Sunday Projects #13

Such a busy day today!

There was walking, shovelling, lattes, maincures, laundry,

AND SEWING!!!

I finished quilting my Hard Candy quilt,

and I'm sure you are all sick of hearing

about it and glad it is almost finished!

Just sewing the binding on now.

This is the back. I love the diamonds.

Just as I was finishing up this quilting . . . .

Gidget arrived with her stash from yesterday's field trip.

She was ready to make her market bag.

Now Gidget knows how to sew, she has made quilts, I have seen them.

She cut all her fabric before she came to my house.

"This looks so small"


Hello! Mini Market Bag Instructions!

So Gidget set about getting started on her bag while I worked on
my commission quilt, (top done! yeah!)


I was only there for support if needed.
I realize I have issues with wanting to help too much.

The kid is laughing right now. She thinks I am a hover mother.
She is right.



Here is Gidget putting together the straps for her bag at my machine.
I had the exact twill binding she needed . . .
because, well, I save everything too and I just had it.

There was some seam ripping, some my fault . . .

There was much giggling and laughing . . .

"We should open a store together!"


There was this comment . . . .

"Well, I"m never doing this again! I'll just buy the damm bag!"
Hahaha, I should make some to sell her.




Here is the finished bag! She did a great job, only broke one needle on my machine.
(She ran over a pin, hahaha)


Gidget has great color sense. She got an "A" today.




on another note . . .



This is my terrace . . .
Those are my lawn chairs with about 15 inches of snow above the chair line.

Really?? Come on!!

And I think we are going to get hammered again this week.


Keep sewing and keep smiling!

49 days til spring.

Field Trip!

Gidget & I had a little field trip today.

We have cabin fever and needed to get out and see the world.

We started out at NEAT for a latte and raspberry danish from Sono Bakery.

YUM!

Then we headed to Ridgefield to the Quilter's Alley.

Gidget was like a kid in the candy store.

She has a pattern for a market bag she wants to make.

She got some cute bicycle fabric which I forgot to take a picture of.

Her mission is to get everything cut out

and then tomorrow

she will come over and we will sew together!

I'm sure there will be a story tomorrow . . . .

This is some of the wonderful fabrics that Roxanne and Stuart have in their shop.

Look at all those yummy colors!

That is the back of Gidget's head. She is still camera shy,

but at least she allowed some part of her body to be photographed today.

See that frame in the back of the picture???
That is a long arm quilting frame.

I dropped off my log cabin quilt to be quilted.
Roxanne helped me pick out the perfect pattern for quilting.
I can't wait to see it all done in about three to four weeks!
YEAH!


Need to decide on a binding now, I like to do that part.


I couldn't leave without buying any fabric myself!
I got the lavender for the backing of my commissioned quilt,
and the other two just because.

Where did you sneak off to today?

Are you trying to shake the cabin fever too??

Yarny Goodness

I am making great progress on my crocheted blanket.

It's about 75" wide and I'll just keep going until I run out of yarn!

The kid wants it to be long enough to cover her very

tall body, so I'll be yarning away for a while!

These colors and design were totally inspired by Lucy at Attic 24.

I love a "hand" project on days like today.

Snowy, cold, rain coming later.

Luckily it's getting just big enough to snuggle under while I work on it!

What are you working on to push away the winter blues?

Sunday Projects #12

Baby it's cold outside!!

I love that song . . .

Yesterday I met a friend for a latte in town,

I hadn't tried out this new place even though it's been

around for quite a while.

Look at how beautiful this latte is!!

I wish my quilting looked this good! Express Neat . . . my new favorite place!

And it tasted as wonderful as it looked.

Today I am trying to tidy up my sewing room.



I have a lovely railing around the stair case in the attic
that seems to collect all my quilt tops.



The kid has mentioned on quite a few occasions that I need to make these tops

into finished quilts. "When are you going to finish these?" "You keep making tops."

Do you think she wants to steal them away? Hahaha.
She always wants my quilts.



She is of course right, I need to finish these quilts and either use them or find them homes!
This log cabin quilt has been hanging around for a few years.

It is too big for me to quilt myself and until recently I hadn't found a place

that I trusted to do my quilts.

That changed last fall when I asked Roxanne at the Quilter's Alley

do a quilt for me.

