It's a Sew Sew Day...

Sewing Frenzy!

2011-12-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

Finished the blue pinwheel sampler today! I have been so productive the last few weeks! I really love how this turned out!!

I got "The Wave" turned into the longarm quilter today and she gave me some great news! She had finished my sister-in-law's pinwheel sampler.

I just love how this looks! Now to get the binding on it before Christmas! Thinking of doing a scrappy binding. Here is a closeup of the quilting she did.

I love how it looks like the wind is swirling around the pinwheels! So now I am almost completely caught up so I can begin the "Oh My Stars" quilt-along after Christmas!

Today I "Occupied" my sewing room!

2011-12-08T18:18:00.001-08:00

I just loved the whole concept behind Cat Patch's "Occupy your sewing room" idea! Well I have spent the last two days firmly ensconced in mine! I just finished "The Wave" flimsy!

I just love the way this turned out. My hubby is tickled pink with it too! I still need to satin stitch around the stars, but I didn't have a gold thread that matched. I have to run to JoAnn's tomorrow anyway for batting, so will just pick it up then. Shouldn't take me long to stitch around the stars. Am hoping to have it done so I can turn it into the long-armer on Monday.

Remember the Pinwheel sampler that p.s. i quilt did back at the first of the year. Well, I finally got the last few blocks completed last week for both my sister-in-law's and my quilt **blush**. I finished her flimsy last week and thought I had snapped a picture of it before I turned into the long-armer, but alas no. I started putting the sashing on mine today and should have that flimsy done tomorrow also. I will post pics then.

I hope you all are able to "Occupy" your sewing rooms at this busy time of year!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

"Oh My Stars" quilt-along

2011-12-06T05:18:00.001-08:00

So I decided having 4 quilts in progress isn't enough, I need one more! I have decided to partake in Thought and Found's quilt-along. Here are my fabrics I have chosen to use for my stars.

It is from the "Summer Breeze" line from Moda. I have wanted a blue and yellow quilt for a long time and this pattern really lends itself to one. I picked a nice crisp white Kona cotton for my background.

I won't let myself start yet until I finish "The Wave" quilt. I should have that flimsy done by this weekend. Then I can dive into all this blue and yellow yummie-ness!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

4th of July at Christmas!

2011-12-05T07:21:00.001-08:00

I mean if you can have Christmas in July, why can't you have it the other way around??? I still need to add one more inner border and the outer border, plus the applique stars.

I found this quilt pattern at my LQS Loving Stitches. It is called "The Wave" by The Sweet Tea Girls. I fell in love with it and immediately thought of making it for my hubby. I have sewed alot of quilts but have never found anything I thought suited him, until I saw this pattern.

Hehe, going to try this blogging thing again. I have been MIA since March. I completely went into a quilting funk... you know what I mean? I just couldn't seem to get creative for about 4 months. I would sew now and again, but nothing really productive. But about two weeks ago I had a fire lit under me (as my Momma says). I have been working on multible quilts at the same time. I finished a lap size flimsy for my sister in law and have been steadily working on my postage stamp quilt. I will post more on those later.

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Life happens, but quilting does too!

2011-03-08T06:38:00.000-08:00

Sew busy the last few weeks! Went to Florida to deliver the quilts for my brother and my niece. They really seemed to love them! I was so happy to find out green is my niece's favorite color! I had really been sweating the choice of green as the border for her quilt.

My brother with his quilt.

My brother and niece holding up her quilt.

My brother acting crazy with his quilt! What a nut!

My niece was yelling at me for taking this one because she said she was having a bad hair day, I told her she was gorgeous no matter what her hair looked like!

I spent a week down visiting and just as I got back I found out my aunt was in the hospital and wasn't expected to make it. My husband had just left for a business trip and I couldn't go down to say goodbye. She passed away the next day. I was so sad so I started sewing to pass the time and to keep my mind occupied. I will post my progress pics on the next post.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Sew busy!

2011-02-16T13:25:00.001-08:00

My niece's quilt came back from the longarm quilter yesterday! I spent today petting it and sewing the binding on. I just love how this quilt turned out. It is my own design. It is the first time I have made a quilt without following a pattern. I used the "Eden" line of fabric. My vision when designing it was to see peeks of the garden as you look through a lattice fence. It is so bright and cheery and you can't help but smile when you see it!

My sister in law's quilt is progressing quickly. It is suprisingly easy to assemble as it is all strip piecing.
As usual when I get the camera my "model in a previous life" kitty comes running and hams it up.Here are some of the squares after assembling. Yes those are 1 inch 9 patches! Phew so tiny to work with!

So I have not been slacking!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

TaaDaaa!

2011-02-12T15:02:00.001-08:00

Finally! My first finish of 2011! I got the binding and the label on late this afternoon on my brother's shaded nine patch! I decided to name the quilt "No Flowers Allowed 2" The first "No Flowers Allowed" I presented to my son last year. I decided to make another one in the same theme (slight variation of pattern) for my brother. It took me almost a year to collect enough fabrics to make these two quilts. It is soooo hard to find anything that doesn't have flowers on it.

I am so excited! I drive down to Florida on the 21st to present it to him. I will (hopefully) also be giving my niece her's during the same visit. It is supposed to be back from the longarm quilter Wednesday. I will post pics as soon as I get it done.

I started my next major project by washing the fabric and starting to cut out the pieces this evening. I am embarrased to say how long (let's just leave it at years) I have had this kit to make this quilt. The pattern is called "Trellis Rose" and was designed to go with Alex's Anderson's cottage rose fabric line. This one is earmarked for my sister-in law.

I also cut out a leader/ender quilt project to sew in between the Trellis Rose off and on during the past week. I plan on doing a postage stamp quilt as the leader/ender. I am doing it in soft cottage rose fabrics. I wanted to keep the theme going, hehe!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-09T13:31:00.001-08:00

My sewing area is coming together!

2011-02-08T07:51:00.001-08:00

Our house was built back in the days of formal living rooms. For years it has been underutilized. When people come to visit they always headed to the family room to sit and talk. So I decided to take over some of the space as my sewing room. I gave away the old 30 year old furniture and did some rearranging.

