I"m back from Green Bay

I've been gone for a few days to Green Bay for a work trip. I"m back and hoping to get back to some projects! While there I stayed at a hotel right next to Lambeau Field.

And look at the quilt hanging in the hotel! That was a fun surprise.

And Melanie from Covered Porches and Wooden Screen Doors told me about a shop she heard about in Green Bay that was suppose to have Reproduction and Folk Art Fabrics. Baby - did they ever! It was wonderful! And right by the hotel and our office! (OK Mark - I know your reading this - yes I did spend some money). Next time your in Green Bay you have to stop at Quilters Connection. They had all of Carol Hopkins patterns, tons of other fun reproduction type patterns, tons of fun folk art/primitive type patterns and even tons of other fun patterns and kits! I even got the most adorable baby quilt kit - I'll show that tomorrow - I have 4 baby quilts to make this spring, so it wasn't hard to purchase that! Oh and TONS of reproduction fabrics - I was in heaven! Oh yeah, and wool and stitchery type stuff.

Oh and one last tease. Post #500 is coming up in the semi-near future. I bought a bunch of fun things for a give-away there! So keep watching!

Scrappy Trip Around the World

I got my scrappy trip around the world done! And you know what? It looks pretty darn cool for an ugly fabric quilt! I can't even say it was all made from stash - because the bin the fabric came out of can't even be called stash - it is more like YUCK!

I"m going to make Bonnie's 10-inch block backing (about 1/2 way down the page) too. I have a bit to go on that yet today. (oh and the small brown border is more for anchoring all the pieces when I quilt it. I"m hoping to beg use of a long arm from my friend to get it quilted).

The most awesome xmas gift

Yes, I"m back to Christmas gifts. Our Monday night sewing group exchanged gifts in late Jan and I'm just getting around to sharing one. My friend Julie made this. Is it not awesome! She has become such an awesome machine quilter on these small pieces! And she found that outlining the feather in a different color really adds to the quilting. She made them on silk fabrics and then put them in these beautiful frames.

What a great gift they are! I just had to share with you!

Bargello Bowl - Wednesday....

Since I didn't have time to participate in Bargello Bowl Sunday, and then I saw Marcie's Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks she did - and THEN I got sick so just wanted mindless sewing - I created Bargello Bowl Wednesday - Or Ash Wednesday Bargello - Or Trip to Ash Wednesday!

I happily cut up all that old crafty type fabrics, old Jo-Ann fabrics and just misc other cotton fabrics that are UGLY or just strips of good stuff but not big enough to do anything with into 2.5" strips. And started making Bonnie's Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks!

It was perfect mindless sewing for a stuffed up big head!


And then I took the trimmings from those blocks and started making crumb/chaos blocks for another small charity quilt.


I think I did good for not feeling well!

Organizing your Sewing Area

I"ve got a nasty cold - but I saw that Sossy is going to be writing about how to organize your sewing areas the next few days. All I can say is I"ve been in her sewing room! And I"m totally envious of her sewing desk! So I thought you may be interested in what she has to say.

So stop on over and learn about Organizing your Sewing Area!

Oh Thank You - Paula!

Looky, looky, looky what I got today in the mail! My prize from Paula! She was soooo generous and everything is so wonderful!

I can't thank her enough! I hope you all go visit her blog and let her know how lovely and nice she is!

Is this mug just not the cutest! (I personally can't wait to make the doll)! And aren't the socks so wonderful (Paula made them with bamboo something yarn - is a crazy woman she says)! They are the perfect color for me!

Long live stars!

I"ve been working on my medallion quilt now for about a year. I came to a screeching hault when the next round was "Starry, starry night". I had no idea what I wanted to do. Just regular ohio stars or sawtooth stars just didn't seem to fit. So it sat. And sat. And sat some more. Then during Dec I came across this triangle star in EQ5. This was it! This is what I needed to complete the next round!

