Finally meeting Bonnie!

After being in Bonnie's Maverick Quilters blog ring for over three years now, and following her posts on other group lists for even longer, I was so excited to finally get the chance to meet Bonnie in person. When I walked into the workshop site, right at start time, with my arms loaded down with my stuff, I hear from some yell from across the room "Sarah!", at which point, Bonnie comes running across the room to give me a hug. It was like we had known each other in person for years. She is so sweet and funny! The workshop was so fun. I was surrounded by a sweet group of ladies. One lady, Linda, (HI, Linda!!) had been hauling her sewing machine around in her trunk all summer and when she set it up for the workshop, it wouldn't work. So Bonnie lent her her Featherweight. I warned Linda that by the end of the day she would be wanting one for herself. The next night at the lecture and trunk show, Linda walks in and sits down next to me and says "I was looking on Ebay for a Featherweight today!" I tried to warn you, Linda!

The lecture and trunk show were so inspiring. Her quilts are so beautiful. Here are a few pictures to inspire you too! All the pictures are clickable to view them larger.





If you haven't been there yet, please go check out Bonnie's Quiltville site. You will be amazed at all the quilting goodness you find there. Make sure you have lots of spare time before heading over there!

Bonnie - I am so glad I finally got to meet you! Next time you head this direction, make sure you call me!

The red, white and blue

Thanks again to Bonnie for a great free pattern. This top is entirely from my stash! I can now say that I have no more reds sitting around. I also have several pieces of blue, something will work for a backing. I have decided that I am going to make another patriotic quilt in Bonnie's workshop on the 15th.

This week I need to quilt a baby quilt that my mom pieced for one of my cousins. And Saturday a quilt showed up in the mail from a lady that goes to church with my mom. I am hoping to get it done before we head up there in two weeks. It is only another baby quilt, so it should be do-able.

I fell in love with this quilt this past week. Just what I need - another project! I came up with a plan to make the quilt with my mom - actually we are going to make one for each of us. Then Mom thought maybe we should go ahead and make one for my sister too. I think she just needs to get busy and start quilting with me and Mom. So we will make three blocks out of each fabric and then exchange blocks. This is going to be a stash quilt. I love the colors that Nicole has picked for her version of the quilt.

Have a great week!

Expedited service

Some people and some projects require that you drop everything and pay attention right then and there. A month or so ago my family learned of a little boy named Nathan who has cancer. He was diagnosed over a year ago but all of the options have been exhausted. The doctors have told his parents that he has only a few months left. What breaks my heart is that Nathan is the same age as my little boy - and he too has an older sister. I can not even imagine what this poor family is going through. My mom decided that Nathan needed a cuddle quilt so she whipped up this top and shipped it off to me on Monday morning. It arrived Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning I quilted it and bound it - a new record for me! I shipped it off to Nathan on Wednesday afternoon. While I was quilting it, I decided that we also need to make a quilt for Nathan's sister, so Mom is going to get to work on that one.

In other news, the baby quilt was a huge success. The baby's grandma started squealing before the quilt was even out of the bag! And she was to hire me to make a queen size quilt for her bed. I think I am off the baby quilt assembly line until at least next March - unless someone is hiding a surprise from us!

This weekend I am hoping to finish the patriotic strip twist quilt. I also need to start getting my strips together for Bonnie's workshop that I am taking on October 15th. Yes, she is coming to Auburn Alabama! I can't wait to finally meet her in person after being online friends for over three years.

And the winner is.....

Twenty -two of you sweet bloggers let me know which one of the log cabin block settings you liked for my black and white baby quilt. I made my mind up almost immediately after looking at the pictures, but it seems like you all agreed with me! Here were the results:
- one vote each for the zig-zag layout and the diagonal stripe setting
- four votes for the four diamonds setting (choice #2)
- five votes for the pinwheels
- and ELEVEN votes for the barn raising setting.

So here it is!


The baby shower is tomorrow. I am also in charge of the punch. We are trying a new recipe tomorrow - pineapple juice, raspberry sherbet, and 7-up. Doesn't that sound yummy?

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Hubby is supposed to be on his way home from a conference in Amherst Massachusetts is Tropical Storm Kyle doesn't mess up his flights. Keep your fingers crossed!