When I finished my lone star quilt I really wanted to display it. I just couldn't seem to find a spot in my house where it would fit and look like it is the center of attention. I decided that it would be a perfect backdrop to my sewing cabinet.

Of course Jake had to jump up and ham it up for the camera!

My sewing cabinet with all of the extensions out.

And finally holding my brother's shaded nine patch while I sew the binding on. I love this spot! The hardwood floor makes for easy rolling of the cabinet and is easy to vaccum up all the threads.

Still more work to go on the room so will post more pics later! Hubby is still working on my cutting table.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

I think I might give this bloggin thing another shot!

2011-02-07T13:10:00.001-08:00

Here it is almost a year later from my last entry. Where to start? So many things happened and didn't happen in the second half of last year.

We have been wanting to move to Florida to be closer to our aging parents and we thought that our chance finally came. My dearest hubby applied to a tailor made job position (or so we thought) for him. We were so confident that he would get the position that we put everything on hold to get ready to move at a moment's notice. As time passed we were in disbelief that he didn't get the job. It took them almost 2 months to notify us that he hadn't gotten selected. It really deflated us. We both got so down and it took us quite a while to regain our footing.

We had started remodeling some of the rooms in the house at the beginning of the year and we just put that on hold because we thought we would be moving. So with the start of this year we readjusted our attitudes and decided to go with the old addage "Bloom where you are planted". Even though this is not where we truly want to live, we have to "bloom" because this is where God has his plans for us.

My quilting took a back burner also. I just had no where to sew except the kitchen table. I hated pulling everything out and then having to put it away every evening. I did manage to finish "Chocolate Obsession" during those down months. I will post pictures of it later.

In December 2010, I finished piecing the quilt top for my brother's nine patch I started back at the beginning of the year. Here it is before quilting.

And after quilting. It turned out wonderfully!

I also finished my nieces quilt top at the beginning of January and it is now at the quilters.

Of course Sunshine had to ham it up for the camera while I was sewing the borders on!

We have also started putting things back away and finishing the remodeling that we started. It is still a mess but I now have my own sewing area. It is not finished yet, but I will post pictures as it progresses! I am very excited about finally having my own space.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

As my sewing came to a screeching halt....

2010-04-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

I am still alive! Yep.... just no sewing at all to share. I have mentioned before I am big into couponing. It helps me stay at home and not work, and still have money to buy fabric. Well this week our grocery store, Harris Teeter, is having triple coupons. So my week has been spent rounding up, clipping, printing, organizing and getting up early to go get the freebies. It has been a fantastic week for the bargains! So far I am up to $380 dollars of groceries for $6.54! I still have enough coupons for one more run tomorrow. It also was a fantastic week for the freebies at Walgreen's and CVS. I have gotten over $100 dollars worth of stuff for about $6.00.

I doubt I will get much sewing done next week also. I need to make a trip to Florida to take my mom some of the goodies I have been accumulating from couponing. Not only does couponing help me, but it helps my mom who lives on a very tiny fixed income. In truth I don't know how she does it; living on such a pittance that the social security sends her.

Just wanted to post an update!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

block eight

2010-04-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Spent all day working on these two blocks. I chose the "All Hallowed Variation" block from p.s. i quilt's list. I love, LOVE how this block looks and I may revisit this block down the road and do an entire quilt out of it. If I do I will use thangles to do all the half square triangles. I have to admit it was very nit nerdy to do and was a pain to get all the lines and points right, but it is such a gorgeous block.

I only plan on doing one more block in each colorway. I should be able to complete the 9th block this weekend. I am making two lapsize quilts out of the 9 sampler blocks.

Sunshine had to hop up for a photo op! Such a ham!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Block 7 done!

2010-04-23T06:28:00.001-07:00

Finished these two last night before supper. I have to say I love these two blocks! They went together so easily and I love the way it looks. p.s. i quilt's measurements were spot on. Now to pick a block to do for block 8 today.

I forgot to post about these finds yesterday. While at JoAnn's I fell in love with the striped fabric and bought the two coordinating browns to go with. The brown on the left is for the fabric I posted yesterday to make a tote with. I may also attempt a tote made out of the stiped and other brown if the first one turns out okay.

Ok off to sew on block 8!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Catching up

2010-04-22T11:31:00.001-07:00

Finished Pinwheel block six from p.s. i quilt's pinwheel quilt-along. I am now 3 blocks behind plus the one's I want to make that are different. Hopefully I can catch up this week.

Isn't this fabric yummy!?!? I found it at Loving Stitches for $1.50 a fat quarter! It is a bit more teal blue than shows in this picture. I have been wanting to try a tote bag pattern and I think this will be perfect to use to make one. Now to find a easy tote bag pattern.....

I stopped by JoAnn's because I needed a couple things and I had some 50% off coupons that I wanted to use up. I found this cute sewing basket in the clearance section. Guess how much it was!?!?

Yup! It was .97 cents!!! It is a pretty good size too! I was doing a "happy dance" when I checked out!

Ok! I am off to work on block seven!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

I'm back!

2010-04-21T06:35:00.001-07:00

Well technically we have been back since last Thursday, but I was recovering from a nasty, nasty, (seriously nasty!) cold that my dear sweet hubby decided to share with me. This picture is of my handsome son! He is now a pilot in the Air Force! (and a jet jock to boot!)

He seemed to really like the quilts I made him! I also made him a small photo album with pictures of the quilts throughout the creative process. I included small swatches of the fabrics I used and where each piece came from. He sat and spent a lot of time looking at each photo and swatches and laughed as he remembered each item of clothing that the pieces came from. He seemed especially touched that I had included pieces of cloth that his Momma Soon Ohk had used to make her doll clothes with. He would look at each swatch and then find the piece in the quilt. I was so happy he liked the quilts.

I have done hardly any sewing since our return. Mostly just slept and rested. I did go and pick my "Baby" up from the doctor. I had my Bernina serviced whilst we were away and the serviceman gave her a clean bill of health! So hopefully now that I am starting to feel better I can get back into the flow of sewing!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Two finishes! (last post for a few weeks)

2010-04-01T16:37:00.001-07:00

The gentleman I used to do my longarm quilting really let me down by taking forever to get these two quilts back to me. I told him I had a deadline, but for some reason my quilts kept getting pushed back on his list. I am not happy.... on top of that he changed the pattern in the border of my son's shaded 9-patch without talking to me. I am not crazy about it, but I didn't have any options considering I am leaving Saturday for Texas and he only gave them to me Tuesday night...... not happy at all.

