The Uh-Oh! Moment

Ever have an *Uh-Oh* moment?

I did yesterday when I realized that I will be gone all next week and I have projects with deadlines!

UH-OH!

Pedal to the medal and I worked on one bag of fabric from the Operation Snuggles co-ordinator, Barb.  I orginally received two bags at Lake Country Quilt Guild in May.  Since Lake Country breaks for the summer~we were told to make our quilts and donate them wherever we wished.  Cool.  At the June meeting of the Oconomowoc Quilt Guild~they announced they will be collecting Operation Snuggles quilts in July!  WAIT! WHAT!  uh-oh.

Bag number 1 contained various novelty fabrics.  Cool.  Right up my alley. 
Bag number 2 contained all sorts of blues. Cool.  I stole some blue from Bag 2 and added it to the contents of Bag 1 then fussy cut the novelties, added a few novelties of my own and some framing strips...

TA-DA!  The Bag One quilt flimsy.

Stay tuned and see where I end up with Bag 2...to be continued...

Friday Finish June 29, 2012

I finished sewing the borders! Now it's a flimsy and moved into the *to be quilted pile once a back is made* pile.  :)

Block directions are from Alycia found here.  I don't think this block/quilt design has a name yet.

I'm linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict today.

Whoop! Whoop!

New On The Design Space

When I saw these blocks on Alycia's post~I knew that I wanted to try them.  :) 

I was all set to figure out how Alycia made the blocks when she emailed me and said~WAIT! I'm going to post the directions~ her block directions are found here. Cool and many thanks Alycia!  Many of you know Alycia through her endless love and work for Quilts of Valor in her home state of Colorado.

So, I dug back into my pile of red, white, beige and blue looking for 2.5 inch strips.  I used 12 each of the red, beige/white and blue strips.  This gave me 24 blocks.  At the end, I needed one additional blue block.  I made my blocks two at a time plus the one loner at the end.  :)  I decided to keep the red/blue as the inner/outer and place the beige/white in the center.   You know me~trying to make order out of the scrappiness of my sewing!

I made some blocks.

Then I made some more.

Before I knew it~the center of the quilt was complete!  I'm thinking about adding a black inner border. But for now, I'm thinking about it.  :)

Thanks Alycia for the directions for this block!

WIP Wednesday

WooHoo! 

I sewed my rwb modified rail to a flimsy!  Now the design wall is empty~just waiting for another flimsy project.

I.AM.EXCITED.   :)


pattern source:  I had seen something similiar with the white forming the steps down the  quilt but as I was searching for THAT picture~I realilzed that this quilt top looks a lot like the Planet Patchwork New Years Mystery.
Here are a few from quilters who participated: here, here and here. The last one you will need to scroll down to find it!





Funny side note: I have a stack of red and blue 4 patch leaders and enders that this Planet Patchwork quilt layout would work with....stay tuned...

Stash Update Week #26

Just for the records....

fabric added this week:  +2 yards
fabric added this year:  +125 yards

fabric used this week:  -8 yards
fabric used this year:  -141 yards

net fabric for the year:  -16 yards ~used~

What I accomplished last week:

bound Cher's Challenge quilt

Goals for next week:

sew rwb Modified rail to flimsy

A Mini-Stay-At-Home Vacation

I've had myself a little mini-stay-at-home vacation!  With DH and DS both working and DD away~I've been cruising the web and watching tv.  No sewing and just a little card making!  DD left last Saturday June 23rd.  She is with our church (Crosspoint Community) youth group on a Mission trip to York, Pennsylvania.  The trip is through Week of Hope.  I can hardly wait for her return on Saturday, June 30th to hear all about her adventures!

The next week~DH, DD and I will leave for our summer Michigan trip to visit his family.  :)  A *for reals* vacation...being away from home and everything!

In the mean time, I better sew a little as my design wall has been stagnant for three weeks! eh gads!

photo from Google Image search found here.

Summer 2012 *To Sew* List

Time to write down my Summer 2012 *To Sew* Wish List

Personal

1. bed quilt
2. place mats: July, August

UFO's

1. quilt expo kit 2011
2. quilt #1
3. blue ridge beauty
4. quilt #3
5. virginia bound
6. quilt #5
7. blue wicked easy
8. quilt #7

Donations

1. quilt for Margaret's Hope Chest~need quilts for Prison Ministry July 2012
2. start on 12 in 12 Quilts of Valor~just a little behind here.  :)

I have a new goal!  Instead of making re-usable grocery bags I have decided to collect the plastic bags from the grocery store. When we help to distribute the bobbleheads at the Milwaukee Admirals games, fellow fans appreciate bags to put their multiple bobbles in. So in a sense, I am recycling!  Usually there are about 5000 bobbles to give away.  WOW! That's a lot of Piggly Wiggly grocery bags!  :)  Here is my group of bobbles from last season...

HaPpY SuMmEr SoLtIcE!

