Busy Week

I made this bag for my sister to use as a lunch bag.  When I told her she was very hard to buy gifts for, she came up with some suggestions, one of which was a lunch bag.  I had this pattern for the "Button Bag" from This and That Patterns  so I used the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum charm squares to make it.  It was quick and easy to make - I think I'll make some more of these.

My quilt guild hands out a BOM each month and I try to make one or usually 2 of them.  This is the block for July and we will be putting them together to make a quilt for the Fisher House  that is being built near the VA Hospital in Dallas, TX.  All the guilds in the area are making quilts for the beds.  I think it is supposed to open in September.

I've been buying a lot of fabric lately...I can't help it...really!  This collection is going to be used in my Polka Dot Girls quilt.  I am working on the stitchery for the first block, but haven't had much time this week.

This fabric is for the A Tisket A Tasket wall hanging by Liberty Star that I admired at a quilt shop (check out the designers blog here.  My girlfriend bought me the pattern and 2 of the fabrics as an early birthday gift!  I got the 2 fabrics on the top at the Mesquite Quilt Show on Saturday.  I still need more pinks and browns for this project.
I'm busy today getting ready for my DS#3, DIL & new GS to arrive.  They are moving from the Naval Air Station where they were instructor pilots, to another Air Force Base where DS will be stationed.  My DIL will be a stay at home Mommy!  I just took a blueberry pie out of the oven and cooked some potatoes for potato salad.  More cleaning & shopping to do this afternoon.  Have a great weekend, everyone!  I can't wait until they (especially Jonah) get here!  My rocking chair is ready!

Why are weekends so short?

I can't believe it's Sunday night already!  This weekend just flew by, but I want to show you what I have started.  This is my first stitchery from the Polka Dot Girls quilt.  It is really fun to work on!

I also finished 2 BOMs:  Noah's Ark and Capricorn Quilts.

Yesterday I went to a small quilt show and found a few fabrics for the Polka Dot Girls quilt and other projects.  

Tomorrow I will take DH to the airport so he can go to help DS#3 move.  On Friday, DS, DIL & new baby will come here on their way to their new home, so I will get to see Jonah again.  I can't believe he's a month old already.  I can't wait to see him again!

My other GS wants me to make him a new quilt, so I will need to get fabric for that.  Have a great week!

Baby Shower Quilt

This baby quilt is made entirely from my stash and it isn't real "babyish."  I decided to use the fabric in the border because the mom & dad have 3 dogs and at least 1 cat, so I know they are animal lovers.  I bought the fabrics several years ago and wanted to use it.  I had no idea if it would turn out or if I would like it.  When it was ready for quilting, I decided to do an overall design and I had this clam shell stencil - which I had never used.  I started tracing it with a tracing pencil and after tracing it once, my hands were tired and I didn't want to do the whole quilt that way.  So I decided to go out and purchase a "quilt pounce."  The top of the quilt is quite busy, and the quilt pounce chalk didn't really show up too well, but at least it was easier than using a pencil.  While doing the free motion machine quilting, I remembered what Bonnie Hunter said in her 6/10/08 blog post.  She was quilting by hand on a particular quilt and she found it easier to quilt it from the back.  Since the back of the baby quilt is predominantly black (an odd color for a baby quilt), the chalk showed up a lot better and I finished it from the back.

Here's the back view.  It has cats scattered on black.  The binding and green in the top of the quilt is balls of yarn and goes with the backing fabric.
Don't look too closely at the quilting job.  I'm about to give up on doing free motion quilting.  This was a pretty simple quilt pattern, but I still had a hard time staying on the lines.  
Here's a close-up of the border.  This is my favorite part of the quilt.  I love the pet shop!  This is the first time I have ever done a mitered border.
So, for better or worse, this is the shower quilt.  I guess I'm somewhat satisfied with it and hope she likes it.  It certainly is a baby quilt made to be used, dragged and played on.

Another Squirrel Story

Before I go into the squirrel saga, here is my latest stitchery from Capricorn Quilts.  I did the first 4 in blue and decided to do the next 4 in red.  I have the next one ready to start stitching on after I finish the little kangaroo stitchery for the Noah's Ark wall hanging.  That is almost finished (I worked on it while watching Miss Potter last night).

I have 3 pots hanging on the fence in the back yard.  In the summer, I usually put geraniums in the pots (or impatiens) and in the winter, pansies.  As you can see, in the picture below, the squirrels seem to enjoy these pots.  The tree behind the fence is an oak tree and we get tons of acorns in our yard.  The squirrels like to save acorns for future meals, and they found a good place to bury them  - my flower pots.  About a month ago I planted some geraniums in the pots so it would look pretty for the summer.  I would come home from work to find one (or more) of the geraniums on the ground.  Sometimes they pull it out by the roots, sometimes it looks like they chew it off.  I give up!

