Fabric, Fabric, and More Fabric

I've been doing lots of sewing/quilting, but nothing really to show other than the fabric I've been working with. Mom and I are making a quilt(s) out of my great aunt's old clothes for her. They are all double knit polyesters, so very different than what we normally work with. We cut out 12.5" and 6.5" squares and are planning to do  4 patchsalternating with the 12" squares. Mom and I both worked on cutting them on Sun., then split up the rest of the clothes and worked on our own this week. We both got done yesterday, so I gave her my stack and she's going to work on the 4 patches. Hopefully by next week we'll be able to sew them together. Here's a sampling of the different colors we're working with. Since neither of us are scrappy people, this is going to be a bit of a challenge. We hope to get the top together next week and then I'll quilt it.
  
I've also been busy making a bag out of this pheasant fabric. I'm using the Lazy Girl Summer Tote bag pattern, but putting my own spin on it. I'm quilting it instead of fusing it and doing long inside pockets instead of outside ones. Friday night I got all the pieces quilted and cut out. Now I just need some time to put it together. It's hard to see, but I used a golden verigated King Tut thread to quilt and it blends right in. Pheasant season starts in a few short weeks, so I've really got to get busy and finish this one ASAP!
 
My other fun project is a tree skirt for our Christmas tree. I picked out these fabrics from the Adoring line and am going to use the Atkinson Designs table topper pattern in the large size, with the strips. The first six pieces are the strips, the first read is binding, second red is contrast, the cream with trees is the background, and the holiday balls fabric is the backing. I'm so excited to work on it this weekend!

I have lots of plans for the weekend, so I'm sure I won't get them all done! This is the first weekend in the last 6 months where I'm: Off work, NO papers dues, and we're staying HOME! I love being gone, I'm doing well in my masters program, and I love my second job, but it is so relaxing to know I can sew this weekend. My weekend goals include finishing the Pheasant bag, quilting the brown/teal quilt, and hopefully getting the tree skirt top done.
My wonderful amazing hubby is finishing his first project as a supervisor at work today. I'm so proud of him, but am going to miss him so much next week when he starts working 3 hours away. He'll be gone all week, so I hope to get some quilting done. I'll probably have some friends over for an evening of sewing too!
I finished my 2nd masters class this week and got an A! I'm so excited to have it finished. It was really hard having a class in the summer. I just was not motivated to work on it. I'm taking a class this fall that starts on Oct.4th. and then I'm taking the Winter term off for baby.
Since we found out what we're having, we haven't told anyone, except our parents. I haven't even bought anything gender related.... until I was in an LQS the other day. I picked up this really cute baby flannel. It's gender specific, so I took the picture in black and white, but I love all the sayings. It's so super cute!
 
Here's to a great weekend of sewing and quilting. Hopefully I'll have some finished projects to show next week!

Mesa's Shower

This past weekend I went to my parents after work on Sat. Mom and I planned to work on Vi's quilt, but the main reason I went was to attend the baby shower for my grade school friend Lindsey and her baby Mesa. I made the Wanna Be A Cowboy quilt for her, but I couldn't say that when I was making it, since she's a faithful reader of my blog. I absolutely love this fabric and have enough to make maybe one or two more things out of it. Sure hope Riley Blake comes out with something similar for next year in both boy and girl colors.
Lindsey's reading the label. 

Opening the Quilt: She loved it.

My mom made this super cute bunting and hat for her.

The hat fit perfectly!

It was such a nice shower and so enjoyable to visit with friends and neighbors. I loved seeing all the fun things she got. It makes me want to go register for baby stuff.
Mom and worked more on the quilt after the shower, then I had to head home. My last paper of the quarter was due... and I had procrastinated and not finished it. I got it done and turned in, so class is over!

Smarty Girl Book Bag

A couple weeks ago when I was at the store working on a Sat. Tammy and I pulled a few patterns that neede samples made. This book bag looks so small on the pattern, so we decided it needed to be made up. The pattern is Smarty Girl Book Bag by Heather Bailey. It turned out really cute and it's about 12"x14".

I used the new Spa fabric that had just come in from Windham Fabrics. Those ruffles scared me to death, but in the end they were super easy and not at all what I expected. The pattern has the handle made first which usually doesn't happen, but I really liked it on this bag because other wise I wouldn't have finished it. I would have just put it to the side.

