Quilt Top Done and Don't Forget To Enter My Giveaway!

Yay!  Jared Takes a Wife is officially a flimsy.  Or is it flims-e-y.  Anyhow it's a quilt top.  Lol*  The more I look at it though...it really does need a border.  Bonnie's has a border, I just didn't cut a border for mine.  I'm so tired of looking at this fabric though that I'm moving on for this evening.  I bought the rest of the fabric to make my daughter's Rapunzel costume so I guess I better get started on that.  Yay!  :)

Also - DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!  Lol*  This is just a small blog I do for fun so you have a very good chance of winning!  Scroll on to my last post and leave a comment...  :)

Progress & 300 Post Giveaway

My design wall...is the back of my sofa.  Nevermind the clutter behind it!  Today I'm catching up on that.  Lol*  ANYHOW, here's how it's coming...I would have gone farther but I had to throw that shirt in the wash and am waiting for it to dry to finish up my arrowheads...

I sewed up all my quarter square triangle leader and enders so I'll get going on that project soon.  Last night while I was washing my shirts I decided that my next leader and ender project would be Crabapples from Bonnie's Adventures with Leaders and Enders book.  I have been eyeing this quilt for my scraps for some time.  I cut my 854 light squares while listening to the Husband watching Pawn Stars and Storage Wars.  LOL*  I like those shows.  We're also big fans of American Pickers.  (It's the hoarder in me.)

When you see a project calls for 1600 squares in the first two lines of the fabric requirements, you think, "oh yeah, that'll make a HUGE dent in my scraps!"  Not so much.  This is bin one of three.

So that's what I'm working on today!  After I clean house, do laundry, weed the garden, trim the hedges, and at some point these kids will want to eat.  Lol*

Before I go though, I promised a giveaway...and here it is!  I seriously can't believe it took me so long to get to 300 posts!!!  Comment below and you'll be entered for a chance to win the two fat quarters of batik fabric shown below and the PDF version of my Circular Geese pattern.  These came from my local quilt shop A Quilting Affair in Geneva, Ohio.  I will give this until midnight on Thursday, July 5th, 2012 and announce a winner sometime Friday, July 6th.

Thanks for reading and happy quilting!  :)

Jared Takes a Wife Progress and Shopping

Doesn't this fabric SCREAM Moda?

Well...it's not, it's Old Navy.  Hahaha, bought more shirts today.  White tags at Goodwill were 50 cents and they had four colors 50% off at Salvation Army.  Woohoo!  We spent $12 and came home with seven shirts.

The light and "girly" colors are for my daughters quilts.  My oldest daughter is making a quilt from the book Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode.  It's called Millenium Star.  She is going to do blue's and greens for her quilt, and my youngest I'm going to make a simple four patch quilt with pinks, greens, blues, and "fun" kid colors.  :)  I love that they are getting excited about this project.  We walked all over the thrift shops today and my daughters kept pulling shirts off the rack saying, "this one Mom?"  It was a lot of fun.  My oldest is 10 so she can read well and is tall enough to look through the racks and look for the fabric content.  We had a bit of a time with my 6 year old though because she doesn't understand the difference between cotton and cotton knit!  In the end everyone, including Mom, came home with some fabric so, all is again right with the world.  :)

My leader and ender blocks (above) are getting pretty full too.  I have gone back and forth with what I'm going to do with these.  I had thought about a really fun yet complicated applique quilt...but you know what?  I'm a seriously exhausted Mother of three.  I think I'm gonna keep it pretty simple.  Another quilt in my Nickel Quilts book is popping out at me, it's called Morning Star.  Well, mine will be a variation of that, but I have some white fabric in my stash that I can use for the stars and I'll just use more scraps for all the bricks that are needed to make it.  I'd really really REALLY like for it to be big enough to put on my bed.  I keep saying "oh THIS will be my bed quilt" or "THAT ONE will be my bed quilt" but, still, no quilts on my bed.  THIS ONE WILL BE MY BED QUILT, and I mean it this time.  :)

