Sweet Husband

Well today I had to come to work sick because I am the only here today. To help me feel better this is what my sweet husband brought me...

Our Table

Once a year our town has a dinner for women only. Businesses, individuals, and organizations decorate a table for the occasion. My office has participated for a few years now and it's lots of fun trying to come up with new ideas every year. This year we went with a harvest theme. I quilted the placemats...

 

Then we all worked on creating these topiaries out of candy corn...

 

Once again, we had a blast creating this table! I only wish I hadn't been out of town for work, so I could have attended the dinner.

First Purse Ever

For my daughter's 15th birthday I wanted to make her a purse. She picked out the fabric, without realizing it. She commented on this fabric and the next day I bought it to use on her purse. I had just learned how to make an exploding pineapple block a few weeks ago and knew that had to be the front and back of this purse. I used a basic purse pattern to guide me, but this is pretty much all my idea. It has some problems, but I don't think my daughter will see them. I'll be giving it to her tonight. I hope she likes it!

Weekend Sewing Projects

I am having back problems right now, so I didn't get as much sewing done as I would have liked. But I think 2 complete projects isn't too bad for the weekend.

My youngest daughter has been wanting me to make her a skirt for awhile. I found the cutest school fabric and knew it had to be her skirt.

I made another pillowcase for a birthday present. Our friends have 7 kids, all adopted, all under the age of 12. Well I've been making them all a pillowcase on their birthday. So far, I've made 4, only 3 more to go!

Last night my quilt group met to learn the bargello heart quilt. My back was really hurting, so I didn't get much done. I didn't even get any pics. I'll post an updated pic of my project later.

This afternoon I've been blog hopping around the Fall into Fall Quilt Bloggers Giveaway. I haven't been to all 143 bloggers yet, but hopefully by Oct 15th I'll have visited them all.

What I'm Working On...

I have been terrible about updating my blog! Life just gets in the way and I forget about it.  I finally found my camera last night, but the battery is missing out of it! My teens like to use my camera, but can't keep up with it or it's parts. So for now I borrowed a camera until I buy a new battery.

Well I have been bitten by the hexagon bug! I've been searching high and low for novelty fabric that I can make hexagons out of for a matching quilt. It's hard to find fabric that has small pictures that fit in the center of a 2 1/2" square! The thing is I want pictures on these, not just pretty fabric. For example, I have some animal fabric where I cut out 2 squares of the same picture of monkeys, giraffes, elephants, etc. That way my daughter can find one monkey and look for the matching one elsewhere on the quilt. I almost decided not to do this project, but my 4 yr old loves looking at the hexagons I've already made, so her enthusiasm keeps me going!

I've also been making hexagons for a small wall hanging. Remember my jelly roll pic I posted a few months ago? Well I fell in love with 2 of the strips in that roll. I have looked everywhere for yardage of those 2 fabrics and can't find them anywhere. I wanted to do a whole hexagon quilt with just those 2 fabrics, but I couldn't find any. So I'm using what I have and am making a wall hanging.

 These strips are my newest project! A baby bargello heart quilt for my coworkers granddaughter. My quilt guild is teaching the Bargello Heart Quilt at next weeks meeting. I have read this book cover to cover and feel confident that I can get started before next week. I bought my 12 fabrics last weekend and have cut them into strips. Now I'm sewing them together. Not sure if I will stop here or continue this weekend. I feel like I can continue on my own, but I'm also afraid I'll mess up without somebody nearby to keep me on track.

I also bought these fabrics this past weekend. The horses will be made into a lap quilt for my father in law for Christmas. The shoe fabric was too cute to pass up! My mother buys shoes like crazy! So when I saw this fabric I knew I had to make a quilt for her with it. Of course I'll take a couple snips off of it for my hexagon matching quilt! Then the fabric in the lower right corner is for more hexagons.

And lastly the fabric my coworkers has chosen to be the inspiration for this years table at the annual Women's Friendship Dinner. I had this fabric in my stash and have decided to make place mats out of it for our table. That's at the end of October, so I gotta get sewing on it!

I'll try not to wait so long between posts. I just get so busy with work, family, and my sewing that I forget to take pictures of my projects and forget about blogging.

Secret Project Revealed and Catching Up

It's been awhile since I posted! Well I told ya'll about a secret project I was working on. It was a quilt for my daughter's graduation. She was so surprised!

It's a quilt made out of her t-shirts and blue jeans! All of those t-shirts have a special story attached to them. This was so hard to keep secret because it was so big and she always seemed to be home!

