Saturday Sewing, a purple baby quilt and a tip.

I slept in this morning.  It was great to wake up without an alarm.  I don't get to do that too often so I take advantage of it when I can!  I got up, started some laundry, started the dishwasher, had a cup of tea and headed upstairs to the sewing room....I turned on the iron and pressed the fat quarters I pulled out last night and started cutting.  I made twenty blocks and put this little top together...I think it turned out cute but I'm going to have to do some math now to figure out the border...

I saw this on Freda's blog and she had seen in on Fat Cat Quilt's blog...

these pics are from her blog and this is what I wanted to make for baby Carmen.

This is what I wanted to make (in pinks too)  but my sweet son said no to the pink!!! Can you imagine?  He doesn't like pink. Boy, is he in for a surprise when he has this baby!  Everyone buys pink for a girl but anyway, I complied with his wishes and pulled out purples.. Here's the middle part, now I have to figure out the border...

Also, I wanted to tell you a quick tip...I quick piece my squares and leave them together and take them to the ironing board.  I also don't use my scissors...I use my needle threader to snip between my squares...there are places selling the free standing thingies to snip your thread but you have one built in with this needle threader.  Two for one...not bad!

Friday night sewing

I got home and started sewing together my Shang Ri La quilt...(I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of this pattern. It is a Marti Michell BOM and I never knew it even had a name.)I got it almost complete and realized I had sewn one strip in wrong. I had to rip it out and clean it up from all the stringies and sew the right strip in the right place. I got it together and it is now ready for the borders.  I'll do those Saturday or sometime next week.  I have something more important to do right now....Here's a picture of the middle part all together without the borders.  I have three borders to add before this one is complete.  I love this quilt because I love the fabric.  I have enough fabric to make a Schnibbles quilt too, Woo Hoo, but I digress, I'll talk about that later...



Don't you love this one?  I know I do, this was a BOM and I have 3 borders to put on it.



After I finished this one, I went through my purple fabrics and pulled out some fat quarters for a new baby quilt.  My new grandbaby will be making her appearance the end of April or first of May but there's going to be a shower and I want the quilt ready for that.  I am planning on making the quilt, bumper pads, sheets and diaper stacker.  But, the quilt is the most important right now!  I saw on Freda's blog, a pink quilt that is just the thing so I'll be starting that tomorrow....

Whoop Whoop Friday

Today is Friday and you know what that means??? That means it's Whoop Whoop Friday!  That's right!  Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict started the madness and it's very contagious!  She gets alot done and shows off every Friday!  She quilts for her ministry and always has some nice quilts to show off too!  If you want to join up and have some fun, brag a little about your accomplishments of the week and win some prizes too...head on over and see her.  Click here and it will take you to her blog where you can link up or post a comment.  Have a look around on her blog and see all of the wonderful quilts she has done and donated to her ministry too.  Please tell Sarah hello and that I sent you.  Have a great weekend and get some sewing done!!!

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, gardening and the Go Cutter....

I got up this morning and laid out the blocks on my design wall for that 2008 BOM I told you about in my last post.  I love this quilt!!! I had to unsew some things because, guess what??? I didn't read the directions. I just went by the pictures mostly and I should not have done that with this quilt.  I had to unsew two blocks as the directions said not to sew them together as they would be used for outside blocks...blah, blah, blah. The picture showed what the block would look like if it was a complete block.  Ok, I'll give her that one.  Anyway, I wasted a little time by not reading the directions but everything is as it should be now. The quilt is on my design wall and I have been working on putting the rows together today.  I have stopped a few times for various reasons.  I cleaned house a little and my MIL  came over today and we planted two rows of potatoes.  I also put a rosemary plant and a miniature rose bush into the ground that my sweet husband gave me for Valentine's Day.  I'm not sure the rosemary plant will make it.  It was pretty dry. I got it before Christmas and wanted to plant it but then the snow came and I didn't want to plant until warmer weather.  Today is a beautiful, sunny day of 72 degrees. You heard me right, 72 degrees!  Last week we had to have our coats and scarves, this week is flip flops and shorts.  You've heard about the Texas weather, right?  It's true....Anyway, my potatoes are in the ground, next comes squash, okra, tomatoes  and radishes. I have to check and see when it's ok to plant these first.  My soil is ready but I have to wait until it's time.  I'll show you my garden when it gets pretty. Ok, everything is up to date now and  I can go back to sewing.  I already did something Bonnie said not to do.  She said don't spend too much time in front of the computer.  If you stay too long at the computer, you are not at the sewing machine....she's right but I have to document everything too.  I haven't even had time to read blogs this week so please forgive me.  I'll play catch up tomorrow and work on my CW too...

