These are photos of some of the purses I managed to complete and mail. I made a really cute on for my Mom who lives in Arizona, but mailed it off early so it would get there in time! (forgot to take a picture, I'll ask her to send me one.) Don't look at the clutter around the room, that'll be tackled next year! ;D

Happy Holidays!

Ho ho ho! I am laughing so I don't freak out because I am so far behind. Almost forgot to post, am leaving for Massachusetts for the holidays, in like oh, 45 minutes, and won't be back until the new year. Busy doesn't begin to describe my recent life, but then, I suppose that is no different from everyone else! The sad thing is, I have done things, mailed them and forgot to take pictures, and I know I have forgotten projects as well, but here is what I remember. One of the guild members generously created an original mystry wallhanging for us to do. I did mine in Thimbleberries Christmas fabric (old stash) and free quilted what was supposed to be pinecones in the centers. I made 7 purses as gifts, but that wasn't enough, I ran out of time on 10 others. Yes, perhaps I was a little unrealistic, just how long could 17 purses take? Well since they are not all the same, and not counting the work on skating costumes and QOV tasks, I guess I was over reaching this time. When I look back on ALL that I was able to accomplish this year, and actually FINISH!! I am so pleased. I have set the bar for next year, and I will start my finishing my 2010 starts and going back and working on all of those other WISPS! I think in the new year when I return and start cleaning up my studio, I will figure out how many actual WISPS I completed, and how many I started. Oh, yeah, I just remembered, I did some extra quilting for other people too, even besides my Gram - now I don't feel so lazy! Now it's time to start the long drive and relax and enjoy the holidays with family! Hope everyone has a wonderful & safe holiday season!!

Fall Finish

I Finished binding this wall hanging last night while watching the Dallas Cowboys get pummeled by the Greenbay Packers - a very satisfying night all around! I have had this panel for about 5 years, maybe more? and was going to cut out parts of it to decorate some small canvas bags, but obviously, never got around to it! I "won" the pretty fall fabric around the panel at the guild's silent auction last month, and was determined to do something with it "sooner" vs my typical "later" so it was nice to finally use some old fabric while I was at it. I still have more of the fall fabric left and am in the midst of more projects with that. I am trying to catch up on my long arming this week. The children's activities have been overwhelming lately, my son's High School Marching Band just had their final competition on Saturday which they won and now they are enjoying their status as completely undefeated this year, the first time in their school's history! (The high school is only 15 yrs old) My daughter also competed Saturday, but in figure skating and she competed in two new routines and placed second in both! It seems time is flying too fast! Back to the sewing room - Happy Quilting!

Happy Halloween!

It's the 31st already? I feel I've been tricked with how fast this month has gone by - I sure wish I would get treated to an extra week for this month! I started out the month very well, I finished two prayer shawls that the guild was collecting for the church that so generously allows us to hold our QOV workshops for free in their large fellowship hall. I used flannels from my stash and didn't need to buy anything - not even backings! I was also able to get a QOV quilted. I also quilted some quilts for a few other people, not added as part of the OPAM tally, but still satisfying!

Unfortunately I had a lot of extra events to attend or attend to this month that really ate into my time. My daughter is also devoting more time & effort into skating so she has more practices/lessons and she skated in a Halloween show last Saturday, and I had to make the costume for that. My neighbor had her son three weeks ago, and I finally got his quilt finished, and bound last night - my daughter & I brought it over this evening and wouldn't you know I forgot to take a picture of it first! But it's done & delivered and she was so happy, I used a soft minke-like blanket for the backing and it was warm and yet still supple. It also matched the jungle theme in his room! I managed to finish a Christmas present this month, although I am still behind from last month. We held a silent auction at our guild, which was a fund raiser for the Quilts of Valor Committee so naturally I felt quite obligated to bid on a few items . . . Yikes! and couldn't believe how many of them I "won" ooops. It was a lot of fun to get the items home and see it all - much of it had been bundled up into groupings. A kitty lacy doily-like item was between two pieces of fabric, which I hadn't noticed and there was bits of blue and I had a blue stripe that was kind of cute so the very next day after the auction I put together this little wall hanging for my daughter for Christmas. She used to LOVE pink, but now she prefers blue, so I think she'll really like this. I used invisible thread to quilt it, and to attach the kitty doily to a dark blue background, which was a first for me and easier than I had anticipated. I am also using some really pretty fall fabric from the auction on a couple of other projects that I hope will be done by next month! We'll see, won't we ? Happy Halloween!

