Gnome, Gnome, Gnome . . .

We spent the weekend making gnomes. They were so much fun. Each has their own personallity. We used this tutorial from Gingercakes.

I think someone in my house is going to have a hard time letting these go to their new homes for Christmas. He has enjoyed playing with them and they have had many careers so far. The receivers will get one well loved gnome.

Candle Mat Swap

My Candle Mat Swap arrived on the day after Thanksgiving!! I was so excited to receive my first "swap" in the mail. I got a nice card from my swapper with handmade snowflake ornaments. Another one of my most favorite things. Pictured above is the mat I received on the left and on the right is the mat, pin coushin and mug rug I made for my partner.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2010

Ms. Nelson's Wedding Blanket

Last spring my son's Kindergarten teacher got engaged to be married. The children were very excited and nervous at the same time. For some reason they all thought that this meant she was going to be leaving them - right away.

The time past and they realized that she wasn't going to leave them and then they all got really excited. They wanted to give her a party and a gift. I thought it would be nice to have them give her something that was a special piece of each one of them and something they created. I went to the school with some of the other parents one day and the art teacher was nice enough to let us use their art time to create these fabric squares of their artwork. Through their art you can tell the love that they have for her. She is a very talented and unique young lady. As a parent this is who you want your child to spend their day with.

She was married at the beach in October 2010 so we had the children draw an ocean wedding theme block. I put them together with some fabric of her favorite colors and then just quilted it with straight lines. This is the biggest quilt that I have attempted to quilt myself. It helped me to realize that it's not so hard after all and my first attempt at "designing" something myself turned out okay.

The children were very proud to present her with her gift and she was very touched. She said it was the best present she had ever gotten!

This quilt is very special so that is why I decided to share it in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2010.

Wonky Star

I had a big pile of scraps on the table so I thought it would be a good time to try a "wonky star". I have been wanting to and looking into the big pile it seemed like a good time to try with scraps. I will probably use is on the back of the quilt I made with these fabrics as a signature block.

I managed to get one of the iPad covers I had all set up put together. Maybe tomorrow will bring more. The weather is suppose to be sunny and low 70's. It will be a good way to end two weeks at the beach. We will probably spend most of the day outside in the sunshine.

The rain storm this afternoon chased us off the sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge. We managed to get back to the car before the rain started but we had to run most of the way.

Three for me . . .

We only have one more day at the beach and I have finished all three projects I brought. Tomorrow is suppose to be rainy so I will probably work on the iPad covers I have all set up ready to be put together so I will have something to keep my fingers busy.

It has been a very productive and relaxing vacation. I am already looking forward to next year!!

Made it by sunset . . .

I finished my second top by sunset today. It was a beautiful hot day here and a great way to end the day by cooling down and watching the sunset as I sewed the last few rows together. Now on to the third . . .

I can't wait to get started on it!

Vacation Count Down

We have been doing a lot of this . . .

and this every day . . .

and haven't done this for three days while the cousins were visiting.
Day five and the count down until the end of vacation has started. These blocks are all sewn together. Just have to finish squaring them up. Hopefully I will have them sewn together by bed time.

One Day, One Quilt

Vacation. . . there is nothing better than looking out into the ocean while you are sewing.

It was overcast and rainy our first full day at the beach so I spent the time sewing.

This is "Simply Squared" by Strip Happy in "Oz" by Moda. I love this fabric. It is so bright and cheery. Very fun like the beach, fast, and easy.

Amy Butler Sew-n-Tell Challenge

As soon as I read about the Amy Butler Sew-n-Tell Challenge I went right over to Amy Butler and found a free pattern for this "Cozy Scarf". Then I went to Fabric.com and ordered some of Amy Butler's Love Flannel collection to make these cozy scarves.

I can't wait to wear them and be "cozy". What a fun challenge! :) Thanks.

September Quilt

This weekend when I changed the sheets on the bed it was a nice cool sunny day that felt like Fall. I thought I should change the quilt on the bed. That and well, I have a few to choose from. This one is one of the very first that I made and one of my favorites. Many hours went into making all these bias squares.

Just in time for Fall . . .

Two weeks ago when we went to see Marybeth she surprised me with my Bali Pop quilt. I can't remember the name of the pattern right now but looking at the pictures it sure does look 'Fallish' and I have already used it several times to cover up with while watching TV and napping. My most favorite past time. I brought it right home and put the binding on it.

