January's AYOS and 3rd Finish for Year

It was a little difficult at first trying to get my neighborhood quilt basted.  All my animals think anything soft on the floor is for them.  I got the dogs away, but the cat took a little longer.  Eventually I had the kids come take him and love on him so I could finish the basting.

 I was still trying to fight off my cold, so I didn't do much of anything other than sew at the machine all weekend. I quilted a little Friday night, all day Saturday, and all Sunday Morning. I took a little break in the afternoon to play some computer games then I stitched the binding on last night. This morning when the sun came up I went outside to take photos.  I really enjoyed quilting it.  I keep rubbing it.  It has some nice texture going on.  I so love this quilt!

I have been enjoying solid quilt backs lately that show of the quilting, so I went for a soft pastel blue for this quilt.  I love it!  It showcases the quilting beautifully

One more photo.  It's hard not to take lots of photos of things you like. 

Have I told you yet that I love this quilt?

 :)

Belle always likes to be close by.

Also,  this is my 300th post.  Wow I didn't even realize I had that many posts.  I originally started this blog three years ago come April as a means to keep out of town family and friends updated on what I was working on.  Along the way I have found many more new friends.  Thank you all so much for stopping by and reading about my little crafting world.  It has been wonderful to read all your comments and get to know so many of you through the internet.  Here is to another 300 posts!!

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Around the Neighborhood

I spent most of my day at the sewing machine today.  I have a bad cold and figured I could either be miserable on the couch or miserable at the machine.  So I picked the machine hoping to make the day go by faster, which it did, and I got my top done for the first project of Another Year of Schnibbles.  The pattern this month is Full House, but I choose to do the Around the Neighborhood Version shown on Carrie's website.  I used two Frolic charm packs by Sandy Gervais and some Kona White.  I was 4 charm squares short for the cornerstones in the border so I used some brown from my stash to finish it up.  I already have an idea of how to quilt in the white so I need to find a good backing and get this top basted.

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2 Shirt Quilt Tops Complete

Only 4 more to go.

Since these quilts are going to Aunt Darla's kids I asked her which background she preferred for these 9 patches.  She chose the black so that is what I went with.  I must say I like how it turned out.  This top was made entirely out of shirts except the thicker outer black border.  I used all the solid colored shirts for this one and will make one more top similar to this one.

This next one had been almost done for a while, I just needed to add the piano key border to it. Which I did a couple weeks ago, I just hadn't gotten around to taking a picture of it.  It is made entirely of the shirts.  Even the off white sashing was a shirt.

I am going to make two tops more with a mixture of solid shirts and stripped shirts, and if I have enough strips left over the final one will be another string quilt.

I am getting excited seeing some actual progress on these tops.  Taking apart the shirts and cutting them up into all the shapes I needed has taken awhile so it is fun to see some good progress.

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Mini Vacation

Not much sewing went on this weekend.
We went down to the beach to celebrate my son's 12th birthday. 

 We spent the night in one of the hotels on the beach and enjoyed all their pools-both indoor and out. The weather was pretty nice for January, it was in the low 60's but the outdoor pool water was freezing!  That didn't stop my kids from jumping in though. Their cousin came to swim with us too and they all took turns jumping into the freezing water and then hopping in the hot tub.
They said they want to join the polar bear club.

I only caught toes as my youngest went under but I really like this photo.

We were on the 11th floor and we had a great view of the the 10th floor outdoor pool.

Here all the kids lined up and planned to jump in all at the same time, but three chickened out. They eventually all jumped in one at a time and the then immediately hit the hot tub.

View from our balcony.

 

Later on we took a walk down the board walk.  I am definitely not a professional photographer, but I wanted to try some trick photography.  My son is "holding" his siblings in this photo, but I either ended up having him blurry or them blurry, I couldn't seem to get them both in focus at the same time.  But it was fun to try and it was something I didn't have to beg the kids to pose for. 

It was as super short vacation, but it sure was fun! Definitely a great birthday present enjoyed by all.

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FQSQA #9

#9

Done early this time around.  I like this block.

