(Cue crickets chirping....)

Okay, I'll quit being lazy and post some stuff....

Shanda and I made a baby quilt for a girl in our ward. Don't look too closely, however, as we apparently sew very different 1/4 inch seams (sometimes even different from ourselves....?!?) Overall, though, it turned out soft and cute, and Shanda's quilting makes it look kind of fabulous.
( I should apologize in advance that every quilt picture I ever post will have feet sticking out underneath...)

I finished my coin quilt that I made out of a charm pack (Sweet by Moda.) I really like it. I used Kona cotton for the off-white, and I really like it. I'll be using it again.

And the back...




And I put together a kit (I know, gasps of shock...) But really this one was pre-cut and so easy. It didn't even take an hour (unless you count the time used sewing ricrac on, which is a little challenging for me!)
Shanda practiced her daisy quilting on it, and I wish it showed up better, because it is darn cute. The back is polka dot minkee- you can sort of see the cute daisy quilting on this picture if you look very closely....

And finally, we decided to make new school bags for my girls again (since the ones they are using are nearly three months old, and therefore, ancient...) We did messenger bags this time using rag squares. They chose their own fabric, and I think they turned out pretty cute.
Miss M. was all about the bright colors. Hers is made of cotton quilt fabric.
Miss R. chose pastel flannels for her bag. It is very soft.

Okay, somebody else show me what you've been doing! I'm ready for inspiration!
Melissa

Fun little giveaway...

Green Fairy Quilts is giving away a super cute pumpkin table runner- leave a comment to be entered to win!

http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/2009/10/show-and-tell-pumpkin-table-runner.html

Anybody going to the Holiday Quilt Hop this weekend? Want to meet up for dinner or something?

A Few Projects

I have been really slow at posting some of the things that I have been working on. This is really late but I made these skirts for my girls for Easter. The first three are a two tier skirt from a pattern that I found on line and the smallest one I made up from the scraps.

One of my friends wanted me to make some aprons for her mother and mother-in-law for mother's day. I actually made her three different aprons but could only find pictures of two of them.


After making the aprons for her I decided I wanted one for myself and just finished mine a couple of weeks ago.

So I didn't make this last apron, my sister-in-law made this one, but I loved how she added the hot-pink rickrack

Hello.... anybody out there?

So since NOBODY else seems to be posting, I thought I'd at least put pictures of my last few projects. Most of you guys have seen them, but that's okay, I suppose. The bag above was a gift for one of my daughter's friends on her birthday. It reverses to the picture below...
If I am going to be totally honest, I kind of wanted to keep it! I like the bright green.

The next two bags are my girls' school bags. They are reversible, too, but for some reason, I forgot to take pictures of the other side. Oh, well.

This is the baby quilt Shanda finally convinced me to finish. And that Shanda quilted. And that she did the hand stitching on the binding on because I am a crybaby and I hate doing that part. It now belongs to my cute little newborn nephew.
Do you like my husbands shoes peeking out under the quilt? If anyone has advice on how to take a picture of a quilt without shoes or tops of heads showing up, let me know!

Blue and yellow version two...

I just finished a second tiny turning twenty. This one was for my friend Jessica's baby. Instead of doing the quilt-as-you-go sashing this time, and because I'm not very good at it, I decided to do it the regular way and add borders instead. Shanda quilted it on her longarm-and did the binding. It turned out very soft and sweet, I think! Now, I'm ready for someone to have a girl. I have two more boy babies coming (not personally, mind you, but in my family,) and I have fabric purchased for their projects. But I'm kind of in the mood for pink!

Shop Hop

I am pretty late to post our adventures at the shop hop. I guess I have been too busy quilting and loving all of my great fabric finds! Shanda and I hit all of the stores, some twice and some not on the hop in two days! Some of our favorites were Elaine's Quilt Block and Quilts Etc Etc. We of course always love the Corn Wagon too. My mom joined us for part of the fun and we ended up in a Hula Hooping contest at the Corn Wagon. It was a tight race until they made us walk while Hula Hooping and I just couldn't beat my mom at that so she was the winner! I found fabric for two new quilts. We had better get quilting so we can go on the next shop hop!

What Kathy has been doing

The tractor quilt. I have it all pieced together. I just need to put borders on and then bind it. This will go on Mikey's bed when he gets a big boy bed. I have to stop with this quilt for now, because I have decided to make my sister-in-law and my sister a baby blanket and one is due at the end of July, the other in September. So I have to get busy on those. I will post progress when I get started.

