I'm a Winner!

I was so excited to find out I was a winner of one of Darlene's (of the Quilting Daze blog) giveaways in honor of her 4th blogging anniversary.  She had a giveaway-a-day for 4 days.  What fun!  I can't believe I won.  And I still can't believe WHAT I won.  Such a generous gift...this pile of Strawberry and Lemonade fabric along with a fun panel...

I'm thinking table runner with the panel and some of the fabrics, a Schnibble and a fun little something as a thank-you to Darlene! 

I was tickled to win and receive this package.  Last week was a bit stressful at work due to an audit that was all me, all the time (whew, thank goodness THAT's over!) and getting these fabrics in the mail just lifted me up!  Thank you Darlene.  I just love her blog.  And I've been feeling like I'm living her tagline - "On the Surface of the Sun" this past week or so - it's been in the 90's - near 100.  It's only June folks - it's going to be a long, hot summer I fear!

Jelly Roll Sampler #8 and a New Schnibble!

We're coming down the home stretch for the Jelly Roll Sampler quilt. Block number 8 is in the can! I made a few changes to the pattern - I did some 2-1/2 squares in the middle 9-patch instead of making all the squares from two fabrics. I also used only one fabric for the inner border. I made the changes only based on the fabrics I was using, not because I didn't like the original. I'm happy with my version though...

The only other quilty business I accomplished this weekend (clearly, I did not get to sew as much as I'd have liked!), was to start my newest Schnibble! I was not going to participate this month in the Year of Schnibbles, but the more I looked at the pattern - State Fair - I thought, oh, why not! I had the perfect fabric too - two charm packs of Moda's Wonderland by MoMo. I'm using Kona Snow for the white.  I'm having to add some fabrics from my stash because I had to pull out a number of lighter fabrics from the charm packs that just won't work. But I spotted a jelly roll in the cupboard that will fit in nicely!  Here are my blocks so far - just the Wonderland, I haven't made any blocks with the add-in fabrics yet.  The blocks are fun to make and coming along nicely!

We had guests for dinner on Saturday night (the reason I didn't get all that much sewing in, what with the cleaning and the shopping and the making of the dinner!), and dinner was delicious if I do say so myself - and the guests said so too! o:).  Along with a parmesan risotto and garlic green beans- I made Ina Garten's Shrimp Scampi.  My oh my, if you like shrimp, make this - it was simply divine!

It's been a while!

Well, time flies! It seems I have a bit of catching up to do.  Last week, was my husband's “big weekend”. He gets a booth at the World War II Weekend and Air Show in Reading, PA every year to sell his "collection" of militaria, books, toys, etc. I am always commandeered to help (I wouldn’t mind, but it’s outside, it’s hot, and sometimes rainy and muddy and there is physical labor involved in setting up the booth – not really my cup of tea). But, I get a nice dinner out of it o:) The show itself is a lot of fun – lots of renactors and folks dressing up in uniform and 40s style clothes. They have a Big Band Dance in the evenings and lots of good junk food (I really like that part). Anyway, that’s what took up part of last week and the weekend….this is our booth where I spent most of it...

I was able to get some quilting in though before and after…I  finished cutting out all of the fused appliqué pieces for the Lady Madonna quilt. Now, I just have to find the energy to layout these big pieces on the quilt top and fuse them down. It’s a big project and I think I’ll have to do it on the floor because I don’t want to mess up the layout trying to do it on my ironing board! I’ve never done a huge appliqué like this, so it will be a challenge. Then for the stitching – this one’s going to take a while! Here are just a few of the pieces…

I’m also about half way done with the quilting on Flying Cranes. I’m using the Waterworld pantograph from Jodi Beamish with a brownish/gold King Tut variegated thread – I love the way it’s looking! I hope to finish it up this weekend so I can get the binding on and start using this beautiful quilt!

I also started Cameos by Fig Tree Quilts. This will be the perfect size for my office wall, so I’ll add it to my rotating office quilt show collection! I’m using Fig Tree’s Whimsy – Yummy!!

I had a bit of a problem when I first started making the blocks – their construction is a little bit different than I’m used to and while Joanna’s pattern directions are really clear, I really wasn’t sure about the sizing for the first round. In fact, I’m still not. I’m sure if I’d have emailed her I would have gotten an answer, but, I was too anxious to just keep going and didn’t want to wait. My practice block turned out okay in the end and it’s the right size, but I’m still not sure I did it exactly right. So, does it matter? I don’t know – things like that tend to bug me. So, I may just try to find out because someone said something about doing Cameos in Christmas fabrics and I’m thinking I just may have to make another one!

Jelly Roll Sampler #7

Oooohhh, my aching back!  My husband and I spent yesterday doing yardwork.  I love beautiful landscaping and gardens - but I hate to do it.  So does he.  I wish we did, but we don't, so, we don't do it very often, but a few times a year you must give the outside of the house a little TLC.  It doesn't help that our neighbor right next door's hobby is working in his yard.  I keep telling him...just keep going right - LOL!  So, this is what we accomplished....

We weeded, trimmed all the bushes, put down many bags of mulch, and filled baskets with annuals.

We also found this pretty lilly that I couldn't resist buying....

