On Ringo Lake Clue #5

This week with Christmas was very busy, but I found some time on my breaks at work to cut out the pieces for Clue #5. I sewed up 20 last night. They went really quickly. I hope to get more made tonight, but my yellow and blue quilts are calling my name.


For the past 2 years, I've been buying yellow/gold/blue/navy fat quarters to make a blue/yellow scrappy trip around the world. As I made my other Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks, I realized I had 1 or 2, 2.5" strips left. So I started planning with this quilt to make a Blue Ridge Beauty quilt from the scraps. I cut strips and made a ton of hst's using the Essential Triangle Ruler. They are all pressed and ready for my 4 patches when they are ready. These are the last yellow/blue strips I cut out.

I sort them into groups, which become my strata sets.

Last night I finished 3 sets. I have a lot more to go, but strata sets are not my favorite things to sew.

I cut them out and tore them apart during my break today.

I got all three ready to sew together. I love how these are turning out.

I used the leftover strips sets to make pairs of two, that I matched up into 4 patches. These will become part of my Blue Ridge Beauty quilt. I've adjusted the size to work with my scraps.

I wasn't making any Christmas presents, but I picked up this bulldog fabric to make my daughter's teacher a bag. She absolutely loved it.

This is the inside fabric. It looks pretty cool as the lining.

I had a strip down the center and it was big enough to make a little-zippered bag, so I made her another little bag. It's about 9"x9"

I've also spent time this week sewing together my yellow/gray focus blocks.

I also made myself a new project book cover.

Then on a whim, I made my son's preschool teacher a couple bags as well. This is a canvas Jeep bag because she loves Jeeps.

These cute Jeep bags were made with the 1/2 zipper technique. They turned out super cute and the linings are the opposite on each.

My daughter wanted a craft set for Christmas, so I made her one with the supplies from mom's craft room. It was fun pulling supplies together.

I picked up this Quilter in training shirt for her for Christmas.

My son took this picture of me at the school Christmas program.

On Christmas Eve, we had a family picture when we got home from Mass.


I'm linking up with Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville for the mystery quilt. #onringolakequilt #quiltvillemystery

En Provence Clues 4 & 5

This is my first mystery quilt and I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up. I've been very relaxed and I knew I wouldn't get too uptight if I didn't keep up. That's just my nature. I had most of my Christmas quilting done back in October, with the exception of a couple small projects, so I was ready.
Yesterday we were home all day due to a blizzard in Western South Dakota. I helped my daughter sew baby blankets for her new twin dolls and then I got a chance to work on my Clue 3, 4, & 5. I finished up Clue 3 as a leader ender with Clue 4. Last night around 10:30 I couldn't sew anymore, so I cut out Clue 5.

This morning my kids (5 & 4) were up at 4:30 AM! I slept in until my husband left for work, but still got up and ready for work an hour early. Since I had my pieces cut I was able to quickly get all of Clue 5 sewn at 6 AM this morning and even had time to press them before we left for work/daycare.

Last night I also finished up the Dangerous BOM block 8 from Gudrun's Crew. I just love how many small scraps this one is using up.

I also finished up my Crops block for my FGV BOM. I am only about 3 blocks behind now. Time to get caught up this week.

I finished Pie Cherries and Tumbleweeds this past week as well.

I gifted my MIL a table runner and pillow made from the scraps and excess pieces of Strip Lash, the quilt I made her when she got a new job in March. She loved them!

I made my co-workers Mug Rugs of Maxine. This is just one example and they were extremely loved.


Linking Up with Mystery Quilt Monday at Quiltville!

December Sewing in Review

I started out December strong, well the first hour of it! I finished this purse in the wee hours of December 1. It's the Barbados bag and I'll be teaching it in February. I have one started for me, but just didn't find the time to get it made.

Then the month went rather south and I didn't get a whole lot accomplished. We were gone, working our 3rd job, and sick for most of the month. I did finish this Day Break Sample for a class I plan to teach in January. It's a fun little block to make and the class will be a starting point for the whole quilt if anyone is interested. I'm teaching a series of classes this year using the Hex And More Ruler and the Sidekick Ruler. This uses both.

I've always wanted to do a Swoon class, so I finally decided to do it as a one block class. That way people can make a wall hanging or table topper, before committing to the whole quilt. Since the class is during Stock Show I made a western fabric sample, but I also have modern fabric blocks done as well. I still love this block and now that I've made several I've gotten it figured out how to press to make them easier.

I also made this hexie ornament for an exchange with friends. It didn't turn out how I expected, but it was okay.

