Quilts and Pizza!

What more could a girl want, quilting and pizza! Emily made the yummy pizza above for dinner tonight. All from scratch I might add! It was sooo good.

I spent the afternoon putting binding on our guilds raffle quilt. It is Bonnie Hunter's pattern Cathedral Stars. Didn't it turn out great! It is huge! Took me all afternoon to trim the batting, make the binding and get it on the quilt. Now to get the sleeve and binding sewn down before the Rosemont Spring Quilt Festival. Our guild gets to display it and sell tickets on Friday, so the clock is ticking!

Quilters Blessings

Its home! My Quilters Blessing quilt is back from the quilter and binding is sewn on! I have the sleeve sewn on, but I still have to hand sew down the back of the binding, so I guess it isn't totally done.


And here is a close up of some of the blocks and quilting.

And look at this fun backing!

After my middle daughter left to go back to college Sunday I found this on her bedroom door. Do you think she didn't like the fabric and projects I had been storing in her room? Ooops. Guess I forgot to clean them out before she got home for break!

Surprise in the Mail

I got another surprise in the mail this week! Jan (Tyler Rose) knew I really wanted one of these. Friends of mine in Indiana along with Jan made these long before I knew them. So everytime we get together to sew I always covet theirs. Well Jan remembered and made this for me! Is it not the coolest! I just love all the colors in the fabric. Thank you Jan!!!!!

Had to go to our office downtown this week, so thought I'd snap a few pics to share with you on my cell phone. And look at this - my lens has a scratch or something, I am now getting a line on all my pictures. This STINKS. Anyway, lets take a stroll from our office....

Here is our office - look up to the 21st floor.

And just down the block the Sears Tower.

Cross the river - and back to union station!

Check it out!

Look what I did this weekend with those really fun charm squares I got for my Birthday! Blocks finish at 4 inches. This is a very downsized X-Rated pattern, I dummied it up in EQ5 to figure out what size I could make with a charm square!

And then I made this mini out of the scraps! Now to get them quilted!

Mail Call!!!!!

I may be feeling better, but I still haven't had any time to sew lately. Work is sucking everything out of me. I pulled 2 all nighters this week and the 3rd night an 'almost' all nighter. I"m zonked.

But I was cheered today when the mail man pulled into our driveway because he had some packages! Wooo Hooo!!!! First I got the adorable punch needle pattern and very cool springy charm pack from a great friend (and she knows who she is) for my birthday! I can't wait to crack into that charm pack! Oh the ideas are flowing!

And then my birthday present came from my long time friend from Australia. We don't always hit the birthdays (and for me even Christmas) on time! We are such good friends we know it comes when it comes! Anyway - the first thing that caught my eye was this wonderful chocolate wrapping paper - mmmm!!!! Oh - and the BIG news.... She thinks her husband and her are coming to the US this fall for Holly's wedding! Can you believe that! We both are soooo excited!

And how cool is this! For Christmas she gave me "The Thimble Lady"'s book on hand quilting her way, and it has a demo on DVD. She took a class from her last year and loved it once she got used to it. She said if I was interested she would get me the thimble for my bday (because I had to measure my finger to make it fit right - she couldn't just surprise me!). So I got my thimble and some finger cotts! And let me tell you, does that thimble feel good on my finger! I can't wait to try it!

And look at this awesome piece of fabric! I don't know what I want to do with it yet. And NO Tonya - you cannot have it! There are some really fun ideas on the back of the sheet of things you can do with it. But isn't it gorgeous? I'm afraid to cut it!

And what was in that chocolate paper? The cutest little book with sayings and puppy pictures! I had to share 2 of the pages with you!

And I always get fun Australian magazines. I can't wait for a few minutes to sit down and have a good read! And the cutest little heart pattern! Ohhh, I"m such a happy girl today!!!!

Crumb Chaos Quilt

Finished my crumb chaos quilt top! Pulling all nighter for work so this is it for a post today!

Questions left in Comments

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Border Fabric Fun!

Lynn came over today and we used the coffee border fabric to make table runners! Above is Lynn's - isn't it cute. Note around hers is Coffee Cups. Here is the pattern for them: Easy Striped Table Runner by The Quilt Company. I saw them at a show last fall and didn't buy it, and then regretted not getting it. Well we found it yesterday and had to make one for fun.


And here is mine. Mine has coffee, cups and coffee pots. There is no binding, you sew and turn right side out. I even got mine "quilted" today!


Then from the left over strips we had after cutting the border fabric I made 3 little mat's! Aren't they cute! I even got one of the mat's quilted and finished!

Wow what a day!

My friend Lynn and I had a fun day. We have been so busy that we haven't had time to really do much this past year. Today we went out for lunch at this "dive" in Wisconsin and had the most awesome catfish lunch! Then she took us to a sewing store that has been around for ages, but we thought it was a sewing machine store - we never knew it had quilting stuff. One of the ladies had done a program at our guild Wednesday night (I didn't go as I was just starting to feel better) and Lynn said the talk was on this really fun ruler called "The X Block Ruler". They ran out of rulers for sale at guild so we drove up there for Lynn to get one. Well baby, did we hit a jackpot! It was big - and had such a great selection of fabrics. A little of everything. Needless to say my no spending thought became only a thought! I found these 2 awesome black fabrics and a zipper with a ball pull for my sewing kit I'm working on. I am always on the lookout for great black fabrics.

And we found this really fun coffee fabric for a project we had talked about on the way up, and low and behold the shop had the pattern. So we HAD to buy fabric and the pattern. I won't show you what the pattern is - we are woking on it tomorrow so you'll see! And I found this bike quilt wall hanging pattern I had seen this last fall and didn't buy it. I"ve been wanting it ever since. Well they had it, so I had to get that too!

Then I also got the cat/fish pattern for a friend who just had surgery, I"m going to mail it for a fun surprise in the mail. And also got this pattern (with ruler in the bag) from Lynn as a gift for my bday. Oh also picked up the magazine "Bags, Pillows and Pincushions". Laurie Simpson and Polly Minick have a really cool idea in it for adding store bought crocheted lace to pillow cases, and Lynda Hall has a fun pin cushion box in it (Go to The Keeping Room to see it). So that came home with me also!

Wheh - what a fun day after being home sick for weeks! And tomorrow Lynn and I are making a quick but fun project!!!!

Back to the machine

I"m finally feeling better and have started out slow with some sewing! While I wasn't feeling well I worked on my second Winter Wonderland block! One more done!

While starting back at the machine I've been working on some Crumb Chaos blocks. Figured this was easy since I didn't have to have a great seam allowance or worry too much! Perfect for the foggy brain! I have more, I was just too lazy to lay then all out tonight!