September?

September is practically gone, hard to believe how fast time is flying by. In some ways we were greatful that this month went by quickly, although I wish I had gotten more quilting done. I was forced to be a single parent for a little over 3 weeks, as my husband had to go to Iraq with several others from his office. We appreciated the fact that it was only 3 weeks instead of a year or more like so many others must do, but we were not happy with the fact that he was out and about visiting various locations while he was there. He arrived safely home Monday night so we are all so happy and relieved! I finished two more cell phone cases from the 2 fat quarters I had quilted, plus I made 2 water bottle identifiers. I have just enough scraps left to make a little credit card holder, but got side tracked before I could finish it. My Niece's friends held a make up baby shower for her, but I could not attend as the children are in school and she is 10 hrs away. I made a black, white & red "play" quilt for Gus, and a simple little jungle print batik quilt for him. I used soft minke-like fabric on the back of both of them. I didn't use batting for the jungle/batik one, so it is lightweight and supple. I doubled 3 oz poly for the play quilt, so it is very, very thick, it's more for him to lay on, and later play on, not so much to use for cover. My husband took the camera to Iraq, so I took photos of the play quilt with my phone. I had quilted two quilts for my Gram, that she made for Gus, and I was in such a hurry to send them off that I forgot to take a photo of the Jungle quilt, as I sent it along with Gram's quilts. I did not make any Christmas presents this month, that makes two months in a row, so now I am falling behind in that ! I sewed together 4 backings and 2 bindings for Quilts of Valor but I need to start longarming some more of those. I have a lot of that to do too! BTW, the play quilt is my own design, and it was a kind of "make it up as you go along" type of thing, it was a lot of fun to make, I tried different techniques, and thought of new ideas as I went along. I have 4 more of these cut out, but with slight variations, I am going to make 1 for each of my children - well then, I guess for my future grandchildren, in case my hands are too useless when that time comes. I used fabrics from my stash, except for the red square and binding I had purchased while at my grams this summer. Boy is my stash count, In and Out way off, it's going to take me a day to figure that out! Let's just hope October is more productive!

August Finishes

I just cannot believe that summer is almost over, and that school is just about to start. This has truly been the shortest summer ever, and of course the busiest! I have hardly spent any time in my quilting room or even near my machine! I didn't even have a backlog of binding I could have worked through. I did get much accomplished at my Gram's house. We went through her stash, and WISP's and she was able to complete SEVEN quilt tops! She had one entirely done when I arrived, so I ended up bringing back eight quilt tops to longarm for her! I have not loaded even one, as of yet. I was able to run up to Maine with my brother to visit My niece, her husband, and bitty baby Gus. How precious is he! He was still in the NICU, although he finally went home a few weeks ago. He is now 6 lbs 12 oz and two months old! Just gorgeous, I will have to add a photo soon. We have since attended two wonderful weddings, adding vacation days to them to enjoy additional sight seeing. We made it home in time for dd to attend 1 week of skating camp and ds to endure 2 1/2 weeks of band camp! During that time I worked on some blocks for my next lucky stars quilt and I did another Giraffe door doodle, this one for bitty baby Gus. The incubator he was in was called a Giraffe, so his parents have adopted that theme for him. My daughter being a HUGE fan of all things Giraffe, made this an easy task for me! I also made 4 cellphone cases out of two fat quarters that I had quilted together to test a freehand quilting design. I have some left over, I need to use those up before Wednesday so that I can at least say that I used 2 fat quarters from my stash this month. (pretty pathetic!) Well, I'll load a couple of photos, then I need to take ds to the barbers for a haircut and do some shopping.

