Tuesday

I finished another t-shirt quilt today.

I've made a few of these now and

this one was BY far the most challenging.

Why???

Because the new owner wanted a FUZZY blanket included.

:0

Really???

I said yes...and then realized later I had agreed

to the IMPOSSIBLE.

IF....

Someone asks you to use a blanket in their quilt.

SMILE.

And just say...

NO.

I did have a battle with this quilt...

and I've decided that I DIDN'T WIN!

 :(

It was a TIE!

:)

An Orphan No More!

Someone....once upon a time...made a block.

This is an oldie but goodie.

Since the fabric used by this unknown quilter is SO thin...

I decided it would not suit a quilt.

But.....

It WILL make a nice table topper!

I did the easiest thing and added a 2 1/2" border to the block..

then.....

I had some fun doodling stitches with my feed dogs down!!

The more stitches I added, the more I liked it.

I have three more orphans to rescue!!

Wish me luck!

;)

Winner

Lelia. You won the giveaway!

Email me your address and I'll make sure you get the book.

Thanks to everyone for playing along!

Why I like Thursday.

The first thing that happens every Thursday morning is...

I CLEAN.

I run around like a crazy woman....

dusting, vacuuming, wiping down counters....

cleaning bathrooms.....

Company always gets me in the CLEANING mood!

Grandma comes to crochet!

Friends bring show and tell!

Look at those wonderful TINY stitches!

Some come to knit.....

And others QUILT!!!

Woo Hoo!!!

Dear daughter doesn't want to miss out

on the lovely conversation...

so she tries to do homework...?????

:/

Of course....there's always a snack and coffee.

And last of all....there are GROUP projects.

See???

Thursday mornings are THE BEST...

EVEN if it DOES involve a little CLEANING!!!!

Simple Recipe

Here's a recipe for a very simple baby quilt.

Begin with ONE very cute fat quarter.

Divide the fat quarter into FOUR equal parts.

My four pieces were 9"x10".

Add a dash of 2 1/2" strips.

Any length.

Finish with a 6" border on the top and bottom.

This is called ...

The lazy man's way to a longer quilt. ;)

THIS my friends....

Is the secret ingredient!

Men's shirts.

STRIPED!

Add a backing. Quilt and bind.

Very simple.

Very effective.

V-e-r-y Cuddly!

Linking up with Sarah and AmandaJean this week!

Giveaway!

There's a bit of a BOOK BLITZ going on in blogland right now.

Everyone is talking about this book...

Due out TOMORROW!

There's a GREAT review by Lori here.....

And multiple blogs having giveaways.

I'm one of those quilters who LOVES to read!!!!

I bet you are too!!!

Thank YOU Jennifer Chiaverini for writing about what we LOVE.

:)

If you want to drop your name in the hat HERE to win...

Leave a comment.

I'll ask Mr. Random Generator to choose a number

FRIDAY, Feb. 24.

Celebrate!!!

All my 2 inch squares are now TAMED!!!

They are neat and tidy.

They are STRAIGHT and SQUARE.

Ooooh! Aren't they amazing????

They measure 90"x90"

I need to CELEBRATE!!!

There will be SINGING and DANCING today!

Join me if you can!!

:0

Thread Heaven

I'm still working away on this pillow.

LOTS of handquilting.

Round and round I go!!!

IF....We had more Doctor appointments

I'd be farther along.

I'm COUNTING my blessings...

but....

Not moving along very quickly here! ;/

This is a product that helps me out!!!

Maybe you know ALL about it already.

My Mother-in-law didn't....

so I thought I'd mention it to YOU!

I just press my finger on the thread...

pull it through over the "thread heaven"

and

VOILA!!!!

No MORE knots as I sew along!!!!

It's great for ANY hand sewing project.

;)

One of the ONLY problems with this product is...

IT'S WAY too small!!!

It's always getting LOST in my sewing bag!!!

Tuesday Tip.

You wouldn't think it would be TRICKY

to line blocks up when using sashing.

But I've found that they don't

AUTOMATICALLY line up!

Surprised?

I know I was as a beginning quilter.

I thought that if I just eyeballed it

and pinned these two together it would work.

It doesn't always.....

;/

Thankfully..... I remembered this little trick today!!!

