confessions

Back in May I bought my very first fat quarter bundle. I fell in love with this California Girl line by Fig Tree and I couldn't resist.
I haven't even opened it yet.
However the door was opened to buy more Fig Tree fabric - oh dear!

I've always admired it but bought little thinking it didn't really go with the rest of my stash. I need to begin making something soon or I'll start feeling guilty about buying so much. At first I was thinking about a Farmer's Wife quilt or some similar 6 inch block sampler. I just can't decide... so

I keep working on my Susan McCord vine quilt. I have only 2 more branches left to do for panel #4 and the fun of sewing on hundreds of little leaves hasn't worn off yet :0) I just love working on this project!

On a personal note - My youngest daughter is starting Kindergarten this fall - next week. She's only 4 1/2 and I thought I'd have her home with me for another year. However, she is SO ready to go - practicing all her numbers and letters and trying so hard to read by herself. She is confident and fun loving and will have a marvelous time. I am so NOT ready for her to go. I've had little ones home with me for over 13 years. I like having little people around - they are such good company. I know I should be embracing this - all the freedom and maybe even more time to sew. But instead, I feel like this wonderful chapter in my life is slipping away...

Thanks for listening :0)

catching up

I've been making some progress with my quilt patis diamond stars. I keep running out of the patis templates so I decided to tackle the edge to get some back into circulation. (I should have ordered more but now it's a bit of a personal challenge to see how far I can go with just the one pack)
I want this quilt to become a regular rectangle shape so I made cardboard templates to fill in the top and turn the corner. (I know I could just make some diamond shaped cardboard templates - I just like how easy it is to pop out the plastic ones) I guess I'll need some half stars to fill in the side. It's been so great to have this take along stitching for at the beach and while camping this summer. It's about 1/4 of the size I want to finish at.

I caught up my Summer Star Sew-along blocks from http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.ca/ Can the summer really be almost over!?! Here I've put the blocks next to a lamp my Dad made for me out of oak when I was in high school. Any guesses about what it is supposed to be :0)

Happy Quilting!!

I finished my Crowfoot quilt top yesterday. It is inspired by a quilt in Betsy Chutchian's book "Gone to Texas" I thought I'd have finished this weeks ago but... summer is very busy!
I had some trouble with my pieced border. I thought I'd done the math right but when they were sewn up the corners were not going to work. I could have just chopped them off - liberated style -but I wasn't going to be happy with them that way. You can see my solution and I am happy with it.

I had to take pictures outside because it's too large to lay out on the floor in my house without moving heavy furniture. Since it was outside, I thought I'd snap a picture of it with my mostly recovered vegetable garden :0)

Here it is draped over the bed. I wonder how long it will be before it's ready to be slept under? I intend to quilt it by hand. Has anyone thread basted a quilt on a hardwood floor before? I'm worried about scratching it up with the needle. Not that I have a scratch-free floor with 4 kids in the house, but I try not to intentionally scratch it.

So now do I get to start something new?? :0)

Happy Quilting!!

star block #3

I took the kids to Kelowna to visit my parents last week. We spent lots of time at the beach :0)
We got back Friday and by Sunday I had my little star #3 done. These are so fun to make - I can't wait for the next one!
It's a Summer Star Sew-along. You can find it at http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.ca/

Happy Quilting!!

star block #2

Just a quick post with my second star for Temecula's Quilt Co's Summer star sew along. http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.ca/ Summer is BUSY! But I took half an hour out of my day for me - to make this little star :0)

I looked around quickly for a prop - something old - and I spied my favorite teddy. My Aunt made him for me when I was 2 - I think that qualifies as old - lol. Named after a curious monkey whose books I loved - his name is George. When I was small I especially liked this bear because his arms and legs move and he could wear my doll's clothes.
I hope you're finding time to sew :0)
Happy Quilting!!

Summer star sew along

I couldn't resist the little star block that the Temecula Quilt Co posted to begin their Summer star sew along. It's a cute little 4 1/2 inch star. They are going to do one a week through the summer. That should be easy to keep up with... :0)
One thing I love about their blog is the way they create beautiful pictures to show their blocks/quilts. They have wonderful old things that they expertly combine to make beautiful pictures. I thought I'd give it a try, however, I don't have much old stuff (DH prefers new stuff). I do have a few things from my Grandmother- like this old spool and the marvelous gingham bias tape. My Grandmother was 98 when she passed away. She had only a small drawer to keep a few things in. This bias tape was one of the things. She wasn't exactly doing a lot of sewing at that point anymore - she must have really liked this bias tape :0) I like it too!

We had a nasty hailstorm a couple days ago - nasty in duration not size. The next day at noon you could still find hail lying around on the ground. It pretty well wiped out all my flowers. I know they will recover... Summer is a short and temperamental season. I'm happy I can quilt all year round!!

Happy Quilting!!

What is that?

I've been doing some sewing - something completely different.
What do you think it's supposed to be?

I know - it looks a bit like a lumpy pumpkin but...

It's supposed to be an orange :0) An orange pincushion attached to a little zippered pouch.

It was so darn cute in the pattern! I think maybe my orange scraps aren't bright enough. The lumpiness is from loading the zipper compartment with actual sewing supplies - it would probably look better stuffed with stuffing like the other half.

A friend and I went shopping at the LQS and couldn't resist the pattern. She came over on Sunday and we spent a remarkable number of hours sewing on this. We called it quits at 11:30pm and I finished mine up today.

It was a fun afternoon/evening - lots of laughter. Even though it's not exactly as cute as I thought it would be I still think it will be fun to use.

Happy Quilting!!