Quilt Retreat Prep

April has been filled with some interesting sewing, no quilting, and a lot of piecing. At the end of March, beginning of April I made 16 glasses cases out of fleece for my brothers 4-H gun club. I used the leftover fabric from a fleece blanket I made for Mathew, so they were hunter orange and camo colored.

I finished Ahhhh #1 this week. I ordered all of the Ahhhh's and joined the gotta have them all club, so I have quite a few to get caught up on, but I have 7 completed so far.

I also made these 1 1/2" needle book hexies to be made into needle books.


On Sat. the 6th, I made notebook covers with the Autism awareness fabric. They are going to a friend and her nephew. I love how quick and easy they were to put together. I used 1 half yard, plus a fat quarter to make both, so not a lot of fabric.  I also made a couple pairs of PJ pants, one for me and one for Mikaela. Hers fit great, mine, not so much. They were too tight for my liking, so I'll give them to Ann.

I've slowly been working away at my winding ways blocks. I did the two light blocks a couple weeks ago and wasn't happy with how my centers were turning out, so I changed my quarter inch and the two dark ones turned out much better. I actually really enjoy sewing these, so I think I'll be cutting out more to take to retreat to sew.

Sat. night my friends and I got together for a PJ pants making party. I taught a couple how to make them and we all finished with cool pants we can wear at retreat. Gaila, Jenn, and I all made sewing themed ones. Now I just have to get the shirts embroidered, which I hope to do this weekend.

I've been working on the blocks for my scrappy swoon. This is the center block.

These are the blocks for steps 2-4. It's going to be very dark, but that's the look I was hoping for since I want to use it on our bed and I hate real light colored quilts on the bed since stuff, cats, dog, etc get on the bed.

This is what I have so far. I'm hoping to get all the blocks sewn in the next three weeks, so I can put it together at retreat.



















I also finished all the setting blocks for my Thangles BOM quilt. I hope to put it together with the sashing at retreat. I've been slowly putting stuff together and I now have about 6 quilt tops I want to make. I'll need to re-evaluate as I get closer and see if that is enough to keep me busy. I'm thinking I may cut out a Happy Hour Snapshots quilt to make since it is simple and easy and mindless sewing with not a lot of seams.
I still have a bunch of little things I want to make for our trade, so I hope to get those done this week. I'm feeling very creative. I need to get it all done by next Friday as we're going to be replacing the flooring in our bedroom/ my sewing area. I won't be able to sew the weekend before retreat as we do that, so I want to be packed and ready next week, so in the move I don't misplace things I need. 

Naked Cowboys!

The semi-naked cowboy fabric has been out about 4 years now and the shops I've been to have all been out of it. It was popular before I really got in to quilting, so I didn't get any. I looked for it when I was in OH, but to no avail. After dropping me off at the airport Jen and Jill stopped at a quilt shop in KY. Jill texted me to say she had found it and how much did I want. I texted her back 2.5 yards. She got it for me and sent it in the packages I had packed up to send home. Last night I cut out and made this pair of pants in about an hour. I want to wear them this coming weekend, so I knew I had to sew fast. They turned out so fun and went together super fast.

Sewing Exhilaration

Last night I was on a sewing high and decided to make a new pair of pants for myself, since I had figured out what would fit. I usually buy 2.5 yards to make a long pair of pants and 2 yards to make capri's. These are capri's. I love how they fit and I can't wait to make another pair. I whipped these up in an hour. I use a McCall's pattern, but I don't follow the directions, I just cut out the two pieces, the front, the back, and if the print is directional make sure it is going the right way. I've made them for all sized people, up to a 4X, so I find it really easy. I do the inseam legs, the crotch seam, the two side seams, then serge the top and legs, fold in and sew with my regular machine for both the hems and casing, and then insert the elastic. I love the quilting fabrics as they are such high quality and so comfy.

After I got the pants done, I squared up and put the binding on the quilt for Leslie. It's now done and on her bed and she's super proud of it. I'm so glad it's done and I can move on to my retreat projects. I was on such an exhilarated hig from finishing both projects, that I started a new purse. Since I had to get my other machine out to quilt, I quit for the night.

