Saturday, March 19, 2011

Birthday Swap Blocks

I belong to a group of 13 quilters who have organized a
Birthday Block Swap.
Every month 12 of us make a block for that month's Birthday Girl (s).
This month there were 2 ladies celebrating.  I designed their blocks on EQ6 using the "easy draw/patch draw" feature.
One was done in Thirties (the Birthday Girl chooses what type fabric she wants).
I called this "Dressed for the Party".
The other was done in Americana Fabrics (you know I love this!).
I called this one "A Star for You".
This block was paper pieced.

I sure hope the recipients like them!

Happy Sewing,
Colleen

Friday, March 11, 2011

A busy day off...

Yesterday was a really busy day off for me!  WHEW!  Good thing it's back to work today!
Here was my to do list:
  • Laundry ~ lots of laundry since my washer was down and out and the new one came Wednesday
  • Nails ~ okay a personal pleasure but one I deserve
  • Lunch with a friend ~ another well deserved pleasure and delicious too!  YUMMY
  • Sewing ~ and boy did I sew...
And sew the sewing goes...
  • Finished quilting "Yoshi's Secret Garden"
  • Embroidered Yoshi's name on it
  • Put on the binding
  • Ready to give on Saturday for her 85th birthday! :)
Tonight I will make her birthday card!

Sew, you see, I was sew productive yesterday!
I also started sewing the rows together on my "One Block Wonder"!
Cannot wait to finish that one!

Have a wonderful day and SEW!
Colleen

Saturday, March 5, 2011

A SHOUT OUT TO...

PIECEFUL QUILTING!

Happy Birthday to my favorite quilt shop!

5 Years Old today!

If you are in the area today stop in and say Happy Birthday, have some delicious cake, and enjoy the special sales!

Visit the website HERE!



Friday, March 4, 2011

SCRAP HAPPY VALANCE

It was sew great to have the day off yesterday!  I did some much needed cleaning around the house and then hit the sewing room.
Worked a bit on my "One Block Wonder" and it is getting near completion ~ Yea!

I had promised myself that along with sewing I need to put in at least one hour on days off to organize the sewing room; a giant work in progress.
I had a meeting to go to at 7pm so around 5 I decided to get some of that organizing done.
Well, I came across a bin of my Americana Fabric scraps ~ there is a lot of them since I just love all things Americana! 
When I got home from the meeting I cut a whole bunch of different scraps into 2.5" x 8.5" strips.
And then I started to sew...and sew...and sew...and sew!
This morning I finished my sewing and got out some curtain lining fabric (from my stash also) and created these!

I LOVE THEM!
I had actually seen similar valances in a small country shop that were for sale and thought...some day!Well, that day was yesterday! 
Sew this morning I cleaned the kitchen window and hung my new valances ~ my SCRAP HAPPY VALANCES ~ "scrap" because all the fabric was from my scraps, "happy" because I am oh sew very happy with them!
Now I need to make another pair for the kitchen door!  Or do I?
Stay tuned, another day off may bring another version of my Scrap Happy Valances!

Remember, SEW EVERYDAY!
I do!
Colleen

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

It's been a while...

...since I have been blogging!
Yes, I have been sewing and sew very busy at it!
Lots of samples for the shop and classes and a little bit of sewing for me!
Currently I am working on this "One Block Wonder" wall hanging.
This is a really fun process ~ lately I have been in to cutting up fabric a lot!
I had this fabric in my stash just waiting to be used up  ~ about 6 yards of it to be exact ~ I wonder what the original plan for it was?!?! :)
This photo is not the final version, I made some adjustments to the layout while it was up here on the design wall.
Did I mention the design wall?  My husband graciously hung a piece of crib size batting on the wall in the hallway just outside my sewing room!  What a guy!
I have half of the quilt sewn into rows so far and hope to finish it this weekend so I can plan borders.

I also fell behind in my Civil War Blocks :( ~ yesterday I sewed block 8 ~ Cotton Boll.
Had a photo but cannot find it :( ~ could have filed it anywhere. 
Last night my computer was acting up a lot so it may have lost it!
At any rate there are a number more I have to get working on...6, 7, and 9 too!
Hey, I found it...

The process of choosing the fabrics for each of these blocks is so much fun ~ and I purchased a few more repro fabrics to add to my collection!  YAY!
Well, that's all for now ~ Back to the sewing machine for me!
Happy Sewing!