Using a ruler and pencil

Line up the ruler with the seam you are matching below

and draw some little tiny knotches on the top of that sashing piece.

Now...

when you lay the next row down to pin...

you can match the seams to those little pencil marks.

And..... when using WHITE fabric

pin it BACK away from the white

so it doesn't show through when you get this quilted!

You should also press it away from the white.

Oooh! I'm so GLAD I remembered that little trick today!

It slowed me down JUST a little bit....

but I'm really happy with the results!

Happy quilting!

sewing with friends

I was able to sew with friends on Saturday.

We began a quilt for a GIRL.....

And one for a BOY.

These quilts will be given to graduating senior high school students

who attend our church.

We used up LOTS of scraps sewn onto paper foundations.......

And SMILED the WHOLE time!!!

Vintage

Nifty got me thinking about vintage this week.

I prepared a little package of fabric for her fabric swap....

then I remembered....

I had some 4" squares that are a little bit on the old side....

Hidden away in a box, of course.

Isn't that how you camoflauge your fabric stash???

No one's EVER sure just HOW much fabric you have.

;0

They're JUST the right size for this block

and...

I love them.

I added a solid.

some half square triangles.

Ooops!!!

I just started another quilt!

:/

Almost....

I'm getting REALLY close to a finish here.

Last week I thought I had ARRIVED!

I was able to sew THREE rows together as I talked with friends.

It was nice.

THEN!!!!!

I had to RIP it ALL out!!!!

Eeek!

I had put them ALL together backwards!!!!

See that white diagonal going through there????

I want that to continue through the WHOLE quilt...

not zigzag at the END!!!

;)

Hmmm....

Today.....I'm going to do it RIGHT!!!!

;)

Thankful.

Today I'm thankful....

 I'm thankful for a big chunk of time yesterday to get some blocks together.

This quilt was worrying me.

I don't know why I was stressing about this gift...

but I was.

I'm also thankful for leftovers.

Maybe they'll be in the border...???.

I'm thankful they're ALL 2 1/2" wide. ;)

I'm thankful for all the friends that pass on fabric to me.

I thought about THEM as I was piecing yesterday.

I'm thankful I have enough white for sashing this quilt.

I hope I'll remember to use the SAME. exact. white

as I go along.

Have you ever used DIFFERENT whites in a quilt???

I have.

It doesn't work.

;/

I'm thankful I won't need to BUY anything for this quilt!

I have QUITE enough fabric.

I have to keep telling myself that....

Over and over again.

Winners!

Mr. Random Generator chose two winners:

Holly and Vesuviusmama.

Congratulations!

I enjoyed reading about your cooking styles,

your love of baking,

and

I even got inspired to cook something NEW!!!

;)

Today I'm beginning a very simple quilt

for my niece.

I've been digging in the stash.....

and making a BIG monday MESS!!!!

;/

Surprise!

I was very surprised today to find MY quilt

(along with the rest of the BRIDGES exhibit quilts)

on THIS blog!!!

Hey!

I'm even the cover girl!

;)

Friday

Well....I wasn't going to quilt this little quilt....

I was going to fold it up and put in the stack of

"Someday" quilts.

But...

In the middle of the week I was transformed

into a QUILTING MACHINE!!!!

I had already quilted one baby quilt...and knew I could do this one too!!!

I had this cute fabric in my stash for the backing.

Just enough!

And I had these swirls in my mind.

It's such a tiny quilt....it went FAST!!!

Then....I was rewarded for my efforts!!!

I visited a friend yesterday and ran into this quilt!

It was hanging on her sofa! :)

This is one of my FIRST, REAL, Follow the PATTERN kind of quilt!

This was a mystery quilt

designed by someone in the guild and made at the

VERY first retreat I ever went on!

WOW!

What an eye opener that retreat was!

I had no idea how many quilters there were.....

How many quilt shops there were...

How many quilt magazines there were.... 

..........

I spent a lot of time on the quilt tag.

I rolled the backing over to the front

because I didn't know how to add a binding!

Hey!

I even handquilted it!!!

What a nice reward to see this at the end of my week!

I see I've learned a lot about quilting over the last few years...

which inspires me to learn EVEN more in the future!!!!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Hope it includes some sewing! ;)