My Little Elf feet Block & Friends

I told you My Little Elf Feet block WON!

Thought you'd want to see the other blocks My Little Elf feet are now friends with...

Remember the ugly Christmas fabric?

 

This is the block I made...

My Little Elf feet!

He now has friends...

ALL the blocks were GREAT!!!

Don't you LOVE how one person took her fabric and made several filler blocks...

This creates a nice sense of unity to the quilt.

There is one more block that had dark burgundy,

 that's going to use that as the label.

There will be a sashing,

 probably white,

and possibly red star  corner stones...

OH!

OH!

What about adding little elf feet on the boarder...

Won't that be cute???

I'm making some BEAUTIFUL stocking for someone...

You HAVE to see these  when they're finished!!!

Maybe tomorrow...

Sew the pieces of life together...

It's a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Merry Christmas!

Nina Clotfelter

Do you ever CHALLENGE yourself?

I enjoy making something out of nothing...so to speak.

I always look in the clearance section of a store...

especially a quilt store.

YES...I LOVE the price.

BUT...

I LOVE the CHALLENGE of making something beautiful 

out of these fabrics nobody else wanted!!!

It's sew much fun!!!

Sew...

Here's my "ugly" fabric...

This yellow strip really doesn't have a lot of...

Well...

Anything!  

Just BLAH!

This houndstooth I thought was great!

It compliments the first fabric kind of nicely! 

Ok!

This is a COOL fabric for a hunter!!!

These 3 fabrics are PERFECT for a friend who's having a baby!!!

The daddy is a hunter!

He's having a baby boy.

Well...

His WIFE is!!!

And since I don't do cute pastel colored baby quilts...

I like them to drag them around when they're older!

I thought I'd challenge myself to turning these 3 fabrics

into a FABULOUS baby boy quilt!

Can't you see it?

No?

Oh, I can!!!

This Camo will be the back!

It's DINOSAURS!!!!

AND, it's SOOO SOFT!!!!!

So...

Are you ready to see what I made with my clearance fabric?

Here it is...

I didn't get all the boarders in the picture,

But you can see what it looks like!

What do you think?

Is this like the ultimate BOY quilt!?!?

I just love it!

I don't usually do such masculine quilts...

I showed this to my 20 yr old son...

And he WANTS IT!!!

What a compliment!!!

So, don't tell him...

I'm going to add a few more boarders on this and make it so my 6'3" baby boy

can wrap it around his big, size 14, toes!

I have enough to make another baby quilt!

Sew the pieces of life together!
It's a BEAUTIFUL quilt!

Nina Clotfelter

Paper Piecing Class!

LOOK HOW CUTE!!!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I was going to teach a Paper Piecing Class...

Here are the products made in class!!!

 See how everyone's paper pieced tree and present turned out in class...

Aren't these GREAT!!!???

This was the first paper piecing for some!

What a FABULOUS job!!!

Others have tried it before...

and things got cleared up in class for them...

now they like paper piecing and will do it some more!!!

(In ALL classes I teach, I give all kinds of tips and tricks to make your job easier!!!

That's why you take a class, right?) 

Here is their next project in class...

This one was more difficult!!!

(Each student left at different  times, so I couldn't get a group picture.)

Look at how different each of the trees and presents are!!!

I LOVE how everyone did their own thing!!!

Everyone did AMAZING in class!!!

This was SEW much fun!!!

I'm going to lead a paper pieced BLOCK OF THE MONTH starting in July...

Want to join along?

(I'll post more about that later on.)

Sew the pieces of life together...

It's a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

My Little Elf WON!

Yes!

My Little Elf's Feet won 13 more blocks, all made with some of the UGLY Christmas fabric!  One of the ladies who came to the retreat, took her fabric and simply made 7 or 8 blocks out of it.  All used the same pattern and fabric...what a GREAT idea!!!  This will bring unity to the quilt.  Because there were 2 ladies that did this same thing, (making several filler blocks from their fabric), there was enough blocks for 2 winners this year!  YAY!!!