BTW, I broke down yesterday and bought me an Accuquilt Go Cutter.  I bought the Hexagon templates too. I watched the DVD that comes with it.  That was why I didn't go to Sit and Sew last night.  I sat down and watched the DVD then I didn't want to get up from my chair.  I haven't even played with the Go yet but next week will be better for me.  I have no meetings next week except for tatting and Weight Watchers.  I'll be sewing every night!!!  So, have a great weekend and go sew!

Friday night sewing with Heidi and Bobbi

I was supposed to go to a sit and sew tonight but I was just too pooped!  I made the mistake of sitting down and then I didn't want to get up.  I stayed home and wasn't even planning on sewing. I thought I would just take a bath, put on my jammies and go to bed early.  Well, that didn't happen.  I took a bath, put on my jammies, ate some dinner and I felt better.  I didn't want to leave the house and load up my car to go anywhere though, so I just went upstairs and sewed in my jammies like everyone else is supposed to be doing.... I got my second wind and sewed up the rest of the pieces for a BOM from 2008.  I finished all the 8 blocks I needed to plus all the other little squares required to put this together...

See the 5 star blocks?  Well, they look like stars to me...these are the ones I finished last night. 

Wednesday and Thursday happenings.

This has been a super busy week for me.  I'm sorry to say I could not fit blogging into my schedule...so, I'm going to update now for the whole week....

You know what I did Tuesday night, yeah, that's right. I have to brag one more time that I got to go see Bonnie...
Here's sweet Bonnie:

Here's the quilt she teaches her Scrap User System with:

All of the other pics I took were too far away but if you have her books, you know what they look like anyway....


It was great but I was sure tired the next day,but no rest for the wicked!!! He, he, he, guess who I mean?!

I went straight over to my friend's house after work and helped her with her knitting. She is doing pretty good.   She gets confused easily but she is catching on and doing very well.  Rhonda wasn't there Wednesday night but she has caught on and is already doing an afgan.  She is doing squares out of the book, Teach Yourself Visually Knitting and will be putting these squares together.  I loved this book and Debbie Stoller's book, Stitch and Bitch.  These two books helped me so much as a beginner knitter and these are the books I told them to get.  They like them too and are following along in the books to knit by...We are having a great time knitting together and will be continuing the lessons weekly.  

Thursday night was my small group night.  It was so much fun.  We have some fun and talented ladies....Here's some of the show and tell for this week...




This is the quilt for the church this year. Everyone made two blocks and Glenda and Jackie put it
together.  This will be quilted and given to the church where we meet as a thank you for allowing us to meet here.  We do one for the church every year and I'm very proud to say, they have all been very beautiful.




One of Martha's lovely quilts.



Another of her quilts.  She loves to applique.



Aren't these cute.  Glenda made these for her Mom's kitchen. It was a quilt pattern with 6 different teapots.  She made the four that she liked best and framed them.  She said she did it this way because a quilt would not work on the wall in her Mom's kitchen.  She framed them herself too.





A Christmas quilt top for the DAR, ready for quilting.



This was a mystery quilt that the group did several years ago.  This was the second one of these that we did.  This one is Jackie's and she said she's  going to add a few more details or appliques before she quilts this one.  I love the moose!




This one was Bennie's. Bennie passed away in October  last year and Boneta and several other friends are finishing up the quilting on the quilts Bennie had ready and these are going to the family.  Boneta has quilted four of these little quilts since Christmas. 



This one is a twin.  Nona had to make two of these for her granddaughter's twin beds.  You can't tell it but the plaid border fabric has pink in it too.  Too cute!  Some of the blocks came from another friend of hers with health problems. Joy decided she did not want to finish this and Nona ended up with it....I love it for a little girl..



Judy calls this her left handed quilt. She worked on this while she was recouperating from hand surgery on her right hand....




This is our Mystery Row By Row wallhanging we are doing this year.  Martha (doesn't she have a great smile!) is in charge of this mystery.  Gee, I wonder what next month is going to be?!




This is what we will be making this year.  Each year we have a fabric swap to make a quilt. 




Here's a close up....this is called Wheel of Fortune.

  We have a busy year ahead but it looks like fun!!!