Another Floral Disappearing 9 Patch

Another floral Disappearing 9 Patch is done! I miscalculated on the green and brown so I had to substitute in a little different shades. You know, I actually kinda like the checkerboard effect the green sashing strips make although the green pinwheels are harder to see. This quilt is just enough different so when the Brownie Moms get them, the quilts will be the same enough to match yet different enough to stand on their own. What a happy accident, er, design opportunity :) I quilted it with the Trailing Vine panto from Willow Leaf Studio.

Happy Birthday DD

Happy Birthday DD!

Nine years ago today you completed our family circle!

WIP Wednesday

Valerie and I are bonding over the next disappearing 9 patch. Not very exciting, but it is what I am working on. I also washed the floors in the sewing room and DS's bathroom. Washed his towels and rugs, too. I know, I know....zzzz....

What I've Been Up To...

I've been sneaking moments here and there all weekend long to sew and this morning I was able to piece the border onto the next floral Disappearing 9 Patch. Since I was sewing, I also made the binding for this one. Next up, after the clean-up, load and quilt.

After a quick run to the post office and lunch, it was time to tackle the sewing room. Everything that goes in just seems to pile higher and deeper (maybe I could get a pHD in messiness :)).

I sorted through some papers and filed them even some guild meeting minutes from March!

Dug out a place for the Janome Gem. I was working on the coiled basket for DD for Easter (like in March) when the zig zag started to zag when it should zig...and abandoned it. Took the time to make a few adjustments and so far so good...knock on wood! I share an old banquet table with DD as she likes to be in the sewing room when I'm there. Sometimes she does crafts or colors or reads.

I have been taking my quilts to a long armer here for about 18 months and everytime I received back a quilt, I would just cut the excess batting (8 to 10 inches) and just pile it up.

Today I actually cut it into squares to be made into rag quilts.






What a difference a few hours of sorting and putting things away makes! Hope I can keep it neat and organized! DS did comment on how he didn't realize that I had so much counter space in the sewing room! I really would rather have been sewing but it's a good thing company is arriving this weekend because, I do admit, a clean-up was long overdue :)

Memorial Day

With thoughts and prayers of all the men and women who have served our country and who are currently serving our country, "THANK YOU" for doing what you do so that I may do what I do.

Stash Busting Report Week # 21

This week was a wash for me. I was doing soo good then I went to the fabric store. Why is it soo easy to buy? With that said, my report follows:

• fabric received in: + 10 yards
• fabric used: -10 yards
• net fabric for the week: 0 yards

Net fabric year to date: -25 yards

What I accomplished this week:

• hand sewed binding back on blue/yellow Strip Twist
• quilted and bound green/white Pineapple Blossom
• framed out the QOV label

Goals for next week:

• continue piecing another floral Disappearing 9 Patch
• help sew back the binding on my group's QOV

JudyL blogged about setting a stashbusting goal and how close we are to the goal, since we are almost halfway through the year. Hmmm...my goal was just to start using my stash and help me stay on track. I really think that I do 'need' to set a number goal and that will help nudge me in the right direction. I'll have to figure out what a realistic 'number goal' will be for me then I'll let you know. I generally make throw size quilts so my yardage per quilt is less than, let say, someone who makes queen size bed quilts usually.

This week there are many things happening around here that are not quilt related. Shocking but true! Saturday is DD's 9th birthday! so preparations for the big day and a party with her friends at a wall climbing gym, two scout meetings, the big state report is due for DD (she choose Michigan) and my in-laws are planning a visit to arrive on June 1st! The kids and I have already started re-organizing (read: de-trashing) a few rooms with more to go! DD and I are going to tackle her room and if I have the stamina...the sewing room!

A Cute Blog Give-Away

Erin is giving away this cute little Raggedy Annie. She's starting a new online business called Hannies Annies. Go check it out and wish her good luck! I hope she comes to live at my house!

