(No~this isn't me or DD~just a cute girl on an Inchworm riding toy that popped up when I Goggled
I pieced the sub-units to the outer borders earlier today. Next up is to work on putting these units together. I'm making this a twin size and I had forgotten when you add more blocks for a bigger than lap-size, it takes an equally longer time to sew and finish.
No sewing fairies live in my sewing room so the tops don't magically get sewed into flimsies while I attend to the more mundane household chores.
First stop: Packaged up the QOV quilts and pillowcases for Alycia. Had to smile when I saw what moving box I had picked up...that's right....Fabric from the sewing room! and this time there are quilts in it! :)
Sewed the binding back and the label on this 'softer' QOV Panel quilt today. As I type this, it is in the washer. Another step closer to mailing my QOV's to their 'Forever Homes'. :)Goals for next week:
While I was playing at making another placemat purse, Baby suffered another injury. Top on the list will get her to the Baby Doctor. She just can't seem to sew through the many thicknesses of the seams on the placemats. My old Elna used to sew through absolutely any thickness. I think I either need to find a 'tougher' sewing machine or 'give up' my placemat purse additions. Any ideas on a 'tougher' sewing machine?! because, of course, I can't have too many placemat purses now, can I? LOL
Here is my Blueberry Cheese Spread on the design flannel.
I made three more QOV pillowcases bringing my total to seven.
DH was interested in *seeing* Valerie do some sewing, so I pieced together this *softer* red/white and blue flimsy. I saw a quilt that I used as my model on Alycia's blog, quilt here. This panel is a piece of fabric I brought at Hobby Lobby when it was marked down to 75% off. I finished the outer border this morning then loaded the top and back this afternoon. 
Tonight after dinner, I sewed a few rows using the popcorn pantograph. Hopefully, tomorrow I will finish the quilting and perhaps get the binding made and sewn to the front. Maybe one more pillowcase, too. :)
I decided to make 4 wonky star blocks to send to Tia (she provides an APO address to mail the package to...and I'll need a customs form, too). I had just enough of the black multi-colored stripe fabric to make the 4 blocks. The center is actually black with multi-colored polka dots. I decided on this Bushfire Quilt Project because my stash tends to be brights, novelties and, lately red, white and blue. Also I wanted to try the wonky stars without making a entire quilt from the stars. Making these blocks as a helping hand is a good fit for me! :) Goals for next week:
Next Saturday, the FAB's are having a virtual sew-in and I need to prepare for that. This time we will be making the Cheese and Crackers pattern from Atkinson Designs. I was thinking about making mine with scrappy blues and a cream background. I also want to prepare the quilts to send to Alycia for her 'No Soldier Forgotten' Quilt Challenge. I always seem to wait forever before making labels then sewing them to the quilts. I wonder why that is?
I finished stitching back the binding last night and snapped this photo. Sorry for the poor quality but it was late and the light isn't so good in the family room. :)
Here is the 5th in a series of quilts using r/w/b 2.5 inch strips. Our sewing workshop is Thursday February 12th. For this pattern I followed Kairle's Strip Tutorial here. I was trying to think of an interesting name for this quilt but all I could come up with was 'the S5 Quilt'. When you follow the tutorial, you SEW 6 strips together, SQUARE the block to 12.5 inches, SLICE on the diagonal twice, SHUFFLE the triangles and SEW 2 of the quarter triangles together to get an 8.5 inch (unfinished) block! S5! Each 12.5 inch block yields 2 ~ 8.5 inch blocks. I was getting a little low on lights but, thankfully, I found the leftovers from this quilt here and I was back in business. I was a little worried as the exposed edges are bias. I used magic sizing and while I did have some stretching, I was trying to be careful! I still have the binding to sew to the back yet.
Inkblot was on the table and I didn't feel like changing out the panto so, inkblot is on this quilt, too. :) I'll probably use inkblot on the next quilt, too. The big open quilting leaves the quilt soft and cuddly.
...to finishing Mike's T-shirt quilt. I completed the quilting this afternoon using the Inkblot panto from Willow Leaf Studios. Next up: trimming, making the binding and sewing it on! Mike chose black binding to match the outer border.
