Weekly happenings and a few finishes.

Time flies whether you are having fun or not!  It's already Thursday and I only have one more day of vacation... Wow!  I have gotten a little done but not near as much as I wanted.  Mainly because my husband is off with me. Need I say more?   Anyway, we have been going here and there this week and I've gotten a little sewing done. I had planned to sew and quilt on my new machine this week but not too much of that has happened.

Monday, we both went to the dentist and had our teeth cleaned. We then went and got my MIL and took her to lunch. We went to Joann's aftewards and I helped her pick out some fabric for her butterfly quilt.  We got the sashing, border and binding fabric for her quilt.  She was thrilled to find just the right fabric for her project.  I can't wait to show you but I'll have to help her first.  You'll see it in a while.  After Joann's we went to the Salvation Army and a new Goodwill store.  I had never been to either one of these and always wanted to ... I was disappointed in the Salvation Army story. I had heard so many great things about it and was surprised that it was so clean and neat. I thought it would be more like a junk shop.  What I had pictured in my mind was not what it was.  I like to look at thrift stores and antique stores too.  I don't know why or what I'm looking for but I do enjoy browsing.  At the Goodwill store, I bought two quilt books.  I didn't have either one of these and I got them for cheap!  We then went to my son's and DIL's house for dinner.  It was a fun day but we were gone all day! 

Tuesday, we got up and went to the golf course but they were having a tournament and we couldn't play. We went to breakfast instead.  I do not play golf but watch it alot and my husband has always wanted me to go with him. I told him I would. He is so supportive of my hobbies, I have to do the same for him. I started to say, reciprocate but was afraid I couldn't spell it right!  Hah, fooled you, didn't I?  After breakfast, we came home and I did get to sew.  I finished quilting this little wallhanging and started quilting a little placemat too.  I bound both and finished both on Tuesday night.  Oh boy, if I can do two projects every day, maybe I'll get alot done on my vacation.


I made this little wallhanging at the end of last year but didn't get it quilted to hang at Christmas.   The border fabric is holly fabric and I quilted little holly leaves in the border. I quilted this on my sewing machine and I'm still not a great free motion quilter so you won't be seeing a close up!  They say to practice, practice, practice so you will get better. Well, I thought I would finish all my small projects on my machine and tackle my larger projects on my quilting machine.  Anyway, I won this little kit at my small group last year and really like it.

 

I made this cute little pumpkin placemat. I quilted the pumpkin like a pumpking and I put maple leaves in the brown squares.  This was fun to do.

Wednesday came and we got up and went to the golf course.  It was so nice on the course.  We got there early and it was breezy and cool.   I took a book, my knitting and some tatting along just in case I got bored.  I didn't.  I drove the golf cart and enjoyed the course, the scenery and looking at the beautiful homes or backs of the homes on the course.  It was actually alot of fun. 

My dh comtemplating his shot...

 

It was nice and breezy (almost too breezy) and there were butterflies and bugs everywhere.  Squirrels too. I don't think I've ever seen so many butterflies before.  They kept landing on me. I think they were resting their wings.  Well, one of them must have told the others that I was ok, I think 10 or twelve of them landed on me during the day. Is that supposed to be good luck?  I hope so. It was fun to see all of them flying around. 

The wind never died down.  We finally came off the course before it got too hot.

 

We stopped for lunch and then went to Hobby Lobby to see if they had another skein of yarn I needed. I bought some fabric to put on the borders of my Bento Box quilt. I got these blocks back last

 week and was thrilled with the exchange. These are the blocks on my design wall. I was auditioning fabric for the edges.  I liked it but it was too busy.  I bought triangle fabric and border fabric too.

  We came home and laid down to rest for just  a few minutes.  A few hours later, I got up and went and sewed on my Bento Box quilt.  I decided on the layout and sewed all the blocks together. Then, cut up the fabric I bought for the triangles and outside borders.

This morning I got up early. My number one son called and woke me up...He called to let me know traffic was bad and to tell me happy birthday.  Yes, today is famous, it is my birthday. Anyway, I got up and finished putting the bento block quilt together.  Now, shield your eyes....are you ready, maybe you should put some sun glasses on first...Now, are you ready?  This is a little out of my comfort zone but I think it turned out ok.  The yellow is a little bright but I kept seeing it in the quilt and the green too so I wanted to bring both of them out.   I don't think it glows in the dark but I guess I'll find out. 

 

Well, now I'm going to break for lunch then go upstairs and see if I can get my quilt machine working.  Til next time, happy sewing!

FNSI with Heidi and Bobbi and friends!

Last night, I went to the church to "sew" with my friends.  Some of us sew, some knit, crochet, tat, eat and of course, just talk....
Last night, I knitted for awhile, ate, talked and tatted. I am teaching a friend of mine to tat at this little group and she's helping me with my knitting.  She's a knitter, crocheter, sewer and now she wants to tat too. She's doing great.  She's picking it up really quickly. It took me forever to learn to "flip" my thread but she's already got it. She'll be showing me tricks before long!  Anyway, I worked on my knitting project for awhile and here's what I worked on!  It's called Wingspan and is a free pattern off of Ravelry... I am onto the second triangle in the shawl and it's coming along slowly.  I am not a fast knitter but I enjoy the process. Now, I have to get busy and work on my projects for today. I'll post more later.  Have a great day!

Friday Night Sewing with Heidi and Bobbi and friends!

