Thursday, May 31, 2012

IS IT STILL MAY?


Some of the things can be scratched off the list.

1. Sewing room painted - check
2. Move sewing room upstairs - check
3. Jellyroll quilt for May  - check
4. Jane's baby quilt quilted - NOPE

This jellyroll quilt went together really fast. The fabric is Meadow Friends by Deb Strain for Moda.                  
Very cute for a little boy with all the lizards, bugs and frogs.






At first I wasn't sure if the little squares were going to show up, but I think they show enough.



Another one to add to the pile of tops.  This one will be treated to the straight line style of quilting. It's fast and effective.

I am linking up with Megan of "Crooked Seams" for her monthly jellyroll party. I just squeaked in under the wire : 0 )

Oh! and will you indulge me for a minute? I just have to show you this............



Me and my precious girlies.  I am one blessed Gramma.

Happy Day.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

LUCY'S CRAB SHACK

I've been waiting patiently for this line to arrive at Katja's. It's finally here.  We got charm packs and some yardage.  Isn't it cute?





I'm thinking of a little quilt for the nursery. Something modern. Imagine me, MODERN : )
Love the bicycles .

These rolls came in. This reminds me of summer and ice cream.



I had some time to put together two more hexagons. Week 20


week 21


The weeks are flying by. My life seems to be passing by in the form of hexagons!

Little Jane's baby shower is tonight. Her quilt hasn't been quilted yet, so I made her this little blanket.
The owls are minkee, and the back is a Beatrix Potter flannel. Soooo soft.


Have a great week. Hope you get some stitching time too.


Saturday, May 26, 2012

SOMEBODY PINCH ME !

The painting is done, and I am moving in all my stuff. When I first decided to move my room back upstairs, I was worried I might be giving up some space.  More space usually means more clutter---at least in a sewing room. Not to worry, I managed to fit in what I think I'll need.
I moved in a single bed for when we have a guest.  It's also a great place to store quilts.
The wall by the bed will be my design wall.

Come on in : )




On the bed: Sunkissed       (now I can literally sew til I drop)



At the end of the bed is a shelf where I have all my little bolts. I'm so glad it fit there perfectly.
The bottom shelf will hold books. The closet will hide all the not so pretty things like batting and notions.





I knew I wanted the cubby holes brought up, but what about the cupboards that were full of backings and other stuff? Hubby took a few measurements and decided they would just fit, stacked on top of each other. At first I wasn't sure, but I love it. Just look at all that storage!


It won't always look this tidy, but I am hoping to have a place for everything and control myself as far as "collecting" goes. Currently, I'm going through fabrics and deciding what to keep and what to donate.




I couldn't leave my "shabby chic" bulletin board downstairs, so I stuck it on the door.


I love my new space. After hubby had put the last screw in the cupboards he said, "there you go dear--load 'em up"

Oh I WILL  : )


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

GERMANY BOUND

I made my first bee block for the Scrappy? Sew bee it group. This little block is off to it's new home in Germany this afternoon. May asked for a star gazing block in rainbow colours. I am just showing you a little peek as I think she should see it first.


I had a wee scrap of this bee fabric that I thought was very fitting : )

I worked a bit on my Sunday Morning quilt. I had to do SOMETHING while the paint dried.


I love making these blocks. So easy, and pretty much anything goes as far as light colours.


Lastly I had dinner with some of my kids. I took the opportunity to snap a pic of Jane on her quilt.
When I went to baste it, my batting was 2" too small.  Oh well, there's always next week.



I think she likes it.






Monday, May 21, 2012

SOME TIME OFF?

I have the next few days off, and I've made myself a list a mile long of things I would like to do. Last night hubby and I were shoveling out one of the boys' rooms (he moved to Calgary) so I could paint it. I want to make it into a nursery. He said he thinks it should be my sewing room because it's bigger than the other spare room. So today, I am painting the nursery sewing room.  Now I have to paint the other room too.

The filled holes are where he laid in his bed and shot the walls with plastic bb's. (he told me they were plastic. )   Boys!

2. Move the sewing room (again) upstairs
3. Get Janie's quilt quilted. The baby shower is looming
4. I bought plants that need to go in.
5. Have a family dinner. My boys are back from up north and will want to be fed.This involves pies.
6. There are still a few days left in May, so I am going to try and get a jellyroll quilt made to participate in Megan's monthly jellyroll party. I won some lovely scraps a couple months back.



I did get my Granny Square quilt all quilted and bound. Yay! Hello Luscious is still one of my favourite lines yet.



Well, wish me luck. I'm going to need it : )


Friday, May 18, 2012

BLOGGERS QUILT FESTIVAL

It's that time again!  Last year, I discovered this wonderful event and found so many amazing blogs and so much inspiration.  I am so glad I can participate this time.

MOROCCAN TILES

For those of you who have seen this quilt, please bear with me.  I chose this quilt for a couple of reasons.
First, I had this rattling around in my head for over a year. I kept coming back to it, but never had the ambition to do it. Second, if you've known me for any length of time, you know I am a hexagon nut.  What could be better than GIANT hexies? I was on a bit of a scrap kick, so I knew it was time.