So, for the last two days I have been working hard trying to get them finished and also trying to get ready for our trip. I have a bad hand so it is hard for me to do non stop hand sewing. So now I can hardly close my fist, and I am popping Motrin like crazy. Sigh...

On a positive note, I am so excited about our trip and getting to see our son! I hope he likes these two quilts!

I will not be posting for a while as our internet access will be spotty.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Wow what a day! (Quilt Show pics)

2010-03-28T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day! All I did was shop and look at quilts! Can't get any better than that!

The day started with this score from my church's yard sale. The bottom row are all pillowcases and the top are sheets. It is all very high quality cotton! The sheets were brand new! I got the whole kit and kaboodle for $1.00! The pillowcases I want to use to make quilt storage/gift bags with and the sheets for future "Quilts for Kids". The polka dotted sheets are some of the thickest cotton sheets I have ever seen!

Then I stopped by Loving Stitches to pick out some fabric to finish the Shaded 9 patch for my brother and the Schnibbles "Madeline". I also picked up a set of bias bars so when I get back from our trip I can start on the applique for "Garden Lattice".

Then it was off to the quilt show!! Every two years my guild, Tarheel Quilters, has a show. It was really good this time around. Here are a few of my favorites! They were all so beautiful, but I had to pick just a few to post.

Another wonderful thing I got to do was to test drive the HQ Avante longarm quilting machine! The dealer really spent a lot of time showing me all the bells and whistles. I was impressed with how quiet the machine was, and the stitches were so even! I want to eventually buy a long arm because machine quilting on my Bernina 440 is really hard on my hand. I still want to test drive a Gammill and a APQS before I decide.

Then it was a quick stop at JoAnn's for some thread to hand quilt "Madeline".

Phew what a great day!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Bear with me...

2010-03-27T07:10:00.001-07:00

because this has nothing to do with quilting and everything to do with a proud Momma! Our son found out last night that he will be flying F-16 jets after he graduates flight school!! He was the only one in his flight to be selected to fly them. So we are very proud!

Cindy

"Madeline" top complete!

2010-03-25T14:40:00.001-07:00

Finished piecing the Schnibble pattern "Madeline" today. I was tired of her screaming at me from her plastic container! I had stashed her away after cutting the pieces a few weeks ago. I kept getting side tracked on other projects. I made a mistake piecing her..... can you figure out where? I only noticed it after I took the pictures and was editing them. (hint: lower right corner) Oh well... I'm not going to take her apart. It will just have to stay there! Adds character!

Not to much time for sewing this week. Have had appointments, errands and other time consuming things eat into my crafting time. I was able to hand piece a smidge on my "Grandmother's Flower Garden". Next week will be even more hectic as we ready for our trip to Witchita Falls, Texas to see our son graduate from Air Force flight school. We are driving our RV out so it takes us 3 or 4 days to get it set to travel.

I hope to get the "Garden Lattice" mostly finished tomorrow (except for the border, I want to applique that). Will post pics if I do manage to get it together.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Productive day!

2010-03-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

Spent most of the morning adding two more rows to my Garden Lattice quilt. It is made with the "Eden" fabric line from Moda. I decided that I wanted to make it a smidge bigger, so I had to order one more charm pack. I could have finished it with the 4 packs, but I saved out a bunch of the darker pieces to do some applique flowers on the border. The extra pack should arrive in a couple days, then I can finish it!

After ordering my extra pack I dug into the p.s. i quilt's pinwheel blocks for this week. I was really happy with the blue color way, but not so crazy about the red. I am seriously considering remaking the red with a different color to replace the light blue.

My sweetie had choir practice tonight, so after dinner and he had left I dug out the wee Schnibbles "Madeline" and started piecing it. I was able to get 4 of the tiny blocks done before I was tuckered out. No pictures yet as I hadn't ironed the blocks yet.

So got alot done today!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

How did you celebrate...

2010-03-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

National Quilting Day? Me? I went on a mini shop hop in my town. My first stop was Loving Stitches. They were having a sale on their fat quarters and I picked up all the above for $1.50 each! I have slowly been building a stash of rose fabric to make a cottage rose type quilt. The blue is for my blue pinwheel quilt-along I am doing.

I bought these two (also for $1.50 each) and when I got home and opened them up, this is what I found!

I wish I could have found more than two! I might go back and dig some more tomorrow and try to find more. These are just begging to be fussy cut and made into something wonderful!

My next (and final- hey I told you it was mini!) stop was Quilt n tiques. I just recently found this cozy lil shop and it is filled to the brim with bolt after bolt of wonderful fabric. I picked up 1/2 yard of these pretty blues to go in my pinwheel quilt along quilt.

It was such a gorgeous day that I couldn't sit indoors and sew, so I grabbed my Grandmother's flower garden and sat out on the front porch for about 3 hours and stitched away listening to the birds and feeling the breeze.

I hope you all had a similarly wonderful day!

Happy Quilting

Cindy

Friday Night Sew In

2010-03-20T04:33:00.001-07:00

Decided to work on my Grandmother's flower garden for last night's friday night sew in. It was a good evening and I was able to get 3 flowers pieced. I am so far behind in my goal of 1 flower a week sewed on. We are going to Texas the first part of April so I am hoping while we travel I can catch up.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Lattice fence is progressing!

2010-03-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

Made good progress on my latest obsession. It was such a pretty day today, I quit sewing and got out and picked up some of the bazillion pine cones and broken tree limbs left by our bad winter of wind storms, ice storms, snow storms..... etc! I could probably pick up for two more days and still not make much of a dent in the yard debris, sigh!

I love this fabric line! It makes me cheery and smile with every piece I pick up to sew together. I should have the two diagonals finished and attached tomorrow-ish.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Obsessing....

2010-03-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

The last three days have been spent thinking about, and trying to get this out of my head and out in fabric. It has grown from a lap size - 1 charm pack idea, to a 4 charm pack - queen size idea! I just reached the half way mark and wanted to share some pictures.