Oh and I'm making good headway on my Jared Takes a Wife quilt.  I have about 20 blocks finished, but, oops.  I didn't cut enough black for my arrowheads.  I am totally out of good black fabric too...but luckily one of the shirts I bought today is a nice black that I think will really match the fabric in this so...I'll just have about ten stars with the same black fabric in them.  LOL* 

I don't know what possessed me to take a picture of my messy little sewing corner...but I did.  I usually have that little table with my sewing machine on it parked behind the sofa so I can watch the kids and sew.  I moved it out of the way to clean though - it's a TIGHT squeeze back there!  If I had the camera to the other side of the room you would see my fabric stash, a cutting table, and two french doors.  I have to rearrange this somehow so I can function, I just haven't done it yet.  Ugh.  More THINGS to do. 

I think I need a few more books.  :)

Our dog Smokey likes to lay on the tile when I'm in here.  Doesn't help me sew lol*, he just comes and leave me a mess of hair to suck up with the vacuum.  Little booger.

Guild Meeting and Trunk Show

Yesterday we had a great guild meeting and I just thought I'd share.  Sandy Petsche who is the author of a book called 2 Piece Patchwork visited and shared her quilts.

Sandy was just the nicest lady and had some really AMAZING quilts to share.  She has another book coming out soon...and I anticipate it to be just as great as the first!

I also wanted to share the sampler pattern she gave us...each member received one, wasn't that incredibly generous?  The name to this quilt has changed, but it is in the book 2 Piece Patchwork along with instructions.  If you're interested check out more pictures from our visit at our guild blog, http://ashtabulafriendlyquilters.blogspot.com

More Progress

Well this is where I'm at!  I started sewing the stars together but lopped off some points so I ripped and will have to try and find some time later to go back and square up to make sewing a little easier.  I have been having so much fun with this and enjoying the look so much that I think I might just keep adding pieced borders to it.  How fun is that?  Maybe a viney border with lots of green leaves.  As you can see LOTS of things to be put away on my sewing table.  Ugh.  Don't know if I'll ever get to sew!

Also had to show off this gorgeous folk art box my Dad is working on...isn't this beautiful?!

You are very talented Daddio.  Those colors are just amazing.  Hey - now that I look at them side by side...don't the colors in my little quilt almost match this litte box?  LOL*  HEY!  NICE!

Lookee there, this is my 297th post.  Guess I'll have to have a giveaway don't ya think?  Keep your eyes peeled.  ;)

BEFORE and AFTER - More Budget Quilting - Shirts to Scraps

How fun was this!  I cut up six shirts that I paid about $11 bucks for and look at all the fabric I was able to get from them for sewing!  This is WAY fun.  Oh my.  I have so many ideas now.  Oh - and look at the waste pile -

Not much wasted!  I got a ton of fabric...wow!  Now today I hit the remnant bins at a JoAnn's about an hour from home.  The remnants are discounted 50% off, but today they were on sale for an additional 50% off.  I bought three half yard cuts of an old April Cornell line that was also 50% off the already discounted price, and the rest were good finds from the remnant bin...and my total today came to $17 (well $16 and change).  Can you belive the DIFFERENCE in how much fabric I got from shirts, and how much fabric I bought ON SALE from the bolt?

Boy does this get my gears going.  Makes me realize how much money I'm throwing out the window on new fabric.  I don't mind spending money on fabric that I LOVE...but if I take my time and am more choosey I can get a lot more for less. 

Anyhow, busy weekend.  Yard sale, running LOTS and LOTS of errands.  Girls are signed up for another year of cheerleading.  Husband starts his new job tomorrow.  Fingers and toes are crossed for him.  Hopefully I'll be able to steal away a little time to fninsh up my crow mini.

Bonnie Would be Proud

Found some shirts today at Salvation Army and Goodwill for scrapping.  Bonnie really inspired me.  I found these goodies today and tonight will be "de-boning" them as Bonnie puts it.  I passed up several poly cotten blends for these, all 100% cotton and I spent a grand total of...$11.  Woohoo!