July Finishes

The summer is going so quickly - can't believe it is the 12th already!! Finished the binding on this QOV just in time for guild, and that will be my charity project this month due to being so busy. Also, finished two patriotic wall hangings which were truly WISPS. I had started these, oh at least 4 years ago in Wisconsin. I had a patriotic charm pack and saw the cutest hangers at my LQS and so designed these little wall hangings to go on them. I was able to make many, many (I can't remember how many in all) of these, and some I just did three stars. Well, at our guild we have had a fabric drive these last two months, requesting patriotic fabric for backings and borders. For every yard of fabric, the members could put their name in for a raffle prize. As one of the Co-chairs I wanted to make something for the raffle so I figured if I finished these two it would be appropriate! I finished them in time and I only have enough charm squares left for one more three star one, I'd like to get that done before the end of the year and then, that'll be it for that whole project! I don't have any idea what I'll be making for a Christmas present this month as I will have little time to sew for myself. We are off for Massachusetts tomorrow, and Gram is already itching to finish another quilt for baby Gus (my niece's tiny baby boy) She apparently already has a flannel quilt done for him (he wasn't due until September) but now she wants to do a summer one as well. She also has plans for me to do alot of matching & cutting for her, so I am looking forward to "playing fabric" with Gram for the next week. I hope to steal away to Maine to meet my GREAT nephew, we'll see how that goes! He is doing better! The valve in his heart closed, thank the Lord, so now that surgery is not necessary!! He is still taking oxygen via nose, and has a feeding tube, he just has to keep growing!! Well, back to packing - Happy Quilting!!

Back from Wisconsin!!

Arrived safely home from our too quick trip to Wisconsin. Spent two days at MT. Olympus water park which was lots of fun and the weather was terrific! Went to Sparta and spent time with former neighbors, spent not nearly enough time at favorite quilt store, Quilt Corner, (actually spent more than time at Quilt Corner, as one can imagine!!) met with friends and was able to go to the farewell party for our favorite pastor who is leaving for another congregation. On the drive home (20 hrs split into two days) I received a phone call from my formerly pregnant niece. Yes, that's right, FORMERLY pregnant niece She wasn't due until September 4th!! They were camping in Maine when her water broke! She was airlifted to Bangor, Maine where she delivered a 3 lb 7 oz, 17" long boy!! He is doing pretty well, considering he is 9 1/2 weeks early! He has a feeding tube, and is on a respirator, but they may be able to remove that in a day or so. What a shock to us all! They live in Massachusetts, so it was an 8 hr trip for my brother and SIL to run up there and see them, they may be able to move the baby to a closer NICU in a couple of weeks, but we'll have to play it by ear until then. I finished binding the Charity Kitty quilt on the way to Wisconsin, but noticed that the stitches on the last two feathers I had done on the border were very loose and the stitching on the back was all loopy - I remember being at the very end of the bobbin, but didn't notice any difference in the feel of it. So I did not present it to the Cat Shelter, I ripped out the stitches and then pinned it back on to the machine and did the feathers again. It took longer to pin it on than it did to do the feathers Crazy! I will just have to send it to them, but it still counts as my charity project completed for this month as well as 8 1/3 yds out for stash reduction! I have not updated my stash in, you know how it is, lots of laundry to catch up on, Twilight Saga marathon movie session to attend, dusty house to clean! Actually I have not been able to bring my self to count it all up, and one of the kits doesn't count, as I will wrap it up as a birthday present for myself. Here are a few pictures of all of my yummy new goodies!! The bolt of fabric I purchased at a reduced cost and is for QOV backings - does that count?? Oh well, all things considering - I am very happy with the amount of finishes I have for such a busy month! Happy Quilting!!

Packing!

I'm finishing up packing for Wisconsin, last night I finished quilting the kitty quilt, and this morning I sewed the binding together and on to the quilt, so I will bind it as we drive. Well, when it's DH's turn to drive and I am not sleeping! It's usually a 22 hr drive, this year we plan on stopping somewhere along the way instead of our usual marathon drive. The kids are pretty good about it, they each have their electronic devices, snacks and their pillows to keep them entertained! I have been so good this year, most of the fabric I have purchased is also in the fabric out column or well on its way. So needless to say, I am really anticipating doing some serious damage at my friends quilt store! I will TRY to keep in mind specific projects and not just go crazy . . . or not!! I do need a few backings, and while that adds up, it also goes out quickly too! Here are some photos of the kitty quilt. It is going to be given to the Associated Society Animal Protection (ASAP) Cat Shelter in Sparta WI, for their annual fall fund drive, intended as one of the raffle prizes. It is a wonderful no-kill shelter from where we adopted two of our kitties, Samantha and Hermione. I will have to add their pictures and stories to my side bar sometime soon. Samantha has an amazing story, and she is a very special and amazing kitty! I made a quilt quite similar to this one for a neighbor who always watched our kitties when we went on vacation, and they would never accept any kind of payment. I had tons of fabric left over and always had in mind to make this quilt for the shelter, and so now it's done! O.K. well, it will be once it's bound. I still have enough fabric left over to make another one - an even bigger one I think. This one is 62" X 67", I use 5 oz poly to make it nice and thick, and provide alot of definition during the quilting. I hope they like it! Well, better finish up, I'll be back late on the 28th, just in time to enjoy Twilight, The Eclipse! Happy