I worked a lot on my Buggy Barn hexies during work breaks and have almost all the sashing done. Now I need to figure out how I will finish it.

For our niece and nephews this year I made embroidered towels with the kids names. I think they turned out pretty cool. Mikaela helped pick the colors and she has decided she wants one too, so I'll have to get on that. They are quick and easy to do once I make up my mind to set up the embroidery machine.

I was playing with the V5 software when I was making the towels and designed this sweatshirt for Grandma Leslie.

Then I screwed up and forgot to change the design, so I made a second one for Grandma Ann.

Then I made the one I had originally intended for Grandma Ann. It has all 5 grandkids on it. Ed and Steph are expecting in March and I'll try to add the new baby's name, if it will fit. Someone said they just need to plan to only use either the G or D. Grandma Ann loves to accessorize, so hers have some jewelry she plans to wear with them. The 3 sweatshirts are all from my mom's "stash" of embroidery items, so I just went with the sizes that fit.

One of the quilt shops in town is closing and last week I went for their 50% off stuff. I picked up a new stashbuster ruler, a wall hanging hanger, and some yellow batik that will match some horse batik I already have.

For Christmas I received awesome gifts from my little bro and his fiance. Two rulers, a seam ripper and nippers. It was so exciting to get quilty gifts.

I needed a quick gift, so I made up a fleece blanket with embroidery on it. I plan to give it later this week and then will share the embroidery. I didn't have time to commit to a quilt, so a blanket will do for now.

This year I won the staff UFO finish competition. Per capita we beat the customers and Tammy gave me this great box. It already has my mini professional tote in it. It's a WIP that will turn into a UFO tomorrow unless I get some major sewing time tonight. I have the front and back made. The pattern is quite a bit different than the full size professional tote, so I am learning a lot and ripping a lot when I don't read the directions quite right. It's definitely a pattern where people will want to take a class to make it.


With only 40 hours in so far this month, I just haven't gotten a lot accomplished. Looking back I didn't do too bad though. I have a quilt retreat coming up in January and then sewing with friends in February, so I hope to get more accomplished. I have 40+ UFO's on my list for this year, so I hope to get it down to under 10.

What's happening this week??

So this should be my weekly WIP post, but really there isn't much to show compared to what I have already shown this week. I have finished the hand sewn binding on both Mom's Pink Ribbon Quilt as well as the Heart Twister quilt. I'm working on the Zoo Parade quilt and Confetti is in the queue. I'll get them finished yet this week, but have had to take a break from EPP to get them done. This week I have been shot from doing so much on the weekend. I finished my paper and turned it in on Monday night. Last night we had to go to town, so I didn't get much done, other than packing for class tonight.
I did get a great squishy package in the mail this week. Last week I won a drawing on Happy Quilting for a $25 gift certificate to Shop Cotton Bliss. I chose to spend it on a pack of Aurifil thread. I was good and didn't buy the large pack, which I really wanted. I got the smaller pack which will work great for adding some additional colors to my stash. I'm rapidly adding Aurifil thread and now I have trouble finding colors I do not already have.



The other reason I haven't gotten much sewing done is this little guy. He's wanting to stay up later and get up earlier. Last night he was refusing to go to bed. It's hard to be mad with this cute little smile. He's getting the top 4 teeth in all at the same time, so he's been cranky this week.

He was playing in our bed, looking in the mirror on our headboard, when he should have been sleeping.

He's so fun to play with and he just loves to giggle. He's so funny to tickle.

Five Quilts Given New Homes

Last week I was in gift giving mode. I had made several quilts for gifts and it just so happened that the time had arrived to gift them.
My co-worker Amy gave me a bunch of clothes and a toddler bed for Mikaela and I wanted to give her something in return. Amy loves orange, so I used a fat quarter bundle of Central Park paired with the bright orange from the line on the clearance rack to make her a Happy Hour quilt. I didn't want to leave her daughter Remy out, so I made her the Star Struck quilt top using the left over Central Park and another piece from the line. I love how both these quilts turned out and she loved them as well. Remy said it's her good dreams quilt and she hasn't had any bad dreams since she started sleeping under it. What a way to make me feel good!



This quilt was made for my mom for her 50th birthday. She didn't really care for it, she didn't want to be reminded she was getting older. It hung on the quilt rack Paul built for her. My co-worker friend Kim turned 50 this past week, so I gifted her the quilt. She loved it. She's excited to turn 50 and loves the color purple.

This weekend we went to my cousin Bryan's wedding to Cora. I wasn't sure what to make for them, since I don't really know their taste, but I know they both hunt and her family has land in northern MN, so I made this quilt and gifted it to them for their wedding. They both really liked it.

