Friday Night Sewing

Tonight I got a few hours of uninterrupted sewing time! All week has been crazy and both Paul and I have been sick, so not much was getting done. Last night I cut and sewed all the strips for this table runner. It's done Quilt as You go style and I got the strip sets made last night. Tonight I did the quilting and put the binding on it. Hopefully I'll get the hand work done tomorrow as Paul's driving. We're heading up to Belle/Spearfish to go to the quilt shops.

After I got the table runner done, I made up these super cute booties for Mikaela. Mom had them cut out and I just had to iron and sew them. They turned out so cute! There will definately be more in her future. I've gotta look for some cute fabrics to make them out of now. And to think I almost tossed this UFO because I wasn't sure what it was!


Just too stinkin cute! Sewing the last two nights has really revitalized me! I took my quilting machine in to have it serviced today. Hopefully it'll be back in a week and I'll be able to quilt up a few tops I've got prepped. In the mean time, I've taken apart my mom's BQII quilt top and I'm going to sew it back together and get the borders on it. I also have another store sample top to complete and hope to get it started this weekend. Now that I've finished both table runner samples, I'm going to reward myself and buy fabric for borders for the Cowboys Minkee quilt for me!

Mikaela is 12 Weeks Old!

Mikaela turned 12 weeks old on April 13th. She's growing like a weed and starting to outgrow some of her sleepers.

She loves to stretch out her arms and move them. She's laying on an afghan my Aunt Jane made. I just love the hearts.

She's thinking it's bedtime, not picture time!

April Groovy Girls!

Friday night was Groovy Girls Night! It was all about Mom and Me in the kitchen. Tammy is wearing one of the sample aprons.

I had to take a picture of our Gypsy display just for Jen! It's all purple and includes the amazing Gypsy Sit Upon. If you haven't tried one, it's definately a necessity for quilt retreats. It really helps the back.

We had a great group of ladies at GG's. This is the front part of the shop.

In the classroom, Shonna, Kristina, and Gaila were busy sewing after the class was over. We were all pretty silly by the end of the night.

These ladies have been regulars too. We always talk about very interesting stuff. We were discussing sewing scissors to snip skin tabs. You just never know what you'll learn at GG's!

We had a great night.
One of the projects was chenille potholders. I made this one to match the childs apron.

This one matched the adult apron. I figured out a new way to do bias binding just by folding the fabric and these went together really quickly!

I worked on this baby quilt. I got all the borders on and it's now ready to be quilted. It's for my cousin who is having a baby in August, so I have plenty of time to get it done.

Mikaela is 11 Weeks Old!

Last week Mikaela turned 11 weeks old. My MIL's friend Rich took us out to breakfast, so I got a few pictures of Mikaela with him. She's really starting to have facial expressions.

Rich and Mikaela
She was intent on her daddy making noise across the table.

Virtual Quilt Retreat

While the most cre8tive girls I know were at quilt retreat in WI, I was home with a sick little girl. I hadn't planned to go, simply because I'm nursing and couldn't be away that long from my 2 month old. But I did plan to spend time quilting and chatting with the girls while they were at retreat. I started Friday night and pulled out my mom's BQ2 quilt. It's made with Jim Shore Angels and mom and I had layed it out and pinned it at retreat in Sept. I sewed it all together, carefully pinning and matching all the seams. I got the entire top done, took a picture to send to Jen & 1I, only to realize it was layed out wrong! the seams weren't supposed to match and the way I put it together makes it look like theres a really off sashing. It's destined to be taken apart and fixed. I just don't like it the way it is now!
Saturday we did our errands, cleaned house, and reorganized our bedroom. Mikaela was coming down with a cold, so we turned on the humidifier, vaporizer, and boiled some water. We gave her a bath and put her to bed early, like 8PM.
Saturday afternoon I pulled out mom's quilty tablerunner and pulled out all the safety pins, put it on the frame and quilted it. I wanted to check out the tension on the machine and get it set before doing a bigger quilt. It quilted up really quickly.  It's a tablerunner she made in a class I taught last year. She took it with her friend Darlene, not because she couldn't do it herself, but for something to do together.

She fussy cut the squares.

The center block is my favorite. It pretty much sums up my mom, she loved to collect fabric and she definately was the WINNER with as much fabric as she had.

This is the backing fabric. It's one we both picked up a yard of on a quilt shop hop. I think we were in Chamberlain at the time. I made mine into a bag.

After Mikaela was in bed, I went to work loading a quilt for a family member. It's going to be a birthday present. I brought my computer down and turned it on and attempted to video chat with Jen and Regina at quilt retreat. I could hear and see them, but they could only see me. It was still so fun to wave and listen to them. We used IM for a while to "talk" too. It wasn't like being there, but it was the next best thing. It was about 11 when I started quilting the family member quilt and I figured I'd work on it until Mikaela woke up. I got the entire thing quilted and decided I didn't like the first two rows of tension, so I started tearing them out. About 1 I got tired and finally went to bed. Mikaela didn't wake up until 5AM, so I'm glad I didn't wait up for her to wake up!
Sunday I finished ripping and requilted the quilt and put the binding on it. I'll show pictures after I give it, since there's a chance the recipient will read this. I also put the binding on the quilty tablerunner. I cut out 8 pillowcases too. They will be birthday gifts, but hope to get a few pictures after they are made.
Last night I had good intentions of serging all the pillowcases, but I was having troubles with the threading on my serger and figured a different day would have a different outcome, so I quit for the evening. I put a label on a quilt and hand stitched it down. Then I worked on the quilty tablerunners hand sewn binding. I'm hoping tonight to get the serger going and get all those pillowcases done.
All in all it was a really productive weekend and I wouldn't have accomplished nearly as much without the encouragement of Jen & 1I!

