Some peaks at what I'm working on!

Well, I didn't do any sewing today..I went shopping and cleaning and getting baskets ready for Easter Sunday...tomorrow, maybe I'll get some sewing done!

Here's my Civil War quilt I'm working on. I have two rows sewn together and two rows not on the wall..I didn't have room for them yet. These look like small blocks but they are 10 1/2" blocks before sewn together. I have squares and triangles already ready to put on the outer border..  I'll be sewing some more on this tomorrow and next week.

 

Here's the other quilt I'll be binding on this weekend.  It was a leader/ender quilt that finally got put together and quilted....I have the binding ready to sew on. I want to bind this Sunday afternoon for slow stitch Sunday. It will be later in the day as all my kids and grandkids will be over for Easter..

 

 

 

I'll show more tomorrow..I need to decide what my next 4 get it done challenges will be so I'll be posting those tomorrow too.  Have you been getting your projects done? This challenge is helping me stay focused on just a few things and not be overwhelmed.  I'm getting them done and really enjoying myself too. I hope you get some stitching time in tomorrow and enjoy your weekend,  til next time, happy stitching!

 

A few minutes to sew and random things....

I went home last night and sewed two rows of my Civil War swap blocks together and I'm loving this quilt...I have eight rows to sew.  It is now up on my design wall and I've been playing with the blocks getting them where I want them. I will take a picture and share tomorrow. I think it's like I want it now. I will go in tonight and look at it again.  I sewed the first two rows as I knew they were what I wanted. I sewed them while I was waiting on my iron to heat up.  I got a new iron at Christmas and I like it alot but it takes forever to heat up and turns off way too quickly...It does give me time to do other things while I'm waiting for it to warm up....

 I also made some binding for another quilt that just got quilted. I'll be having another finish soon and this one is so pretty. I'm so pleased with this one. I made this last year as a leader/ender quilt and finally sewed the blocks together. I'll give you a sneak peak tomorrow. My friend quilted it for me and I'll be binding it tomorrow...it's so pretty...come back and see it..It is totally scrappy and I liked it before it was quilted but the quilting really made the quilt and I love it now...

Yesterday, I posted that I was going to use Bloglovin, I deleted the post. I'm going to take my time and look around a little more. Rumors are that google reader is going away but you know how the rumors are...

I won't get to sew tonight as our office is going out to dinner. We usually do a holiday dinner at Chrismas time but we couldn't this year. We  talked the doctors into going out this week.  We are going to one of my favorite Chinese places...yummy.  Tomorrow, the office is closed  for Good Friday and my hubby has to work so I might be able to sleep late and have some sewing time too.  I hope you have some time to sew too and until next time, happy stitching!

Saturday sewing

I got up really early this morning so I could sew.  This is the wedding weekend and I'll have the grandbaby until Monday. I knew if I didn't get up early, I wouldn't get a chance to sew...she keeps me hopping! 

I made my purple Box block for the Rainbow challenge and I'm really liking this block.  It's a fun and easy block to make. 

 

 

I also made my 5 blocks for my small group swap. This is the final 5 blocks and the swap will be complete. Once these blocks are swapped, I can put the blocks up on the design wall and start putting the quilt together. 

 

 

 

 

I also put this scrappy crazy block together. 

 

I used templates from Sharlene Jorgenson for this block.  I have alot of fabrics cut out for this but I just sewed this one up to see what it would look like.  I think I'm going to like this one.  It's going to be very scrappy and I can sew it whenever I get scraps cut out for it...it will be an ongoing project. I'm going to use anything and everything in it and see how it turns out.  This was a fun block to put together and went together great using her templates.

 

 

Well, that's all I did and all I had time for.  I hope you got to sew today and have a fun and restful weekend.  Until next time, happy stitching!

 

Catching up again! Some swap sewing and retreat hi-lites.

Last week came and went and I just couldn't find the extra time to blog. I was busy every night.  I had to make some choices and the computer didn't win...

Since the last time I blogged,  I went on a quilt retreat with my friends and had a great time.   I only finished one thing but I  got a few things further along too.  Good food, good friends and relaxation.  It's so nice to get away and not worry about making dinner, answering the phone, cleaning, laundry, etc, etc.  Nothing but me time.  That's what I like about retreats. I can sew until I'm too tired to sit any longer or take a walk or even a nap.  Of course, I didn't do those things. I just sewed and sewed. and ate and talked alot!  I took my tatting and my knitting but didn't touch either one.  We did make a trip into the local quilt shop and I bought a new project too.  Like I needed another project, right?  I saw this quilt and just had to have it, it was beautiful and I didn't want it to get away from me.  I'll be starting it soon but I have to finish at least 3 things first.  I started out telling myself I had to finish 5 things but decided to lower it to 3!  Ha, ha, I don't know if I can wait but I'm going to be patient and get some small things done first. 