I really, really like how this is progressing. The pictures are not the best, but I think you can get the idea of what I am heading for. I had this idea of seeing a garden through a lattice fence (well in an abstract way). It is my own design and idea. I have never been one to make up my own quilts. I usually follow patterns or designs I have see else where. This quilt came to me the second I saw the Moda Eden charm pack.

Do you guys have quilts talk to you? I started out thinking that this quilt (the lap size version) would be a gift for my sister in law. But yesterday this quilt "told" me it was for my youngest niece (who just turned 21). So I decided to make it a queen size to fit her bed. I still have an idea to border this, but will see how it progresses.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

2010-03-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

This week's pinwheels from p.s. i quilt's quiltalong are complete! I had to stage them in front of my happy daffodils that are in full bloom. For some reason these blocks gave me a huge fit to sew. I like to never got the points to hit right. Me and "Jackie" had to work hard this morning.

The daffodils are a very old variety. I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina on a farm. Most big chunks of land had at least one old "homeplace" on them. It is where once there stood an old cabin or farm house. You could always tell by the chimmney rubble or the daffodils that would just bloom in the middle of no where. Our farm had an old homeplace on it and these are the daffodils from there. Before my mom sold the farm, I dug up a bunch of them and lugged them here to Fayetteville to plant. Every spring I am reminded of home and romping through the pastures and coming upon a bazillion of these happy yellow flowers.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

2010-03-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Lookie what I got in the mail on Saturday! It's a charm pack of the Eden pattern by Lila Tueller for Moda line. It is gorgeous! I have this project cooking in my brain.... I want to use the charm pack in a quilt but first I have to see if I can get what I visualize outta my brain and sewn before I share.

I got this charm pack for $2.22 from Missouri Star Quilt Company when I ordered "The Binding Tool". If you have never visited their site I highly recommend it. They have a daily special that is priced so low! I just waited to buy my binding tool until I could combine it with a daily deal that I liked! When I saw this charm pack I just had to have it! I instantly saw this quilt in my head.

Here's hoping what I see can be translated!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

An awesome giveaway!

2010-03-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

All Things Crafty is having a 200 post giveaway! What a generous gift grouping! Head over and enter, but here's hoping I win!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

It's done!

2010-03-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

Well the piecing is anyway... hehe! Now to pick out a border and the top will be complete! I really like how this turned out. The fabric is all guy type, no flowers, swirlies, no fru fru at all. I think my brother will really like this! My hubby already said if he doesn't he wants it, so thats one guy vote, hehe. Let me just say it was a hecka lot of pinning. my hands look like I have a rash from sticking myself so much.

Now off to the couch to rest and spend some time with my sweetie.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

We interrupt this day.....

2010-03-11T04:54:00.000-08:00

It was one of those days. I sit at sewing machine.... phone rings. I sit at sewing machine, dog wants out.....or cat decides it has a hair ball.... or the phone rings again..... on and on and on....I kept losing my place and made so many mistakes and ended up unsewing way to much. But even with all the craziness of yesterday I was able to get another row on my brother's shaded 9 patch.

Because I had to rip out so many mistakes... I got to know my new BFF "Jackie"(I had to name her a female name because of the lavender and purple handle). "Jack" my old tiny seam ripper got relagated to my portable quilt box. I wish I had bought this seam ripper a long time ago! This ripper is made by Dritz and it's handle is rubberized and the ergonomic curves are easy to grip. I highly recommend it to anyone who has trouble holding on to small things like me.

My sweet Greg is back home so it's back to dragging things out and putting them away again. Hopefully today will be more productive and less interruptus.

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Bzz Bzz Busy!

2010-03-09T15:18:00.003-08:00

Sewed this weeks pinwheels from ps i quilt's pinwheel quiltalong last night. They turned out okay. The centers were a tiny bit off but not so much as to bug me too much.

Today was spent mostly running around doing errands so no sewing. I have one day a week to go out and get everything done. It helps us save money on gas. I am a big couponer, so Tuesdays is my day to get all the free stuff from the drugstores. (Today I got 8 toothbrushes and 4 boxes of Raisin bran for $1.00) I also hit JoAnn's today. They are having coupon madness this week! Alot of the sewing notions are 50% off. I have been needing a new rotary cutter blade for a while, but kept making mine stretch. I was able to get a new one today half off. I did buy some more Kona cotton in the two colors for my pinwheels (again 50%) off. I also picked up 4 new stencils for machine quilting, hand sewing needles, a bigger handle seam ripper, (I have bad hands, hard for me to hold small things) marking pens, and some quilt clamps (all 50% off!). I have been making do for awhile waiting on a good sale.

The cat bed has been a huge hit! I just left it on the table next to my machine as I sew and it keeps the kitties off my pieces. Sunshine laid initial claim to it....

But Jake wanted it and after much posturing and hissing, he bulldozed his way on it. He weighs 20 pounds so he just lowers his head and pushes wee Sunshine out of the way. He bears a few scars from her wrath, but not enough to keep him from napping.

As I posted in one of my initial blog posts, I don't have a sewing room yet. So the kitchen table is my place for right now. Greg is still out of town, so it has been very easy this week to just leave everything out. When he is home I have to put everything away and clean/disinfect (I am wierd, I allow my cats free range, but I clean every surface they get on before food hits it) the table for supper. I dream daily of the junk filled room and hope it will one day be emptied and mine to have a sewing room.....

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Kona Cotton Giveaway!

2010-03-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

Sew Fantastic is having a great giveaway of Kona solids! If you have never used them, they are a great quality 100 % cotton solid fabric that sew so great! Go check it out! But I hope I win!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Got sidetracked....

2010-03-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

After getting back from my walk with Maggie Mae, I had planned on working on "Madeline". But when I went to get the plastic bin with all the pieces, I saw my two full grocery bags of scraps I had been collecting ever since I read about recycling them by using them to stuff cat beds. Well seeing the bags triggered something, and I "just" had to try to make a bed so I could get all the scraps gone.

Quite a while back I had bought a really pretty flat sheet from a thrift shop to use as a quilt back. It was white with little yellow flowers. I was in a hurry and didn't examine the sheet closely and when I got it home to wash it I found a big red ink stain right in the center of it. Not one to throw much away, I kept it to use to cover furniture, etc. I went and got it out and ironed the wrinkles out.

