A Sweet Leprechaun

St. Patty's day is right around the corner, and I love applique so I came up with a cute little Leprechaun to decorate my kitchen with.  I was surprised as to how quick and easy it was to sew together.

I first appliqued St. Patty on a tea towel...

I gathered some left over green fabric and made a cute ruffle for on the bottom of my towel...
I then used some left over binding and used it to trim off the ruffle and make a tie at the top of the towel, (it's sorta ruffles too) I tied it to my fridge...

I like it tied to the handle of my microwave, it's such a festive
addition to my kitchen. Isn't it so cute!

I do like to decorate a little bit for St. Patty's day even though I'm not even a little bit Irish. But I think on St. Patty's day everyone can celebrate and wear a little bit of green and exclaim,
'Kiss me, I'm Irish!'

Happy Quilting,
Cindy

A Touch of Spring...

It's hard to believe that just last week I was running errands in a light weight sweatshirt and actually had to ditch the scarf and hand warmers because I was too warm. Winter is back in Minnesota... just about 30 miles south of my home they are being bombarded with snow. 12 plus inches of the white stuff. Friends are posting snowy pictures all over facebook. Yesterday I was getting prepared for the storm of the year. My phone kept lighting up with alerts, storm warning... I was secretly thrilled with the idea of a snow day, hunkering down with my quilting by the fireplace. One last hurrah before spring. You would laugh, not a flake of snow at all here, just windy and cold. I stopped watching TV, the weathermen were coming up with all sorts of excuses why their state of the art weather tracking systems didn't work. It's hard to admit, but I feel like I was gipped. I was looking forward to that one big snowfall before spring would actually arrive.  I was so spoiled last week with the warmer weather that I have a horrible case of spring fever. I had the mindset, 'just one more big snow storm...' I'm dying to see bright colors and flowers. So I have been working on some springtime designs and have one done. I'm loving it! It's been awhile since I've added any new animals to my woodland themed patterns. Well, now there's a bunny. A sweet little bunny hiding among the flowers. It's a great project to use up some of those brightly colored scraps that you  have left over from other projects. If you are dying for a touch of spring, this is a fun project.

For those of you stuck in the snowstorm, I'm secretly envious. As I look out my window, I see only gray suckiness... no sun, it's cold, no pretty white, frosted trees.

I am returning to my studio to play with some more pretty fabric, as least I can dream about spring.

Happy quilting,

Cindy

Christmas In July!!!

Wilson and I are celebrating Christmas a little early and offering a 25% off coupon code to help you get going on some of those Christmas projects! It's only available in the Etsy Shop.

I hope you have fun checking the shop out... there's kits and patterns that are all fun to do.  Enjoy!

Important note.... my email crashed last weekend. Very sad and upsetting. I lost all of my emails in the inbox.... this includes my pattern testers and if you sent me a any recent email giving me your address so that I can send you a prize you may have won. Please feel free to send me a friendly little 'hello' so that I can restore some of what I lost..... Thank you!

Happy Quilting,

Spring Celebration!

Let's celebrate Spring!

Winter has been long and I'm celebrating the fact that my daffodils are starting to grow!   Mind you they are only two inches tall and I'm far from seeing them bloom but at least it's a touch of springtime. It's a little bit of green and the sun is shining today... I still haven't seen a robin yet. I have been looking too! But I'm taking a friend's word that they have arrived.... she saw several right outside her classroom window. Please mother nature.... no more snow.....

I'm offering 25% off in my ETSY store, no minimum purchase.... Just enter to coupon code ~TULIP~ whenyou check out!

Happy Quilting,

ETSY

CRAFTSY

Quilt Doodle Designs

Worldwide Quilting Day!

It's Worldwide Quilting Day! So in celebration I have a 20% off coupon code for you to use in my ETSY store. I'm always am adding NEW things so pop on over to the Quilt Doodle ETSY shop and have some quilty fun! 

I'm going to celebrate and do some quilting and spend the day in my studio. I'm also taking care of Wilson and my little grand puppy Lola. I'm sure they will keep me busy and entertained too!

Not too mention I have plenty to work on. I started a few new things at retreat and it would be wonderful to get those items done! 

I hope you have a wonderful day and find some time to quilt or do some of your favorite things. The Tree Bird Blog Hop is still going on, there are some fabulous projects!

Happy quilting,

Friday, March 13

It Seams To Be Sew

Life in the Scrapatch

Amy Stitches

Lakeshore Stitches

Needled Mom

Quilt in a not - Shell

Suebee's World

Monday, March 16

Sew Peace To Peace

Moose Stash Quilting

Buzzing and Bumbling

I Piece 2 Mary

Quilt Doodles

Just Let Me Quilt

Les Quilts

A Stitch In Time

Tuesday, March 17

Tomorrow's Treasures Today

Childlike Facination

Pig Tales and Quilts

Quiltsmiles

Ella and Nesta's Little Room

Thimblemouse and Spouse

Gracie Oliver Arts

Wednesday, March 18

Red Eye Crafts

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Ridge Top Quilts

Stitching By The Beach

Seams To Be Sew

Living My Dream

With Work In Hand

In The Boon Docks

Thursday, March 19

The Raspberry Rabbits

More Stars In Comanche

Sew Many Yarns

Super Mom - No Cape!

