September Quilting Accomplishments

My September Goals Included:
Carters Speedway quilt - Quilt & Bind
Hannah's Barnyard Quilt - Quilt & Bind
Mason's Animal Wall hanging - Quilt & Bind
Zoo Animals baby quilt - Piece, Quilt & Bind

I didn't do so well on my goals. I did get the embroidery done on Carter and Hannah's quilts, but still need to quilt and bind them. My quilting machine was serviced this month, so I should be able to get them done soon. I won't say I'll get them done in Oct, because I have a lot going on! I did finish Mason's wall hanging and sent it to Nich this week. The zoo baby quilt didn't go anywhere, so I'll have to do that later.
I did accomplish a lot of things, they just weren't on my goals list.

Made Darlene's Vest
Finished Mason's Animals Wall Hanging
Embroidered Names on Hannah & Carter's quilt tops
Pattern Tested for a NEW book coming out in a few weeks - All in Pinks
All 85 blocks for a Koi One Block Wonder for my MIL in 4 days!
Designed pattern for Crown Royal quilts & started making blocks - my OLDEST UFO!
Made a Purse/Wonder Wallet/Checkbook cover for my MIL
Quilted my mom's 5 yard quilt

Also in September:

Congrats to my friend Amy and Joe on the birth of Jacob Paul!

Won two rulers 6x24 & 6x12 from C&T Publishing
Finished up Waun-a-Finish Summer Challenge 18 UFO's Completed 25 Start to Finish Projects
Attended the Hill City Outdoor Quilt Show - Lots of awesome vendors!
Started 100 Blocks in 100 Days in Prolific Online Quilters Group - 110 blocks in 17 days so far!
Found out I am going to Disney World October 27-31 for work! We are doing the leadership training at Disney Institute!
We bought a new CAR!

My October goals are slim because of my work trip:
Professional Tote for my trip
New purse/wonder wallet for trip
Thanksgiving Gobble Gobble wall hanging
Crown Royal Quilt - 1 top
One Block Wonder - top

I've made it to 600 posts! I love blogging and can't believe it's been almost 5 years ago that I started blogging. I was teaching high school and I had my students do it too. I don't think any continued, but at that time it was a really new medium to express yourself. I've learned so much and found some great friends. As in everything there are always some bad apples, but for the last 4 years I can't believe how many awesome people I've met on the internet. I have really enjoyed documenting my quilting and seeing how I've grown over the years.
Thanks to all my blog followers/friends! You are AWESOME!



100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 110 Blocks/ Day 17

Our New Car!

Last night we bought a new car! We've been talking about a new car for a few months now. We decided to look on Friday night at the Harley Davidson Dealership where Rapid Chevy had their cars parked for a big sale. We found a couple we liked and were within our requirements - Automatic, '06 or newer, Impala or Malibu, power windows, power locks, air & heat. Paul and his mom test drove this one Sat. morning while I was at work and brought it to show me. I fell in love with it! It has way more features than I initially wanted, but we couldn't pass it up.

We had to wait until yesterday so I could test drive it and sign the papers. We both love the car and all the features. It's an '07 silver Chevy Impala, 3.9 V6, Spoiler, sunroof, automatic, power windows & power locks.

It has black leather interior, cd player, outside temp, heated seats, air & heat, and power seats.
The air and heat part is important because my pickup hasn't had either for the past year. It gets almost twice the gas mileage my pickup got, so we can go places now! It also has a remote start which I'm sure I'll love this winter. Oh wait did I tell you winter is forcast to start on Thursday??? Yes, they are predicting snow already!

The back is very spacious as well! The trunk is huge and my sewing machine will be a lot easier to load in and out now.

I drove it out to my brothers place and took my mom for a test drive. Then Ed got back and he had a look at the inside. He had checked it out at the dealers, so we got the mechanic stamp or approval. It rides like a dream!


100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 110 Blocks/ Day 16

Leslie's Purse

Tonight I worked on a purse for my MIL Leslie. Her only requests were a zipper and outside pocket, so I used fabrics from the quilt we just made and used the Claire pattern to make this one for her. Instead of a flap I put a zipper in.

When I finished, I made a wallet and checkbook cover to go with the purse. She loves them! It felt so good to finish something since I've been making lots of blocks recently.



100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 110 Blocks/ Day 14

Crown Royal Quilts Started

Friday I got my 6600 back from it's service and I had an hour to sew before we went out for supper. I finally figured out what I am going to do for at least one of the crown royal quilts. I cut out a few practice blocks and put it on my design wall, so I could see how it would look. So far it's turning out pretty well. I added another 5 blocks to my total blocks. I'm hoping to make it a double size. We'll see how far I get on it.






