May quilting

 May is already flying by and since I have self-imposed deadlines, I knew it was going to go quickly. 

Yesterday we celebrated with my brother's family as his daughter was confirmed. It was a beautiful day. It's the first time we've all been together for a picture since a few years ago.

Saturday we were at my brother Jim's ranch for their branding. My brother Ed's girlfriend Rebecca was with us while he was at a shooting tournament. It was hot in the afternoon and by the time we branded it was cold and rainy. I was sopping wet. 

Paul helped with branding too. 

I picked out fabrics for my heart bargello and started cutting it out last week. 

I finished up this butterfly and dragonfly quilt for a special cousin. I hope to gift it this week. 

My hairstylist wanted to gift this fabric as a bag to a co-worker, so I made it for her. It's a panel like fabric and I quilted it and then made the bag. 

 

This week I'm working on binding a baby quilt and making a rag quilt for my cousin's son for graduation. I only have 2 weeks and I need to get working on it at a faster pace!

Saturday County Shoot

Saturday was the county 4-H shootout for the kids. My brother and his family came up and brought members of their club as well, so it was a busy day. My brother found a ramp for my dad's house, so as a family, we all went to load it up and take it to dad's house. While the boys installed it, I did a quick quilting job. It was National Quilting Day on Saturday, so it seemed appropriate. 

I quilted up the small Twister for Julie. It's 17" and uses brands in it. 

I also quilted up the 25" one that she wanted as well. Now I just need to get them bound. 

I quilted this wall hanging for my friend Pat. It's going to be a late birthday present, but I hadn't gotten out to quilt and I wanted to quilt it on the frame. It's 29". 

I also quilted up this purple sampler. I used these blocks several years ago to teach a class, but there isn't enough contrast in the fabrics, so it's a bad sampler. It's now quilted and I'll bind it and someone will enjoy it. 

The kids after the county shoot. They both shot their personal bests in BB Guns. Mik even qualified for State Shoot. It was a great day for shooting and spending time with family. Grandpa and Grandma came to watch and then we all went out to eat. We ended the day with supper at their house after we helped my brother load chutes to take back to their ranch. 

Christmas Gifts and Other projects

 I was asked to help with a charity sewing project and we made reading pillows. The four below are the front and backs for the pillows for 9 year old boy and girl.

I made an Easy Does It for a class sample I would like to teach at the Sewing Center. It's a free pattern from byAnnie. 

I made this Large Flipping Out from byAnnie patterns. It went together much better than I anticipated.

This year I struggled with Christmas gifts as the kids have 2 teachers who they have had in the past. So I decided the teachers would get reading pillows for their rooms. Mrs. Leite loves Owl's, so I made one for her. Then I made Mrs. Hammell a camping one. 

Mrs. Barbaruolo and Mrs. Preston received red pillows with flowers and camping. All three of these had red minkee on the back. 

My MIL found her brother after an extended period of time and I made his girlfriend this bag. 

I made the buffalo bag for him. 

I used up the last of my Case IH fabric for a few bags for my brothers, dad, and nephew. 

 I love making these little bags. They are super easy and the recipients love them. 

National Quilting Day! - Quilting at Dad's House

Saturday was National Quilting Day and I was lucky enough to get to go to Dad's house to drop off the kids for an overnight stay and found some time to quilt too. I made this t-shirt quilt for his wife and quilted it with a primary King Tut verigated thread. 

The backing was an extra-wide gray swirls fabric and went with it really well. I'll bind it in a gray as well. 

I started and almost finished this Hillside Charm quilt with tan minkee on the back. I promised Paul I would leave by 2 and I needed to pick up thread at the Sewing Center before 3, so I left it with 3 rows left to quilt. Turns out the Sewing Center closed at 2pm, but Chad and Tammy were still there, so I was able to get the thread. 

The thread I needed was for Mathew's blanket. It's minkee on the top and luxe cuddle on the back. It's luscious to sleep under it. 

He chose his favorite orange/read Luxe Cuddle. 

The finished Hillside Charm quilt is going to a friend's friend to gift. 

The kids got to spend the night with Grandpa and Grandma so we could attend the Construction Industry Awards Banquet. Paul's company won for a residential pool house they completed when he started with the company in July. 

We do not get out often, but we clean up nicely. 

The kids built the best tree fort. They are itching to go back and work on it some more. 

 

Weekend Sewing

This weekend was bitterly cold in the Black Hills of SD. It never reached above 0 for a high. I made this Let's Play Hearts runner by Atkinson Designs using L'amour fabric by Sandy Gervais for Moda. This fabric is 11+ years old as I made my first hexie quilt out of it. 

I spent quite a bit of time on Sunday sewing the diamonds into the edges to give me a place to cut out the fabric so I can add binding. I was so proud of myself for adding the extra two rows at the end, until I realized the two hexies in the center bottom are white instead of cream. 

See the white standing out? Luckily I had the cream grunge with the other fabrics from this line, so I was able to cut new fabric and re-use the hexies. I finished sewing them on and then removed all the  papers while the Daytona 500 was on. It was a perfect way to enjoy my birthday, doing English Paper Piecing with my family. 

My dad's quilt from his grandma was in the quilting room, so I took a picture to show his cousin. She said she got a quilt from their grandma with butterflies too. Quilting ran in both sides of my family. 

 

President's Day Quilting Marathon

Monday was a day off for both the kids and me. I planned to quilt at dad's house and for once the weather didn't prevent us from going. It was cold, but the warmest day in over a week, so we went.  I finished the Jungle Friends baby quilt top on Friday night and quilted it up. It turned out beautiful! I think I'll add a dark gray binding. I used a off white King Tut and Bottomline. The backing is a cream color with gold giraffes. 

I started with this Sukura Stars runner. I finished it up on Sunday night and took out all of the papers while we watched the Daytona race. It's a gift for a very special friend. I hope to have it finished by her birthday. 

I quilted up this Tula Pink Rock Candy table topper. It's made of scraps and I don't know who will receive it, but I'm happy it's quilted. 

I plan to make a sewing thread organizer from ByAnnie and so I decided to quilt it, but I had left very little in the way of backing, so I had to only use 1/4" on each side to attach it to the leaders. It worked and now it's ready to be made into a bag. I have 5 bags cut out in this fabric, so I hope once I put the thread on, I can start making the bags. 

I wanted to quilt some quilts for Quilts for Kyds, so I picked up two. This Star Wars one got a gray/black King Tut thread on it. 

This dog quilt was quilted with a colorful verigated King Tut. 

The backing had silver Bottomline. 

Then I left the biggest ones for last. I quilted up my Hope quilt. I used aqua minkee on the back. It turned out really nice. I used an aqua King Tut on the front. 

I used the same aqua King Tut on the front of this Random Shuffle quilt. I used aqua sparkle minkee on the back of this one. 

I did loops on this one. 

I'm really pleased with all I got done. I would have finished another runner, but I forgot to pack the backing fabric. Six and one half hours later, I had 8 quilts quilted and I was done for. We were able to grab a quick supper and make it to Shooting Sports with 2 minutes to spare.