What would you do?

What would you do with these fabrics? I've wanted to make something out of this line for a while, so last weekend I finally picked up a yard of the one on the bottomo and then the 6 fat quarters laying on it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I am thinking some type of bag. Anyone have any great ideas? I'm open to suggestings. They are from the Moda line Charisma by Chez Moi, in the tomato colorway.

Star Quilt Points

Tonight after work I decided I should get my homework done since the class is on Sat. I had to tear out the point I had previously finished, since it was incorrect. The girls at the shop had a good laugh over my wonky point and even printed the picture off my blog to show my whoops moment. I did learn a great lesson and I'm okay with how it turned out now that I have the points right.

Mini Miranda for Me!

Today my boss gave me the day off to rest and relax. I really enjoyed it and the best part was relaxing and sewing. I made this Mini Miranda purse for myself using some new dots and stripes fabric we just got in. It's bright and cheery, just perfect for spring. I also made a cell phone case, checkbook cover, and wonderwallet to go with it. In all about 6 hours is all it took me to make all 4 items.

Construction Baby Quilt

On our honeymoon we picked up this construction panel and border print at a quilt shop in IA on the way home. I had already gotten some of the same fabric at our favorite shop in MO, but this was even cuter. Originally it would have been for a nephew, but since we have a niece, it will go to a special baby boy. I finished the top at retreat in Jan. and quilted it Mon. & Tues.nights. I put the binding on by hand Wed.-Fri. of this week, so it is done. I think it's super cute and may never give it away.

I'll be Quilting With my Peeps in OH!

I am so excited I can hardly contain it! I made my flight reservations today for the Quilt Retreat in OH. I'm pumped to meet all my internet quilting friends. It's been a long time in the making. Jen and I met about 3 years ago and I met Jill shortly after that. We've become good friends and I don't know what I would do without their friendship. I have met several other friends because of them and I'm so excited to meet many of them as well.
Jen and Jill texted me all day today. Although I'm new to the whole texting thing, it really helped me to have them both a finger tip away.
Paul and I found the flight I needed to go to OH and it went down $40 from when I was going to buy it on Mon. I took it as a sign that I was meant to go. I was going to buy on Mon, but decided with Jen and Jill's encouragement to wait until today before I bought the ticket. Since I first started seriously looking at tickets in October or November, the ticket has come down $100!
I can't wait to meet so many of my online friends. Only 2 months 4 days until the Quilt Retreat with my peeps!

Power By Ringsurf

Quilty Birthday Presents

I had a very quilty birthday! My MIL and hubby got me the DVD's MammaMia, Nights and Rodanthe, and The Holiday. Lots of quilting will be done as I "watch" my new DVD's.
I received the new Jennifer Chiaverini book Quilters Kitchen from both my mom and Paul... -I asked everyone for it. I really wanted it! I can't wait to read it. I took one back and picked up two Debbie Macomber books, so I have a lot of reading to do.

She also got me the Pajama Quilter Reloaded Companion Workbook. I've had the DVD since before I even got my frame, but I really wanted the workbook and I'm so looking forward to being able to see the designs.

My parents also gave me the new Olfa Quick Change 60mm rotary cutter. I've had the 45 for a year or so now and really love it, but I really like the 60 better, so she got it along with 5 new blades for me. I'll be cutting up a storm now. My mom got me the quilting stuff that no one else buys for me.

My dad asked mom what they were giving me for my birthday and she told him. He just didn't get it, but he said well if that's what she wants. It is! I'm so excited with all my gifts.

Star Quilt Class

For my birthday I took the star quilt class from Lu at work. She's done a ton of star quilts and adds a lot to them. I'd never done one and to be honest, they scare me. After the 4 hour class, I had one point done (on the left), and the one on the right is the two sets laying together. I really like my colors and will end up with a very dark backing behind it.
I was so excited to post, that as I'm looking at the picture I realized I have my points wrong and will be doing some ripping tonight. Good think I took a picture or I may have done all 8 points wrong!