Happy Summer Solstice!

google photo credit here











Time to review my Spring 2012 *To Sew* List

Personal

1. bed quilt...me! Thinking about this one!
2. Mr. Hezzie Done!
3. Hockey Paul Done!
4. Fishie Done!
5. grocery bags not done
6. Cher's Challenge Done!
7. Admirals'  garden flag Done! 
8. Placemats: Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, July, August, Sept. May/June combo Done!

Add on's:

    9. Sputnik Baby Done!
   10. Keagan Baptism Done!
   11. Brewer's garden flag Done!

UFO's

1. cub pals' Done!
2. red work Done!
3. quilt expo kit 2011
4. quilt #3
5. blue ridge beauty
6. quilt #5
7. virginia bound
8. quilt #7
9. blue wicked easy
10. quilt #9

All in all, a pretty good run at it!  Knocked off a few UFO's and completed quite a few on my sewing wish list for Spring 2012!

WIP Wednesday

I finished my Cher's Challenge quilt.  woohoo!

I quilted it with the Bubbles panto from Lorien Quilting.  My bubbles are a bit more organic aka wobbly than the pattern...

Here is the link to Lorien Quilting but I found it on sale at Sew Thankful.  :)

What's on the Design Wall

Not much has changed except that I have finished all the modified rail blocks. 

Next up: sew into a flimsy!

Stash Report Week #25

I was trying to put this off as long as possible as my Connecting Threads ordered arrived.  HaPpY!

fabric added this week:  +20 yards
fabric added this year:  +123 yards

fabric used this week: -6 yards
fabric used this year:  -133 yards

net fabric for the year:  -10 yards ~used~

HaPpY!   more out than in, still!!!

What I accomplished this week:

pieced modified rail fence blocks
embellished Row quilt
finished butterfly backpack
quilt the Cher Challenge quilt
made garden flags

Goals for next week:

sew binding on Cher Challenge quilt
piece modified rail to a flimsy

That's all for this week.  DD is getting ready to leave Saturday June 23rd for a 7 day mission trip to York, Pennsylvania with our church youth group.  Almost all of my free time will be spent shuttling her between her summer activities and last minute shopping for her trip.  :)

Here are the Connecting Threads goods.  :)  Now onto the washing, pressing and storing.

Friday Finish Week # I'm Not Sure...

I finished sewing my butterfly backpack.  Think it will hold the kitchen sink!  lol.  I think it is tooo big for an everyday purse but when at a quilt show~it will be able to handle the goods!

Inspired by the June color challenge from Vicki/ Judy.

So~how'd I do?


I'm linking today to:

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

Whoop!Whoop!

My Row Quilt

One of my UFO's is this row quilt.  My bee from Bear Creek Quilt Guild exchange the rows right before I moved about 5.5 years ago.  My dilemma was that I didn't think I wanted to make the extra rows and my home didn't have enough wall space for the full rows.

So I (finally!) took my seam ripper to the rows my bee-mates had made me and shortened them into this wall hanging.  I am happy that it is done but I only wished I would have quilted it better or perhaps, send it to my friend Paula that has quilted my bee-mates quilts! ands Thanks to Paula for remembering *who* made which row!

Orginal paattern by Sandy Brawner of Quilt Country can be found here.

My Garden Flags

A couple of sport teams tshirts, a little fusible interfacing, outline quilting and a little fabric for binding/tabs and ta-da! 

New mini garden flags!

The Brewers-front.  I purchased this kid's tshirt at Goodwill for $2.99.

The scrap backing.

The Admirals-front.  This tshirt was gifted to me.  When I tried to return the extra tshirt- I was told to keep them and make whatever I want.  :)

I can hardly wait for hockey season to start back up!  C'mon October!

The scrap backing.

On the Design Wall

I started this modified rail fence thinking that it will be my summer bed quilt.  Unfortunately, this quilt keeps telling me that it wants to live elsewhere.  :( 

HUSH!  you will be mine!

NO!  I belong to someone else....

Do your quilts do THAT?!  Talk to you. Let you know where they want to live?  The quilts I make usually win any arguments we have.  :) 

Looks like I will *need* to find another red, white and blue quilt that will be happy here at Bell Creek Quilts.

Stash Update Week #24

Ummm...no finishes this week and I went shopping.  A bad combination  :(

fabric added this week:  +4 yards
fabric added this year:  +107 yards

fabric used this week:  0 yards
fabric used this year:  -127 yards

net fabric for the year:  -20 yards ~used~

What I accomplished this week;

pieced Storytime Squares to a flimsy
pieced Barnyard to a flimsy (really stretching here!)

Goals for next week:

work on Butterfly backpack
work on Garden flags
work on Cub Pal's wall hanging

It's FRIDAY Already?!

Where did my week go?  and today is DD's last day of 7th grade! the time is zipping and zooming by...

