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Let It Snow Woolie

January 5, 2017 /

A little wool, a little thread… and a cozy little candle with wool applique.

Okay, so you’ll also need a needle, scissors, some fusible, a hair elastic and a button, but you get the idea. Simple, sweet and cozy for a snow flurry kind of day!

I used the snowflake Accuquilt die for this quick applique. Makes a sweet gift.

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O Holy Night Nativity Wool Applique

O Holy Night

December 24, 2016 /
Manger Scene Wool Applique

O HOLY NIGHT

Here is a sweet wool applique manger scene for you!

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Christmas blessings to you each day of the year!

 

Not Your Typical Christmas Goose

December 19, 2016 /

Twelve Days of Christmas

Learn the real meaning of the twelve days of Christmas, Kiefner style!

At Kiefner Christmas at the farm, any newcomer (boyfriend, girlfriend, lucky friend) is a “goose”. We search for these geese all year, prodding the nieces and nephews to find an unsuspecting goose to bring to the farm for Kiefner Christmas.

While we make out this tradition to be a little scarier than it actually is, so far no one has become a cooked goose!

Pop teaching the geese how to get down!

Each year, Pop (my husband’s father) describes the origin of the Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and the secret meanings behind each of the symbols for the 12 days. (This year, niece Elizabeth helped him with that.) The carol was a way for the Roman Catholics to secretly teach and reinforce their faith at a time when they were not permitted to openly confess. Click here to see the full description of the hidden meaning of this well-known carol.

In short, the meanings are as follows:

Partridge in a Pear Tree – The True Love of Jesus Christ

Two Turtle Doves – Old and New Testaments

Three French Hens – Faith, Hope, and Love

Four Calling Birds – The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Five Gold Rings – First five books of the Old Testament which tell of man’s fall into sin and God’s plan for redemption through His son.

Six Geese a Laying – Six days of creation.

Seven Swans a Swimming – Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Eight Maids a Milking – The Beatitudes

Nine Ladies Dancing – The Fruits of the Spirit

Ten Lords a Leaping – The Ten Commandments

Eleven Pipers Piping – Eleven faithful Apostles

Twelve Drummers Drumming – The twelve points of belief in The Apostles Creed.

So with each verse we add motions to the song, with our special new geese flapping their wings and squatting for”Geese a Laying”. The three sons are always the “Lords a Leaping” and everyone joins in on all the rest. Click here to see the last verse of this banner-year’s Kiefner version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with a whopping FOUR geese-a-laying!

After we parade into the field to cut the tree (we actually watch Kent and Barry do the hard work), we file back to the house  for caroling led by Luanne at the piano and AFTER the performance and congrats to our new geese, we open gifts and eat Luanne’s delicious chili or soup. 

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Mr. Snowman Punch Needle

Do ya wanna build a snowman?

December 12, 2016 /

Make a snowman today!

Come on, let’s go and play! You can build a snowman today with Mr. Snowman Punch Needle!

Put down your lists and have-tos.

Make a snowman yours today!

First of all, no shovel is needed for this little guy – and very few supplies!

Just grab one tiny 3-inch canvas, your punching supplies and some yummy threads to make yourself a little, friendly snowman.

Get details and the Mr. Snowman Punch Needle PDF download HERE.

Mr. Snowman Punch Needle
Mr. Snowman Punch Needle

Also, you’ll find a link for a How-To tutorial!

In addition to this little guy working up super-fast, he adds some needlework texture to your winter decor! (See Textures of Christmastime) My guy likes to sit in front of my “Winter Blessings” quilt (pattern by Shabby Fabrics) hanging in my dining room but he’d be darling on a window sill!

Alternatively, you can draw your favorite snowman. What’s great about punch needle is the simpler, the better. So think back to how you would draw a snowman as a kid-then punch away!

Winter Blessings Quilt Pattern by Shabby Fabrics
Winter Blessings Quilt
Pattern by Shabby Fabrics
Do ya wanna build a snowman?

A side note.

A few years ago, my girls dressed as Anna and Elsa and sang for the Salvation Army ringer outside our mall. It was cold, but they had a great time, surprised lots of little ones by being there, and brought in a few more dollars for the Salvation Army.

Do ya wanna build a snowman?

It also made for a great Christmas card that year!

Do ya wanna build a snowman?

Remember to be prepared for the winter days ahead and check your emergency supplies, like water, batteries, thread, treadle machine oil (in case you lose electricity), and chocolate!

Most of all, enjoy your quilting journey!