FQSQA #7 & #8

These are the latest two blocks for the Fat Quarter Star Quilt Along.  I really like this first one,

#7

#8

This second one I am not liking so much.   To me it just look like a messy arrangement of colors.  It is hard for my eye to focus on the star.   The block was suppose to have dark fabric squares in the corners but I omitted them hoping to tone down the craziness of the block. Perhaps I didn't pick the right colors for this pattern.  I am thinking if I would have stuck with two color families (with a light and dark from each) I would like the block better.  I saw one on the flikr group done in shades of black and gray and it looked pretty good.  We shall see how it looks combined with all the others at the end.  If I am still not happy with it, I may just make a new one in shades of blue and green.

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60 Nine Patches

 I finished cutting up all the shirts except the two black ones and one white one.  I am not sure what to do with those two yet.  Perhaps I can use them for shashing if there is enough.  Out of the other 9 shirts I cut a bunch of 3.5 and 4.5 squares.  I took the smaller squares and made 60 nine patch blocks.  These will make two different quilts.  But I can't decide if I want to shash them with either white or black.  So I took a photo of them with both backgrounds to get a feel for what each one would look like.  Seeing them side by side I am leaning towards the black.  But my hubby said he thinks black is too dark so I am still on the fence.

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Cutting More Shirts

I have another pile of shirts to work with today.  Last night I pulled the buttons off a few of them and cut the seams off.  I have 8 more shirts left to prep.  My daughter offered to clip the buttons off the other shirts last night but I told her she better get a good nights rest for her exams.
This afternoon I will take her up on her offer.

This morning I started cutting into the shirts I trimmed up last night.  I need 3.5 and 4.5 inch squares to make a couple more quilts for my hubby's Aunt.

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Starry Eyed Quilt Top

Here is the whole quilt top.  Each block is 16 inches so this is a nice sized quilt.  I wanted the sun shining on the quilt, but I spent too much time this morning and afternoon doing my much neglected house chores and the sun had gotten too high in the sky and the space I normally use for taking my quilts photos was in the shade.  So I asked my hubby to hold it up in the front yard for me where the sun was shining.
 

But I didn't realize how windy it was.  It kept making the quilt top wrap around him or flare out.

We ended up laying it in the grass.

While it was on the grass, my hubby said, "I like this one."  I actually had to have him repeat what he said because very seldom do our tastes in quilts align and I had to make sure he was talking about the quilt that was laying on the grass in front of us.  Then I told him it was a Christmas quilt and he said, "Really?"  so I had to show him all the Christmas prints.  He said he still liked it.  :)

I have to work on another top for someone else before I can progress with this one, but I should be able to baste both of them at the same time.  I will keep you posted.

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I'm on a roll!

For my Starry Eyed quilt, each block only needed the outer row sewn on. I finished that up this evening and put the ones that would fit on my temporary design wall.  The others were on the ironing board, but they didn't stay there long.  I was excited to get this top done so I sewed all the blocks together!  I will take a picture of the whole top tomorrow when the sun comes up.

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2nd Finish of 2012

This is a my Le Petite project for December 2010.   It is a charm pattern from This and That quilt patterns by Sherri K. Falls and is called Butter Churn. 
It is now a finish and next Christmas I can lay it out on the table as a quilt instead of a flimsy.  

Funny thing is, when I first started the Le petite projects I was totally against buying precuts. Now, a year later, I LOVE precuts.  Oh how wonderful they are.  You get a wee bit of the whole fabric line and and all the fabrics play well together.  And if you can find them on sale you can get them for the same price as regular yardage.  I am definitely sold on precuts and my favorite patterns are the ones that use the entire precut with no scraps left over.  So far all the Schnibbles I have made seem to do just that.  

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Diamond Star Finished

I finished the binding on my Diamond Star quilt last night. You can see the sun shining through the quilt on the right. I was going to take a picture in the morning, with the sun on the front of the quilt, but it was tooo cold. I am not use to 20 degree weather.  So I waited for things to warm up late this afternoon.

This was one of my oldest UFO's.  When moving things around to fit the Christmas tree in the front room, I found a notebook that listed some of my projects start dates and goals.  This quilt was on the list as being started in April of 2002.  I originally started it as a birthday gift, but it wasn't done in time, so it got put on the back burner as other projects took precedence. I think I will wrap it up now so it won't be late this year.  :)

I will have another finish tomorrow, I did some quilting today and just have a few more binding stitches left on one of my small table toppers.  So far 2012 is off to a good start.