Equal Opportunity Quilting

Here are two of the finished graduation quilts. Well, almost finished, just a few threads to trim and I need to write a thoughtful message on the label (when it comes to me :)). One more graduation quilt to make and a few disappearing 9 patches to go. My quilt holders are at work or school and Daisydog is too short so I used the garage and my magnetic clips.

First: The Blue and Yellow Strip Twist from Bonnie's Quiltville. This one is for the high school grad whose family are University of Michigan Wolverine fans. School colors, of course, blue and maize (I took a few liberties and cut into the yellow stash on this one!)

Next: The Green and White Pineapple Blossom, also from Bonnie's Quiltville. This one is for the recent Michigan State University grad, school colors, green and white! I do believe that she graduated in May! but her party was last weekend so I am a bit behind on this finish. I want to say a big "THANK YOU" to Mamaspark, my blogger friend who volunteered to source out the Michigan State Sparty fabric and send it to me for this quilt. It definately makes it one AWESOME quilt! You're the best!

(and as usual, the close up of the Sparty fabric includes the seam...sorry)

I quilted both of these quilts with the Heartstrings panto from Willow Leaf Studio.

My thought was " I Love UM or MSU" depending on which quilt you received :)

In case you are wondering, I did indeed send a few blocks in these color combinations to Bonnie as she suggested on her site for her use in a charity quilt. It will be fun to watch her site and 'see' if I can spot these blocks in one of her quilts :)

WIP Wednesday

This morning I was able to work on the hand sewing back the binding for the Strip Twist.

After lunch, I was able to machine sew the binding onto the Pineapple Blossom. The only part left to do on this is the hand sewing of the binding to the back. I had a little time before the school bus so I framed out the label for my day group's Quilt of Valor. We have tentative plans to meet next week to sew back the binding...seems like I'm going to have quite a few finishes in right before the deadline :)

Tagged!

Lori at Dakota City Quilter tagged me with questions to reflect on and answer. I'm not sure what this game of tag is called, but it's always fun to share and learn new things about friends. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

Okay, seems easy. Here it goes:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? I was a non-profit stay-at-home Mom. DS was 7 years old and in first grade. DH was working at a dairy in Flint, Michigan and we lived in the 'burb of Grand Blanc. DD wasn't born yet (she arrived in May 1999).

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order): pick-up and vacuum the first floor, wash DD's clothes, buy tomatoes for DH's lunch, drop off Box Tops at DD's school (it's a kid thing :)), take DS's towel to his bathroom, wrap DD's birthday gifts, quilt on Pineapple Blossom, address DD's birthday invitations, post this blog, do I only get 5?!

3. Snacks I enjoy: Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, triscuits with cheese, broccoli with Ranch dressing, M&M peanuts and Mom's chocolate chip cookies.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: travel to Alaska and Hawaii, buy a summer only home on Mackinac Island, Michigan, send DS to any school (college or trade) he wants to attend, invest for DD's schooling (college or trade), buy land close to where I was living and build a great big storage shed for all of the family stuff! and buy a 105th limited edition Harley for DH.

5. Peeps I want to know more about: You and you and you! Play along if you wish and considered yourself tagged! Please do not feel that you have to play, it is just for fun. Reading about other people's lives is so interesting!!

Stash Busting Week #20

Okay, 'Uncle' I say! I've just about given up on having a zero in my yards added per week. Think I'll be grateful when more yardage is used than what arrives in the sewing room. This week's report follows:

• fabric received in: + 8 yards
• fabric used: -15 yards
• net fabric for the week: -7 yards

Net fabric year to date: -25 yards

What I accomplished this week

• quilted and bound floral Disappearing 9 Patch
• finished piecing and quilted blue and yellow Strip Twist

Goals for this week

• sew binding onto blue and yellow Strip Twist
• quilt and bind green and white Pineapple Blossom
• piece another floral Disappearing 9 Patch to a flimsy
• make label for day guild's Quilt of Valor