So I had made 4 of them for a block exchange I"m in and they went well so I knew I could make them. I cut out fabric for about 30 blocks (I think I need about 56 stars). I started working on them last weekend at the retreat and they were sooo off. The bottoms were about an inch wider than the tops! They were awful! After ripping and playing with about 3 of them I tossed them all back in my bag and gave up. So this weekend I got them out again and tried once more. I figured out the secret to getting them to come out! Thank goodness! These are coming out a bit smaller than the ones I did at camp but the size doesn't really matter since this is a made up quilt and I am going to put spacers between the stars anyway! So I got 8 done! Now that I know I can get them done ok, I'll start working on the stack of cut fabric!

I also finished hand quilting my strippy coin quilt and got the binding on! I"ll hand sew it down tonight and get it washed to get all the chalk lines off. It already is so soft and comfy from hand quilting it! I just love how it turned out!

Whine, whine, whine....

Yes, Libby was whining today that I didn't show what I worked on this weekend yet. So this post is dedicated to Libby. She wanted to know how she could copy me and add my projects to her list if I didn't share!

Well my first project was fixing the piping I did on this quilt top which I made last year on this trip. I spent 2 hours ripping it out at home before I left. Then worked Thursday afternoon and night "redoing" the piping and the outside borders. Needless to say, it looks worse than it did before I fixed it! So I think it will stay the way it is and just try and quilt up the slack in the middle. How you do the piping is really cool. I used the Piping Hot Binding method. I think the problem was all me - not the method!

The other project I worked on this weekend was Michael's Victory by Carol Hopkins. I love how it turned out! Now I just need to figure out how I want to quilt it!

I also made myself 2 new pillowcases - just for fun!

And then I worked on some more "Follow the Drinking Gourd" blocks. Only 13 more to go. First I have to find some more fabric that works with this!

Don't Cry For Me....

Last night before I headed back home from my quilting weekend I got to see the traveling cast of Evita at Purdue! It was so much fun to go and see this with Holly. We had a really good time. I hadn't seen this musical yet so I really enjoyed it.

I also had a wonderful weekend with my friends eating, sewing and laughing! I don't know even where to start! Since I"m still behind on work emails and unpacking I'll show you Holly with her new messenger bag and then pillows Holly saw at the quilt store that she decided Adam (her boyfriend) and her NEEDED. So I bought fabric and got them sewn up. They both loved them. I made some pillow cases for myself as well!

My bags are packed - well at least in my head!

I'm off tomorrow morning to sew, sew, sew with Laura and friends! Sossy and Linda will be there too! It has been a few months since I"ve seen Laura so I can't wait to see her - we have so much to catch up on!

I still have all my packing to do, but I know what I want to take. All except some border fabric I need to fix a project I made last year and pushed off because I had to do a ton of ripping (I spent 2 hours last night doing that) and then fix it. And can you believe it - I can't find the fabric!

I did get the binding sewn down on my Men at work and washed it so it is all soft and wrinkly. So that is all I have for pics today - but I"ll have lots when I get back!

Happy Birthday Adam and Happy Pooh Day!

My oldest daughter Holly informed us of the very important coincidence. Today is child #2's birthday - no longer a teenager (yes I knew that part!) and it is also Winnie the Pooh Day! Coincidence? I told her no - I planned it that way. We have no idea how it started, but Adam always loved Pooh. And the older he got the more attached to his Pooh Bear he was. As a high schooler he would do things if Pooh asked him to do it, but if Mark or I would ask him forget it. (And no Pooh does not talk and we aren't hearing things - but Mark does this hysterical talking for Pooh). Uhhh - and if you blow the picture up you can see that Pooh has "the mange" from 20 years of loving. And he is filthy - even though we have sent him on many water rides through the washer!

Anyway, since Adam is now at that point in life where he won't talk to us, my best birthday wishes and memories will have to be shared here. Above is Adam at 3.

And here he is at about age 5 when I was pregnant with Emily and I took the 3 kids for a big brother/big sister class at the hospital. They were sooo cute!

And here he was at his high school graduation party. Wow have the years gone by!

