Kenny's Flea Market Finds

I have a second installment of Kenny's Flea Market Finds.  Along with a bunch of great items for our daughter's new digs in the city, he found a few very cute figures with a quilty theme (and luckily he only brought one home with him - I really am running out of room!).

This one is a winter scene of two little boys sledding with a very cute puppy with a mini log cabin quilt as the backdrop.  No, it's not a real log cabin quilt, but a very realistic "cheater" that is actually quilted around every teeny little log! The quilt measures 6"x6", so you can imagine how small each log is. On the back the label says it's from The Amish Heritage Collection.

Here's a close up of the mini quilt:

Now, where to put it?!

It Ain't Easy Being Green!

So this secret quilt that I'm working on?  Well, it's green, very green. Here are the fabrics I'm using...

When we came home from vacation, we had an invitation in the mail to the wedding of friends of our son & daugther-in-law.  Of course, I have to make them a quilt!  But I only have one month - the wedding's the 2nd weekend in October.  So, I figured I'd better get moving (and choose a fairly simple pattern). However, I had absolutely no idea what colors the bride and groom like, if they like traditional or modern. Nothing.  I'm at a loss.  So, son & daughter-in-law say the groom likes green and the bride likes wild and crazy.

So, green it will be!  But, I thought about it and realized I've never really made a green quilt.  Hmmm, did I even have that much green fabric?  A quick peruse of my stash showed I have plenty of green fabric!  (Did I really think I didn't - LOL!)  Then while cruising the internet, I saw a Square-in-a-Square quilt and thought "that's it!"  It'll be quick and I can use lots of different greens to make it interesting. 

I'd like to use one of these two fabrics for the border.  I'll wait til the middle's done before I decide.  Oh, and the "wild and crazy" for the bride?  I'm going to do a smaller SnS block as a label and use 4 different wild colors for the outside.

Here are some of the blocks I've finished so far...

I found this great tutorial for making the S-N-S blocks from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site.  They're coming out perfectly with just a smidge of waste.  I'm using the Easy Angle to cut the triangles.  Love this thing!  I have a smaller one, but went to Jo-Ann's to get a larger one - on sale for 50% off

and while I was there I saw this perfect green already-made binding - that I got for, yep, 50% off!  What a timesaver!

So, my sewing room is awash in green fabric, but the top is coming along! I just have to find a great backing. Hopefully I can find something at the PA National Quilt Extravaganza this Friday (I am so psyched for this quilt show!!). If not, I'll still have time to order something online.

Oh, I really hope they like green o:)

Charming Girls Quilt Club - September/October Goals

I'm still running behind  I meant to post this at the beginning of the week and now the week is almost over!  Our Charming Girls September/October Goal is:

How did Kelly know that I really need this goal right now?!  There is one really important quilt that needs to be quilted in this time frame, but I'll be blogging about that soon.  But, there is a huge pile of quilts to be quilted.  I just counted them - there are 26.  Now, there's no way I'm going to make even a small dent in the pile these two months, but I am challenged to spend more time at the quilt frame and less (well, a little) time piecing. Besides the stack of quilt tops in the closet, the are three tops hanging over the quilting frame....

That includes Madeline there on the right, with backing and batting all ready to go!  On the left side is Cameos with Joy Luck next to it.  I don't want my quilt frame to become just a big hanger like so many treadmills/exercise bikes - LOL!

I've already posted some recently completed tops, but here are some others in the pile that I haven't shown.

This is what I call my "French Toile" quilt.  I should take some closeups, the toile is beautiful (I am partial to toile in any color though).  This was inspired by my quilting buddy at work.  She designed and made one and I just loved hers so much, I wanted to do one too.  Luckily I had LOTS of the toile, because when I first cut out the middles, I did not cut them on point.  So, guess what?  I'll be having two French Toile quilts - LOL!  By the way, she hasn't quilted hers yet either o:)

This one was my first (and probably only) attempt at Hawaiian quilting.  I had the orange/green fabric for years waiting for just the right project. And this was it!  Again, this was one of those huge applique pieces like Lady Madonna, only this was one big applique instead of a bunch of little pieces which made it a bit easier.  I'm just going to do echo quilting which I think is pretty traditional. 

So, my goal for September/October is to quilt the important new quilt being made along with Madeline and one other quilt.  That's three all together.  If I get to more great, but I don't want to over commit!  Besides, I just started the super-secret quilt on Sunday, so I've a got a little ways to go to finish the top.  More on that soon!

Charming Girls Club Report

I can't seem to catch up after vacation.  Between work and home I've been swamped since we came back and I realized I hadn't done my Charming Girls Club report for July/August. 

I am relieved to have completed my goal of finished the applique on Lady Madonna!  Woo hoo!  There were lots of pieces to fuse down and the challenge was getting them all even.  I think I did an okay job.  I had to work on my living room floor because I don't have a table big enough to lay it out.  You really need to  be able to see the whole top to make sure things are somewhat even.  Then, I had to transfer it to do the fusing.  Which meant pinning all the pieces down.  I decided to work on my dining room table to do the fusing because even though I have a Big Board ironing board, I really wanted to work with as much of the top showing as possible.  And that worked pretty well.  This part was a major project - it probably took about 3 hours or so to place and fuse all the pieces.  Alot of that was working on the floor - oh, my aching back!