Dentist Today, Teensy Weensy Star Blocks

I have had two cavities in my life.  One when I was very young, before my adult teeth had come in.  The second when I was 17 - and I had it filled.  When you're 17 you really don't care what the dentist does to you, so long as you get out of there quickly and it doesn't hurt.  So you know that for 14 years I had no idea that I had a silver filling?  I don't know what I thought it was, but I not silver.  Anyhow, it turned black over time - GROSS - and turns out that's normal!  Oh my goodness I had no idea, I thought my tooth was gonna fall right outta my head.  I literally was UP NIGHTS over this black circle in my tooth.  It hurt when I ate anything to pokey or sweet, and definitely hot or cold things.  So for sure, I was convinced I had this terrible, horrible, awful giant black cavity rotting away all my teeth.  Finally, on Monday, I woke up at 4 in the morning, my teeth bothering me and worried sick about this tooth...I started crying out of fear and my Husband broke down and called the dentist for me and made an apopintment.  Today I went.  Did I mention I'm a bit phobic about the dentist?  Big old hippocrite I am, making my children go see the dentist twice a year and I wouldn't go myself.  Well I'm so happy to say I can sleep easy tonight, as it turns out I don't have a single darn cavity (knock on wood) and my filling is just fine.  The dentist said it's ugly, but holding up fine.  LOL*  Here all this discomfort was just from sensitive teeth.  I had no idea that sensitivity could be such a pain!!!  In any case I could do a jig I'm so happy right now.

So after I drink a diet coke (with a lot less guilt) and have a candy bar...I'm gonna floss the heck outta those pearly whites and brush 'em up good.  I'm such a happy Momma today.  :)

Sewing wise I finished the four cornerstones for the border of my crow mini.  Oh they turned out so darn cute.  A little wonkey - with teensy paper piecing you have to be SUPER accurate and I was just sorta banging them out.  Isn't this sweet?

I wish I could have found a shinier penny or nickel!  LOL*  Oh well - I think it's about 2 or 2.5 inches finished.  I'll get the exact measurement later - sheesh - baby is hollaring for me.  ;)  Hope you are all staying cool.  It's in the 90's here and we all just came in from the sprinklers.  Wheeew!!!  I'ts SUMMER!

More Geese and a Little Budget Quilting

Finished the last two geese borders last night.  These strips don't look like much but they are time consuming.  Love my geese.  I think just about ALL quilts are better with geese!!!  :)  I made some flubs on one of the borders...lets see if anyone notices.  :)

I also did a bit of fabric shopping.  It was SO hot yesterday, I was starting to get crabby from the heat (ahem, and possibly from kids being home all day on summer vacation) by the time the Husband came home so right after dinner I headed over to Walmart to cool off and get out of the house.  Right now my focus is creating some nice quilts on a budget.  For the first time in ten years my Husband switched jobs last year.  It's a bit scary.  In any case with a new baby I didn't go back to babysitting so I don't have nearly the extra fabric spending money that I used to.  I've been selling my little quilts and things on Etsy for a little spending money and to use for holidays and birthdays...but I hadn't been replenishing my stash.  Anyhow, I designed another mini in EQ and needed black for it.  I have some TO DIE for Judy Rothermel black reproduction fabric but not enough for the project.  It's a couple years old so I went online to purchase more, and even at a discount the best price I could find on it was $10 a yard.  Eek.  I just can't do it right now.  Pooh.  So, last night I decided I'm going to make great quilts with the next best thing.  Believe it or not Walmart has some GREAT civil war style fabrics.  I spent $16 on 8 half yards...so a total of 4 yards of fabric that averaged about $4 per yard.  You can't even go to JoAnn's right now and get fabric for $4 a yard.  Last time I went and the cheapest thing I could find was $5.99.  Oy, cotton prices have really gone up haven't they?  Bonnie Hunter's visit also really inspired me to start looking for shirts that I can use in my quilts.  I used to do this all the time with my quilts!  Several shirts that I bought for my Husband that didn't fit ended up working their way into my quilts and are still in bits and pieces in my scrap bins. 