I was too tired last night, so I fixed the backing for a baby quilt, loaded it on the frame and quilted the borders last night. I'll have to go back and finish the inner quilting with a different color tonight. I'm hoping to have the binding on, so I can do the hand sewing tomorrow.

Triangle Ranch Bed and Breakfast

This weekend, since it was my birthday and Valentine's all rolled into one weekend, Paul made reservations for us to stay at the Triangle Ranch Bed and Breakfast on Sat. night. We had planned to stay here the night of our wedding, but because of the flooding were unable to. It's a beautiful ranch out on the plains of western South Dakota. This is the Alahambra house from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Behind the bush in the center is the porch and front door. It cost 1,969 in the catalog and arrived at Cottonwood SD on the train. Kenny and Lyndy have preserved it and the antiques in it are incredible.

This is the view from the north, where everyone parks.

The carriage house is a short distance to the south. Paul and I stayed in it for the night.

It's not more than a hop, skip and a jump from the main house.

As you enter the front door, to the right is a small kitchenette. There was popcorn, dishes, candy, and a fridge. The TV had a DVD player so we started watching one of the DVD's I got for my birthday.

This is the bathroom with the clawfoot, cast iron tub. It was so cool.

The pegs on the mirror held the towel.

Up in the loft, was this wagon of antiques and a log cabin replica.

The lamps were the only lights up in the loft, where there was an old trunk and a queen size bed, with a very old quilt on it.

Looking down from the loft you can see the decorations, the leather chair and couch.

There were also bunk beds in the living room.

I forgot to take pictures of the stairs to get up to the loft, but they were rather steep, almost like a ladder.
Our hosts were wonderful. We had a huge meal Sat. night and visited with them for a while. Then they cooked a huge breakfast Sun. morning and gave us a tour of the house. It's absolutely beautiful and was so relaxing. We'll definately be going back again sometime.

Friday the 13th

I've never believed in Friday the 13th until this one. I just had a bad feeling about it when I woke up. I had my name and age announced on the radio thanks to my hubby and my MIL. I won the 12" cookie from Eileens Collasal cookies. I thought the day was looking up, since I've never won before. We had the February birthday party at work which was really nice.
When I got off work I met mom and we went to upgrade our cell plans. We had an ancient, outdated plan and needed new phones. The first place we went to, the guy wanted to charge an outrageous price, for features we didn't want or need. He didn't care to explain anything either. We went to the next place and the guy was helpful, had the perfect plan for us, and even had a purple phone for me! I've now entered the world of texting.
We met Paul and his mom for supper where our waitress was terrible. It was just a very bad experience. We went home frustrated with a place we usually enjoy.
Paul got the new ice house he has been wanting for a long time. He's hoping to be able to use it next weekend.
I sure hope the next Fri. the 13th isn't as bad as this one.

Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Valentine's Day! My hubby gave me this hand painted vase with flowers yesterday, so I could have them at work. They are purple! I love them.

My friends Sandy and Karen gave me this pink flowering plant for my birthday. It's so pretty and now since I have a window in my office, it should live.

Last night mom and I went and got new cell phone plans and phones. We got ones where we could text message, so it's a big learning curve for both of us. Today I'm celebrating my birthday by taking a Star Quilt class and then my hubby made reservations at a B & B! Tomorrow mom is cooking birthday dinner for the family.
Hope everyone has a great day!

Congrats Jon & Nich!

Just want to send a great big congrats out to my friends Nich and Jon on the arrival of their first little boy Mason! He was born yesterday and I'm so excited for them. I can't wait to hold the little guy, but probably won't be until this summer.

Mother Superior's Having A Giveaway!

Make sure to sign up for the giveaway from Mother Superior! I have a drawer full of their thread, but would love to add more. I use King Tut, Rainbows, and Bottomline on all my quilts. I can't wait to pick up some Lava thread when I'm in OH to try.

Schlep Bag

Tonight I finished up the Schlep bag I've been working on. It took me less than an hour tonight to get it completely finished. I had to sew up the sides on the inside and outsie, make the handles, and put it all together. I really think it turned out cute. It's made from the Mocha Merigue line.