There REALLY are some pretty blocks!!!!

I also think I'll make a boarder with Elf feet on it!

Won't THAT be cute???



Sew the pieces of life together...
It's a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

My Little Elf!

I go to a retreat each December, it's this weekend.  There is a challenge each year...
Each person is send an ugly Christmas fabric.  You have to make a 12.5" block using a noticeable amount of your fabric.

Here's my ugly Christmas Fabric!

UGLY!

I pinned it on my wall and kept looking at it...

NOTHING!

(I was starting to it's too ugly to go in a block!)

THEN...

I realized I don't have to use ALL of it, or even a lot of it!  

I only have to use a recognizable amount!

So...

This is what I came up with!

The fringe on the top of the elf shoes is dimensional, it's able to move.

I sewed a little bell on the end of each point.

Then a bigger bell on the tip of the toe.

Cute!

Right?

As I kept looking at this,

The legs were looking funny!

Look at it,

the reason they look funny is the fabric I used is NOT Christmas!!!

DUH!

Elves usually have ALL red, green, white.

So,

I decided to take the legs off and replace them with a green strip fabric!

YES! 

That will work!!

I took this to Block Therapy with me yesterday.

After the paper piecing class I taught, 

I pulled this out and was ready to shop for a green fabric!

Well,

someone had an idea of adding pants to the legs...

Hmmmm....

So,

I added little knickers,

And here is the completed block!

What do you think?

Ok, here's the funniest part of this whole challenge to me...

We are each sent ugly Christmas fabric for the challenge.  We try to come up with something cute, fun, original, so on.  I like a challenge! 

 But here's the kicker!

If you win....guess what you get?

12-14 blocks made out of this UGLY Christmas fabric!  It's UGLY!  Why do I want to make a quilt of UGLY Christmas fabric?  LOL!!!

It's just funny to me!!!

The silly things we do...

Go do something fun and silly today!!!

(But NOT ugly!!!)

Nina

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope and pray each of you has a very blessed day today!
I have so very much to be thankful for each and EVERY day!!!
First and foremost is my husband!!!  He is such a gift from God!
My 2 AMAZING children who are FABULOUS young adults now!!!  I LOVE to watch them grow, learn, and bless others each day!!!
My sewing/quilting abilities...THANK YOU GOD!!!  (Need I say more?)

Today starts the beginning of a frantic time of year...
I will try to slow down and know the gifts I give are good enough!
Loving someone enough to want to include them in your Christmas Cheer, in any way, is a blessing to us and them!  Think of your many blessings!  God is GOOD!!!

Slow down this year and enjoy the happiness, cheer, fun spirit of this celebration!!!

Here is a present for you!

This is a paper piecing class I'll be teaching at Block Therapy 

Dec. 2, Tuesday and again on

Dec. 4, Thursday.

If you've never tried paper piecing before, these little cards are a fabulous way to start!  

These are 3-4" squares.  If you don't like this, you're not committed to a large quilt you've already purchased the pattern and fabrics for!  

DON'T YOU WISH WE COULD LEARN NEW TECHNIQUES LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME!!!!

And what a great way to share your love with quilting friend!

Or,

use this card to give a Gift Card in!!

Or,

use these little blocks to create a table runner, small wall hanging, or something for Christmas without committing to a large project!

Once you get going with these little blocks, they atart going VERY FAST!!!!

Don't eat too much today!!!

Enjoy your families!!!

Each of you are such a blessing to so many people!!!  

(Even if you don't realize that...you ARE!)

Nina

Instagram Famous! LOL!

I received an email from a wonderful quilter last night, who has taken several of my classes.
This is What she writes:


I was so delighted to realize that the woman that look so much like Nina WAS Nina!  What a fun trip this was/is! And congratulations for going on the MS Instagram feed.

