A finish!!!

The Easter Egg quilt is done!!!


I hand appliqued the eggs down - one of my first attempts at this. Then due to time constraints and not getting any time while away to work on this I decided to machine quilt it yesterday. Finished the binding last night around 9PM.

Now I just need to measure a couple of the black drapes, cut and hem them; make a couple of signs on card stock and figure out how to showcase the award ribbons. Everything else seems to be falling in place for the big quilt show this weekend.

Right now, it is time to clear out the quilt show boxes from my sewing room and get them into the car. That room needs to be changed into a guest room for Wednesday evening and today is really the only day I have to work on it, so I'd best get moving on it.

A new wall hanging

I had originally been thinking of doing some little baskets on a quilt so I would have some hand work to take with me during some car rides that are coming up in the near future... but I couldn't find one I liked and was unable to draft something I liked. I had an idea of a scrappy egg for Easter and pulled some fabrics from my scraps and came up with this little 25x25 wall hanging....

I just sewed some scraps together, drew an egg shape on some construction paper and drew around them and cut out. I will just applique them down sometime in the next couple of weeks. I sewed the rest together already and just need to get a backing and batting ready for this to be hand quilted after the applique is done. This will be my first hand applique and first fully hand quilted quilt! The due date is April 1.... no fooling! I'll just pretend to be Thomas the train and 'I think I can, I think I can' until it is done.

After this is done.. I need to clear out and clean up the sewing room for my MIL's visit at the end of the month. Currently there are tons of boxes of quilt show stuff in there, plus my normal sewing mess and baskets of kids crafting things.... Lots of things to organize so it is ready for a guest to sleep there. She is coming up to help DH with the kids for the 3 days that I will be at the quilt show - 1 setup day on Friday April 1 and then the 2 day show on April 2+3. I will have 5 quilts entered into the show...in 4 different categories. I am anxiously waiting to see what the other Challenge quilts will look like. I love how mine came out and have heard some neat ideas of other quilts but haven't seen them yet. If you are in the St. Albans Vermont area - stop by city hall on that weekend and visit our free quilt show!

Back to my own sewing!!!!

I got the 14 award ribbons closed up and the black drapes hemmed. Just need to repair a few of the little ballot holders later this afternoon and everything seems to be in good shape.

So..... on our snow day Monday while the 2 feet of snow piled up outside... I pulled the overflowing rubbermaid tub of scraps out and had the kids help me sort it into color piles. Kept AT entertained for over an hour..... but the girl doesn't have the fabric interest yet. I knew I had some triangles left over from the pink/lime green wall quilt for Em.... and turned it into this little doll quilt.
I need to quilt it and bind it still. I also had some put together in twosies.... and now have these 6 units to turn into another doll quilt.



Yesterday I pulled out the blue/white triangles and made a bunch more of these stars.... I have over 30 so far and they are 6 inches finished.

I still have a bunch of the white/blue HST's in the box so there will be more of these blocks coming. I may need to make 2 quilts with them. I got the words book in the mail a few weeks ago by Tonya R.... and am thinking of making the border say the 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' song. For the second quilt... maybe the Twinkle Twinkle as the middle part with the stars around it in the border. Just the initial thoughts going through my head right now. We sing that song to the kids before naps and bedtime so I would need one for each kiddo.
I also need to get back to the midget blocks.... but that #5 is a bear of a paper piece and I've had enough of that for a bit with the ribbons. Think I may do #6 which looks easier as a pp block and then there is some regular piecing!

Award Ribbons for the quilt show...

I have been doing something but not too much to show for it. These are the turned ribbons that I have so far. I have 2 more to turn and I need to redo one and make another vendor ribbon and then these should be done.... well in time for the show in April. They just need a really good pressing and a close.

Kindle + extremely cold weather (left in the car this weekend with below zero temps... oops!) = a Kindle that won't work! I called tech support this morning and it is under warranty so they are sending me a new one. Yippee! I am assuming it was the cold that did it in and not AT swinging it around on my bed in it's cover and prying the side apart. I'm pretty sure it worked after I snapped it back together... a very rough week for the Kindle. Lets hope the new one works and I remember to bring the gym bag in from the car during this really cold snap.

Vermont Challenge Quilt..... quilted and ready for binding!

A few close ups of the quilting. I just did a medium meander on the quilt around the Vermont and in the blocks and sashings. I stitched in the ditch around the flying geese.... I haven't decided if I will leave them or do a little more quilting in there.


I was able to get this guy pinned Sunday and quilted during nap times Monday and Tuesday. The binding was made last week when I did the pinwheel quilt one but I haven't had a chance to put it on. I took the kids down to my parents on Wednesday for a visit... so no naps. Poor Daddy had cranky kids last night while I was at my guild meeting. Things are moving along nicely for the quilt show in April. Boy... that is coming up quickly! Now that I have these two quilts completed (or nearly done) I can concentrate on finishing the ribbon award blocks. I need to prep them for the final part - a quick baste of the ribbon and then getting the quilt sandwich ready for the sewing around, turning which I was told is a real pain and then fusing them closed. I have 2 and a half left to make and then about 13 to 15 to finish. That is what I will be working on for the rest of this month. I hope to have these done by the end of the month and that just leaves me with a little minor sewing on some black drapes for hanging in back of the quilts at the show. That should just be an hour or two project that will get done in March.
I might sneak in a little bit of 'me' sewing on UFO's... but really need to make a dent in the awards first.
Time to clean up after some messy kids and their pancake and syrup.
Happy Quilting.

Scrappy Pinwheel quilted and bound!!!!

I got back to sewing and managed to get the scrappy pinwheel quilt pinned, quilted and bound in three days! Turns out I can do binding in the recliner while the kids are in the room.



I changed my original quilting idea once I started quilting. Instead of round circles in each pinwheel, I just did some flowers with loops to fill in around them. Very basic but I was able to get it done pretty quickly... and with the list of things I need to get done in the next month that was important! I decided to do a scrappy border, something which I've never done before but I think it goes well with this quilt.
I'm off to pin the Vermont quilt now and hope to get started on quilting it this evening after the kids are in bed... if I'm not too tired. Miss Em decided to be wide awake for quite a while in the middle of the night so we didn't get much sleep with her being up off and on from midnight until a little after 4AM. Of course big brother wakes up at 6:30 so not much sleep for me last night.
Happy quilting and we'll see if I can post a completed quilt a little later this week!

Procrastinating....

Instead of finishing the awards or ironing and getting 4 backings made so I can get some quilts quilted......

I've been working on these little guys.

I have 14 made so far and think they will make a cute little quilt. I'm thinking of alternating with a 9 patch of all blues and maybe some words in the border along the lines of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' since that is what the kids get as a song before naps and bedtime.

I also have 3 more ribbon awards to make up and then finish - layer and stitch around the sides with the long ribbon tail attached - all the ones that I have made so far. I'd like to have the ones I have completed done before the guild meeting on the 16th... but also would like to have a couple of quilts quilted by then too. I don't think it will all get done as I'll need to clean the house up and do some cooking for Aidan's 3rd birthday party on Sunday! My family is coming up so they'll be 22 people in the house and that is just my siblings and families and my parents! Yikes.... I'm not sure the house is big enough.

A bit of snow today so lots of time outside keeping the driveway cleared off every couple of hours will be today's main task. I just did 4-5 inches around 8AM and there was over an inch down 30 minutes later. The joys of winter.