It looks like he's chewing on the pot in this picture!
This is how my yard looks now.  Empty pots!  I decided to leave them up so the squirrels can play in them.  They seem to enjoy it and we kind of enjoy watching the mischievous little rascals.  
Today I am finishing up a baby quilt for a shower tomorrow.  I will post it when it is finished. I'm not sure I like it or not. 

A couple projects

Last weekend I finished up this small quilt and Monday I took it to my quilt guild meeting where I turned it in for donation to the Children's Medical Center.  These blocks were made by various members of my guild and I won them in the drawing for that particular month.  I got enough to make a quilt.  I hope it gives comfort to someone.

Here's another BOM from Lynette Anderson Designs.

Go to her web site to sign up for a new free pattern drawing.  Or you can download her Noah's Ark patterns.  This one is the third and she added the kangaroo stitchery recently.

There is another drawing at Canton Village Quilt Works.  This one is a really special prize - she will quilt for FREE a quilt up to twin size!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!  

A stitchery block

I was planning to post this sooner, but I don't know where the time goes.  This is one of the blocks from capricorn quilts .  

I have another one finished but forgot to take a picture of it, so I will try to post again soon.  I tried to load three more pictures now, but they wouldn't load.  :-(

Go to Lynette Anderson Designs  to sign up for a free pattern drawing.

I had another picture on this post, but just lost it, so I will try again later.  Hope you have a good day!

Doll Quilt

I finished the doll quilt that I was making for my niece's little girl.  I hand pieced the flowers, appliqued them to the muslin and hand quilted around them.  Then, I kind of cheated and just folded the backing forward for the binding.  I don't usually do that, but wanted to get this finished faster (I guess).  Anyway, it's done and I think it's pretty cute!  I wouldn't mind keeping it, but I won't.

This morning I got up kind of early for a Saturday because I wanted to do a little yard work before it gets too hot.  When I was in front of my house, I heard some cheeping and I followed the sound.  It was coming from the hanging basket in front of my house!  I went to grab my camera and I did see the mama bird land on the basket and go inside.  The cheeping stopped!  I tried to get a picture of the nest, but it didn't work.  Maybe I will get a step stool later...Then, as I went past my front door (inside), I looked out again to see if I could see the mama bird - it's a house wren, I think.  I saw a huge bird standing in the street.  I grabbed my camera again and went out.  He was still there, so I sat down on my steps leading down to the sidewalk and waited.  I saw why he was there - a dead baby raccoon.  Slowly, he made his way over to the raccoon and starting doing what vultures do - I will spare you those details.  I looked in my bird book again and he is a black vulture.  That's pretty much excitement for one morning!

Hope you have a good weekend!  I'm hoping to get some cleaning and projects accomplished.

A Week with Jonah

We spent a wonderful week with our DS, DIL and new grandson, Jonah!  He is such a sweetheart!  We are so thankful for the birth of a healthy baby.  Here he is wrapped up in the airport quilt I made him.  Mom & Dad didn't get a lot of sleep, but they are having to feed him more often until he gets back to his birth weight.  We can't wait to see him again when they come to visit on their way to their new home at the end of the month.  It will be fun to see how he has grown and changed.

I had some spare time (between cooking & doing dishes) to do some quilting.  I got this charity quilt quilted.  Now I just need to put the binding on.  I also worked on some stitchery while traveling back & forth and some paper piecing for my grandmother's flower garden lap quilt that I am working on.
Today it was back to the grindstone.

NEW GRANDSON!

The new grandson is finally here!!!  He was born by C-section yesterday around 1:00 PM.  He weighed 7 lb. 14 oz. and is 21" long - with red hair (after his Daddy).  My DIL went in to be induced on Wednesday and it didn't work (again).  She had her water broken Wed. night.  That still didn't produce good enough contractions, so they did the C-section.  We are so happy for a healthy baby boy!  Both Mom and baby are doing fine.  We'll be going to help them for a week on Sunday - can't wait!

BTW, I ordered the Old Glory fabric from Hancock's of Paducah.  It's on back order, so I hope I get it!

Looking for more fabric

When it comes to buying fabric, I just am not very smart.  When I was at  the Common Threads Quilt Shop in Waxahachie, TX, looking for fabric for a quilt, I happened to see the fabric in the picture below just being opened up and I thought I would like to make something with it, so I purchased just enough to get the main picture so I could make a patriotic wall hanging possibly.  The portion I would use is about 20" by 18".  At the time I wasn't thinking about exactly what I would do with it.  I had other things on my mind, etc.  After considering my options, I decided that I would like to make several wall hangings to give as gifts.  So last Saturday I went back to the shop, and naturally, they didn't have any left.  So I started looking on line and haven't had any luck there either.  If anyone knows where I could get a few yards of this, please let me know.  