She did a wonderful job.

Roxanne has a great shop in Ridgefield with a fabulous inventory!



So today I pieced two backs for quilts I want to finish.

One, the log cabin, will go to Roxanne next week, and the other,

my Hard Candy quilt, I will do this week.



I just bought some wool batting to try on my Hard Candy quilt. It is light as a feather.
I can't wait to see how it handles and if it is easier than the Warm & Natural I usually use.

What batting do you prefer?

Here are the two quilt tops and the pieced backs.



There are still about seven other tops on my rail that need to be finished!

Slow and steady wins the race right?





What did you work on today? Hope you are warm and cozy!

Workshop in Progess - January 19, 2011

Cheryl over at Naptime Quilter is hosting

Workshop in Progress!

This is an opportunity to show what you are working on

and get some feed back on questions you might have.

This is my first time participating in this workshop and I am thrilled to have the chance to get some wonderful advice from all of you!

I have been working on this commissioned quilt for a friend.

You can see how it started here.

She gave my free reign on everything!

It is a disappearing nine patch block made with all Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

It measures 59" x 72" right now, but needs to be a bit bigger.

It is a wedding present for a queen size bed.

So my dilemma is the borders.

I'm not big on borders, but I thought this quilt needed one to frame

all that delicious fabric.

So first off above, a three inch blue and 5" squares of the same fabric.



Then I added another three inch blue. Too heavy I think.

Why is this picture on it's side?

Anyway, then I tried the three inch blue strips with 3"blocks and spaced them apart.

I think it's still too heavy, but I like the idea of this. Maybe if I scaled everything down by half it wouldn't be so heavy???

This last shot is of the border at 1.5" with the 5" blocks. So far I like this, but I could really use some help here. And if you have another idea entirely, let's hear it!

I am open to anything.

Thanks again to Cheryl for putting this all together and hosting!

Sunday Projects #11

Sundays are so fun for me because I don't "have" to do anything.

I took a two hour nap today.

Then I felt like I really needed to get out and get some fresh air.

So I took a nice long walk.

I spied these funny icicles hanging off a tree with no noticeable water source.

Must be the last drops of water melting.

I think I have the winter blahs or blues.

It's been so cold I haven't been outside much.

I need more exercise and less eating . . .

Anyone feeling the same way???

After my nap and walk, I went to my sewing room.

Starting a new project . . .

Hahaha. I can't help it!

I want to do a pinwheel quilt. I am using all scraps that I have,

so the blocks are all different sizes.

I want to try piecing different size blocks together.

Do you see the block I put together the wrong way?

I'm leaving it. It will give the quilt character. Right?

I made some other spiking pieces, and I have some filler pieces.

I am still playing around with the placement of things.

I want to make a bunch more blocks before I settle on the design.

I have been having yarny lust for the things that
Lucy at Attic 24 has been making.

She has the most amazing color sense, in everything.
Her crochet is inspiring and her photos and stories of family life are so sweet.

I could just look at the basket full of color and be content.

But the other motivation is to keep the hands busy.

I need to make sure the hands don't have alot of time to feed the face!
I can't wait for spring!

What did you work on today?

SNOW DAY!!!

You can't help but feel like an 8 year old kid when you find out

you don't have to go to work!

Even better I had not one inkling to go sledding today.

After I dug out a bit and took the kid to the train . . .

(she had to work, you can imagine the looks)

I hussled up to my sewing room to get started.

I received Tonya's book, Word Play Quilts, right before Christmas

and haven't had a chance to try the letter blocks yet.

My first letter project was my name of course!

Four letters and not too hard.

I LOVED IT!

I can't wait to start a whole wordy quilt.

Now to decide what it will say . . .

Then I set to work on my disappearing nine patch commission.

I made all the blocks, 99 total

and laid them out on my guest bed.

It is looking mighty fine.

I actually pieced the whole top after I took this picture.

Now to figure out a border. It needs to be a bit bigger.

I'm so glad that for once I cut tons of fabric for this project.

I think I can make a whole other quilt!

I have a hard time giving away my quilts,

I'll want one for me too.

How did you spend your snow day?

Warm and cozy I hope.

Sunday Projects #10

Now that all the Christmas decorations are finally tucked away,

I can focus more on sewing.

