May Quilting Accomplishments

In May I started out STRONG, then sewing and quilting took a backseat to life. Quilt retreat was phenomenal and I really got a lot done. I made 6 quilt tops and a couple backings, so I am ready to quilt those when I get some time. I ended up doing quite a bit of embroidery which worked out okay too, but it is a lot of work to get set up.
I embroidered my work bag.

I embroidered a sewing bag

I made Mathew a monkey blankie.

I embroidered a tote for Gaila.

I embroidered a hat for Mathew, he probably won't wear until next summer.

I quilted and embroidered pillow shams for my dad for his retirement party. It was interesting learning how to use the software to do this style of embroidery.

I also baked my dad a couple pies for his birthday. I made a lemon meriengue and it failed miserably thanks to too many kids and too much multi-tasking.

I did however do really well with the meriengue on the sour cream raisin. It was awesome.

I spent the majority of the month on my managerial communications graduate class. I finished last night and I am so looking forward to having a month off! I am going to get lots of sewing done, or so I hope anyway.

Dad's Birthday Quilt

This year I'm making everyone in my family a little something from my mom's stash of fabric. Depending on what I find, some I know exactly what I'm doing, and others I have to figure out what she was planning. This quilt is one she and I had planned for my dad's Christmas present. We bought it when we went to Dell Rapids to the quilt shop there in Aug. 2010 when we were going to a cousins reunion. My dad sat in the car, so he had no idea we bought it. We cut it out at Thanksgiving, so mom could make the top. She got started on it and I finished it up and quilted it in March. My dad is a huge International Harvester fan, so much so that I have that song as the ringtone when he calls!

I did a huge meander all over it and used Thermore batting, so it's light. My dad is normally hot, so I figured a light quilt for the summer would be good. Mom had even bought 3 spools of King Tut to quilt it with. I used not even a 1/4 of one.

I added a label to the back, so my dad would know who made it.

The backing fabric is some she had left over from making my little bro Ed PJ's back in the day.

I picked up the green grass IH tractor fabric at the store this year and made up these two pillowcases for my dad using the leftover fabric.

I think he liked the quilt, but he was way more excited about the Ruger .22-250 that all of us kids went together and bought him. He even had to have my brothers go to Rapid yesterday so he could get a scoop and a mounting kit too. I don't remember my dad ever getting a new gun, at least in the last 20 years, so I can see why he was excited.

Mikaela's New Horse Shoes

Mikaela got some new shoes last night. We're headed to the ranch for the weekend, so I made her a pair with horses on them. I fussy cut the centers, the bottoms, & the back side. I love how they turned out though I. not sure I have the elastic quite right. I didn't want them as tight, but they may be too loose.
We're going to spend the weekend with my dad. We'd planned to go fishing, but the river is flooding, so we won't be doing that. Hopefully we'll take a drive to see it, since I've never seen it this high before. The family plans to brand. I'm the official photographer, so if we don't get rained out I should have some branding pictures next week. It's my dad's birthday on Monday, so we'll be celebrating. I've got the cake stuff ready to go. I'll make it there instead of trying to transport it already made. I'll have pictures to show of his birthday gifts next week too. I made them a while ago but couldn't show them. My little bro Ed gets home this weekend from ND. He's home for 2 weeks and we're looking forward to seeing him again. So it's going to be a fun weekend. I'm looking forward to spending time with the family, especially my niece. Have a great Memorial Day weekend.
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Mini Diaper Bag

Tonight I pulled out the scraps of fat quarters left from a large diaper bag mom made for Mikaela. They are Amy Bradley prints if I remember right and I just loved them when she got them. She made a schlep bag out of them and I carry it on the weekends when we're out and about. With the scraps I was able to cut out a smaller one, with 4.5" squares. I only had to piece the handles and the inside setting triangles are all different, but I think it looks cool. I finished it and realized I put the handles in the wrong place, so I'll take it out and fix it. I'm just so excited to have finished it in one night, start to finish with no pattern. I've made the schlep pattern so often I just go with it. I absolutely love how it turned out!


Tonight after Mikaela's bath I got her dressed for bed and put her in the rubber ducky sleep sack that my co-worker Kim gave her. I think it's so super cute and I've been wanting to take a picture of her in it for Kim. My friend Issac's daughter Lily has the same one. Tonight she was in the mood and I got a few good pictures. She's laying on the blanket her little friend Olivia gave her. Olivia is Jenn's daughter and she was so proud of it. Tomorrow is her 4th birthday. I can't believe she's so big already, she wasn't 2 yet when I met her. Paul's birthday is tomorrow too, so we have a babysitter who's been hinting that she'd watch Mikaela if we wanted to leave her, so we're taking her up on the offer.

She's been smiling like crazy, only not when mommy is taking pictures!

She was off to bed early tonight, asleep a little after 10, so I think I'm going to make it an early night. Any time before midnight is early!

Mom's Birthday

Thursday night my bro called and invited hubby and I to join his family and our parents at the river fishing and camping to celebrate mom's birthday. We couldn't decide whether to go or not, mostly because Paul wanted to install the neighbors windows and I had a paper due Sun. night I hadn't started. Alas, late Fri. night we decided to go. The neighbors had company, so he couldn't do the windows.  We got up Sat. morning, had breakfast, and packed for the trip. We were at my parents in time for lunch, then naps, and hubby and my dad went to get the camper hooked up. I baked mom a birthday cake while they were gone.
My bro & his family arrived around 5 and we headed to the river. Everyone, except my parents went swimming in the river. It's running pretty slow now, but was a bit muddy. My niece had her life jacket on and was so super cute! At 96 degrees it sure felt good! After swimming we fixed supper on the grill. Hubby and my dad were both fishing and each caught a fish. Some clouds moved over and gave us this gorgeous sunset.

