Quilting Day at Dad's House

I like to have marathon quilting days at my dad's house, which allows me the opportunity to get a bunch of quilts done at once. I plan a day about once a month. Saturday was my January quilting day. I quilted this red/white/blue quilt called Jelly Belly Bars with a navy minkee and a flannel for the batting. 

I played thread chicken the entire day. 

I added some stars to the quilting in RWB thread. 

I lost at thread chicken and ran out of thread with 2 rows left. I had a new spool as I thought I would run out the last time I quilted. 

I did freehand loops with stars. 

I quilted 3 baby quilts with one massive backing fabric. I ran out of bobbin with less than 1/2 row left. Luckily I had enough thread to re-wind the bobbin and finish. 

All three baby quilts were the same ABC panel with a border. I like to have them on hand for when I need to gift baby quilts. 

I made a table runner for a student to donate to a fundraiser. The fundraiser is at the local pub, so I think the CR will be appropriate. 

My final quilt of the day was Swoon 16 and I used a red minkee on the back. I quilted it with a light gray Glide thread with white Warm & White. 

 It was a good quilting day and I feel like I accomplished so much. I have three more to quilt, but ran out of time and energy. 

One Monthly Goal - February Finished

This month has been a busy one. I celebrated another birthday and finished quite a few projects.
I finished my OMG with the quilting and binding of this Crown Royal table runner. I'm making a queen size quilt with the same block and I wanted to see what it would turn out like. I love it and the block is really simple, so I hope to have the top for the queen done in March.

I also made 2 Crown Royal pillows for my brother to match his quilt. I'm teaching a class on how to make Crown Royal quilts in April/May and I made both of these items for samples.

I loved the Positivity table topper pattern by GE Designs, so I used scraps to make this topper. It didn't turn out quite how I expected, but it's done and bound and I'm happy.

My son wanted a quilt for his teddy bear since his sister has doll quilts she's made. He picked out the fabrics from his "stash" and I used the leftover pieces from his bed quilt to make this small quilt for teddy. If someone doesn't want to make a Crown Royal quilt, I'll also be showing how to use focus fabrics to design a quilt in the same class I'm teaching.


My other February UFO's were Sprinkles - which I got all of the sections completed and they are now ready to be pieced into blocks. I'm trying to decide if I should keep them pink/blue/yellow or mix them all up.
I also worked on blocks for my Scrappy Trip Around the World. I have 2 completed and 10 more strata sewn and cut apart. I'm currently ripping. I figure I started roughly half the blocks I need this month, so I'll keep moving it forward.



I also made a bunch more yellow and blue Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks and Blue Ridge Beauty blocks. I also sewed a few bags and blankets as well. I quilted at my dad's and got my Black and White quilts quilted, so a very successful month!
 I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the One Monthly Goal Finish Party

OMG February 18 Goal

I have lots of goals for February, but due to a lot of work travel, I'm going to be realistic. I would like to finish this Crown Royal quilt table runner. I put the top together last night and need to have it quilted by next Saturday.



My UFO for the APQ is my Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt and I think I need about 26 more blocks. I'd like to at least work on getting some of those done. I have several CR quilts in progress, so we'll see what happens.
My UFO for Patchwork Times is my Sprinkles quilt, which is a small baby quilt. It's about half pieced, so I could easily get the top at least done. So much to do, so little time!

September Quilting Accomplishments

September was a very productive month!! I was able to bind the June Quilt It's made entirely of scraps from our wedding and honeymoon quilts. I made it entirely from the stash. I still have plenty of purple scraps.

Mathew and Mikaela wanted minkee pillowcases, so I made one for Mathew. He loves it, but it didn't turn out as well as I expected.

My dad and his wife wanted to give our little "bro" a wedding present to go with the quilt I made him, so I made pillows to match.

My oldest UFO is finished. I made this wall hanging from my Ahhhh blocks. They were all EPP blocks. The entire top is EPP. I started it in 2013.

I made my friend's sister a tag blanket for her new daughter. She loves UK Basketball, so I made it to represent those colors.

A picture of me the day I gave a presentation about myself to our staff.

I made a goal to work on 1 block a week of En Provence. I was able to get this block made this week.

My brother's best friend married this month and we all went to the wedding. They are huge Harley fans, so I used this panel and Crown Royal blocks to make the quilt. It has black minkee on the back.

They opened it the next morning.

It worked out for Paul and I to go to my dream/bucket list concert Garth Brooks in Sioux Falls the day after the wedding. My dad and his wife took the kids home. We didn't get home until 11 PM Sunday night, but it was so worth it. I loved it. My hubby isn't a big fan, but he did indulge me!

This just made my year!!

My numbers are still looking great! I would like to use 150 yards this year.

