A Lazy Sunday . . .

I love a three day weekend . . . every weekend should be a three day weekend!

There was much activity in the garden yesterday, more on that at the end.

This morning I crept up to the attic to sew for a bit.

I wanted to try Margaret's June block

from 15 minutes play.

Her instruction were great! Thanks Margaret!

I "made" my fabric in the monochromatic colors . . .

Cut them out as instructed and then went about finding a background.

I tried a few different fabrics, but they were all too busy.

I really like this darker green, it works well to contrast with the colors.

Can you see where I made the mistake???

It was laid out right in the photo above . . .

I sewed from my cutting table . . .

What the heck!

I'll make another, it was so fun!

I must have been daydreaming about the BBQ I'm off to this evening!

on another note . . .

I used to have two palm trees in my back yard.

They were a gift from a friend when we did our patio . . .

But, we had to drag them inside during winter and they were huge and sharp.

I decorated them for Christmas . . .

They stabbed people that got too close! And the dropped sap everywhere.

This year I said, "Let's see if they make it outside . . .

I would like a traditional Christmas tree."

The winter before was very mild, who knew I was tempting the Gods!

(Let me say I am not taking any kind of credit for our winter!

I just wanted a 'real' Christmas tree!)

Needless to say, the poor palms didn't make it . . .

They should really stay in Florida where they belong.

Although, I have to say, while they were here,

my terrace looked like a swank spa that I could never afford to go to!

And here is my fix to all the empty pots in my back yard . . .

Trees and shrubs that actually live in Connecticut!

And some flowers around the bottom for color.

I know the palms were sexier, but really, we all must

come to our senses sometime, am I right?

The peonies are in full bloom and I could sit next to them for hours.

I think I will have to snip one or two to put next to my bed

so I will have sweet dreams this week!

And this last shot is the pots next to my back door.

Yes that is a little pot of sand next to them.

The kid smokes and that drives me crazy!

KID PLEASE STOP SMOKING!!

There I said it, and for everyone to hear . . .

I hope you all have a wonderful

Memorial Day Weekend.

Please make sure that you thank everyone you know

who has served our country.

THANK YOU JESSICA AND DOUGLAS!

AND MY BIG JON!

Hooky . . . and not the crochet kind!

I played hooky today . . .

Well, maybe not technically hooky, because I took a vacation day,

and there was nothing sneaky about it.

Something tells me the sneaky factor makes it a little more fun.

So first up I took a nice long walk by the water . . .

It was kinda chilly and foggy, but really quiet and serene.

Then I headed to Katonah to lunch with a new friend.

It's so nice to get to know someone who is new in your life.

Everything is fresh.

From there I headed to the Quilter's Alley, because, well,

I was almost right there!

You can't play hooky and not have fabric involved!

I was pretty good, three yards all together . . .

I also picked up a quilt that Roxanne finished up for me.

My Zig Zag quilt! All Kaffe all the time!

I had Roxanne to an all over leafy pattern.

The back is pieced too and is kind of busy, but I love it!

I have the perfect polka dot all set for the binding.

Of course no day of hooky would be complete

without a little time in the garden.

The peonies are starting to pop!

I am so anxious to take in their wonderful fragrance!

The rhoddies are in full bloom too.

This is my drive way, makes me think of a quilt . . .

What did you do today?

Hope you had fun!

Metro Mod June Challenge Block

I loved the challenge for our June group quilt!

The NYC Metro Mod group decided on a bit of a twist.

Take two vintage blocks . . . one to keep to show what you started with . . .

and one to cut up and transform any way you want.

If you didn't have vintage blocks, you could make two of the same

and start from there.

This is what I started with, I made these, and was quite surprised

that I had some very old calicos!

So I chopped it up.

I used the seams as guides trying to space the cuts in a pleasing way.

Then I rotated the cuts.

I'm still a little too "organized" for some of this, but I'm getting there!

After I had this sew together I thought, hummmm,

needs more. And needs to be bigger! 12.5"

So I decided to chop pinwheels . . .

Now the end product is quite cute. I mixed in more modern fabrics and I just love the tiny pinwheel in the center. Would love to say I planned that, but you all know me better!

So here we have it, vintage and modern!

I can't wait to see what everyone shows up with!

One of my favorite things to do is go to the Metro Mod meeting!

Sunday in The City

I thought it was supposed to be sunny today!

No matter, I was off to the city

for a class in fabric crochet.

It was a four hour class and we had to do ALOT of prep work

before hand to make sure we were ready to really learn something.

I am making a basket. This is as far as I got, I thought I had enough

fabric prepared to make the whole thing! hahaha.

ROOKY.

The prep work was cutting yards and yards of fabric into

2" strips and then ironing 1/2' edges inward.

Yes, the prep work wasn't fun!

This class was at the City Quilter and Judy was our teacher.

I love to take classes and be with other quilters,

it's so fun to sew in a group. It's exhilarating to learn something new!

This group was focused!

We needed to concentrate on the counting and adding . . .

But there was some fun involved too!

This is Judy's basket and her class sample,

about an hour into the class I asked her how much she wanted for it.

That was met with lots of laughter, but no price.

So on I crocheted . .

I ran out of my prepared fabric as I finished the bottom,

but I have to say I am going to iron the million more strips

I have cut and keep going.

