Sewing time this weekend!

I got time to sew this weekend. Everyone took naps Sat afternoon and instead of picking up and organizing my sewing room like I should have.... I decided I needed to sew. Ohhhh, I felt so much better after.

I had won the sailboat blocks at my guild meeting earlier this year and had 13 of them..... I made 2 more and will set them in a 3x5 pattern with the focus red star fabric as a little star for cornerstones. This will be a 'summer' quilt for AT, since he insists on being covered with his train and doggie quilts no matter how hot it is. I hope we can transition him to use this one in the summer instead.... but we'll see. Here are my 2 blocks.


Well shoot, they tipped sideways again. Arrrgghhh I hate when that happens.
Since everyone was still sleeping I decided to do the ferry boat block that I had not done from last November's BOM. I just need to do the lighthouse block from the June BOM and all my 'guild' blocks will be complete for my quilt. I do want to add some more blocks to make it mine... but need to figure out how I am going to do them. It involves drafting and I am not an artist. We'll see if I can guilt DH into drawing something up for me.... he seems to have a hidden talent based on his chalk drawings on the driveway with the kids!

What a whirlwind!

It has been a busy month. We have had an 18th birthday and 47th wedding anniversary, a HS graduation, 8th grade graduation in VT and DH's class reunion in Ohio. Yes, that involved a 15 hour car ride with a 2 year old and a 1 year old and a week in hotels. We survived (the adults!) and the kids did really well on the ride and adjusting to the suite. It was so nice to come home.... although I can't say I care for the heat wave we had last week.

No time in the sewing room, but I did make a couple of knitted dish cloths and went to knitting night with some of my old neighbors last Wednesday night. I think I'm going to attempt a little sweater for Emily. We'll see how it goes.

While in Ohio, I got away for a couple of hours (Thanks hubby for staying in the hotel with the kids while they napped!) and visited Stitches Quilt Shop. Jill had given me some shops in the area and a link to a shop hop. This is the one that seemed easiest for me to get to in the traffic and it was a wonderful little shop. I was able to pick some pretty batiks in purple and yellow for my next graduation quilt for my niece next year. I picked up the Yellow Brick Road pattern and think I will use this instead of the jewel box. Might do a scrappy jewel box sometime though....


I also visited a Hobby Lobby. Sort of like the Michaels/Joanns we have here. I just had to buy some things.... like this Thomas the Train flannel and the John Deere flannel for Aidan. I also got a pretty blue/purple swirl fabric that will be made into something for my Ohio visit memory. DH had a good idea on the way home (Why didn't he mention this before I went shopping?) to create a quilt block for each of the kids of places we go... and make it into a memory quilt when they are older. Guess I'll have to use my blue swirl fabric for that... or do photo transfer.

Graduation Quilt!

Almost done and well before Saturday! I just have a little under a side to finish hand stitching down the binding and then adding a label. This is the 'brother' quilt to the one I made for my hubby a couple of years ago. It is a pinwheel pattern from Nickle Quilts.

Next up is doing the last guild block for tomorrow's meeting. I have decided to add more blocks with the idea of things that remind me (and my family) of Vermont. I'm not sure how I will do some of the ideas I have but I'll come up with something. Right now I'm thinking of doing some blocks for all seasons and working the quilt top from top left as spring, then summer then fall and the bottom right will be winter. We'll see how it comes out sometime next year when it is done... hopefully for the April quilt show.
I have decided to do a jewel box pattern for my niece's 2011 graduation quilt in purples and yellows. Just need to clear out my fabrics and see what I currently have for purples and add to it this summer. I plan to start working on the blocks for this in the fall.
Next up will be adding borders to my cardinal quilt, embroidery around the wings and getting it basted for hand quilting. I'll also work on my storm at sea wall hanging and start with some of my VT quilt blocks for the summer sewing. We'll see how I do over the next couple of months.

Baby quilt....