Stitchin By The Lake

Jane's Quilting

Quilting Through Rose Colored-Trifocals

Quiltscapes

Friday, March 20

Freemotion By The River

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Tea Time Creations

Baa's Amazing Adventures!

Selina Quilts

Ramblings of a Quilter

Busy Bee Quilts

Grandmamas Stories

Monday, March 23

Debbie Kratovil Quilts

how arT you?

Hill Valley Quilting

Pink Doxies. Blogspot.com

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Fabric Bias

Lovelli Quilts

Bacon Then Eggs

Sew We Quilt

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope that you have a wonderful time with your family and friends. As I gather with my family over the next few days, I hope that I am a blessing to others as I reflect on all of the things I am thankful for. Now I'm off to look for a piece of pumpkin pie and some turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday Savings!

Holiday savings just for you to help you get those Christmas projects done!

Remember this is in my ETSY shop only. Don't forget to enter in the coupon code!

JINGLE

Holiday Savings

Holiday Savings!

Holiday savings just for you to help you get those Christmas projects done!

Remember this is in my ETSY shop only. Don't forget to enter in the coupon code!

JINGLE

Happy quilting,

Happy Anniversary To Me!

While drinking my coffee this morning, I have been pondering, wonder when my Quilt Doodle anniversary is. It's inception happened years ago, every time I doodled myself a pattern because I couldn't find what I was looking for. But the ceremonial beginning of Quilt Doodle Designs was five years ago at quilt retreat when I started to formally draw up designs to share.  I've been officially designing patterns ever since.... it's been such a fun journey so far. I've learned a lot, met so many wonderful quilters so far. I am certainly looking forward to all that is to come! I vow to continue to design and share with you as long as I can hold a pencil and work with needle and thread. Wilson and I have decided to celebrate today with vanilla ice cream cones and pass some savings onto you, our wonderful quilty friends. 25% off with coupon code CAKE4, in my ETSY shop only.

Happy Quilting,

Grandma's Kitchen

It's so nice to have a day in the sewing room. Saturday was the perfect day for creating, the guys were busy with their own projects so that gave me the day to spend my time on my own. So nice to have the day to create with Wilson snoring at my feet. (He also had a relaxing weekend) I worked on some new applique designs for in the kitchen.

I love my kitchen mixer, love the color red.
This was a fun design to make.

Love the buttons!

My hubby drinks lots of tea, so I had to make a teapot!
I love red and yellow together, reminds me of days gone by and
grandma's kitchen on the farm.

I enjoy to embellish with buttons and yo-yo's.

These designs can be found in my Etsy and Craftsy sites. 'Grandma's Kitchen' has both applique patterns for the teapot and mixer along with directions on how to make a hanging kitchen towel. The pattern is available both as a PDF instant download and as a packaged pattern.  I hope you have a wonderful day and find some time to quilt.

Happy quilting,

Garden Visitor

I know I have garden visitors throughout the year, but especially when the garden is growing. I enjoy the various bugs and butterflies.  I know that the deer stop by and munch on the buffet I am growing (my garden) they especially like the green beans and hostas.  But one little fellow, I see all winter long, but don't see him in the summer. I'm sure he visits my garden, so I designed this cute little fox, sitting among the flowers. It's a cute companion piece that goes well with Garden Gnome.

Here I have all of the pieces cut out and all ready to iron in place.
I picked out some buttons that I thought worked too.

'Garden Visitor'A cute little fox...

This new pattern can be found on ETSY and CRAFTSY as instant downloads.

Packaged patterns are also available.

Happy Quilting,

Coffee at the Cabin

One thing I love is spending time up north. Coffee outside by the dock first thing in the morning is one of my favorite things. I have to say in the top ten. I have been busy in my studio having fun sewing and I made this cute mug rug. Yes I know, another mug rug, but I don't think I will ever tire of them. They are quick and easy to make. Not to mention, super cute! I just cut my usual size backing, batting and front, 7 1/2" x 10 1/2" ... for this one I used my 'Camper Sweet Camper' pattern and squished all the pieces on my rectangle. Machine appliqued around all the pieces and bound it with some leftover binding from another project. See quick and easy peasy! 

I'm off to drink a cup of coffee and make out my list for the cabin. So much to do and so much to pack.... 

Have a wonderful day!