Here is a close up of one of the t-shirts.
This weekend I 'stole' some time in the sewing room and I made this purse. Yes! It's another placemat! I had the handles in the sewing room so I opted to use them. I didn't have any matching grosgrain ribbon for the handle tabs so I made the tabs out of some purple fabric scraps.
I also made a Valentine for Connor. (His address is in this post) and mailed it on Monday. I already had the Fast2Fuse cut to shape so all I needed to do was dig into the red scraps to make the background then into the 'already fused Moda Marble' scraps and woohoo! a postcard ready to mail in about 10 minutes! Goals for next week:
This week is the day guild meeting, so I need to prepare for it. We will be hosting a workshop using the r/w/b 2.5 inch strips. This meeting will be *the ending* of my fascination with all the different patterns that can be made with 2.5 inch strips! well...maybe not *THE END* but I am going to take a break from the 2.5 inch strip club and focus on other patterns.
First up: I was able to finish sewing the binding back on the scrappy r/w/b rails. This project is just what the Quilting Doctor ordered. Mindless sewing and a pretty quilt at the finish. I only have about 1 1/2 yards (and miscellaneous strings/crumbs) left from the blue Moda Marble Stars, which should be enough for the outer border and binding on one more QOV. Pretty amazing how fast the fabric does get used at times. This was a 10 yard bolt at the end of September 2008!
Here is a close-up of the Inkblot panto. I really like how this turned out.
Last up: I washed and seamed the backing for the t-shirt quilt and was able to load both the front and the back today. I was hoping to practice Inkblot on another quilt but this one is ready to be quilted. So this one, it is.
Today is better, sewing wise that is. In between working on laundry, I have been quilting and this is your sneak peek of my new panto, Inkblot. At 12 inches, it just about maxes out the throat plate on Valerie. I need to be careful when advancing my rows. One row I didn't advance quite enough and I has 'skinny' loops on the bottom row! This panto is big but it is a good study for me in following large loop-y curves with Valerie.
After the pink bobbin thread ran out (which was like two rounds), I took the bowl off of Bella and did some piecing.
To warm up, I made this fabric postcard just like Mary's. I even used the same crystals which I didn't realize until I just looked up her post. I forgot Bella only has three sizes of the zigzag stitch...micro, big and even bigger. I selected 'big' and went around the perimeter twice. I was planning on sending this card to a boy in Jefferson, Wisconsin that has cancer and is collecting postcards. Unfortunately, I have misplaced his information. If anyone knows the link or his address, will you please e-mail me so that I may mail this postcard to add to his collection? Thanks in advance for your help. I did try to Google it but I came up empty, perhaps I was using the wrong wording?
Then Bella and I pieced this blue backing for the r/w/b rail fence. I am a little concerned as it seems to be a stretchy almost seersucker material with a blue metallic thread running through it. I was so excited to find it on the clearance rack that I guess I just got it without *really* looking at it. Cross my fingers that it works okay! As you can see, it is already loaded. I only need to wind some bobbins for Valerie and oil her up and will be ready to give my new panto Inkblot a whirl. 
With temperatures above freezing over the weekend, the snow has started to melt. I actually snapped this picture on Sunday morning but was busy the rest of the day.
I was making snacks for our Super Bowl watching. A tradition in our home is that on Super Bowl Sunday, we have Super Snacks for dinner! You can see that the elves have already gotten into the pizza. DS cooked the pizza and the bread. I made cocktail wienies in the crockpot, some veggies, a taco bean dip (which I forgot to put out...duh) and spinach artichoke dip from A Year of Crockpotting. The spinach artichoke dip was really good although I skipped the jalapenos. Stephanie (the author of this blog) is suppose to be putting together a cookbook containing all the recipes she tried over 2008. I'm going to be watching for that...it should be a good cookbook! We also had cheesecake and brownies for dessert. This was definitely a day to forget any diet plans.
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter. Drats. Bummer. Brrr.Goals for next week:
I'm not sure how much actual piecing I will get done as Baby is at the Doctor and Bella (the Janome Gem) might struggle a bit. I will have to sew with Bella and *see* how it goes. Now to find Bella's extra bobbins...wonder where they are?!
