Blogger Quilt Festival - Bed Quilts - Dad's Crown Royal Quilt

Initially when I asked my dad and brothers to save the Crown Royal bags from the bottles, I figured in 10+ years I would make a quilt. They thought a quilt out of the bags would be neat, so they enlisted the help of hunting friends who run a bar and they saved the bags too. I originally planned to make a quilt for my brother Jim. I finished his in 2011. Then my dad and other brother Ed decided they wanted them too. I knew it would take a while to get more bags, so I started a quilt for Ed. The blocks are done on his and the sashing is a very slow work in progress. Dad announced last May he was getting married to Ann and I knew I had to act fast. I knew his had to be different than the boys quilts. One night I suddenly remembered a couple pieces of gold fabric with purple hourses I had put in a box for a massive sewing room garage sale. I went digging and found the horse batik. Since Dad and Ann are both horse lovers, I figured it was perfect. I took it to my favorite local shop, Fabric City and found a couple purple batiks to go with it. I decided to use the 5 Yard quilt pattern, which was easy and fun to make; however, I had to increase the number of blocks because he said he wanted a queen size quilt. I spent most of July making the blocks and quilted it at the beginning of August. I entered it in the county fair in August. My Dad and Ann didn't go to see the quilts, so they didn't see it until after their September wedding. I had an offer to buy it, but because it was so special I told him it would cost $2,000. I started to freak out when I thought he might actually come up with the money. I love how the quilt turned out and it really is one of my absolute favorite quilts. I used a wool batting which makes it light weight. I quilted it with a purple King Tut and dark purple Bottomline. The colors are vibrant and warm and go so well with the purple and gold of the Crown Royal bags. My dad loves the quilt and it only came off the bed once, for a quilt trunk show I did. He brought it up and took it home the same day. He won't part with it!

Pfeifer Wedding

Saturday Mom, Dad, and I attended the wedding of my second cousin Justin and his new wife Jenny. They got married in Terrace Park in Sioux Falls. It was a beautiful day!

They poured sand into the vase with the P on it during the ceremony. My cousins were laughing because I was convinced I needed the same vase with an M on it at Hobby Lobby that morning for my fish. Macie kept telling me it was too small, so I didn't end up getting it. I still love the vase though!

My mom's cousin Sue's family was there, so we spent a lot of time with them. Bryan, Molly, Macie, and I together in this picture outside the KC hall where the reception was held.

We added a few more, Tyler - Molly's husband on the left, and Austin another cousin on the right.

Then we got Justin the groom, and his brothers Austin, Chris, and Ryan together with a Macie, Bryan, and Molly for a cousins picture. They are first cousins.

My parents even got their picture taken.

We took some pictures of Sue's family too. Molly, Tyler, Al, Bryan, Sue, and Macie.

It was such a fun wedding and reception. We all enjoyed spending time together. We were all together a month ago when Tyler and Molly got married, but it was a lot more relaxing and fun for their family not being in the bridal party. The girls enjoyed a major trip to Hobby Lobby where we took out 4 full carts! I'm sure the store loved us. The guys went golfing. My dad and Bryan went along to supervise ie... drink beer. They all had a great time. My dad is not a golfer, but he sure had lots of fun!
It was a fun weekend and we all enjoyed spending time together. We're going to have to do it again soon, but it will probably be next year before we're together again.

July Quilting Accomplishments

July was a productive month for me! Maybe not in the quilting department, but definately in the bag making area. I was able to accomplish all the goals I set and still had time to make more bags!
My goals for July included:
Bind 2 Wanna Be a Cowboy quilts - DONE!


Finish Lego Wedding Quilt - DONE!

Make Margo Bag - I finished 3! I also made a wonder wallet to match.


In addition to my goals I made lots of BAGS!
I also finished a pink/brown Runaround Bag for Macie.

I made a Runaround Bag for the Wedding and a wonder wallet.

I made a purple/green Margo, checkbook cover, and wonder wallet to match.

I finished checkbook covers for the teal/brown Margo and wedding Runaround.

I made a schlep bag out of Adoring fabric.

I made myself a Margo bag out of Wanna Be A Cowboy fabric, with a wonder wallet and checkbook cover to match.

I made a Summer Tote for Hannah out of Pink/Brown John Deere fabric.

I made a Lots of Dots Schlep Bag and taught the class.

We attended the Lego/Grieme Wedding in MN!

My goals for August??? Let's see, I don't have anything too pressing, but I should set some kind of goals.
Make Fabric Book
Quilt Baby Quilt
Tablerunners for Pfeifer and Kuhn weddings
Throw quilt for Aunt Lil
Work on 1 UFO

Lego Wedding

Last weekend Paul and I travelled with my brothers family to my cousin Molly's wedding in MN. The wedding quilt gift was opened Fri. night when we were at their new home. She absolutely loved it as did her friends. She kept telling me all weekend how wonderful it was and how amazed she was with it. She couldn't wait to curl up in it. It was probably the most well received wedding quilt I've ever given. She had given me the t-shirts last summer, but she'd forgotten, so it was a complete and total surprise for her.

