FNSI - are you joining in?

Tonight is the Friday night Sew in and the link up can be found here. I think I am going to join in tonight. I pinned a quilt for quilting this morning and just made a backing for a little wall hanging. Maybe I can start quilting one or the other tonight. Grab something to sew and join in.

A shopping spree....

I have been having some fun with birthday money. Last week I headed to Joann's Fabrics after work and picked up 5 yards of each of these - a flannel blue dot, a flannel green dot and a white on white cotton. I think the white will work great for some kids quilts with the fabrics I won from Ellen last month. The flannel's will become the backings for a couple of quilt tops waiting to be quilted.

I also had a box waiting for me when I got home last night from the dentist. I was good and waited until this morning to open it (after everyone else was gone so I could fondle my fabric!). I placed an order from Connecting Threads Thursday and it arrived yesterday! Quick service and their fabrics are so soft. I love their mirage line and got an indigo blue, iris, lilac, silver and antique cream. I also got their Fauna thread set - it was on sale for $19.53! Then I got the backing fabric in this hana toile to go on the back of my blue and cream log cabin quilt.

The blue and iris (dark purple) will go into the graduation quilt for this year along with some turquoise to make a Kaleidoscope quilt. I made this one last year for a graduation gift for Jillian. Becky liked it so much she asked for the same pattern.  The iris and lilac and antique fabrics will probably be made into a  
Tennessee Waltz quilt for my brother and sister in law at some point. The silver..... who knows. I was planning to put it in the Kaleidoscope quilt but she decided she really liked the turquoise so that will stay in the stash and play nicely with some blues at some point.

It was very chilly on my walk this morning - I had to pull out the winter hat, gloves and scarf! It will get even colder tonight and the single paned windows down here are not very well insulated. I think the huge Easy Street quilt will be on my bed tonight so I'll have some covers to keep me warm! Who knows maybe the flannel sheets will make an appearance too! Tonight will be chicken chili and corn bread. The kids had hot cocoa after the school pick up. They are out in their hats and gloves riding the jeep around the yard. I fear the peace and quiet will end soon so I better start dinner so it will be ready when they are.

Midget Blocks.....

With little sleep last night for 3 out of 4 in the house I figured it is a good day to pull out my Midget blocks and see how many of these I have. Emily is home again today with a 100 degree fever and a constant cough. We heard it all night long! It was really loud as she moved from her room to the living room right outside our bedroom! Saturday night, Sunday and Monday it was sneezing and runny nose and now the cough and fever. Since she has been coughing all over me I am sure I am getting it too. I've been popping Vitamin C and a multi vitamin to try and avoid it. At least she got a little snooze this morning as I ran the month end reports to the accountant this morning.

I started this journey back in Vermont on October 7, 2010! This was a really long term project and will be even longer as it will wait for hand quilting once it ever gets done to a top stage. I was hoping I had about 120 blocks for  a10x12 setting and guess what? 121! Woo hoo. I think that is enough blocks for this quilt top. Now the fun part starts. They each should finish at 4.5 inches. Well, some are bigger and some are smaller and it will be 'fun' to add the sashing to get these to a similar size in the quit top. First - there are lots of papers on the back of the majority of the paper pieced ones that need to be taken off. Maybe I can get a few taken care of before we head out to pick up the boy from school.

Weekend post....

I missed the RSC challenge for Saturday due to a cutting error on Friday. After 10 months of making snails trail blocks you would think I would have the cutting measurements down. Somehow I had 3 3/8 in my head instead of 3 7/8 for one of the squares. I decided to re cut the middle 2.5 inch squares and the correct 3 7/8 squares and start fresh this morning. I now have 2 brown and tan blocks to add to the pile for 22 colorful snails trail blocks.

I think I need two more and I'll have a nice size 48x72 snuggle quilt when it is done. Sorry for the blurry picture - I was in a hurry to snap it and pick up the blocks.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see all the wonderful projects being made with brown scraps this weekend.

I have also made progress on the hand quilting front this week. The apple quilt is coming along nicely and I love the swirls in the border.