An American twist

I was so enamored with Bonnie's strip twist that I made last week, that I decided to drag out more blue scraps and all of the reds that I had. So far I have made 4 blocks. Cute, no?

What are you all up to?

Coming this weekend - pictures of the black and white log cabin. The baby shower is Sunday afternoon.

"That looks like a Sarah qult"

I sent my mom an email showing her this quilt and the first words out of her mouth were "that looks like a typical Sarah quilt." I am sure Nina will agree. Why, you might ask. Because it is blue and yellow - one of my all time favorite color combinations. I needed something quick and Bonnie's Strip Twist pattern fit the bill. I started piecing it yesterday around 1 pm and today at 2 pm the blocks are completed - with a LOT of non-sewing time thrown in there. This top is a very generous baby quilt - more like a toddler size. It is three blocks by three blocks.


Thanks to Bonnie for another great stash-busting pattern. This top was pieced entirely from the stash. The backing will be stash too. Doesn't that feel great? Oh, by the way - I get to meet Bonnie next month when she comes to Auburn to give a lecture and do a workshop! Even though I am not a member of the local guild, they had extra spots so I will be able to attend! Yay!

Choices

Yes, another baby quilt! I go to church with a very prolific group of women! I know you are probably thinking "A black and white baby quilt?". You have to know the mama to understand. The nursery walls are a pale pink and the other bedding is black and white with red accents. She has very sophisticated tastes. Anyway - I have got the blocks done but now I have to decide on a setting. Which one do you like?






Come on - I really want to know your opinion! Please? Help!

Seeing double!

This is what has been occupying me for the past month or so. A friend from church is expecting twins in October and her shower is tomorrow. Took me a little by surprise that they were having it that early. Anyway - I wanted to make the quilts from the same patterns and using the same focus fabric. Why did I pick a pattern that would require 175 half square triangles each? 350 half square triangles? UGH! But they are done now and hopefully MaryAnn will like them.

This is to try and show you the pink paisley fabric that is in both quilts.
Now to start on the baby quilt for another shower at the end of the month. I need to find less reproductive friends!

Show and Tell

Since I haven't gotten the chance to sew anything of my own lately, I thought I would share a couple of quilts that my mom made. She sent them to me to quilt. The first one is a baby quilt for a family she goes to church with. They are expecting a baby boy sometime soon!

This second one was supposed to be one of the "heirloom" quilts my mom is making for all of the grandkids. Remember this other "heirloom" quilt she made and then didn't like and then did like again? Well, she got this one together and didn't like it enough to hand quilt it so she sent it home with me. I got it on the machine last night and quilted it this morning. Can you see the cute 30's fabrics? I think it turned out really cute!



The kids go back to school in less than two weeks! I will miss them but I can't wait to get some things done. I am already making a mental list in my head. Tomorrow we are running up to Tennessee for a few days to see the grandparents and the cousins! Me and mom are hoping to get a little sewing time in. I am hoping she will help me work on a million half-square triangles I need to make for some matching baby quilts. Twin girls are due in November (will probably be delivered in mid-October)! I am doing two quilts using the same pattern (same as this quilt) and the same primary fabric. One quilt will have a soft pink as the other fabric and the second quilt will have a cream fabric. The main fabric is a cool pink paisley fabric. Anyway - as you can see there are LOTS of half-square triangles. I think Mom needs to help!

Done!!!

See this cute little face? Her mommy asked me to make curtains for her bedroom way back in January before Ella was even born. We went and found fabric to match the quilt several weeks before Ella arrived.

When did I finish the curtains? February? No. April? Nooooo. June? Almost! I got the valances made. Anyone want to guess "today"? Right you are! I am so glad to have them done and out of here. That was the last commission project that was hanging over my head. Now I can concentrate on the three baby quilts I need to make. But first I need to quilt a couple of tops for my mom.


School starts in two weeks. Where has the summer gone?

In a rush...

A young couple that we go to church with just had a baby a couple of weeks ago - actually he was born on my birthday! The dad also has a great-nephew that was born in early June. The little boy has been having several health problems and late last week they had to put a trach in because his wind pipe kept collapsing. Anyway - you guessed it - I made him a quilt.