Yards In this Month: 18
Yards Out this Month: 26.25
Yards In this Year: 77.75
Yards Out this Year: 200.75
For a total of 123 yards used!

Finish it Up Friday

Welcome to Finish it Up Friday! Since we had a month off, I have gotten a ton done and feel very accomplished on my UFO list. The two biggest finishes were my Swoon which measures 95"x95".
It took me 2 trips to my dad's house to get it quilted and it turned out amazing.

I also finished quilting and binding my brother Ed's Crown Royal quilt. This one has been on the back burner for a while, so it was nice to finish it.

Since I had a few big finishes and haven't gotten out to quilt again, I started working on a few of my basically unstarted UFO's. They had all the fabric cut and gathered, but only one block sewn. I worked on Winding Ways blocks. I made 4 the first night and felt pretty confident in how I was putting them together.

I added the two I had originally made and it's turning out how I had anticipated. I have a lot of blocks left to go, but making a few each week will get me to a full quilt top. I also go the 4 in 1 essential tool and the stiletto part of it is awesome for making these blocks.

I sorted my batik scrap strips and started the Trip Around the World blocks. I'm loosely following Bonnie Hunters pattern. I used a center strip that was the same on all of them, but otherwise am using her directions. This is the first pattern I have made of hers and I am loving it. I truly struggle with scrappy and if you'd known me 15 years ago when I started quilting I was NEVER going to have scraps - as in NEVER EVER. I gave them all away.

My new project this week is a BQ4 quilt made from leftover Wanna Be a Cowgirl 1 & 2 fabrics. I added the brown Kona Solid. I have just a few scraps left now to make something very small. I have a piece of pink cowgirl minkee I want to use on the back. Hopefully I can get it put together tonight and quilt it on Sunday at my dads.

The other night Mikaela was sewing with me and she must have moved my needle position. I went to sew after she went to bed and my needle hit my quarter inch foot and bent like this. It's a Superior Titanium needle. I've been very impressed with their quality so far.

Last Sunday the kids and I went to Dinosaur Park to play. It was in the high 50s.

It was Mathew's first time and now he can walk, but up there it was a little too much for him. He's just not that steady yet. On Monday we had a blizzard and were all at home. It's SD, you never know when the weather will change!


Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Amazing Week of Finishes!

This has been an AMAZING WEEK!!! I truly am blessed by good fortune, friends, and support. I finished my last class for my Masters in Management in Proprietary Higher Education Management on Monday. My final grade was a 97.6%! That gives me an A, so I got a 4.0 while in my masters program! It doesn't really matter at this level, but I am so excited to be done and have done so well.
Last week I taught a class and saw a little Janome Jem Gold 2 on the used table. I inquired about it, the cost, etc. and figured it was the perfect machine for Mikaela. She wants to sew, but there are too many buttons for her to get into trouble with on the Bernina. I took it for a test drive Friday night and fell in love. It's perfect for her, but works for me too.
Saturday I surprised her with a trip to the Sewing Center to buy her first machine. She had so much fun picking out fabric, testing it, and looking around. Shaina was so professional and treated her so well. She had her sit up to the machine, try the buttons, and see if it was the right fit.

She got to pick out a drag blanket kit and 2 1/2 yard cuts of fabric.

Sunday we sewed this drag blanket together. It was super easy. She ran the foot pedal and pulled out the pins, while I guided it and she had her hands on mine. This is the kit I would have picked, but I let her pick it out and she picked this one. She has the same taste as me!

It is the perfect size for dragging around, taking to daycare, or sleeping with at night.
She even helped me thread the machine.






Then we made a little daycare bag. It's the perfect size for her and I winged it with her fabric and some from stash. I've cut out a few more to make for her friends. She sewed all the seams and helped turn it. It was so fun to spend all day Sunday sewing together. Now she's requested a stuffed animal. That's a bit out of my comfort zone.

This week I was busy making this table runner for a class sample. It's #Seaside by Jaybird Quilts. I used a charm pack instead of the 5 strips.

I used a wool batting for it to be puffy. It's going to be a bed runner.

This week I was able to get the binding on Swoon and get it washed and dryed in our new washer. It turned out so nicely! I'll keep it off the bed until after the quilt show in June though. I'm planning for it to be my first entry.

I also got the binding on my brother Ed's Crown Royal quilt. This project has been in the works since 2010 or so, so it feels great to have it done!

I also was able to quilt and bind the Star Light Star Bright quilt. It's a table topper for a co-workers wedding present. I again used a wool batting scrap for this one.

I feel like it's been a great week and I've accomplished so much. Now I'm not sure what to work on next! I have plenty of projects, but no deadlines, so I need to figure out what my April goals will be.