Bundle up!

This is my last finish for 2010. I made this quilt in three days while Red was sick with a tummy bug. This is from American Patchwork and Quilting Jan/Feb 2011 issue. I still want to sew on some buttons but I just love these mittens!

I am trying to think of my UFOs from 2010, as you do on the last day of the year:

1. kitty cat quilt


2. folkloric table runner


3. DH's happy campers quilt


4. bluebonnet quilt


5. DH's socks in timeout


6. Pilgrim wall hanging

I'm sure I'm forgetting some! I also plan to make a list of all the quilts I want to make-too bad that list keeps growing!

Gaudette Sunday!

Big thrills at our house as we lit the pink candle for Gaudette Sunday. Our visiting priest explained that in Latin Gaudette is an imperative: REJOICE! So let us all rejoice and enjoy the blessings of the third week of Advent.

My blessings this week: my sons, my DH, my extended family, that my dad's cardiologist caught that Dad was packing on fluid in his lungs and around his heart BEFORE we had another Christmas hospital stay, my grandmother safely transitioned to her senior apartment, my dear friend Jaynie, my CCE class, my job, my sister and my own dear Magpie. Most importantly, that this year I feel that I am celebrating Advent and that I am growing in my faith.

More Advent-y Adventures

My wonderful DH put up Christmas lights this year! I've been dying to have some of the multicolored icicle-style lights for years. DH was unmoved. But I mentioned that Red had been asking about our house having lights and that got'er done. DH bought the LED style lights. They look different than the incandesent lights because they are more "white" so the red and yellow/orange aren't as red and yellow/orangey. Truthfully, I would have preferred the old style lights but I am thrilled in any case that we now have the lights! DH also wrapped the post on our front porch with red and white stranded lights for a candy cane effect. Plus he finally put out the little lighted train yard decoration that I got on clearance years ago. The boyos are so excited!

This weekend we were really busy. Aside from the excitment of the lights we:

• had photos of the four Littles in the family. Three were very cute and cooperative. One was not (Tig!).
• Had coffee with Jampa and a quick run to Michaels for an angel stamp.
• Picked Magpie up at rehearsal and took her along to a work Christmas party.
• went to JoAnn's with Magpie to buy fabric for superhero capes for the boyos but forgot to get grommets from the planned jack bags.
• put up the Christmas tree and yard decorations at MaaMaa and Jampa's.
• made two trips to the local mega-mart.
• watched the evening Christmas parade.
• went to Red's Christmas pageant at church (complete madhouse!)
• put up our Christmas tree and decorations (I had completely underestimated the THRILL of putting up a tree when you are 3 and 5 years old.)
• lit the second candle on our Advent wreath!
• dressed the boys in their jammy's after dinner last night and went driving around to look at Christmas lights.
• had a visit from St. Nicholas and Black Peter this morning. Red and Tig discovered little Christmas bags with a robot ornament and a chocolate Santa in their shoes this morning.

I felt a little frenetic Saturday due to all the errands/driving around (and around and around) and then yesterday the excitement level was super high beginning at 6:30 am when Tig woke me. I took both excited boyos to Mass and Tig was awful! We had to move out of the church proper before the Eucharist even started and Tig continued to misbehave. I finally gave up and we left to go home for a quick lunch and nap. Tig obviously needed a nap as he did not demure at all and climbed into bed and laid himself down without any discussion. Maybe he was too tired/wound up to behave at Mass? Red did well at the Christmas pageant and my kinders jingled their jingle bells with gusto! I must admit, I was on my last nerve by the time we got home. *I* was overloaded by that point and I still had all the laundry to finish!

Still, I am so happy that we've kept up with our Advent celebrations. The boyos are having a good time and DH and I are still speaking to each other!

Advent!

We are excitedly celebrating Advent this year. We've got our wreath, that we light before dinner each night with prayers. And back again is our cookie bowl count down Advent calendar. This year Tig got to go first! The boyos were very excited. We also have the chocolate Advent calendars-they tried to convince me last night that they could open as many windows as they wanted. It's good for them to learn how to delay gratification, isn't it?

Of course, Advent really started Sunday at Mass. It was fun to remind Red to look and see what was different at church. The first thing he noticed was that it was dark-they kept the lights low until the Mass had begun. He also noticed the big Advent wreath, the purple hangings and the new purple vestments that Father wore. He was very excited to get home to light our wreath!

penny for your thoughts?