 This quilt used over 6 meters of scraps.  I have everything from Christmas to baby fabrics in here.  I love how they all work together. Of course the quilting is just as important as the piecing, and this quilt wouldn't have been what it is without Linda.




Thanks so much for your hard work Linda : )

Anyway, enjoy the festival. You can see more quilts here.
Thank-you Amy for hosting this wonderful line-up of quilts : )




Wednesday, May 16, 2012

MY FIRST BEE

I have joined an on-line quilting bee  : )  This is something I have wanted to do for a long time but never really knew how. I saw Sana posted about it and there was still room, so I joined-------then immediately broke out in a cold sweat!
There are 13 of us from around the world, so it will be fun to get mail from all over. My month is September, when I will ask my partners for a particular block.

The group is called Scrappy? Sew bee it

The first person I am making a block for is May. She lives in Germany and  blogs over at  www.maylifeonline.blogspot.com

I will be posting pictures of the blocks as I make them. (maybe I am to keep them a secret til they are received ? ) I can't wait to get started.

........and I got little Janie's top almost done. Just needs borders, but it's enough for her big photo shoot on Thursday. As you can see, I still have projects spilling out of my bin.




Don't forget about the Bloggers Quilt Festival starting on the 18th

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

MAKING PROGRESS

Sunday was such a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, I had lunch out with my two grand babies, and all my boys phoned me : )  I also got to sew, and made some progress on little Jane's quilt.




 This will hopefully be finished in the next few days (well the top anyway) because we have a photo shoot scheduled that I would love to use this for. So much fun!



Happy Stitching.

On the 18th the Bloggers Quilt Festival Starts. Lots of inspiration coming your way : )

linking up with Freshly Pieced for w.i.p. Wednesday

Saturday, May 12, 2012

EVERY BABY NEEDS A QUILT

..........and Jane is no exception.  Years ago, I bought this little book by Nancy Halvorsen, with the hope of having numerous grand babies to sew for.  "Build it and they will come" was my motto. 

It worked ; 0 )




The other day, I picked out these fabrics for Jane's quilt. Her room is mauve, so I thought this would be nice.  It's a mix of Benartex, Moda, and Michael Miller fabrics. I like how they all work together.

It's just a crib size, but there's lots of time yet for a big girl quilt.



On Sunday, Jane's Dad and Mom want to take me to lunch, and then I plan to spend the rest of the day sewing.
I think that would pretty much be the perfect Mother's day.

Happy Mother's Day to you.


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

ANOTHER SCRAP QUILT

Just when I thought it was safe to walk past the scrap pile........

.........I started yet another quilt.  This book is going to be well loved, I can tell.




This one is named Sunday Morning . It uses the quiet, softer, low-volume fabrics from the stash.


I started digging through my bins, and found lots of bits that I had forgotten about.



Just three blocks in and I was hooked.  So fun and easy to make.



I'm not sure how big I will make this one, but I certainly have enough fabrics pulled and sliced for a big
quilt. The idea is to get rid of scraps, right?
I really love how it's looking so far.


Linking up with freshly pieced today for W.I.P. Wednesday.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

HEXAGON # 19

This is week 19 of Katja's Hexathon. The pieces are getting a little more intricate each week.  When I first looked at this block, I saw tumbling blocks. When I looked a bit more, I saw stars.


I mentioned to my daughter that I kind of wanted to do the stars, so she got busy colouring me a pattern so I wouldn't get confused. It's nice she looks after me : )

option 1: tumbling blocks


option 2: stars


here's my finished block


I like it.

Happy Sunday.

Friday, May 4, 2012

MY NEW TOY

Last week my hubby was in Calgary visiting our son.  He works at an Apple store there.  Hubby phoned me and asked if I would like him to stop at a quilt shop and pick out something for my upcoming birthday. Ummmm ya!

Well, this is what he brought back. Surprise, surprise!


I was shocked!  I thought this was a bit of an extravagant toy, but he assured me it's not a toy, it's a tool.

Ooooh.





It's kinda fun : )  We went out and got a case for it, and now I suppose I need a bigger purse.............

Hope your week-end includes some stitching. Mine will be spent figuring out my new toy tool.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

THE AIRING OF THE QUILTS

At the last Moda meeting, someone asked me "what are you going to do with all the quilts you made for the moda club" ?  Better yet I thought "where ARE all those quilts I made for moda club" ?

I came home and starting looking in this room and that room, and found these. There are 21 here.



Here is a closer look at some of them










Some of these are still just tops, but I have plans for the summer .  I counted seven more still at the shoppe, I have given a few away, donated a few, and sold one.  Not bad for a year and a half.


I have some plans for the fall, and new fabric is arriving at a steady pace so stay tuned : )

My Mom-in-law is here to meet the new baby, so we will have a houseful tonight.  
Happy stitching.

linking up with Lynne at Fresh Sewing Day