Valentine Sewing Party

The Valentine Sewing Party has commenced! So far I have cut out the fabric and stitched together three rows. They went together pretty quickly, even for having to do some marking of diagonals.
My fabric cut out, on the backing fabric.

The three rows are together. Now to finish the top and get it quilted! I'm hoping to have it quilted and the binding on by the end of the evening, so I can take it to work on Monday.
4:45PM

I sewed the three rows together, added the corners, and gave it a good pressing. I was able to get the top together, loaded, and quilted before supper. Now to square it up, get the binding on, and sew it down.
8:00PM

I attempted to do some hearts in the quilting.

I put the binding on it and started the hand sewn binding. I got over half done before calling it a night. I should be able to easily finish it tomorrow.
9:00PM


I finished the hand sewing on the binding Monday at lunch, so it now adorns my office desk for the next month. I had such a fun time at the Valentine Sewing Party and look forward to the next one.


Thanks for stopping by to check out my Valentine Sewing Party progress. Happy Sewing!

Valentine's Sewing Party

Tomorrow I'm participating in the Valentine Sewing Party. Valentine's Day is my absolute favorite holiday and since my last name used to be Harty, I love hearts. When I heard about the party I knew I'd have time to participate! I work during the day, but have the whole evening to sew. I already knew exactly what I was going to make, since I've had the kit since September when I bought it at the Hill City Quilt Show. I bought it from Quilt Designer Fabrics out of Carrington ND. It was probably my favorite vendor at the quilt show. The kit makes the Toast Points tablerunner from the Let's Do Lunch book by Terry Atkinson. The reason I loved their display so much is they had several quilt samples/kits from the same book, so you could buy the kits without the book. Since I already owned the book, the cheaper price of the kit w/o the book was really attractive to me.

Last night I cut out the tablerunner. It took me less than a half hour to completely cut out the tablerunner. I can't wait to sew it up and quilt it tomorrow night. The candy kisses are the main part of the tablerunner, the red hearts is the contrast and binding. The red with white hearts is the backing.


My weekend goals include piecing and quilting this tablerunner and quilting Jenn's quilt. If I get both done then I'll have to decide on which UFO quilt project to work on next. At this point I don't have any deadlines, so I'm thinking I'll probably work on a couple baby quilts. I know one of my friends is having her baby in February and the other is due in April, so I need to work on those quilts, but we'll see what kind of a mood I'm in when I get done with the first two projects. We're supposed to get hit this weekend with a freezing rain/snow/sleet storm, so Sunday will probably be spent staying home and sewing all day.

Fancy Project Bags

Last year when I was working at the store, I bought a kit in a really nice plastic zippered pouch. I absolutely love it for putting my UFO's in or my WIP projects so I can keep everything together. I picked up another one, but they are $3-5 a piece and they aren't readily available any more. I like them a whole lot better than my empty sheet bags which also hold projects. I like them because my book will fit in along with the project. I always seem to be shifting projects into the nicer ones. Jen gave me the idea to make my own using vinyl by the yard. I bought 2 yards last weekend and with a coupon it cost me $3 for the vinyl. I bought a couple zippers and used one I had in my stash. I thought it might be cool to applique on the bags, but I wasn't sure if they would melt. Using the low setting on my iron and my applique pressing sheet, I was able to applique the letter on using steam a seam 2. I put the zippers in using the roller foot I bought several years ago. I made all 3 in about an hour and probably for less than $2 each. I was able to cut out 4 bags from one 14" piece, so I still have over 1 1/2 yards left. I'll definately be making more, but I wanted to make a few for friends first and then I'll make some for myself. Now that I know how to make them, I might have to make a few more for my quilt along buddies. I put all of my blocks and cut out squares in the small one and it's the perfect size to keep it all together for a few months.
Yesterday I drew out what my quilt is going to look like. I still might make it bigger, but at least I have an idea started and know how many more 2.5" squares I need to cut.

I used a couple different decorative stitches to stitch the letters on.