I have been saving all my strips of batting that I trim off quilts when I square them, so I dug those out. I used my zig zag stitch on my sewing machine and pieced all the scraps into one large piece. (I couldn't get over how good this worked!)

I cut the sheet and used the ink blotch for the inside layer and the good areas for the outside. I made two sandwiches, one for the top and one for the bottom. I pinned it and then practiced some more machine quilting. After I got the two layers done, I sewed them together right sides together, like a pillow. I zigzagged the edges so it wouldn't fray. Then I turned it inside out, and stuffed it with all the pieces of scraps. I just sewed it shut with my machine.

Sunshine immediately hopped up and took possession...

yawned.....

and looked at me as if to say "What?? You made it for me didn't you??"

This was an easy way to keep those scraps out of the landfill.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Chopping away...

2010-03-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

Spent most of today cutting up fabric. I wanted to start my wee Schnibbles "Madeline" quilt. This is my first time using charm packs and I have to say I found it a bit nerve wracking cutting out all the tiny pieces. I am a "rounder" person, if a pattern calls for a yard, I buy 1 1/2 yards. I make mistakes and it is a safety net to have that extra fabric I know I can fall back on.

When I read the fabric requirements and it said 2 charm packs, that is what I bought. I wouldn't let myself buy a 3rd for the safety net. So the entire time I was cutting the pieces, I kept checking and rechecking the measurements. Whew, a bit stressful! But I think I got it right..... I hope.....

Also had to replenish all the 2 1/2" blocks for my leader-ender shaded 9 patch that I am working in between projects. There is another shoebox full that I didn't get a picture of. So I should be set to get sewing.... but first I promised my Maggie Mae I would take her for a walk since it is such a gorgeous day!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Whew! Finished!

2010-03-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

I worked all week on them and finally got the two "Quilts for Kids" quilts finished! In my defense, Greg left on a unexpected business trip and I have had to juggle everything all week.

I felt much more confident machine quilting these two. I did a simple cable stencil on the boy's....

and a flower pattern in the 4-block of the girl's. I just couldn't bring myself to stitch up the pretty butterfly material, so I just stitched in the ditch around each block

I still have a long way to go to get machine quilting down. Each quilt has been a big learning experience. Tomorrow will be getting the labels on, and then on to my next project. I hope to have these three little quilts on their way in the mail Monday.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Caught up!

2010-03-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

Today I caught up on the pinwheel blocks. I changed my mind on a couple fabrics so had to wash and iron some new recruits! That slowed me down, plus I had forgotten alot about matching points, etc. My first block (the right hand one in the top picture) I wonked out the center points.....I didn't notice it until I had it all together. I decided not to rip it out and start all over again. I did much better on the second one (blue).

I followed Rachel's tutorial on how to reduce bulk in the seams, and I think I did okay! It makes a cute wee little block hehe.

On the agenda tomorrow is to get the two "Quilts for Kids" sandwiched and pinned so I can machine quilt them on Thursday and Friday.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Decided to join...

2010-02-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

p.s. i quilt's pinwheel quilt-along

I went today and bought the two background fabrics I wanted. I picked a creamy off white for my blue focus fabrics and a more tan than white for the green/red/pink focus fabrics I want to use. Both background fabrics are Kona cotton solids so they are very good quality material. I decided to join her quilt-along as it is only sewing a block a week and I can continue my other projects. I need/want to hone my skills for this major project that I want to do next year.

I picked up this book today. (40% off yay!!) I have been eye-ing it forever. Next year I want to work my way through it and make every block, sort of like Julie does with Julia's cookbook in the movie "Julie and Julia".

Not much sewing today. I did hand piece a little on my Grandmother's flower garden. I mostly just washed and ironed all the fabrics for the pinwheel quilt along.

Will post picks of the pinwheel blocks after I get them made. I am only two blocks behind!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Giveaway!

2010-02-28T13:25:00.001-08:00

After seeing this giveaway I just had to post about it! You can win one of two wonderful Janome sewing/embroidery machines!! Check it out!

http://www.thediydish.com/

But here's hoping I win!!!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Got my sewing mojo back!

2010-02-26T14:48:00.001-08:00

After the attack of un-sewing I had, it was so nice to make progress again. I was able to get 5 blocks of the leader-ender quilt (shaded 9 patch) done. This quilt will be for my brother so I again am using male oriented fabric. I really like this layout of the shaded 9 patch pattern. The contrast between light and dark is much better than the last one I made.

I also got another "Quilts for Kids" sewn together. I had to make one for a boy after making the butterfly quilt for a girl. I had a bunch of 50% off coupons for JoAnn's so I was able to get the cute sports novelty and the blue marble fabric for a song. I have enough to make another, same as the butterfly. I will probably wait to make anymore until after our trip to Texas in April. JoAnn's will have batting (warm and natural) half price next week. I am waiting to score some of that before I machine quilt them. My hope is to get these two quilted and in the mail with the original quilt before we leave.

So nice to be making progress again!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Un-sewing....

2010-02-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

(Jake squeezing his 20 pound body in my fabric shoebox)

That has been the theme for the last three days. I have been slowly sewing on my leader-ender quilt for the last 2 weeks. I had a shoebox full of the blocks. I decided to stop and start sorting them out to make the bigger blocks. I "thought" I had been randomly sewing all the scrap 2 inch blocks together. When I laid them out I found out there was too much order in my randomness. (isn't there some theory about order happening in choas??) So out came "Jack" the ripper and we started unsewing all the parts that were repeats (which was a lot!).

When I got the randomness of the pattern I wanted, I started building the blocks. (Day 2) When I got 18 of the larger blocks together, on a whim I decided to lay them out to see if I like the look. Sigh, I hated it....... out came "Jack" again.....blah!

So after 3 days of ripping, rearranging, and re-sewing, I am back where I was at the beginning. So I learned an important lesson about leader-ender's. Have a plan! I thought because I had made a similar quilt before I could just wing it. I learned that I need to lay out the pieces that I will be leading and ending with so you can see the pattern or repeats (if scrappy).

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Giveaway!