100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 110 Blocks/ Day 14

OBW - Day 4

I have come to the realization, that things without a deadline, do not get done! I have had this OBW cut out since May and when I didn't have deadlines for anything this week, I decided to work on it. I got all the blocks done in 4 day! It didn't take me long at all. Now I just need to work on the design wall and get it all situated, but this will have to be done when I have others to help me look at it. I finished up all the blocks last night, so it's ready to be put together. I feel like I accomplished so much this week.
The 100 Blocks/100 Days challenge, really challenged me to go outside my box and work on projects that I've had sitting around for months. Last night I pulled out the crown royal quilt bag. I have a bunch of the bags already cut and I have the fabric bought, but I don't have a pattern I want to use. I found a concept online I liked, but needed to make it a different size, so I set about making a sample last night. Paul helped me do the math and while it won't be a traditional sized block, it won't matter. It will mathmatically work. I had my fabric calculator out and he had his construction calculator and we were working out the measurements. I hope to get at least one top done and see what it looks like and then I'll go from there. I'd like to make 4 quilts for Christmas, but we'll have to see how it works out. Paul thought my idea was cool, so I think it's the best idea I've had so far to make these quilts.


100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 105 Blocks/ Day 11

OBW - Day 3

Into day 3 I have completed 70 blocks of the 85 I plan to make done for the One Block Wonder. I made good use of my time last night, sewing during commercials and pressing during the DWTS premier. I completed 30 blocks last night and have another 15 I need to do tonight. I ran out of room on my design wall, so I'm going to have to find a bigger surface to lay it all out on.
I can't believe how motivated I am to finish this quilt. It is turning out cooler and cooler every time I work on the blocks.


100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 89 Blocks/ Day 10

OBW - Day 2

After a quick start last night, I was really wanting to work on this One Block Wonder again. When I was ready for church this morning I sat down and sewed 5 blocks while I waited. Work was slow today which was a huge change from yesterday. I was feeling great when I got home, so we cleaned out our entire closet. Out with all the summer clothes! It feels great to have it all cleaned up again. Then it was back to work on the OBW. I got another 20 blocks done tonight. It's about a throw size now, so by the time I get it done, it'll be about a queen with some borders. I have 45 blocks left to make. I'm loving how it's turning out, but it's completely covered my design wall, so I'll have to figure something else out now. I am using the One Block Wonder book and you can see a bit of the original peach koi fabric in the picture foreground.

We're on day 8 of the 100 days 100 blocks challenge and so far I'm at 59! I can't believe it, I don''t know when I've made this many blocks in a week. I may have to up my challenge to myself. Jen's doing an awesome job with her blocks too.


100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 59 Blocks/ Day 8

Koi OBW

It's new project time! Since I finished up the Pink quilt on Thursday night I've been trying to decide what to do next. My studio was a disaster, so I cleaned tonight, figuring that's all I'd get done. When I was looking over the projects I had cut out, I wanted to start something new. I pulled out the OBW that I cut out back in May. I worked on it for an hour or so and finished 15 of the blocks. They are randomly arranged on my design wall how I put them together as I finished the blocks. I still have a lot to do, but I'm loving how they are turning out.

My MIL loves it too, which is good since it's for her.

I'm Going to Disney World!

Today I felt like I was a Superbowl Champion! I just kept saying OMG I'm going to Disney World! We had a staff meeting today at work where they announced the 18 people who had been nominated by our East/Southeast campus locations to go to their leadership conference. Of the 18 nominated, 9 were selected to go to the conference. I was one of the 9 selected to go to the conference! It's an all expense paid trip to Disney World for 4 days, staying on Disney and attending the Disney Institute. It's at the end of October, but it's such an honor to be nominated and selected to go that I'm already super excited!! I've never been to FL, remember I'm a farm girl from SD, so this is huge for me! I've only been in my position for a little over a year, but in the last 5 months I've taken on extra responsibilities to help the campuses. It truly means a lot to me to receive such an honor. I'm Going to Disney World!!

Super Secret Quilt Top Finished!

Tonight I finished the Super Secret Quilt top! I'm so glad to have it done. I need to finish up my notes on it and send off an email tomorrow about the results of my work. I actually love how it turned out and though I can't show it for a while, I'm so proud of myself for finishing it so quickly. I learned a lot by making a scrappy quilt and it was fun to pull fabrics from my stash. It's all pink/white so it'll be going to my favorite Pink person.

