Finish #1

As the month draws to an end, I have one finish to show from my UFO list. 

My husband teaches 3rd - 5th grade Sunday School at our church.  One week they were studying the gifts that each of us has been given by God.  As an activity for the lesson he had them draw a picture of one of the gifts they studied.  He feels sure the kids think he just got rid of their artwork but instead he came home and asked me to make the squares into a quilted wallhanging.  

The quilting is a little wonky.  Hey, I'm a beginner with a new machine.  What can I say?  I don't think his kids will mind the wonky cornerstones.  They will just be excited that their artwork has been saved.  I'm excited that there is actually one UFO finished and marked off my list.  

Always Playing Catch-Up

It seems I am always playing catch up when it comes to my quilting projects.  I see soooo many cute designs and opportunities to join in a sew along while I am reading my favorite blogs.  I already told you that I am a joiner.  So here I go again, I'm joining Rachel's Postage Stamp Quilt Along.  You know Rachel, from p.s. I quilt.

Yep, I'm three weeks behind but no fear.  Since the holiday season has ended my work schedule has gone back to the normal part-time status which means I only work 3-4 days a week.  YEAH!!!  I have had the past four days off so I have been sewing, sewing, sewing.  Here is my progress.  To stay true to my resolution to use up what I have, I chose a jelly roll I bought back in 2008 at the NQA convention I attended.  It is Daydreams by Deb Strain by Moda. (I told you I have been hoarding fabric for a long time).

I love all the pre-cuts offered out there.  I have fat quarter bundles, honey buns, jelly rolls, layer cakes and charm packs.  I'm addicted!!  I buy them and then never know how to use them.  So when Rachel started this project I just knew this fabric line would be great.  The contrast fabric I'm using is just a white solid.
So I sewed and sewed and sewed and ended up with all the strips sewn together.

Lots and lots of strips!!  So, then I went back to sewing and sewing and sewing!  Whew, I'm finally catching up!!

Here are four of the forty-eight(yes, 48!!) blocks that I have finished and now I'm all caught up and can stay up with each step as they come.  These colors are out of my comfort zone but I thought the fabrics were so fun.  I guess that's why I bought it in the first place.  DUH!!

Now onto another of my WIP's.  Thanks for stopping by!!

What can I say.....I'm a joiner!

We have a break in the regularly scheduled travel updates.  Okay, I know I've only posted one and I'm about to leave on my third trip of the month but this is a completely different subject matter.

So, I wanted to announce that I'm joining up with some pretty amazing bloggers for a Sew Scrap Along.





Jodi Nelson from Pleasant Home blog fame is hosting a scrappy sew along and I have joined up.  I just know I have told you more than once that scrappy quilts are my ALL-TIME FAVORITES of any quilts out there.  So this is right up my alley!!

Now we all know that Christmas (sorry Anna, I used the "C" word) is right around the corner so I really don't have time to start 4 or 5 new projects but how can I refuse when I LOVE scrappy quilts?  I Can't!!  So we are off.  If you are a quilter I would invite you to join us and join in all the scrappy fun we will be having over the next few weeks.  If you aren't then you can just watch as we sew up some scrappy goodness, or at least start a few more UFO's to feel guilty about.

Thanks for stopping by.  Now we return to our regularly scheduled travel blogging(maybe).

Our Weekend

I hope you had a great July 4th weekend.  We didn't do much different than any other weekend but it was nice having Bill home on Monday (or at least until he got a call to go play golf for the afternoon!!).  We grilled out Saturday night and it was scrumptious, especially since the squash and green beans came out of our own garden.  We were so excited!!! 

YUMM-O!!!












It took me three whole days to gather enough nerve to actually plug my new Janome into the wall and turn it on.  After reading the instruction manual Friday afternoon, I had myself convinced that a Janome rep would need to come live with us if I was ever going to use the machine.  Since that was not remotely a possibility, I convinced myself that come Monday I would venture over to the sewing shop and ask for lessons.  I chickened out!!  So again, I grabbed the intimidating instruction manual, moved my little Singer off the sewing table and plugged in the electrical cord, the foot petal and even the knee lift bar.  Good to go!!!  I mustered up the courage to flip the little on/off switch and Woo Hoo..you should have heard all the little beeps!!!

