Green Bag Lady - Go Green!

Late last year I was invited to administrate a chapter for Green Bag Lady. Green Bag Lady is an eco-friendly, fabric-friendly project started by artist & former professor Teresa VanHatten-Granath and her students in 2008. Teresa and her volunteers, “Bagettes”, make bags out of donated and bargain priced fabric to give them away for FREE in exchange for the promise to refuse paper or plastic when shopping. They also document the world-wide use of these bags. The chapters are world-wide and my chapter is in West Virginia. The bags are recorded by number as they are donated and a record kept at Teresa's blog. Go Visit! Green Bag Lady!

I asked whether my grand-daughter's Girl Scout Troop would permit the girls to join in as a contributor to the cause, and learn of ways they can reduce, reuse and recycle. We had a fantastic upcycled poster depicting animals and the ocean's damage from plastics and brain-stormed ideas of how we could reduce our plastic use. Their ideas were fabulous!

In exchange for a donation of 2 yards of fabric per child,  each will receive two Green Bag Lady bags s& the Troop will receive one per child for a contribution to a charity/ donation of choice or keep in the troop. All other materials donated will become an addition to our efforts is distributing bags! We have more than 50 bags! From the materials donated by 8 children and their parents alone!

As Sewing may be in some of the girls' skill sets later, each will also receive the pattern with their bags as it is absolutely FREE!

 As Teresa states it! "Let’s change the world…one bag at a time!" 

An Update From the Troop Leader - "Hey Everyone!!! In order to reduce our plastic use the girls voted to bring their own refillable water bottles to drink from to the meeting. "

January OMG - Prarie Dance~

Oh My Gosh! We are finally here and I've actually set a goal for myself that was achievable! And then some! My wish was to use some gifted strips in a 16-patch. See my Goal Setting Link up for the January OMG.

Not only did I get twelve of the 16-patches sewn ~ I add some fantastic triangles to set them on point!


The name of this lovely gem is going to be called "Prairie Dance". They need squaring up and the works~ I must set my sights a little higher for next month! I will be sharing on February 1st!

Today I am linking up at Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal! and with  Main Crush Monday's, Sew Cute Tuesdays,  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Fabric Frenzy Friday, Finish it Up Friday Sunday Stash and Finished or Not Friday.   WIPs with Friends Moving it Forward Monday 

My Share List is Full!

I have so many ideas and exciting things to share! I will keep it sweet and short! Words are so much sweeter when accompanied with photos!

I completed my First! 2017 Finish Along: Q1 with http://www.shecanquilt.ca/! You can read my previous post here http://quiltlovefordomesticfelicity.blogspot.com/2017/01/finish-long.html I am beyond excited! This little cutie will be put away in the linen closet until such an occasion arises to gift a new baby some cuddly comfort!

I quilted with my walking foot all straight lines with exception of the outers border. I am quite new to free-motion quilting and a close-up inspection will indeed provided evidence that I need much more practice! I can't give up now! More quilts to practice on for me!

And Oh My Gosh! Adding to the stash additions! I purchased a lovely bird print! 8 Yards! The sales associate looked at me like I was crazy! I loved it that much! And I forgot to take a picture of it! Sigh???..... But I did get these little life savers too! EverSewn Color Glass Pearl Pins and EverSewn Craft clips! And why not a turquoise zipper to make a fun pillow cover!  You can order any of these from http://pileofabric.com/. And did you notice that cute sticker? "Measure Twice, Cut Once!"

I am still sewing along on a lot of other projects~ I hope you are too!

I am linking up with Main Crush Monday's, Sew Cute Tuesdays,  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Fabric Frenzy Friday, Finish it Up Friday http://mollisparkles.com/2017/01/sunday-stash-212-unicorns-and-more/ and Finished or Not Friday.   

Cutting Party Wednesday!

I must confess..... I do not have a completed project to show off! Although I have many in progress!
The past two days I have been having my very own cutting party!

 
 

Yes, two different projects! But I am making progress! All this means I get to sew MORE!

I am Linking up with http://www.cookingupquilts.com/  Main Crush Monday!

Selling A Quilt?

How Absurd!!! I love each and every quilt I've worked on! They become a piece of me. I cannot seem to let them go!

I've had several requests and my responses have been: I am new at this. I work a full time job and cannot afford the time to make a quilt for someone else. My skills lack the quality worthy of selling a hand made item. So many excuses but the major one is that they are an extension of my creativity.

Then I finally broke down and said YES to a wonderful lady. She really wanted one made by a friend to give to her new daughter in law.

I tried to find a way to say to myself "this one is not Mine." I asked my friend questions. What is the recipient's favorite colors? What style does she decorate with? Her age? Just to get a feel for the person. That helped in designing and choosing for another's personality. It worked! I was able to relinquish without regret! And the smile on her New Daughter In Law's face is priceless!