The letter fabric I just bought in June - just to have on hand because so many ladies at church are expecting. The 9 patches are made from my hand-dyeds, three different greens and three different blues. I think it turned out really cute.


Tomorrow it will be winging its way to a little boy in Colorado. Get well soon, Jacob.

I'm so blue!

Guess what I did today! I cleaned the garage on Tuesday so I decided it would be a good time to dye some fabric. I got started early - about 9 a.m. - before it got too nasty hot outside. Then I let everything bake in their little plastic bowls, sitting in the sun, for a few hours. Maddie wanted to do lots more purples and reds, but I wanted blues and a few greens. I am loving how everything turned out!

Everything should be clickable for a bigger view.

Paying it forward!

Last year at about this time I signed up over on Tami's blog to do a Pay It Forward craft exchange. She just emailed me for my snail mail address. I did a search on my blog and apparently I never "paid it forward"! So...

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week... but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Repurposing!

As I said in my previous post, I have been trying to get some of my tops quilted. I thought this top was done, but apparently not! The bento blocks are done but the rows are not together. This row had two blocks together so as I was adding the third block, I got to thinking (dangerous, I know!) that this reminded me of an Amish quilt. Kind of a modern day Amish...an Amish quilt on steroids...an Amish quilt with electricity.

These three blocks are the perfect size for a table runner. Sure, I have enough blocks to make two more table runners, but I can worry about those later. My question for today is: How should I quilt this? I was thinking about just doing it on the featherweight with straight lines, maybe a quarter inch in from the seam lines. Or should I do something else on the big quilting machine? Let's hear your suggestions!

Have a great weekend!

Getting things done - a.k.a. avoidance

I made up my list of "things to get done in June" and posted it in my sidebar several weeks ago. I have been successful in finishing a few things that have been hanging over my head - quilting a top for a friend in Florida and making a baby quilt for a customer in Pennsylvania. Done - out of the way. The only thing still dangling over my head was the curtains I was hired to make. They are really very simple. Just a simple valance and a curtain behind it. No lining. I got started on the valance last week when the kids were gone, but did not get very far.

What have I been doing instead? Quilting all of my tops that have been sitting in a drawer waiting their turn. Avoidance? Yes. So far I have quilted: the Denyse Schmidt wall hanging ; the big block quilt ; the orphan block quilt ; and a green YBR quilt. Well, technically the orphan block quilt is not completely quilted. The tension somehow got all out of whack and I didn't realize what a big section was messed up until I rolled it up to quilt the next section. I was too frustrated to spend a couple hours picking out the mess, so I just took it off the machine. I will face it later....maybe.


What have you been up to?

Copy Cat quilt done!!

I got this cute little thing quilted up on Tuesday and put the binding and label on today. I even took it to the post office and sent it on its way to Pennsylvania. Check it off the to do list! I really love this pattern - I am already planning on using it several more times!

I got the backing off the sale rack at Quilting By the Bay in Panama City while we were down there last weekend. Beautiful beach! And it wasn't packed yet so we didn't feel like sardines while trying to get into the water.

Don't you just want to go jump right in that water? The sand is so fine and soft. That whole area of the Florida is called the Emerald Coast and has beautiful beaches.

On to the next item on the to-do list!

Dancing to the oldies

Anyone else out there having 80's flashbacks while looking at this quilt? A friend of my sister made this quilt several years ago. She had it basted and I guess she thought that someday she would hand quilt it. Here it is 12 years later and now it is done.
I don't know if you can see the lace around the edge of the fan - but I nearly drove myself off the deep end this morning after it got caught under the hopping foot. Pain in the backside!

But now it is done and will be taken to my mom who will be putting the binding on for Tammy. I told her I wold have to charge $50 an hour to apply binding because of my great hatred of binding! Mom kindly agreed to do it for her!

Off to pack for the beach!

Quick quilt

This is a quilt for another one of my pregnant cousins. Her and her sister are both expecting their first baby sometime late this year. My mom pieced the top - mostly from my stash! She was kindly directed to Bonnie's site for the pattern.

Very sweet and simple!

I am debating on what to do next. I have a quilt sitting here waiting to be quilted for a friend of my sister. She made the quilt about 12 years ago and never got around to quilting it! It is basted so I will have to take it apart first. And then there is the commission baby quilt that is ready to be quilted, just have to find a backing.