This is a fun basket and I want one!!

While I was happily crocheting away,

who happened to peak in but the

lovely Victoria!

She was out and about shopping with friends.

I think they did some damaged, but I didn't see a thing I promise!

hehehe.

I was a good girl, just two yards of dots for binding.

On another note . . .

The Daily News yesterday was very funny.

Poking fun at the end of the world

We are all still here and things seem to be okay.

Keep sewing ladies!

"Ugly" Fat Quarter

For our last Metro Mod Meeting, we exchanged "ugly" fat quarters

with the challenge to make them pretty.

I got this lovely piece of fabric from Helen,

which I don't think is ugly at all.

Look at all those wonderful colors!

Every color of the rainbow!

How could I go wrong?

So I sliced it up and put in some separating strips

Not too bad . . . but needs more.

So I sliced it the other way and flip flopped the strips.

I think I made it ugly. I did learn a few things.

I should have started with all different widths of strips with the fat quarter. I cut them all 2 inches to start with.

And I didn't need to put that blue border on the edges

before cutting and sewing everything together.

So what to do with it next?? I'll think on that a bit.

I took the plunge, let's see how this goes . . .

Well . . . I finally got the courage to do it . . .

I traded in my very old somewhat trustworthy HP lap top

for a beautiful MAC desktop!

It is quite funny teaching an old dog new tricks,

but I am up to the task . . . I hope.

I took a picture of the old and new side by side,

but can't seem to find it now to show you. hehehe.

Classes, more classes.

Besides getting used to the computer . . .

I have done a very little bit in the sewing room.

I cut mounds of strips for a class I am taking next Sunday,

this is just a peak, hopefully I will have something to show soon!

And I finished piecing the back for the

Metro Mod curved quilt.

I am so terribly sorry to Amy who has been waiting for it!

(Linking seems to be a problem, I guess more learning is required!)

So that's where I've been and where I'll be for a while.

Learning something new! What fun!

And looking at Blogger Quilt Festival Quilts . . .

I could sit for hours!

What are you up to these days??

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2011

Yeah! Blogger is finally working again!

A big thank you to Amy for putting together this

Quilt Festival!

Such a wonderful event for all of us to share our quilts. If this is your first time here,

WELCOME!

I hope you like what you see.

I am showing my Leftovers, it's what for dinner quilt

I made this quilt in a class I took at the City Quilter in NYC.

The class was about using all of your orphan blocks

and adding fillers to make a quilt top.

This type of quilt is not new to me,

when I started quilting at 14, my first quilt was

an orphan block quilt using all the blocks I had learned

in a class I took back then.

Then when I saw Victoria's Kitchen Sink quilt,

I was inspired to make another all these MANY years later!

This quilt was SO fun to put together,

It was like a big puzzle. I learned how to do partial seams in the process.

One of my favorite blocks is this toppling tree. And it gets the most press too!
Some of the blocks were given to me by friends . . .

Some I made just for this quilt, and some came from classes that I took

where I only made the one block.

I pieced the back with some mermaid fabric I was given.

I really love a pieced back, kind of makes it two quilts in one!

For the quilting, I used a variegated thread and stitched in the ditch.

That was a bit of a puzzle too. I made it a game to see how far

I could go twisting and turning before I ran into a seam I had already done.

So that is my Leftovers quilt.

I hope you all enjoy the Festival and thanks to Amy!

Another Sunday

It's been two weeks since I had anytime to sew . . .

So I was happy to steal a little time in the attic this weekend.

Why is it this time of year gets so busy?

It just seems like the garden starts to bloom and the calendar fills up!

Not that I'm complaining at all, I am so glad that we can sit outside

and enjoy the sunshine.

But . . . I do love to sew. I need to figure out a way to get rid of the job. hehehe

I made a signature block for Victoria's quilt . . .

This is going to be a beautiful quilt when it's done, such a great idea!

It's on it's way tomorrow V!

Then I set to work on our NYC Metro Mod quilting bee block.

This month is Earamichia's block and it was SO FUN.

She sent us these fabrics (and I added one), with the instruction to
depict earth, wind, fire, and water.

I was a little nervous, this is my first quilting bee,
and when you get a package of beautiful fabrics to use, you don't want to mess it up!
These were just perfect for this bee block.

For the curving water part, I needed to practice first.
I can do a New York Beauty with no problem,
but this kind of organic curved piecing is very new to me.
The pink and green on the left was my first attempt.
TRAIN WRECK!
My second attempt was sooo much better.
I am definitely a learn by doing kind of girl!

* * * * * * * *

Here are a few of the things that have kept me busy
and away from my sewing machine . . .

My wonderful garden is really waking up!
That is my beautiful peony bush, it has grown a foot and a half in two weeks!




And this is a taste of my crazy weekend with my Mom
and Aunt Betsy!

We watched the Royal wedding together, (at 4:30am ug!)
My Mom made us these fabulous hats,
she's very crafty and creative!
I wore mine with the flowers in front, why hide the beauty?
And she bought us engagement rings at Micheal's.
They were hilarious!
Actually they looked really great, and I wore mine to work
the following Monday, to much hilarity there too.

We don't look too much alike do we? Haha!

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and a wonderful weekend.