--------

Talk about a work of art! Nina from Mobile, Alabama brought this into the shop this week and really wowed us!! #msqc #mostar #msqcshowandtell
http://instagram.com/p/vwMzMCIcgS/

Shared with Flow for Instagram
http://appstore.com/FlowForInstagram


Go check out the link!!!  I tried to copy and paste the picture, but it won't copy.

So, here's the spoiler... this was the finale of our Shop Hop...MISSOURI STAR QUILT COMPANY!!!!  And it was AMAZING!!!!  Let me tell you just how AMAZING...

Every quilt shop I've ever been in is ONE store/shop...right?  You too?
NOT Missouri Star Quilt Company...they have 6!!!  Thanks right, 6!!!  Each store is it's own location, name, and specialty.

The MAIN store...right?

The sign on the side of the window

Inside this store is HUGE!  All the prints are in this store.  

I really just wanted to get 1/2 yard of everything!

There was SO much fabric...I was like a kid in a candy store!!!

The other side of the store...Can you see how deep it is?!

Now, let me tell you a little about their buying power...LOL!  

They don't buy one bolt of fabric at a time, the buy 3 or 4!!! 

That's my kinda quilt shop!!!

This is the SOLIDS shop!  

YES, a whole shop dedicated to solids, tone on tone, and a few other fun fabrics.

None of these stores were small....can you tell?

Displays were gorgeous, fun, and made you want them...spot on!!!

Isn't that what displays are supposed to do?

Cute cup!

The seasonal shop...and batik shop next door.

Kids print store

I think this was the reproduction shop, civil war, 30's and such...

A cute little court yard restaurant nest to the main Missouri Star shop...

Isn't it nice?

Lisa Ernewein and myself in front of the shop!

A beautiful sunset to finish off the FABULOUS day!!!

Now, Ladies and gentlemen...

If you ever get the chance to go to Missouri Star Quilt Company in person, let me give you one piece of advise...

Plan to stay there ALL day!!!

Want to guess how much time we had?

ONE HOUR!!!

That's right...1... uno...ONE!!!

We barely made it into the solid shop, our second shop to go into!!!

But we had so much fun!!!

This is DEFINITELY a quilt shop destination!!!!

Be creative today!

Nina

My Backwards Star quilt complete!

OK...

Are you ready?  

Here it is...

ALL completed!!!!

And YES, my 6'3" son is standing on his tippy toes holding this up!  It looks warped, but it's NOT!  The final dimensions are 66 x 82.

Now...I'm going to tell on myself again!  (Isn't it nice to know we ALL make mistakes!!!)
When I was cutting out my boarders, my intention was for a 7"  boarder.  I was using a 5" wide ruler, adding 2", then cutting the 5" width of the ruler.  Are you following me...yes, you guessed it...I was NOT using a 5" wide ruler, but a 7" wide ruler.  My boarders ended up 9" wide!  WAY, WAY wider than I planned!!!  But I kind of like it...
What do you think?

Make lemonade out of lemons!
Be creative!
Nina

Missouri SHOP HOP!!!

While I was in Kansas City, Missouri recently, I met up with an amazing friend...Lisa Ernewein!!!  Have you ever met someone who you simply click with?  It's like you've known each other all your lives and you're just catching up!  That's how Lisa and I are.  A VERY SPECIAL Lady with a BIG heart!!!

Lisa went with me on the SHOP HOP in Missouri!!!  She lives there, knows the shops, and even knows how to get to each of them!  (Although the handy dandy GPS is always helpful...just sayin!)

Our first stop was in Lee's Summit, Missouri - QUILTER'S STATION!

As you can see, we had a GORGEOUS day!!! 

This is a wonderful quilt shop!    The walls are full of quilts, of which some are original works, (and understandably they didn't want pictures taken of them).  I did buy a pattern, and I'm not much on patterns as I don't want my quilts looking like everyone else's...silly, I know.  But this one spoke to me!  It's a wall hanging, and each block has a word on it...