Let's hope I can get it all accomplished! This is definately 'crunch time' for me. I tend to have alot of deadlines as I give a lap quilt (45 x 60) to the teachers in DD's life. This year we have...1 regular teacher, 2 bus drivers, 2 Brownie leaders and 1 piano teacher! Guess who is getting the Elvis quilt from a few posts ago...hehehe! I also have 3 graduation quilts. Well 4, if you count the black and gold already gifted to my nephew for his college graduation last semester! The graduations yet to come are 1 college and 2 high school. School is also out for the summer in 4 short weeks then my sewing machine and Valerie will be very lonely as I spend more time with the kids and less in the sewing room...as it should be when the kiddos are home :)

Quilt-a-thon #4 Day 1

JudyL is hosting her fourth Quilt-a-thon this weekend! I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to participate but, lo and behold, DS had to work at 7:30 am and DH took DD to the grocery store where his work was sponsoring an autograph session by Desmond Mason of the Milwaukee Bucks. This left me all by myself, so down to the sewing room I went at about 11:00 am. I was able to quilt the blue and yellow Strip Twist . I used the Heartstrings panto from Willow Leaf Studio. I will be one happy camper when this puppy is bound and labeled :)

Floral Disappearing 9 Patch

Before my luncheon and guild meeting last night, I finished machine sewing the binding onto this disappearing 9 patch quilt. I like the way the green blocks formed a secondary pattern of pinwheels between the floral patches and brown stones. I think for the next one I make, I want to place the dark versus light florals in a more orderly fashion. I like colors and values marching along my quilts. What can I say? I like scrappy yet orderly quilts, weird, eh?!


Carolyn from Ohio Quilter's Journey is giving away fabric. Hop over to her blog and answer a question to be eligible.

Happy Birthday Ardith!

Today is Ardith's Birthday and a few of the girls celebrated by going out to lunch. It was a yummy lunch and the cake was even better!

So what do you give to someone who has just about everything??? A box of cigars? no....

...a cigar box full of fabric postcards! Ardith really liked the postcards I made for guild so I decided to make her a few for different occasions. I included a black pigma pen for writing on the back of the cards, some Forever stamps and a pressing cloth for setting the ink. I didn't see Ardith open her gift but I hope she likes it.

Happy Birthday, Ardith! :0)

WIP Wednesday

I've been busy in the sewing room and making lots of forward progress, for me, at least. First up, I finally just decided with a little nudge from my friend, Linda J to 'just do it'. The result is that this morning I was sewing on the final border of the blue and yellow Strip Twist...

...and in all its glory. Now to quilt it :0)







Second, I finally wrote a little message on the quilts for Pam's M2M. She is planning a trip in August and I want to make sure these quilts arrive in plenty of time!
Hope to finish packing them up and get them shipped when I'm in town tomorrow.

Thirdly, tomorrow night is guild! and, of course Show and Tell. I've been working on quilting the floral Disappearing 9 Patch. I'm using the Trailing Vine panto from Willow Leaf Studios. I hope to be able to finish the quilting this afternoon and maybe sew the binding on tomorrow morning before my town trip! But right now, I'm hungry so I'll be peeking in the 'fridge and finding some leftovers to eat :0)

Stash Busting Report Week #19

Well, somewhere between meeting #4 and meeting #5 of this week, I lost 7 days! I honestly thought meeting #5 was NEXT week and I had a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to get done for it. You guessed it, none of it got done! There was also a surprise birthday party for ??? after the meeting, I thought. So I scurried home on Wednesday afternoon and quick made a gift. You guessed it, the birthday party is NEXT week! I was sooo confused but some days it doesn't take much to confuse me! With that little bit of background information here is my stash report for the week:

• fabric received in: 3 yards
• fabric used: -8 yards
• net fabric for the week: -5 yards

Net fabric year to date: -18 yards

What I accomplished this week:

• sewed binding onto kitty 9 patch pizzazz
• quilted and bound Elvis quilt
• made surprise birthday gift (I'll show you later, okay?)
• made Secret Santa guild gifts (I know, I know but same as above birthday gift and I had everything ready to go...so I made them :) )

Goals for next week:

• piece blue and yellow Strip Twist *total avoidance here, gang :( *
• quilt and bind Disappearing 9 Patch

Think if I keep the goals light then I actually may work on the blue and yellow top? Let cross our fingers (and toes, too!) and because you made it this far in reading about my week, here is the quilty picture. Notice DS's eyes mugging for the camera :)

If you are interested in how I made this Checkerboard Quilt, the tutorial is here. Please be advised that I have never written a tutorial before so when you find 'something' that needs changing, please be kind and e-mail me and let me know. Thanks!

Kitty 9 Patch Pizzazz

Here is the 9 Patch Pizzazz quilt that I made when the FAB's (Cher, Linda, Norma and Pam) had the virtual sew-in last month. I think I missed the mark on the look of the quilt but I hope that a child will feel the warmth and love and happy thoughts that were sewn into this quilt :)
I quilted it with the Cotton Candy Pantograph that came with Valerie and machine stitched the binding onto this quilt. This is the fun back that I found. It has kitties and yarn balls and mice and fish skeletons on it. I started to worry that the yellow on the front and the cream on the back might be too light to give a child and it would stain and show the dirt but I'm trusting just the right child will receive this quilt and love it to pieces!

Congratulations to...

...first I want to say, "Thanks" to everyone who left a comment! It's fun to know who (and where) people are reading my blog. Readers include a 'neighbor' who lives about 25 minutes away (but we haven't meet yet!), friends from Norway and Australia (wow!), a pal from the west coast of the US, another from Alabama, a guild member from my old guild in Texas (small world!), and everyone in between! It's GREAT to know you guys :)

The names were all put in a cigar box...shaken up...

...DD drew a name out. errr, we were a little late due to a nap and dinnertime :)

...the Lucky Recepient who will have a few new items come live at her house is...

FABRICMOM! Congratulations!

I'll be e-mailing you so if you would send me your snail mail address, I'll package your goodies and send them off to their new home! Thanks for playing along, everyone! :)

Blogger Withdraw Pains

Okay...I admit it...I really do LIKE to blog and I've missed it this week while running the Give-away. So I decided to join in on Finn's fun :

And just for fun, the "me-me" going around....**You have to use the first letter of your first name to answer each of the following. One word only. They have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question**


NAME: Pat

4 LETTER WORD: pain
VEHICLE: Porsche
TV SHOW: Partridge Family
CITY: Paris
BOY'S NAME: Paul
GIRL'S NAME: Paula
OCCUPATION: policeman
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: pants
FOOD: pizza
SOMETHING IN THE BATHROOM: pee (yuck!)
REASON FOR BEING LATE: people
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: PICK ME!!!!

as Finn said, "and I'm going to tag you and you and you and you...."

Buenos Cinco de Mayo and 100 Posts!

Buenos Cinco de Mayo!

and because I LOVE Blog Give-Aways...I decided to take a peek in the sewing room and see 'what' was hanging around that might like to come live at YOUR house! I'm going to give away a copy of Karla Alexander's New Cuts For New Quilts (I received two copies at Christmas), a 3 pack of Klasse 80/12 Titanium needles (I spray baste my smaller tops to quilt and it really does reduce the sticking and skipping stitches!), a bottle of Mary Ellen's Spray Starch Alternative in Lavendar Fields fragrance, a fairy notepad and maybe some sort of chocolate when I get to the store :) All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this '100 post' and tell me where you are from! Easy Peasy, right? go ahead and enter, if you want, wherever you are from...I'm interested in knowing who reads my blog so I will post your prize to where you live be it California, Texas, Montana, Cannada, Australia, France or Timbuktu :) Please make sure you have your e-mail turned on in your profile if you blog, if not...please leave a valid e-mail address so I can let you know you won! I will stop counting comments on Friday May 9, 2008 at 5:00pm Wisconsin time (central time zone USA), simply because I live in Wisconsin :) and I'll have my DD draw a name out of the hat...so to speak.
Good Luck!