My kids are spending a week or so at my parents' house in June. My dad and Ian are going to drive to Wisconsin to visit my grandfather. Mom and Maddie are going to stay home and get in trouble ! What am I going to do with a week to myself? Hopefully get a lot of tops quilted. Mom sent me an email yesterday saying that Joann's has batting on sale so I will have to stock up while I am up there.

What are you doing with your summer?

Copy Cat

This little quilt came together VERY quickly. It is the same pattern as Nina's latest QOV , just took a couple of rows off and left off the wide final border. I think it makes a cute baby quilt. This is a commission quilt for the same lady that hired me to make a baby quilt for her son's first child about two years ago. She wanted this one to be in the same colors, just a different pattern. So I used 30's repros again.

I am hoping to get this quilted and mailed off this week. I also want to get the top quilted for my cousin's baby. Then it will be taken back to my mom for the binding. Then we can discuss what to do for my other two cousins that are expecting. One of them is having baby # 2 - so we need to decide if we are gonna stick to our one quilt per family rule. Charlie is my one of only two cousins on my dad's side of the family. My other cousin is only 6 months older than my daughter. Yes, my first cousin. On my mom's side of the family I have 9 cousins - all within about 6 years in age of one another. That could be a lot of babies in a very short time! So we are thinking about breaking the rule for Charlie and then making sure that all the other quilts are very gender neutral. Mom is the top piece-er and then I quilt them on the long-arm.

What family traditions do you have regarding quilts?

May goal #2 - check!

Yeah! Goal number 2 is done! Just gotta slap the label on the back this afternoon and I can give Nicole the quilt tonight at bible class. I love how it turned out.

So I have got one week left to accomplish goal #3 - curtains for Ella's room. Ella is the baby I made this quilt for back in January. Her mama and I went shopping for the fabric several weeks before she was born - so yes, I am a little slow. Hopefully Ella has not yet noticed that her nursery has no curtains.

Once I get the curtains done I need to move on to the birthday challenge. I think I have already changed my mind about what I want I to do. By the time I get around to actually making it, maybe my mind will be changed back!

Only three days of school left! Our summer already seems to short with all we have planned. My sister's answer to this complaint would be "Home schooling!" - but since she refuses to offer a distance learning program, we will have to learn to accept our overly short summer. We are starting our summer off with a trip to Panama City Beach where hubby is participating in a mini triathlon. The kids are worried that he will have no energy to haul himself down to the beach afterwards! I am looking forward to some (read that as LOTS!) of fresh gulf shrimp. My favorite!

What are your plans for the summer?

I Will Survive!

Can't you just hear Gloria Gaynor singing that now? If you need a chuckle, go watch this video on YouTube.

Nines will be glad to know that I did indeed survive my day of getting the binding done on this huge quilt. It is gone - out of my home - out of my life. I got the binding done around 2 p.m. Took a very short nap and then put the label on it and took it to Jessica.

Thankfully she loved it. The only direction she had really given me was that she wanted it to be pink and brown. I was worried she wouldn't like the pattern I decided on.

Here is a picture of the finished product. It was so big I couldn't get a picture of the entire thing!

I am hoping to be able to finish the blue and brown baby quilt by Sunday. Nicole's baby shower is a week from Saturday, but we will be in Boston. So I am hoping to get done by Sunday in order to give it to her for Mother's Day!

Forced

Today is being spent forcing myself to work on the binding for the pink and brown quilt. So far I have trimmed the quilt and ironed the binding. Why am I sitting here surfing the net? Avoidance.

I thought by posting this maybe it would force me to be productive. Send me some encouraging thoughts or comments.

Or you can come help.

Please?

Working, working, working....

The girl who commissioned this quilt is moving home to Birmingham next Friday - and I would really love to be done with (a.k.a - rid of) this by then. I am tired of it hanging over me. Maybe that's why I make so many baby quilts - because I lose interest by the time I am almost done with a big quilt. Anyway... I made myself work on quilting it yesterday - for a total of about 5 hours. Until I came to a point where I had a HUGE amount of fullness - just on one side. So in the midst of freaking out, I call Nina and beg her to tele-transport herself down to my house and help me. I even said "PLEASE" several times. Still a no-go.