We also planted some herbs and tomatoes on the side of the house.  I put them in a different spot from last year. Last year, I spent a bunch of money on herbs, vegetables and tomatoes. Not much took...only got a couple of tomatoes but the herbs and other veggies didn't really do anything. Except the mint. I don't think you can kill mint. It creeps and spreads and comes back year after year! Anyone for a mojito! So, I'm hoping changing locations will work for the rest of our little garden. And it's far away from the mint!

To make sure I get a little quilty something in this post...here's my Jelly Roll Sampler block number 7...

Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

A little late to the party...

But better late than never!  Since I'm currently on a Schnibbles kick, I thought I join in on the Year of Schnibbles.  Sherri of A Quilting Life and Sinta of  Pink Pincushion are hosting.  It started last October and I probably won't be able to catch up, but I'm going to give it a shot.  I've already made Madeline (shown below) which was January's Schnibble, I believe and May's pattern was "choose your own".  I chose Reveille and here it is all quilted and bound - just in time to enter! 

Here's a fun print I found in my stash for the back...

I love that these little quilts by Carrie Nelson are so quick to make.  So, I'm anxiously awaiting to find out what June's Schnibble is going to be....I don't have long to wait!

Here’s the roundup for this third week of May Mayhem. This past week was mostly all about Madeline. She’s lovely…

Life got in the way a little bit so I didn’t get to spend as much time as I normally like to in my sewing haven.

Here’s the breakdown of what I accomplished:

Monday – completed two Madeline blocks. 1.5 hours. I had to use a different method of making the geese in this block due to the use of the charm squares. This slowed me down! I really, really like my Eleanor Burns flying geese rulers. However, even if I had the size fabric needed, EB doesn’t have a ruler for the size I needed which was 1-3/4 x 3. So, I just had to suck it up and do it. This method didn’t allow me to be as precise as I can be with EB, but I slogged through and made it work.

Tuesday – another two Madeline blocks completed. I got a little faster – only took 1 hour total tonight

Wednesday – ditto Tuesday

Thursday – this is where it all fell apart – LOL! I got home and a family member had heard some fantastic news about a new job and I spent the evening helping him go over his offer letter. Whew! He’d been (we’d all been) on pins and needles all week waiting to hear. I was so glad for him. So, we had some celebratory wine and all I managed was perusing my new Quilt Sampler and Quilter’s Home mags before I was out for the count!

Friday – Oh my, Friday. We offered to babysit our 11yo grandson while my step-son and DIL went to the Big Apple for a concert Friday night. They have a new puppy. His name is Leo. He so stinkin’ cute, I can hardly stand it. Meet Leo…(this is him on a skate board)

Since Leo is so new to the world I just felt terrible that this little one would be left home alone all night with just folks coming over to let him out now and then. I said, no, really, we’ll take him for the night. How bad can it be?

This is Lilly.

I introduced Lilly in my first post. Lilly’s a diva. While she goes to Doggie Day Camp and is very social, she DOES NOT like her territory encroached on by other doggies (even if they are very, very cute). So, Lilly was not a happy camper. It was tense. All evening long. So, we spent the evening blocking. Making sure Leo didn’t eat anything he wasn’t supposed to and that he didn’t get too near Lilly.  Exhausting! So, all I was able to muster was another 15 minutes or so of quilty magazine reading.

Saturday – coming down the home stretch with Madeline – rest of the blocks finished and put together and inner border put on – about 2 hours

Sunday – Chose and set up pantograph on the frame for quilting the Flying Cranes quilt. And Madeline was completed! (Well, the top anyway). About 1.5 hours total.

Boy, this month is flying by!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I thought I'd join in the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.  What fun!  There are over 500 quilts posted so far.  Wow, I'm going to have alot of blog reading to do!  My entry is my favorite quilt to date that I've made. 

This quilt was a very long time in the making and I'm not sure why.  In January 2008, I made a resolution.  I was going to work through those UFOs!  I wouldn't be allowed to start a new quilt until I had finished at least two UFOs.  And I had many!  I am notorious for starting a quilt and then putting it aside when the next great quilt comes along!  So, I pulled out all the boxes and bag and looked in the nooks and crannies where I had UFOs stashed and made a list.  There it was in black and white and I was going to be UFO-less!!  (That worked for awhile, but I seem to have gotten off-track in the past six months or so - while I'm not UFO-less, I'm at least finishing what I start now).  I pulled out this beauty that I had started in 1998 - I know because I kept the paperwork from the LQS class that I took to make it.  Thank goodness!  You forget what you were doing when 10 years pass and you have a quilt all cut up and in various stages of together-ness. 

 

I had forgotten all about this quilt, but when I opened the box I remembered - I LOVED these Robyn Pandolph fabrics (the line name escapes me right now), and the pattern is so pretty.  Why did I never finish this!  Well, after refreshing my memory as to where I was in construction (which took awhile - good thing I had those old class papers!) I realized I was short some of the white fabrics.  Oh no!  What was I going to do - this fabric was at least 10 years old!  Believe it or not, I tracked a piece down - whew!  After I got started, it really didn't take long to finish this lovely quilt.  It's called 9x9x9.  I used a floral pantograph - Daisy Swirl, I believe - that looks lovely with the fabrics, but the quilting doesn't show up very well in the photographs.  It lives draped over my wing chair in the living room.  Everytime someone comes in and asks about it, I tell them this is my favorite quilt.  It just makes me happy.

 

Click on the Button at the top of this post and have fun looking at some great quilts in the Festival! Very inpsiring!