"Tell me a Story" blocks

Amy Friend from the blog "During Quiet Time" is having a 

"Tell Me a Story" block swap, you can find more info here.

The deadline to sign up is August 31.

You fussy cut the inner block, and the borders help tell the story.

Here is the story for this block:

Once upon a time, Little Red Riding Hood went for a walk in the woods.  She saw the most beautiful little pink bird, sitting on a branch.  It was a magical bird.  Whenever it sang, little toad stools would burst through the earth on the ground below.  This made Little Red Riding Hood so happy.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Lucy.  Lucy had a pet dog named Ginger and once a year on Lucy's birthday, they would go to the circus together.  They loved the clowns, the elephants and the bears!  Most of all, Lucy loved the bright colored balloons.

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Marie.  Marie had always longed to go to Paris and see the sights.  Once day a taxi whisked her away to see the Eiffel tower and the Louvre.  An artist painted her portrait along the Seine river and all of her dreams came true!

This quilt is going to be so much fun!

It's foundation paper piecing and really easy!

I hope you catch the fussy cutting bug and sign up :)

Spelling Bee by Lori Holt

I just love this book, I haven't made the cover quilt, but I've used it a lot!

I made this "N" for my 7 l/2 year old grand daughter Neo.

Her favorite color is blue.

I made Kylie a name strip to put above the queen bed she shares with her little sister Isabel.

I made Isabel a name strip for Christmas last year, not realizing that Kylie was sad that she didn't have one too.

She kept saying that no one will know it's her bedroom, because her name isn't written anywhere...

Now Kylie has a name to match Isabel's :)

I love a good excuse to sew, lol!

P.S. I think Lori Holt's Bee Basics line of fabric is sew happy!

Kylie's Tooth Fairy Envelope

Kylie, one of my grand daughters, is 5 1/2 years old and will soon be going to Kindergarten.

She called me a couple of weeks ago and told me that she has her first loose tooth, 

and asked me if I could make her a tooth fairy envelope :)

She drew a picture of the tooth fairy, I taped it to my lightbox and traced it onto fabric.

I used a white on white stripe, 

thought it would add some extra interest.

I didn't use an embroidery hoop, so it was a little tight.

I just pressed it on the back and all the puckers disappeared.

I tried to embroider the photo exactly how Kylie colored it.

The little bird pocket holds the tooth and the flap folds into the pocket.

I wrote on the front, but I should have used a fine marker.

I don't know what I was thinking!!!

Well, the fact is, I wasn't thinking!

I'm pretty sure Kylie will like it, because, well....she's 5!!!

All 5 year olds are happy and adorable.

Now I have to get it in the mail before her tooth comes out :)

You can see Kennedy's tooth fairy envelope here.

You can see Neo's tooth fairy envelope here.

You can see Reagan's tooth fairy envelope here.

You can see Maisie's tooth fairy envelope here.

Gifts from the Heart

I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything for a few weeks...

We just made a big move from California to Arizona, and I haven't even turned on my sewing machine in almost two months!

We're almost completely set up in our new house, so I've been sewing again lately.

I have some dear friends whom I've met on Instagram and through my blog :)

Joanna is one of my friends, and she sent me this darling squirrel made out of one of my favorite lines of fabric, 

Bee Basics by Lori Holt, for my birthday.

We named each other "squirrels" because we go crazy for anything Lori Holt, or anything Fig Tree, or anything quilty or cute.

When one of us will post something, someone will type "squirrel" in the comments.

Just a silly joke!

This is one of my favorite background prints!

Joanna even personalized my cute little squirrel :)

I wasn't able to attend the quilt retreat with my Instagram friends because of our move, but Joanna sent me the gifts she made for retreats buddies anyway.

She painted these rocks, I just love them!!!

Isn't this the most adorable card?

Joanna's mom is an expert crocheter and Joanna gave us each one of her "love bombs".  

The yarn is so soft!

To top it all off, Joanna made each of us a USA banner and even included the cord and little clothes pins to hang it with.

Some of our instagram friends came 

from Australia and the United Kingdom.

 I am rich in my friends.

So many things in my sewing room have been gifted to me with love, it makes me happy when I look at them, and I know I am loved :)

Anne of Green Gables book club

I hosted book club at my house way back in January.