Image of Quilt
Noelle is made with BOTH beautiful sides of one Christmas floral!

Shop Quilt Patterns HERE

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Image of Christmas craft

A Christmas Passed.

December 3, 2016 /

All of a sudden your Christmas Traditions aren’t traditions anymore!

In a moment (it seems) our family has grown up and Christmas Traditions aren’t the norm anymore.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Table of contents

Note: since I first wrote this post in 2016, there have been many wonderful changes to our Christmas experiences. I’ll update that towards the end. But as you’ll read the original post, I was lamenting the changes of that time – not realizing that change can be exciting and good:

It happens in a flash. They tell you it will. You know it will. You even know at the time that it is…and then, all of a sudden, you know it DID. Therefore, it seems, Christmas traditions evolve.

Family dynamics change. All of those years of anticipation and child-like joy about the holidays are over. (They actually had been for several years.) I think I was just pretending and hanging on to them as long as I could.

I am a traditional kind of gal who loves to recreate the same experiences every year, like:

  • new jammies on Christmas Eve
  • the same Christmas Eve dinner
  • Saint Lucia bread on Christmas morning
  • attending the same candlelight service
  • listening to the same Christmas music each year
  • watching Christmas movies

Now, for the first time in thirteen years, neither of my girls will be singing for our Christmas Eve service at church. They won’t be here on Christmas Eve.

Image of Christmas Craft
Popsicle stick Advent toys I made
23 years ago. I still put them out every year.

This Christmas Eve it will be just us and the baby in the manger. No cooking all day, keeping it warm while hurrying to and from the first service, home to have Christmas dinner with family and rush back to church for the candlelight performance. No prayers in the pews for healthy voices and calm nerves. It’s just us this year for Christmas Eve.

Traditional changes.

I’m sure many of you know what I’m talking about. You’ve been there! Maybe you have a new round of grand-kiddos to share the excitement?

Change happens and so do Christmas traditions. I mean, let’s face it, my Saint Lucia bread hadn’t risen right since we moved to our new house, ten years ago! It actually became a tradition to laugh about the candle-lit flatbread with gooey orange icing and dried cranberries we had every Christmas morning!

The St. Lucia wake-up:

Our girls would sleep in their white American Girl pioneer gowns and bonnets. In the wee morning hours they would put crowns on their heads, tiptoe into the kitchen and make us a treat. They would wake us with singing, a chocolate-y coffee-like drink, and Christmas cookies on a tray. It was sweet, if not so tasty!

So it’ll be a quiet Christmas Eve, but a beautiful one, I know. There’s nothing like singing Silent Night by candlelight in our filled, beautiful church. Then on Christmas Day, our oldest will fly in from New York, the youngest and her boyfriend will pick her up at the airport, drive a few hours and our celebration with family will begin. We will have a new menu, new music, and some new people…and I think some new jammies will still be in order!

Christmas Traditions
One year they sang outside the mall for the Salvation Army ringers at Elsa and Anna.
Image of Paige in Christmas Traditions
Paige performed in Miracle on 34th Street in Rochester, NY
Image of Jacq in Christmas show
Jacquelyn performed for Myer Dinner Theatre’s Christmas show.

UPDATE: It’s 2020 and boy, have things changed! I’ve loosened up a lot on our traditions and this year is like no other! Our girls are 28 and 24. AND we have a son-in-law! A few constants in our Christmas experience are family gatherngs, carols, hymns, Silent Night by candlelight, adult jammies and celebrating the Christ-child born to save us all. And Christmas quilts…

Image of Noelle Quilt
Noelle Quilt Pattern

Thank you for following my blog. Blessing to each of you this Christmas and throughout the new year.

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One Sophisticated Lady

One Sophisticated Lady

November 19, 2016 /

See how to make a baby quilt using a phone app and cutting machine!

This is a baby quilt for a classy baby’s room! It’s a personalized one, made for a friend’s grandbaby.

Firstly, I got a text from a friend to see if I would make a quilt for her grandbaby. She sent me pictures of the most beautiful baby’s room I’d ever seen! 

A personalized baby quilt.

Next, when she commissioned me to make a baby quilt, she sent photos of the baby’s room.

However, the grandmother had no specific ideas in mind for the quilt, other than to go with the theme of a somewhat “grown-up” room.

Let the fabric do the talking.

The grandbaby girl’s room is painted a very pretty taupe and pearl in large, horizontal stripes. There are some accents in soft pink and a large gold monogram on the wall.