We had just gone up to change into jeans and get our fishing poles as it was finally dark, when out of nowhere a downpour of rain got us! We quickly loaded up the chairs and our stuff and headed for home. Where we were there is a lot of dirt and we didn't want the campers stuck. There is no cell service down there either. It poured all the way home!  We ended up taking the coolers in and a few friends came over and we sat around and visited late into the night!
We went to church the next morning and had breakfast before my bro's family went home.  After lunch, hubby and I shared the cake I made with mom and dad.  Today is mom's birthday, so we were celebrating early. I used a heart shaped bundt cake pan to make the german chocolate cake with coconut frosting, my mom's absolute favorite cake. This is the first time I've used the pan where the whole cake came out without sticking! My dad insisted I take a picture of it!

After lunch hubby and I headed home. We got home around 3 and had time for a nap before I started on my paper. I got the 8 page paper done in just 5 hours and I felt good about it. I'm so glad that we went with my family camping as we had lots of fun, even if it did pour on us.

Paul's 5 Yard Quilt

The 5 Yard Quilt is quilted and ready for binding. I cut the binding last night, but after quilting for most of the evening, it was just too late to put the binding on it. I'm happy with how the quilting turned out. Paul's 31st birthday is today, so we'll be celebrating tonight with supper out. Hope to finish this quilt by the end of the week.

A few close ups of the quilting. I used King Tut Brown/Black verigated on top and a dark green Bottomline on the bottom. I think it turned out great. I did a larg meander on the whole quilt so it would be really soft and a comfy quilt to lounge on the couch with.

February Quilting Accomplishments!

This was an extremely productive month for me, even though I didn't get all my goals accomplished. The only thing I didn't get finished were the project bags, but I need a missing piece before I can finish them. They aren't pressing, so i'm not too worried.

February Quilting Goals:
9 Patch Blocks - 6 - 9 patch blocks done
Notre Dame Baby Bag - Completed and given to Amy & Jacob at the shower Mom & I hosted
Project Bags - Need logo applique
Siggy Quilt - Finished two siggy tops and backings are prepped for quilting
Zoo Animals Baby Quilt Finished - Finished making top, quilting, binding, and label and sent with the grandma to the new family.

I also worked on these projects in February
Valentine's Tablerunner... hand sewing together, so it will probably take me till next Feb. to finish!
Thangles Blocks - I finished 2 and hope to do at least 2 BOM blocks each month so I can finish this quilt.
Valentine's Wall Hanging - This was quickly quilted up and hanging in my office for V-Day.
Baby Chicks Quilt Quilted for Mom - I quilted this one for mom and she put the binding on, then while we were waiting for Dr. appointments, we did the hand binding together and got it all done in less than 2 hours.
Three Tablerunner tops - Club Sandwiches, 2 Fast Food - I made three tops and practiced my quilting on one of the Objects of Desire tablerunners and got the binding on it.

Other things in February
Tough Enough to Wear Pink at Stock Show
My 30th Birthday
NEW Janome 1600P Quilting Machine - I quilted my 70th quilt on my frame with my new machine and the tension was perfect! I'm in love with the new machine.
Spring Sewing Party

March will be a busy month as we head to my parents two weekends in a row to butcher steers, but also fun because I'll get to play with my beautiful little niece. I'll be attending the Wall Quilt Banquet with mom, so we'll get to enjoy going back to the guild we used to belong to a few years ago.

Time to think about some goals for March...
Paul's Wolf Applique - his birthday is the 30th, so I'm shooting for finishing before then. It's been 1 1/2 years since I started working on it, so hopefully I can get it finished.
2 Thangles BOM blocks
6- Snowball blocks
Quilt Siggy Tops - After a bit more practice with my new machine
Sweet Escape Tablerunner - All cut out and ready to go - Class sample for April
Quilt Club Sandwiches Tablerunner - Class sample for March

A Few New Projects

This was a very quilty birthday for me! My little bro Ed got me a Rotating Cutting mat that is 14" square, so I can square up my 12" blocks. Mom and Dad got me a pressing sheet for applique, On the Run tablerunner book, and a new iron. I also got a fun new purple MP3 player. It's already fully loaded and I've listened to several books on it.

I picked out a new pattern from the On the Run book and decided to make it with the Essence line from Sandy Gervais. I got a layer cake and some accents to go with it. I plan to make the tablerunner on the front of the book.

Then I decided to use some of the new Wildflowers fabric from Heather Mulder Peterson to make another tablerunner. I'm making the Club Sandwiches runner from "Let's Do Lunch" by Atkinson Designs. I got thread to match both of these, so I hope to get at least one of them done this weekend. I had fun buying fabric with my mom. It's something I haven't done in quite a while, but so much fun when we do have a chance.

Happy Birthday from Jen!

Last week Jen sent me the most awesome birthday gifts. I was so excited for the box to be coming that I had my hubby check the mail. When I got home from work, he said it hadn't arrived. I figured it would be here on Fri. then. During supper he pulls out the box from the closet and gives it to me. It was just like Christmas morning opening my gift.
Jen sent me a Stitchin Chicks bag, a block roll up, a potato bag, needle holder, and scissor lanyard. I've already used the scissor lanyard several times and just have to remember not to pull on it when I'm cutting, since I'm used to a pulling clip. There were needles in the case and I've used both the machine and hand needles. I took my gifts to class on Sat. and the girls just loved them. Since the fabric is one we don't have at the store, everyone was digging it. Thank you so much Jen! I love it all!

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.