The weekend after graduation my quilt guild had their 2nd annual quilt show. I entered the t-shirt quilt and 2 others.

The wallhanging was my first attempt at hand quilting. It has lots of problems, but I'm pleased with it. The last quilt was from my first quilt class. It was like my 3rd finished quilt, but I pieced the top before I did any other projects.

This is what I bought at our quilt show from a few vendors. I was so excited when I opened the jelly roll! It was full of bluebonnet fabric! I'm a Texan living in Oklahoma and have missed the bluebonnets!

Well I have more to tell you, but I'll save that for another day!

What are...

...Klosjes? I know they are spools, but why are most quilters in blogland spending every Saturday making these? Yes they are cute and seem like they are easy to make, but why did this Saturday ritual amongst bloggers start? I'm just curious. Maybe I will jump on board and start making them also!

Friday Night Sew-In

Last night I stayed home and sewed a couple of pillowcases. One of the kids my daughter babysits is having a birthday today and I was informed that she needed a new pillow. So I decided to make her some special pillowcases. We also bought her 2 pillows to put in them.

My youngest daughter was hiding under the table when I took the picture and peeked out at just the right time.

Friday Night Sew-In

I stumbled on this blog this morning. It just so happens that I had already made plans to sew tonight, so I thought I would join in on the fun. I will be making a birthday present for a family friend. I can't wait to show you pictures!

Lone Star Quilt Raffle

I know 2 postings 2 days in a row. That must be some kind of record for me! Actually I cheated. I wrote both posts on the same day and set this one to publish on Thursday! So, is it really cheating or am I just efficient? Hmmm...Actually I couldn't wait to show you this quilt and I didn't want to forget...

My quilt guild created this Lone Star quilt. It's gorgeous! Right now it's on display in my office, directly in front of my desk. I LOVE looking at it. This quilt will be raffled off at the end of May.

Free Fabric!

So it's fabric scraps. Who cares, it's FREE! I love being the newest (and youngest) person in my quilt guild. They take good care of me by giving me guidance when needed and giving me their unwanted fabric. 

I have never been one to sew a lot. I dabble in lots of crafts, but have never mastered one. I absolutely LOVE quilting! I love going to the fabric store and seeing all the different fabrics and imagining all the possibilities. I'm slowly working on building my fabric stash. So I welcome any and all donations. 

Our quilt guild makes baby/toddler quilts and gives them to a local organization in town. I think I will take these scraps and use them for a couple of blankets to be donated. It won't be right away because I have 2 projects to finish by May. But when they are done I will be digging into these scraps and creating something wonderful!

Fabric Eye Candy & New Quilt

I fell in love with this fabric as soon as I saw it! It's totally random and has all the colors of the rainbow in it! Now what am I going to use it for? Well that's part of my secret project. So stay tuned and all will be revealed before summer.

I bought these fabrics for a patriotic wall hanging awhile back. I finally took some time this past weekend to figure out what I wanted to do. I didn't just want to border the picture in strips, I wanted something different for myself. I'm a new quilter and am ready to expand my skills.

I found the star pattern in a quilt magazine and altered it to fit my block size. I have NEVER read a quilt pattern before, much less altered one! This came out perfect the first time around! I was so pleased! I can't wait to finish my other project so I can work on this one full time!

Sneak Peek of Current Project

Here is a peek at my current project. This is a gift for somebody special in my life. For fear of them actually reading my blog I will say no more. I will post a final picture after it is given to that special person.

Great Embroidery Video

I did a little embroidery as a kid, but fell in love with cross stitch. Before Christmas I embroidered some quilt blocks and loved having the portability of taking my hand sewn items with me to work on at lunch, doctors appointments, long trips, or just watching tv. I stumbled on this embroidery video and decided to post it here for myself and anybody else out there interested in learning.

Embroidery Basics

If anybody knows how to make the above link a little thumbnail image of the video please let me know.

Heart of the Matter

 The day Jen announce this special day on her blog I had already put my cake in the oven. I knew exactly what I was going to do, I was going to cut it in the shape of a heart. So as soon as I had it baked and decorated I quickly took a picture. Then of course I procrastinated on getting it put online. Then last Thursday a huge ice storm hit SW Oklahoma and I found myself without power from Thurs - Tues!

 

So today I quickly ran to Jen's blog to see if this event was still happening. So here I am quickly posting about my heart cake. This cake was made for my daughter's homecoming game. The cheerleaders raffle off cakes at all our home basketball games and this is the cake I made.