So, I thought, "so far, so good!  Surely I can figure out how to thread the bobbin and then thread the machine."  And, what do you know, I did it!!  (Thanks to the step by step instructions with illustrations, I might add.  Have I ever told you I'm a visual learner??)  Well, next think I knew I was sewing along piecing some blocks and sewing on borders and today I finished up my 2008 (yes, that's not a typo - 2008) Thimbleberries Lodge quilt top. 

That's Rudy, our daughter's border collie, guarding the top from the wind so I could get a picture. 
One UFO down (that's unfinished object for you non-quilting readers) and a couple more tops to go.  Then I'm going to have to get brave again and learn how to quilt with my new machine since I told Bill that's the main reason I needed the new machine.  I can't even begin to tell you how many tops I have to finish up with the quilting and binding but I've decided that July and August are going to be FIU (yes, that's finish it up, non-quilters) months here. 

I'll keep you posted on the progress.  Thanks for stopping by!!

Blogaversary

It hardly seems possible that it was a year ago this month (April 6th to be exact) that I began this blogging adventure. I am not as faithful at posting as I would like. I find myself spending far more time reading other blogs than posting to my own. Inspiration abounds as I read blogs from so many talented crafters and writers. I'm daily awed by their work. I have been so blessed to "meet" so many new people from all around the world! Isn't this world wide web just wonderful?!! One of these, ThimbleAnna, calls us her "imaginary friends". I like that!!

One of the fun things about blogging is the swaps available to participate in. I have fabric from all over the world waiting to become a postage stamp quilt. I also recently mailed off 60 signature blocks (pictured below) for another swap. I will soon (I hope) receive back blocks by quilters from around the globe.

It is so fun to share my boring little life with you, my family and friends (old and new). The next six months look to be exciting and I am looking forward to sharing it with you. I vow to do better this year and hopefully soon will reach my 100th post. Thanks so much for making this adventure so much fun!!

Thanks for stopping by!! Happy Quilting!!

Little Quilts

Hey there! I hope you all had a nice weekend. Ours was full of activity since our Sweet Kid #2 and his girlfriend came home for a visit. It was nice to spend some time with them again but as usual it wasn't long enough to suit me.

Not much else going on here. I have been working on several projects but not finishing much. The last finish was this little log cabin mini which I used scraps to complete.

It's about 25 X 25 and came from the Little Quilts book I bought when I first began quilting back in 2001.

I'm working on another one from the same book and here are a couple of blocks from it.

I have finished 4 of the 6 little Overall Bill blocks as well as the four patch blocks that surround them. All are from scraps again. I love using my scraps!! And I seem to be stuck lately making little quilts. They are such fun and almost instant gratification.

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Quilting!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentine's Day is always filled with such sweetness. From the colors - pink, red and white, to the flowers and candy. It's a fun time to show some special "tlc" to the ones you love. My sweetie showed up with a gift certificate to the spa so I KNOW I'll be having some "tlc" soon!!

I finally finished the Valentine runner I started in June of last year. It's a free pattern over at The Happy Zombie (thanks Monica!!) done in the fabric line by Moda All You Need is Love. I just love that song by the Beatles, don't you. It will be stuck in my head all day now!!

Love, love, love
All You Need is Love!!!

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!!

Copycat Quilting

While catching up on my blog reading last week I stumbled across this little jewel on Lucy's Quilting with the Past blog. Lucy, is a blogger from the Netherlands. She is quite a prolific quilter. If you are a fan of Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville then you already know about Lucy. Bonnie traveled to the Netherlands last fall and spent time with her. If not, you need to check them both out. Anyway, back to the quilt. It was so cute that I had to make one for myself.



This is my version. (Again, bad photo. I can't wait to get my camera back!!). This little cutie is only about as long as a pencil. It's about 9" X 6 1/2". It sewed up quickly on Saturday. I hand quilted it that evening. I then used some left over binding I had from another project to get it bound on Sunday afternoon. TaDa!!

I get so easily distracted!!


Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!!!