So it's a plan.  :)

Little Country Crow Mini Progress

Making progress on my little quilt - I've decided to call it my Little Country Crow mini.  I think that's fitting.  I'd like to do a big one like this with lots of odds and end sized blocks.  I have two more flying geese borders to paper piece and then four tiney paper pieced stars to do then I can put it together.  I got a bit burned out on this a while back though so I'm just regaining momentum on it now.  I like paper piecing but I have to LOVE the project or be in the mood for it!  Sometimes even loving it isn't enough!  I have so many unfinished projects sitting around though, I really just want to get some things done.

The kids spent some time outside today dumping buckets of water on each other.  Lol*  It's really feeling like summer out there now - hot and HUMID.  Yuck.  If we had air I might not mind sitting inside and sewing...but it's so hot and sticky I'm tempted to just hold off until night when it cools down a bit. 

Other than that just doing the unending cleaning that is part of life and trying to organize my sewing area - yeah right!!!  LOL* 

Bonnie Hunter's Workshop - Prepare for Major Gushing :)

I'm back from my day with Bonnie!  Well...I was back yesterday, but it's Father's Day (Happy Father's Day to my Dad and Husband!) so I was spending time with family today.  We had such a good time yesterday at our workshop with Bonnie Hunter and it was a much needed get away for me.  Bonnie was a wonderful lecturer and teacher, she gave us great tips to help us make our quilts quickly, accurately, and was just a pure joy to be around.  I finished a grand total of two blocks (counting the one I pre-made at home) during our eight hour sewing session!  I can't believe it went by so fast - it also reminds me just how much time we put into our quilts.  We are having so much fun doing it that we don't always realize how much time we commit to them!

Look at all the great blocks the ladies made...that was one of my favorite things.  Seeing all the different fabric choices that were made...we had some talented quilters amongst us!

Sally here and I made friends the night before at the lecture - don't our blocks almost match?  This was towards the end of the day (note the TWO blocks there lol*) and we were starting to get a little silly.  :)

This was my little sewing corner and my sewing buddies.  See me block and my stack of bricks?  I had brought my featherweight but it didn't like those power strip things...it had no juice!  Good thing I brought the second machine...though my Simplicity Quilter's Classic is just about on it's last leg...one day while sewing I decided to move it from one end of the room - without unplugging it first.  It didn't like that too much! 

You can't see her there but to the right of me was my good friend Robin hard at work on her project.

One of the ladies brought THE BEST yummy chocolate minty brownie cookie thingies and we ate EVERY bite!  Needless to say she had lots of requests for the recipe.

I'm usually a 3 or 4 or sometimes 5 cup a coffee a day kinda girl, but I'm pretty fussy about my coffee so I had one cup in the morning and relied on the power of Diet Dr. Pepper!  I ended up having two cups of coffee when I got home though.  LOL*

Here's Bonnie showing a technique on a machine she "borrowed".  Hehehe, she borrowed quite a few things but was kind enough to return them all.  (I think everyone got a little excited when she went to grab for their things...hey, Bonnie Hunter used my ruler!!!)

Here is Bonnie explaining her method for making those chevron parts of the star...

We had such a good time.  I purchased two of her books and am looking forward to her newest one coming out in July.  I took a million pictures and still could have taken more.  She was such a great speaker and teacher, it was great having her there.  If you ever get the opportunity to see her - TAKE IT!  No matter your skill level there is something to be learned and a lot of fun to be had, you will not regret it!  :)

OH - and before I run I had to show...lookee down there.  See that hexagon in the middle?  With the yellow stars?  LEAH should recognize that fabric...remember the Connecting Threads fabric we flipped out over a couple years ago and we both made Pineapple Blossom quilts from???  THAT is some of that fabric!!!!!  I found that exciting..  :)  Especially since the Pineapple Blossom quilt is a BONNIE quilt! 

Oh and this little patch was very interesting...see the kissy lips???  AHH!  She really DOES put everything in there!!!!!  I love it!!!!!!!!!!

Just a Few Pictures from Bonnie's Trunk Show

Well, I'm off this morning in about an hour to attend Bonnie's workshop on Jared Takes a Wife...FINALLY!  Lol*  We've been waiting so long for this!  Last night was her trunk show and it was every bit as awesome as I had imagined.  You quilty bloggers really came through on this one...it was just as good as you promised!

