Quilting... sort of

This week I received an awesome prize from Cyndi. She had a drawing for a Moda Blush Jelly Roll. I'm so excited that I was the winner. I've loved the blush line, but never found a place to buy it. Now I have this wonderful Jelly roll - my first Jelly roll and I'm thinking about doing the hexagon quilt along with it. I have the ruler on order and I think it's the perfect project for it. Now I just have to find the time to work on it.

Last night after making Salted Carmel brownies, I headed down to the sewing studio. Seems I haven't done much down there this week, so I pulled out the t-shirts for a t-shirt quilt I'm making for my cousins wedding. I started ironing on the interfacing and squaring them up. I have about 6 more to do and then I can start making them all the same size... not quite sure what that will be yet. I've narrowed it down to 12.5 and 9.5 cut and then I'll add borders and sashing. I have to have this one done by mid July, so I've gotta get cracking on it. At least I've got a start on it.

Baby Quilts

It's been a slow week in my sewing studio. I haven't gotten much accomplished. Last weekend I quilted up two baby quilt tops. They are panels and I've had them for quite a while. I just decided to get them done and put binding on so they would be ready when I need them. I quilted both with an all over meander. I used a blue/gold verigated Rainbows thread on top and a gold king tut on the bottom. I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

A close up of the grader. My dad drives a grader, so I always think of him when I'm work with this fabric.

I also got the top and bottom borders on the Wanna Be a Cowboy quilt. It's ready to quilt now and I have the backing. I can't decide whether I like the red or not. I think it's a bit too much. I have enough to make another top, so I might do that before I quilt them. I bought bamboo Legacy batting that I want to use in this one, so I'm excited to try it.


We've had some great news all around in our family the past few weeks, so I've been enjoying it all. We're planning to go to my parents this weekend for our annual branding weekend. I can't wait! I love being out in the fresh air and around all of our extended family. We're also planning our first fishing trip of the year this weekend, so we're all looking forward to it as well. It's going to be a fun family weekend.

Wanna Be A Cowboy Quilt

I was feeling quite productive last night. I whipped up this center for the Wanna Be a Cowboy quilt. I love how it turned out and I'm excited to get the top and bottom on it and see where it goes from there. I have enough that I could do it the same or I'm thinking of moving the red border in one and putting a different border on the outside.

Then I pulled out the remaining border prints from the bulldozer/grader quilts I made last year. I've been meaning to make my dad a tablerunner for his side table. His birthday is coming up at the end of the month, so I figured I'd better get busy. I used the 60* ruler to cut the ends. It's not going to turn out perfect, but it will look great where it will lay.

I also found the remaining construction site panels, so I'd like to get one of those quilted up shortly to have on hand.

I just love this fabric and am so excited that we got it on our honeymoon. It is so super cute for a little boy or for a big boy like my dad who drives a grader for a living.

Jewel Box

I've been busily working on the Jewel box quilt this week. They are taking a lot longer than I expected. I still have about 16, 4 patches left to make before I can finish the last two blocks. I put it away as I just didn't feel like finishing it. I have 10 of the 12 blocks done that I need.

I tried to get a close up picture for better color quality, but it didn't help. The purple is actually more of a raspberry purple rather than the blue purple that this showes.

After I finished up the 10th Jewel box block, I decided to get busy on the next baby quilt out of the Wanna Be a Cowboy fabric line. I completely finished the twin size, so now I'm going to make the baby quilt size like it was supposed to be made. As I was cutting it out, I realized I probably have enough to make a 2nd baby quilt. I guess we'll just have to see after I get this one done.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my Amazing mom Delia! She is the strongest, most courageous woman I know. She is truly my inspiration, guiding light, and best girl friend. We do so much together and laugh the whole time. She taught me everything I know about sewing and quilting, starting when I was 7 years old. There isn't a thing she can't sew. We did draw the line at my wedding dress, since we are both procrastinators and didn't want to rush it at the end.
Each and every day I thank God for giving me this amazing woman to raise and nurture me throughout my life. I wouldn't be who I am today without her encouragement and support.
I love you Mom!

Today my mom had her entire family together for lunch and we played tourists in Wall. It was so nice to spend the day with my brothers, spouses, niece, and my parents.

Plant

About 4 years ago my co-worker Karen inherited this plant from the director of nursing who was moving. Karen took care of it for about 2 years and had it sitting on her desk. It looks almost fake because the stems of it are so thick, but it's planted in dirt. Two years ago when I moved to an office with a window, I inherited the plant. It's a crawler, but originally it was just one 2 foot sprawl. Once I put it in my office it started growing an long sprawling section that is now 8 foot long and reaches clear across the window sill.