2010-02-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

Had to blog about this gorgeous fabric Pickles and Bacon is having. Such gorgeous, yummy fabric!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Friday Night Sew In - a success!

2010-02-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

Got my project for the evening completed. I don't think I am going to put a border on it. I added an extra row side and bottom to make it large enough. I think I will just quilt it and bind it as is. Max, my kitty, approved of it by promptly hopping up on it.

Also got all these leader-ender pieces done while piecing the kids quilt. So a very productive evening! I hope everyone else had a great evening!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

A woman's perogative...

2010-02-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

is that she can change her mind!

I had planned on doing the Schnibbles Madeline quilt for the sew in tonight, but have decided to work on the other "Quilts for Kids" quilt to send with the original. I found these cute butterfly fabrics last week and bought them because they were irresistable. Digging through my stash I found these matching fabrics to go with them. So I am in the process of cutting them out to sew tonight.

I finished the other baby/kid quilt today! After washing it crinkled up nicely and again I longed for a grandbaby so I could sew baby quilts for it!

The good thing about a crinkly quilt?? It hides your wonky quilting! I learned so much quilting this and hope my next one will look more professional.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Friday Night Sew In

2010-02-18T18:09:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night is the "Friday Night Sew In". I have my project all picked out. I am going to be working on my Schnibbles "Madeline" quilt. The Rouenneries charm packs arrived today just in time! DH left yesterday for a business trip, so I have the house all to myself! (well except for 3 kitties and a dog) It is comforting to know over a 100 other quilters will be sewing with me tomorrow night!

Today I spent ALL day working on quilting the little "Quilts for Kids" quilt. It was my first time ever machine quilting, and boy oh boy, was there ever a learning curve. I practiced first on some scraps before hitting the quilt. It turned out okay. There are a few "wonky" spots, but overall not to bad for my first attempt. I will do the binding tomorrow during the day and post some pics after I wash it. I learned so much doing it.

Until tomorrow!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Wish I were as confident....

2010-02-16T08:02:00.000-08:00

as my daffodils and easter lilies are that spring is coming! As I was leaving to run some errands this morning, I saw the daffodils peeking out of the pine straw at me. Seeing them brought a smile to my face. It seems to have been a long cold winter so far and this gives me a glimmer of the hope of spring.

When I checked the pattern for my Grandmother's flower garden, I saw that the next flower was the yellow one. When I finished piecing it a few minutes ago, it reminded me of the daffodils that will soon be blooming!

Hang in there everyone! Spring is coming!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

So busy... but no pictures to prove it

2010-02-13T18:54:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was spent running around shopping for items to get my two major quilt tops ready to go to the longarm quilter and for me to quilt my smaller quilt tops. I found the perfect flannel back for my son's quilt. It has a red and black square pattern on it that is the perfect match for the squares on the front. Spent last night getting it washed, ironed, cut and sewed. I also de-stringed the quilt top.

Today I worked all day today getting the back ready for the Chocolat Jacob's Ladder quilt. Normally it wouldn't have taken me that long, but the quilt was a odd size. It would have taken 3 strips of cloth to fit the back with way to much waste. So I decided to piece a row of Jacob's Ladder blocks down the center of the back instead of wasting that much cloth. So I had to go dig out the remnants, iron them, find the pattern, cut, sew and figure out how the math of getting it dead center of the back.

I must say after I was done it looked great. The problem is after I had bagged both of the quilt tops up with all the stuff I remembered I hadn't taken any pictures. I was so tired from sewing and ironing all day I just refused to have to take them out, take pictures and refold and bag them. I will post pics when they come back from the longarmer.

Ok I am off to bed, because those two quilts whooped me bad!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Quilts for Kids

2010-02-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

Woke up and dug right into the little quilt kit that Downy sent me. It is so darling! I petted it the whole time I sewed it. Makes me want little grandbabies so that I can make them quilts. (my son would roll his eyes at that!) It has the cutest zoo animals on it so am going to name it, "The Zoo comes to you!" If you are interested in volunteering to make one of these cuties go here: Downy's Quilts for Kids

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Those "Ah-ha!" moments

2010-02-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

Since I started reading all the wonderful quilting blogs out there two weeks ago, I have learned so much! I love how quilters reach out to each other and share what they have learned. Two things have really made me stop and go "Ah-ha!!!!"

I am the bird nest queen, no seriously, I am! When I was a child I was banned from using my mother's sewing machines. It wasn't because she thought I would get hurt, but because of what I could do to them. She sewed upholstery on an industrial sewing machine, and clothes on a regular. She tried very hard to teach me to sew. But every time I would try to sew I would create this bird nest of thread that not only ruined the fabric, but it would somehow migrate down into the bobbin case area and foul that up too. It would sometimes take her 30 minutes to clean it all up and get her machines back to sewing right. When I was in high school in home ec. I was tasked to sew a skirt. You had to sew it or flunk the class. My mom had to sew it for me, because of the mess I made of her old Singer.

Now imagine her suprise when all these years later I started quilting. I started on an old Singer that was 20 years old. I really didn't worry about breaking it, though there were many sessions of trying to clean all the thread out of the bobbin area. I finally watched a quilting show and saw a tip on using a "tween". Thats where you use a small scrap of fabric in between your pieces so you don't have to deal with the loose thread. So my bird nests became non-existant.

But because of all these wonderful blogging quilters I have learned an even smarter technique. It is called the "leader-ender" quilt. Instead of "tweens" you just sew a piece of a seperate quilt. You lead with a block and end with a block from a different quilt. So you are basically sewing two quilts at the same time!! Ah-ha number one!!!

Last year one of my goals was to become more enviromentally aware. I purchased a composter, dived into recycling, and really trimed our waste output. When I stated quilting again this year, I was loathe to throw away all the small scraps I was generating when I cut out the cloth. Then I read how one quilter was saving all her scraps and making cat beds out of them. She would sew a pillow bed, leaving one end open and throw all her scraps into it until it was full. Then she stitched it closed. I have 3 cats! Also I can donate any extras I make to my local no-kill shelter for their cats. Ah-ha number two!!!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Shaded 9 patch borders finished!

