Happy Birthday darling...

As you can see, my not so girly girl is pleased with her pillowcase.  I did use #18 pattern at All People Quilt and it turned out OK.  It annoys me a little that it called for such a large piece of fabric, only to chop off about 5 inches after you've finished quilting....but I should have looked over the pattern better and realized that before hand...

I quilted it in a large grid...not that you can see from the picture...but I was all ready to try Monster Teeth free motion pattern (Thanks Des!!) when this happened:

At some point, I hit the zig zag button on my sewing machine and BLAM I broke the foot.  Very discouraging to have this happen at 11 pm...
I hope this foot doesn't cost a fortune to replace...anyone know?

And just so you can all laugh WITH me...here is my daughters birthday cake...we made the frosting ourselves and I think I didn't get it runny enough as it was a real problem to frost...but then after Coco "decorated" it with York pieces in the shape of a Pokemon it all worked out. 
(what? you don't see Raichu)

It was a great weekend.  I can't believe my baby is 6!

Pokemon

Yep, you read that right...Pokemon.  ugh.

My daughter's birthday is Saturday and I am planning to make her a pillowcase with this horrible, scratchy, rummage sale bought fabric.  And she is going to L*O*V*E it.

I looked through All People Quilt pillowcase patterns and decided on the quilted pillowcase because the fabric is of such thin, cheaply made quality.

Here is the question I'm posing tonight...should I do grid quilting as shown in the example or should I stretch my non-existent machine quilting skills and try something else...and if option two suits you...what is that something else? 

And in other news...I did purchase a bit more Children At Play fabric...and in an effort to cover the cost of incoming fabric...I am selling off some fabric on etsy.  Next item to be listed is a 1/2 yard bundle of Red Letter Day by Lizzy House

As you can see, I'm in no danger of running out...

Summertime

Oh wow, it has been a long hot week!
The kids went to Vacation Bible School this week from 6-845pm...so they have stayed up much later than usual...missing naps...and having to find indoor activities because of dangerous heat index!  weird long week!!

I have been making a quilt for my best friends mother who is recovering from major surgery...and once again, I'm slowed down by the quilting process.  I need something more than straight line quilting up my sleeve!   I talked to a lady in my guild who teaches machine quilting at a local quilt shop and I plan to sign up at the earliest possible chance!!

I used a layer cake of Rural Jardin by French General...nice and easy.

And...I made a fabric purchase...I won a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop a few months ago from the wonderful Leona (Thanks again Leona!!) and surprised myself by not ordering anything until now:

I love every single print I got.  LOVE.  I plan on getting lots more Children At Play but I will have to wait for a sale or discounted prices!

And lastly, it's my sisters birthday today...happy birthday Weise!  And in addition to a few things I bought her, I made her a pony tail holder...bright and cheery (and fuzzy in the picture I realize now) and fun for summer.

Have a great weekend, and I promise I won't be so absent from the blog!

Hometown winner

I really must say...we spend a lot of time at the library and and I was so surprised by how many book suggestions I got that I have NEVER HEARD of!!  I am so excited to compile a list of all of them and work our way through them this summer!  Thank you everyone!

It was also recommended a number of times about workbooks...and we are doing those...so I feel like we are on the right track.

In an attempt to not post without a picture, Ill show you a few of our favorite books, old and new:

 

yes...I borrowed the pictures from Amazon.

and so, without further ado...the winner of the Hometown scraps goes to:

Sandie!

Sandie, Ill send you an email if I don't hear from you first...must get lunch on the table now!

a fun little giveaway

A month ago or so, I won a giveaway from Sweetwater. You know...the awesome force behind such great fabric lines as Authentic, Make Life..., and the upcoming Hometown. Well....I won a fantastic box of Hometown scraps.

 

I'm super excited for this collection...it has a seriously cool vibe. I have a few pieces put aside for my next neutral quilt..and the text prints are fabulous. I thought someone might like a 'charm' stack of these fabrics?

My scale tells me this is 3.4 ounce of fabric. You want it? on the right side there are a few cuts from the canvas weight...very nice weight I think!! I'm thinking library bags for my kids.

So just leave a comment...maybe you can tell me your favorite way to keep your kids learning during the summer? or your child's favorite book? Ill have random number pick a winner on Saturday.

The baby quilt

I just finished a baby quilt.  I love it.  I finished it, and then 2 hours later, gifted it away. ... far far away.
although this could be a post on procrastination...I'll make it a post of progression...
this quilt was a lot of fun for me.  I think I have officially found my 'comfort zone' in the quilting world.  You can have your precision and patterns, I will take flying by the seat of my pants...without further ado...
I give you my process in pictures...



The start of the idea...inspired by quilts like THIS and THIS

 Worked on some liberated piecing...just had a pile of neutral fabrics on the sewing table, working with what I picked up...adding a few colors here and there.  Notice you will not be seeing the block on the far right bottom again...I could not get over how it looked (unintentionally) like an F.

 Adding more pieces to the puzzle.

 Now I am set in my layout, but debating on backing and binding...I usually like to mull these decisions over, but procrastination took away that luxury.

 Quilting begins....approximately 18 hours before the baby shower.

 Finished product.  I love it so much.  I definitely want to make myself a quilt like this one...full size...but maybe without the center patchwork.  I think I would prefer to focus on the spontaneous piecing in neutrals.

And because I wasn't slap happy and sleep deprived enough, I forged ahead with one of the 4 baby bibs I had intended to make.  This is a 'matching' bib and it is resting on the back of the finished quilt.

I made this quilt in 8 days.  Not sure I have start to finish made a quilt in that short of time before.  Not a quilt like this one anyway...I am happy to report the soon to be mom loved it.  She thanked me many times and expressed a love for the fabrics I used and the non traditional design of the quilt.  Such a great feeling to have a hand made gift so well received.

The quilt finished at 42x48 inches.

I did vertical quilting about 1.25 inches apart with a few horizontal lines thrown in willy nilly.

The backing fabric is an adorable Sevenberry fabric that is so wonderfully soft.

ETA: I forgot to mention that this will be my submission for June's Stash Project

June 9th, really?

End of school has been busy for us...

My daughter performed in her ballet class's recital at The Scottish Rite Auditorium which was so much fun for the girls to be on the BIG stage....

We took a mini vacation to the Columbus Zoo and Water Park which was an enormous hit with our two...mornings at the zoo and afternoons at the water park? yep...they loved it.
(and I squeezed in a stop at Sew To Speak which is an amazing fabric shop...oh how I wish it was my local shop!!)

And throw in a garage sale, carnival, gardening, and general outdoor stuff you pretty much get an idea of where I have been....my sewing machine was also serviced during this time.  How much do you pay for a service?  OUCH, mine was $60.  Is that the going rate?

Here is what I am working on at the moment:

A baby quilt for my co-workers daughter...due next week.  oh my.  And also need to make some pillow case dresses for the month of May and June for my bee, A Dozen Quilters (ugh, Ive never been late for my bee before!  I feel terrible!!)

AND...finally...I'm planning on joining Katie again this year for 100 Quilts for Kids...click on thru to read the details, or click the button on my side bar.