some fun goodies for the boys to send with the quilt.  We made a felt Christmas tree with lots ornaments for the boys to use to decorate the tree.  Of course, I couldn't just make simple bulb ornaments, I had to make them extra special with the boys favorite characters.  Max really likes the Ninja Turtles and Super heroes while Carson likes the Disney characters.  Then we decided to make a snowman.  Sara turned it into a Olaf snowman with lots of fun accessories.

Carson's quilt

This is my grandson Carson's quilt.  I purchased the materials to make this quilt just after he was born (in May 2014) and never actually started on it until a couple of weeks ago.  My sister Irene gave me a pattern that she explained would be simple and quick.  I proceeded to put off the creating since it still seemed beyond my abilities.  Finally I decided that I better get it to him before he turns two and I started and finished the quilt in about 3 days with the help of Irene who talked me through the process.  It was actually as simple as she had told me it would be.  Someday I may learn to listen.