This was last week's snow. We got about 10 inches which may not seem like alot to those of you further north but to this southern born girl transplanted here to Ohio it's HUGE! It might have been okay if I could have stayed in all week but that was not the case. It was our turn to host Family Promise again so that meant a great deal of time on the road back and forth to church. It's been a blessing to be a part of the solution for hurting families during this hard economic time. What we do may not be big but it is a step in the right direction for the two families we served this past week.

Some of the snow has melted and we expect to get up into the 40's by the weekend so we might see some of our dead grass. I have to tell you that I have stayed inside as much as possible, though. I have spent a great deal of time at my sewing machine and have this to show for the effort (Once again, picture is from my phone as the camera is still broken. I'll shoot better pics when it's repaired.)
I'm so sorry you can't see all the wonderful civil war repro fabrics. They are just amazing. This is a Bonnie Blue Quilts pattern named Second Hand Clothes. There are over 110 different fabrics in this quilt. It is so easy to put together and turned out beautifully. I promise, better pictures of the fabrics soon!!!

Progress on my BOM's is slow. I have finished the first block of Ellie's Country Calendar (shown here) and have printed off the second month's pattern. I have almost finished the first block of the Snowladies BOM and have not even started the Bunny Hill Basket BOM and she is due out with the next block on the 5th. I usually only do my handwork in the evenings while we watch TV so that makes for slow going. I also spent a couple of days working on my Grandmother's flower garden blocks so that has helped me lag behind. Hmmm, I guess with all these different projects going, I certainly can't complain about being bored. ;-)

And, of course, I couldn't end the post without showing you this cute picture of our sweet(fast growing) puppy taking a nap while "grandma" blogs.


Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!!

One Last Christmas Gift

This is the last of my Christmas projects/gifts. Our middle son attends the University of Illinois so when I discovered this kit at Quiltmakers in Fishers, IN while searching for quilt stores around the Indianapolis area I knew it would have to be one of his Christmas presents. It was so easy to put together. I bought the kit instead of just the pattern and they had done all the hard work already by arranging all those blues by color values. Some of them are so close it would have been difficult.

While in Houston, I had my friend use her snazzy Brother Innovis 1100 to embroidery the school name on the bottom border piece(the closeup picture).

I hand quilted lines radiating out from the blue dot representing Champaign and outlining the borders.














Our trip to Toledo Wednesday was alot of fun. The place where hubby was being fitted for his new driver happened to be right next door to a Target. I love Target and we don't have one anywhere near us here. So, the time just flew by!! I also discovered a really nice quilt store called Sonflower Quilts and Gifts in Sylvania(a small suburb in the nw part of Toledo). The owners were so very nice and they had a great selection of fabrics, notions, books, patterns and block of the month programs. I think a return trip is in order for me(without hubby so I can really scour the place)!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Happy Quilting and Happy New Year!!

Fall

Since today is officially the first day of Autumn, I thought I would share a couple of quilted items I use to decorate for Fall. First is a table runner I finished up right after the first of the year.

You might notice that it's too large for the table. Well, when I bought the pattern back in 2005 we lived in a different house and used a much larger dining room table. That table has become my sewing table for the time being so the corners will just have to "drape" off the table.

This was the 2002/03 (I can't remember which year) Thimbleberries Club Fall Quilt. Back then the club offered a different quilt for each season. I made this quilt back then but never quilted it until just this summer. This next picture is a close-up of some of the hand quilting.

We had a great time in Florida. I'll share photos from the trip tomorrow. And yes, there are several from the quilt store we visited. Just let me wet your appetite by saying that the store is a whopping 10,000 sq. ft.. I was in heaven!!!

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!!

She's Done

She's done. Are quilts she's? Not sure but it seems right to me. After whining to all you good listeners yesterday(thanks!), I finished up this little jewel. One of the nice things about these Lori Smith Four Plus One Patterns is that you get a complete quilt out of five fat quarters. It's a small quilt, but it's a quilt.


Here's the back all pieced together. The only thing is that you have to be really careful about your cutting. I'm not sure I will only buy five for the next one of these I try. It just made me real nervous with the cutting and then I goofed when cutting the bias stems for the applique and ended up having to use the cream for the back instead of the brown you see around the little churn dash squares. It's not a big deal except I didn't get all five fabrics on the back.

I don't think I will do too much quilting on it so I should finish it up quickly.

