My First Crazy Patch Block

Well, I finished my first crazy patch block and I'm pretty pleased with it. I think it turned out fairly decent....I really enjoyed doing it and this is what my friend, Shirley and I are teaching to our little sewing group. Not that we are experts by any means, we are just two people sharing what we know. No more, no less. That's what our little group is all about anyway. This group is made up of women that sew. Some are quilters, some are embroiderers (some by hand and some by machine)and some are crafters. We just love getting together and socializing. Eating, laughing and chatting. Here's my block..what do you think?

Saturday Sewing-BOM-Birthday Wishes

Today was the day to pick up another block in my BOM. I picked up block 5 for next month...This quilt is not going together quick enough for me. I love this fabric. Here's a picture of the quilt. The quilt is in the quilt store and it's hung sideways but I think you can see how lovely it is anyway...



If you want to see what the blocks look like close up, go check out my other blog, http://thomasquilt2009.blogspot.com. We meet once each month and get instructions or a demo on how to put the block together. Some of these ladies are fairly new to quilting and this really helps to get these extra hints or tips plus we get to shop! The store even gives us a discount for coming in! I love this. I always feel like this store really appreciates our business and they are great people too. The owners as well as all the employees are helpful and friendly. They always make coffee and have cookies or muffins for us. It's great. Everyone in this group is alot of fun too! Good times!

After the demo, I rushed over to pick up a friend and we went and had lunch with another friend to celebrate her birthday. Happy Birthday, Cathey! I hope your day was great! Then, Shirley and I went back to her house and finished up getting ready for our class. We are now ready to give the demo and I hope it turns out ok. I'll let you know if our sewing group likes what we did.

I'm still working on my crazy patch block. I had forgotten how to do some of the embroidery stitches. I guess it's true, what you don't use, you lose! Cuz, I sure did. I had to look up some of the old stitches I used to know. But, that's ok, I remember them now and I am enjoying doing this block. I'll show you the block as soon as I finish.. Til next time....

Working on the Crazy Patch and a Big Pincushion

I started embellishing my block last night while watching TV. I put some lace on one seam and sewed it down. Then, I added some beads in the holes of the lace to tack it down some more. I really like the results. I did the buttonhole stitch on one seam but didn't like it so I undid it. I'm going to get some tiger tape so I can measure my stitches more accurately for the stitches. If I get a chance, I'll work on it some tonight. It's pretty relaxing to do this.

Here's two of the blocks that we made. I kept these two cuz I liked them. We made 23 blocks in all. Shirley kept one and I kept these two. This shows how we made up the kits too.






I also had a little kit that I worked on. It was a sample that Shirley picked up somewhere. This kit had paper pieces in it that were 1" big. I sewed around the little hexagons and made it into a flower. I'm going to put a backing on it and make it into a small pincushion and give it as a gift...No picture yet, I'll show you the finished product soon.



Talking of pincushions! I forgot to tell you about this!!!

I went to one of the LQS Friday afternoon and saw the cutest big pincushion. I have got to make this. I took pictures of them. There were two of them. One was a tall one and one was short. I'll post my pictures tonight when I get home. I did find the pattern on the website. It is a MODA pattern and is available online at their site. Here's a link to it....it is called the Prairie Flowers pincushion...Go check it out. This is definitely on my to do list and I want to do it ASAP. I'm going to find the walnut hulls for it first. At the quilt store they kidded around and called it a door stop! It is so big, it could be used for a door stop. I loved it and I have to have one.

Aren't these cute? Diana at the LQS made these and I just think they are wonderful...I've got to make these.... I like them both so I guess I have to make a tall and short one.

Sewing with Shirley and Crazy Quilt Blocks

I went to Shirley's again today and we sewed our little hearts out on the crazy patch blocks. These blocks will be given to our ASG group to embellish and make whatever they want to out of them. We finally finished all the blocks today and put in thread, buttons, ribbon and all kinds of trims for the kits. Shirley and I are very excited about the blocks and we think they turned out very good. I was dumb and didn't take pictures of these but will this next Saturday. We are getting together this Saturday and will be playing around with stitches to decide what we want to teach or show the group. Now comes the fun part. I have never been a big embroiderer but I am enjoying this. I have ususally learned the stitches just by looking at a book, so it's fun to get together with someone that actually knows how to do the stitches in person. Everybody in our group probably knows how to embroider so I'm hoping we can teach them something....maybe, they can teach me something. Who knows! Getting together is the important thing, right? I hope they like it. I brought two of the blocks home with me so I will take pictures of those and post. These will be my blocks....I'm not going to do a quilt. I'm going to make a small book cover or maybe a needlecase. I'm not doing anyting really big with mine. I might just frame it...it just depends how much I like it when I'm finished. Time will tell. I'll show you what I do so you can see the results. Til next time....

Sewing with a friend and Crazy Quilt Patches

Have you ever said you would do something, thinking it wouldn't take you very long - just to find out it takes you forever? That's what has happened to me the last couple of times I have told someone I would help them out....and it's not that I put it off either. I started working on some blocks with my friend, Shirley, on Saturday. She and I are doing a demo together for our sewing group. We are making crazy patch blocks and showing the group how to do embroidery stitches and embellishments on these blocks. We are making about 25 - 30 blocks and they are taking forever! We worked on these Saturday and only got 6 done. We had a great time and laughed alot but we were both surprised at how long these blocks were taking to sew up...We are getting together again this Saturday. Shirley and I decided to do these crazy patches with embellishments and embroidery stitches after we went to Martha Pullen. At Martha Pullen, we sat in on a class by Sandy Jenkins from Fredericksburg, Tx. Shirley had taken her classes in the past and loved her. She is a crazy patch queen. Go check out her website, very impressive. I'm not into crazy patch that much but she made me want to be! She does lovely work. I watched her video and she makes embroidery work look so easy!