Here is Lanie's quilt, I made her awhile ago. We have it on her bed. Hopefully you can see the wall to match. The pillow is my Great grandmother's. I have an orange bed skirt to match.

On Line Shop Hop

I know that we are on fabric shop overload after just getting back from the shop hop, but I just found a link for an on line shop hop that looks kind of fun! Visit fabshophop.com to check it out! (I put a link on the side bar) I also added a link for quiltsoup.com that is another fun website.

Anybody else excited?

Shop Hop starts TOMORROW!

I know I stashed some cash somewhere in the house. Better start looking!

Not the most interesting post in the universe, but I figured the old blog needed some kind of update.... And to be honest, I really am quite giddy about getting out of town tomorrow. I actually dreamed about it last night. Guess it is safe to say that I could use a little more mental stimulation in my life...

What Shanda's been up to!

So it's been a long time since I've got together with friends to quilt. Our lives are just a mess as school comes to a close. Carolyn wanted me to post some of my pictures of what I've been doing. The first picture is a block that we made in block of the month. It's a flying geese pinwheel pattern. I am going to put it together with the green, as soon as I can find some more. The other picture is a triple treat petite. I happen to LOVE this pattern. I borrowed Melissa's shape cut ruler and cut it out in like 10 minutes flat! It was fun. Anyway, I have another couple of projects started. I will take pictures of them and post again soon! I promise.

Aprons

I found this fabric on the 50% off table at Mom's and couldn't resist it. I thought it would make some cute aprons for 6 little girl cousins. So, here are the girls in their aprons learning how to make some Easter Rice Crispie Treats with their Granny.

Another link (or two...)

This blog has the coolest "sew-along" with week by week instructions on everything included- choosing fabric, fixing cutting mistakes, piecing a back, putting the "quilt sandwich" together, even free motion quilting on your machine. You can find it here:
http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/quiltalong.html

Also, I just ordered some fabric from https://zandsfabrics.com, and they had a smoking good clearance section. I ordered five (or ten) yards that was only $3.59/yard. Their new stuff isn't bad either- I needed some of the Moda Sweet line that they didn't have in town, and they had it for only $7.50/yard.

Another cool shopping find is http://www.thousandsofbolts.com . They carry fabric lines that are a little older, but super cheap (mostly 3-6 dollars a yard.) Also, they have 108" backing fabrics starting at $8.95 a yard.

Yes, I do other things besides playing online. Sometimes. Just not today.

Wow!

I'm not sure how I neglected this site before, but I've just planned out five future projects I must do from these fun patterns. Someone smarter than me (so pretty much anyone!) can add a link in the sidebar.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/

Now I have more excuses to keep buying those fabulous little charm packs! (Not to mention jelly rolls, turnovers, etc...)

Hey, Carolyn! (and anyone else who likes aprons...)

Have you looked at any of these apron patterns?

http://tipnut.com/56-free-apron-patterns-you-can-make/

http://tipnut.com/free-apron-patterns-tutorials/

http://tipnut.com/free-apron-patterns/

Maybe one of those would work?

Quilt Hunt

So here is one of the results of my quilt hunt. I found two quilts made by my great grandma Lydia Finlinson.

This first quilt is a double wedding ring that my great grandma Lydia made for my Grandma Isobel Finlinson Williams' wedding. The second quilt is also made by Lydia but I don't know anything else about it. I have found more quilts I will be posting later.

The experiment...

So Carolyn, Sherida and I took the Crazy Quilt class at Snow Goose. It was really fun, and we learned this cool quilt as you go thing where you use decorative stitches on your machine to quilt each block separately and then sash them together. I immediately wanted to try a baby quilt. So I bought a new sewing machine with lots of cute stitches (nothing fancy, mind you- I just needed the stitches!) and set to work on a baby quilt for my friend. Along the way, I learned that I don't like quilting as I go. You can't pull the blocks around and make them line up like you can with just one layer of fabric, so all my sashings don't line up at all. It's okay for this, since the project was all kinds of crazy patterns anyway (and my friend who is receiving it is the nicest person I know and will love it no matter what.) But if I was doing something fussy that I wanted to look really perfect, I would definitely not try this.

I debated including this picture, since it really shows off how crooked by sashings are, but I think it is still kind of cute, and you can see how it would work if someone smarter than me was doing it.

Oh, well. At least it is a project checked off my to-do list. And it gave me a good excuse to buy a new sewing machine. Now all I have left to do today is finish my snowball exchange blocks (don't worry- they'll be straighter that the baby quilt!), make my block of the month block, work on a UFO, tend a sick baby, and maybe have surgery or break my leg so Shanda will make me a quilt.