One Sophisticated Lady

While milling around Hancocks, I found their collection of Moda Fabrics‘ Grunge–which I LOVE! They read as a solid, but are anything but boring and feel, oh, so good! It wasn’t long before I had the pearl and taupe picked out and down the aisle a little further, I found this soft pink with a little touch of gold. I sent a pic to my friend and the project began. 

A design wall is helpful!

When I got home I looked at many baby quilt designs and decided on using large half-squares because I wanted to try to keep the cost down as much as possible. After viewing many variations, I started making half-square triangle blocks and just placing them on the design wall, moving them around to see different patterns emerge. I eventually came up with a pattern I liked and filled-out the quilt with blocks as needed.

Add a monogram to the baby quilt with a phone app!

Now I had planned to use a monogram similar to the one in the baby’s room as a focal point for the quilt, but not being terribly experienced at using my ScanNCut2, I was also a little apprehensive. I was super excited to find the exact monogram on my phone’s Monogram It app!

Monogram It App
Monogram It App

Turns out, it was so easy to send this design from my phone to my computer and then to my ScanNCut2, I could hardly contain myself!

I cut the fabric, fused with HeatNBond Ultrahold and pressed it to the quilt. (Normally you aren’t supposed to sew through the Ultra, but I quilted around the edges of it to make sure it stood up to washings. I choose the Ultra instead of HeatNBond Lite because I wanted to be certain the fabric wouldn’t fray.)

Monogrammed Baby Quilt
Monogrammed Baby Quilt

I added an embroider label, quilted and bound the quilt as usual. I included a Shout Color Catcher with washing instructions for the momma.

This quilt was fun to make and I am really excited about the world of possibilities of using the ScanNCut2 in my future quilting and design work!

Let me say here that I am fortunate because from the start of this project, my friend said she totally trusted my judgement and

One Sophisticated Lady
One Sophisticated Lady

whatever I wanted to make would be great–not all projects allow you that freedom to let the design come together.

Next time I’ll make this quilt using BOTH beautiful sides of fabric!

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BEST OF SHOW Cynthia Enland

This is NOT paper piecing.

November 11, 2016 /

See the incredible work which won the Houston Quilt Festival!

Wow!

Many heartfelt congratulations to Cynthia England for her Handiquilter’s Best of Show at Houston International Quilt Festival!

The last couple of years my friend Nancy and I would search the AQS Paducah show book to see if our “buddies” from England Design were going to be there and we were disappointed to see they were not. I can see now that Cynthia has been a bit busy.

BEST OF SHOW Cynthia Enland

BEST OF SHOW
Cynthia England

Considering this quilt, Reflections of Cape Town, has 8400 pieces, I can see why she was no longer making hundreds of butterflies to demo her technique in her show booth!

I have to say, though, we didn’t just search out the England Design booth to enjoy browsing through her patterns and studying her large masterpieces on display, we liked to visit our “England friends” each year–and they remembered us from year to year. While I can’t think of any vendors who weren’t friendly, these folks were just a little extra special.

Now I’m wishing I had spent a little more effort looking up what Cynthia was up to because I understand that this is her THIRD Best of Show in Houston!

So, what does this mean for me?  It’s time to get out that half-finished, “aging”, England Design kit that I bought years ago and work it up! This little beauty is called Old Grist Mill. Cynthia’s technique is called Picture Piecing and you work on the front of the fabric and there are no papers to tear out of your finished product. For the record, I don’t have a problem with paper piecing, once I get past those first two pieces (blush), but this method is a little more forgiving, and I do appreciate that!

Old Grist Mill by Cynthia England

Old Grist Mill
by Cynthia England

Go to Cynthia’s gallery to see all of her wonderful quilts!

There’s one thing I remember about the England Design booth in Paducah: you walked out of the booth knowing and remembering ONE thing: This is NOT paper piecing.

Have you ever tried this method? Tell my about your experience with making landscape or picture quilts.

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Sweet Pumpkin

Sweet Pumpkin Applique

November 3, 2016 /

Sweet pumpkin is in the air!

Autumn brings the best of pumpkin to our senses. You might have already enjoyed your favorite seasonal coffees. Maybe you’ve lit some sweet-scented candles. Are you anticipating that first bite of sweet pumpkin pie?

It’s true, this time of year, pumpkin touches almost all our senses. Now you can add the cozy touch of wool and the unique look of the combination of plaid, lace, and burlap to make your fall seasonal experience complete!

Here is the Sweet Pumpkin Applique pillow.

Sweet Pumpkin
Sweet Pumpkin Applique

First, download the free template here.

