Patriotic "Pay It Forward" Gift Box



Back in February, I posted a "Pay It Forward" challenge. I offered to send a homemade surprise gift to anyone who signed up and was willing to offer the same thing on their blog.  I only had one taker. I had a year to send the gift, but I decided to do it now because I love patriotic and Americana themed projects. I wanted to put together a box with a few small items that were related to my theme.  I started with the dish towels (above) that I hand appliqued.  




Then, I added these pot holders that I made using applique and embroidery. I added the little flags to the original design just for fun.




Next, I made some "flossies" (the little dresses above with the embroidery floss around the waist), a card with fun red and white buttons and some red and white striped ribbon for the recipient to use as she wishes.




I put it all together in a smallish box using these fun striped and polka dotted bags. I think this was probably more fun for me to give than for anyone to receive! I sent it off to Pam at thefinderskeeper.blogspot.com. She was quite happy to receive a fun surprise in the mail.  Thank you for stopping by today. Please  come back soon.  -Derrith



Apron Trio

This is the fabric palette I used for a fun project I just finished...

I 

 A friend asked me to make an apron for her granddaughter, her great grand-daughter and her great-grandson. I started with the one above. I like to take a motif from the main fabric and turn it into an applique for the yoke

Then I used coordinating fabrics to make the little girl's and little boy's aprons.

It was very fun to come up with the appliques and the color combinations.

I'm happy with the results and hope they will be also. I sure do appreciate you visiting my blog today. See you again soon. -Derrith

Post Cards For You

Here are the quilted postcards we exchanged at our last quilt group meeting.

Our theme was Summer or Patriotic...

So, we had a little of both.

It's always fun to see everyone's individual take on a theme.

Not everyone has the time to make one every month, but it is a tradition we all enjoy.

 I hope you'll stop by again soon. Love, Derrith

A Visit to Candy's Studio

This is the third in a series of tours of the studios of the talented women in my Quilt Group. This is Candy's studio and it is a wonderland of creative inspiration! Candy is an Art Quilter and a Fiber Artist among many other talents. To visit her studio is such a treat - your eye doesn't know where to go next. There are so many fun, quirky, beautiful, unique and vintage treasures that you don't want to leave for fear you've missed something fabulous!

The room is only medium sized, and a lot of it is taken up with work tables and tools and all her fabric, so I couldn't get a long shot to take in the whole room. I will, however,  show you vignettes so you can get a flavor of who Candy is! Above is a cute old dresser that has pools of thread for handles.

This is just one of many shelves filled with collections of vintage items that she has on display.

...just a couple of pieces of work in progress

Sweet little collected pieces.

Candy does absolutely amazing things with felted wool. This elephant is quite large - probably 6" - 8" tall. I wanted you to see some of the other animals she has created, below:

Continuing around her studio, I loved this carousel of buttons!

I discovered this collection of vintage suit cases she had tucked away. I wonder what's inside them?

Candy belongs to a few quilt groups and so she had traded quilted postcards for quite a while and she had decorated her quilt studio with them. They can be found all through the space. So fun!

Quite an enviable stash!

I wanted to share this project she was working on. She took this picture of her husband and had it digitized and is recreating it with fabric. AMAZING!

Another quilt in progress.

Love this "basket'O'thread".

This wonderful old cabinet wasn't in her sewing room. It was in her kitchen but I just loved it and wanted to show you.

This is the talented lady herself. Thank you, Candy for sharing your fascinating space with us and thank you, visitors and followers for stopping by. I hope you will come again soon. -Derrith

Sunny Catalina Island

I've just returned from a lovely 4 days on Santa Catalina Island with Gary and my sister, Cheryll.

The weather was absolutely perfect: 68 - 70 degrees, sunny with a light breeze.

We did a bit of sightseeing in a rented golf cart since that is the main mode of transportation on the island.

I decided to go beyond the usual "post card" shots, and explore some of the side streets of the downtown area. They are filled with little cottages, many in pastel colors. There were a few Spanish influenced stuccoed houses, but most were wood and quite weathered.

They were cute and compact and many were vacation rentals. The really large homes were far up in the hills.

They were quite different from the beach houses I find on the Oregon Coast.

My husband spent a summer on Catalina when she was 11 and he says things hadn't changed much. We found the house he stayed in some 54 years ago!

I will end with this cutie. I return relaxed and refreshed and ready to get back to my projects. I hope you will visit again soon. Thank you! -Derrith

Braggin' On My Buddies

I wanted to share with you some of the beautiful work that has been done by my "Sisters'n'Stiches" group. Our last meeting until fall was last night and Candy was our hostess. Here she is showing this fabulous appliqued block.

Jayna showed us her finished Cowboy Quilt. She designed it herself.

Isn't it awesome?!

Jayna had another cutie finished.

Margie had finished her enormous king size beauty.

Margy also made this darling bag, using her embroidery machine to add the flip flops.

More beautiful work from Margy.

Darlene made this amazingly cool wall hanging. The picture doesn't do it justice. She is a virtuoso on her embroidery machine. This was done in sections and then pieced together, matching up the writing. Truly stunning.

Another marvel from Darlene.

Pat brought her completed masterpiece of a quilt. I wish you could see this in person.

Her applique work is perfection, the fabrics and colors are so beautiful and the machine quilting is a work of art also (done by Darlene).

Anita hand made these cute little pin cushions.

Our meeting was held on a beautiful almost sunny evening in our neck of the woods. Candy lives in a wonderful old yellow farm house up in the hills. We ate dinner on her back deck. She made 4 different kinds of quiche for us. What a treat!

This is on her deck railing...so cute! I will share more pictures of Candy's house and especially her studio very soon. To our fearless leader, Barb: We missed you! Hurry home soon. Thank you for coming by my blog today. Can you see how inspiring it is to meet with these talented women each month? Please come again.  -Derrith