2010-02-10T16:21:00.000-08:00

On a roll!! (so unlike me, hehe) Finished the shaded 9 patch quilt top tonight. I am very happy with the outcome. My sweetie helped me pick out the borders this past Saturday and I have to admit, he has a great eye. I wanted his opinion as this was supposed to be a masculine quilt for my son.

It has some very special fabric included in it. It has some of his favorite shirts, pants, and some pieces of fabric that used to belong to his mother. She passed away when he was four from leukemia. I came into his life when he was 5 and have been his lucky mom ever since. She was such an artist. She painted, was crafty, and made dolls. When I found a stash of her fabric she used to make doll clothes, I stuck it back and held on to it all these years. I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it so that he could have it.

Because I wanted to include so many different fabrics, I had to go with a scrappy pattern. I picked the shaded 9 patch because I could use very small bits of a bunch of different items. I would have liked for the contrast to have been more intense, but because some of the fabrics were neither real dark, or real light, the contrast is more muted. Not one of the fabrics has a flower on it, so I have decided to name it, "No Flowers Allowed!"

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Quilts for kids!

2010-02-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Imagine my suprise when the doorbell rang and it was the UPS guy with the package of material from Downy's Quilts for Kids. I just volunteered on Saturday. So speedy! It is adorable material. If I weren't right in the middle of putting on the borders of the shaded 9 patch I would start it immediately. Here are some pics of the cute fabric! If you would like to volunteer to make a quilt for a sick kid, go here...Downy's Quilts for Kids

If it could go wrong...

2010-02-10T07:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, but our wireless router went kapoot. Poor DH worked long into the night trying to get us back on the internet. Thank goodness he had kept our old hardwired router. At least one computer is back up and running though our printers are still off line. We have a print server and it is wireless... (For peace in our family we have 2 computers.) He has been working really long hours so there is little time for him to fiddle with them to get them back online.

I did complete the flag top day before yesterday. I mitered the corners of the border. It was my first time ever doing that and boy oh boy was it ever a learning experience. I must have ripped out the first miter 3 times. But as each corner went together I got better at it. By the 4th I did relatively well.

Sorry for the mediocre pictures. I caught a cold and am feeling so foggy headed. I did find the fabric for the backing in my stash. I think it will work out nicely. I love the sheet music with "The Star Spangled Banner" on it. So appropriate!

My local quilt shop, Loving Stitches, is having their bag day sale on Friday and I will buy the batting then for it. I plan on quilting this one myself. It will be my first attempt at quilting on my Bernina. Wish me luck!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

A productive day.

2010-02-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning feeling like sewing, so decided to put the flag quilt together. It was straightforward and went together without a hitch. It took me about 3.5 hours to sew it, taking a few breaks to stretch. I still need to put the border on, which shouldn't take very long. Somewhere in my stash I have a backing fabric that will be perfect. It is a fabric with sheet music on it with "The Star Spangled Banner". Will try to find that in the morning.

I used the horizontal layout. I really, really like it and wish I had bought more than one kit from Amy. I plan on giving this to my son as a gift when he graduates from Air Force flight school in April.

Then hubby and I went down to Loving Stitches to pick out border fabrics for the shaded 9-patch. We must have pulled 20 bolts looking for something to go with the busy look. We finally settled on a red inner border and a marbled black outer border. I think it will frame the craziness that is the middle, hehe. That is my project for tomorrow during the super bowl.

Had my eyes checked yesterday and had to have new reading glasses. Boy oh boy, did they make a difference sewing today. I hadn't realized how blurry things were until I put the new ones on.

Until tomorrow!

Happy Quilting!

First Quilt Top Finish for 2010!

2010-02-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

Well it took me most of yesterday to complete, but it is done! I am very happy with the results. My DH asked me if I had this one earmarked to be given away, and I told him no. So he declared, "This is my quilt!" Who am I to argue, hehe. Here are a few pics of him holding up "his" quilt.It is made with Moda's Three Sisters Chocolat fabric line from 2006, and the Moda University Jacob's Ladder pattern.

Of course the second the quilt top came out, 3 kitties magically appeared and gave it their stamp of approval.

Now it is off to my longarm quilter!

Happy Quilting!

Fabric medicine

2010-02-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday didn't go well for me.... caught a intestinal bug from somewhere and had a really rough night. So the last thing I felt like doing yesterday was quilt. Instead I bundled up on the couch in a quilt, and felt sorry for myself most of the morning. Started feeling better towards the late afternoon and then the doorbell rang. It was the mail delivery guy with a package for me!

It was a box of fabric I had ordered from Amy Smart, of Diary of a Quilter, when she had her destash "tag" sale. The fabric really is gorgeous! I think she threw in a bunch more than I ordered! Plus I had ordered it Saturday night and it was here yesterday which was quite speedy! Thanks Amy! One of my first projects out of the box will be this quilt fabric kit she had put together.

It set my mind racing and the creative ideas of how to use it started making me feel so much better. Since it was so late in the day, I didn't really have the time or the energy to pull out the Jacob's Ladder quilt top, but I did acomplish this....

Amazing how much healing power fabric has!!!

Quilt Drama

2010-02-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

Had grandiose quilting plans for today. Took the puppy down to doggie day care to play with the other dogs so I wouldn't have to worry about about her chewing my sewing machine cords up. (usually I stick her outside while I sew, but it is pouring rain today)

Came back and got out the Jacob's ladder quilt from the depths of the storage armoire. After ironing it I laid the top and the border fabric out to take a look. When I stood back it was soooo busy. So I decided to put an inner border in to break up all the busy-ness.

So after searching my fabric piles that I have in numerous locations (this took an hour), I finally found the fabric left over from the quilt. I settled on one of the tone on tone reds, and then did the math. I was short..... So I called my local quilt shop, Loving Stitches, to see if they still carried it. Alas, no. The fabric line was long gone.

After searching the internet to see if anyone carried it, (another hour gone) I decided to try to find another fabric. Hard to believe in all my piles of fabric I didn't have anything that would work. (another hour-ish gone)

So.... I packed up the top and border fabric and headed out to the quilt shop ( I am so lucky I only live 2 miles away). They are always so nice and helpful. We pulled all kinds of contenders and then I settled on a lightly marbled red that goes well with all the red tones in the quilt. (yep there went another hour!)