Can you see all that fullness? And that is after I quilted it! The next row is just as bad. All I can figure out is that the pieced blocks are stretching. Only one, maybe two, more passes to go. And then I can move on to my favorite part, binding this monster. Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice? Good.



You can tell by the amount of batting hanging off the bottom that I am almost done. Unless I made a huge mistake measuring the batting....which is entirely possible! Anyone want to come help put the binding on?

UPDATE: 9:45 pm - it id DONE!!! Unpinned and waiting to be trimmed and bound.

Another top in need of quilting!

My question for you today is : Is this quilt finished? Or does it need another border? Size-wise it is big enough to be finished, but I don't know if it looks finished.

What do you think?

I have plenty of fabric to put another border around it. What should I do?

Waiting anxiously for all of your opinions!

Current vote: 14 votes for adding a border

Thanks for all of the sweet comments!

Friday's sewing time

Well, I finally got enough pieced blocks done and got the rows put together. Getting the rows sewn together is like a wrestling match. I remember why I like small quilts - not so much fabric to wrestle through the sewing machine. Now I need to go make my bed so I can lay the top out on it and see if it is big enough or if I need to add a border. Hopefully it will be big enough!

We are attending a going-away party tomorrow for the girl that commissioned me to make her this quilt. I had brief thoughts earlier this week of trying to finish the quilt in time for the party, but quickly realized I had lost touch with reality! Probably somewhere around the time that I found out I needed to make 7 more of the pineapple blossom blocks! Actually I think I could probably get the thing quilted by tomorrow but then getting the binding on would be a whole 'nother matter!

I also need to get back to the blue and brown baby quilt. Her shower is going to be on May 17th. I will be out of town (in Boston!) but I would like to be able to give it to her on the following Sunday when I see her.

What are you all up to?

Reasons I am not a math teacher!

Apparently I can't even count to 32. 32 is the number of pieced pineapple blossom blocks I need for the commissioned quilt. I realized a few weeks ago that I needed more of the pieced blocks and set to work piecing them. I finished them up and started assembling the rows. Last night I got down to putting the last two rows together. And yes, I was short 7 pieced blocks. I had started them at some point and then they got set aside. Fine, fine, fine. Finish them up. Nope - I don't seem to have enough of the fabric I was using for the triangles. UGH!!! I do a quick search of the internet and can't find it. What to do? I have one strip remaining and I have to get 8 triangles out of it. I was able to squeeze 6. So the last two triangles had to be pieced. This is the result.

Someday, a hundred years from now, Jessica's great-grand-daughter will look at this quilt and noticed these pieced triangles and wonder what happened!

Last week I pulled the kids out of school for a couple of days and we headed to Nashville to see my family. We missed out on spring break because me and Ian had the flu. My mom and I got to make a quick run up to Franklin Kentucky and go to a cute little quilt store. It was mostly Civil War Repro type fabrics.

I did manage to find a few fabrics to make a table runner for the annual Nina and Sarah birthday challenge. This year the table runner are going to other people, but I won't mention names in case she reads this blog. Nina - the person receiving your table runner already knows so you might not want to post any pictures!

Time to go get something accomplished - besides sewing that is!

April Showers

How am I supposed to get any sewing done when my work area looks like this? I kept telling myself I was going to clean it up today, but every time I went in there I just wanted to sew for a few minutes instead. So today I got my 150 4-patches done for Bonnie's Orange Crush mystery quilt. That took a lot longer than I thought it would. Since I had left-over pink and brown 2.5 inch strips scattered everywhere on my table, that's what I used. I cut then down to 2 inches. I need to sit down and re-read her fabric directions and figure out what else to use.

The left-over strips were from this quilt that I have been hired to make by a girl at church. The log cabin squares are actually going to Bonnie's pineapple blossom blocks. And the blue strips should be brown - but I am lazy.

Here are a few of the pineapple blocks to show you the colors I am using. All the pineapple blocks are pieced already - so now I just have to put everything together. I am hoping to have it done by the end of May - so I can have some spending money for mine and Nine's annual birthday get-together. We are supposed to meet up in Tennessee again this year. I can't wait to see her!