Tiny Tuesday #42

Here is #42 Whirlwind. This one went together pretty well on my kid free Wednesday last week. Taking a cue from Angela over at SoScrappy I decided to make it a good contrast of colors and went with the red and black in this block.

Tiny Monday #41

The kids actually napped again today. I could really get used to this. I miss my 2 hours of sewing time in the afternoon. I did tell AT that I would wake him up after an hour. Well, I tried, and then tried again at 2 hours. He just turns over away from me. I'm letting him sleep =).

I was able to get this guy done today #41 Illinois World's Fair. Do not compare to the actual picture since somehow I got the light and dark a little mixed up. I'm calling it done.
I have #42 lined up to post tomorrow so I am all caught up again for one a week this year. Yippee!

Last Yellow Saturday

Here it is our last Saturday in Yellow. I decided to add to the 2 inch square basket this week and have a bunch of squares ready for a sewing project next year. So far I have reds, greens, pinks and now yellow. For some interest, I only have one fabric with only one square - it is the red Christmasy fabric at the top of the red pile. I figured it would be an entertaining little tidbit to add to the back of the quilt as the 'find the fabric that is in this quilt only once!'.

This month also had some pinwheel blocks

and Birds in the Air blocks.

I wonder what color will be selected for next month? I'm hoping for purple or blue.......

Go on over to SoScrappy's blog and see what others have been working on for their yellow Saturday.

Friday Sewing....

Two cranky kids really needed a nap and neither gave up too much of a fuss as I put them down around 1 today. So, after the kitchen was picked up from lunch and dishes put away and the dishwasher reloaded, it was off to the sewing room for me. On tap.... the months Quilt Square Along Block!
I picked out my fabrics from my Kansas Troubles FQ's and cut them out. This took me about 40 minutes and looked like this.

I then had time to sew it all together which took me about an hour. This is the final product. The pattern is from Lori Smith's Quilt Squares #4. If you'd like to join the fun, grab the pattern and head on over to Jo's Country Junction at the end of the month for a wonderful quilt show linky of this pattern. She'll also reveal which of the remaining 5 blocks will be selected for next month's challenge.

While you are over there, check out her post about Cinnamon rolls. It is a versatile dough and I used the recipe last night to make some mini pizza's for the kids and used the rest to make a few of the cinnamon rolls. I just did the 1 ratio and it used about 1.5 cups of flour.  They both came out great and it is a dough I will be making again soon. Thanks again Jo!

A busy day...

Yesterday was the Grandma Wednesday. She lives about 40 minutes from us and if we deliver them she'll watch them for the day for us so things can get done without little ones underfoot. We are very lucky she does this for us and G and I are now swapping Wednesdays so we each get some alone time. Yesterday was my day. I got them dropped off around 9:30 and headed out about 15 minutes later. Heading back home, I managed to fill up the car with gas ($3.35 - finally the prices are going down but still are way too high!), got it all washed (those love bugs needed to get off the car) and got my hair cut. Then it was grocery shopping and back home to put things away and grab lunch. It was about 1PM at that point.

The kids have had growth spurts and are half an inch taller than the last time I measured them a few weeks ago. No wonder the clothes are seeming tight! My 3 year old is in a 4T and my 4 year old is ready for 5T. Somehow I'm growing what could be tall kids...... with me at 5'2"! I went through their closets and pulled the things that don't fit and got them ready for the donate pile. Well, Aidan's go into Em's closet and she gets some wear out of them first.  Emily got her new big girl bed on Tuesday so we took everything out of her room and hopefully only a few things will go back. Here is her new bed and night stand. She also has a dresser with mirror in the set.

I really need to go through toys but decided to sew instead. There is always tomorrow for that.

I found this Youtube video and made the pillowcase for the graduation quilt. I really like how this came out and think that 'wrapping' the quilt in the pillowcase is a great idea. Not sure where I got the idea from but this will not be the last time I do this.

I just need to make a graduation card and send that up to my Mom so she can put the quilt into the pillowcase for delivery next month. Then it was a phone call to the accountant and to the store with some questions and business things I had to do. Then I managed to sew a midget block that I'll reveal on Tuesday! I need to make a couple more copies of my next one so I can get that paper pieced as well but believe I'll have time to get that one done for the Tuesday reveal. I will be all caught up again for my one a week this year. The blocks coming up seem doable, not too many teeny tiny pieces like the last few.
Then it was scoop the kitty litters and prep the garbage for putting the garbage out last night for them to take this morning. We did good at eating up the leftovers this week and only had one thing to toss. I'm getting better at not wasting food. At that point, it was close to 4 and time to head out and pick up the kiddo's. I did stop at a fruit stand along the way and grabbed some tomato's, fresh peaches and zucchini since I didn't get any fruit and veggies (other than carrot, potato and onion) at the grocery store.
The treat for the kids was to pick out new summer jammies. We stopped at Kmart on the way home and they were really good at the store - they each got a new shorts outfit and summer jammies. Then it was a quick drive through to get dinner from Lee's Chicken (we didn't have that in Vermont and the kids love the mashed potato, green beans and biscuits with honey we get with the meal) and home to eat. Then jammies and bedtime. How was your day?