Thanks for the great idea Jen!

Snowball Quilt Along

Since the quilt along came about I've been anxious to get started. I knew exactly what I was doing with my big snowballs. Several have already gotten their 6 blocks done, so I was really itching to work on mine and I didn't think I'd have a chance this week. Patti hit with her snowballs and Jen was right behind her today, I figured I'd better get busy with mine! I had an unexpected night off, so while I watched the Bachelor with my family, I cut out lots of 6 1/2" fussy cut squares and 2.5" squares. I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing, but I decided to outline my snowball blocks in silver rock candy fabric. I'm going to have to play around next month with the 2.5" squares to see what kind of pattern I can develop. I'm loving this quilt along and I'm so excited I was able to get mine done! Thanks for all the encouragement ladies. Your support and friendship means the world to me. Who will throw out their snowballs or 9 patches next???

Range Riders Quilt Top Done!

January used to be the slowest month when I was growing up. It was always so cold and it was dark early, so we stayed inside a lot. I always looked forward to February... Stock Show and my birthday! Now that I'm an adult, January just seems to fly by. I can't believe there are only 2 weeks left. I've been busy teaching quilting and sewing classes this month, so that's one reason it's flying by so quickly. Saturday I taught Janome Basics. It went pretty well and the ladies all seemed to learn a lot. Tonight I'm teaching Janome Memory Basics, Tues. night is Fast & Furious Baby Quilt, and Wed. night is Professional Tote, so it's going to be another busy week, but I love teaching quilting classes.
I've been working on the Range Riders quilt since the beginning of the month. I had all the applique traced and cut out and all the backgrounds cut out, but I knew it was going to take me a long time to do the applique stitching. Friday night I pieced all the flying geese. Sat. morning I got up and worked on the appliqued stars and after class I started putting the blocks together. After 7 hours on Sat. I had 5 blocks done.

I worked on more stars before church and then put the blocks together when I got home. By noon I had all 10 of the picture blocks done.

All afternoon I worked on the applique on the boots. I satin stitched the soles and heels of the boots black and then accented the tops with blue, maroon, or brown. By 3:30 I finally had all the boot blocks appliqued and I took a much needed break! I made homemade chicken noodle soup for supper and then let it simmer while I tore all the totally stable off the boots.

Sunday evening I put the quilt together. It actually went together pretty quickly and I only had a few seams I redid, just to make my points perfect. I changed the quarter inch on my machine and it made all the difference in the world with how my blocks were lining up. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. By 8PM I was done with the center and started putting the mitered borders on.

When 10PM rolled around I was just doing the final pressing on it. It's done and ready to go to the quilter today! It's a store sample and another lady is quilting it, so I don't have to, which leaves me time to finish up my last goal for the month and start working on my snowball I Spy quilt. I was really hoping to start it last night, but I made myself finish this one first, so now I can do some playing. I also got some new material for project bags I want to start working on. So many projects, so little time!
The finished quilt has mitered borders which went on surprisingly easy.

Sewing lots... with nothing to show for it!

I've been doing lots of sewing, just nothing with my machines, so I don't have much to show for it. I haven't touched my machine since last week Wednesday. I've been working on an applique quilt and there were a lot of little pieces to trace and cut out and I've been doing a lot of that. I finally have them all cut out, but don't like the heels, so I got some different fabric to do the heels and now I should be good to go. I'm hoping to make lots of progress on it this weekend.
Monday night I started working on my Valentine's Tablerunner using English paper piecing. Since Jen sent me the bag with everything I need, I'm good to go. I have about 20 done so far and each one gets easier and faster to do. I'm hoping to have it done by the big day 1 month from today, but we'll have to see. I'm hitting one of those milestone birthdays that day, so I may just be celebrating too much to finish it too.
Last night I had an awesome class of ladies for the Fast & Furious Baby quilt and they really had a good time making it. Next week I'm fully scheduled with classes, but I love it, so I can't wait.
Tonight I'm meeting mom for a party with the old QC-new FC girls so it's gonna be a fun night! I can't wait to see the girls since I was sick the last time everyone got together.