My very good friend Barb has commissioned a quilt from me!

She is giving me free rein, but really liked Auntie Mo's quilt.

hint, hint, hint.

I've already made that quilt twice, so not really feeling the love on that.

I am going to use all the Kaffe Fassett fabrics that she loves . . .

but . . . I am going to use a disappearing nine patch design to put it together.

This is a very easy block to make.

There is a great tutorial here if you would like to see it in video form.

I really like seeing a video. I am a visual learner, you have to show

me step by step.

So after you make the traditional nine patch,
you whack it into quarters.

I am doing this quilt totally scrappy, but you can see how you could
really play around with color and pattern
to get a dramatic effect.


This is just kind of thrown together to show you the idea.

I'm sure I will play around with the layout when I have many more blocks completed.
The blocks sew up really fast.
Hoping this will be a quick quilt . . .
It was supposed to be done before Christmas. Hahaha!
Glad Barb is such a great friend, she knows my deadline issues.




I also finished piecing my Hard Candy top today.

You can read about this quilt here.
I have been working on it for a class and I needed it done for tomorrow!

Hard Candy was inspired totally from a quilt that Rita at Red Pepper Quilts made.

It's amazing how similar they turned out. I used 60* triangles,
and Rita used half square triangles.


I am still figuring out the quilting design.

It's quite bulky at the intersections, so I need to avoid those areas.

Any ideas???




Quite a productive day!

I even vacuumed up all those awful pine needles from the Christmas tree!

What did you work on today?

I was tagged!!

Very exciting!

Jan-Maree was tagged by Joyce for this award,

and now Jan-Maree has tagged me!

How fun is that?!?

Why don't you visit Jan-Maree's blog and check out her fabulous work.

Her colors are amazing.

I'm going to continue to share the award and name some fellow blogger firends who I'm sure would love your company also.

If you choose to participate, the rule are:

1. Tell your who tagged you.

2. Add a link to their blog.

3. Award 3-5 bloggers who you think deserve this award.

Inform them & post directions to your blogspot.

Please don't tag people who already have 300 followers.

The goal of this award is get more publicity to blogs that are good, but not so well known.

So in the spirit of the award, I am tagging

Mary, Jessica and Anna!

I hope you will check out their blogs and enjoy

them as much as I do!

Enjoy the weekend . . .

Sunday Projects #9

Well . . . .

More cleaning than sewing today I'm afraid.

You know, the "new year" get the cob webs out

kind of cleaning . . .

I did get the UFO top put together.

And I pieced the back too.

All layered and basted waiting to be quilted!


on another note . . . .




I went to see a fabulous movie yesterday.

The King's Speech.

I highly recommend it. Colin Firth is dreamy.
The whole cast is wonderful.
Anthony Andrews has a small part, he is one of my faves.
I see many awards in their future.


What did you work on today??

2011 Here I come!

I went for a really nice walk yesterday.

Contemplating the turn of the calendar.

I don't feel any differently today than I did yesterday,

but I think this time of year causes us to reflect.

It has been a tumultuous couple of years for me.

Life sometimes changes in quarter inch segments,

and sometimes it hits you in the face like a brick.

I got hit with the brick and since then

the quarter inches have been piling up.

I am grateful that I am ending the year in a better

place than I began it.

I think I have finally found my footing again.

So it is with great reflection that I have decided to

embrace all the "good" and the "bad" things that

happened in my life.

I now know that all of the events of my life have lead me to this point.

I think I can now accept them all lovingly, even the painful ones.

This is one of our beaches.
Something you may not know about me is . . .
I am a Justice of the Peace.


In Connecticut we are blessed to be able to have same sex marriages.

Two weeks ago at this beach, in the freezing, windy cold,
I married two couples, one both men, the other both women.

The joy of the day was overwhelming.
And so was the temperature!

What I took away from that day was the the pure love
these couples had for each other.
They were embracing something they had wanted for a long time,
but were not permitted to have.

It really made me start to think about all I have that I take for granted.




So for today, and hopefully all the days that follow,
I am going to look at everything with clear attention . . .
with presence of mind.
With gratefulness for everything in my life.

My friends. Old and new!

My daughter


My family.


My community.


My fabric. no just kidding, well maybe not.

I think I better sign off, it's getting alittle deep around here.