I spent most of Thanksgiving day stitching on this penny mat from Plum Creek Collectibles. I am hoping to have it finished this year!We spent Thanksgiving with The Poppas. They made a wonderful home cooked Thanksgiving meal and I ate way too much.

Friday I drove up to see my Gma. She's still in the rehab hospital. We're hoping she will get strong enough to move to a Senior apartment. However, my aunt and I took her to a dr visit and she ended up in hospital because she was dehydrated.

The Faithful Quilter's Giveaway

The Faithful Quilter is having a Thanksgiving giveaway. Actually she's having her Second Annual Thanksgiving Giveaway. Be sure to read her posts on Pincushion Mania and all of her Jo Morton projects. Gorgeous!

That'll teach 'em

So I was having trouble with the border on my pilgrims. I solicited suggestions from friends. Here they are:

1. leaves leaves leaves!
2. no leaves! just leave it like it is
3. I like the leaves. I like it the way it is. Either way will be great!
4. one inch black border, three inches of leaves, back and bind in a medium gold
5. screw the border, just bind it in black
6. leaves are too busy
7. suck it up and re-do the checkerboard

And on and on and on.

I have, seeing as how Thanksgiving is one week from today and we will be gone most of next week, have sent the Pilgrims to time out for being difficult.

That'll teach 'em.

Dilemma

So, the checkerboard border didn't work. My little blocks were all wonky and it looked really dreadful. I ripped it out and tried to sew short lengths of the blocks but it still looked horrid.

So I thought I would try just a row of blocks. Umm. No. Don't like that either, especially at the bottom under the pumpkins.

DH recommended this for a border:

A couple turkeys, a few pumpkins. . .

And a million 1 1/2 inch squares to make for the border.

And then there were two.

Mistress Pilgrim

Isn't she adorable? I've been dying to get started on my pilgrims. This pattern takes a lot of long, skinny cuts of fabric but boy! is the result cute.

Am already thinking of how I can use the pumpkins in another quilt.

I originally saw this quilt on someone's blog who had taken a pic at a friend's house. I searched around for a bit and could not find the pattern. Then one day I was on ebay and searched for a pilgrim quilt pattern and voila! My search was over.

Fairy rings

One thing I love about autumn, and the first cool front, is the reappearance of fairy rings. This two were side by side so I stopped to take a pic.

Finished just in time.

Finished in time for my mom to take with her to visit Gma for her birthday. My brother drove mom up this time and I stayed home to take care of dad. DH recommended that I iron it before wrapping it. This is the before picture! This is the after. The ironing really improved it! Gma said she liked it when I spoke to her on the phone.

Where is that cold front???

Like my crazy jack? He's all done and hanging by a too small dowel in the living room. Where is autumn? Where is my cold front? What is going on with all this heat?

My Jack-o-Lantern is ready!

Where has the time gone?

Obviously, I've gotten in a little sewing time. This is Gma's quilt for her birthday on the 25th. It would be finished but we went up to visit her last weekend as she's in the hospital. She won't be having her planned birthday party on the 25th though as she will still be in rehab.

Up next . . .

Did absolutely no sewing this weekend. Was completely overbooked on Saturday and then had the worst sinus headache of my life on Sunday. Managed to make it to Mass and boy, was I dismayed to see a visiting choir! Feel much better today which is good because it is the first day of school at my school!

Just ordered fabric for my newest project. Sorry for the tiny pic but I grabbed it off Baum's site. This will be a little wall hanging (about 35x35) for my Gma's birthday. That is if I can finish it in time! When I saw the gold ornament fabric I knew I had to make something with it for her. This fabric line is called Georgette Christmas.

Come on autumn!

Could we get some cooler weather please? I loathe this time of year. I am so looking forward to September. Not because it suddenly gets cool and the leaves turn but because we start to have days where the temp doesn't reach 100 and the heat index stays under 100.

So with those cool thoughts in mind, I've started some autumn-y projects. Here is my uncompleted Crazy Jack from Sandy Gervais. I still need to bind it and sew on the button eyes and the ric-rac smile. Just need some sewing time to do it.
Next up I've got a cute pilgrim wallhanging and then an adorable Georgette Christmas idea for my Gma's birthday.

Sock woes.

