Oilcloth Bag

Last night I went down to sew on my tree skirt. I figured I could at least get the top done. I couldn't find the Aurifil thread to match, so I went looking for it, knowing I had a brand new spool. Pretty soon I was cleaning out my fabric drawers, re-organizing the closet, and pulling things for my giveaway coming up in Oct. Needless to say I saw all the UFO's I have and decided it's time to get a few more done, so I'm not so overwhelmed with them. I pulled several to work on next month, but this oilcloth bag was calling my name. It was after 9 by now and I'd spent 2 hours cleaning! I did find the thread, on my other machine in it's travel case. Oh well, at least I feel better knowing what I really have to work with. I've decided something in batik scrappy really needs to be done. I have several small pieces left over and need to find a pattern that would work with them. I really wanted to accomplish something last night and knew starting the tree skirt at 9 wasn't a good idea, so I worked on this bag. It's made completely of oilcloth, with canvas handles. I used an Atkinson Designs pattern called Breadbox. It went together in under an hour and I love how big it is, without being too big. I didn't use any interfacing or batting and it seems to hold up well. I can't believe I've had this Oilcloth since Jen and I went shop hopping in MN last June and it took me under an hour to make it into a bag!

I stopped to pick up samples to work on for the store and Tammy and I discussed starting the Groovy Girls Club at the store in combination with our Girls Night Out event. I am so excited to get started! It sounds like such a cool program. I know I won't be doing it in Jan/Feb, but I can get it started in Nov. and Dec.  She was making out the schedule of classes and after my Oct. classes, I won't be teaching until March/April. Wow, it's coming up so quickly!

Flowers and More Sewing

I was productive again last night, I just figured you were tired of seeing the halloween candy corn table topper again, so I didn't take more pictures. I made another candy corn table topper, start to finish in 1.5 hours, which included the quilting and binding, but it was all cut out, so I figure it's about a 2 hour project. I also started cutting out the tree skirt I'm making from the same pattern, Happy Holidays by Atkinson Designs,  but I'm using the Adoring fabrics. I think it's going to turn out really cute in the end, but it's going to be huge. I have to wait to borrow a bigger 60* ruler as my biggest is 8" and these pieces are 11".
Last night I watered the flowers, cleaned, did dishes, and sewed! I'm being super productive with Paul gone. He called last night and they are working long days, so he was really tired. Usually when he gets home, he waters the flowers, the green peppers, and tomato plants, so I'm in charge of those now.
My marigolds are doing amazingly well. This is the first year I've planted them, but I absolutely love them as they remind me so much of my grandma Elaine. She used to plant them every year at the front of her garden along the pathway from the house to the garage and they were huge and gorgeous. I'm collecting the dead ones now, so I have more seeds to plant next year. These were my favorites, the multicolored ones.

I got a package of yellow too.

I also planted petunias and a geranium in this potter. The geranium is done for the year, but the petunias are hanging in there. I have a row of the petunias too and they are really quite pretty still. It's a good thing Paul watered all summer as I'm just not a good gardener, but love the colors of the flowers.


Watch for my Fall into Fall Giveaway starting on Friday! I'll be giving away a variety of sewing/quilting related items. One never knows what I might find to put in the giveaway basket.

Triple Finish Weekend!

If I thought Thursday night was productive, it was just the precurser to the weekend. Paul and I went out to the new Pizza Ranch for supper Friday night and I ate way too much and felt awful the rest of the night. I definately learned my lesson! Saturday we did our errands and mid afternoon I finally was able to load the teal and brown quilt. I can't remember the last time I've loaded a queen size quilt. I had the backing all ready and a wool batting that I had saved for it, so it didn't take me long to get it all loaded. I used teal/brown King Tut on top and brown Bottomline in the bobbin. This picture is the quilt hanging off the frame.

I did a mid sized meader on it. I did speed up the machine a bit, so it went fairly fast, but still took me probably about 5 hours to get it quilted. I went through 5 bobbins and 1 spool of thread!

I love how the thread looks on the fabric. It's all batiks and I just love how it turned out. It fits our bed perfectly, so I know we're going to love it this winter.

When I got done quilting it Saturday night, it was still early, so I cut and made the binding for both this quilt as well as the zoo animal quilt I quilted the other night. I put the binding on the zoo animal quilt, so all I have is the handwork left.

Today I put the binding on the brown/teal quilt and decided to clear off my cutting table so I could work on some other projects. I knew I had enough candy corn  fabric left to make another table topper. Since Oct. is sneaking up quickly, I decided to finish this one today instead of putting away the fabric. I made the top, put it on the frame, and quilted it today. I used orange/yellow King Tut and golden Bottomline.

I was able to quilt it in about 15 minutes start to finish. I also put the binding on it tonight. While I was cutting the binding, I realized if I was a bit creative I could get another topper out of the scraps, including the backing, so I cut it all out and have it ready to be made. I need a few gifts in the next couple weeks, so I figure I'll have them made up and ready to go when I need them.


