Just When I Thought Summer Was Almost Here

Yeah! I took this about 8 am this morning. There was much more by the time it was all done. Wet heavy stuff and Mr Creative told me there are limbs down around the city today. It is now cloudy but sort of sunny too.
Lower left photo is the poor mixed up Hummingbird trying to find the feeder in the snowstorm!
Sigh...hope this is it for the year!

Some Catch Up from the Sewing Room

DD called one day and asked if I could help her find a robe for our little grson A so that when he finishes at Seaworld's water park he could just put it on and go home. I looked all over the place and remembered I had bought a pattern to make PJ's for the little grboys that I hadn't made...imagine that... and it had a robe just the right size. I decided rather than buying yardage I should be able to make a size 2 robe from a large beach towel and sure enough it worked out great. I decided to line the hood and the belt with some fabric from my quilt stash to make it a bit more interesting and there it is. Nice part is that the bottom was placed on the cute towel border with a finished hem and the sleeves fit on the opposite end of the towel. left the hood which fit on the two long sides and only the belt was cut across the towel. Turned out to be an easy project and even though I didn't have a serger some fray check took care of the raw seams.

I also finished two purses in April and May. The first one was taught in my quilt group by my good friend K. I had the snowflake center and the hourglasses leftover from a project so I just played around and added extra piecing to make it big enough to cut from the pattern.

I had to make it a bit taller to fit it all in but it worked in the end. This is the back side with a second snowflake pocket and a little cell phone hidden pocket not shown.

This is the second purse I made. I used leftover fabric from an apron I had made. Just love that green fabric and wanted to make something special. Love that you can find tons of free patterns on line all over the place. This one is called the Buttercup Purse...google it and see!

A Milestone for Me

Well here it is! My very first handpieced top...OK it's really small LOL but I am impressed with myself and so thankful that I discovered InkLingo. I never thought of myself as EVER wanting to do handpiecing but just as some find handquilting as soothing and relaxing I am finding that handpiecing does that for me.
Now for the not so good thing. When I was putting the sides on to the center I kind of had to wing it and instead of asking for help I thought I could "figure it out on my own". yeahhhhh...not!
When I got to the corners that you see on the left upper and lower sides where they attach to the center they ended up not fitting together without a little tuck. When I showed it to my much experienced friend she suggested that if I tried to restitching the top and bottom seams then I could probably solve the 1/4 inch shortage. So...I probably will do it but for now I am off to other projects.

I think I always learn something new from each project I do and this was a whole bunch of learning! Thanks to my InkLingo friends and Linda Franz the creator and of course her right hand "man" Monkey!

What's Up in The Crafting stuff?

1. My next hand piecing project. I had bought the fabric for a completely different project but when I saw the table runner project in the current issue of American Patchwork and Quilting I just knew I had to make it my next hand piecing take along project. Everything has been printed with InkLingo and cut and stored in little baggies in my plastic on the go sewing box. I think this one will be a bit easier than the last project as I have a bit of experience now!

2. A new layout (finally). As I watched 24 on Monday I pulled out the pictures and supplies I had kitted up a while ago. My little grandboys almost two years ago! Oh, my have they grown up since then. Love the bright colors I got to use with this one.
Supplies: Storytellers kit, cardstock from DCWV and Coordinations, ribbon American Crafts, inks and staples

3. Back in the quilt room I finished this Jodi Warner wall quilt enough for a show and tell of "Jodi" projects that our group did before Jodi gave a wonderful trunk show to New Friends Quilt Circle. More on that later but we had used her book A Year of Flowers as our BOM two years ago and it was time to finish up the Oct. project! LOL I still want to do some more quilting but at least I had it ready to show.

4. Mother's Day Card for my DD. I used making it as a chance to use some flowers for the May challenge for Scrap From Your Stash group. I also used my "un-named" program and my Cricut. Flowers on the pp (DCWV), the cut file had flowers, a flower stamp (Studio G) and a metallic flower from my stash. It's a fun card and reminds me of my DD!
Nuff for now and I am trying to catch up!

Happy Mother's Day

For my DIL P, I wanted to make a special gift for Mother's Day with grson I but the week before was just a bit crazy so he helped by posing for a few pictures LOL A couple of days before Mother's day he found a bunch of grape hyatenth growing in the area where Belle has a dog house. Unknown to me he picked a bouquet of them and brought them to show me. I could not get mad he was so cute and I did take a few pictures. We put them in a small cup and when his mom came to pick him up he gave them to her. I had a free coupon code for a collage 8x10 at Walgreens and ordered one using a few pictures from the month....so it is very up to date!

I pulled some flowers etc from the scrapbooking stash and an inexpensive frame and after removing the glass attached the flowers right to the matting. It turned out so cute and his Mommy loved it.
I also give myself points for using up things that I already had available! LOL

Here I am with 3 of the 5 gkids in our backyard. It turned out to be a beautiful day.