When I came home Sunday, I was so tired. I brought all of my stuff in from the car and put my sewing room back together. I planned on sewing some but it just didn't happen. I sat in my chair and started watching some TV I had recorded and fell fast asleep. No sewing that day or the rest of the week either.   I didn't get to sew again until this past Saturday afternoon!  Last week was busy with grandkids and friends and family but no time to sew. I did watch TV one night and I knitted for awhile.  I'm still working on my Wingspan shawl. 

Saturday, I planned on finishing my blocks for my current swap but I only sewed on them a little while.  The grandbaby didn't want to cooperate and take a good nap. I had to finally put my sewing away and play with her....What a sacrifice! Not!

 Sunday afternoon, I was finally able to finish them up.  I made my 5 blocks for my swap this Thursday....These blocks took me forever!  Have you ever made a block and had to unsew it because it wasn't right?  Well, these blocks and I didn't get along at all.  I used fabrics for the outside triangles that were two different fabrics.  I had enough to do 3 blocks of one fabric and the other two were supposed to be the other fabric. I had to unsew them because the outside triangle fabrics weren't the same. I wasn't paying attention and sewed the wrong fabrics on the blocks.  They looked almost alike and I started to leave them as they were but I just couldn't stand it. I had to rip out.  I got my trusty seam ripper out and unsewed them. Then, I was stupid enough to sew two blocks wrong again!!!!I didn't think I would ever get these simple blocks done.  I was so aggravated with myself.  I was trying to watch Felix Baumgartner jump out of that balloon 24 miles up and I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.  OMG, I am so glad those are done too! 5 blocks took nearly all afternoon but I finally got them done.  One more thing out of the way for the month! If you click on the pics, you can see how close the fabrics were....

One of my accomplishments at retreat was my 40 Nine Patches for the month. I love mindless sewing when I'm with someone.  I can chat and sew and not have to think about what I'm doing.  These weren't so bad this month.   We are down to only 4 more months and we'll have enough nine patches for the quilt... Yay! 




I wanted to show you what I worked on at retreat.  I decided I would make both my granddaughters the same quilt.  I think I told you that last week.  Well, I got alot of the blocks done at retreat.  I still have more to do but I am alot further along on this now.  I ran out of white fabric and had to buy some more.  That was my main reason for going to the quilt shop at retreat.  I couldn't stand the temptation though....

Can you tell there are two quilts on my design wall?  I still have some more blocks to make. I'm making them 6 X 8. I'm trying to make them both alike but I have a few blocks in there that are different. The colors are the same but the fabric is different, but just a few.   I think I still need about 20 more blocks.  I have so enjoyed making these blocks.  I even showed the girls at retreat how to make these and they started making some too.  These are my Disappearing 4 patches I've been working on for the Scrappy Rainbow challenge this year.  I've already decided what my borders will be for these two but have to find the fabric.  All of the fabric used is scrap except for the white. I had to buy extra white on white fabric as I used all of mine from my stash.  I hope my sweet granddaughters will like them. 

 

Now, here's a few pics of what some of my friends did at retreat....

 

Karen was working on a Trip Around the World quilt....

 

 

Ruth and Jessica (Mother and daughter team) worked on this beautiful Christmas quilt. Click on the picture and see how pretty this quilt is.  They almost finished this one. They still had to add the beautiful border on it when they left...This was a kit they bought a few years ago. The daughter will get this one...

 

This is a quilt that Judy was working on. The pattern was in a McCall's quilting mag from 2005. 

Some Christmas Dresden blocks. Glenda did these and they were going to be for our Christmas challenge swap but she liked them so much she decided to keep them and make a runner out of them.  She bought two fat quarters and made 5 dresden plates.

 

 

This is Witch Judy...she dressed up for us the last day we were at retreat.  So cute but I wish I had taken a pic of her socks...

 

 

 

9 Patches and Civil War blocks done for the month.

Well, I finally finished all 40 of my nine patches for the month.    When I first started this swap, , I liked nine patches, now I'm really bored with them...I just keep telling myself, the quilt will be great, the quilt will be great.  I guess the biggest thing is I shouldn't wait until the last minute to do them and if I spread them out over the month, it wouldn't be so bad...I'll start doing that.  Anyway, I finished those and I did my five Civil War blocks for my exchange too.  Both are due this Thursday at my small group.  Here's a pic...

I've been watching the Olympics and I've enjoyed everything about them this year.  I think they were great and I think Great Britain did a wonderful job hosting it.  I'm off now to finish watching the closing ceremonies, til next time, happy sewing.

Block exchanges, tatting, knitting and a little wallhanging.

I did a little bit of sewing on Sunday afternoon.  This week is my small group meeting and I wasn't ready for it.  I'm in two exchanges in this group and I had to get ready.  So, even though I wasn't really "in the mood" to sew, I had to suck it up and do it anyway.  So, I did. I made my 40 nine patches for my 9 Patch exchange and I started working on the other 5 blocks I needed for the other exchange.   Here's the 9 patches I did Sunday.