This week I'll have plenty of handwork to keep me busy. I have the Halloween Table Topper, the Zoo Baby quilt, and the Queen size Brown and Teal quilt that all have binding that needs to be sewn down by hand. I feel so great that I was able to accomplish all of these things this weekend. In addition, I cleaned house, did laundry, and cooked! Paul's out of town for work this week, so I hope to get a lot accomplished in the evenings, since I do not have school or classes this week!

Productive night!

Last night was super productive for me! I can't believe how much I got accomplished. I cleaned house and straightened things up before going to my sewing room after supper. I worked on the pheasant bag and got it finished up. It really didn't take me much over an hour, it was just getting started that took a while. I'm please with how it turned out and I think the recipient will like it too. There are even pheasants on the handles. I have one piece of pheasant fabric leftover and I think I'm going to make a pillowcase to go with this bag.

The inside looks almost as cool as the outside. You can see the quilting better on the inside. I used a light blue Bottomline for the lining quilting and Golden King Tut on the outside and you can't see the quilting on the bag. I think that's okay, because it's not meant to show the quilting. The inside pockets are the same fabric as the handles. I used this same fabric 2 or 3 years ago to make my dad a rag quilt out of denim and he still uses it on the back of his chair.

Still feeling motivated after I finished the bag, I figured I had time to load a small quilt on the frame. This is my 99th quilt on the frame!! Since I want my Brown and Teal quilt to be the 100th, I decided to get this one done. I had completed the top at quilt retreat and it just needed quilting. I got it loaded and picked out a thread to match. It still wasn't 9, so I decided to quilt a path on it. One path lead to two and before I knew it, I was completely done! I am so excited to have this one done and ready for a new baby. I don't know who will receive it yet, but I have lots of friends having babies, so we'll see who gets it.


I quilted it with a yellow, red, green, blue verigated King Tut and red Bottomline. I meandered all over it.

I'll get the binding put on this weekend and have it to do the handwork next week when I'm waiting at appointments or lunch. I'm finally starting to knock out a few UFO's and get my list a little smaller!

Fabric, Fabric, and More Fabric

I've been doing lots of sewing/quilting, but nothing really to show other than the fabric I've been working with. Mom and I are making a quilt(s) out of my great aunt's old clothes for her. They are all double knit polyesters, so very different than what we normally work with. We cut out 12.5" and 6.5" squares and are planning to do  4 patchsalternating with the 12" squares. Mom and I both worked on cutting them on Sun., then split up the rest of the clothes and worked on our own this week. We both got done yesterday, so I gave her my stack and she's going to work on the 4 patches. Hopefully by next week we'll be able to sew them together. Here's a sampling of the different colors we're working with. Since neither of us are scrappy people, this is going to be a bit of a challenge. We hope to get the top together next week and then I'll quilt it.
  
I've also been busy making a bag out of this pheasant fabric. I'm using the Lazy Girl Summer Tote bag pattern, but putting my own spin on it. I'm quilting it instead of fusing it and doing long inside pockets instead of outside ones. Friday night I got all the pieces quilted and cut out. Now I just need some time to put it together. It's hard to see, but I used a golden verigated King Tut thread to quilt and it blends right in. Pheasant season starts in a few short weeks, so I've really got to get busy and finish this one ASAP!
 
My other fun project is a tree skirt for our Christmas tree. I picked out these fabrics from the Adoring line and am going to use the Atkinson Designs table topper pattern in the large size, with the strips. The first six pieces are the strips, the first read is binding, second red is contrast, the cream with trees is the background, and the holiday balls fabric is the backing. I'm so excited to work on it this weekend!

I have lots of plans for the weekend, so I'm sure I won't get them all done! This is the first weekend in the last 6 months where I'm: Off work, NO papers dues, and we're staying HOME! I love being gone, I'm doing well in my masters program, and I love my second job, but it is so relaxing to know I can sew this weekend. My weekend goals include finishing the Pheasant bag, quilting the brown/teal quilt, and hopefully getting the tree skirt top done.
My wonderful amazing hubby is finishing his first project as a supervisor at work today. I'm so proud of him, but am going to miss him so much next week when he starts working 3 hours away. He'll be gone all week, so I hope to get some quilting done. I'll probably have some friends over for an evening of sewing too!
I finished my 2nd masters class this week and got an A! I'm so excited to have it finished. It was really hard having a class in the summer. I just was not motivated to work on it. I'm taking a class this fall that starts on Oct.4th. and then I'm taking the Winter term off for baby.
Since we found out what we're having, we haven't told anyone, except our parents. I haven't even bought anything gender related.... until I was in an LQS the other day. I picked up this really cute baby flannel. It's gender specific, so I took the picture in black and white, but I love all the sayings. It's so super cute!
 
Here's to a great weekend of sewing and quilting. Hopefully I'll have some finished projects to show next week!

Mesa's Shower

This past weekend I went to my parents after work on Sat. Mom and I planned to work on Vi's quilt, but the main reason I went was to attend the baby shower for my grade school friend Lindsey and her baby Mesa. I made the Wanna Be A Cowboy quilt for her, but I couldn't say that when I was making it, since she's a faithful reader of my blog. I absolutely love this fabric and have enough to make maybe one or two more things out of it. Sure hope Riley Blake comes out with something similar for next year in both boy and girl colors.
Lindsey's reading the label. 