Baby Burp Cloth

This past week went totally in a different direction than I had planned. I didn't get half the quilting done that I wanted. I worked a lot of overtime at work. Paul and I went with my parents to the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Rodeo at the Stock Show on Thurs. night. We were super busy at work all weekend, so I'm tired. I tried to sew last night, but it was not what I wanted, so I tried again tonight and had much better luck.
I've had some of this fabric left over from the baby quilt I made last month, and this weekend I got the pattern for making burp cloths. I made this one and it went together really pretty quickly tonight. I needed something easy to help me relax and get back into quilting.

After the burp cloth I started working on a Schlep bag. I got the top together and have the lining about done, but I'm tired and don't want to mess up, so I need to work on it tomorrow night.

Go Green Reversible Tote

This could be a long week. We started working over time today since our workstudy quit and hasn't been at work for the past two weeks. We are really far behind on filing and need to keep it up. I put in a few extra hours tonight and plan to do so again tomorrow night. Last night I was going to make two bags, the reversible tote and the schlep bag. Well I started sewing the reversible tote and it didn't go together as planned. It was not right and I didn't feel like fighting with it, so I did the hand sewn binding on the construction quilt and watched the Bachelor.
Tonight, even though I was exhausted, I really wanted to figure out what I did wrong. I had been thinking about this all day and realized I cut the sides wrong (I didn't follow the pattern since my fabric was directional.) It went together super quickly and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Too tired to work on the schlep. It'll have to wait until tomorrow night.
The Outside

The Inside ... or however I decide to use it.

January Quilting Accomplishments!

I think maybe I shouldn't set such lofty goals, or actually work on the quilts I say I'm going to work on! I feel like I actually got a lot done though, so maybe I just don't do what's on the list. I feel like I didn't do anything the entire last week of the month, though I know it isn't really true.

January Quilting List
Mini Miranda - DONE!!
Java Bistro Quilt - Done!!
Mom and Me Loralie Design Quilts - Top Done!
Brown & Pink Quilt - Happy Hour - DONE!
Purple Teal Batik Quilt - Fabric Bought
Family of Wolves Applique Wall Hanging
Paul's Wolf Wall Hanging - All pieces are SAS'ed
Make Crown Royal Quilts - Fabric Purchased
Courier Bag Class

In January I actually got the following projects done:
Mini Miranda Sample
Java Quilt
Java Bistro Wall Hanging
Dirt Mover Baby Quilt
Baby Quilt
Fish Quilt
Pink/Brown Happy Hour Quilt Sample
Machine Quilting Sample
Construction Baby Quilt Panel Top
Loralie Quilt Top

In February I'm going to list those I really want to get done and seriously try to get the whole list done.
Quilt block Sample
Go Green Bag - Quilting Themed Sample
Schlep Bag - Sample
Pay it Forward Gifts
Star Quilt - Class using purple/teal/aqua/lavendar - Happy Birthday to ME!
Paul's Deer Quilt

Machine Quilting Sample

I've met quite a few quilters over the last few months working at the store, who have never learned how to machine quilt their own quilts. A lot have them sent out to be quilted, but while they turn out really nice, it's not in every quilters budget. When I was deciding what classes I wanted to teach for the winter, I decided a beginning machine quilting class might be of interest to a lot of quilters. This is the sample I made which includes, SID, Echo, FMQ, Cross Hatching, and Decorative stitching quilting. It has Warm & Natural, Hobbs 80/20, Wool, and Thermore batting in it to show the differences in batting when quilted. I used Mettler and King Tut threads to quilt with, but will be discussing other threads I use successfully and miserably as well. I'm excited for this class because there are so many things to think about when machine quilting.

We have two quilts hanging next to each other at the store and one lady asked why one was flowy and the other was hard and stiff. She felt and could tell there was a difference. I told her the flowy was wool batting and the stiff was W&N. She was shocked that a batting could make such a huge difference.

Construction Panel Baby Quilt

At retreat in Jan. I put this top together for a little boy baby quilt. It was just going to be the Yellow border, but I had enough left, so I added the print border on. It's now more of toddler boy size. I had the binding on and finished the hand work up while watching TV.