This quilt was a struggle to get through. The Bali Pop looked so enticing. I wanted to complete it right away but it was over 900 pieces and very time consuming. The steps were very monotonous. I even managed to put one of the blocks together wrong and didn't realize it until she pointed it out when she gave it to me. This makes it unique and solely mine. :)

My perseverance of course and Marybeth's talent paid off! It's a beauty and yet another that I will not be able to part with.

Inspiration

I read recently an article about inspiration and where we find it. I like to take pictures. There are many things that give me inspiration and beauty in nature and the places around us are one of them. I love being around water and people that I love.

I was visiting with my quilting guild at Marybeth's and this is the view of the bay from her deck. Water is always so peaceful and gives you a sense of calmness. There is nothing better than sitting and starring at a body of water on a sunny day.

I have been wanting to try making an art quilt, small quilt and practice my free motion quilting skills. This I accomplished all in this 9 x 11 quilt that I made. As soon as it was complete it got the "mommy this is beautiful can I put it in my room award!"

So guess where it hangs? In Jeffrey's Gallery.

Almost done . . .

I finished up the tops that I have been working on for two quilt-alongs that I have been participating in -KarrieLyne's Charm Pack Quilt-Along and Amy's Simple Sampler Quilt-Along.

I made them both out of scraps. For being "scrap" quilts I think they came out really nice. I still have so many scraps. I don't see an end in sight. Most of my scraps I had already cut into different size squares which made these projects easy because I already had "ready charms".

Now all I have to do is quilt and bind them so they will be complete. I added borders since my quilting assistant Jeffrey said "Mommy they need to be a little bit bigger to fit both of us".

These projects have been really exciting and fun. Since they were my first quilt-alongs it was exciting to see what was coming next. I also learned a few things too, which is always a good thing.

Back in the saddle again . . .

Finally yesterday after three and a half weeks of packing, moving, cleaning, moving, unpacking, cleaning and getting rid of stuff I was able to spend the day sewing! The new floors are beautiful and so worth the work that it took to have them installed. (They are pretty enough to put my blocks on to take pictures of them!)

I got caught up on two of my quilt-a-long projects. Today and tomorrow I am home so hopefully that will mean some extra sewing time to get all the way caught up. It's overcast so it's a stay in the house kind of day.

The Week In Review

The stay-cation has helped get some of the UFP's completed. This weeks completed projects -

4 pillow cases
two bindings sewn
22 nine patch blocks
iPad cover
15 whack-n-stack flowers
2 blocks for quilt-along with Amy
binding completed on 6 place mats

Three current projects are using scraps from my scrap bag - the nine patch challenge, quilt-along with Amy and I am going to do the charm pack quilt-along with the charms I have already made from my scraps. Spending the time to cut them up in to different size blocks has made these new projects fun and easy. I like no-brainers!

I was only under attach a couple of times this week. Jeffrey likes to be close and is a good helper in choosing colors and helping me make decisions. We also managed to fit in a movie, the library, the air and space museum, the pool everyday, a trip to Walmart, tae kwon do graduation, two tkd classes, two swimming lessons, one 4th of July celebration, and arrangements to have new floors put throughout the house. Going back to work will be like a vacation.

Week Three

Week three - look at me!! I got up extra early this morning to make blocks 5 and 6. I cut the fabric last night and put them together before anyone was awake this morning.

Being off this week it sure is easy to get sucked into all kinds of new projects. Of course the list already has too many on it.

Now I think I am going to join the Charm Pack Quilt Along at Freckled Whimsy. It looks easy, fun, and I have "charm" squares all ready to start from my scraps. Yes, there is a theme going here but I have a lot of scraps. :)

There is one more I am checking out too so I'll keep you posted.

A New Challenge

I got my newsletter the other day from one of my favorite fabric stores Capital Quilts. On page 7 of the Summer 2010 newsletter they had a Summer Nine Patch Challenge.

Easy summer sewing, complete one nine patch block a day for at least 45 days and you will have enough for a completed project. So I took these scraps and . . .

in just a few minutes I had nine blocks completed. Now I only have to do that a few more times and I will have enough to make a quilt top. Something so fun and easy that until someone suggested it I would have never thought of it!

They are hosting a show and tell Sept. 12th so you can bring completed projects to share.

My First Post

I am quilting along with Amy in her Simple Sampler Quilt-A-Long. This is two firsts for me - my first blog post and my first quilt-a-long. Yeah Me! :)

The blocks were super easy and super fun. I am making them all from my scraps. Some how I feel that if I use all my fabric down to the smallest piece it will make buying more justifiable. I love scrap quilts and I have been wanting to make a sampler quilt so this is accomplishing many things. Perfect for a multitasker like me.