Fabric City & Care Package from Jen

Saturday I worked at The Sewing Center and we had two classes going on at the same time. The Embroidery Block of the Month was held in the new Fabric City store and the girls in the club got to see the store before it opened for it's first official day on Monday. It's going to be a very awesome fabric store with pre-cuts, accessories, fleece, flannels, as well as quilt shop quality cottons. The fabric selection is so up my ally! The area has been made over since the last shop left and it has a whole new feel to it. I can finally start spending money on fabric again!

When I got home I had an awesome care package from Jen in the mail. She sent me this wonderful pillowcase, a pattern, and a drawstring bag of cut squares and English paperpiecing papers, so I could make a tablerunner for Valentine's Day. Jen has been there for me over the past several weeks to listen, encourage, and help me and this care package is just the icing on the cake. I can't thank her enough. With all the waiting I've been doing, the paperpiecing will keep my hands busy and it's so portable I can stick it in my purse. Thanks Jen for thinking of something to keep me busy! I started basting the pieces last night and I got 15 done while I was watching the Bachelor.

The pillowcase had lots of saying about friends and this is my favorite one because it speaks so much of our friendship.

Thanks for being such an amazing friend Jen!

Crazy Eight's Table runner

This tablerunner was probably one of the quickest I have ever finished. It's from the Let's Do Lunch book by Atkinson Designs. It's made from my Crazy Eights fabric leftovers. I quilted it in under 15 min as it only took 3 passes. I put the binding on it Wed. night and then I handsewed the binding while I was waiting yesterday morning. I'm thinking I really need to do more tablerunners so I have hand work to do while I'm waiting. Although it's a Christmas tablerunner I'm happy it's finished and I'll be able to use it later this year.

Pearl Louise Designs

This morning it's freezing cold here in Rapid City. It's -9 with a wind chill of -30. While I was hoping for a snow day yesterday, I didn't get one.
I was reading the RCJournal this morning and there was a nice article about Pearl Louise Designs in the paper. I found it to be rather interesting and it's so true that hardly anyone here knows how famous she is in the quilting world. I have only made a few of her patterns, including Family Reunion, but the ones I like the best have snowmen. She also has a fabric line with Troy. I thought some of you who enjoy Pearl Louise Designs patterns and fabric would enjoy reading this article about her.
I've been quilting away this week. Hopefully will have a tablerunner to show later this week. I'm also working on a sample with lots of applique, so it's going to take me a while.
Keep Warm!

Runaround Bag

This weekend I made this Runaround Bag from the GE Designs book Fast & Furious Quilt as You Go. It was actually trickier than I expected it to be, but I was able to get it done in a short amount of time. It's kind of hanging funny, but it looks really cool. While the colors aren't me, they do go well together. I'm up to 2 finishes for 2010! I think I'm doing well.

Mom's Pink Quilt - Christmas 2009

This year I made each of our mothers a quilt for Christmas. I posted my MIL's One Block Wonder when it was done as she doesn't read my blog real often. She thought I had quit on it and put it away until after Christmas, so she was surprised when she unwrapped it. She loves it, so that makes me happy. As much as I don't enjoy Asians, she loves them, so it's not bad using them when they are for her and I know she'll like them.
My mom though, does read my blog, so I didn't want to reveal too much about it. She had seen it when I was putting it together for the book, but she hadn't seen it quilted. The background is white and the pinks are from my stash, which was really a challenge, since I don't have much stash. The finished quilt is a twin size, so a good snuggly quilt for her. The white has a ribbon print on it, so I quilted loops on it and the pink represents the pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness and my mom's favorite color.

I experimented with quilting my name into one of the bottom blocks. You have to know it's there to really notice it.


I embroidered the label at my mom's one weekend. I love doing embroidered labels since they are so personalized and contain the information nicely.

