bindings

Yesterday I worked on bindings, not my favorite part of quilting that's for sure! I have had these quilted since January and sitting in a pile on my sewing desk. I started binding the smallest quilts and still have 5 more to go. Above is my Tiger quilt, I had a yard of the tigers and half a yard of the dark rust. I bought the fabric with a pillowcase in mind but when I got this book(no I can't remember the name) I turned it into a small quilt. I hope to do a few more of these quilts in the future, I have the fabric bought for an oriental version and a tropical iris with orange and turquoise colors.

UFO alert!!!! This little stack and whack fan is about 12 years old now. Mom made it when she was doing Fan classes. The blocks were cut from a pre-print 30's panel. Some of the coolest fan blocks were made from pillow panels and this was a quilt panel she found on the shelves of my quilt shop. It hung on the wall and made the class rounds as a top and when I closed the shop I kitted it up with back and binding with plans to quilt it someday. It lived at Mom's awhile and then it finally made it to the 'to be quilted shelf". I like to do baby quilts when I get a pile of odds and ends batting, it's easier to piece small bits of batting for baby quilts and I like using up leftovers. This little quilt does have two stains that must be treated in the wash before being given away, with all the traveling this quilt has done it's no wonder there are spots and stains.

I picked up this print fabric in Fremont in their sale room FQ's awhile back.....ok over a year ago...well anyway I matched the green from our sale room and pink from the front and this little baby quilt was born. It was a challenge to myself to make something out of the 2 FQ's, oh and it was a challenge because it was hard to match and not much fabric to make anything bigger. I'm happy with the end result and a sweet baby girl will love it I'm sure.

Last but not least in my binding day was this bright little quilt. I made all the blocks and had them pinned to a design board. Kristin set them together and added borders. Most of the fabric came from work.

look what I found...

I found these in the laundry room...........momma cat had them in this basket turned sideways in the corner so they were caged in. I moved them into a dog crate and momma sleeps in there with them during the night. This weekend I am taking them to my friend Al's house so they can be barn cats. It's so much fun watching them and the puppies together.

Sara is excited to play with her new machine from Mom. I picked up a few 4 inch squares from a garage sale over the weekend. The 4 inch ruler was included in the sale too.

Also picked up some jewelery at the garage sale, it was fun to add to my collection. I am going to tear apart a few things and remake them........like the ladybug pin......the heart key chain...maybe the gold circle necklace....and the hoop earrings I'm just going to wear. I love hoops and its fun to wear a different pair everyday. (for $.25 each I can afford to change it up)

I finally put binding on some quilts! These two are Heartstrings quilts, the top one was sent to me to finish and the bottom one is a Project Pink from a few years ago, I am so close to finishing that project.....whew! Not sure where they will end up or how soon they will be given away as I'm trying to get things pulled together for graduation and Easter.

little project

I found this metal hamper at a thrift store last week. $3 bucks for the hamper and $4 for the paint. I really thought about keeping it for my room but the berry pink paint screamed SARA so she is the lucky girl who got a new hamper for her room.

When she got home from school I handed her the glue gun and told her to jazz it up with the plastic stones. She calls it bejeweling..........I call it funny! I sat outside with her and chrocheted scrubbies and enjoyed the weather. Oh and played with the dogs too. (also painted a metal shelf that you can see behind the hamper, she bejeweled it also)

And here's the finished project, for $7 she has a new personalized hamper that looks cool in her room and the best part is we did it together.

a box from my mom

I started with the center FQ for this baby quilt(sent by Mom). The yellow is brand new at work and I thought it was perfect for a baby quilt. I ended up with a 38x48 quilt. I thought the animals were to big to cut up into smaller blocks and the way they were on the fabric there was no fussy cutting them unless I wanted to applique them onto something. I always like bright baby quilts and this one will go into my stash for gifts or for sale.

Another 10 minute table runner, now I have 5 of them to finish with buttons on the ends. The blue fabric is lighter on the ends, not just my camera making it look that way. Below is a pillow case for Brad, he was complaining that I never bring him cool presents......so I thought of him yesterday and made it green to look good with his green bedding.