The month has just flown by!
I have been sewing... I made a rail fence baby quilt above for a baby shower on Sunday.... finished the quilting last night and just need to hand stitch the binding down which is very doable. I just did a star and loop meander in yellow thread. Not bad for finding out about the baby shower early May and getting it done with 2 kids with colds, me with a head cold and I think the girl is teething but we still haven't seen any new teeth pop. At least she has slept through the night for the last week... much nicer than up 4-6 times at night crying like the previous week.
I am getting back into knitting a little bit..... I made 2 dish cloths this month as my old ones needed replacement. I also crocheted some tops to kitchen towels as my Mom gave me some towels last year for 'when I get a chance'. Also need to do up some scrubbies for her.... keep forgetting about that. Oops. Will do that Sunday night after the baby quilt is out of the house.
Next on the agenda is to pin the graduation quilt for my nephew Ben, who is valedictorian of his HS class next month. His will be the 'sister' quilt of the one I made for hubby. His is set in a pinwheel fashion in greens,brown and creams. I think I am going to try a circular pattern on the pinwheels and maybe some small pebble quilting in the sashings.... still thinking on how to quilt the sashings...

I've also read quite a bit (gotta love my gym time!)... I've read the Aloha Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini, about 4 Debbie Macomber books (Summer on Blossom Street, the Cedar Cove series (7, 9 and just started 8)) and found a new author to me: Clare O'Donohue - The Lover's Knot and A Drunkards Path. I'm looking forward to her next book out this coming fall. They were a good mystery read. I've also read Carla Neggers - 'The Harbor' and local author (VT anyway!) Archer Mayor - 'The Sniper's Wife'. I started out the year by reading Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice and have Sense and Sensibility about half read so far.
Better grab that baby quilt and start the binding while kids are napping.

Quilt Show Pics... (finally!)

So.. it's only 6 weeks after the show but here are some pics. Sorry they are not that great but small space and big quilts. We have some truly talented ladies in this guild.

Well, the pic is the correct way on my camera but seems to be changing the rotation when it uploads! Oh well, this is what I have been working on the few chances I get while the kids nap at the same time (happens very rarely!). I just need to iron down the branch and pinecones, then go get more fabric for the border. I am hoping to hand quilt this one....

I have a green/brown/tan pinwheel quilt top and bottom all rolled onto their boards, just need to cut the batting and get that pinned and ready for quilting. That quilt will go to my nephew when he graduates from high school next month.

Still plugging away on the guild BOM's.... I did my fish block last week and need to make 2 of the tent blocks within the next 2 weeks- one for me and one for the guild challenge.

I just uploaded the quilt show pics to my computer... will show those on my next post when I get a few kidfree minutes! Better go iron those down before the little one wakes up wanting lunch.
Happy quilting all!

My baby is 1!

A few days late but my baby girl turned 1 year old on Wednesday! Time has flown right by. She had her well baby visit yesterday and got her shots and an overall thumbs up from the Doctor. She sure has a good set of lungs when she got the shots but quieted right down when the Doctor got her a lolly pop. She decided she liked the orange one! She's as tall as her brother was at his 1 year appt at 29.5 inches but she is a lot less weight at 20 pounds 12 ounces. Not bad for a walking terror that she is.

Last Tuesday I was able to get MY quilt quilted. I made the binding over the weekend and hope to pop it on the quilt in a little bit. Here is a picture of the quilt and some of the quilting.



They both were sleeping at the same time yesterday for a little bit, so I started cutting out fabrics for this little wall hanging.

I am going to hand quilt this one. I really enjoy hand sewing down the bindings so this will be my first attempt at hand quilting something. This will just be a wall hanging for my house, so I'm not too concerned if it looks like my first hand quilting attempt. We all have to start somewhere I guess! I figure I need to get back to doing something in front of the tv at night since the kids both go to bed at a reasonable 8PM. I'll do some quilting and some knitting or crochet to keep my hands busy.
This weekend is the quilt show! I'm working it on Saturday but will bring my camera and get a few pictures to share.
Happy quilting everyone.