Windham Old Glory III Toile

The fabric in the lower right will be used. I'm thinking about making some log cabin blocks to surround the picture.  Anyone have suggestions?  All suggestions will be welcome.

HAND QUILTING & PAPER PIECING

Not too much going on here.  The baby hasn't come yet.  I'm working every day.  But, at night I am working on one project or another.  This one is a doll quilt that I am hand quilting for my grand-niece.  I love to make doll quilts!!

My guild is making a quilt which we will raffle off in October.  the paper piecing below is for this quilt.  It took me about a half hour to do the amount seen in the picture.  I hope I can get it finished by Saturday so I can drop it at the local quilt shop when I go grocery shopping.  The LQS is owned by the president of our guild.  They had two days of workshops there to get more of the quilt done and they passed out some parts to take home.  

Another small project is to get the label ready for the baby quilt, so that when we go down there I can put it on the one I already gave them.  I also need to get some portable projects ready to take with us to work on in the car and any spare minutes I might have between changing diapers!  

AIRPORT QUILT

I sewed the binding on the airport "play" quilt last night.  This will be the kind of quilt that can be put on the floor and as he gets a little bigger he can drive cars & land airplanes on.

My DIL went in to be induced on Tuesday and it didn't work...she stayed in the hospital and got more drugs and it still didn't work on Wednesday, so she went back home to wait.  The doc wanted to induce labor because she is older than the average new mother.  We are praying now that she will go into labor on her own soon.

Weeds (?) and other stuff

We have been taking a lot of pictures with our digital camera lately, including pictures of flowers.  I told my DH that I wanted him to take some pictures of Queen Ann's lace, but he didn't know what it was.  There is a field that I go by sometimes and last year about this time it was covered with QAL, so we took a little ride over there.  It wasn't covered this year, maybe it's too early (or late), but we did get some good pictures.  I also picked some and put it in a vase.  Isn't it pretty?  I love it and it is lasting really well in the vase.

Here's the second BOM that I did from Capricorn Quilts 

When I went to a quilt show a couple months ago I bought a panel of an airport scene for a child's quilt.  I was going to save it for our new grandson's first birthday, but decided to do it right away.  I just added a border and quilted it.  I practiced my free motion quilting some more.  As you can see in the picture, I was quilting the border of cobblestones.  It took a while to quilt around all the little cobblestones, but the good part is that the quilting didn't have to be perfect as it blended in really well.    The last picture is a close up of a small section of it.

Two BOMs

I finished a few BOMs.  This first one is from Lynette Anderson , a designer in Australia.  This is the second month - there will be 12 and it will be a completed Noah's Ark wall hanging at the end.  They are available for downloading from her blog.  I think this is going to be darling!

This is the first one that I did of another BOM, from Bea  in Germany at  Capricorn Quilts.
I have finished 2 of these and will post the second one next blog.  The picture didn't turn out, so I need to re-take it and the camera's batteries were getting charged up.  This is actually the second BOM from Capricorn and the patterns are only up for one month each.  There is a new one posted now, which is actually the 4th one.  I have two done and two more to do.  I plan to get them finished in the next couple weeks.  

Let me know if you are doing these also.

Favorite Quilt

One blog I checked out (don't remember which one) said we should post our favorite quilt.  This cathedral window quilt is the first quilt I ever started - not the first one I finished.  I saw a friend making one back in the 70's.  I found a pattern for it sometime in the early 80's and started it.  I didn't get too far and put in on the shelf for, oh, about 12 years.  Once I joined my quilt guild, I started working on it from time to time, collecting little pieces of fabric from people & from stores that had little scrap bins.  Then one year (I think 2005) my guild had a contract challenge.  We had to pick a project to get finished by our December meeting, so I picked this quilt.  I finally got it finished and I love it!  It's twin size and is hanging on the quilt rack that my son & DIL made for me for Christmas several years ago.

Do you think something is missing from this picture?
I had some little triangles left over from the baby quilt I made.  I sewed them together for little HSTs and came up with this tiny quilt.
This is a lot better, isn't it?
I have spent most of this weekend working in the yard and I am so sore!  It sure looks a lot better, though.  I planted geraniums and impatiens, pulled weeds, trimmed, etc. etc.   I also finished a couple sewing projects and now I'm making a quilted play mat for the expected grandson - due May 5.  I had found a cute airport panel to make the play mat, and wasn't planning to do it right away, but couldn't wait!  So, we will give it to him as soon as he is born. 