Quilting!

Baby quilt bound!

I finished binding the baby quilt on Friday night. I helped my niece make it last summer when she came to visit, she had never made a quilt before, but she is very creative and crafty and did very well! Her husband is an artist, and he designed the pantograph pattern that I used. Unfortunately, the thread she chose doesn't show that quilting very well, but I will quilt the panto using dark thread on muslin so you can see it. It is really pretty, I will have to ask him to come up with a name for it. He sent me the design on a 8 1/2 X 11" paper and then I enlarged it and taped it together and brought it to office max and had it run off until it was really long. I look forward to doing it on a large quilt! I should have had my head on straight and mailed the quilt to my niece on Saturday, but didn't even think of it until the post office had closed. Very busy getting ready for our upcoming trip to Wisconsin, surprised DD and on last day of school we went to the local spa and we each had a pedicure! It felt great and was alot of fun! She was especially thrilled since she and her DD were going to a Father/Daughter Cotillion the following evening. While they went to that DS and I watched movies together. I pinned on the kitty quilt and then went to pin on the backing and realized that the backing was WAY too small - what was I thinking? So I had to go back to the LQS and picked up two more yards, I'll have extra but I can make a pillowcase or a bag of some kind. We went to the beach today, DH's choice, then came home and had steak, scallops, burgers and other yummy foods to celebrate Father's day. We leave Wednesday morning, so I'll be quilting the kitty quilt first think in the morning. Ooops, it is morning!! I have a feeling it's going to be a crazy next couple of days!

Poodle Door Doodle!!

Here it is! I was able to get a picture of DD & her Favorite teacher with the Poodle Door Doodle!

My DH & DS asked what the Giraffe thingy was - wall hanging ??? I said "well, it can be, but it also can be hung over a door knob" So once the Poodle one was done, the name Poodle Door Doodle just came to me! So I changed the Giraffe thingy to Giraffe door doodle on my list of finishes. I think it sounds better! DD's teacher was very impressed that she sewed it herself, on the back I had her do a little label with her name and date. I finished binding the Citrus Lucky Star quilt last night - another finish and there's 7 1/8 yds gone from my stash!! I was so thrilled to not have bought an inch of fabric for this quilt. For the binding I used leftover green from the scooby dooby doo quilt that was my first finish this year. I quilted the baby quilt yesterday and sewed the binding on, tonight I will start binding it. Only three more days left of school, and they are half days at that! Need to pin on the kitty quilt so I can get my charity project for the month done! Not bad for 1/2 month left! Happy quilting!

Hot & Muggy = Progress!

Another very muggy weekend! We arose early to get to the Farmer's Market before all the good seafood was gone, we were all set and I was just getting into the car when it became very difficult to breathe! Ran back inside for the inhaler and after a few minutes we set off again! Once we were in Historic Yorktown and along the beach breathing became much easier and we enjoyed looking at all the booths of goodies & fresh produce. We weren't too late and were able to get 2 bags of small clams (100 total), some beautiful salmon, fresh corn & lots of fresh veggies!

Once we arrived home I stayed inside for most of the weekend and got lots done. DD made her teacher her gift, which I forgot to photograph!! She brought the gift in today, but I will join them this afternoon for their party so I'll take pictures then. She did a great job and was thrilled and how quickly it went together. She sews such a nice straight seam, but small projects work best for her, cause then she's off bouncing on to something else! I was able to finish completely a set of six place mats! I had this waiting around for at least 3 years now, and it also completes my goal of one Christmas present a month, as it is going to my brother's youngest daughter, since she has her own place now and she loves coffee about as much as I do! I'm going to use the leftover fabric to make oven mitts and then I'll put them all in a basket with a tin of my yummy mocha slices (chocolate/coffee cookies) and that will make a lovely Christmas present. YAY!! We'll now I'd like to get the older niece's baby quilt quilted before DD's party. Happy Monday!!