Tiny Tuesday

#39 - Pine Burr. This was another one that needed some redo's on it and is no where near perfect. I am calling it done for now and might need to redo it in a year or two or three once I start putting things together. Right now, that puts me one behind for the year. Tomorrow is a sewing day without kids for a few hours - so if I can get the JL quit quilted I might be able to make a dent in doing #41 for next week. Heck, maybe even #42 will get done sometime this week too!

Happy Sewing.

Midgets

#40 Nosegay. This one was hand pieced. I was drawing the shapes out on the kitchen island while Emmy was napping on Thursday. I was able to get this one finished just now on Friday night. How many times does it take me to piece the green stem correctly? Not once, twice or even three times. I finally put the picture right in front of where I was sewing and got it correct on the fourth try.  I am so happy this one is done. Despite the stem mishap, I think this turned out pretty well. There are 25 parts to this tiny 5 inch unfinished block.

I started #39 on Thursday morning and had one part pieced and then was thinking I marked the colors wrong. Modified it and did another two. Then figured I'd put the two parts together.... oops. The first one was correct and the next two were not. I need to reprint this one out and redo two parts of the triangles. Hopefully I can get this one done later tonight. Hubby will be gone for the weekend so this time I really need to get into the sewing room after the kids are down for the night. I am a bit behind on a few things and want to catch up a bit. We'll see how I do. Last time I was too tired after working all day at the store and then getting the kids down for the night.

My goals for the weekend- get caught up on the Midgets - have #39, #40 and #41 done by Sunday night. Make the backing for the green JL quilt and get that pinned for quilting. I hope to quilt this one on Wednesday. Make some more of the Sow along blocks. Cut out the squares for the Quilt Square Along Block for the month. Make the pillowcase for the graduation quilt. Sew a little dress for Em. While at Joann's last week I saw some cute sundress material and I snagged her favorite dress last Sunday to use as a model for making mine. I really need to get her favorite green dress back into her closet before she ventures into my sewing room to retrieve it!

Yellow Saturday

Here we are on another rainbow Saturday in yellow. I did manage to finish all 12 of the yellow birds in the air blocks. Here is a picture of all the blocks I've made this year. Scattered around.

Laid out by colors.... I seem to be missing a pink that is probably in the storage drawer. Miss Em wanted to have her picture taken. She helped to sort the colors in this picture.

It is another hectic weekend with G gone to a training class so I am manning the store for the weekend. Grandma is coming over and watching the kids while I am gone.  If I get a chance I really need to slice up some yellow 2 inch squares for the rainbow basket of squares for next years project.

Thursday night was a little sleep night for me so instead of tossing and turning I pulled out the kindle and was reading on the couch. I started a series of books by Marie Bostwick earlier this year and her first book 'A Single Thread' was really good. I loaned it to my Mom last week since I got her a Kindle for Mothers Day. I decided to purchase book 2 - 'A Thread of Truth' on Saturday night. Lets just say I finished it in 3 days of reading including the 2.5 hours in the middle of the morning. Another good book. I think I see the third Cobbled Court landing in my Kindle library very soon. A few other authors who write books concerning quilting that I like are Jennifer Chiverini - I finished Sonoma Rose last month and highly recommend it. Clare O'Donohue writes the Someday Quilts Mysteries and I've read all three. I think her next one will be out this fall. The other quilt author is another mystery one by Arlene Sachitano who writes the Harriet Truman - Loose Threads Mystery. If you like reading books with quilting references in them, I'd recommend these authors. 

Go on over to SoScrappy's blog and see what others have been working on for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2012.
Happy Quilting.

Yellow Saturday

I did get all the things cut out for the Birds in the Air blocks this week but only have 3 of them completed. The other 9 will hopefully be done for next Saturday. Here are the three I completed.

I also needed a new leader/ender since the JL quilt has been completed for a bit now. I had this black dot print leftover from the backing of the Starburst quilt. I also remember buying some bright fabrics and they go perfectly together. Being it is a yellow month, I started with the yellow. I really have no clue what this will become other than probably a baby quilt. I was thinking of doing a different color around the four sides of the four patches, but really have not figured out how I want it to look. These are the ones I have so far. I need to cut some more colors out to go into the basket next to the machine.