Stash Busting Report Week #18

A good week for me as the batting arrived and I was able to quilt a few tops. That, of course, didn't stop me from adding fabric this week :) The added fabric has already been purposed for the back of top already pieced! My goal for next week is to add no fabric...zero...nada...zilch...cross my fingers...

Here is my report for this week:

• fabric received in: 6 yards
• fabric used: -16.5 yards
• net fabric for week: -10.5 yards (used)

Net fabric year to date: -13 yards (used)

What I accomplished this week:

• quilted three donation tops
• bound two donation quilts
• sewed units for blue and yellow Strip Twist
• pieced Elvis checkerboard to a flimsy

Goals for next week:

• bind third donation quilt
• quilt and bind Elvis top
• sew blue and yellow Strip Twist to a flimsy (this is a carryover)
• start making a surprise birthday gift for a quilt-y friend

I decided to put the blue/yellow Strip Twist units on the back burner and let them simmer. It is my hope that I will be rejuvenated to sew them into a flimsy when I get them out again. In the mean time, LindaJ at Life with Quilts and a Busy Boy Kitty asked if I would write up how I had made the Checkerboard Border quilt from a few posts back. So I dug into the stash and come up with the Elvis quilt top. I took pictures along the way but haven't written a tutorial yet. Maybe that should be a goal for next week, eh? The Elvis quilt will be gifted to DD's music teacher in June.

Pirate Booty

Look what came in the mail yesterday!

Pirate Booty!

Thanks Toni at The Quilting Pirate. I won her birthday/ Earth Day give-away and received all these wonderful things in the mail :)

I LOVE give-aways....ummmm...maybe I should host one since I'm nearing the 100th post mark...ummmmm....

HAPPY MAY DAY!

Sweet P at Coffee Time Quilt Studio had suggested taking a photo out your kitchen window on the first of each month as a way to keep track of the seasons. Here is my backyard photo for today. The ponds have leveled off and the 'river' has dried but more rain is predicted for overnight and into tomorrow.

DD gave me some bulbs last October for my birthday and lookie here, the daffodils are sprouting up and beginning to flower. I guess I can grow some things :)



While we were waiting on DD's bus and DS to get home from school I was tossing the tennis ball to Daisy Dog. Can't you just hear her say, "Take the stupid picture already and throw the ball!"?

Since you made it this far in my post, here is the quilty picture. A girl-y 4patch. I finished the quilting yesterday and applied the binding entirely by machine (my Brother). This is a somewhat new technique for me that I am playing around with...it will be good on the donation quilts that get washed frequently.

Hope You Had a Nice MAY DAY!

Tagged! I've been tagged by Lori at Dakota City Quilter for the FLUFF FIVE.

Okay...here we go:

Five Things Found in your PURSE/BAG

• wallet
• cell phone
• surprise birthday party invitation
• JoAnn Fabrics flyer/coupon
• nametag (usually forget it on guild meetings so now I always have it!)

Five Favorite Things in my BEDROOM

• cross stitch picture made by DH's Grandma about 20 years ago
• baby doll from my sister
• basket cradle for doll that I made about 15 years ago
• green ceramic pitcher made by my Mom
• electric heating mattress pad...LOVE a warm bed :)

Five Things I've Always Wanted To Do

• travel to Hawaii
• travel to Alaska
• drive a Porsche
• plant a garden (it's a Wisconsin thing)
• own a horse (but I'm a city girl through and through :) )

Five Things That I'm Currently Into

• quilting
• blogging
• IM-ing (thanks FAB's for helping me :) )
• making lists
• Red Wings Hockey

Wow...I made it! If you would like to play along, consider yourself tagged. Leave a comment and I'll hop on over to your blog and check out your FLUFF FIVE :)