4th of July

This week has been lovely - lots of rain (which we desperately need) so no reason to go out and about.   I felt like I had some sort of attention disorder because I didn't want to work on anything for too long.  Back in January I bought myself a fat quarter pack of Tula Pink's Salt Water fabric, thinking it would be enough for a lap quilt.  Not quite!  Maybe a baby quilt - but not big enough for me to cuddle under. So I set the blocks aside and ordered another fat quarter pack.  And there it sat till this week.   Of course, it was quick and easy to finish up.  Now I'm waiting on some Kona cotton to show up in the mail for the backing.  This was made using the Yellow Brick Road pattern.  I wanted all her beautiful fabrics left in good sized chunks so I could enjoy them!  

I love the dark blue fabric with the sea shells!

I also worked on this other project. It is made with a variety of Bonnie and Camille fabrics.  The individual blocks measure 24" square and I'm hoping it ends up big enough to fit my bed.  I will sew the blocks together with no sashing and then add about a three inch dark grey border and then a blue floral border (the blue floral in the bottom row of flying geese).  

Yesterday I quilted this beautiful for a friend.  It is the the 2012 Designer block of the month from the Fat Quarter Shop.  More Bonnie and Camille fabric!  I did free hand baptist fans.  I love the way it looks!  

All done!  Do you think she would let me keep it?

Now I am in Tennessee at my parents' house , retrieving my son.  No sewing for a few days - but hopefully a trip to JoAnn's and maybe even a quilt store.  

Maddie's latest quilt

I finished up the binding on Maddie's quilt today.  It never takes as long as I am dreading that it will.  I've got the label printed up and am waiting for it to dry before I sew it on.  Maddie is looking forward to giving it to her friend tomorrow morning. 

The quilting always ends up being much denser than I imagined - but Maddie was thrilled with it - so I'm happy!

And here is the quilter herself.  I can't figure out why - but she hates having her picture taken.  Silly girl!

Looking forward to getting to do some of my own sewing next week!

As the summer slips away...

How did it get to be the end of June?  So far this summer we have spent almost a week at my parents' house and we just got back from a week in Colorado.  Me and the kids were able to tag along with my husband while he attended a national architectural convention.  We tacked a few days onto the end to go up into the mountains.  We even found the nerve to drive up to the top of Pike's Peak.  I had my head buried in Stacy's shoulder for the last 5 miles of the drive.  I'm not good with heights!

Before we left Maddie decided she wanted to make another Thank You quilt for a girl we go to church with that served in the Army for several years.  She decided not to do the typical red, white, and blue.  We found out her favorite colors are blue and green.  We found the perfect pattern on Crazy Mom Quilts.  The pattern is called  Movin' on Up  and it is a great tutorial!  Maddie had no problems following the directions.

She pieced the top in two days and then was all over me to get it quilted.  It had to wait till we got back from Colorado - but now it is done and the binding is half way on.  She is hoping to give it to our friend on Sunday.

And last, but certainly not least, my sweet neighbor and friend April came over tonight to give me a belated birthday present.  I was shocked when I opened it!

 

She had a friend of theirs make this mosaic for me!! My favorite colors and my favorite quilt block - flying geese!!!  I love it SO much!  Now to find a special place for it in the sewing room.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Shameful

How did it get be May 31st already?

I have been sewing some - not nearly as much as I would like of course.   One of first finishes of the year was the scrappy trip quilt.  I love how this quilt turned out!  It now lives on our couch and gets used daily.

Sorry for the bad picture - but blurry is what happens with two wiggly quilt holders!  I definitely see another one of these in my future .  Thanks, Bonnie, for another great pattern!

My next finish was my Soul Blossoms quilt.  Over two years ago I bought a fat quarter pack of Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms fabric .  Then I had to stew a while over what to do with it.  I wanted a pattern with big enough pieces to show off the fabric.   I ended up doing big bow tie blocks.  Then I went crazy with the quilting. In the outside border, I used a light gray thread and did spiral quilting.  In the bow ties I used the gray thread again and did kind of zig-zagged back and forth .  Then I lost my mind and did pebbles in the open white space.  Talk about time consuming.  And eats up the thread like crazy!  But in the end - I LOVE IT!!  It was worth every minute!!

And one of my favorite parts is the back!  I used all my leftovers ( the middle portion) and had to order some extra yardage - but I love how it turned out!!

Another finish for the spring was my St. Louis 16-patch.  This one was a quilt-along on Instagram.  If you are on Instagram - I am "mamaisquilting"!  I did my 16-patch all in blues.  I'm sure Nina is shocked!

This block is super fast and lots of fun.

Again I did a meandering swirly pattern for the quilting.

I've got more quilts to show later!

My Bonnie moment

I have often wondered what it would be like to be Bonnie Hunter, zig zagging across the USA, teaching her wonderful classes. She often describes her huge duffel bags, packed with quilts. Quilts can get quite heavy! I have recently had the chance to haul my own heavy bags of quilts around.

A couple of weeks ago, I subbed for a second grade teacher on a Monday. They were just starting a new reading passage that week and it was titled "A Quilt Story". The story was about a little girl who felt more at home in a new place because she had her beloved quilt with her. Anyway...several kids in the class had no idea what the difference between a blanket and a quilt is.

I talked to the teacher and told her I would be glad to bring in a few quilts and do a little presentation for the kids. She was so excited!

When I came in, I started off by asking them if they knew what scraps were - and got a great explanation! I went on to show them scraps, some batting, and some orphan blocks. I had them guess the name of a few blocks - a log cabin block, flying geese, and a spiderweb block. I explained how I would take blocks and piece them into a quilt top.

At this point I showed them my scrappy trips top and asked them to guess how many little squares were in this top. They were all very surprised when I finally gave them the correct answer of 900!

I showed them several different quilts and got lots of oohs and aahs. They asked great questions like how long it takes to make a quilt. I showed them a picture of my featherweight and of my long arm machine. They thought it was funny that my sewing machine is almost twenty years older than me - and they think I am old.  

I did three presentations last week and did my last one this morning.  It has been a lot of fun sharing my quilts with these kids. One little girl has repeatedly come up to me and asked me to please teach her to sew!