100 Blocks in 100 Days

In our Prolific Online Quilters group we have started a challenge to do 100 blocks in 100 days. I have several quilts I want to get done for Christmas, but they all include blocks, something I don't really enjoy making. I like putting it all together and quilting and finishing better.
This week I'm working on a quilt that involves a lot of pieces in each block. I finally got all 24 blocks finished, but I still have the rest of the border blocks to do. So far I've done 19 blocks in 2 days, but that's not going to last the whole time. I'm very proud of this quilt since it's scrappy, strippy, and way out of my normal realm of quilting comfort. When I'm able to show pictures, I'll be proud to show it off.
Are you interested in the challenge? Join our POQ group and motivate yourself to sew each day/week. It's all about the encouragement of like minded quilters.

Hill City Outdoor Quilt Show

The Hill City Outdoor Quilt Show was held last Sunday due to lots of rain in the area. The best part of the quilt show for me was the vendors, since even though I work at a quilt shop, we don't carry all of my favorite fabrics.
The best vendors were from three quilt shops out of ND. I picked up a tablerunner kit with the candy kiss fabric. I loved that the book wasn't part of the kit, since I already have it, otherwise I probably wouldn't have bought the kit. I also got a charm pack of the Gobble Gobble line and some fabric for binding to go with the panel I already have.

I picked up this cardinal kit which will make a great winter wall hanging. It's from the Birchwood Lane book, which again wasn't with the kit, so it was an affordable kit.

I also picked up this kit for a 5 yard kit. I had seen it in MN, but hadn't found the supposedly free pattern on the internet, so I picked up the kit with 5 - 1 yard cuts and the pattern. I think Paul will like this bear/batik quilt.


I had a great time at the quilt show, even though it was inside. I love seeing what all the vendors have available.

SDSU Rocks

Vote for the Jacks

Super Secret Quilt

I'm working on a super secret quilt project this week, so I can't show you what it looks like. I pulled all my pinks out of my limited stash and put them to work. I have cut the pinks out and still have some white to do, but I'm having a lot of fun playing with a variety of pinks. I didn't use all of these, but did get a good selection.

Tonight I got 8 quilts ready to put in the quilt show at Mistletoe Ranch this weekend. Looking back over my quilts I realized I didn't make many large quilts this year, mostly lap sized or baby sized and lots of bags and pillowcases.

Waun-A-Finish Wrap-up

Wow! That's the only word I can use to describe how much I got done on my UFO's this summer. I still have quite a few that I'd like to work on and complete by the end of the year, but I feel like I accomplished a lot!
I finished up 18 UFO's! I know it's hard to believe I had that many, but even harder to believe I finished that many. I still have about 15 I would like to work on completing, but I know that it feels good to have made such progress.
I also completed 26 STF projects. With so many projects completed, it's hard to believe I still have lots of things I'd like to do.
I'm currently working on a super secret project. While I can't show it, shortly I'll be showing the baby quilts I'm making for friends.
This was a fun summer of quilting and I'm so glad that I was able to finish up some of my UFO's.

I Won a Prize from C & T PUblishing!

I won two wonderful rulers from the C&T Publishing blog! I won a 24" and a 12" ruler made by Simplicity. They are a great addition to the other rulers in my collection.

Embroidery Names

This weekend we spent at my parents. On the agenda was embroidery on mom's machine. I had this panel I wanted to put a name on and it went on so easily. I designed it on the computer and sent it to the machine and it worked so well.

So then I did another one on the embroidery machine. This one was a little trickier! It worked out well though.

Then I did my brothers cap and sweatshirt. It actually worked out pretty well and I was able to get them both done.
Sat. night we all went fishing at the river. I caught 1 and Paul caught 3 catfish. On Sunday morning we went shooting at my brothers. I hit a few clay pigeons and we shot through a whole box and a half. We picked wild plums in the afternoon so dad could make jelly this week. The weekend went by very quickly, but it was a lot of fun.

Baby Animals Wall Hanging

Last week I worked on a wall hanging for baby Mason. It will match the baby quilt I made earlier for him. I got the applique finished up and quilted it Thurs night. I put the binding on it and did the hand sewing on Friday. It's ready to be sent off to Mason and his parent later this week.

Darlene's Sweatshirt Vest

This week I have been busy making a sweatshirt vest for my friend/co-worker Darlene. She loved the jackets I made for mom and I, so she wanted one of her own, but a vest instead. She leaves on vacation to Michigan next week, so I wanted to get it done before she left. I quilted the fabric to the sweatshirt on Tuesday night. It actually went pretty quickly, since I was only using one fabric. Then I serged it up at home. Last night during our group sewing night, I had her try it on and I made a few adjustments to the sleeve area and put in two darts. Then I made 214" of bias binding to go around all the holes and the front/bottom/ neckline of the jacket. I put the binding on the front, then pulled it around to the back and stitched in the ditch. It turned out super cute and I'm happy with how fast it went together.

Here she is proudly displaying her new vest!

I love making things for friends when I know they are so appreciated! She loved the vest!