Hello....is it me you're looking for???

The holiday season has come and gone with nary a word from me....

 but I did manage a quilt finish just before the clock struck midnight and we all said goodbye to 2015...

A scrappy Red and White quilt with stars and a pieced border...

I used a set of templates purchased from Amazon. The Simpli EZ Five Point Star set. Instead of squaring off the star, I chose to applique the the star 'circle' onto my background square.

Then I added sashing and corner blocks. And finished the piecing off with a pieced border.

This one is machine quilted, as well as, hand quilted with some Christmas Red Valdani Perle cotton!

It's not huge, but a good lap size for our chilly Ohio winters (if Mother Nature decides to grant us some chilly Ohio weather)

It's good to have a 2015 finish...and a new blog post for 2016!

Wishing you all a wonderfully productive New Year!

xo mary

merry monday.....

It is a grey, rainy day here....okay with me

I can think of several alliterations that fit this day...monday...June 11

monday melancholy, monday memories...

time is measured so differently now.

But.....today I am going to call this merry monday!  Forget the rain

forget the grey

it is a great day for stitching...

my most recent makes are for potential classes...

A little very simple reverse applique pillow.  Just to get the taste for reverse applique and a little embroidery to boot!

And then a fun, fresh quilt....hand quilted .....

I think it will be known as the Big Zig....

This is one I have been planning on as a class, but life got too busy....

Stitching zigs and zags with perle cotton...

   

I will be sitting here today...stitching away!

Merry Monday!

mary



Merry Christmas from My House to Yours!!!

Ticking down to the final hours before Santa takes his big ride.....I want to say Merry Christmas to all of you!  I truly hope your holidays are warm and filled with loving family and friends....

I will be spending Christmas at home with grandma's visiting - the girls coming and going - first here and then spending time with b'friend's families.  That's just the way it should be.

my Scandinavian inspired skirt is under the tree....with a few packages finding their way to our place :)

And my Christmas bunting is on the mantel with homemade stockings and lots of sparkle!!!

  

And, finally, I have one more finish for 2011!  Most likely the last quilt of the year....

This is a baby size quilt from Such Designs

The Wonky Little Houses Quilt

Carrie Bloomston, pattern designer, encourages the quilter to 'release your inner artist'....

So I did just that!  I added birds in flight and a big, bright sun.....

I pieced the background, adding some kona in bone, snow and a little natural linen...

       

  Each house is hand quilted as well the entire background...quilted with perle cotton in 1 inch intervals between each line of stitching...

I added a bright yellow rik-rak to the edge of the sun...everything is better with rik-rak!!!

The binding is a sweet pink polka dot!

I am glad to have one last finish for the year!

And the cutest pup {my humble opinion} wishes you a wonderful holiday!!!

   Flanders :)

Happy Christmas Eve eve!!!

mary

M. E. R. R. Y.

I must be in denial....I have a million things to do....

But for a good part of yesterday I was playing with letters....

I used wool felt and perle cotton....

To create a Merry Christmas bunting for my fireplace....

I was inspired by a bunting at Anthropologie...

Okay....I need to focus on preparations for Thursday....

Happy Monday!

mary :)

Stitching Step by Step....

The Courthouse Steps quilt is pieced and I have just finished stitching...by hand....with dark grey perle cotton...

  

I quilted around the center three times per block...but not always the same three sets of "steps".....

I love the look of this log cabin variation....and the yellow with the natural/off white is very soothing....

I just need to hand sew the binding.  The binding is the same red gingham as the center.  Once that is stitched, I will toss this in the wash.  This sweet quilt is destined for someone special {more on that later}.

I am feeling better :) Thanks for all the good wishes.  Just a little virus....tis the season!

Happy Monday!

mary

She Has Crossed the Finish Line....

I am proud to announce that Molly has completed her first ever quilt!  Yay! 

This quilt was inspired by a vintage Crazy Quilt and soon was emblazoned with her own signature....