Now for the embarassing part. I"ve seen several people playing "I Spy" with their cutting areas. Nicole started it with the idea for us to post pics and see who really has the messiest area. Well uhhhh mine is really a mess. This first picture is my raised cutting area. Well it got so full that I can't even cut on it anymore. So now I"m cutting on my sewing table. And notice things are starting to accumulate there too. Yeah I know, one of these days I should clean it - but you know, I'd rather be sewing!


I Spy 15 things on my "real" cutting table (first messy picture):

1. An Indian from Thanksgiving waiting for his feather to be crazy glued back on.
2. My GORGEOUS Hawaiian tool caddy from Sharon (and yes I have tons of stuff in it)!
3. A big roll of masking tape for pinning quilts.
4. My Dick Blick tracing paper I LOVE for sending through the printer and using for Triangulations or paper piecing.
5. Roxanne's Glue Baste It - can't live without it!
6. My wood storage container that my friends husband made for us for xmas. I keep all my little quilt things in it so I don't loose them - like the tips for the glue baste it!
7. Some thread drawers
8. Spool of thread shelf sitter
9. My broken magnetic pin holder with misc pins. (oh and I see a small black clip)
10. Lots of baggies of projects in process.
11. See the marshmallow fabric to the back - that is my S'more Sunbonnet Sue doll I made.
12. My orange tape measure from Menards.
13. To the far left my chicken pincushion I made long ago.
14. Quilting Diva notepad for those important quilt notes to friends.
15. My diet coke coaster which the Indian is standing on until I get him FIXED!

Wow - there is a whole lot more I could list - now that is sad!

Borders are on!

I got the borders on, but skipped starting to quilt it. Not sure what I want to do with that yet. And I had forgotten that I promised my oldest daughter that I would make a messenger bag for her. She comes home this coming weekend for a long weekend from college - so I decided I had best work on that! I still need to topstitch the flap and front top of the bag, and then put the shoulder strap on - but it is looking ok. I was kind of scared to attempt this one, but it was actually fairly fast.

I modified parts of the bag pattern on All People Quilt to make it.

4 Patch Delight

I have the center of my 4-patch delight sewn together! I just have a thin inner border and then the outer border and it is ready to quilt! I just may try and get that started tomorrow! I"m having a hard time picking backing fabric, but I"ll figure it out - such decisions!

You Make My Day

Oh Pamina and Tracey were so nice they each gave me a "You Make My Day" award! Thank you so much. But I feel so bad! I have been pulled so thin lately I've been terrible in keeping up with everyone and even my own projects have suffered.

And hardest of all - how am I going to pick only 10 people. So I decided to pick some not so common blogs that maybe some of you don't know about and spread the wealth!

The rules for this award say to choose up to 10 people whose blog brings you happiness & inspiration and makes you feel happy about Blogland. Let them know by posting a note on their blog so they can pass it on.

Laura - my "real life" friend who I don't get to spend enough time with, quilting or otherwise.

Sossy - a new "real life" friend who I also don't see enough.

Linda - the "instigator" in my real life quilting trips!

Nann - an inspirational and "real life" friend who ALWAYS makes tons of stuff with her stash, she is amazing!

Tracey - we go back with emails and blogs for a long time. And wouldn't you just love to live on a farm like that!

Atet - the things she makes for her daughter are just adorable! And she lives not too far from me (in the grand scheme of things).

Libby - a wonderful blogger friend who quilt I just LOVE. I wish I could play with her.

Lynn - who lives not to far from me, and who always has wonderful quilts to share.

Lorre - oh my! A new blogger who so far I LOVE her posts! And her Quilts!

Kathie - who is always there. We've "known" each other online forever - way before blogs!

New Project Started

Life continues to be crazy at our house! At least high school started again this week and 2 of the 3 college ones are gone. Slowly things are settling in. Other than work continues to be busy, so keeping up with what everyone is working on is still a challenge!

Each month I teach a small Lori Smith Quilt. This month is 4-patch delight. Only I decided instead of making it 16" x 20" like the pattern to increase it so it will be approx 33" x 42". Here is my progress so far.