Chosen

Found

Redeemed

Secure

Accepted

Forgiven

Strong

Free

Blessed

Confident

Loved

Rescued

Complete

Restored

AMAZING RIGHT?  I just had to have this!!!  I'll post a picture of it when it's complete, I think it'll be my January project.  It will hang either in my stairwell, or by my front door.  I LOVE the words!!! 

The displays were creatively done! 

Talk about having all shades of a color...the fabric is packed in!  Actually, there wasn't enough room on their shelves for ALL their fabric...LOL!  We LOVE that!!!

Fabulous selection of colors!!!!

And the section I always LOVE to check out...

THREAD!

What a large selection to choose from!!!

Now, I have to tell you about the people working here...and the owner...

We were greeted as we walked in, and not your standard "hi, let us know if we can help you" blah, blah.  There was a smile on her face and in her voice!  She came over and asked what she could help me find and we started chatting.  Then the owner walked over and we had a wonderful conversation!  Everyone in this shop was SOOOO nice!!!  We felt welcomed and cherished to be there!!!

THANK YOU LADIES!!!

GREAT JOB!!!

GREAT SHOP!!!

I hope to see you again soon!!!

So, that was our first shop of the shop hop...

Seek creative opportunities!

Nina

My Backwards Star quilt

I've been on an AMAZING trip to Kansas City, Missouri!   My husband had a business trip, so I tagged along.  It's a beautiful area of our states!!!

But the BEST part of our trip...

A QUILT SHOP HOP!!!!  (While dear hubby was working...I was playing!!!)

I'll tell you ALL about it in another few days. I have to get my pictures onto my computer first.


SO, for today, I'd like to show you the star quilt I've put together...
While I was in Galveston, TX, there was a precut quilt being offered.  You supply the fabric, (12fat quarters & 1 yard of background fabric), and she'll die cut it for $10.  I'm in!  Sounded like a fun little project, and hey...it's already cut out!!!!

You what this meant...I HAD TO GO SHOPPING!!!

Pat Bolton-Legg, whom I stayed with, took me to a quilt shop.  I fell in love with one fabric and bought solid-ish fat quarters to go with it.  I was set!!!  I LOVE my fabrics!!!  I gave my fabrics & $10 to Pat.

Here's a picture of Pat's Star quilt

Didn't it turn out GREAT!!!

FABULOUS job Pat!!!!

Now, I'm going to tell on myself...

Remember I said I LOVE my fabric choices for this quilt?  

Well, guess what I did?

Come on.....
Guess....

I did my fabric BACKWARDS!!!!

YES, I bought a print I LOVED to be the background and 12 solid-ish fabrics to be the stars...
Hmmm...
How is this going to look?
Well, I will tell you, when I realized what I had done, we had to go to a different quilt shop so I could choose a different print.  One that wasn't so large and would hopefully blend a little bit and work.
(Really, I just wanted to go to another quilt shop!  LOL!!)

AND...here is my Star quilt, without boarders on it, I'll get to that...

It's not so bad...right?  LOL!!!

TOTALLY BACKWARDS!!!!

But not so bad?

I'm going to add a small black boarder, then a larger "background" boarder.  Hopefully that will pull things together and make it NOT look SO, VERY BACKWARDS!!!

Isn't life fun when we're not perfect?!!!

Now I have a quilt that's NOT like anyone else's!!!!  And I challenged myself to make it work!!!  

I'll post a picture of my backwards star quilt when I get the boarders on!

Oh, what a great name for this quilt!!!

My backwards star quilt.

Happy quilting!
Enjoy the creative opportunities you create!

Nina

Crazy...

Whew!

What a crazy few days!

I have been drooling over a sit down long arm for a few years.  I had the chance to test drive a Baby Lock Tiara...Oh my!  I'm in LOVE!!!  YES, I have a new baby!!!  Now...the real task...clearing out a spot in my sewing room for her!  I'm almost there!  I'll post a picture when I'm done... Anybody want to come help me?  LOL!!!