March Quilting Accomplishments

March proved to be a very productive month for me in the quilting studio! I've been getting lots done and finished up several UFO's which feels great.
I finished quilting and sewing the binding on as well as the hand sewing on the binding of the Twister tablerunner.

I made about 8 receiving blankets for Mikaela, some for daycare and some just because.

The camo one is one of my favorites.

I also made her some burp clothes for daycare.

And some other burp clothes, just because.

I made this pillowcase out of some of mom's pink ribbon fabric.

I made this pillowcase from a kit mom picked up last year on shop hop.

I made, quilted, and put the binding on this tablerunner to go with a queen size Double Irish Chain for friends.

I finished the quilting and hand stitching on the binding on the Double Irish Chain. Hope to give it to friends next weekend.

Snowman Tablerunner quilted and binding done, another of Mom's UFO's finished!

Made this tablerunner Quilt As You Go for a sample for FC.

Made this mini diaper bag from scraps of fat quarters mom had made a larger schlep bag out of. It's the perfect size for short trips.


I also got about 60 Crown Royal bags cut out for my little brother's quilt. I hope to get more done this month and maybe get started on the actual top. I also spent quite a bit of time putting away the fabric I received from my mom and sorting out and organizing her UFO's. I figure there are about 30 UFO's and quite a few that aren't started, but are projects. I've finished about quite a few so far, so I'm making progress.
The only goal I didn't accomplish was another snowflake twister table topper, but I'll have to work on that later. I just wasn't feeling the motivation with the nice weather. I'm back at work and so far Mikaela is doing well at daycare and work is going good. It's nice to have a routine.
I got 91 hours in, but a lot of it was before I went to work and the few hours every evening Paul watches her so I can sew. Quilting has really been my therapy and I find so much relaxation in finishing up mom's UFO's.
My goals for April include:
Quilting and Binding Quilty Table runner
QAYG table runner sample
Hot Mat samples
Bind Boots quilt

Mikaela is 10 Weeks Old!

Mikaela turned 10 weeks old this week and boy the time is flying by. She's dressed in a sleeper from my co-worker Kay this week.  It's got a really cute pink elephant on it. She's laying on an afghan made by my mom's cousin Wayne's wife Linda. It's super soft and just beautifully made!

Mikaela was not really into mommy taking pictures last night, she was more ready to fall asleep, which she did shortly after these pictures were taken. Literally she just fell asleep while I was shooting!

She had a great evening Wednesday, when she spent the evening with my Aunt Jane and Uncle Tom.
Paul and I went out to supper to celebrate his birthday and Mikaela stayed with them for a couple hours. She's so content and relaxed. I know they thoroughly enjoyed having her as Jane's already asked to watch her again.

Sewing Away

I've been sewing away this week. I quilted and bound this tablerunner mom had made. I think it took me longer to do the hand work on the table runner than to actually finish it up. It's kind of whimiscal snowmen and uses the 60* ruler.

I made this quilt as you go tablerunner for a sample for TSC. I'm not a big fan of the yellow because I think it over powers it a bit. This one was sewn in stratas and then cut apart and done QAYG style. I haven't done that in a long time, so it was a nice change of pace.

I also took out the top stitching and changed the handles around on the mini diaper bag. I'm loving the size it turned out!

I also took a picture of the inside of the bag. It's the same only the triangles are all different and the squares are 3 different fabrics. I just love this fabric!

Mini Diaper Bag

Tonight I pulled out the scraps of fat quarters left from a large diaper bag mom made for Mikaela. They are Amy Bradley prints if I remember right and I just loved them when she got them. She made a schlep bag out of them and I carry it on the weekends when we're out and about. With the scraps I was able to cut out a smaller one, with 4.5" squares. I only had to piece the handles and the inside setting triangles are all different, but I think it looks cool. I finished it and realized I put the handles in the wrong place, so I'll take it out and fix it. I'm just so excited to have finished it in one night, start to finish with no pattern. I've made the schlep pattern so often I just go with it. I absolutely love how it turned out!


Tonight after Mikaela's bath I got her dressed for bed and put her in the rubber ducky sleep sack that my co-worker Kim gave her. I think it's so super cute and I've been wanting to take a picture of her in it for Kim. My friend Issac's daughter Lily has the same one. Tonight she was in the mood and I got a few good pictures. She's laying on the blanket her little friend Olivia gave her. Olivia is Jenn's daughter and she was so proud of it. Tomorrow is her 4th birthday. I can't believe she's so big already, she wasn't 2 yet when I met her. Paul's birthday is tomorrow too, so we have a babysitter who's been hinting that she'd watch Mikaela if we wanted to leave her, so we're taking her up on the offer.

She's been smiling like crazy, only not when mommy is taking pictures!

She was off to bed early tonight, asleep a little after 10, so I think I'm going to make it an early night. Any time before midnight is early!