Project ALMOST complete

It has been a busy few days with work and other events and I have not managed to get to the sewing machine since Wednesday.  This morning I decided that quilting detox is not for me and pulled out an old project (2011 or 2012) that has been pinned to the wall in my sewing room and quilted it on Lady Tiara.

This was the sample for a class at the shop.  The quilting plan was a little free motion in the center with a star like motif and then some more ruler practice.  I didn't use the ruler for the small outer triangles, for that I just gave myself some registration marks along the edge every half inch from center.  There isn't any quilting in the blue areas because I felt the print would hide the work.

Here is a close up.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Speed 25%

Free Motion and Ruler Work

Thread - Glide

Lesson learned - quilt some more old projects!

It's fun and it's okay to make mistakes!

Tonight I will prepare a binding and sew it on and then hand stitch it down at the Karate School tomorrow.

Have a beautiful Sunday, the weather here is fantastic!
Happy Sewing,

Colleen

I'm Back!

I cannot believe it is June 1st already.  Where does the time fly too anyway?

I have been so out of the loop the past few weeks but I need to get back on track with everything.

My daughter and grandson were here for 9 sleeps...and Pop and Nan need 9 sleeps to recover.

He is a great boy and he is all boy...boy oh boy.

Lots of playing and having fun.

It was great to have them here for so long, longer than originally planned.

A morning at the beach with Pop!  Very cold water...

On Sunday, May 20th my Father-in-law passed away unexpectedly.  This was very sad and my heart broke for my Mother-in-law.  She is such a sweet person and in a nursing home where they take great care of her.

She was so sad and really did not understand.

Because of this my daughter came home on Tuesday instead of the following Saturday.

My sons and daughter-in-law came on Wednesday.

The house was full and somehow this always makes a sad time a little better, especially with a small child.

Yesterday when we dropped my daughter at the airport my husband said it was such a rough two weeks but he was glad to have then here for so long.  I told him to think of their long visit as a final gift from his Dad.

And a special gift it was.  We really enjoyed it.

Now that it is June 1st I have made a realization.  Last year (2011) I made a promise to sew everyday and I did.  This year I have not done that.  So, starting today, June 1, 2012, I once again promise myself to sew everyday.  You really get a lot accomplished that way.

Here's what I finished today.

This is a shop sample and so quick and easy.  Kits are available for this.

Saturday and Sunday is the local guild quilt show...very excited for this.

I entered a quilt in the show.  Not expecting to win a ribbon or anything.  I reached my goal which was to actually enter a quilt in a show for the first time...check that off the bucket list.

This is the quilt I entered.

My son's wedding quilt.

I wish I could take a better photo.  It should be hanging nicely at the show so I will take a photo at that time and then post a nicer pic.

Have a great weekend and enjoy some sewing...

Colleen

Finally...a dining room table you can actually dine at...

Well, I did clean yesterday...and it was a scorcher too!

Not as hot as Friday or Saturday but for an all out cleaning day...all I can say is whew!

But, the good news is I now have a dining room table you can actually dine at...and all this time I thought it was a 'cutting table'...HUH!?!

And on it...my absolutely most favorite 10 Minute Runner!

Sew...let's see how long it remains a dining table...HUH?!?

The heat has subsided today...feels great!

Happy Sewing!

Colleen

Sewing with "leftovers"...

Saturday I had a class at the shop (Pieceful Quilting) for the July block of Calendar Girls.

The pattern had us making 2" finished HST's.  Sew...there were a lot of little triangle snippets cut off of these. 

I immediately sewed them into pairs and trimmed into 1" HST's.  In class I discussed how you can save these and use them to make a candle mat or pop them into a scrappy quilt.

Saturday night I decided to sew them with a couple of squares from another project and make a cute little candle mat...and sew I did!

This finished at 8" square and I 'tea dyed' it...because that's the look I like!

Since this one came out sew cute I decided to make a large one with some left over pieces I had from another project.

This one finishes at 14"square.  I didn't dye it...but I might?

Any thoughts on that???

Both are backed with stash fabrics and machine quilted.  The binding on the little one is machine sewn but the binding on the larger mat is hand finished.

Well, at least my Saturday night wasn't boring.  I sewed and sewed and sewed!

It's amazing what you can make in an evening while the TV is OFF!!!

Sunday was a busy errand day I spent with my husband and last night I worked some more on the big Wedding Quilt.  No new photos of that yet.

Enjoy the beautiful day and remember...

SEW EVERYDAY ~ I DO!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

If you want some background information about the history of Memorial Day head on over to Barbara Brackman's website...just scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the link!

It's raining here right now and we are expecting thunderstorms.  We did have three very beautiful days to celebrate with our grandson so rain is okay today.

I am sewing the day away!

Enjoy and sew safe!

Colleen

I feel like Spring...where is that darn SUNSHINE!

Yup, today the weather is suppose to be nice and warm ~ it's warmer but the Sun is still missing.

Yesterday was a lovely day but again, the Sun didn't show until about 6pm!
I REALLY WANT SOME NICE SUNNY DAYS!

Managed to get in a little spring cleaning yesterday (and when I say a little, I mean a little)! :)

I also hung my Easter Flag outside ~ finally!

Have I ever mentioned my outside flags?  Well, other than my assorted American Flags that I hang I always make sure holiday and seasonal themed flags have an Americana theme to them.

Here is a photo of my "Great American Easter Parade"!

This makes me happy!

Sewed a little this weekend ~ not as much as I wanted.  Must get busy tonight!


Happy Sewing!
Colleen

My life is like a "Crazy Quilt"...

Beautiful, a lot going on and it will all come together when the time is right!
Some seams seem to need special stitches to cover them and hide the "oops"!
We will get there!

In the meanwhile, I have been sew busy that I haven't been able to post on a regular basis.

I finished the top for a special project and that is being quilted right now ~ no photos ~ took them on my cell phone and not quite sure how to get them off the phone and into this darn computer...this seam needs some lovely flowers for sure!

Yesterday was a day of ups and downs so when I got home from work I decided that I needed to just have some sewing FUN...and I did just that!

I had a Jelly Roll laying around for months now and I decided that it was time to unroll the stack and make something sort of out of the ordinary for ME!

Well, one hour and 45 minutes of sewing and here is what I have...

I am going to call it "A Quick Roll..."!

I will post more about this technique at a later date - for now, enjoy the view!

That's all for now...lots to do today and tonight is the First Friday Finishes (Sit n' Sew) at the shop ~ always a fun time!

Have fun and SEW EVERYDAY ~ I do!
Colleen

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

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