Tyler and Molly holding up the quilt.

The sign my brother made them. He's really awesome at welding/machine work so he made it for the newlyweds.

The wedding was held on the Empress riverboat on the St. Croix River. It rained for about 2 hours before the wedding, so instead of being on the top deck, the wedding was held on the bottom level. It was very contemporary and unique. Since we were family, we got to see the wedding ceremony.

After the ceremony, the skies cleared a bit and it wasn't raining, so we went up to the top deck and visited while the tables were set up for supper. We got to witness the rising of the bridge as we went under it. The bridge connects MN and WI. After supper there were severe thunderstorm warnings, so we turned around early. Then there was a tornado in Stillwater, so the coast guard kept us in the middle of the river until the danger passed.

It was a very fun weekend and really enjoyable with so much to do and see. I did make it to 2 quilt shops, the Quilt Cove in Eagan and Charolette's Web in Stillwater. I found a couple patterns, some thread, and a cute panel. Mom and I went and then met up with the rest of the family at Mall of America for lunch at Hooters.
This is my favorite picture of the weekend, my husband, holding the cutest girl in the worlds hand, so we could walk back to the parking lot before leaving.

Lego Wedding Quilt Finished!

I finished the Lego's wedding quilt Monday night! I didn't think I would ever finish the hand sewing on the binding, but I did. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, though I'm sure I'd do it different if I were to do it again. Now I just hope they like it. It washed up all crinkly which I love and I hope they do too.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures from the wedding weekend to share when I get back next week. It's sure to be a fun time, since it's our MN cousin getting married and we always have fun with those cousins.

MN Wedding Weekend

We're headed to MN this weekend! We've been planning this weekend for a year and a half, so we're really looking forward to it. My cousin is getting married on a riverboat in Stillwater.  Hopefully mom and I will be able to steal away and visit a quilt shop or two on Sat. We plan to go back to Quilters Cove and we found one in Stillwater we hope to stop at if we have time. A trip to Mall of America is also in the works, so hope it works out to go there. Have a great weekend and hopefully I'll have pictures next week to share.

Wedding Quilt Finished!

The wedding quilt is finally finished! I put it on the frame last week and then we were gone for the weekend, so I didn't get back to it until this week. Last night I quilted for a couple hours and didn't have many problems at all. I was able to get it all quilted and trimmed up last night.


This morning I got up early and put the binding on it. I worked on the handwork while I waited at my mom's appointment. I was able to get more done than I expected.

I'm really impressed with how it turned out. It's bigger than I had planned and I'm not a fan of the colors, but I hope my cousin loves it. The wedding is next weekend and we leave a week from today, so I really wanted to get it done this week.

This is the first time I have quilted through t-shirts on the frame. I had a few issues with the stamped parts shifting, but I didn't break any needles or thread because of it. I'll show the finished picture after the wedding.

June Quilting Accomplishments

This month I kept my goals simple because I knew I wouldn't accomplish a whole lot. I was very busy and luckily finally got some of my quilting mojo back so I could get a few things accomplished. While most of the things I got done were not on the list, I feel great about where I am with my goals.
My two June Goals:
Finish Jewel Box Quilt - Finished the top, quilted and Binding Done!

Finish Lego Wedding Quilt - Bordered t-shirts, sashed, and bordered Wedding Quilt. Top is on the frame and partially quilted. Two weeks till the wedding!


In addition I also did a few other quilting projects:
Finished the binding on construction panel #2 quilt

Quilted and Binding on Grader Tablerunner for my dad

Made another Wanna Be a Cowboy Quilt top

Made a pillowcase for my friend Jen

Sewed 132 HST's for the Friendship HST exchange

Made Merry a quilt top

Finished the Sign Language baby quilt

Cut out Margo bag

Quilted both pink and brown Wanna Be a Cowboy quilts

Made my niece a pillowcase to go with her quilt for her birthday.

In other news:
Karen got me a "My First SDSU" t-shirt when she went to Brookings.
I attended the BHQG quilt show.
We visited the ranch and went fishing for a weekend with my family.
Spent an awesome Girls Night Out sewing with my friends at Gaila's house.
I taught a professional tote class.


We'll be away several weekends in July, so I probably won't get much accomplished, but I'll have a few goals. We're headed to the ranch for the long weekend and then the BIG MN wedding is in a couple weeks.
 July Goals:
Finish quilting and binding the wedding quilt
Bind 2 Wanna Be A Cowboy Quilts
Make Margo bag