My sock is in time out again. I had successfully turned the heel, picked up stitches for the gusset and was merrily decreasing along when I realized that my stitch count on the instep was off.

Way off.

8 stitches off.

Apparently I had cast on 72 stitches instead of my intended 64. I only worked the heel on 32 stitches. So the sock, if I continue working it this way, will look really odd and, perhaps more importantly, feel really odd when worn.

This sock has been sent to timeout and I am pulling out my backup project that I keep at work and knitting that instead.

Stupid sock.

What I did on my vacation

The first thing I did on my vacation was to finish the Happy Campers quilt top. DH really likes it. I didn't realize that it would be so big-it fits on my queen sized bed. Now to purchase and make the backing!
Then I started on my Pennsylvania Dutch BOM. I hadn't finished a single block for this BOM and I was about to get Block #9! I cut out all the blocks that I had received and finished these four. I'm about halfway through another block but I got stuck-may just move on to another one. I got Block #9 in the mail Thursday so I went ahead and cut that one out too. That's the one I'm stuck on and it looks so easy! I can't get my four patch squares to come out to the right size. I may re-make all of them a little larger and just cut them down. I also spent a lot of time with my kids-took Red to swim lessons and Tig ran a fever for three days so he stayed home with me. Also had a pedicure with Magpie and my mom. Then we spent the weekend camping and swimming. It was great.

layout

Sorry for the dreadful pic. This is DH's layout for the Happy Campers quilt.

Happy Father's Day

I asked DH what he wanted to do for Father's Day: the beach, kayaking, boating. He opted for boating so all of us could go. I brought the socks that I had to rip out and restart to knit on. We had a good time but it got really hot and the boyos got really whingey.

It's amazing how much faster this sock is going with 64 stitches instead of 108!

Blue

This is a little shawl I'm making out of Kidsilk Haze. The pattern is from One Skein Wonders. It's a very simple knit. The pattern suggests adding beads to the edging after it is knitted. I've never done that but I think I will after I block this out.

Grandma's quilt

My MIL gave me this quilt last weekend when we went up to see the trailer. Her mother made it and MIL kept it to use in the trailer. I am thrilled to have it. Her mother was a very crafty lady (I have a crocheted afghan that she made) and I love this quilt. The squares are made from clothes and on the bottom row two of the blocks are from my MIL's dress. It's the two blocks with the squares on them. Each block is like a mini quilt. Each block is sewed shut and then the squares are all zigzagged together on the backside. MIL suggested I sew a backing on it but I kinda like it just the way it is. Thanks MIL for sharing your mom with me!

My birthday present

I've been saving my birthday money because I wanted to get a new sewing machine. I've really been wanting a featherweight. I just love the way they look and the history behind them. Saturday we went up to Trinity to look at the new travel trailer that the Inlaws gave us recently. There's a great quilt shop up there, Heavenly Threads, that I visited back in December. The lady that owns it is really nice so I was very pleased to find that she had a featherweight for sale! It's in pretty good shape-needs cleaning, the cord needs to be renewed, and the box is stinky! But I already love it.

I also bought some panels for gifts, a few fat quarters, and three yards of some adorable Darlene Zimmerman fabric. I plan to give Sister a yard of this for her birthday. I also bought a Quick Quarter by Quilter's Ruler to help with my HSTs and the corner blocks for DH's snowball quilt. Speaking of, here's some more completed blocks:

Happy Campers

This is the kit I bought at the Quilt Show last fall. It's a snowball kit with American Jane's Happy Camper fabric. I *love* the Happy Camper line and so does my DH. This quilt will be for him. I'm making this quilt 10 blocks at a time as it gets a little tedious sewing all the corners. I'm stitching each corner twice so that I will have a HST from each corner to use in another project. This is going to be a cute quilt. I bought it from Plain Janes. I just googled the address and found she's going out of business. What a shame!

Something is wrong here. . .

Here's the sock that I have been knitting, in desultory fashion, since February. Looks good, huh? Take a look at the stitches on the needle. Looks like a lot, doesn't it? I thought this sock was taking an inordinate amount of time to knit so this morning, while waiting for Red to finish speech class, I counted the stitches. 108 stitches.

I normally knit socks for DH with 64-72 stitches.

*sigh*

rip-rip-rip-rip

Bluebonnets

This will be the backing for the bluebonnet quilt! I had a 20% off coupon in my shop hop book, saved over $5 which is half the cost of the book! Am chuffed. This is a Hoffman batik. I love it! May have to make something for me out of this!