The book we read for the month was "Anne of Green Gables".

Both of my parents are from Prince Edward Island, and their forefathers before them :)

I could say that I had been waiting my whole life to host bookclub for my friends, for Anne of Green Gables!

I sent them all personal, handwritten invitations which read:

Dearest Emily,

On the very occasion of our most beloved book club, I, Anne-with-an-E, cordially invite thee to a most exquisite evening, hosted by Cynthia at "Green Gables".

Delicious "island" food will be served.

Please attend, lest your life become 

"a perfect graveyard of buried hope."

Your kindred spirit,

Anne Shirley Cuthbert

Well, everyone attended my book club that night, lol!

I made raspberry cordial and in true "Anne" fashion, I ruined it!!!

The recipe called for 1 cup of sugar and 4 cups of water.

I measured the opposite!

The raspberry cordial was like syrup, but everyone was too polite to say anything :)

It sure looks good though, doesn't it?

I had so much fun decorating the dining room table!

I used my civil war reproduction quilt to cover the table.

I had a vintage suitcase (like Anne's) which I partially covered with a crocheted cloth.

I set my tea set on top of it, and used a lot of silk wildflowers to add color.

I have some first edition Anne books which I displayed, 

my mother's painting of a lighthouse on the shores of the red island cliffs, and some "Anne" dolls.

 I even had rosebud dishes, thanks to a sweet friend of mine who lent them to me for this special occasion.

Remember the fateful story where Anne invited her best friend Diana over for tea?

She wanted to use the rosebud tea set, but Marilla told her no, she was only allowed to use the brown one!

Then Anne served Diana wine instead of Raspberry cordial, and got Diana drunk!!!

Anyway, I was able to serve my guests raspberry cordial in rosebud tea sets, and no one got drunk :)

I gave everyone a necklace to remember their evening.

 I dressed up as Anne, red braids, freckles and all!

 I served scotch shortbread cookies, butter tarts, cherry balls, carrot sticks, cucumber sandwiches and egg salad sandwiches, and raspberries.

Lori dressed up as Anne too :)

Fun was had by all, and I fulfilled my dream of hosting an 

Anne of Green Gables book club :)

Appleicious, Quilt Fun!

I have loved this quilt since the day I saw it in Lori Holt's first book, "Quilty Fun".

I made this quilt a year and a half ago, you can see the post here.

I love the simplistic look of the crosshatch machine quilting.

I think that it's a really great modern look.

I'm going to hang this quilt up in the fall, even though I don't think there is a fall season in Arizona!

I'll just have to think back to my years growing up in Canada.

I love this quilt so much, that I have a board on Pinterest, devoted to this quilt!

I love the back!

Lori Holt's "modern minis" mason jars and at the bottom, I put of strip of her "bake sale" cookie recipe fabric.

When I see apples, I sometimes think of canning applesauce, hence the mason jars.

I also think of apple pie, hence the cookie recipe fabric :)

That's how my mind works, lol!

I didn't use a scrappy binding this time, because I thought there was enough scrappy going on.

I made one of the apple leaves aqua colored instead of green, just to add some interest :)

Scrappy Happy Summer table runner

By the time you read this post, I will have moved from California to Arizona, a huge change for us!

While I was waiting for moving dates, there was a window where I had some extra time on my hands.

I quilted this table runner that I made four years ago!

I also machine quilted the Scrappy Crossroads table topper from last week's post, and my Appleicious quilt in next week's post :)

I have other quilts that need to be quilted, so I just finished the projects that I had warm and natural batting for, as in leftovers from other projects.

What a great feeling to get these WIPs finished!

I machine quilted in the ditch again, which isn't the most creative finish, but it worked for this table runner.

Lori Holt had a "sew along" for this table runner, four years ago.

I would always follow along in real time, you can see her post here.

Do you remember that I've been on a self imposed fabric fast this year?

It's such a good feeling to use up "some" of my fabric!

Scrappy bindings look great, but it's hard to use up your stash using scraps of fabric.

This sky blue fabric that I used for the background makes me really happy!

I used Lori Holt's "Sew Cherry" line of fabric for the scrappy stars.

My finished table runner looks so fresh and happy on my table with a vase full of flowers!

You can see the original post about this table runner, here.

When you read it, you'll see that I made a second table runner from the scraps :)