This one is quick and easy and great on a small wall. Island Hours I`a (I`a means fish in Hawaiian). Use prints and fussy cut the fish appliques for interesting fish faces and fins. It's fun to audition and use different areas of the same fabric to get unique fish. There are also fish faces included on the templates in case you choose to embroider them. Eyes can be embroidered or small beads can be used.

This is before and after stitching a little car cuddle, stroller tucker, drag around (whatever you want to call it). I used the puppy applique from my Peace Puppy in the Window quilt pattern to add some fun. He's a sweet little puppy and fun to stitch. Dimensional ears get sewn under the head and make good handles for little fingers.

Background piece (white approx. 20" x 26.5") is leftover from another project along with the borders. Peace puppy applique measures a little more than 9 inches tall and wide. Finished piece is approx. 30" x 35".

I made this one nice and light weight (no batting) because baby lives in southern Cal. However, minky/cuddle backing make it extra soft. A quick and special little gift and maybe a new friend for a little one.

Stuffy and Whiskers were first made back in 2002 as stuffed snow cats. I recently remade Whiskers in a smaller size. He looks great in beautiful felted wool and makes a fun pin cushion.

As the story goes Stuffy and Whiskers live in a high mountain meadow outside Seattle or Thereabouts. Wherever there is lots of snow and a nice pond. Whiskers is a passionate ice fisherman and is known to occasionally tell a whopper. He is also owner/operator of "Whisker's Fish Sticks"  Stuffy is a large cat obsessed with coffee and his daily run ins with the Caffeine Hound. He gets his coffee at "Cafe Kit Kat", the local coffee bar frequented by residents of Thereabouts. Stuffy has to out wit the Caffeine Hound (his dog house is outside the cafe) to make it inside for a cuppa. This happens every day and lots of times more than once.

Below is Whisker's first wool project "Fish Story Pin Cushion". More wooly adventures to come.

I spent a good part of the fall playing with a Halloween quilt adapting the Lady of the Lake block. Time marched on and it didn't get done until after Thanksgiving. It was fun and I'd been saving fabrics to make pumpkin appliques for awhile. Most of them are kind of the color of orange ice cream sherbert. The applique is easy with one edge of it sewn in to the block.

Embroidered curly cues could have added some fun to the stems. Oh well... another time.

I couldn't resist adding some fun with frogs to this runner using the same block. Frog appliques are sewn in to the seam of the block just like the pumpkins. The runner did get done in time to use for Halloween.

Earlier this year, a fellow maker, Nicole, gave me 3 gigantic garbage bags full of old jeans. She's into up-cycling old sweaters into new lovely garments. Her sewing room needed more space to store sweaters so... I got a load of jeans. You can find her work at the Sequim Farmers Market on Saturdays (Out On A Whim).

My sister and sister in-law have been making quilts from recycled denim for a long time and I always wanted to give it a try. First I washed all the jeans and then it took four afternoons to cut them apart. This is after I had given a bag to my sister. They are separated now into light, med, dark and gray/black colors. Hard to believe what I started with is going to fit in one large bin after cutting (separate box for pockets). Below is my first project attempt.

The Lady of the Lake block has been on my mind lately so I decided to try it out on a small runner. It's fun using different shades of denim. Batting is the thinnest available pellon fleece. Indigo batik was used for backing and binding. It was also interesting to try quilting this on the longarm. The seams are really bulky as you would expect, but it works. Intrigued enough now to try a small quilt using this block but I think I'll use a piece of flannel as batting or possibly just back it with flannel. Denim quilts can get pretty heavy.

Here are some of my sister's denim quilts. Really fun stuff. She quilts runners on her machine and ties most of the quilts.

This makes such a fun gift. I gave the first one I made to my sister for her birthday. She didn't have a pin cushion. So cute in creamy felted wool. There are a bunch of extra words included in the pattern so you can make cakes for different occasions. This one says Every Day Is Your Birthday. I'm waiting for a small footed cake plate to come in the mail to set this on. To order pattern, click here

Birthday candle pins are from Just Another Button Company's - Just Pins.

Find me on Instagram at robinnelson9304.  I'm working on a pink cake made in cotton and will post it when finished. Hope you make one or many!

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My girl is approx. 36" tall. I made her using the cowgirl applique shape in the Churn Dash Round Up quilt pattern. It's a fun pillow made with scraps.

If you make one, be sure to buy a Big bag of stuffing.

You could use any of the appliques from the quilt pattern to make large or small pillows.

Churn Dash Round Up quilt - Cowboy

Enlarged applique is fun on the back of a quilt too.

Please go take a look at my new pattern up on the Moda Bake Shop called Smile at the Rain.  Fabric is the Rainy Day line from Me and My Sister Design and Moda. It's bright and happy with prints that include umbrellas, fish, stripes... The quilt finishes at 72" x 84", so nice on a twin sized bed. Use the Printer Friendly version button at the end of the MBS post to download and print out instructions.

I've been asked to post the instructions again for this little quilt. Click on the button below to download and print out. It will also be added to the "free patterns" on this website. Have fun!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! The little turkey on the platter was made in the 70's.

I am thankful for our home this Thanksgiving. The stockings in the picture below are part of a stocking drive for homeless kids. One of my sons teaches at a middle school and this is an annual project. The kids make stockings and fill them with everyday necessities. They welcome donations so...

I drew a stocking shape and quilted some of the fabrics (Alexander Henry's Snow Fogies - Hilarious snowmen and snow women). Then used Cluck Cluck Sew's stocking tutorial to sew them up. It's a great way to put it all together including the lining, hanger and cuff.

The Snow Fogie fabric made some fun package tags too.

For pkg. tags, use any fabric scraps with motifs big enough to sew around.
Make a little quilt sandwich using denim for backing, cotton batting or Pellon fleece.
The denim backing is fun and helps firm the shape a bit. Scraps from old jeans work great.
Quilt/sew around shape and cut out 1/4" away from seam using pinking shears.
Add a loop of thread at top for hanger or pkg. tie on.