Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day to those in the United States!  It's nice to have a 3 day weekend.  I know, I just started back to work this week, so why am I so glad?  Namely that I have some extra time to sew!  I've been working on my "Four Patch Plaid" quilt and I have the first border on.  Now I'm sewing the picket fence blocks that will make up the next border.  All different fabrics, not just plaids.

It's coming along nicely!  Tomorrow is the big day to reveal the next UFO number in Connie's Game.  Not sure if Country Threads will announce it tomorrow or wait until Tuesday because of the Holiday.  We'll see.

Tree Skirt

I finished my tree skirt for Connie's Game.  My August UFO was my Christmas tree skirt.  The base pattern was an old Simplicity holiday pattern.  I added the scallops by using a luncheon plate from my everyday dishes.

The holly leaves and berries came from a pattern designed by Julie Larsen when she had her quilt shop, Prairie Star Quilts.  I'm thinking I will need to take another picture of this when the light is better outside.  Right now the sun is setting and is causing all kinds of shadows.  But it's done!

Sidetracked

I got a little sidetracked in my cutting mission today.  I had to stop and see how the strings of Halloween fabric were going to look.  I was just going to make one......

Back To Work

Friday I went back to work.  So sad to leave my quilting room and all the sewing I still want to do.  But I did have a great day on Thursday.  I canned or freeze all the produce I had shown you and I cleaned some in my sewing room.  Still have a ways to go, but at least I made progress.  (I figure it works for making quilts, it should be good for cleaning my sewing room.)

The only projects I want to have stay in the room are the PhDs (projects half done) and the last of the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) that are on my lists for the Guild Challenge and for Connie's Game through Country Threads.

I do have a pile of scrap that I want to cut up and clear off the cutting table.  I cleaned up all of my 5 inch squares and put them in a plastic bin.  Put the 5 inch strips in the drawer where the squares had been.  Now to figure out how to store the overflow of 2.5 inch and 2 inch strips.....

Bounty

Just a pictue of the bounty from our garden to let you know what I'll be doing today, canning and freezing produce.

Loving all the fresh veggies!

Totally Finished

The Lewis and Clark commemorative quilt is totally finished!

I used a rusty brown star fabric from my stash to make the binding.  I liked the stars since Lewis and Clark would have slept under the stars and the rusty brown went well with the colors in the border and in the quilt. I love a finish!

I taught the blocks when I worked at Hancock Fabrics.  I did my own quilt in colors different from the kits the company put out.  I really like how this turned out.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it.  But I know something will come up and I will know.

Another PhD

Another PhD is well on it's way to being completed!  WooHooo!

This was a Block of The Month by Hancock fabrics in 2006, to honor Lewis and Clark.  However, I didn't like the colors that were used, so I changed out the fabrics.  The quilting of this was much harder then in looks, even if I only did a meander.  We had problems with the stitching.  And it took us forever to finally figure out what the problem was. We changed the thread, added a mesh holder for the thread, changed the needle, took an over night break, changed the bobbin case, and then changed the bobbin. And that was the problem.  The prewound bobbin, even with using 2 different ones, ended up being the problem. A bad batch of prewound bobbins.  A different prewound bobbin worked.

Practice section.

See the big mess it kept leaving on the back.  We had to rip out so much quilting.  But we got it done!

Started quilting this on Saturday and finished it on Sunday.  Thank you Jeanine for all your help in getting this quilt quilted!

Iowa State Fair

This past Tuesday my husband and I went to the Iowa State Fair.  I love going to the fair.  All the wonderful things to see and do.  My favorite being the quilts.  Here is a YouTube link to last years quilts, just so you can see how beautiful they all are.  And here are my pictures taken this year.  Get your cup of coffee or tea and sit back and enjoy!

I like the way this Marine Panel was the center of the quilt.  I used that same panel for my nephew's quilt.

My friend Rachel has made a couple of Crown Royal quilts.  This one is a very simple pattern.

I loved this nine patch.  I thought of Bonnie's nine patch leader and ender challenge when I saw it.  I love the setting.

This hexie is miniature, made with 1/2 inch hexies.  Amazing!

The Grand Champion!

A close up, the piecing was perfect, every corner matched.  

Love the scrap quilt on the right.

This was a very simple quilt, but the quilting was beautiful.  I couldn't get close enough to get a very good picture of the quilting.

Love the wonky t-shirt quilt.

No Pictures

No pictures....yet.   I've been working on my tree skirt and on the Four Patch Plaid, but they aren't to the point where I will take pictues.  The Four Patch Plaid now has all the rows construted and all the rows sewn together.  This morning I cut fabric for the 2 borders and for the binding.  More fabric out of the stash!!

This past Tuesday we went to the Iowa State Fair.  I will be doing a post on that too.  Stay tune!

Startitis Is Hitting Me Hard

Startitis is hitting me hard!  I think making the burp cloths was what infected me.  They were fun and cute and finished in no time, even doing 5 of them.  I love the feeling of finishing a project...but I love starting one.

The potential of what can be!  This must be why so many of us love quilting.  Looking at that pile of fabric and thinking,"Oh what wonderful things I can make from this!".  And I can think up 4 or 5 projects.  Then have to choose just one.

So I'm focusing on current projects and trying to avoid startitis.  Wish me luck!

Fun Things

I've been working on some fun things, burp cloths for a baby shower I'm invited to.  Following this tutorial from TheThinking Closet, it was so easy and fast.  All the little tips she gave were great!  I used Gerber Premium cloth diapers.

For example, using the cardboard for a template to create a straight fold.

Using the walking foot edge as a guide.

Works on both sides.  

I left about an inch of fabric to fold over.  Press down about a quarter of an inch and pin.

Pinned and ready to sew.

All finished.  

 The center fabric is "Ticklish" by Me & My Sister Designs.  The other two are flannels from Northcott, no designer or fabric name was listed.   Great baby gift!  Go check out the blog I used!

Number One

The UFO for this month is Number One, which is my tree skirt. 

Summer produce is really starting to come on.  I've been freezing green beans and picking cherry tomatoes like crazy.  Going to love the produce this winter, the flavor of summer.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting.

I'm waiting, waiting, waiting.  I'm so anxious to know what number will be pulled for Connie's Game.

Sigh