The handle just had to be sewn on after the bag was made and sice it was already done, I sewed it on quick. It was very late last night when I finally finished, but I think it turned out great!

Winner!

Several weeks ago I participated in a blog hop for the new Star Struck Quilts Book by Barbara Cline. The quilt on the cover looks so cool and I wanted to win the book, but instead I won fabric! I won a fat quarter pack of 41 fqs. from RJR fabrics. They are Jinny Beyer fabrics. I don't know what I'll do with them yet, but they are very inspiring. I've never had a fat quarter pack before. Thanks Barbara for drawing my name!

Badlands Quilters Quilt Retreat

Friday afternoon mom picked me up and we went to the South Fork Hunting Lodge near Philip for a quilt retreat with the Badlands Quilters Guild. It's an absolutely beautiful lodge with lots of large tables and a huge island to work on. This picture was taken outside Friday night. Mom and I along with Subby were the only Friday night attendees, but we made use of the available space to work on our projects.

Mom and Subby were working on the Friday night mystery quilt. Mom was going to cut her fabrics. Notice the zebra hide in the background? It was hanging over the banister. It was so cool!

Subby had a table all to herself. We had the tv on for music in the background.

Subby finished the cutest baby quilt! The center was the mystery part of the night and then with big borders it turned into a baby quilt. I thought it was so adorable. I think the fabric is Spring Fling by Me & My Sisters. We sewed till midnight and Subby was finished, mom had her blocks done, and I had the top and bottom borders left on the quilt I was working on, so overall a very productive evening.

I worked on the brown and teal quilt that has been hiding out in my closet since last August! I had the center done, but had to add all the borders. I ended up forgetting the pattern, so I made it up as I went. I put on the brown border then the small squares border and finally a large border to make it big enough for our bed. I finished the top and bottom borders Sat. morning, so the light was shining in when I took a picture. It's a queen size. I also sewed the backing together, so I can quilt it when I get thread and time to put it on the frame. I have a wool batting I've been saving to use with this quilt.

Mom, Subby, and I spent the night in one of the cabins and it was wonderful! The beds were comfy, internet access, and we could get up when we felt like it. Mom and I were up and back to the lodge by 8. We had breakfast with the rest of the guild members that had arrived. Then we went back to sewing. Mom was finishing her Fri night mystery and Carol was working on a youth comfort quilt. I was at the far end of the table.

Donna was busy cutting out her comfy quilt.

After finishing the teal and brown quilt, I worked on the zoo parade baby quilt. This is the second one I've made and I've had it sitting around waiting to be made. It was so much easier to use the big island to lay it out and then I could put it on the floor if I needed. I loved having so much open, clean work space to spread out my quilts.

The guild showed their raffle quilt they had made and it is ready to be quilted. It will be raffled off and given away at the spring retreat in March. It's from Keepsake Quilting.

In the afternoon I worked on the ripple effects tablerunner I have had cut out for months! I finally was able to get it sewn together. I think it turned out cute, but I wish I had placed the really dark purple and browns a bit differently. I'll get this one quilted and it will make a nice fall tablerunner.

Rita and Veva were busy working on their comfy quilts in the afternoon.

At the end of the afternoon, the guild played a game of left right center for fat quarters. Mom and I packed up our sewing stuff and got ready to leave. We took a picture with all nine of us that were at the retreat. Dora Mae, Carol, Rita, Subby, Veva, Donna, Me, Mom, and Judy. It was a beautiful afternoon and we all enjoyed being outside. Then we loaded up and headed to town for supper at the steakhouse.

It was such a fun and relaxing 2 days and I really enjoyed getting some extra uninterrupted sewing time in. I was able to complete 3 tops that have been sitting around not getting done. Plus I got to spend lots of time with my mom. We laughed and joked and told stories. It was a blast! The rest of the guild spent Sat. night and sewed part of Sunday too, but mom and I had a family reunion to attend, so we cut our time short. We both would love to host a retreat there again, but we'll have to see what will work out.