Scrap system, etc.

I have been reading in many blogs and have also checked out Bonnie's Quiltville's Quips & Snips regarding the scrap system. So I decided I need to get organized with my scraps and I bought some baskets at JoAnn's for 50% off yesterday. I have some room under my sewing table and I plan to stick these under the table and maybe with velcro I can hang a couple on the side. I need to go through all my drawers, shelves & tubs where I have stashed the scraps in a haphazard way , then cut & sort. I did this once, but put them all in the same drawer, which isn't very helpful. I'm not sure when I will do this sorting. :-)This is another charity quilt made from BOMs from my quilt guild meeting. We all will make one or two or more blocks and then will draw to see who wins them. They don't necessarily "go" together for a quilt, but it's kind of cute, so as soon as I can get it sandwiched, I will quilt it and donate it. This is an easy block and it makes a star in the center as well as a star at the corner of each joined blocks. I don't know the name of it.
At our last meeting, which was Monday, we had a trash to treasure sale and I bought two books for $1 each! One is "Frayed-Edge Fun" by That Patchwork Place (I plan to make one some day), and the second is "The Quilter's Legacy" by Jennifer Chiaverini. I have read a few of her books and didn't realize she had written as many as she has. So I will have to read all the ones I haven't read yet.

The other book I ordered from Amazon.Com. It is "Flying High: The Airplane in Quilts." It is written by Ragi Marino, a member of my guild. Since two of my sons are pilots, I decided I need to think about making an airplane quilt some day. This book will help me decide what I want to do.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Message for Janet AND Unsewing

Janet,  thank you for your most generous offer!  I want to try to get the exact fabric that my DIL picked out, if possible.  I am posting it on  missingfabrics.com , so we'll see if anything develops there.  My DIL picked out that FQ because it contained the exact colors that they like best, plus she loved the pattern.  I was really touched that you would offer to send me what you have!  Quilters are wonderful!!  I wasn't able to link to your blog or email.  Please let me know if you have a blog.  You can email me from my "about" page.

Last night I spent the evening "unsewing" some blocks that had been put together wrong.  :-(

What a pain!  I even had them sewn together with other blocks for a charity quilt and was tempted to leave it as is, but my conscious wouldn't let me.  I hate to put the extra time into it, but it HAD to be done, right?

The inspiration I get from blogging is great, but it does add to my frustration at not being able to do as much quilting as I would like to do - because I still work full time.  Oh, I can't wait until December of 2009 - that's when I retire!

It's a beautiful weekend in Texas!  I hope you all enjoy your weekend and get some quilting done - or whatever else you enjoy!

New Tote Bag and Missing Fabric

Here is the "Sara Satchel" that I made for myself. I finished it today . I plan to use it to replace my purse and briefcase to take to work. I will be able to fit everything in it and the total will be lighter than both purse and briefcase. I will use the little clutch if I go out to lunch and can just put my money, lipstick, etc. in it. The one I made for my DIL is in my 3/26/08 post.

Here is a Moda fabric that I am looking for. My other DIL picked it out as the perfect example of the colors she likes and she would like me to use it for the border of the quilt I am planning for them. The sample we originally got was a fat quarter and when she went back to the store to get more, of course, they didn't have any. If anyone happens to see this at a quilt shop, please let me know so I can call the store and have them send me some. It is Moda's Aunt Luci's Cottage, Blackbird Designs. I will also post it on missingfabrics.com.
Hopefully, I will be able to get some - at least 2 yards, hopefully 4 yards.

Charity quilt finished

Last night I finished sewing on the binding for the quilt that I will take to my quilters guild meeting on April 14 and will then be given to the Children's Hospital in Dallas for their critical care unit. It is all flannel and I used free motion quilting in circles (sort of). I wanted to put a lot of quilting on it so it would stand up better to wear and tear. I hope someone gets lots of joy out of it, plus cuddly comfort at a scary time in their life.
Here is a closer up picture. Don't look too closely, though! I have another quilt made from BOMs that I put together and will try to get finished by next week (don't know if I will make it, so maybe the next month). Plus, several other projects that I want to get finished soon. I'm going to go to work on them right now!

Charity quilt

Today I stayed home from work so I could make a quilt for children's hospital critical care unit. We are able to take off one day per year to do volunteer work, and my quilters guild makes quilts for the hospital. At my guild meetings we have a BOM and there is a drawing to see who will win them. The blocks I used were ones I won a couple months ago. It is flannel and all I had to do was sew them together , sandwich the quilt , etc. All I have left to do is put on the binding. I'll try to get that finished tomorrow and will post a picture of the completed quilt. I practiced my free motion quilting and don't claim that it is the best job in the world. Have a great weekend!