I was reading through the beginning pages of my Quilter's Album by Jinny Beyer recently, and she spoke about a women from, what I want to say was the late 1800's, who was the first lady to really get on the road with her quilts and do lectures and teach patchwork patterns.  Isn't it ironic and interesting that we as quilters still love that style of sharing today?  One hundred years later, even with all the technology available and tools for teaching, we LOVE to see our teachers up close and personal with their quilts.  I think that is just fascinating.  I have read about Bonnie's lectures, I have seen a million shots of her quilts online and in books but there was nothing like seeing her in person and getting up close and personal with the actual quilts.  :)

 Of course I bought two of her books and had them signed!!!!  :)  Off to her workshop now, I'm so excited!  Will share many pictures and more thoughts later...  ;)

Bonnie Hunter Woot!

Well I'm ready!  It's the night before!  Bonnie's trunk show is this evening and I'm just about packed for tomorrow morning's workshop.  Husband is babysitting (all three) children for the day...he's a brave brave Daddy.  I've heard so much about Bonnie's lectures, I'm SO looking forward to it.

I've cut everything out for my quilt, although I think I was paying closer attention to Bonnie's instructions than the one our program director wrote because I wasn't supposed to cut the four patches yet!  Whoops.  Oh well, I already know how to strip cut four patches, so I suppose it'll be alright.

Of course I have my basket of leaders and enders ready to go.  I gotta show Bonnie my ears are open and I'm listening, right?!  I have already sewn together about a hundred of them.  Lol*  I have this pile of another hundred or so to get through still!!!

So off I am!  Working on a few other projects but don't have anything interesting to show yet.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend out there in blogland.  :)

Custom Tote Order and Other Projects

A friend ordered this custom...it's similar to one I sold on Etsy.  I love how this turned out...the straps with the black underneath especially.  Love it!  It's been a while since I free motioned too and that was fun to do.  I have so many obligation projects right now that I'm just itching to play around and sew something for fun.  Pooh.  Oh well...can't complain when you have orders, right?!  ;)  For that I'm grateful. 

Spent last night hand quilting these cuties...

I thought they might make sweet little pillows.  I'd like to finish up my Bonnie quilt first though.  I don't think I've touched it since my last post.  Too busy with other projects.  Eek...not too much longer either!  Yay!  So excited!  OH - and look what I found!  In my Jinny Beyer Quilter's Album...

Hahaha, do I spy our quilt block?  Awesome!  In here it's listed as "Arrowhead" and gives some variations of the block and information on the different publications this block was offered in.  If you don't have the Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns by Jinney Beyer I tell ya you're missing out.  I have spent HOURS pouring over this book.  Not just for the quilt blocks but for all the information she gives on breaking down blocks to determine how to piece them or graph them or design them...lots of information in this book and lots and lots and lots of blocks to look over!  :) 

Circular Geese Pattern Finished!

Woohoo!  I know this has taken me an insanely long time to get into pattern form.  For those of you who've emailed, messaged, and hung out with me while I worked on this - thank you!  Today this will be put into PDF form for Etsy, so look for it in the next day or so.  Both PDF and paper versions will be available for this...and you can expect a good little giveaway to go with it!  ;)

Eek. Now I Know Why I Don't Use That Fabric...

EEEwww.  I love the colors of this, but ICK, now I remember why I don't use the buck a yard stuff!!!  Glad this was just for practice.  I have made quilts with inset seams before, but man, it was even trickier with this fabric.  I think there must be some poly or something in that green and red fabric as it stretched all outta whack.  I also must've goofed up somewhere with measuring because the center is a bit crazy and TOTALLY didn't match up.  Lol*  Oh well.  By the time I was finished I remembered how to get a nice clean crisp CLOSED inset seam...and now I have a super cute block that anyone who doesn't quilt probably wouldn't notice a flaw in.  I think I may retry this with similar fabric but something less stretchy.  I'm feeling the urge to make a retro sampler...

Here's a pic in the dark with a flash so you can see the true colors a bit better...

...and here's one in the kitchen so you can see the wonky-ness.  LOL*  Still cute though!  I have an idea for what I might use it for.