Then, came the task of satin stitching all those pieces.  I normally love machine applique.  But, manhandling the entire quilt top through the machine while doing it was a bear.  And the pieces kept coming up on the parts I wasn't stitching, so I kept having to re-iron.  As I mentioned before, I went with Wonder Under instead of my usual Steam-a-Seam 2 to save money for this large project.  I probably didn't fuse it properly as I'm not used to working with it.  But, it's done and the memory of the pain is receding - LOL.  Now, to quilt it. Not sure what color thread to use.  I can't use all black because it wouldn't look right in the white blocks and white probably wouldn't look right on the black blocks.  So, I'll probably switch back and forth - that's a whole other headache, so this one might sit in the ever growing to-be-quilted pile for awhile.

Part of July/August's goals was Self-Care.  I chose exercise as I really, really needed the motivation.  So how did I do?  Not as well as I would have liked but better than if I hadn't had the goal.  I was able to get in about 15 minutes of weights and leg work most weekday mornings. Unfortunately, cardio was relegated to just weekends.  I just can't seem to get up any earlier to get a good workout in (and I really can't get to bed any earlier - hubby and I are "early retirers" as a friend recently mentioned - I just need a lot of sleep!).  I am still working on that.  So, this will definitely be a continuing goal!

The Final Schnibble!

Talk about getting in just under the wire.  I didn't think I'd be able to get this done by the deadline, but I just (and I mean just) finished the last A Year of Schnibbles Schnibble - my Plan C!!  Woo hoo!

A couple of notes about this quilt.  First of all, when one reads directions, one should actually digest the directions.  I looked at the photo and thought stars and 4-patches...how easy is that!  I did read the directions and then just went on my merry way and made 6 star blocks.  Except the directions clearly say DO NOT PUT STAR BLOCKS TOGETHER, but instead put the quilt together in rows.  After unstitching the six blocks, I put the middle of the quilt together with no problem.  I was glad to learn on someone else's blog that I was not the only one to do this - LOL!

My next problem came when I put the borders on.  As the photo clearly shows and the directions again clearly state, you are to save four 4-patch blocks for the outer corners.  When I got to the end, I realized I had way too many "piano keys" and no fabric left over for the 4-patch corners.  Phooey!  So, I had to go with the piano keys all around.  You can bet if I make this quilt again, I'll have all this down pat.  In fact, I could teach a class!  o:)

Still, I love the quilt - I think the Prayer Flag fabric is really shown off nicely in this quilt.  I have had a lot of fun since I joined this Schnibble club.  And, this won't be my final Schnibble, that's for sure.  There's lots more of these wonderful small quilts to make.

I can't wait to see what hostesses Sherri and Sinta come up with for the next year of ...whatever!

I Had Good Intentions....The Clamshell Report

Being the last day of the month, my Clamshell Report is due.  I did have good intentions, taking all those clamshells with me on vacation.  I was sure I'd have time to stitch a bunch of them together.  Didn't happen.  This trip just seemed to be a whirlwind - it was go-go-go all the time and when I wasn't going, I was napping!  But, I did get a bunch of clamshsells prepped during the month and now have a total of 55 done (including the few already stitched together).  Okay, well, that's not a huge dent in the 600-some clamshells I need to make the quilt, but I'm thinking of this as more of a long-term project, like I hope to get it done in my lifetime.

Because I like to do some prepping and then do some stitching (I'd get bored just prepping them all at once), I decided to take a few pieces from each of the charm packs I'm using to prep so I'd get a good variety to work with.

I'm liking the new basting glue pen I'm using - the Collins Fabric Glue stick - it's billed as a water-soluble instant basting adhesive.  $1.99 on sale at Sew Thankful - can't beat that!  I ordered a bunch of them, but I think I'm going to need a bunch more.  I have a feeling basting 600+ clams is going to take a lot of glue.

Next month I should have a lot more to show!

We're Back!

Well, we're back.  What an exhausting but wonderful trip!  I have to say, last week wasn't as hot as it usually is in Walt Disney World in August.  In fact, Sunday night and some parts of Tuesday were a bit chilly (well, that might be an exaggeration, but I know I had goosebumps a couple of times!).  It was the cloud cover that kept it from being stifling most of the time, and the rain wasn't even too bad.  By Saturday though, the sun was hot and it was boiling, so I was quite glad to get on a plane to come home!

One of the first things we did was have a girl's tea at the Grand Floridian.  Very fun!

The boys had fun too...

Son Bill, of course, had to get in on the action, he loves being the center of attention...here he is onstage (on the left) at the Hoop-de-do-Revue.  Good rollicking fun!  I don't think the smile left my face the whole night...

The first two nights we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge...it was really amazing to see sights like this out your window when you woke up...

Ariel...with Ariel!

As I mentioned, it rained sometimes...

But luckily, there weren't too many faces like this...

All in all a wonderful trip with lots of laughs, good food, and family time!  Hubby and I are going back after Christmas (but don't tell the kids o:) )

So, did I get any stitching done while I was away (remember, I took all those clam shells)?  Stay tuned....that report comes out tomorrow!

P.S. - only came home with 6 new pins!  We've still got some room on that Disney pin quilt o:)