Shades of Blue

I finished the quilt top using the bluebonnet fabric. The line is called Shades of Blue. I used the disappearing nine-patch pattern and this is a lap size quilt. I really like this one! I had planned to make this for Jaynie but she says she is not going to have the surgery. Well, I'll just save this one, just in case. I'm hoping to find some bluebonnet batik that I saw at PPnQ sometime ago for the backing. Hope they still have it!

Some folks are just brilliant.

So I've been having troubles with my half-square triangles (HSTs) and I found this link on a blog I follow:

Secrets of Accurate Half-Square Triangles.

It is absolutely brilliant.

New totebag

Magpie finished her new totebag Saturday. She did almost all of this herself. I only helped with pinning and the topstitching. She's becoming quite accomplished. She can chat knowledgably about boxing and seam allowances-she even reminded me to "add an inch" when I went to measure blocks on a quilt that a friend had given me.

Upon completing the totebag, in true quilter fashion, Magpie immediately began cutting out squares for her next project. She's taking the FQ bundle she suckered me into buying on the shop hop and making a quilt for her little sister. I'm cutting and making Jaynie's quilt at the same time so we had a long discussion on what size squares to cut and how many we will use for each quilt. I won't see her for two weeks so she wanted me to delay sewing Jaynie's quilt until then. I told her I couldn't wait as I'm not sure when Jaynie is having her surgery and I really want to have it ready for her when she does.

I'm really proud of Magpie for sticking to her project and doing such a good job. My mom said that Magpie showed off her bag Sunday and that she's really proud of it.