Keep your sewing room clean ladies!

Be creative!

Nina Clotfelter

Joan's Bears!

There is a quilt shop in Gautier, Mississippi...BLOCK THERAPY.  The owners are wonderful people and are so good to their customers!!!  I enjoy teaching there tremendously!  If you haven't been there, you HAVE to check it out!!!

So, Joan has had this panel on her wall in every sewing room she's had, for 31 years!  Yes, 31 YEARS!!!  Her husband asked me to quilt it so it could be turned into a nice wall hanging for her as a surprise. He said I could whatever I wanted...Whoop! Whoop!

Here's the panel before being quilted.

                                                         

And here it is quilted!  

Don't you just LOVE how the bears pop out?  It took a lot of work...and I'm so proud of how it turned out!  This was COMPLETELY quilted on my domestic machine!

I just love how dimensional the bears are!!! 

And to my amazement...Dear hubby couldn't wait to give it to her!!!  

She totally LOVES it!!!

And was completely surprised!!!

The front of the bears

The back of the bears

Here's the part we were laughing about...Joan bought this wall hanging 31 years ago in 1983!  Before her first child was born!  AND, those bears still speak the truth! 

I'll post a picture when it's bound...in red...and hanging up.

Be creative today!!!

Nina

Bloom Where You're Planted!

Thought I'd share one of my thread painted quilts with you...We LOVE this quilt as it's just so happy and bright!  It hangs by our front door...

                                         This is Bloom Where You're Planted!
                                         Won 1st and 2nd place ribbons! (in 2 different shows)
                                         Has hung in several special exhibits!

When I first fused all the leaves to the background, it was very flat, dull, and boring!  The leaves looked like one big BLOB!  Thread painting changed the look completely!!!  I love how it almost jumps off the fabric!!!

Thread painting is SO much FUN!!!  I LOVE teaching thread painting and watching faces light up!  It's extremely addicting, though...be careful!!!  Thread painting can also help you learn more control with your regular free motion quilting.  Try it!  (But you've been warned...just sayin!)

                                          Details of the leaves...

Thread painting is painting with thread.  I'm not a trained artist, can't draw or paint either!  You just look at your subject from a distance and decide on ONE area at a time.  Work on that ONE area, then go to another area.  Keep adding dimension until you get the look you want!

                                         Details of the very center of the flower.

Thread painting is one of those techniques you can get instant gratification from.  Watching your subject grow and come alive is so much FUN!!!

In my THREAD PAINTING classes you work on a flower.  (I give you 3 actually)  We go over techniques, shading, how to make your dark defining threads not be over powering, and so much more!!!  The great thing is every ones is so different!  I LOVE IT!!!

Be creative out of the box!!!

Nina

Galveston, Texas!

I was in Galveston, Texas recently.  I don't know what I expected, but it's BEAUTIFUL!!!!
I went to retreat with the quilt guild and had so much fun!!!  I LOVE retreats!!!  This was a four day retreat, on a wooded 55 acre lot nestled in a neighborhood...We would never have found it without the GPS!!!  I did a trunk show and demoed some free motion quilting techniques.  I stayed a few extra days with my friend Pat Bolton-Legg...and she showed me ALL around Galveston!  Thank you Pat!!!

Pat told me she thinks this is the most photographed house in the US...I can
see why!

We sat here and enjoyed listening to the water, cool breeze blowing, so relaxing!!!  I didn't want to leave!!!  Don't you just LOVE those rocks, and the water!!!

And the sunset was breathtaking on our way back to Pat's house!!!  Perfect ending to an amazing week in Galveston, Texas!!!  I hope to return soon!!!

Thank you Pat for all your hospitality!!!  You are a gracious hostess!!!

Be Creative!
Nina Clotfelter