Pretzel Party

While on a trip to San Francisco, we had to take a little drive to Napa, I mean really, we had to. And of course found a cute little quilt shop. Because what is better than fabric and wine for a souvenir?
The lovely daughter spotted a quilt pattern she really liked. So when I asked her if she wanted me to make for her, she said, "yes, I kind of do."

Well, that was all the encouragement I needed.
The pattern is by American Jane and has been a great deal of fun to make. Yes there are Y seams, and partial seams, but they really aren't that scary. It is nice to be doing something a little different.
I am really liking the way they are coming out.

 

 

What I'm working on...

Pineapples!


The plan is to do 42 blocks.

Will I make it? I started doing them one at a time. Then I got bored and tried doing them factory style. Not sure how I thought that would go quicker, just as boring. But I'm not up and down from the sewing machine to the iron as much.
I have 16 completely finished.

Hexie Flower Garden

I continue to hand sew the hexie's into cute little flowers. Now I'm doing the half flowers for the sides. I decided I like the look of straight edges and not the wavy kind without the 1/2 flowers. Then I will have to continue sewing white hexie's on the top and bottom edges as well.

I would really like to see the end of the project! When I first started, my thought was maybe I would hand quilt this, since I really haven't done that before. And I am a strong believer in "if it has been hand sewn, it deserves the respect of hand quilting." Did I really say that? I'm not sure I have it in me to hand quilt this! I thought the look of big chunky stitches would look so great!

On My Design Wall

Still trying to finish UFO's. This one includes some blocks I wanted to do Stack and Whack style with a fabric I loved. It is from an older Amy Butler line and I didn't have a lot of it. So it only made a few blocks. Thought I might do a small wallhanging.

I am thinking it needs a couple of borders but nothing seems to go with this fabric. The stained wood of the trim is throwing my eye off. Maybe I need to move it to the middle of design wall. I was hoping to find something that toned down that bright pink. I guess I will have to go do a little shopping!

Frustration abounds......

I am trying to finish up my UFO's and of course sneaking in some other projects in between. Well, progress has been going well until today. Sometimes I have such a great time with the whole quilting process and other times, not so much. I do good cutting and sewing the blocks but then sewing the blocks together gets me so frustrated. Lining up everything in the blocks is great but when joined together things become a little off! Here lies where the process gets off.
I know things won't be perfect but still....right?
So I go onto another project, repeat the above, and next thing you know I have a big UFO pile again!
I am going to have to pull things together to finish these all up before the end of 2014. Though I am longing for a Christmas project for me to keep!

Quilting Traditions Continue

While my daughter was home for a long visit she ended up getting hooked on fabric! The next logical step was that she wanted to try and make a quilt. She quickly informed me of a quilt she made when she was a very little girl. I might have to search and dig up a photo of it and I don't really remember it. Well, it didn't take long for her to come up with a plan. She loves all the civil wars fabrics and their color ways. She also knew she wanted to make a quilt she saw in a movie that Johnny Depp was in. So after much searching on the internet to show me what it looked like, we were well on our way with a plan of action. Coming up with a pattern was the harder part. She wanted triangles but not normal triangles, tall. elongated ones. Making a template was the key. Decided to just wing it, as long as they are all the same size, there shouldn't be an issue right? Well, she did struggle a little, but kept at it. And only ripped out a few! "Just make it work", a good friend always said, so we followed that advice. Shopping for fabric she thoroughly enjoyed. What's not to like with that!

So after much cutting and sewing, she was making progress. I assured her pressing was a necessity. She was quite the trooper with the iron!

The finished project!

I tried to get her to quilt it but I think she had had enough by this point. Maybe the next one.......

She said I could quilt it however I wanted. So I choose to do just some simple arches inside of all the triangles.

I was so proud of her and her accomplishment! 

And it turned out just like she wanted, which is always a joy!

Way to go baby!

The Antique Age

Isn't that what the official age of an antique is, 50? Well, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I may look 50 but I don't feel it, ok somedays I do. But I won't trade it for anything in the world. 
Especially when my world includes these little munchkins. Hard to get a good picture of all 3 of them at the same time. So this is the best we could do.
Now on to more quilts!

Ah... Summer

I know summer doesn't invoke as much as it used to with having school-aged children at home. I always loved having my kids around. I wasn't one of those moms who dreaded summer because that meant school was out. 
Lazy days of not packing lunches and just hanging out was so much fun!
I do miss those days. But I still enjoy summer.

So sewing and quilting continue on. It is much cooler in the basement. Trying to finish up a few projects before starting more but I always seem to have problems in this area.
There is nothing better than starting a new project.
I thought I would share what my studio looks like. And this is pretty typical of what is looks like all the time.

As you can see, lighting is an issue. That is something I have to get on. 

Ok, time to go get organized!

Quilts - finally on the walls!

With the walls finally painted (couldn't take anymore of all the walls being white), I was finally able to hang some quilts. And having a large wall allowed me to hang one I have never been able to. Plus this wall doesn't get any direct sunlight, a plus in my book! This has some of my favorite fabric colors, so I'm very happy I can look at this quilt everyday now. The pattern is Diamond in the Rough.

Commissioned Piece Finished

This quilt was made for my sister who will be auctioning it off with proceeds to go to the Huntington's Disease Foundation she has to support those affected by the disease. Hopefully it will bring some awareness to this terrible disease.