OH, and a bonus photo of I helping the big boys clear out some brush from the backyard.

Wanted...Charm/Nickle/ 5 Inch Square Lovers!

So.... do you love the scrappy look in your quilts and think that the 5 " square/charm/nickle is the perfect way to go? If you are up to a monthly online swap of these great little squares then would you consider joining us at Nickleswap on Yahoogroups? We are great swappers but have been dwindling down in numbers and would love to get some "new" swappers to join us.
There are selected categories...Civil War repros, 1930's repros, and batiks for right now but if you suggest to our list momma Joyce she might include others in the future.
It's really easy to participate you sign up for the number of sets of pairs (each set can be cut from 1 fat quarter of fabric) you wish to swap, mail them to Joyce then she swaps it all out then mails the sets back and VOILA you have all different fabrics to play with! The only limits are because of the number of swappers each month which is why I am hoping some of you might want to join in with us. Yes, you are responsible for postage so it does add in to the cost but it is less than buying the charm packs (unless they are on sale LOL) and you know that the fabric is quality...part of the agreement...and of the correct type you are swapping!
Come check us out at
www.nickleswaps@yahoogroups.com and tell them Cathie sent you!

Learning 60 Degree designs with New Friends

Long time ago when CM founded New Friends Quilt Circle one of her goals was to not only have fun and make friends but to learn the art of quiltmaking and improve our skills. C and I have talked bout how much we like 60 degree designs and finally we have been able to work in creating and perfecting those types of designs. It of course has the dreaded "Y" seams and many a quilter shys away from them because they aren't the usual straight line sewing using squares and rectangles.

We were assigned to bring 3 strips of bright solid or tone on tone fabrics and C gave us the low down on how to turn those into diamonds, triangles to create this great beginning for a quilt. C and I picked out the dots (or spots as some say) in black and white and then added the tone on tone black knowing that the brights would work well together. Doesn't the black slow the busy-ness of the dots and colors?

The next week for our community service day she started us with some diamonds in lots of prints and challenged us to put together these tumbling blocks for a future project. Some of them are great with contrast in color and some are iffy but when you change to black and white you can see that some just aren't working so well. They are in the same spots so see if you can see those that probably are too close in value to work this way.

As we were learning there were a few that were put together "backwards" with the dark being on the right as you view them and the med on the left. C said that they were just the beginning of a new quilt! LOL

Blogger and I messed up

Blogger and I had a difference of opinion and left out this set of blocks that are the April 2010 blocks.
I have posted before the middle bottom one as a pain to do LOL The rest were pretty easy except for the bottom right as my friend who was in charge this month made it easier to piece except when I pieced it somehow I had a problem and it came out 5x6 (finished) not 6x6 so...I had to improvise LOL
I love them all this month but I like how the lower left block turned out when I did a little fussy cut cottage in the middle.
OK now it is right.

One Block Left in the Journey

Two years ago, this coming August, I got together with 4 friends to make the blocks in the Civil War Love Letter Quilt book and as of this month we will have completed all 121 blocks plus presented the two applique union and confederate solders.
I can hardly believe that I have done it! LOL


This is a set of blocks that were due in Jan but I got behind with my travels during the Christmas holiday you can see I have resorted to cheating with stripes instead of piecing some of the parts. I have had the stripes in my collection of cw prints and to me they make a beautiful substitute and you still get the feeling of the piecing.
I think the favorite of this batch is the bottom right because it let me use this lovely striped fabric with "ladies heads" that I have been saving for the perfect place.

Just for fun and to see what I might do, I got all the blocks out and tried a set that is running around in my mind. Setting them in groups of 4 with 1 inch sashing alternating dark and light sashing. Also I have a panel of Generals Lee and Grant for the middle and then a set of 4 battle scenes for the corners...maybe LOL I am not sure if I want to put the battle scenes as then I have 13 blocks left over if I make the quilt "even". Belle is helping me out there and she says that it doesn't really matter if it is "even" or not, just that I like it when I am done LOL

This is the fabric I am thinking for the border, but not the sashing. It is a part of a collection I think was called the Coverlet Prints or something along that line. I love the navy and tan or light gold and those are the colors I am thinking to sash the blocks with...but....
Anyway thought I would share my latest.

We Got Babies!

Our new neighbors show how they feed their new babies!

Mr Creative was watching the nest yesterday and notice one of the parents standing on the nest as if waiting for something, Not much later the second parent flew in and up popped two little beaks and heads with their mouths wide open! Soooo...
I impatiently waited with camera in hand this morning and was rewarded with a couple of shots. It's sort of like being an Aunt and Uncle as we can admire the babies but not have to do all the care. LOL
So cute!