Playing catch up

Happy Mother's Day to all. This morning the Assisted living home where my Mom lives was having a brunch. My Dad, my sister, and my niece and I went over and we had a nice meal and a chance to be together, I took my Mom some pink roses and she loved them.

I  have been trying to get some projects done that need to be mailed out. ( A couple of them a while ago).
Does your family seem to have babies in bunches? My cousin had another son. Another cousin has a new grandson. The newest baby was born in Feb., another grandson for a different cousin. My DD#1 asked me if I was going to make a quilt for her friend' new baby.   Sure. Why not?   Next up another baby, bridal showers, and a wedding. I am never going to catch up.

I slowly got these bound: This one is going to California. It is a cute panel just bordered and quilted with a meander.

This one is for my daughters friend. I made it from a Pure charm pack and a bit of yardage. JoAnn Fabrics had a sale on the minkee-like stuff and this one and the next one have that on the back.

This one is for the newest arrival. He is about 8 weeks now.

I still have one ready to quilt, but I had to search the stash for something to use on the back.

I finished this block. It is the pattern that I won from Humble quilts. I am doing it as a block of the month.

I was able to resist the block of the month that we are doing at the shop this year. I have way to many things in topsville waiting to be quilted. I am trying to work on UFOs and getting my tops quilted. I really like the colors that the boss is using for the BOM though...... so hard to resist.  I am starting a BOM next week with a friend at a different shop. I will show you the pattern when I pick it up.

I better get quilting. ;)
Have a great week.

Sunday update

It has been a crazy busy week this week. I worked Tuesday and Wednesday and Saturday. I normally only work 1 day a week, but the boss was on vacation so I had extra hours. On Thursday and Friday I took the raffle quilt from guild to two different shops to display it and sell tickets. It is always fun to see new shops and I had  never been to either of them before. Needless to say, I didn't get much sewing done.

I did finally finish this...it is the lovely block that Liri sent me with my APQ swap blocks. I had the purple in my stash and used a bit of it the frame the block. I even had the pillow form in my bin of left over batting. So a little bit of time and it was done. I like it.

Speaking of the APQ block swap, this is where mine is right now. Still need to hand stitch the applique. and I am still pondering the border.

I did sit for a while last week end and quilt this . I have had this project sitting around first as a kit for a year. I think it has been fused for two years and just got moved around the sewing room. It just needs to be bound now and It will finally be finished.

Last on my list is a project you saw a bit of before. The mini Hawaiian shirts. I have been hand quilting both of them. I am happy to report that they are both finished and the bindings are completed on one of them. In the photo the quilting is not quite done yet. Another project off the UFO list.

That's all for now. Happy sewing everyone!

Before my neck got completely out of whack I was sewing, honestly.  One project that I am trying to work on each month is a UFO that I started several years ago. It is called  Alphabet Quilt  by American Jane. A few years back my friend and quilt mentor decided to have a weekly sew day during the summer and everyone who wanted to could work on this quilt. They met during the day, during the week. I had to work. The rest of the group were all teachers that were on summer break.  So I wasn't going to make this quilt.

One Monday I had off for some reason so I took some sewing and went over to join my quilt buddies. I saw their quilts in progress and I was a goner. In short order I had pulled fabrics and traced tons of pieces onto miles of fusible web. I quickly cut out backgrounds and got everything fused. Then my first stall out. All that hand blanket stitching. I stitched some for a while and got about half of the blocks finished. Then I would look at it every once in a while and stitch a bit then put it away. A couple of years back I had a burst of activity on the quilt and got all the blanket stitching done and  a small section of the quilt together. I was so excited! Then it went back on the shelf.  While sorting thru my UFOs  last fall I decided that this project must get done! So I am working it like a BOM.

You are probably wondering why this is taking so long ( the story and the quilt). Well you see in addition to the applique blocks there are also about 40 tumbling blocks that have lots of  Y seams. And more Y seams to set those blocks. Since I am not good with the Y seam, I have been hand piecing those blocks. Then some of the applique blocks have some framing strips around one or more sides.

Last week when I was sewing I made a record number of mistakes on this section. First I sewed the oatmeal onto the mittens, upside down. Ripped it and flipped it and restitched it. Then I realized when it didn't fit with the piece it needed to go next to, that I had cut the strip between the oatmeal and mittens the wrong size. More ripping more cutting more sewing. I also noticed that the strip that went under the large tumbling blocks was on top  by mistake. Of course it was already sewn to the block above and the blocks on the left . So more ripping and sewing back up. I finally got this section together. sigh  More of this quilt will be showing up as the year flies by.

