coming home . . .

You've heard the old adage, as good as it is to get away, it's nice to get home again, haven't you?  That's exactly where I am!  Todd and I had a lovely ten days away, visiting with family and taking our MSC funding class (which was incredibly informative and helpful).  But it was ever-so-lovely to arrive home late yesterday afternoon.  Especially when the cheery daisy faces greeted me every which way I turned!

Aren't they sweet?  Since yesterday was a holiday, we couldn't pick up our mail until today.  And when we did?  BINGO!  I hit the jackpot!  First was a prize I'd won through StitchMAP . . .

Lots of stuff, huh?

She'd put together a crazy quilt kit for me -- with four pre-stitched blocks and *tons* of lovely embellishments! Isn't that awesome?!?!?!?!?

Next came a package all the way from Australia!!!  Yay!!  

I'd entered the Red Brolly Girl's Own Stitching Club Competition way earlier in the month.  Guess what I won . . .

A present!  Wrapped in red and white polka dots!

The perfect book for me!  It's a beautiful book, too -- full of beautiful stitch illustrations!

And next (I know, right?!) was this fun package from Stacey, at Stacey's Place.

Yes!  A copy of 100 Blocks!  I was so excited!  Stacey's block was on page 35 . . . the Bedtime Story block.  It was so cute and resonated with me, since I've got some grands who adore being read to!

Stacey also included these two mini charm packs . . . 

That was so nice!  Especially since I just finished whipping together my apple core piece!  

I can't decide if I want to place with mini hexies or tumblers, next!

I worked on a couple of other things during our trip -- especially during our 13 hours of driving!  I finished up some flowers for a corsage . . .

Worked on my sunburst block (which I decided to EPP) . . . 

And (drumroll, please) finished quilting . . . 

Wait for it . . . 

The Wedding Quilt!!!  Big YAY!!!  I have the fabric ready to make binding.  I'm down to the home stretch!

So it *is* good to get away--especially when I have the time to finish as much as I did . . . but coming home is a happy, too!

:)

kanzashi flowers . . .

There was a lot of interest in my cute little Kanzashi flowers the other day, so I thought I'd take a post and lay out the specifics.

Mine were made using templates--similar to yo-yo templates--that are manufactured by Clover  There are actually quite a few different templates (see Clover's website for details), but I have these three. I currently have these three. I see additional templates in my future. Variety is the spice of life, after all!

Anyway, the process is incredibly simple.  The size of your template will dictate the size squares you will cut from your fabric.  I'm using the large round petal template, so it calls for 4.75" squares.  I'm actually using scraps I already had, so no cutting involved!

Fold your template in half, making sure the fold of your fabric is up against the fold of the template piece.

Next, cut out your fabric around the template.  No seam allowance is necessary.

The points for stitching are numbered, as is your starting point.  Thread your needle with a nice heavy thread or strand of floss (and I used a strand of about 27") and put a good knot in at the tail end, leaving a nice 2"-3" tail past the knot. Put your threaded needle in at the starting point (#1) and down at two, up at three, and so on . . .

You should finish with your threaded needle coming up through point #8 ... on the FINISH side.  If you haven't, you know you've gotten something mixed up! Note how the thread between points 3 and 4 and points 5 and 6 is OUTSIDE the template. That's why it's oh-so-important to cut before starting to stitch! I learned this the hard way when I was going too fast and not paying attention. (Which is typical for me.)

Once you've put your needle through # 8, open up your template . . . 

Now you're going to carefully draw your thread and gather the fabric . . .

You may have to do a little shaping to keep the top of the petal rounded, but I found I had to do very little.  The placement of the thread does a very good job of producing the exact desired shape!

Now, without doing anything other than pushing your finished petal to the end of the thread, repeat the process.

The same strand of thread is used continuously through all the petals.  The instructions call for six, which is what I used for the first flowers I made.  But I felt like they weren't full enough, so for this flower, I'm making seven petals.

Once you have your desired number of petals made, pull them together tightly -- but be careful not to break your thread!  This is why a heavy duty thread or floss is handy!  Once I had mine pulled together the way I liked it, I ran tacking stitches through the back of the flower.  For the center, I used a shanked button -- but you can use whatever delights you!  Beading would be pretty ... or felt ... or piping!

I attached a snippet of felt onto the back for a leaf and voila!  C'est tres jolie!  It took me less than 25 minutes from start to finish -- including the button and leaf. SUPER easy and cute! The instructions are included in the packaging (and are very thorough and easy to understand), but sometimes seeing how simple something really is on the front end is helpful!

I found the templates in three of the five quilt shops we visited on Saturday, and I imagine that JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, and Michael's (etc.) will have them too. Oddly enough, these fun, free project sheets were in one of the shops that didn't have the templates (they'd sold out, I guess).

Yup.  I see lots of uses for these darling flowers!  Like I said, these project sheets were freebies, but if you can't find them in a shop near you and you'd like a copy, just let me know!

Oh ... what's the cute little polka dot fabric laid out in my sample shots, you ask?

Binding fabric.  For a quilt that's ready to be BOUND!

:)