I finished my tatted earrings and my knitted scarf too.  The top earrings have seed beads on them. The little owl earrings have seed beads for the eyes.  I found the metal owls at Hobby Lobby and made earrings out of them too.  The other metal owl I found at Walmart and I'll just make a necklace out of him.  I like owls...can you tell? 

Here's a close-up of the earrings with the seed beads.

Here's the knitted scarf I finished.   It's made from Premier Starbella thread.  It was fun and easy to make. I have some gray/black/white to knit up too.  This one is a gift and the other one is for me.

Tonight, I finished the other 5 blocks I started on Sunday afternoon.  These are all made from Civil War fabric and we are about half-way through with the exchange.  This is going to be a great quilt.

This last picture is for Lesley, the Cuddle Quilter.  I told her I had made a small quilt out of the maple leaf blocks and had done it the same setting as she had done...I made this a few years ago and  enjoy this little wallhanging every time I see it. I had put it away and had to hunt for it to take the pic.  Now that I have it out, I'll put it up on the wall and enjoy it for awhile.

I hope you have a great week and get some creating time in.  til next time, happy sewing.

Some Reproduction Swap Blocks

Ok, I'm now officially ready for my quilt meeting Thursday night. I usually do all my blocks immediately and then play the rest of the month.  Well, I've been getting a little lazy and putting my blocks off until the last minute.  That won't happen again.  It makes me too nervous!  I came home today and made my 5 blocks for the exchange.  Here they are:

I made three just alike for the block on the left. We can make them all alike or however we want as long as we make 5 per month. 

I made my 40 nine patches Saturday and showed you those.  The 9 patches are also an exchange I'm doing with this group.  Now, the only thing I have left to do for the meeting is to make a mug rug.  I'm not sure that will get done as it has low priority.  I'm through for the night for sewing. Now, I have to be a good girl and go do my dishes! Ugh, unfortunately my magic powers are gone and I can't get them to do themselves.  Tomorrow is Tatting Tuesday and I'll show you some of what I've been doing for it later in the week.  Until next time, happy quilting!

Sewing on Sunday

This afternoon, I got to sew a little bit more.  I finished up three more turtles for community service....As it turns out, these are bigger than I first thought. I was just guestimating the size when I told you last. I measured these this afternoon and they are 28" long and 20" wide.

I put together last week's Civil War Block

and I put three more blocks together for one of my UFO's...

This is my purple quilt with some of the almost flower blocks around it.  I say almost because I ran out of white fabric and will have to buy some before I can finish these blocks.  I'll also be putting the leaves around it too.... this is on my design wall right now waiting for the white fabric to put the finishing touches onto the flower blocks.   

Another little quilt on the design wall is my Disappearing 9 patch.  I put this one together Friday night. I've decided it needs another row before a border so I have to make 4 more blocks.  I'll be doing those this week and finish this one up too.

  Anyway, that's all for now, more to come later.  Have a great week and happy sewing! 

Civil War blocks and Disappearing Nine Patch

I was able to come in tonight and work on my Civil War Blocks. I have been behind since I've been working on other things.  I made three blocks tonight and I have two left to make and I'll be up to date.  These were alot of fun to do and I enjoyed making these blocks. 

I made the Log Cabin Block, the Star Block and the Cotton Boll block...

here they are:

Then, I cut apart some blue nine patches and sewed them back up as the disappearing nine patches...ooh, I like them, I like them alot!
I made eighteen of these blue blocks.  I have alot more blue blocks and I'll do more later...these are fun! I need to measure and see how big they are now.  I  will lay these out later this week and see how I want to put them together...Have you tried these yet?  They don't even look like nine patches anymore. 

I also opened up my Go cutter and got out some scrap fabric and started cutting some easy blocks. Wow, this is addictive and I love cutting the blocks so quickly.  I'll use these as leaders and enders and sew them up between other projects.  I think I'm going to really like this Go!  Well, gotta Go for now!  Til next time....

Saturday Sewing, knitting with friends and Brown Bear

Today was a busy and fun day for me. I started out by going over to my friend's house for our second class on knitting.  Both ladies are doing great.  Rhonda is doing continental knitting and Tracy is doing regular knitting or English knitting.  I can do continental knitting but only knitting. I have trouble purling with continental knitting so I don't even try.  We all had a great time. Rhonda brought banana bread and Tracy's husband fixed us hot tea and we just sat and knitted away. The cat was right there with us trying to take away the yarn and the two dogs were laid out by our feet.  What a cozy little group we were.  We will not be meeting again for two weeks but the girls have homework to do....

 I headed home and went on up to the sewing room.   I started working on another of my UFO's. This one wasn't too old.  I started working on this one  when I went to retreat in October so I don't think that's too bad.  Here it is finished and  ready to be quilted.

 This is Brown Bear:

Sorry for the bad picture, I didn't have anyone to hold it for me...

I also finished three of the five blocks from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Blog. I have two more blocks to catch up on and I'll be up-to-date. These were easy and fun to do...



Catch Me if You Can Block

 

Texas Tears

North Star

The rest of my blocks