Productive Pants & Pillowcases Night

Since I'd been quilting a quilt for my MIL for the past week, I hadn't done anything else or finished anything. I was getting restless and didn't know what I was going to work on next. I made a list of all the projects I have started, all the projects I have everything bought for, and a list of what I want to get done in the next few weeks. Tonight I decide it was time to pull out all the fabrics for pants and pillowcases. I had plenty of this fabric leftover from the backing of a quilt I helped my MIL make, so I made her a pair of capri pants. I wanted to make sure they would fit me as well, since the last pair was a bit tight and I couldn't remember which pattern I used since I have about 8 different ones. They fit great and are the perfect size. She loves them.


I still had plenty left, so I made her a pillowcase to match the pants/quilt. That's the last of the fabric. This is so NOT my style of fabric. I just don't care for asian fabrics, but she loves them. As a practical joke at work for Christmas the person who had my name, gave me 15 yards of this fabric in the peach colorway. Not only do I not like the color, peach is not one of my favorite colors either. I was really nice until the started all laughing. I'll always remember the joke and how hard we all laughed.

Then I made Paul a pillowcase to match the shorts I made him back in November.

Then I made a pillowcase out of the fabric I picked up at Fabric Shack when I was in OH. It's International/ Farmall which is very popular in my family, so it's going to a family member for his birthday.

Then I made a pillowcase for myself. It's out of the Buggy Barn. I made a quilt out of the same fabrics for a sample for my Happy Hour class. Since the class is over and we're out of the fabrics, it's time to bring my quilt home and now I have a pillowcase to match. I have enough of the fabric from the main part of the pillowcase to make a pair of PJ pants for myself now too. I'll probably do that tomorrow night before I put the serger away.

I don't use my serger all that often, but when I do I absolutely love it and can't imagine what I would do without it. I have a couple more pillowcases and curtains to make for my MIL to match her new quilt, but they will wait until I get the binding on the quilt and the curtains made. Now that I have the fabrics out of the fabric closet, I can work on other projects. I reorganized a bit and now I can start on some blocks I need to make and not feel guilty. I feel like I accomplished so much in such a short time.

More PJ pants

PJ pants have become one of my favorite things to make. With the serger, they whip together in less than a half hour. It takes longer to cut them out than to sew them up. This is a pair of long shorts I made for my hubby. He really likes them.

I made the pair below for myself. These are the Outdoorsy Guys from Alexander Henry.


These are so comfy and I love to wear them while I quilt at night.

PJ Day at The Quilt Corral Too!

Saturday was PJ day at the Quilt Corral Too! All the employees got to wear PJ pants for strip club. It was the way that we were introducing our Pajama Party on November 8, 2008. The big sale of the day was buy 2 yards for PJ's and get the 3rd one free. Rox didn't have a pair, so I went next door to the Sewing Center and whipped up a pair that morning in 1/2 hour so she would have a pair to wear. She loves Halloween, so hers had bats on them. Some made the Alexander Henry shirtless guys pants... firemen or carpenters. Joan, the owner did two different legs and Lu made hers out of Laurel Birch. This is about 2/3 of our staff, the other 4 or 5 had gone home or were not working that day. This is in front of our color wall. Any cotton quilting fabric works great for PJ bottoms.


This is the strip club quilt that Rox made. It's very simple, but the quilting on it is amazing. Click on it to enlarge and look at the blocks. Especially the bottom black one that has a free hand skeleton on it and the orange one above it that has a spider. Laurie T. did the quilting and it's stunning. She just got her machine at Christmas last year and quit her job in June to quilt full time. Her quilting is absolutely stunning! She even wrote Trick or Treat in one of the blocks.

I spent Sat. and Sun. working at the quilt shop, so didn't do a lot of sewing at home, but I had a great time. We have strip club the first Sat. of Every month at 10 and 2 and it's always a great time.

Runaround bags & PJ Pants

Last week I was fast and furiously working to get three runaround bags done for the girls I was going to the quilt show with. I had them all cut out and I was able to finish all 5 of them on Thurs. night while we were sewing at the LQS where we all work. The first I made for J as she loves Asian fabrics. I made a tulip one for D, but the picture didn't get loaded to my webshots album. I made a Thimbleberries one for M. They were each unique to their own personalities and the girls LOVED them and they worked perfect for holding a little bit of money, a camera, tickets, and business cards. I was so glad I had made them. Mom and I used the Loralie ones I had made for our last shop hop.


While I was making purses, the D, M, and my mom were making pants with the naked construction workers and firemen on them. When I got done I made a pair for J as I already had a pair. We surprised her Friday night with our new PJ bottoms! They were a hit and oh so much fun.