Gratitude Friday

BonBon and I often talk about cultivating an attitude of gratitude.  There are so many annoyances throughout the day that we often lose sight of the good things.  Here are some things that I am grateful for:   that I have a good job that allows me to pay for not only our house but my sons' expensive Montessori school that every time I turn the water faucet on I have good, clean water to drink that my DH is willing to be the chief cook and understands that I am overwhelmed by the end of the day that my sister got a vonnage phone so that it is a local call for me to call her in Europe nearly every day that my parents live close by and love to spend time with the boyos that the two people that are above me in the work hierarchy are of highest integrity and that I can trust them that the boyos still  love cuddles and reading together that my oldest son likes to go to Mass with me- he calls it Mass Day and asks eagerly for it that my Gma is one of my closest friends-it's a privilege to have a friendship with my only surviving grandparent that DH gets why I sew, knit etc and why I am so compulsive about it. Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Another finish! I finished sewing the binding on my Easter banner last night. I really enjoyed this project and I am looking forward to making more Patchabilities. My sewing machine doesn't have a blanket stitch and the zigzag looked horrible so I ripped it out and handstitched each letter and egg. I bought the pattern and the hanger when I was on the Shop Hop at Little Stitches. I signed up for the new Patchabilities BOM but I don't think they mailed it to me. Need to call them and find out. They aren't set up to mail but said they would do it. Ah well, It's a Stitch is doing it by mail so I can sign up with them. I love these little wall hangings. Tuesday, April 20, 2010 Merry Christmas Gma! I finally finished my Gma's Christmas present! This scalloped apron is from the Susan Branch pattern. It is modeled here by the World's Best Admin Asst. This is the second time I've made it and I think I did a better job this time. I sewed the pieces together before I applied the bias tape. It took longer to do each step but it made applying the bias tape easier. Next time I think I will top stitch to make the scallops lay flatter. Now I need to buy some chocolate to replace what I ate to finish off the gift! Monday, April 19, 2010 Something for Jaynie How many squares from a fat quarter? 99…..2” squares 56…..2 ½” squares 42…..3” squares 30…..3 ½” squares 20…..4” squares 16…..4 ½” squares 12…..5”squares 9…..6” squares 6…..6 ½” squares I'm wondering because I bought all these FQs from Sentimental Studios Shades of Blue collection-they're bluebonnets. And I'm thinking of making a quick lap quilt for my dear friend Jaynie. She's a transplant from Oregon and I'm making her into a Texan girl. She's having surgery this summer on her eye and I want her to have something comforting to snuggle with while she freezes in the hospital. (Too much a/c). Jaynie is one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met. She's been working here for almost a year and I'm so glad she came to Texas! Thursday, April 15, 2010 Suspenders Sam My mom gave me this quilt last Sunday. She found it when she and my brother were cleaning out her garage. She said it was made for my brother by a neighbor lady who used to baby-sit us. So this quilt was made in the early 1970's. This block is my favorite one. None of the "Sams" are made with quilting fabric. The yellow one, for example, is almost a canvas. Some feel like a tweedy wool blend. The light green and the pink are polyester-it will be excavated someday by an archaeologist. Tig has already taken a nap with this quilt. It's very fluffy. Wednesday, April 14, 2010 On the design wall I love this Heather Ross Far Away fabric. . . and Far Away 2 is coming soon! I don't really know what I'm doing with this. The green and the orange are different shades than they looked on the computer screen. I thought this would be a lap quilt with a mossy green chenille backing. But now I think it wants a light blue chenille backing-which will be easier to find. Dunno. I may put this away and wait for Far Away 2. All three pics are of the same block-I can't decide how to go. Tuesday, April 13, 2010 Kindergarten? Already? So Red is about to turn 5.  That means kindergarten folks!  We met with his speech teacher, vice-principal and a kindergarten teacher before Christmas to talk about whether or not Red was ready.  Basically at public school the rule is "we like for them to be potty-trained".  DH was unimpressed.   However Red's teacher at the Montessori school didn't think he was going to be ready for K there because he's only had one year of preprimary.   What to do, what to do.   Well, today the Montessori school called and now his teacher thinks he just might be ready by fall.  Red has settled down and is doing the Work and yesterday wrote the letter b.  (That's what his teacher said anyway).  Plus all his friends are going into kinder and she's worried it might upset him or cause self-esteem issues.   So in the Fall it looks like Red will be in Kindergarten!   