Sweat Shop Monday . . .

It was a jam packed fun-day today!

Gidget and the kid showed up for a sweat shop sewing day.

We usually start our day with a shopping trip to 

buy whatever we need or don't need.

We had to make a stop at Christie's Quilting Boutique!

Christie is always so welcoming and fun!

She has lots of fun things going on next Saturday for local quilt shop day.

Make sure to check it out!

Gidget and the kid found a few things to snap up!

Here is my stash from the shop . . . 

After a morning of shopping and a yummy lunch it was back 

to the Penthouse for an afternoon of sewing.

I was able to quilt this little beauty.

My LOVE swap for our guilds swap

with the Minnesota Modern Guild.

It's going to be hard to part with,

but I may just have to make another for me!

 Gidget worked on some scarves with a fun knit fabric she found.

Infinity and beyond!

It came out great.  Maybe she should start a business.

Hehe.

The kid was able to finish the top on one of her UFO's.

She loved how fast my Juki goes!

Me too!

Now she just needs to layer and quilt.

I also quilted my 2014 word from 15 minutes of play.

Now to sit and sew the binding.

I love sewing the binding.

A wonderful day with two of my favorite peeps!

Great way to start the week!  What did you do today?

A little bit of sewing . . .

I'm always relieved when the holidays have passed.

I don't know why . . . . I don't go over board on much,

just the eating part . . .  it should be the exercising part, but well, you know.

I do always try to maintain some sense of normal,

which means a bit of sewing squeezed in as much as possible.

So I am pleased that I was able to finish this baby quilt in one week.

It started last Sunday, before Christmas, at Earamicha's 

house with David.  

We decided to get together to have a little sweat shop sewing.

It was that very warm day, 70* in NYC, 

so yes there really was sweating!

I was able to cut and sew all the blocks for a disappearing nine patch.

Then this past Friday night, I cut them all up and laid them out.

I bit a sewing while watching a movie and it came together quick!

Sunday brought quilting.

Love my Juki!

And now a bit of binding before I hit the sack.

Here is the inspiration quilt I saw a few weeks 

ago at the Quilt Shop in Danbury, CT.

My quilt measures 30" by 38"

The original squares before cutting were 2.5"

This baby quilt is a donation for our NYC Metro Mod Guild.

Hope you all enjoyed your holidays and are relaxing too!

Too Much Fun!

I have been looking forward to today's festivities for weeks . . .

My two buddies came up from "the city" to sew with me!

David brought some fabulous Dresden Plates that he was given.

He proceeded to throw them up on a quilt that hangs in my kitchen.

They just dissolved into my quilt!

How fun is that!!

You haven't seen this quilt before, because it's going to be in a book.

But, I decided what the heck!

It's out there now, I'll give you a peek.

I'll do a full post on it's birth in a week or two . . . . 

These are the fabulous 100% polyester Dresden Plates.

All hand sewn.

David gave us each one to finish off and give back to him.

Are those my colors or what???

My great buddy Earamichia came up Saturday night

for some pre-game shenanigans, and boy did we have fun!

Alas, what happens in the Penthouse, stays in the Penthouse.

Here she is giving my new Juki a few fine tunings.

Nice to have a pro around to show me the ropes on my new darling.

David made him self at home, pondering what he would work on . . .

He also kept us in "stitches," he is a very funny guy!

E. layered two quilts!!!

I worked on my new baby quilt.

The mimosa's were poured.

The patterns came out.

  

E. made great progress on her DWR challenge;

Have you started yours yet?

Deadline is December 1st!

One of E's layered quilts.

Don't  you love it!

 David worked on his DWR challenge too.

He spent alot of time in that chair!

Hehe.  He would never cut it in a real sweat shop!

I finished the top on my baby quilt.

The block is from the Aurifil Block of the Month series.

I couldn't wait to jump on David's Dresden Challenge.

I love it!

So there you have it.

The most fun!

Sewing with buddies.

Laughing all day.

What did you so this weekend?

Sweat Shop and other little things . . . .

Yesterday was Veteran's Day.

Thank you to all of our service men and women

here and abroad!

And especially to my brother and sister-in-law who served together 

in Bagdad, met and fell in love!

One good thing came out of all of that!  

And so because we honor all of our service peeps . . . 

I had a day off.  

So did Gidget and the kid.

And a sweat shop commenced.

It was a slow start.  

We needed to shop for fabric for the kid's borders.

Then we had to stop at the Marshall's next door.

You can see where I'm going right?

There needed to be some easier projects to get this party started.

This little beauty I found on Pinterest.

And since I can never part with a scrap,

there were plenty to go around.

Gidget had a bag full of denim.

So she mixed it with my scraps.

Really cute.

We talked about doing one with all different

greens and some reds thrown in.

They go together pretty quickly. Fun and festive!

The kid finished her top on this black and red

scrappy trip around the world.

It came out great!

Now to layer and quilt.

I wasn't so productive.

First, I had a kitchen accident making lunch for everyone.

Scraped my knuckle on the cheese grater.

GROSS!

This is why you order in!

All is fine.  But I was traumatized! Hehe.  Not really.

 I worked on piecing together all the leftovers

from my scrappy trip around the world.

This quilt was finished last week.

A fun colorful  plaids and stripes quilt for a good friend

having a tough time.

She will do great!!

Love the colors.

The binding came out perfectly!

Don't you just love it when that happens??!!!

on another note . . . 

Over the weekend I was in Cape Cod and saw this totally cute mermaid.

I think I might have to try to make some of these.

And this little sign just make me chuckle.

Whatcha working on?

A Quilty Weekend . . . .

Even though the temperatures here have been mighty chilly,

I ventured into the city both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend.

First up, Our Metro Mod Guild Meeting.

Always tons of fun to see all my quilting buddies!

Three of our group quilts were on display.

So great to see them up close again.

This quilt was based on Stripes.

This quilt is our Cheddar quilt.

(Sorry the colors are so wacky in my photos)

This was our first group quilt,

Everyone brought a strip and we pieced them together.

Looks like the Princess and the Pea bed!

We also had our Kandinsky challenge up,

Just a couple more blocks to add.

For this challenge, Michelle cut up a color copy of the painting,

and each participant took a part and interpreted it in their own style.

It really looks remarkable in person.

Can't wait to see it all finished.

This is one of my faves from the show and tell.

Really cool.

You will be able to see all the show and tell 

on the Mod Blog in a few days.

As I was walking back to the train Saturday,

I saw this bar decorated for Mardi Gras.

Is it that time of year already??

Then onto Sunday's adventures.

David, Earamichia and I met to discuss ideas for

a challenge quilt we are collarborating on.

Many ideas flying and giggles thrown around 

and I think we have a great idea.  No pictures of any of that until June!

But . . . as we were lying around the floor contemplating, 

Earamicha jumped up and said,

"Okay we are going to make quick improve blocks showing who we are.

We will just cut and glue and see where this goes."

In about two minutes she set up a table and chairs,

whipped out a box a great fabric and three pairs of scissors.

It was tremendous fun!

Everyone got pretty quiet really fast.

Below is David's.

This one is Earamichia's.

And of course, you would know this is mine! 

Hehe.

So not a lot of "sewing" going on this weekend.

I did work on my hexies a bit.  

I really need to finish this one, it's getting too big to call

"my take with me" project.

As I walked back to the train on 125th street,

I spied this fabulous mosaic.

You know I can't pass up drinking in all that color!

Did you do something fun this weekend?

I hope so!