Mom sent me a box and a package this week, the box was a sewing machine! Now Sara(or Kristin) and I can sew at the same time! The package held some beading supplies and fabric. I collect cat fabric and there was a piece that had names of cats all over it with paw prints in olive green and black. THEN..........DOG FABRIC! It makes me giggle to think of my mom sending me dog fabric, I really do love it and to prove it I used some of it yesterday. It was fun making things with it and I have plans for more of it but ran out of time.

long week

I wanted something similar to the color of the necklace in the middle(my mom's from the 70's, she had rockin' style) but a bit longer and more eclectic, so I strung the cream and gold beads two lengths and attached them to a gold chain I found in mom's stash. Also made small drop earrings and a bracelet. Not sure if I'm done with this one yet, might add a pin of some kind to the side where it connects to the chain and maybe some ribbon or something........just not sure.

Found this cool pink bead in mom's box(yes I love her box of stash beads and jewelry) and it spoke Spring to me so Sara and I dug thru a bowl of mixed beads and found silver to string the pink bead with. I made it short, 16-17 inches so it fits close to the neck and added the extender to made it just a bit longer if needed, also like the extender hanging down the back now that I have short hair.

Quilt group last night was fun, we worked on chairty quilts and Anita got this one pieced and ready to quilt so now I have to get busy! We also gave a quilt to Linda P. to deliver to a gal she knows who is sick and in the rest home with cancer. Sandy took a baby quilt to give to her friend who's baby was born with some facial problems. It's always nice to give them away when needed.

This is my latest sample for work, oh I can't wait till all the kits sell and I can take it home!!!!

Josh had a good time at prom, and everyone look....he's smiling!

More quilts

These two quilts are samples for work. I love to play with color and love to sew up two of something in different color ways just to see the possibilities. I really thought the pink would be my favorite but the green is really speaking to me.

Sara is modeling one of the necklaces I made tonight, I found the butterfly pin at the thrift shop in Creighton for a buck, the beads are out of an assortment pack I bought years ago and the chain is leftover from charm bracelets. I love to repurpose jewelry and make something old new again. I made a few more goodies but no pic's tonight. I picked up quite a few cool things at the thrift shop today, it was a fun trip and now I have something new to build with for spring jewelry. I also have mom's box of beads and old jewelry. (oh my it's like a treasure!) I used a gold link chain and some of her beads tonight too. Thanks Mom!

Sara bought robot charms while in Omaha, tonight I helped her put them on chains. I tried to add beads and more charms but she vetoed me and insisted she liked them plain. Oh she did steal the pearl beads I picked up from the thrift shop today to layer with the robots......I kind of like her funky/girly style.

geography bee

Sara did well at the State Geography bee on Friday, she answered 4 out of 8 questions right. To get in the running for the top 10 7 out of 8 was needed. I'm really proud of her and next on her list is Quiz Bowl tomorrow.(hope they do as well as Josh and his high school team, they took 1st) We had a great day in Omaha together, picked up booze for the bar, stopped at the Log Cabin Quilt shop for work, got stuck in rush hour traffic.........bought her a new outfit at Bass and Pro where we picked up Kev new boots. Hit two fabric stores looking at beads and fabric. Oh and we hit the 'bins' on 72nd. It's the Goodwill store where they sell things by the pound. Everything is thrown into big rolling bins and you dig thru it looking for treasures. Sara found some Anime books, I got another dehydrator. It was a fun day with my daughter.

I made the quilt on the left, Roseanne did the quilt on the right.

Here's my spring table topper, love the springy colors and the bunny just makes it cute. I was at the shop today and there is one kit left!

I also did the goose chase table runner, I will have two out of this one also, it's made, just not quilted yet. The kit has enough fabric except for binding to make two. (why throw the extra in the scrap bin?)

I am starting a quilt in these colors tomorrow so when I cut kits I also did a few table topper kits with the leftovers. Well this topper got vetoed so I bought what I cut up and will turn it into a throw size quilt. I'm going to make 3 more of these sections and add a border.

Tonight I got two baby quilts ready for binding tomorrow and I think I will cut another quilt top up to take to work. I am on the down hill stretch on the quilts I had planned for samples....whew! Two quilts and a table topper to go, Shop Hop had been fun and lots of neat people have come in to see us. Just a few more days to 'get your hop on'.