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Finishes in 2011

I orginally wanted to post this collage on Dec 31, but I decided to go out of town on the spur of the moment so my blogging schedule got a little out of whack, so here it is a few days late. 

 A year of finishes for 2011.

These are all the projects I made from start to finish.  7 of these were part of the Le Petite Challenge that ran from the fall of 2010 to the fall of 2011.   2 of my quilts won ribbons this year- a first for me and  I was super excited about that.

I am impressed with myself for accomplishing so much in 2011 and I plan to be just as productive for 2012.  I even have a jump start.  I just need to add the binding on the Diamond Star quilt that I quilted at Thanksgiving and I will have one finish in the bag.

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The Beach in December

Even though I have a few more projects I want to finish up before the end of the year, there was no quilting done today. With temps in the 60's, it was a perfect evening in to play at the beach. I drove down with the kids to pick up my dogs and decided to stay longer and check out the surf before heading home.  The water was cold, and I needed a jacket, but the kids had no trouble playing around on the shore.    

Merry Christmas



I made a couple other goodies this year for others.  The first I want to show off are these cute little candy sleighs.  I made some for my nieces and nephews and school teachers.  I saw these on the blog Ellyn's Place and just had to make some of my own.  They have a great tutorial there.  You can see it here.

Next I put together a circle Table Topper for my friend in TN. 



I had fun making this one.  It was my first ever circle quilt.  It is small 26 inches wide.  I used the the free pattern from Phillips Fiber Art that came on the back of the mini ten degree ruler I bought last month.

 I gave my sister and her hubby a basket of goodies that came with all the tools needed to make cake pops.  I also made her this spiffy apron to go with it so she could make them in festive style.  The apron pattern is a McCalls Pattern.  Working on the top neckline reminded me why I prefer making quilts instead of clothes, but I persevered and it turned out great.

Merry Christmas to you all!!

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Christmas Quilt

Merry Christmas Eve! 
My Christmas quilt has been delivered so now I can show it off. 

 I had these twelve blocks finished for some time, but never put them together.  I had the ideas a few years to turn them into three Christmas table runners, but then a better idea came to mind.  When I asked my mom what she wanted for Christmas all she wanted was a hug.  At first I told her I didn't know how to wrap a hug.  But then I figured if I put all these blocks together into a quilt she could wrap herself up in hugs from me all the time.   The idea came to me about two weeks before Christmas so I got busy sewing.

   This will be the first year I am not home for Christmas Eve.  I will be at the in-laws. So when she is missing me on Chrsitmas Eve she can wrap up in this Christmas Quilt and get a hug from me.  :)

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FQSQA #5 and #6

I played a little catch up on my Fat Quarter Star Quilt Along last night.
I was really only one block behind, but since the new block comes out today, this morning I would have been two blocks behind.  Now I am right on track.

#5

#6

Now I am off to check out the pattern for block #7.

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My First FNSI

A lot of the blogs I follow participate in Friday Night Sew In.  It is fun to watch all the new posts pop up on Saturday that show what everyone accomplished that Friday night.  This time I decided to participate and added my name to the roster.  My post is a day behind though since I spent most of Saturday with the family.
The project I worked on is a surprise for someone, so you just get a small preview.  I got a lot of progress done on it though, half the quilting is now finished.

You can check out all the other Bloggers and see what they did for FNSI here.

Melting Edible Snowmen

I saw oreo truffle snowmen on Laughs and Crafts 4 Mom and just had to make my own.  She posted a great tutorial on how to make them.  It was perfect timing too, because I had just been invited to my friend's house for a night of roasting hot dogs and marshmallows by the fire.  These roasting snowmen seemed to fit the theme for the night and they were a big hit.

I copied the layout from Laughs and Crafts 4 Mom almost exactly, but I ended up adding a few more snowmen since I knew there were going to be a lot of people around the fire who might enjoy munching on snowmen.  While I was making them I did have trouble with one head and smeared the black food coloring around, but I guess you could say he has soot from the fire on his head.

These were really fun to make and I still chuckle when I look at the photo.  

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Christmas Quilt

I may actually get this quilt done by Christmas if I can get the cats off it.

I basted some other projects tonight too, but those need to be kept secret just a little bit longer.

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