This quilt was one of mom's UFO's and she left it with 5 seams left to finish. She picked up the pattern in MN when we went shop hopping with her cousin Sue. I love the bright colors, but I have too many quilts, so I decided to give this one to Sue for her birthday this past week. She loved the quilt and it will be a reminder of my mom. Sue was my mom's closest cousin and good friend to my mom.


It feels great to give these quilts some new homes and it's time to find homes for some other quilts as well. I've got too many and want to make more for our home. I'll continue to gift quilts as I see the need/someone interested in one of my quilts. I've also decided to sell some to make room for more.

WIP Wednesday 11.30.11

This has been a busy week! With the Thanksgiving holiday, I was able to get a lot of sewing time and found I didn't finish anything, but I did work on a lot of different projects.
I won this 6" charm pack of Wrenly from Quilt Taffy and it arrived this week. I'm so excited to use it for a project for a special friend.


I also won a prize in the Fall Bloggers Quilt Festival and the fat quarter pack arrived this week from Canton Village Quilt Works.


I'm loving all the colorful dots.


We had a quick family picture on Thanksgiving Day. Mikaela was full of smiles.

On to the sewing I got done. I was able to make this back on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It turned out bit, but oh so sturdy because I used decor bond. It's my new school bag as it matches my binder with all my research in it. Three weeks of class left and a 15 page paper hanging over my head, so I hope to get to sew a bit, but will be doing a lot of writing.


The inside of the bag was a bit lighter.

Thanksgiving Day plans changed when hubby decided he wanted to go Black Friday shopping, so we stayed home in the evening instead of going to my dad's. I got several hours to sew, so I sewed all the rows together for the t-shirt quilt. I have the sashing strips cut and they are ready to be sewn together. I'm hoping to get the top done this weekend and then work on the quilting next weekend. It has to be done before Christmas.


The quilt is King size, so the rows look huge on our bed.


I also worked on this English Paper pieced cup liner. It didn't turn out how I expected, but I think it looks okay. The next one I'll make with just random colors and not try to do flowers.


At dad's this weekend I did the embroidery on gifts for my friends for Christmas. Since they all read the blog I won't share those until after they are gifted. I also made a fleece blanket for my MIL and a friend. I think the embroidery turned out pretty good on it. I still have to trim it up and wash it, but for now I'm proud of what I got accomplished with the embroidery machine.

I was gifted at work with flowers by one of our campuses and they just make me smile. I really enjoy the work I do and it's nice to be appreciated. Do you know how hard it is to write normal instead of "academic" in nature? I keep wanting to go back and take out passive voice and contractions, even though it's totally normal to write like this. Oh the joys of writing papers for my masters class!


Tonight I wanted to work on a tablerunner for our daycare gals mom. Her mom helps with the kids for the middle part of the day, so I feel like I should make her something quilty, since the daycare gal is getting a quilt. I took mom's scraps and made up 5 tablerunners. There are two just like the last one. I still have enough fabric to use for backing and to make binding. I may make a few more of these as well. I'm thinking of a few friends I need gifts for as well. I did 5, including cutting the scraps in 1 hour tonight!




Started New this Week:
Poinsetta tabletoppers

Finished this week:
Winding Ways Schlep Bag
Chez Moi Cup Liner
Embroidered 4 blocks, a label, and 2 fleece blankets

Ongoing projects:  (and progress this week on them)
Pink/Brown Schlep Bag - Started cutting out
Buggy Barn Pink/Brown Wall Hanging - 2 - Finished 4 of the 4 Blocks - Embroidery done, need to get backing and quilt
Buggy Barn Pink/Brown Extra Blocks - No progress
Ed's Crown Royal Quilt - 2/3 of the way done on the last set of blocks - No progress
Mocha Meringue Wonder Blocks - still sitting
Jim Shore Quilt - Quilted and binding machine sewn on -  1 1/2 sides of binding hand sewn down.
Linda's T-shirt Quilt - all the rows are sewn and the sashing is cut and ready to put on.
Paul's Wolf - 2nd eye, nose and face done - No progress this week.
Farm Friends Baby Quilt - Cut out

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Blush Quilt
4 Embroiderd Pink Brown blocks
5 Poinsetta Tablerunners

No progress:
Pokey Little Puppy Book
3 Mug Rugs

This week's stats:
Completed projects -2
New projects -5
Currently in progress - 13
Finished this year - 122 projects + 12 Receiving Blankets & 20 Burp Clothes


I'm linking up for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!