Opening the Quilt: She loved it.

My mom made this super cute bunting and hat for her.

The hat fit perfectly!

It was such a nice shower and so enjoyable to visit with friends and neighbors. I loved seeing all the fun things she got. It makes me want to go register for baby stuff.
Mom and worked more on the quilt after the shower, then I had to head home. My last paper of the quarter was due... and I had procrastinated and not finished it. I got it done and turned in, so class is over!

Smarty Girl Book Bag

A couple weeks ago when I was at the store working on a Sat. Tammy and I pulled a few patterns that neede samples made. This book bag looks so small on the pattern, so we decided it needed to be made up. The pattern is Smarty Girl Book Bag by Heather Bailey. It turned out really cute and it's about 12"x14".

I used the new Spa fabric that had just come in from Windham Fabrics. Those ruffles scared me to death, but in the end they were super easy and not at all what I expected. The pattern has the handle made first which usually doesn't happen, but I really liked it on this bag because other wise I wouldn't have finished it. I would have just put it to the side.

The handle just had to be sewn on after the bag was made and sice it was already done, I sewed it on quick. It was very late last night when I finally finished, but I think it turned out great!

Winner!

Several weeks ago I participated in a blog hop for the new Star Struck Quilts Book by Barbara Cline. The quilt on the cover looks so cool and I wanted to win the book, but instead I won fabric! I won a fat quarter pack of 41 fqs. from RJR fabrics. They are Jinny Beyer fabrics. I don't know what I'll do with them yet, but they are very inspiring. I've never had a fat quarter pack before. Thanks Barbara for drawing my name!

Badlands Quilters Quilt Retreat

Friday afternoon mom picked me up and we went to the South Fork Hunting Lodge near Philip for a quilt retreat with the Badlands Quilters Guild. It's an absolutely beautiful lodge with lots of large tables and a huge island to work on. This picture was taken outside Friday night. Mom and I along with Subby were the only Friday night attendees, but we made use of the available space to work on our projects.

Mom and Subby were working on the Friday night mystery quilt. Mom was going to cut her fabrics. Notice the zebra hide in the background? It was hanging over the banister. It was so cool!

Subby had a table all to herself. We had the tv on for music in the background.

Subby finished the cutest baby quilt! The center was the mystery part of the night and then with big borders it turned into a baby quilt. I thought it was so adorable. I think the fabric is Spring Fling by Me & My Sisters. We sewed till midnight and Subby was finished, mom had her blocks done, and I had the top and bottom borders left on the quilt I was working on, so overall a very productive evening.

I worked on the brown and teal quilt that has been hiding out in my closet since last August! I had the center done, but had to add all the borders. I ended up forgetting the pattern, so I made it up as I went. I put on the brown border then the small squares border and finally a large border to make it big enough for our bed. I finished the top and bottom borders Sat. morning, so the light was shining in when I took a picture. It's a queen size. I also sewed the backing together, so I can quilt it when I get thread and time to put it on the frame. I have a wool batting I've been saving to use with this quilt.

Mom, Subby, and I spent the night in one of the cabins and it was wonderful! The beds were comfy, internet access, and we could get up when we felt like it. Mom and I were up and back to the lodge by 8. We had breakfast with the rest of the guild members that had arrived. Then we went back to sewing. Mom was finishing her Fri night mystery and Carol was working on a youth comfort quilt. I was at the far end of the table.

Donna was busy cutting out her comfy quilt.

After finishing the teal and brown quilt, I worked on the zoo parade baby quilt. This is the second one I've made and I've had it sitting around waiting to be made. It was so much easier to use the big island to lay it out and then I could put it on the floor if I needed. I loved having so much open, clean work space to spread out my quilts.

The guild showed their raffle quilt they had made and it is ready to be quilted. It will be raffled off and given away at the spring retreat in March. It's from Keepsake Quilting.

In the afternoon I worked on the ripple effects tablerunner I have had cut out for months! I finally was able to get it sewn together. I think it turned out cute, but I wish I had placed the really dark purple and browns a bit differently. I'll get this one quilted and it will make a nice fall tablerunner.

Rita and Veva were busy working on their comfy quilts in the afternoon.

At the end of the afternoon, the guild played a game of left right center for fat quarters. Mom and I packed up our sewing stuff and got ready to leave. We took a picture with all nine of us that were at the retreat. Dora Mae, Carol, Rita, Subby, Veva, Donna, Me, Mom, and Judy. It was a beautiful afternoon and we all enjoyed being outside. Then we loaded up and headed to town for supper at the steakhouse.

It was such a fun and relaxing 2 days and I really enjoyed getting some extra uninterrupted sewing time in. I was able to complete 3 tops that have been sitting around not getting done. Plus I got to spend lots of time with my mom. We laughed and joked and told stories. It was a blast! The rest of the guild spent Sat. night and sewed part of Sunday too, but mom and I had a family reunion to attend, so we cut our time short. We both would love to host a retreat there again, but we'll have to see what will work out.