Yay, it's time to sign up for Heidi and Bobbi's Friday Night Sew In.  Here's a link...
Or you can click on the blackboard badge on the side of my blog and it will take you there too.  I plan on sewing at the church with my friends.  I love this time with my friends.  It's good to get together with these lovely ladies and have some quality time with them. 

Go sign up and post pics of what you get done tomorrow night on Saturday. It's always fun to see what everyone is working on...


Tonight is my small group meeting. I'll show you pics of what our group is up to on my other blog by next week.  I did do some blocks last night and I'll try to post those pics tonight when I get home.  I hope you get some sewing time in today, til next time, happy sewing!

Two UFO's finished, two Grandmother's choice blocks and my DP4 blocks!

I was able to finish two UFO's this weekend, woo hoo!  I'm so excited.  I had this lovely quilt in my binding stack for months and finally decided to finish it...I wish I would have finished it a long time ago but you know how it is...procrastination, it's an ugly thing!!!

This is a Row by Row quilt. It was a swap that we had in my small quilt group.  Each row, we made 5-10 blocks (whatever the row called for) and we kept one block and exchanged the others.  We did this swap for 7 months (that's how many rows there were) and then we got the instructions and put the quilt together.  This was a fun swap.  I hand quilted this quilt and finished the hand quilting several months ago.  I had to buy extra fabric for the binding and couldn't find the "right" fabric until recently.  I finally found some that I liked and put the finishing touches to this sweet quilt. 

This block I've had on my design board for a long time too.  I took a needle-turn class last year and this is what we made from the class. We learned points, circles and shapes to needle turn.  I quilted this on my machine and did pebble quilting. I've been wanting to try it for awhile and thought this would be just the right size to learn on.  This was alot of fun.

This is block two of the new Barbara Brackman Block of the week, the Grandmother's Choice website. this one is called Amethyst.

This is block three of the BOW-Union Square. I'm up to date now and feel great!

These are my DP4 patches for the rainbow challenge.  I have alot more blocks to do with alot more colors but I'm really liking it so far...

Well, that's it for now.  It's my TV night and I'm going to knit for awhile.  Hopefully, I'll show you some more things later.  til next time, happy sewing.

A little bit of orange

I worked on some orange last night and this morning.  I had some left over from my Nine patches....I have added these to my other Disappearing 4 patch blocks and my other little blocks for the other project.  These are for the monthly rainbow scrap challenge. I TRY to do my nine patches the same color as the challenge so I'll be sure and have some scraps but it doesn't always work out.  I've got to play catch up now cause I  missed some colors but I sure like this DP4 block and I want it to have alot of different colors in it....

 

 

This is the block that I don't remember it's name. Anybody know it???

 

 

 

Here's my 40 nine patches for the month!

 

 

 

Ok, gotta get off and get busy. I have more sewing to do before the grandbaby objects!  I hope you get to sew some this weekend. til next time!

 

 

Autumn Block Party

I don't know if you know this or not so I'll tell you...Michelle over at the Quilting Gallery is hosting an Autumn block party.  There will be a block everyday for the next 45 days and also great deals each day.  I just saw it and wanted to pass on the info to you.  Click on the cute button on the right with the little owl and it will take you there.  I love parties and quilt block parties are awesome.  Now, if someone will give us some chocolate, I'll be all set! 

I've been quiet this week trying to play with my new toy. I'm having some trouble with it and I know there's a learning curve, so bear with me. I hope to have some cute things to show you soon. Until next time, happy sewing!


The Quilting Gallery Block Party....

A few blocks

Yes, I'm still here. I just haven't had time to post anything.  I'm feeling alot better now and I'm so glad!  However, now my husband is sick and believe me, he's a far worst patient than I was....He's kept me hopping too.  I did not have a restful holiday and it's not any better yet.  Hopefully, by this weekend he'll be better and life will get back to normal a little.
I was able to sew a little bit Saturday.  I got the first block done of Barbara Brackmen's new Block of the Week.  The BOW is published again this year on Saturday's.  These are 8 1/2" blocks (8" finished) and you can click on the side of my blog to get there.  Look at the big badge called Grandmother's Choice.  I think she said there will be 49 blocks. Here's my first block...this one is appropriately named Grandmother's Choice.

I also did 8 blocks for my scrap quilt. I started these disappearing 4 patches with the Rainbow challenge earlier in the year. I've fallen behind on these but I'm playing catch up now.  I did some blue blocks, some teal blocks and some plaid blocks. I cut out some orange which is this month's color but didn't get to them yet. I also started working on my monthly 9 patches and just sewed the strips together.  I haven't finished them yet.

Sunday and Monday, I did the buttonhole stitch around some butterfly blocks for my MIL.  She made 20 blocks.  She is reproducing a quilt that she received when she was 16 years old.  She is in her mid 80's now and has a new bed and wanted a new quilt for it. So, she decided to make this butterfly quilt.  I'll give these blocks back to her and she'll put them together. I don't know what sashing or any other fabric she'll be using. When she gets it together, I'll show you again as I'll be quilting it for her.

My machine is finally all together and ready. I'll be putting the first quilt on it Saturday.  I haven't been home long enough this week to  play with it yet.  Tomorrow night, I'll be going to sew and visit with my friends at the church so Saturday will be the first chance I get to do it.  I hope you have a good Friday and a great weekend.  Til next time, happy sewing!