Candy Corn Table Toppers

Last weekend I made these two Candy Corn Table Toppers. I can't believe how cute they turned out. I sent my mom a cell phone picture, but when she saw them in person she said it looked so much better than the cell phone picture. I was able to get the binding done on both because I had lots of waiting time at Dr. appointments this week. When I got the pattern it called for fat eights and since I couldn't get them, I got fat quarters, so I decided to just double the yardage and have enough to make two. The yardage is generous and I have enough to make another tabletopper the same way. I figure they will make really cute gifts for friends and to have at my office. Hobby Lobby has the cutest candy corn dish to put in the center, so I'll be getting a couple more when they go on sale again.
I made the first one, which took no time at all, then I cut out the second one and it went even quicker. I was able to piece the top in under an hour. I probably spend about 3 hours total on each of these.

Here they are together. They are about 24" across, so pretty large and these are the small size!

I used a king tut flower power orange/yellow verigated thread and Gold Bottomline on the back since I used the candy corn for the backing too. They both quilted up fairly quickly and I was able to sew the binding on in less than an hour.

Lucky Day!

Today just seemed to feel like a lucky day to me. I've been waiting for this day to get here for so long, I thought it would never come! This morning I got an email saying I had won a blog tour give away of some fabric. I'm so looking forward to receiving it! Then I moved all my stuff out of my desk at work as I'll be getting a new desk. It should be there when I return tomorrow morning. I also scratched off my lotto ticket and won today, not much, but still more than I had!  I took the afternoon off to go to my ultrasound. It went well and was very interesting. Paul was there and all along I've told him that he had to make the decision if we found out or not. All weekend he said no we weren't finding out, but when we got in the office, he said YES right away, so we know! It will make planning a lot easier and it was fun to find out. I wanted to guess myself, but looking at those things I don't think I would know what I was looking at if the tech hadn't pointed it out. So for all those wanting to know... I'll keep you guessing, but in another 18 weeks you'll find out. We did look at cribs today, but they were out of the one we wanted, so we'll keep looking.

Happy Holiday Table Topper

This weekend I actually got time to sew/quilt. Saturday after work I just couldn't decide what to work on, so I cleaned/organized my sewing studio. It feels so good to have it organized and I can find what I need. I packed two bags for my class that I'm teaching Wed. I usually keep all my beginning quilting stuff together, but it's been about 6 months since I last taught it, so I needed to reorganized and make sure it was all together. Then I started packing for the quilt retreat mom and I are going to this weekend. It's going to be so fun and relaxing to get away. I cleaned my machine and figured out the couple projects I want to take. I know I'm taking more than I can accomplish, but I don't want to get bored. I recently stocked up on cream and white warm and natural batting, but it was all folded, so I rolled it on to the poles I have. It works so much better when I can cut it off the roll.

I couldn't decide what to work on next, so I pulled out the fabric I just got last weekend to make a Halloween table topper using the Atkinson Designs Happy Holidays pattern. It cut out quick, sewed up quick, and I had all six pieces done by Sat. night. It took me less than an hour! Today I finished up the first one and made a second one, either it will be a gift, a sample, or for my office. I quilted both and put the binding on them tonight. It feels great to have two projects accomplished in such a short time. I just love how it turned out with the candy cane fabric and I have a candy cane bowl from Hobby Lobby that will look great on it.

August Quilting Accomplishments

August was a very productive month for me!  I had six goals and I accomplished all of them.
Make Fabric Book - DONE!

Quilt 1 Baby Quilt - 1 DONE! I quilted and bound the Sign Language baby quilt.

Tablerunner for Kuhn Wedding - DONE!

Tablerunner for Pfeifer Wedding - DONE!

Throw Quilt for Aunt Lil - DONE! Aunt Lil loved the quilt!

Work on 1 UFO - 1 DONE! I finished Merry's quilt.


Other quilting accomplishments included:
Halloween 60* Table runner

Hold that Thought gift holders

Wallet & Grommet Purse

Valentine Hexi Table runner

I also did lots of fun things with friends and family:
Enjoyed the fair with friends!
Spent the weekend with family fishing and tubbing the river!
Attended a cousin's wedding.

All in all it was a very productive month. Hopefully I'll get lots done in September while I'm still able to use my quilt frame.
My September Goals include:
Halloween Table Topper
Brown/Teal Quilt
Pheasant Bag
Ruffle Bag