I must admit, I made several mistakes along the way but I chalk those up to individual expression and uniqueness!

A Little at a Time~

My works hours are long with my day job and I am still saving a few minutes of the day to sew. I've set myself up for "project completion"! And I am excited to have something to put away in the linen pantry for up-coming gifts!

I had some pretty little 2 1/2" squares chain sewn together and one of my goals is to get them set into 16-patch squares! Look at me! I am getting it done! They are now in 4-squares! Go me! My 10- 15 minutes sewing while waiting on dinner to simmer, stew and bake is paying off! Win = Win ! This is how I finish off my evening!
  
                                  
Linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Finish-A-Long

Reading through other blogs encourages me to finish more, quilt more, Just sew More! I love the community! I found wonderful, stress-free finish along that has no strings attached. Most usually are~ The True Win is completing a project I've started!

At She Can Quilt http://www.shecanquilt.ca/, there is one of these great link ups to share your projects in progress you would like completed! I love seeing everyone else's work! Such talent! Such inspiration! Here is my list!
                                   
1. I've started several New Projects! All these wonderful New Year's patterns everyone is showing is so inspiring! I have these lovely blues that were gifted to me. They are currently look like this!   
                                 
My end of the month goal is to have them set into 16-patch blocks! See my post all about it! http://quiltlovefordomesticfelicity.blogspot.com/2017/01/ringing-in-new-year.html  Looking forward to seeing this one come to fruition!

2. "Sweet Potato Pie" - This is going to be my favorite!


3. "Aqua Baby" needs Finished! Just Quilted and Binding Added~ This is definitely achievable! How About this weekend!?
                        

4. My "Shabby Chic, Country Cottage French Rose" That is a Mouthful! This will be for a friend of mine. She is requesting "shabby chic". Any one else know Exactly what that means?

                                    

5. A Fall Round Robin that circulated among a small group of friends. This one sure has been hanging around for a while! I would love to see this all put together with all those lovely blocks my friends and I made together!

                                

6. And definitely not the last of my  Works In Progress, and not last in priority... I would love to see all of the blue toned blocks I've been practicing on, blocks of the month I use in no other project or just whims that get started....... Would love to see them all in a quilt to donate on behalf of my local county COA Quilting Bees group. Our group socializes, sews and whips up quilts for our community fire victims.

Scraps Bring Joy~

I had a bunch of left over scraps and bits and pieces from this!

 

The pattern is from Pat Sloan's http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/2015-vacation-time-mystery-bom.htm. If you want to make your own you can find lots of beautiful variations.

What I did with those beautiful leftovers created yet another beautiful quilt that turned into true Joy! There is no pattern, just simply cut and sew together lots of those scraps, maybe add in a little yardage here and there. And Guess What!? You get more scraps! I will have to show you more of my creations when they are made! Life is full of scraps! They can truly turn into someone else's Joy! Don't you just love that?

 

I am linking up with http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2017/01/the-january-scraptastic-tuesday-link-is.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SheCanQuilt+%28she+can+quilt%29

  For January 10th Scraptastic Tuesday! And with  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/ Finished or Not Friday! You can too~

Ringing in The New Year!

Vacation! We all love that time in our lives! I had a wonderful vacation in my home sans Technology! What! You are asking, 'Did I read that correctly?' Yes! You did! Going home to me means no phones, (not even cell service), no television - NONE! and No internet! What a wonderful, stress releasing Christmas vacation I had! I sewed, cooked and made merry!

What did you do to celebrate the coming of the new year? Me? I set myself to bed with a good book in hand and softly woke my husband at the stroke of midnight to seek my good year kiss~

Now the New Year realities are coming back to the forefront. Work calls me back today, but that is okay! I am ready for this year! Goals are still being set and records will be made. There are many areas in which we set goals for ourselves. Some focus on personal accomplishments, spiritual growth, work performance or even health assessments. Some may be a mixture of them all. I wish all of you many blessings in your goal achieving!

To assist me in my unpublished goal accomplishments, I've chosen to make some of them public. There is nothing like being held accountable. By joining http://www.elmstreetquilts.com and participating in http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/p/omg-one-monthly-goal.html I am committing myself to reach high with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal! You can join by following along as well!

I must confess, I have lots of works in progress. I started Another for the New Year and I've chosen this one to become my January OMG. How exciting! I am calling it the Prairie Dance but right now it is truly only strips turned into 2 1/2" squares. See all of these beautiful strips and squares?

#onemonthlygoal And @elmstreetquilts My quilty January OMG is to have these set into 16-patch squares at the end of the month! I am so excited to see these come together as a bed-sized quilt! Now to link up! http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/p/omg-one-monthly-goal.html