She began with a dresden plate for the center.  Hand appliqued and embroidered on the top only with lots of stitches and color....

She flanked the center with quarter dresdens, and again added lots of fabulous stitching....

Peacock Lane was added for the wide borders and a coordinating fabric for the corner blocks....

Once the top was finished, Molly quilted with perle cotton {making her mommy very happy!}

The back was pieced with this vibrant sugar skull fabric {remember she was a Spanish major}...and again Peacock Lane in pink....

The binding was pieced....

    

Molly is thrilled!

I think we may have a new quilter! 

Stay tuned - she has some sweet embroidery tutorials to come!

mary....and molly :)



Summer Flair....

Here is a sweet and simple idea for your next picnic or as a hostess gift. 

Simply take an old tablecloth...one that has served it's purpose and is no longer in use....cut a section - tea towel size.  Hem all sides...

Add a hexie flower....machine top stitch all around...

Add some ric-rac and perle cotton stitching...

How fantastic is that!

mary

 

Lovelies....

I picked up some lovely fabric and fabulous buttons while at work yesterday....

The buttons stacked with roses will go on the back of a Dresden Pillow....

This one....

applique the center circle....

And add some hand quilting with perle cotton!

Hope you are having a lovely Sunday :)

mary

EXCITED....EXCITING!!!!

Wow!  I have finished quilting the Gypsy Kisses {pickle-dish} quilt.....

The pattern is from Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke's Material Obsession 2....I started this quilt way back in October!!!!  Pickle-dish is a block design I have always loved...and since I knew the Quilting Fairy wasn't going to bring me one, I had to do it myself.  What's a girl to do?

The pattern calls for 4 rows of pickle-dish blocks (3 in each row), but I didn't need a quilt that large so I made mine 3 by 3....the final measurement is about 93 inches square....more or less....

The arcs are pieced using foundation piecing and then the entire arc block is hand appliqued onto the background....the center eyes are appliqued to the center section of the arcs....

I added a piano key border to the two sides and a background border to the top and bottom....and hand quilted the quilt with perle cotton...

I absolutely LOVE this quilt....as you can see by all the photos :)

  

Other news that has got my heart a thumpin'....I was tickled to find out that Carla is featuring my blog today as she celebrates her one year blogiversary.  Her blog is Lollyquiltz....she is one talented lady so I am thrilled that she wants to feature little old me.  And not to mention that she has been blogging for a year now....that is something to be applauded!!!  Visit her blog...she is planning a giveaway tomorrow!!! 

Now that my pickle-dish is quilted....it is time to start my Tea Party {Strawberry Fields} quilt....

This is a pattern by Sarah Fielke from the first Material Obsession book...I am telling you - I can't get enough of these books...these women are some seriously talented gals!!!

I marked my quilting lines with a Hera marker....

A Hera marker leaves a crease line to follow rather than an ink mark....

I have chosen my colors...perle cotton of course....

love hand quilting :)

Finally,  with all the excitement going on....my quilt, the quilt along at Lily's Quilts {which is just too much fun}, the tea party at work and all the fun stuff going on at Sew To Speak, and finals and cleaning the bathroom :(  ...... I forgot to mention that I won another award!!!  I was honored by Cindy at Rose Room Quilts with the Stylish Blogger award!!!

As a recipient of this award I have to list 7 little known facts {or not so little known} about me....hmmmm.....

1. I am a child of the 60's 

2. I was born in Ohio and attended THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY....Go Bucks!!!

3. I am married to Mike

4. We have 3 beautiful daughters and one mutt

5. Everyone in my family has an M name...which made it difficult to yell someones name without stuttering....Mike, Mary, Molly, Maggie, and Mary McNeil 

6. My dog's name is Flanders...and I love every inch of her :)

7. I want to live {at least part of my life} in Ireland...proudly we are of Irish heritage

I will need to choose other blogs pass on this award...YAY...another excuse to peruse the blogs!!!

Okay- sorry for the very wordy post!!!

mary