Thanks for the Invite!

Hi all,
No, I don't know where all my kids are, but then they range in age from 24 to 38, so I guess they don't have to answer to me anymore.

Yes, my children have clothes. My second daughter has WAYYYY more than she needs, but she has great taste! She also rivals Imelda Marcos for her shoe collection and has just as many purses.

If they haven't been fed, it's their own fault.

Quilting news:
I am so excited because I just purchased new sewing room furniture that will be arriving in 4-6 weeks; hopefully sooner. I've been having back problems from my less than desirable setup, so I'm hopeful this will be a great solution. (Sounds like enough justification for buying it to me!)

I also finished my first Guild UFO and it is off for quilting.

I am leaving for California on Friday with my daughter (the one with all the clothes, shoes, and purses). Don't know when I'll be back --- sometime next week, but I definitely plan on hitting some quilt stores. We're flying though, so I don't know how much I will be able to bring back.

When I get my new setup, I will post pictures.
Sherida

A great thought to remember...

Gigi's girl for Chelsea!

Does this look familiar? I don't know why I am so incapable of an original idea. I guess that Lisa's designs are so cute that I just have to copy them. This is actually one of two that I am making in this pattern. This is the baby of the original. I made it for my niece who had surgery. The day that I sewed the border on this, my other niece, Mckenzie, broke her leg, so now I am going to have to make another!

New Classes at Mom's

March 23 Pillow Case Class

March 24 Purse Class

April 23 Quick and Easy Receiving Blanket

May 6 Binding Class

May 7 Apron Class

May 13 Turning Twenty Quilt Class

May 29/30 Retreat

June 4 Bargello Flag Class

June 10 Christmas Stockings Class

I think we all carve out a special spot to sew.

This is my spot! It's in our basement.

I can leave what ever I'm working on and

no one has to see the mess!!

I just need to get down there more often!!

Pam Jensen

Quilt Hunt

So I have realized that I come by my love of fabric and quilting honestly. I was reading about my grandma Isobel Finlinson Williams. She grew up in Oak City and her family owned the Oak City Cash Store. She told about how much she loved the fabric in the store. Her mother Lydia Finlinson was known for having everyone over to quilt. So I guess I can blame my quilting addiction on my Grand Sew Mama and my Great Grand Sew Mama! I know that there are some quilts out there that were made by my grandma Isobel and my great grandma Lydia, in fact I think I might have one or two myself. So I am going on a quilt hunt to find some of their quilts and the stories behind them.
This quilt was my bedspread when I was a little girl. I loved this quilt as a little girl, and was excited to find that my mom still had it. It was given to my mom by my Grandma Isobel, but my mom didn't know who made it. I will have to see if I can find out the story behind my first quilt! Wish me luck!

First Attempt

Thanks for the invite, Carolyn. I am not much of a sew mama, but here is a picture of my first attempt at a turning twenty! I LOVE this fabric!

Sew Mama Test

I guess I need to add "Make sure two year old does not have a bottle of nail Polish" to the sew mama test. I was sewing away this morning when my little girl came in to show me that she had painted her own finger nails, fingers, and the carpet in the playroom. I then lost a good hour of my sewing time scrubbing my carpet! Well, the good news is I got all of the polish out, the bad news is my UFO is still not finished.

I am a sew mama!

Funniest thing just happened. I was sitting at my table sewing and having a great time. Cole came in and climbed up on my chair, behind me, gives me a huge hug and says, "You my sew mama!" I guess I really am a sew mama!

Snow Goose Festival quilts by Shanda

These are two of the five quilts I put in the quilt show. The pink one is a random pattern I created. I quilted it myself and now it's my daughters. The blue/green/pink one is a tossed nine patch. I enjoyed this pattern. It was a lot of fun to use the bright colors. I made it for my mother. She wants to make a quilt for her granddaughters. I told her this one should be Bailey's. I am going to be helping her quilt quite a few of them because she has thirty something granddaughters. I am still learning on my quilting machine. I want to practice on all my old quilts before I attempt it on one that actually cost a lot of money to make!

Snowball Nine Patch

Melissa, Shanda and I spent the day sewing last Thursday. We were working on our Snowball nine patches to swap at quilt guild. We thought this project wouldn't take very long so we all brought about 4 other projects to work on too. Boy were we wrong! It took us forever to get the first set finished! After the first set we were a little faster, but none of us got to work on any other projects that day. We were all a little scared of the "scrappy" look and were pretty sure that our blocks were the ugliest things we had ever made. In the end they turned out pretty cute (we hope!).