Sweet-Pumpkin-Applique-TemplateDownload

Use the template for your own pumpkin project or make the pillow as shown.

Sweet Pumpkin Applique

Accent Pillow Size: 12 x 17 inches

First, trace the template designs onto the paper side of fusible. Cut loosely around each. Press onto back of wool. Cut on lines.

Next, baste one 12-inch piece of 2 1/2-inch lace onto the left edge of 6 1/2 x 12-inch burlap. Pin, right sides together, one 11 x 12 inch plaid fabric and burlap together; stitch.

Then place applique pieces from back to front in order as listed and numbered: Pumpkin, Stem, Leaf, Small Sunflower Center (slip petal ends beneath center), Large Sunflower Center (slip petal ends 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 beneath center; add petals 10 and 11 on top). Press to fuse pieces in place.

Hand stitch the wool applique using the blanket stitch and/or running stitch. I suggest these Valdani threads, size 8: Pumpkin: Easter; Stem: PT4; Leaf: P11 Aged Black; Sunflowers: P5.

Sweet Pumpkin Closeup

When handwork is complete, align and pin 12 x 17-inch backing with top, right sides together. Mark a 4-inch area for turning on fabric end of pillow. Machine stitch. Trim corners and turn. Use fingers to gently push out corners in burlap. Fill with small tuffs of polyester fill. Turn ends of opening inward and stitch.

Lastly, add a decorative blanket stitch (optional) across the end with a thick thread to make a nice edge.

 Looking ahead to Christmas cheer, here’s JOYFUL, made with BOTH beautiful sides of fabric!

Image of quilt
JOYFUL Quilt Pattern
Image of MERRY
MERRY Quilt Pattern
Image of Snowflake Fabric
NEW MERRY Snowflakes Fabric by Creative Bee Studios at Spoonflower!

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Image of Punch Needle
Black Kitty Punch Needle

Where, oh, where is my little black kitty?

October 31, 2016 /

Punch yourself a little black kitty with punch needle embroidery.

Where, oh, where could he be?

It’s Halloween night and our little black kitty is missing. His name is Mungojerrie.

Black Kitty Punch Needle by Karla Kiefner

Black Kitty Punch Needle
by Karla Kiefner

He and his sister, Rumpleteazer (our vet loves us), were named after the notorious couple of cats in the Broadway musical, Cats.

Mungojerrie is known to be on “WalkAbout” for several days at a time, but I always like to keep him near on Halloween night. There’s just something about black cats. He is small with a bobbed tail (he was born that way and it seems to affect his balance when he’s circling around to lay down).

The black cat in this punch needle is looking at the full, harvest moon.

Deep into the darkness peering,

long I stood there, wondering

fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams

no moral ever dared to dream before.       Edgar Allan Poe

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Sometimes You Gotta Look Up

October 26, 2016 /

Find a little heaven on earth with this heavenly quilt.

It’s such a human thing to do…

exhaust all other options,

do everything you can…

Storybook Challenge Quilt

Storybook Challenge Quilt

then drop to your knees and pray.

I don’t know why it is the last thing I think of. Every time it happens, I think I’m not going to wait until there is nothing left to do but pray, but every time, that’s what I do.

So today this is a simple reminder to let go of your troubles and worries, and let them float upward. Whether they are personal or even crazy-election related, remember to look up to heaven and realize these are only problems for here on earth. The battle is won, the victory is real. Like little Colton Burpo learned first-hand, Heaven is for Real. 

My local quilt guild, River Heritage Quilters Guild, handed out story books for each willing quilter to use as a challenge. I was expecting something like Good Night Moon or Are You My Mother?. Instead, I got this book, Heaven is for Real. I am ashamed to say, I actually complained about having to make a quilt about heaven because it was going to be so hard (what a problem to have)! I had read the adult version of this book and loved it. I was comforted by the “evidence” of promises it presented and I was able to look at the loss of my loved ones from their perspective–which is really unimaginable! I’m sure if my girls were younger, I would have known about the children’s storybook version.

Because little Colton Burpo described more about heaven than I would be able to display in 36 inches square, I chose to focus on the three most important elements: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You can see the Father’s large, gentle hands at the top of the quilt. He is reaching into heaven and presenting His one and only Son. The Holy Spirit is depicted by the rainbow colors of the city. The entire quilt is covered in a layer of organza to give it a softened and glistening look. Angel wings are quilted into the pearl pillars of the heavenly gate.

See the entire collection of challenge quilts in the community room during the month of December at the Cape Girardeau Arts Council.

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