The quilt is a pattern in the new GE Designs book Strip On. I did the pattern testing for the pattern before it went to print, so I received a copy of the new book signed by her and I love it.

Crown Royal Quilt Finished!

The Crown Royal Quilt is finished! After 5 years of collecting bags, months of searching for a pattern, and days of working on this quilt, it's finally completely and totally done. I saw a free pattern for this quilt, but it didn't work with the size of the blocks I had cut out, so I changed the size, adjusted the other blocks and made it work with the blocks I had. I used 72 bags for this quilt and a lot of fabric! I think it was close to 18 yards of fabric. The back is solid black as is the binding. The border is the same print as the gold, but in a purple and it really pops the bags. The next one I do will have smaller center squares since some of these I had to use the seams of the CR bags and the thread on those is nylon. It simply melted and burned if it was pressed. If I cut the centers at 4" instead of 4.5" I think I'll have better luck.

This quilt is going to my brother and his wife. I am hopeful they will use it on their bed as they asked for a queen size and that's what size I was able to make it. The next one I make will be for my little bro and then one for Vicki, the lady who gave us all the bags. She collects them over the course of a year at the bar she works at and then gives them to my brother at hunting time. My dad and Paul held up the quilt, but the living room really wasn't big enough to be able to see it well. The golden color is the most true part of the coloring.
I put it on the frame a week before Christmas and had plenty of time to quilt it, but our lives took an unexpected turn and I just didn't have the enthusiasm to finish it for Christmas for my brother. I was off early on New Years Eve and I finished the quilting before we headed to my parents for the weekend. I took the quilt with me and put the binding on, on New Years Day. I ended up sewing it all by machine as I hope the quilt will be used a lot and that way it's durable.

It was hard to hold it up without hitting the ceiling fan! It's 11 blocks by 13 blocks, 7.5" finished blocks.

I put it on my parents queen size bed and it hangs over both sides and top and bottom on it. This picture is after it's washed and dried.

This is a close-up of the quilting. I did a meandering with black Isacord in the top and black Bottomline. It worked really well.

Another closeup of the quilting. I quilted around the embroidered part of the bag.

My first official UFO finish of 2010! I'm so glad to have this monkey off my back, now I can't wait to give it to my bro and see if he likes it.

2009 Quilting Accomplishments

Looking back at 2009 I can't believe how much I accomplished compared to 2008.
A Look at the 2008 numbers:
Large Quilts: 10
Baby Quilts: 4
Purses/Bags: 25
Wall Hangings: 11
Tablerunners: 14
Clothes:8
Quilted for others: 5
Other: 10
Part of a special quilt: 3

Now a look at the same areas for 2009:
Large Quilts: 12
Baby Quilts: 12
Purses/Bags: 44
Wall Hangings: 10
Tablerunners: 3
Clothes: 7
Quilted for Others:5
Others (Pillowcases, bookcovers, burp clothes, books) : 20
Part of a special quilt: 3

The only area where I had a significant difference was in the tablerunner department. I guess that's why I asked for the new Runners book by Anka's Treasures for my birthday.
I made significantly more large and baby quilts, but the real jump was in the bag department. I absolutely love making bags and purses. I haven't made any in a while, so I'm looking forward to the one I'm going to make in Jan for a store sample.

I still haven't written my Christmas letter. I don't know if it's my friends picking on me for always being late or the lack of a picture to send, but I still haven't gotten my cards out. I'm one who believes better late than never. There were several highlights to this year for me, but the big ones include:

~Attending the St. Jude Retreat and meeting some of the most awesome blogging quilting friends, I truly feel blessed that I was able to meet everyone. It's nice to put a face with a name. I know that those friends who are ever so dear to me, will be by my side in the next year and for that I am eternally greatful. It's awesome to have so much encouragement and long distance hugs from you guys.
~ My husband got a job! The company is incredible. He enjoys it and he's got some great co-workers. I love all the stories he tells and meeting the guys. He caught a huge bass we are having mounted and shot a big buck that is also being mounted.
~Working & teaching at Quilt Corral Too with my mom and the girls. The friendship we share is awesome and I really enjoyed being around the fabric. Our Bag Ladies club was oh so much fun. We were all sorry to see it close, but a new, even better shop will open in Jan! It will be so nice to have a place to buy fabric again. I haven't bought any in a month! Working at TSC and being able to teach classes the past few months has been lots of fun for me. I love to teach!
~ Travelling to the Twin Cities in June with my family and staying with the cousins. They treated us like royalty and we had such an incredible time. Jen joining us was the icing on the cake. It was so much fun shop hopping to the quilt shops there. I'm excited for July when we travel there again for the Lego wedding.
~ My work trip to Disney World. I couldn't have asked for a more incredible time. It was simply magical and makes me truly appreciate the company I work for and the other employees who value my hard work and dedication. "It's fun to do the impossible" Walt Disney
~ Spending time with my niece and family. She's growing up and every time I see her she's doing more. She has so much spunk. Going to quilt retreats and shows with my mom. We share our love of quilting and several times we did weekend quilting getaways. It's so much fun to work on projects together.

As I look to the New Year, I'm not going to set any long term goals. I'm going to work on my UFO list, quilt what I want, when I want to, and not put any pressure on myself. There are quilts I'd like to do, but I'm going to go with the flow. I'm going to relax and take more time to enjoy life and my quilting.
Happy New Year & Welcome 2010!

December Quilting Accomplishments

December was a very productive month for me! I was able to finish up most of my projects for which I am very greatful.
My goals for December included:
~ 2 Baby Quilts - DONE!
~3 Cloth Books - DONE!
~Crazy Eights Wall Hanging - DONE! & Tablerunner - Top DONE!
~Crown Royal Quilt - Almost DONE! - Should be quilted this afternoon.
~Figgy Pudding Quilt - DONE!
~Jenn's Wall Hanging
~One Block Wonder - DONE!
~Quilt Pink - DONE!

The only thing I didn't work on was Jenn's wall hanging, but she's not in a hurry for it, so I want to take my time and do a good job on it. The rest of the list makes me feel phenomenal to have gotten so much done. My guess is I'll hit 100 hours of quilting this afternoon. It's such a rush to hit 100 hours this month.

I completed the 100 Blocks in 100 Days, with a total of 300 blocks made. I think I was the sole survivor in counting. Jennifer guessed I would have 307, so she was the closest. I'll get something made and send it out to her in the new year as time permits.

My goals for January include a lap size boots quilt and a runaround bag from the Fast & Furious Book, both samples for the new store. Looking at my UFO list, I'm hoping to get a few more things taken off the list. I'll probably only finish a few things in Jan. but I'll just enjoy the next year and what gets done, gets done.

January Goals
Western Boots Quilt
Run-around Bag
Jenn's Wall Hanging

Crazy Eight's Table runner

The Crazy Eight's wall hanging got done before Christmas, but the scraps and leftovers have been hanging out waiting to be transformed into something new. While I was at my parents, snowed in by the blizzard, I took the scraps and made this tablerunner. It's from the book Let's Do Lunch by Terry Atkinson. It's a very easy to follow pattern and went together quickly. I finished it up on Tues. night. Once I have the CR quilt off the frame I'll quilt it. It's small enough that I could quilt it on my regualar machine, but it's a lot easier and quicker on the frame. I still have plenty of leftovers and I'm thinking I might try to make yet another tablerunner from the scraps, but we'll just have to see how things go. I also have some Figgy Pudding scraps that I might make into a tablerunner.