Monday, April 05, 2010 Happy Easter! My Gma gave me this Easter Egg Tree many years ago. I store the glass eggs in a styrofoam egg carton. The eggs are really pretty but I don't particularly like the tree itself. The "carrot" next to the egg wreath is based on the Carrot Full o'Candy. I had seen those Reese's Pieces cellophane carrots at Target but they were huge! No way was the Easter Bunny bringing those to my boyos. I reduced the pattern to make them much smaller for my little ones and we filled them with some Skittles and SweetTarts Duck and Chicks. The boyos were thrilled. They also got a new Thomas the Tank engine pillowcase (I used Mary's pillowcase pattern again) and a train and a Thomas video. After finding their baskets I scraped Red off the ceiling and we went to Mass. (He actually had a good time and I think he likes that it is one on one time with Mama-I leave Tig home with Dada.) The pillowcases were a hit-they both insisted on bringing them to school for naptime. The Jim Shore Gentlebunny is new. I bought it when we were out to tea with Gma. I just loved him, with his parted hair and waistcoat. A very proper Gentlebunny. We had a great visit with Gma. We ate a lot and talked a lot. I told her she needs to come down on a weekend that isn't a holiday so we aren't so busy! Monday, March 29, 2010 Shop Hop is over. Friday I took an early lunch between meetings and scurried down to Painted Pony N Quilts. They had some great 30's mini quilts on display-you could vote for your favorite. I also bought two chances on the raffle quilt. I bought some forked pins here and more FQs: some 30's and some Civil War repros. I also won a drawing while there-two patterns for an airplane quilt. After work I went down to Pinwheels and Posies. I bought some FQs here. Then off to Cactus Quilts. I bought a book for my sister, Ladies Day out with the Bonnet Girls, that she liked when we visited earlier. More FQs here too. When I got home my quilts had arrived from the quilters! I'll post some pics tomorrow. Saturday DH let me sleep in-big mistake as the boyos had a 9:30 appt for pictures! My mom was not happy with me for missing. After coffee we went to Fabric Etc, I won two fat quarters! And I showed off the Duck Duck Goose quilt as I had bought the fabric there. Then we took the boyos for haircuts-the first one for Tig! In the afternoon DH, Tig and I took the long drive out to Calico Cats. It took about an hour and a half to get there. Very nice folks and Lake Jackson is pretty cute. I bought a FQ of some valentine fabric to make a matching pillow for my valentine quilt and a red, white and blue panel. Then we had lunch at the Wurst Haus-very good German food. That was the end of my shop-hopping. But wait! When I got home I got a call on my cell phone- I won a $25 gift certificate to Quilter's Cottage! Thursday, March 25, 2010 Patchable This is a pattern I bought on the ShopHop at Little Stitches. It's not the best pic-I took it in a hurry this morning as I was escaping from the house. The pattern calls for pastel letters and bright eggs so that's what I cut out originally. However, I realized that the colours I was using weren't "me." They were mostly free FQs that I acquired on the ShopHop. So I pulled them off and, if I have time, will use them to make a little wallhanging for Gma. They are "her" colours. My backing is a little slimmer than the pattern specified (I cut one side improperly and didn't feel like cutting it again so I just trimmed the whole thing). The pattern also specifies six little eggs but I think I'm out of room! I think the letters will stand out more when I stitch around them. The ones with lots of white tend to blend in. Still, I'm pleased with this effort! Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Overthinking. So I finally started to work on my Pa Dutch BOM. I started with this block: Sorry for the small pic but I clipped it out a jpg. I cannot get my points on the pinwheels to match nicely. It is driving me crazy. I made one pinwheel and sewed it to the other squares. Then I made another one and ripped it out. And ripped a hole in it. Am I over thinking this? Monday, March 22, 2010 More hopping Saturday, Day 2 of the Shop Hop, started out later than I had planned. We didn’t get enough sleep (but Magpie and I agreed that for our next sleepover she will sleep at her dad’s house and I will sleep at my house) and staggered out late for Coffee with Dad. Tig joined us for the day as DH and Red were off camping. Our first stop of the day, after driving for over an hour in the rain, was Time Treasured Quilts. Magpie liked this quilt store because they had cake balls. I liked it because they had the Prints Charming spaceship fabric I have long coveted for 50% off! I bought three yards against the day the boyos reject ducks and penguins. I also collected some FQs of different pebbles and rocks: again for the Harry Potter quilt. Stop two was The Hen House. I had a little trouble with the Tom-Tom-Go but we eventually made it even though it was still raining. I visited this shop once previously with my dear Pigwit. I was looking for some cute hats that I saw at the Quilt Festival that I thought might have been sold at this store but no luck. We didn’t buy anything here and Tig was at his most uncooperative. Next up was a brief stop at Quakertown Quilts in The Woodlands. Nice folks, cute but small shop. Still raining. Stop four: Quilter’s Quarters. Again, a small shop tucked into a shopping center. Very nice folks. I bought more FQs and the Antique Quilts magazine. I also bought two chances on a raffle quilt that was handquilted. Probably should have bought more. Found out today that a friend up here at work knows the woman who did the handquilting. Stop Five: Sew Many Things. This shop was Magpie’s downfall-she fell in love with a FQ bundle so I bought it for her. Heh heh, I’m teaching her to stash! I also acquired some more FQs and a yard of fabric. This shop was also in an old house and the folks were very nice too. We were pretty tired by this point but my OCD kicked in and we hit two more stops: It’s a Stitch in Humble which is huge! I bought a Trick or Treat panel that I’ve been wanting (on sale!). One of the sales ladies gave Tig a square of cow print minkee which he is still carrying around. They were very nice here too. Then finally, The Quilt Room in Huffman. My resistance was down here and I bought 11 FQs. Mostly rocks, bricks and doors but also some cute birds. They were really nice here and gave us bottles of water. DH liked their class list and wants to go take a class there. It is over an hour’s drive from our house though. I was exceedingly tired after a long day of driving and looking. Sunday morning I was leafing through my Shop Hop booklet before