June Finish!

My first June finish was unexpected and unplanned, but very cute & fast! My daughter had picked up a poodle embroidery iron-on applique to give to her teacher (who collects pink poodle things) and was pondering what to do with it when I suggested a simple little wall hanging. She couldn't envision my idea, so we just let it go. The next day I went to the LQS for a backing for the kitty charity quilt and saw the giraffe fabric and some pink polka dotted fabric. I bought 2 3/4 yds backing and 1/4 yd each of the giraffe and pink polka dotted fabric. I would have bought fat quarters, but this shop doesn't "do" FQs!! I am proud of myself for only getting 1/4 yd of each!! That night whilst DD was sleeping I whipped up the Giraffe thingy and hung it on her door knob! She noticed it immediately the next morning and loved it!! (did I mention she LOVES giraffes?) I showed her the polka dot for the poodle and she loves the idea so we'll work on that later on this evening. Last weekend I got so much accomplished! It was soooooo hot and humid that it really bothered my asthma so I stayed inside and sewed!! I finished quilting the citrus lucky stars, so my binding pile is really starting to stack up on the couch! I finished piecing the kitty charity quilt and it's waiting to be quilted, I finished enlarging my nephew's beautiful long arm pantograph pattern and I am going to long arm the quilt my niece & I made last summer. Lastly, I've found a way for my next lucky stars quilt to also be leaders and enders. It's all cut and organized, in a bin next to my machine and I've been getting blocks done as I go along with other projects! (Photo below) I have the finished blocks pinned to the QOV batting box, convenient little holder that turned out to be! Well, I want to get DD started on her poodle project, I want it to have been done by her, not her Mom!! Hope you have a productive & fun weekend!!

QOV is quilted

The latest guild QOV is quilted and the binding is sewn on, now its next to my spot on the couch ready to be sewn down! Can't remember the last time we watched TV though, we've been so busy! Last night we went to an 18th entury play at Kimball Theatre in Colonial Williamsburg - What FUN!! When watching 18th century plays, the audience members are verbal participants, and it's loud, boisterous and great fun! My 10 yr old DD especially enjoyed it, she was deeply enthralled and just loved every moment. It was a comedy and the actors were outstanding. We'll be sure to keep an eye out for the next play! Anyway, here's a picture of the guild QOV, I quilted this design that my friend Crystal, in Wisconsin, showed me a couple of years back. I used donated fluffy poly for the batting, and since the seams on this quilt were quite bulky, this design worked nicely and took advantage of the depth that the poly provided! Also included are a couple of sneak peeks of what I'm working on. These two projects are on opposite sides of the spectrum regarding level of difficulty and swiftness of completion! The kitty fabric project is for a charity raffle and is fast and easy as can be! The brown paisley, flowery fabric is a wedding present and very time consuming! I just started cutting out the kitty project on Tuesday, and I've been working on the wedding project since May 17th! We'll see how they go - I've tried not to start too much at once this year, perhaps the secret to my current success, but I can only stand to work on the wedding project a little bit at a time! Well, I need to run some errands before the kiddles come home from school, Have a great weekend!

More May Finishes

This past weekend was busy, but I was able to complete all of my monthly goals! (Just barely) ;)

I found the fabric and the idea for my Christmas present goal when I found the fabric for the backing of my Citrus Lucky Stars! It was in the same small plastic tote, all the fabrics were together to make my sister a butterfly pillowcase! I have already made her the snowman pillow, so I will just use the pillowcase as wrapping paper! I have a little bit of the fabric left and would like to make a notebook cover as well, but I couldn't find my sample or the directions. As for the charity project, I know I had already quilted and bound 2 guild QOVs, but sometimes I feel as though it doesn't count as much since I do it those EVERY month, so I try to do a different charity project each month. I was in a bind time wise, so from my STASH . . , I made two pillowcases for the American Patchwork & Quilting 1 million pillowcase challenge!! Later on this week, I'll drop those off to my local quiltshop who is also participating. The challenge there will be to drop them off and then leave empty handed! I was so good AGAIN this month - most of the bindings I am doing for QOV are coming from my stash, and between DD's summer quilt, the pillowcases and putting together two sewing kits for my church kit drive (which was 3 1/2 yds each kit) I had a grand total of 17 5/6 yds going out and NO fabric coming in !!! YAY!!