Last week I noticed these little buds on it. There were two bunches of blossoms about a foot apart in the center of the sprawling vine.

Yesterday the first set of blossoms, bloomed. They are these pretty little flowers only about 3/4" big, but super cut3.

I think it's so pretty and it's been a really easy plant to take care of, but no one knows what it is. This is the first time in 4 years that it has ever bloomed. We thought it was just a normal house plant. Does anyone know what type of plant it is??

Thangles Blocks Done!

Last night I went to Jenn's to sew with her after work. She made a fabulous supper and her hubby took the kids out shopping while we enjoyed some time visiting, catching up, and sewing. She bought a new machine last weekend, so she was getting use to it. She worked on a rag quilt. I had planned to work on my purple jewel box blocks. I took along my Thangles blocks just in case I needed something else to do. I started the Thangles blocks and just continued on them the rest of the evening. I guess I was just in the mood to work on them and they are pretty easy to do while visiting.
Block 7

Block 8

Block 9

Block 10

Block 11

Block 12

I finished the last 6 blocks I needed to be able to do something with this Thangles BOM. I'm not real sure what I'm going to do. I had planned to make bigger blocks and turn it into a large quilt, but I'm not sure i'll do that any more. I may end up being a wall hanging.

After I finished the blocks, I drew all the lines on my HST's for the Jewel box quilt. I didn't get a chance to sew them as it was getting late, but I did get them sorted and marked so I should be able to get started on them the next time I have a chance to sew.
Thanks Jenn for having me over! I had so much fun sewing with you. We'll have to do it again soon.

Charisma Top Done!

Charisma is one of the newest patterns at Fabric City and last week I got roped into making the sample for the store. Actually I volunteered because I figured it would be pretty easy. It took me longer than I expected, but only because it was so big. It's about 75" x 85". I wasn't so sure about how it was going to turn out, but it does look pretty cool now that it's done.

Tonight I put on the last 2 borders.

After I gave it a good press, I folded it up to take back to the store later this week. Then I packed my sewing supplies so I could sew at Jenn's tomorrow night. She got a new machine this week, so we're going to sew and chat. We haven't gotten together for a couple months, so we're going to have lots of fun. I'm taking my Jewel Box quilt and Thangles blocks. Hopefully I'll get lots accomplished.

April Quilting Accomplishments

     April was a slow quilting month for me. I started the Masters of Management program at NAU and getting back into the routine of school work, especially graduate work, kicked my butt. It's definately been a positive change and I already feel like I've learned a lot. With the APA nazi as my instructor, I'm learning the ropes of citation again. Every two weeks I have a major paper or project due in my Leading the Organization I class. Today was a project day, so I finished it and then spent the evening sewing.

My April Goals:
2 Thangles Blocks - Finished 5 & 6

6 Snowball Blocks - Ended up making 17, using all the gray rock candy fabric that was left. This is the initial layout.

Finish Essence Tablerunner - Done! I gave it to my friend Karen as a graduation gift for finishing her masters. She is making a wall hanging to match it.

Pink Cowgirl Quilt - The top is complete and quilted and the binding is sewn on. I have about 1 1/2 sides left of hand sewing the binding before it's done. It's for my nieces June birthday, so it will be done in plenty of time.

Purple Snowball Quilt - Changed to purple and white Jewel box - got 3 blocks of 12 done. Lots of pieces done too, just not in blocks. I thought the blocks were 16" finished and they are 8" finished!


In addition I made a few other things:
"Owl"ivia the owl was made for a store sample.

Made blue Keep On Quilting project bags for quilty friends

Made red Keep On Quilting project bags for quilty friends and a big project bag for me
Tried out the new 2.5" triangle ruler by making 60* triangles for a table topper/runner.

Made a binder cover out of Winding Ways fabric for my school binder.

Made the Grids & Grommets bag for a class sample for my May class.

Started making the Charisma quilt sample. The first border and flange are on the quilt.


I also had some other fun:
Shop Hopping with mom on a Saturday - 286 miles to see 6 shops
An afternoon Shop Hopping with Mom - 7 shops in 150 miles
Watched Dad's play and Paul helped with the barn roof.
Attended virtually the quilt retreat my friends were at in Wisconsin. I can't wait till next year when I can attend!
Virtually quilted with the girls on Saturday & Sunday too!

May will be busy with school work too, but I hope to squeeze in a few sewing projects.
May Goals:
Finish Charisma top
2 Thangles blocks
Jewel box quilt
Lego wedding quilt