Mass and I put it back in my purse before I left the house. DH was startled: “you aren’t shop-hopping again today, are you?” Frankly, I just don’t have that kind of stamina. Sunday, March 21, 2010 Shop hopping Well, my sister has gone home and tomorrow I go back to work after a week of Spring Break. She was busy in the morning on her last day so I took myself off on the local shop hop. There are twenty stores on the shop hop and Friday I went to seven of them. Silly, huh? The first shop was Little Stitches-very nice folks at this shop. Actually there were very nice folks at every shop! They have this monthly BOM that I am thinking of joining as I love love love these patchables! I bought one of the patchables that isnt in the BOM and I think I will call tomorrow to find out if I will start with the Chocolate Bunny one if I sign up now. Then I went to the Quilter's Emporium. This shop was kind of set up like an old fashioned general store with black furniture and big checkout desk. They had TONS of fabric and a lot of Civil War stuff plus wool felt kits and buttons etc. Nice folks here too. I bought some buttons and a couple FQs here. Then I drove out the the Feathered Star which is located in an old house. Very cute store. I bought some Valentine FQs here. As the store is an old house you get to roam around and explore-v. fun. Next up was Quilt N Sew Studio. They gave out kits to make little pressing pads. This shop is tucked away in the corner of the shopping center and is larger than it looks. They had a neat display quilt that is like a swirl-I need to see if there is a pic on their website-and see if they have a class on it. After this one I took a long drive out to Quilter's Cottage. I think the lady said they had 16000 sq feet in this store. I drove right by it at first. I bought some FQs here, mostly 30's, and some jelly bean fabric. I'm hoping to make a paperpieced Harry Potter quilt someday and will need some Bertie Botts! Afterwards Magpie called me and wanted to know when I could come have lunch with her, mom and Sister. Well, I was a good hour away at this point! So we agreed on a time, that I could realistically make, and on I drove. I was actually early so I stopped at Quakertown Quilts for my passport stamp and bought a couple of FQs and a new book: Gone to Texas. This book takes portions of a woman's diary from the Texas settlement and makes quilts similar to what she talks about in the diary. V. cool. After lunch we headed off for manis and pedis. I got my first pedi. I really intensely dislike anyone touching my feet but I was in serious need. The pedi was actually pretty good but I don't think she did that great a job of painting my nails. We stopped by one more quilt store, Sew Contempo, on the way home so I could get my stamp-seven for the day! I bought the shop block fabric here as Magpie really liked it. Then we headed off the my parents' to get Sister's bags and get her across town to the airport. Tig fell asleep as soon as we got him strapped in his carseat so he didn't cry when we dropped sister off. Magpie, however, cried for about twenty minutes. Poor girl. It's hell to be thirteen. To cheer her up I took her to Cafe Japon, a sushi place she is always talking about. She ordered white rice. ????????? She constantly surprises me with the stuff she does. She's always talking about this place so I figured she liked sushi. Nope. Won't touch it. Ah well, tomorrow I will detail our adventures on Day 2 of the shop hop. Monday, February 22, 2010 Off to the Quilter I finally finished the quilt back for my Valentine quilt and the Duck Duck Goose quilt. I will be very glad to see DDG go off to the quilter. It is very cute, and Tig will love it, but what a pain it was to piece. The Valentine quilt back is solid Kona cotton in Cardinal. I thought of using one of the prints from the quilt but for some reason the solid red stuck with me. I don't have a pic of the DDG back but I pieced it with mostly the legions of ducks on blue and then pieced in the Duck Duck Goose banner from the panel. I hope it looks good on the finished quilt. My quilter is Karen Farrell. She is my dear Pigwit's sister and does lovely quilting. Now what to start on?? Wednesday, February 17, 2010 A recent finish A shawl I finished recently as modeled by Red. Monday, February 08, 2010 Valentine Quilt So, I don't actually celebrate Valentines Day. Not a big deal in my book-especially now that it's our anniversary. (yep, we got married on Valentines Day. I kinda got suckered into that one!). On Scrappy Threads she was showing some cute valentines fabric which made me start thinking. Then when I saw this vintage valentines fabric I just had to make this quilt. It's a quick project, just a few hours and I even made the binding. I think I am going to back it in some red kona cotton. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Blocks for the Saturday sampler These are the latest blocks for the Saturday Sampler.  I made the one with the friendship star this morning.  I think it is really pretty.  ... to border or not to border We've been under a tropical storm warning since last night so I spent the day sewing.  Now I'm trying to decide if I want to borde... And this is what I ended up with. . . Which, truthfully, isn't what I planned to make.  And it really isn't that crooked either.  So this is from the Tiny Town version ... Doghouse sample This is the sample I made for the Book Club.  It's the Karen Montgomery companion pattern for the book club.  The pattern is called Hous... Search This Blog Pages WIPs Helpful tips and ideas Ruler Inventory Accuquilt Dies About Me Kigwit I like to spend as much time as possible at home. Slobbing around in my pajamas, drinking tea, messing around with fabric and making stuff. I blame my Aunt Cindy for making me a quilter! Currently living in a house with two sons, one DH, two dogs, a hamster, a goldfish and assorted sea-monkeys. 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