 I will probably add some squiggly lines around there too to help fill in the space a little bit. For now - it is yard work time. The roses need to be cut back, weeds need to be pulled from the flower gardens and rock part of the driveway and maybe I'll attempt the power washer to start tackling the driveway. If I make a little progress out there, I'm rewarding myself with some quilting prep work and hope to get the coin quilt pinned for quilting. I can just see that swirl in those nice white open spaces! I hope the sewing machine will cooperate this week and allow them. I hit Joann's after work last night and picked up a some flannel for 2.99 a yard for the backing for this and the 64 patch star quilt - with the added 25 % off the total purchase it was a great deal. I also got 5 yards of a pretty white on white..... just because! Thanks so much to G for the birthday gift certificate - I still have another shopping spree there waiting to happen.
Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what other hand work is being showcased today. I can't wait to settle down in the recliner later tonight and put some imperfect stitches into my quilt.

Midget block #107 - Garden Maze

I'm a little late this week with my tiny Tuesday but after all the sewing on Monday - things around the house needed tending to - kids play dates happened and I finally got to sew a bit this morning while waiting for the HIPPY instructor to get here. I guess I did have time for a walk since she is 45 minutes late. Oh well, maybe I'll have Emmy go for a bike ride with me after lunch and before we go to pick up her brother.

Garden Maze was paper pieced in 12 tiny sections and then sewn together. I really need to lay out my blocks and see how many more I need before calling these blocks done. They have been so fun to make and I have learned and tried so many new things with them over the last 4 years. The majority of these are free over at sentimentalstitches.com if you'd like to challenge yourself and try some new things. I've learned how to paper piece, hand piece, hand applique and work on a more precise 1/4 inch seam allowance. All baby steps to being able to make the more complicated quilts I love to look at.

A day of sewing thanks to Grandma.

Grandma was so kind to pick up the kids from school and keep them for a bit running errands so I had a nice block of time to work on Easy Street. Since no one was home I got to use the living room floor to pin the monster of a quilt while listening to the first Harry Potter movie. I will never again do a quilt this large - it was 97x97 inches and huge.

I decided to just use the walking foot and go through the green squares - five rows on each side of the quilt. Then I did the diagonal off that point each way. I just outlined the border and then got to make the binding and attach it. I'm not happy with a little bunching on the back but I'm going to leave it. This is my quilt and will be on my bed so I'm going to live with it! (Another words no way would I pick it out and try and quilt this puppy again!)

Now I will have a nice big quilt to snuggle under at some point while I am attaching this binding. If it doesn't get done in the next couple of week's I'll take it with me for hand work around Thanksgiving.

Slow Stitching Sunday.....

Today I had grand plans to get Easy Street pinned for quilting. Well, it is ironed, on the boards and the batting has been pieced.... twice. I seem to have added that extra bit to the WRONG side.... so I got to zig zag it together twice. Then I attempted to pin it on my banquet table. Did I mention ES is 97x97 and does not fit on my table? The living room is big enough... but there are other people in the house besides me. So..... I think I will move things around in the 'play room' and hunker down in there around 8 and start the pinning process with a movie on the TV in there. I can leave it there when I get tired and pick it up in the morning after the kiddo's are dropped to school. Grandma will be picking them up and keeping them out of my hair entertained at the park for a bit so I can have some 'me' time on my birthday tomorrow. After a hair cut and maybe a pedicure I plan to get some quilting time in. Hopefully on my Easy Street quilt.

I did get a few things prepped so I am set for hand work this week. I cut a few more brown and moss green peels for working on in the car line up at school.

I also picked up this neat little border template and traced it onto my apple quilt this afternoon. I have the middle done and I am on the home stretch on this one - just the outer border to go!

I had planned a chuck roast in the crock pot for dinner but I guess it was not all thawed out and 1PM -5.30 on high was not enough time to get it so it can be cut with a fork. G and the kids are off to pick up Chinese food for dinner. I have the crock pot on for a few more hours and dinner for tomorrow will be all set to warm up whenever we get hungry. More sewing time for me!

I'm hooking up with Kathy's Quilts today and if I decide to wait to pin tomorrow morning... you can bet I will be hand stitching on my apple quilt this evening.