On Monday afternoon, I pulled out a few flimsys (or is it flimsies? or maybe even flimsiii?), in any event~I was seaming backings and putting them in the queue to quilt when the spirit strikes.  Not very exciting, I know but necessary.  :)

I had left out this barnyard panel trying to decide on a border.  I pulled the stripe out of the flimsy box~I must have thought I could use it somewhere...maybe a binding...who knows~  When I threw, er~gently placed~it...it landed on the barnyard panel and I thought, 'Hey, that might work' .  So I sew it together, seamed a backing and queued it.

On Tuesday, I fused a couple of tshirts.  The butterflies are going to be a new summer purse/backpack and the Milwaukee Admirals and Milwaukee Brewers will become garden flags. Thought I took a before photo~guess not...sorry :(

On Wednesday, I started sewing the butterflies.

OH NO!  talk about yuck!  I mis-cut and tried to selvage it.  maybe not!

On Thursday, I went shopping.  + 4 yards

I also decided to dig into the box of blues and make backings for the garden flags.  I then 505 them and they are currently drying.  They will get a simple straight stitch on Baby for quilting.

This morning,  a much better center panel.  :)


and this ends the school year sewing. 

Up next~summer sewing.  But truthfully, there are a few items I need to finish even though DD is out of school....maybe she'll sleep in!  LOL!

Design Wall Monday

Last on the design wall is a quilt top that will go to Carin and Carol over at Margaret's Hope Chest.  They are looking to gather children's quilts for their Prison Ministry this summer.  You can read more about the quilt drive here.  I change the pattern a wee bit since I had a stash of 6.5 inch cut novelty squares.

I first saw the pattern at Katie's Swim, Bike, Quilt blog. The original pattern is called Storytime Squares by Rae and can be found here.

Stash Update Week #23

I brought backing material and had a few finishes.  Not too bad considering it seemed like I spent the better part of the week in the kitchen baking for my daughter's 13th birthday.

fabric added this week:  +4 yards
fabric added this year: +103 yards

fabric used this week:  -6.5 yards
fabric used this year: -127 yards

net fabric for the year:  -24 yards ~used~

What I accomplished this week:

bound Redwork 9 Patch ~an UFO!~
quilted and bound the Impromptu Quilt
pieced Cub Pal's Wall Hanging to a flimsy (you need to scroll to see it)

Goals for next week:

quilt and bind Cub Pal's Wall Hanging
continue to work on Spring 2012 *To Sew* List

The Impromptu Quilt

All bound and labeled~although incorrectly!  I just noticed that I inked in today's date and not tomorrow's.  :(  
Kinda of a big wort!  :)

Close only counts when you are throwing horse shoes, grenades and atomic bombs.  :(

I tried my hand at free motion quilting with Valerie.  Her new wheels sure are smooth~operator error~now that's another issue altogether. My loops in the border started out a little weak but got stronger at the finish. My stippling I frogged and went with a plan B. My olive's need a ton of work and Thank Goodness for my friend Maureen! (here and here)  She once told me that if you can't sew around something straight then sew around it a couple times...then the outline stitch will *look* like it is suppose to be wonky. 

See, Maureen! I listen even when you might think I'm not!  :)

Getting ready to put this in the washer and see what happens. :) Good Luck! 

Where I've Been...

...in the kitchen of Bell Creek Quilts!

My daughter's 13th birthday was Thursday!

On Tuesday night, she decided that it would be nice to take brownies to BOOK CLUB on Wednesday after school.  So on Wednesday, I go to the Piggly Wiggly, buy the brownie mix, make the brownies, frost the brownies, deliver them to school in time for BOOK CLUB and pick her up after her meetings~Student Council also met on Wednesday.


Wednesday after school, DD thinks it would be nice to share chocolate covered pretzels with SPANISH CLASS on Thursday.  After dinner, off to the Piggly Wiggly to buy the necessary ingredients.  It was touch and go for me~but we finally ended up with enough chocolate covered pretzels. She was on sprinkle detail.  :)

Thursday is the BIRTHDAY!  wake up, make the cake, frost and decorate the cake.  Never did take that Wilton class.  Maybe I should make that a priority!  tee-hee.  :)  We went out to dinner, then to Wal*mart, back home for presents and cake.





Friday: Friend's Sleepover Party.  DD asked for a Brownie Pizza.  We had gotten the supplies at Wal*mart so I bake that, clean the house~the stamping room never did come together until yeasterday~pick DD up at school, clean some more, decorate her brownie pizza.  Just about then~the friends started to arrive!  Made a real pizza run for dinner.

Saturday~I am actually in the sewing room.  We are going to a friend's children/grandchild combination party. Two of his kids were Confirmed last week~they are like 13 months apart in age!~and a grandson is going to be baptized on Sunday.  Right an impromptu quilt for the baby. After all, DD wants to *know* what is a baby going ot do with 20 bucks?! I am working on binding and laundry.

Just taking a blogging break... :)

Earlier in the week I did managed to make a decision and sew the border onto my Cub Pals' Wall Hanging.  I made the back, too so all I need to do is quilt and bind.

Valerie also got her tune up and sexy new wheels.  Can Edge Rider Wheels be sexy?!  I think so!

That is where I've been this week!  :)