We had a great holiday weekend, went to the beach Sunday and spent memorial day at Colonial Williamsburg, always an enjoyable time there! Well, I have a QOV pinned on the longarm, and then as a treat I will quilt the Citrus Lucky Stars! Next post I'll give you a hint as to my longterm project, one that is getting closer to the deadline than I care to think! Happy Quilting!

May Musings?

Where has May gone? I can't believe it's almost memorial day weekend! I still have yet to complete a Christmas present or a charity project! I guess I could count the quilts that I have quilted for Quilt of Valor, (above) I actually bound two of them as well. Currently, I have only one to quilt as things seem to have slowed down once the weather improved - boy, can I relate to that! I noticed in one of the pictures of my previous post, that you can see just a bit of my latest project! I have the top done and am working on the backing! I made a smaller label, 13"X13", than the 18"X18" label for the Quilts of Valor, I won't fill in the label until later, as I am not sure if this is going to my niece yet. I think I am going to do a couple and let her choose which one she wants! She's having a Boy!! I am so excited - I can't wait!! This will be my first great nephew! As my children are still very young (10 & 14) I have a long time before I'll have grandchildren, so I will just have to spoil this one!! I am also proud of myself since I scrounged around and found a backing in my stash for this quilt. It's a little short, so I am using the label and some leftover scraps in a such a way to extend the fabric and make it work. Much more time consuming than just running to the store for a backing - but worth it!! : )

May Finish!

It's taking me longer each month to have a finish, and to post! So busy and lot's of running around! This finish was a nice stash buster, as I used scraps, bits and pieces for the backing! We have had really crazy weather here in southern Virginia this year, and it has reached the 90's three times already this year! I am loathe to run the air conditioner until absolutely necessary, so we endure it as long as possible. My dd ALWAYS must have a quilt upon her while she sleeps, and her quilts have just been to heavy, so I made her a summer quilt! She still wants the seashell quilt to remain on her bed, so this is 56" x 72" and she'll just use it at night & put it at the foot of the bed during the day. I had the panel, pink and orange for years, can't really remember why I purchased it, but I had cut out some pin cushions from it (which aren't finished) but obviously had tons left. To make this quickly I just put a little border around the panel, and cut strips of the pink & orange to make a piano key border and done! I used a super thin pellon for the batting, 45" wide, but was very easy to piece together using the zigzag stitch, you cannot tell where the batting was sewn together. Once washed it is so soft and pliable! I hope she likes it, she's at a sleep over, so she hasn't seen it yet! I also finished binding my Gram's rail fence and mailed it quite awhile ago, she was very pleased with the super thick batting! Happy Quilting!

April Finishes

Talk about squeezing in under the wire! Just finished the last of the 7 Easter wall hangings! Most of these will go out as Christmas presents, and of course I'll keep one! That takes care of my Christmas present goal for April. As for WISPs, I had drawn these out 3 -4 yrs ago when I decided to make a different wall hanging for each month. Originally I was going to applique the eggs, but that always takes me forever, so after several practice eggs with scraps, I got the size I wanted and went from there. On paper I had the ric rack in between the eggs, but family said the eggs were too plain, so I put the ric rack on the eggs! I used alot of scraps from another project that I'm actually not done with (Whooops) so the holders are different based on the size of the scraps. I had four eggs left at the end, so I made the two little ones last, and now I think I may like that size best!! My charity project this month was the Lucky Stars Quilt of Valor. I was very good this month and did NOT purchase any new fabric, I used 16 3/4 yds of fabric, including 2 bindings for the guild QOVs!! Between planting flowers, my son's play, getting ready for a neighborhood yard sale I think I did o.k. this month. I hope it rains alot in May - we need it,and I need to spend more time at my sewing machine AND my longarm!