Happy quilting,

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July is usually the beginning of some summertime fun at our house. It's nice to have a three day weekend to relax since we usually stay in town. When my boys were younger we would host a barbecue with some good friends of ours. It was awesome, the boys would play and eat treats while we relaxed and visited over drinks on the deck. At nightfall we would shoot off fireworks. No big plans this year.... the boys are all grown up our neighbors are going on a trip up north. It will be a quiet weekend. My hubby and boys are getting the boat ready for our upcoming vacation to the cabin. They're fixing something, but for the life of me, I don't know what it's called. Something that the boat needs to run...  We didn't buy any fireworks this weekend since we are planning on catching a display somewhere on the 4th. I am stocking up on some barbecue goodies for my guys.... I'll make something red, white and bluish. ... make my loaded baked potato salad and grill something wonderful! It's also fun to pull out some of my summertime decorations. My flip flop table runner and tea towel are some of my summertime favorites to decorate with. The flip flop design is a free pattern!  It's a quick and easy pattern and makes a great hostess gift.

Some areas will be a bit wet for the 4th, so if you need a fun weekend project. Both of these designs would be great to work on this weekend. 

Have a wonderful 4th of July,

Playing in the Dirt!

I love planting flowers and this year I have more time to devote to my gardening. My beloved greenhouse that I loved to work at part-time in the spring has closed. After 125 years of business, the family decided to close up shop last fall. I really miss my favorite greenhouse this year. Change is good, right, the closure is forcing me to discover new places to shop for plants. I have visited a few different places searching for my favorites. I was so spoiled. Tomato plants have disappear off the shelves by Memorial Day.... who knew, not I! (I was so used to buying them right off the truck as I unloaded them) I was unable to locate any of my tried and true tomato plants, so I'm trying out some new varieties. Actually I had no choice, I bought the last four packs of tomatoes.  I'm sure they will be wonderful, I love tomatoes. We will be planting our veggie garden on Monday. Last weekend I planted flower pots and started pulling weeds out of the perennial gardens. (It's going to take me all summer to get the perennial gardens looking great again) Let me share a few pictures of my progress so far.

First springtime bloom this year!

My favorite place to drink my coffee....

Gnome garden... this year I planted Irish Moss, Rosemary, Lavender and Chamomile in
my gnome pot. I think it missing something, so later today I'm going to make a gazing ball
using a golf tea, marble and some silver wire.

Herbs in pots, and more Garden Gnomes...

Wilson enjoyed hanging outside with me as I gardened...

I brought my Pineapple plants out for the summer.

I'm too embarrassed to take pictures and show you the state of my perennial gardens. I'll take pictures after I do a bit of weeding. Right now they are a total mess! It's also my birthday this weekend. I'm going to eat some cake and do my favorite things. Spend time with my family, do some gardening, some quilting, drink some coffee on the deck and take Wilson for a walk or two. In celebration of my 29th plus tons of experience birthday, I have a 50% off coupon available in my ETSY shop. Remember to enter in the code BIRTHDAY to get your discount.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Monkeyshine!

This has got to be one of my favorite projects that I worked on this winter. It gave me the giggles as I sewed along. I was giddy with excitement at times too, my family thought I had finally lost it. The truth is, I love sock monkeys... don't know why, just do. It was no surprise that when I asked for testers, a ton of you jumped right in with both feet with enthusiasm. I am thrilled with the results, so I thought I would share the photos that they sent me on their progress as they tested the quilt....

Amy's Monkeyshine quilt pieces all ready to sew and applique

Monkey block all done! Beautiful stitching!

Love the bright colors that Amy used! So cheerful!

Cathy's finished quilt top. Love it!!!

Gale's finished Monkeyshines quilt, love it with pink too!

Here is Gale's quilt while she was working on it...

A sneak peek at the back... I really love the pieced back. I think this is
a great idea. Her label is nicely done too! There sure is a lucky little one out there!

Heidi's striped fabric and a monkey block... great fabric!

Heidi's applique is very nicely done, changing thread colors takes time
but is certainly worth the effort.

Love the quilt paired with a sock monkey, this would be a great gift idea!

Love this picture from Heidi, it just gave me the giggles!

Karen's quilt top turned out great!

Here's a close-up of one of Karen's blocks. Beautiful job with
the buttonhole stitch... love it!

Close-up of Rose's block. Great fabrics!

Rose's finished quilt top...

I owe these generous quilters a huge THANK YOU for their hard work and wonderful craftsmanship. If you are looking for a fun quilt to make for a little one, this is a good one! Use fabric from your stash or buy special fabric, this is a great pattern. I know I had fun making it and these ladies enjoyed the pattern too! A PDF copy of this pattern can be found on Etsy and also on Craftsy.

Happy quilting!

Source: Monkeyshines Quilt #125 via Quilt Doodle on Craftsy