Go on over to SoScrappy and see what others have come up with on this scrappy yellow Saturday.

A finish and some Sow alongs...

I had planned to sew a midget block today.... went in and looked at the next one and ... just was not feeling it. Looked at the next one - hand piecing. Didn't feel like prepping it right now.

Hmmm. Those Anvil blocks. I need to finish that - so that is what I did. I got the Anvil 12 inch Quilt Square Along block done today. Lots of tiny pieces but it is finished.

I also had a little time (I managed to get both to nap today and boy did the big one really need a nap!) and still was not feeling the midgets so I pulled the sow along instructions out. I did another two - shoe fly and the civil war sewing circle.

This morning I shipped the graduation quilt off to my Mom along with her Mothers Day gifts. I needed something to cushion what the kids bought for her and figured the quilt needed to head to Vermont anyway so I killed two birds with one package. I plan on making a pillowcase to put the quilt in and mail that up with the graduation card early next month. This is the finished Starburst quilt with label.
The label has "Starburst" Mindy - 2012 SHS Graduate. Made by me in Ocala, FL. Pattern Star Struck by Bonnie Hunter of www.quiltville.com.

Hmmm. They are still sleeping. I wonder if I can get one more block done......

I won!

Wooo Hooo! I just checked my e-mail and I was one of the lucky winners of Pat Sloan's new book 'Focus on the Center'! A big Thank you to Bonnie Hunter for posting about it and sharing the link and Pat Sloan for the chance to win her new book!

Yellow Saturday

Today is the first saturday in May and the color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is Yellow. I got a little time in the sewing room this week and pulled the yellow out of the closet. I was able to sew these three pinwheel blocks and they look like this.

This is the whole group of the pinwheel blocks I have so far. I think this is going to make a really cute quilt or two at the end of the year.

Go on over to SoScrappy's blog and see what others have come up with for the yellow challenge this month. 

Starburst is quilted!

My wonderful MIL took the kids for the day today so I finally got a chance to sew. Of course - it was a very early leave morning as we followed Daddy to work and drove him from the car place to the store so they could work on the car today. At 123,000 miles it needed some work before he travels a bit over the next few weeks. Then it was another 50 minutes to Grandma's house to drop the kiddo's off and then another 40 minutes home. Lots of driving but very worth it. When I got home I chopped up some veggies to get them out of the fridge and pulled one of the ham hunks from Easter out of the freezer. Some pasta got boiled up and I made a cold pasta salad with ham, broccoli , tomato, cucumber, onion and olives and then I also made a batch of french lentil soup with the rest of the ham that I pulled out this morning. Once that was all set in the crock pot... I pulled a quick lunch together with some leftover spaghetti squash, tomato, feta cheese, roasted peppers, onion and kalmata olives. Yummy. I have a little bit left over so lunch tomorrow is all set for me too! Then it was off to the sewing room.

I got 2.5 hours in the sewing room today. I pinned the Starburst quilt and then was able to quilt it up. This is the star struck pattern from Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville.  I just did some meander with loops and there was a lot of cursing muttering with skipped stitches and breaks but I got it done. Note to self - make sure you have some of the good quality thread the next time you quilt. I already had made the scrappy binding so I stitched that onto the top and it is all set for some hand sewing the binding down this evening. I tried something new and cut a 10 inch square, folded it in half and stitched it to the back while I was putting the binding on. This will be the label. 

I am debating on writing the hidden words on the label... I think I'll just let her find them and see how she does. I have a Mindy, SHS (Spaulding High School), 2012, A G cleff and some music notes. I was going to add an M for McDonalds and Ben &Jerry's but with the above muttering I decided to nix those from the quilting. Those were her jobs during high school. She will be working at Ben & Jerry's again this summer at their main plant in Waterbury,VT. So, if you are in the area and go for a tour check and see if your tour guide is named Mindy. It might be her!

Garden Beauty

#39 is Garden Beauty. This one is hand applique and I was able to get it done here and there over the last week. I only had to redo one of the blue ones since I had it tilted a bit too much on the first try. Looks like it is back to tiny triangles paper pieced next week.

This is also the reveal for the Quilt Square Quilt Along over at Jo's Country Junction.

 I didn't quite get the Anvil one completed but it is two thirds there. I should be able to finish this one up sometime this week. I did get the nine patch completed and have the applique one pieced I just need to pull the applique fabrics and prep those for some hand work this month. Go on over and see what blocks everyone else selected for the finish up month. We start on the next batch of patterns today!