Don't let the Door Stop You... from visiting!

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I am very happy to share my projects with you today.  As a thank you for stopping by, I have a giveaway at the end of my post.  Thank you to Mdm Samm and Carla for encouraging our creativeness.  I am really enjoying seeing the projects from both the Door Stop and She Who Sews hops, and I hope you are too!  Please remember to visit the other people who are showing off today as well:

 

Just Let Me Quilt
 Quilted Delights
 Meadowbrook
 Hill Valley Quilter
 Pampered Pettit
 Life in the Scrapatch
 Seams To Be Sew

 

And check out tomorrow's She Who Sews bloggers:

More Stars in Comanche

 

Stitchin’ By The Lake

 

selina quilts

 

Jane's Quilting

 

Baa's Amazing Adventures!

 

Quiltscapes

 

 Grandmama's Stories

Now I had a pretty good idea that I wanted to make some fatty sort of animal figure for my door stop, but I just didn't know what I wanted.  When I googled "door stop" a lot of random pictures showed up, one of them being a block of cheese.  That elicited a reaction from me (uncontrollable giggling) so I knew I had to make one, and then the night before last, true inspiration struck!  And so I give you...

Cheddar the Mouse!  ...and his blocks of cheese :)

 

close up so you can see his whiskers (hubby's brilliant idea)

sneaky sneaky

The blocks of cheese are made of bass wood, then drilled with different sized drilled bits. And I only had to have help getting the chuck to let go of the bit when I first started drilling!

 

 

I hadn't realized until now, but I've been in a mousy kinda mood with crafty things lately, here's an example, some pics from Christmas:

 

does he look surprised or is it just me?

Mom, me, and Grandma Kathy assembly-line-making Christmas mice

Colonel Cherry giving orders to his mouse army; really, they seem rather shocked with what he's saying hahaha

 

 

I had a really fun time bringing my ideas into being, and I appreciate you visiting my blog today.  And now for the GIVEAWAY!  To enter, leave me a nice little comment about what your most inspired project has been in the last couple months, and what the inspiration was, I just love to hear what inspires people.  For example, mine is the small hearts wall hanging I talk about in the post below, and I was completely inspired by the colors of the collection.  (And please remember to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger.)

 

Your potential prize is a couple of very Spring-like patterns from Planted Seed Designs!  Thank you again Gerri Robinson for your awesomeness!

 

THIS DRAWING IS NOW CLOSED, CONGRATULATIONS JANARAMA!

 

 

Feel free to visit again soon, I love chatting about my projects and sharing them with you all.

 

Thank you for stopping by, and have a wonderful time hopping around!

 

~Brandy



Door Stop Blog Hop Schedule

Look to see who will be stopping doors and blocking drafts.  
Don't Let the DOOR STOP You
Blog Hop
Schedule

January 28th
 
threads on my socks
 
How ART you?
 
Den syende himmel
 
Moosestash Quilting
 
life, quilts and a cat too


January 30th

Just Let Me Quilt
 
Quilted Delights
 
Meadowbrook
 
Hill Valley Quilter
 
Pampered Pettit
 
Life in the Scrapatch
 
Seams To Be Sew


February 3rd

Why-Knot-Kwilt
 
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
 
Marjorie's Busy Corner
 
Shepody Mountain Crafter
 
Lydsfire Sewing
 
Creatin' in the Sticks


February 5th

More Stars in Comanche
 
Buzzing and Bumbling
 
Sew and Sow Farm
 
Purl Buttons Blog
 
Carretel E Agulha

The Quilting Queen

Pig Tales and Quilts


February 7th

GrammieQs

Pickles Quilting

Made by Me in Red
 
A Passion for Applique

Living With Purpose

Tipsy Teacup Creations

Sew We Quilt

WIP... Tuesdays? hee hee

Good day to all!  I know most normal people get their work in progress pics on their blogs on Wednesdays, but I have time now.  So here's a sampling of what I've had a chance to work on lately:

 

These are corners for my Strawberry Quilt, a project I am introducing today to the world.  The plan is for a king size quilt for my husband and myself.  It will probably take a while, however the hope is to get it done this summer.  This is the longest chain piecing I've done so far!

This is the instructions, the pattern is from the Walla Walla Valley Quilt Guild website, is called Fair Play and is designed by Marcia Hohn at www.quilterscache.com.  You can see in the picture below that I messed up the corners, but then I decided I like them better that way.

 

I've started listening to Pat Sloan's radio show the last week, and it's pretty cool to learn from some of the quilters who are deep into the quilting business.  And nice to have the background noise too, I focus a little better with it.  Wow, I just noticed it looks like it was sunny that day, how strange!  It's been gray ever since, I can tell you that!

 

 

Since I was so proud of myself for finishing my moose, I allowed myself to purchase a mini-charm pack and some fat quarters for a project that I just could not get to stop bothering my brain.

 

The Indigo Crossing colors just completely appealed to me, and I had the perfect idea of what to make for our house.

 

Using ideas I've picked up around the web, I made my blocks.

 

 

The shrinkage always amazes me, I'm sure someday I'll get used to it.

 

 

I'm testing out what happens quilting-wise when you sew strips of batting together, seeing how well it holds out, whether or not it creates wrinkles, that kind of thing.

 

It's so beautiful!

 

 

I am also trying this form of basting, which is different for me.

 

I think my favorite part of making this little wall hanging was when I brought it out to show my husband, and he said "wow, those colors are really nice."  I feel like they're pleasant to the eye, they just make me so happy.

 

  I hope you have a great day, I'll see you soon with the Don't Let the Door Stop You blog hop!

 

~Brandy

Happy day, my first finish of the year!

Yeah!  All right!  It only took 2 months to get this one finished, and I taught myself (via Missouri Star Quilt Co youtube videos) how to put a binding on by hand.  Sweet!

Pretty proud, I also figured out how to get those corners on, for some reason there just aren't instructions anywhere on how to do this!  Of course, maybe that reason is, it's not that hard to figure out... :)

 

binding on, now to the hand sewing

 

oh, and wow, having the fabric go opposite directions on the corners sure makes them lay a lot more flat

 

 

Ta-da!  You can even kinda see the quilting, that hint of moose...

 

 

That's right, it lights up (it's a battery operated necklace I incorporated)

I am so glad it's finished, I'm showing it off to everyone I see today!  Oh, and sometimes I talk about our family cat, and I wanted you to meet Konnie:

 

 

 

These pictures are from Christmas Eve, she's a shedder so dad always puts down a sheet on the couch until just before everyone arrives, and of course, it's just another blanket to her!  That's John and I giving her some lovin's in the 2nd and 3rd pictures, and in the fourth, Christmas morning when she could reclaim her happy place by the fire and under the tree.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

~Brandy