I can't go into a quilt shop without coming out with something else in addition to what I went in there for. I got the Schnibbles "Madeline" pattern and ordered the charm packs to make it.

Now after getting back home I find that all my quilting gumpshun has gone. So.... off to surf Quiltblogs.com!~

Giveaway

2010-01-31T12:57:00.000-08:00

Daisy over at Daisy dayz is having a giveaway of a gorgeous clutch purse. I normally am not a girly girl when it comes to stuff like that, but this one is so wonderful. Go check it out!

Mish Mosh

2010-01-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

Been a bit of a messy weekend. It snowed/sleeted all day Saturday and that put a halt to going to get the border material/backing/batting for the shaded 9 patch and the batting for the Jacob's ladder.

So... I just worked on the flower garden. I really made a lot of progress. I sewed on 2 more flowers this weekend and all the white blocks around them. That makes 4 flowers sewn on since I started posting. I had made the flowers during last year so it was just a matter of attaching them.

Now things will slow down considerably because I have to make the flowers before attaching them. My goal is to make and attach at least 1 flower per week. I have 31 flowers left, so I should be done piecing the top in 31 weeks.

Here's a pic of Sunshine peeking at me whilst I sew.

Cats and Quilting

2010-01-30T06:45:00.000-08:00

Bernina is the cat's meow!
(Sunshine using my sewing machine as a perch)

I have 3 naughty kitties; Jake, Max, and Sunshine. I also have a Lab named Maggie. My DH and I have always wondered about what attracts cats to quilts. I can't get any of my quilts out without one of the 3 firmly planting themselves on top of it. We think it is the pattern of the quilts that attracts them.

Jake helping me sew.
Max checking out the first quilt I made.

Max on my "trip around the world".

Max and Sunshine test driving the "Bowtie" quilt.

WIP #3

2010-01-29T07:46:00.001-08:00

Good morning! Yesterday was quite productive. Did some house cleaning, laundry, etc... and still was able to sew on another flower plus about 10 of the white hexagons on my Grandmother's flower garden. I also called my quilter, whom I hadn't talked to in a year, and found out he is still working. I put my name on his waiting list, which is about a month long, for the Jacob's Ladder that I showed yesterday.

I had planned on going to JoAnn's today to get batting, since I have a couple 50% off coupons, but alas I am stuck waiting at the house. One of our heat pumps has gone out and the repairman is coming "sometime" today..... So I guess I will get cracking on sewing whilst I wait.

My 3rd WIP is a recent start. I have been slowly over the years making quilts for all the members of my family. I did a "trip around the world" for my mom, a "bowtie" for my in-laws, (it is the one in the header with my precious Sunshine laying on), and a log cabin for one of my nieces (the one in my profile picture). My son, whenever he comes to visit, loves to watch TV on the couch covered up in one of my quilts. I wanted to make him a quilt that he can take with him.

I wanted only masculine fabrics. I also wanted to incorbarate some material from his childhood. I had saved some of his shirts and pants and chopped those up. Also there was some other special fabric I wanted to include. So I picked a scrappy, "shaded 9 patch" to make him. For the last year I have been collecting masculine style fat quarters. Every time my local quilt shop, Loving Stitches, threw a sale I would go buy a few.

I cut all the 2 1/2 inch squares in 2 days and sewed it in 3 days

My DH and I were planning on going to the quilt shop tomorrow to pick out the border fabric, but a winter storm is headed our way. I hope it doesn't hit us as I would really love to get this WIP done.

I did learn quite a bit making it. If I make another one, I think I will make the contrast between light and dark a bit more prominent. I really wanted to incorporate all the "special" pieces in this one, so I had to blend it more and the contrast is not as bold as I wanted.

Ok off to sew!

WIP #2

2010-01-28T07:15:00.001-08:00

Good morning! Was a quiet day yesterday. Spent most of it updating the blog and sewing on my flower garden. I was able to get a complete flower section sewed on. It felt good to make progress.

Today I want to show my next quilt that I am almost done with. All that is left is borders, batting, and backing. Then I can send it off to be quilted.

It is a "Jacob's Ladder" pattern made with Moda Chocolat fabrics. I finished piecing the top right before I took my year break. We started our remodel of the office/spare rooms that soon came grinding to a halt. I plan on finishing this during the next week to send off to my quilter. Here are a few more pics.

2010-01-27T08:15:00.000-08:00

The first WIP I want to show you is my "Grandmother's Flower Garden" It is going to be a queen size quilt, (if I ever get it finished). I started this quilt about 3 years ago. I call it my "traveling quilt" because I mostly work on it when we are taking trips in our RV. I have also taken it to Scotland, Wales, England and Canada. I have worked on it in ME, NY, PA, VA, NC, GA, FL, MS, AL, LA, and TX so far. It is a great portable quilt.

I have been using a product called Quilt Patis, by Pati Shambaugh.

I keep most of the cut out hexagons, templates, threads, etc. in this plastic bin. It is great to grab when I know I have to go somewhere and need to pass the time.

I have 2 rows complete and have started row 3. I have several shots of the rows.

I chose 1930 reproduction material in honor of my grandmother. She was a quilter and I inherited my love of quilts from her. I plan on making some serious headway on this quilt this year!

Works in Progress.... aka WIP's!

2010-01-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

Every quilter has them. I have three (ok really 4, but I don't count it as I barely started it)! I took a year break from quilting, well machine quilting. I did dabble with hand sewing during that time. The other two WIP's just taunted me during that year.

The reason I took a year break was I thought I would get my own sewing room. I didn't want to drag everything out and then put it all back away every day. Our son had left home and took all his things out of his room. I had big plans for that space but my "Dear Hubby" had other plans. It soon filled up with all his packrat boxes of things. I held out thinking I would get my room back. We had plans to build another garage for him to store all the boxes in. Then a year passed and it looked like the garage and my room would still be another year away. I decided to get back to sewing even though it meant dragging all my stuff out every day.

So I plan on finishing these WIP's over the next few months, (well all but one) and journal about them here. I hope you enjoy!

Welcome to my blog!

2010-01-27T06:39:00.000-08:00

Well I decided to start blogging! I hope that anyone who finds this will enjoy my antics and experiments with quilting and life.