After having to do so much ripping I decided to knit for a while. I finished a cowl that I saw in a magazine. I didn't know that we were going to get snow right after I finished. I am over the snow. But I like the cowl.

I have had some small wool mats cut for a long while all ready to be stitched together. While holding my arms up at the machine was limited by my pain, I could hand stitch a little at a time. I finally finished my fall and winter wool mats.

Here is my stack of tops that I got quilted. (Mostly all last month). Now they are in line waiting for bindings. All of the bindings were cut but not stitched and pressed. Yesterday while I was listening to Pat Sloan on her live chat radio show I stitched all the strips together. Over the course of the evening I got them all pressed. Now if they would just jump onto the quilts I would be done. LOL

Better get to binding! And minis for the guild auction. Oh the list goes on and on.
Happy stitching

Not too much quilty going on here lately. I have been having a constant neck and headache for weeks. It seems to be getting worse instead of better. I thought I would show you some of the Easter quilts that I made in the past.
From Fons and Porter some bunnies

A table runner (more bunnies)

A wooly bunny

Lastly a carrot to feed the bunnies.

More later. Happy stitching.

A long over due finish

Happy Sunday!!

Do you remember this crazy looking guy? You might remember that my DD#2 asked me to make her a quilt out of this photo. It is Jorge Luis Borges and he is a writer from South America. My daughter told me that he is a "modernest" whatever that means. She wanted it at school with her. (She is a World Lit major). 

  She wanted it to look like a cubist representation of the photo of Borges. I just put the last stitch in the sleeve. The only thing I like about it now is that it is done.  I am happy to follow a pattern with maybe a small change. I am not a designer. :(
With that said here is Borges finished and ready to go back to school my daughter.

More later....lets go sew!

Happy Monday

We are making progress here on the medical front at least. DH got the boot off last week and is slowly increasing his walking. His return to work date is next Tuesday. DD#1 has been back to the Dr. and was given permission to start taking short walks outside. She was so excited. Luckily, the weather warmed up a bit so she was able to go out and enjoy her little walks. On the way home from the Dr. she and her friend went to JoAnn Fabrics. That was her walk for the day.

DD#2 is home from school for spring break. She has been very busy this semester so we have only seen her once since she went back in January. It is always fun to have her around. She is funny and has many stories to share about school, the roommates,and campus craziness.

We are hoping to have a craft day this week at DD#1's. It will be the three of us plus my sister.I  hope it works out. I know we will have fun. Probably will not get anything done, but just getting together is fun.

This is on my design wall. OK it isn't really a design wall, it is a flannel backed tablecloth that I hung on the wall. Hey, it works. My sister asked me if it was a crop circle. Someone else told me it looked like a huge paper plate. One of these days, a real design wall.....LOL. Anyway I am working on a layout for my APQ blogging buddies swap quilt. That is going to need a BIG label.

I am also pondering how to finish this. I just stitched the applique. The shop where I got the kit had made it into a pillow. I have been trying to think what else I can do with it. Maybe Liri will let Flit come help me for a day. My muse seems to be on  a long vacation.

More later. Have a great week and lets go sew!

Time seems to be racing by and I am trying to keep up with it.  Not sure that I am having any success, but I keep trying.  The DH got his cast of this week and is now in a boot. He still is not supposed to walk on it, but he does.  DD#1 is slowly recovering from her back surgery. She got her staples out this week so that is a bit of progress. She is ready to start sewing! I got her a sewing machine for Christmas and promised her sewing lessons when she was ready for them.  We never got started before surgery, but she is ready to start doing some simple projects and learning her machine.

Despite the best of intentions, I am way behind on my gift giving already this year. I missed 3 birthdays and I 'owe' 4 baby quilts. I had a top made for one of the blankets, but never got a backing I liked. This weekend JoAnn fabric had  ultra plush on sale so I bought some for backings. Now I just need to get it quilted. I made two charm square blankets with the Pure charm pack. One is for a project at work and the other is for my DD's friend who has a 6 week old baby boy. ( All of the baby blankets are for boys).

I got the borders on my BOM guilt from the book Hop to It. Here is the book

Here is my quilt. The design wall is full, so the photo isn't very good, but I will try and get a better one taken when I get the wall cleaned off.

I finally got started on this quilt  (I posted the photo awhile ago, I won the patterns from Lori of Humble Quilts).

Here is the fabric:

Now if I can just get them sewn.

Stay warm and keep stitching everyone!!!