This is my next project. It's sad, but I bought this pattern at least 5 years ago. I had forgotten about it until today when (still on my cleaning/organizing binge) I rediscovered several patterns and kits stuck down in a drawer.














I'm going to make the garland. Many moons ago I bought a bolt of muslin with my 40% off coupon at JoAnn's. I have most the DMC colors already. So this afternoon while doing laundry, I spent some time with the light box and tracing pen. I can begin stitching whenever I'm ready.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

Distracted

Monday was just one of those days. Tuesday I became distracted. While looking through my stash for a backing needed for a christmas stitchery(yes, it's never too early to start sewing for Christmas) I was overcome by a horrible smell down deep in the tote bag I was perusing. It was awful. Nothing doing except to take all that fabric (most of it was fat quarters) and dump it in the washer. It was a washer load (and a little left on the laundry floor, if I'm completely honest). Well, you know what came next. I had to iron all that fabric once it came out of the dryer. Since I was on a roll, I grabbed my scrap bucket (one of them at least) and started ironing those little scraps. That rubbermaid bin(luckily a small one) has been a tangled mess for years with me just diving in and making it worse every time I needed scraps for another project. Two days later I have it all nice and ironed, organized and put away.

In the meantime, I am still distracted by everything. Most evenings my husband and I sit down to watch a movie. That's when I pick up my handwork. So this week I have been working on some stitchery kits I bought in Columbus last month at a booth called The Good Life. Both of the ladies were so very nice. That's the same booth where I bought the Quilt Pati's also. This is the one that started the whole ironing binge. As you can see I did find a backing fabric for it or at least you'll have to take my word for it since all you can see is the top and the batting.

Here's a close up of the stitchery part. It was really fast and easy.

I didn't get it basted together until last night to start the quilting on it. I was too busy with these.

I will have to decide on borders for both of these. I really enjoy doing them. They are so relaxing to do. It's sad but I almost can't watch a movie anymore unless my hands are busy. But not too sad!!

I'm also still working on this.
I have almost all of the pieces made. I just need to sew together the top and bottom half square triangles and then I can put all the pieces together. Then where do I go from there? I am so distracted by it all. I'm just going to have to concentrate on one project, get it finished and then maybe this mojo of distraction will disappear. There are just too many fun projects to be done!!

One last thing - Penny is having a little beauty of a give-away that you will WANT to be included in. Jump on over there and take a look.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

One of those days!

Ever had one of those days when you struggle and fight to keep all the pieces together? I'm not talking about life; that would be a really bad day. I'm talking about just sewing together a quilt block. You just know you cut out the correct number of pieces because you counted them at least twice. You have everything right there together so you can just sew, sew, sew. But then when you do finally sit down at the machine you don't have the right number of pieces and have to drag out the mat, rulers and rotary cutter AGAIN. Then when you do start sewing you can't seem to lay your hands on the right pieces. You are chain sewing along and "what's this? I am two triangles short AGAIN?"

I've had one of those days today. I sat down this morning to begin sewing this little Lori Smith pattern. I bought it in a kit at the NQA quilt show in Columbus last month. I spent Sunday afternoon cutting out all the pieces and just knew I would zip right through it. No, Nope, Uh Uh, No way, how many other ways can I say it? It just was a fight from the beginning. Let me just tell you though, it wasn't the pattern. Although, the pieces for this little jewel are miniscule they did finally go together just fine. It was ALL me. Just one of those days!!


I put the scissors and pin cushion there so you could get the scale of these little beauties. I love the pinks and browns that are in right now.




When these are squared up they will only be
3 7/8". The block is about 4 3/8 right now. My chubby fingers really struggled with those little half square triangles and I still have all the little pink and cream ones to make for the center of the quilt. I sure hope I get my act together. Maybe I should just wait for another day.

On a more positive note, I finished up the Coneflower Wool Penny rug that I started in a class at the quilt show. Pat Sloan was so much fun and also a wealth of knowledge about wool. I only work on handwork in the evenings so it took me a while to get this finished up(I was still working on hand quilting my grandmother's quilt when I started it.
Thanks for stopping by. I feel better now that you let me vent my frustrations.
Happy quilting!