Crown Royal Quilt

Last night I brought home a couple samples to make for the store and although I wanted to start them immediately, I knew I needed to finish up the Crown Royal quilt first. I need it off the frame so I have a little more room to work and I don't feel guilty with it on there. There's just something so freeing about taking off the quilt from the frame. I worked on it for a hour or so, getting to about the halfway point. I talked to a good friend on the phone for a while and then I went back to work on the quilt. I quilted probably another quarter of it before calling it a night. I have probably about 10 passes left to quilt, but since it's at the end and my area gets smaller it seems like a lot, but it really isn't all that much. I'm actually hoping when I get off this afternoon I'll be able to get it quilted before we head to my parents for the weekend. It would be so nice to be able to take it along and put the binding on down there. I took a few closeups of the quilting. The top picture most accurately shows the color of the gold and purples.



I'd love to have this be my last finish for the year. I'm so close to being done with it, I can't wait! This has been a quilt at least 4 years in the making.

Quilting Funk

I'm in a quilting funk this week. I finished the top of the Crown Royal quilt and got it loaded on the frame last week Sunday. I thought I'd be able to get it quilted as my bro's Christmas gift, but some changes to the plan led me to put the quilting aside and not try to rush it. It's still loaded on the frame, but I'm not feeling like quilting it. I suppose because it's so big is why I'm struggling. I do fine on small wall hangings and baby quilts, but quilting one this size is just a little overwhelming to me. Here's what it looked like before I had all the rows together.

We were able to head to my parents on Christmas Eve morning. The roads were fine and we made it safely. We spent Christmas Eve with my brother and his family at their house. It was a beautiful, but cold night. It was so fun to see my niece running around and playing. We got back to my parents and settled in for the night. We woke up to blizzard conditions Christmas morning and there was no way my bro & his family were going to make it. So Paul, my little bro Ed, and I helped mom make dinner. It was such a good meal. While mom and dad napped, Ed helped me do the dishes. Late in the afternoon we opened presents and watched movies. It's just too bad we had to watch them on the little 13" tv. My parents X-mas present was a new big TV, but it was at my brothers house. We all played cards Christmas night. Mom and I smoked Dad and Ed at Cribbage and then I smoked the boys at poker. No matter which kind we played... I beat them.
We were snowed in Sat. too, so more games, sewing, and movies. Mom and I finished the fabric books for my niece and I started a Christmas Tablerunner. Dad tried to get out, but got stuck and then wind picked up more, so there was no going for us.
Sunday morning a local rancher came with a tractor and got the yard cleaned enough that Ed and Dad could get to town. My dad's blade is there and he was able to get the road and yard cleared out a bit before going and doing the main road and to the other guys house so he could plow too. They were gone all day. Paul and I packed up and headed home about noon. We had our own 6 foot tall by 10 foot wide drift behind our vehicles at home. We didn't get that cleared out till yesterday, but the cars are still full of snow, so Paul has taken me to work both yesterday and today. Last night I finished the top of the Christmas Crazy Eights tablerunner. I'll get it quilted as soon as the CR quilt is off the frame and I finish Jenn's wall hanging.
We're headed to my parents for the New Years weekend so Paul can go hunting. He didn't get a chance last weekend because of all the snow.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Figgy Pudding Happy Hour Quilt

Last night I prepped the backing and batting for the Figgy Pudding quilt. I was just going to load it and make a pass or two, but I got going and it was going well, so I finished quilting the whole quilt. When I got done I was going to wait till today to put the binding on, but it was still early, so I cut and sewed the binding to the quilt too. Today I've been working on the binding during breaks and I should be able to get it finished by the end of the week. I'm loving this Christmas quilt!



100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 251 Blocks/ Day 94

Our Newest Addition to the Family

Meet the newest addition to our family, Merry! My MIL had to put her 21 year old cat down on Labor Day weekend, so she's been missing having a cat to cuddle. This weekend while she was out with Paul they found this cat and after discussing it, we decided to adopt Merry as a Christmas present for Leslie. So far Merry has been really quiet and very content, so we're enjoying having her around. I'm not much of a cat person, but even I've cuddled up with this cutie. Missy's not quite a sure about her and continually has to test her.




100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 251 Blocks/ Day 94