Friday Night To Do List

The Friday night Sew In is tonight. I have made a beef stew and all my children are relatively happy (They are teenagers after all) I have made my list and checked it twice...

1) Quilt Candle Mat then Bind
2) Finish Step 3 of the Roll Roll Cotton Boll
3) Finish step 4 of the Roll Roll Cotton Boll (This looks really easy)
4) Quilt and bind my Nov/Dec doll quilt for the Quilting Board swap
5) quilt and bind one more seat cover for inlaws

I am going to start working on these as soon as the dinner dishes are done. Maybe my DH will decide to do this for me.

Now let's get sewing :)

FNS Results

Well the Friday Night Sew In was a success. First I finished te Sew Bee It Bee Blocks. We were asked to make a favorite block or two with some 1930's fabric. I have really enjoyed the Wonky Houses that I have seen on a bunch of blogs. My house did not get wonky but i like it. And I made a simple star block. Then I started the Fresh Comfort 2 Bee blocks. We were sent a bunch of strips of vintage sheets and told to make a string block using the Kona white for the center. These turned out pretty nice.

Next I worked on my Little A's block swap. September was a block that embodies the word "simple" and my partner requested teal as her color. I thought this block looked fairly simple eventhough it really wasn't.

For October the word was "spooky" and my swap partners color is Black. All I could think of was ghosts. So that is what I tried to make.

The last thing on my list was to finish the first clue in the Bonnie Hunter Mystery "Roll Roll cotton Boll" . There is sure a lot of pink in this picture but the first step is complete.

Now it is 12:33 and technically Saturday morning so I will try to get a couple hours sleep before my children get me up.

I hope everyone had a successful night I will be surfing blogs tommorrow to see how everyone did.

Friday Night Sew-In

It's tonight. The Friday night Sew In. Here is the list of things I am hoping to get done:

1) My Fresh Comfort Bee Block
2)My Sew Bee It Bee Block
3)The first clue of the Roll Roll Cotton Boll Mystery
4)My Little A's Block swap (Sept Oct and Nov) I really need to get these done

This is a lot to get done but I may stay up really late and get it all done.

To those of you sewing along, enjoy. For those of you just blog hopping, enjoy. :)

Is October really over?

The month started off great. This is the "doll quilt" that I received for the month of September It is huge(18 x 28). The swap guidelines say 24 x 24 at the largest. I love it. It is currently on my wall. Later in the month I got this doll quilt. I asked for something modern. She took some black and white fabrics and colored in small areas with fabric markers. It is such a great idea and I love it. it looks like a modern painting.

My sisters and i get together each year to celebrate our birthdays. this year we decided to have a craft weekend. We actually did it on a Thursday Friday so our husbands just had to get kids to school. I was organizing my projects for weeks before we got together. I didn't get as mouch done as i was hoping because I kept gabbing. I really hope we do it again next year.

Here is a picture of the "doll quilt" (candlemat) that I sent to my partner for September. I tried a paperpiecing pattern. The pieces were small and I really need to keep practicing.

Other things have been happening around here. My oldest turned 18 this month. I got one year older this month. My in-laws are settling in to their new home just two blocks from our house. It is a small transition but I love having them near so that we can check on them.

Christmas Craft Inspiration

Has everyone seen this magazine?.... I have new inspiration for the Holidays. I don't know how to put the link on the picture so here is the link. I have already made a couple of the toilet paper roll elves and have pulled out my felt to make a garland with the younger kids in sunday school. Enjoy!

Seacoast Shop Hop

My Mom and i did the Seacoast Shop Hop today. It was fun to spend the time with my mom and getting to look at fabric was great too. During this Shop Hop you get a charm when you pay for your "Passport"($14) and then as each shop stamps your "Passport" they give you a charm. At the last store (there were only 5 stores) they give you a bracelet. Isn't this great. I will wear it proudly. Blogger would not let me post all the pictures of my stuff but I did not get too much. The first shop we went to was Garrisin Hill Quilt Shop. They had a great variety of fabrics. Then we went to Little Lamb Quilt Shop. they had the Kona colors I needed. Then we went to Checkerberries. They had a lot of Civil war fabrics. i found a cute pattern. I will stitch it and then show it. Then we headed for Massachusettes to The quilted Acorn. This shop has mainly civil war fabrics and tole painting supplies. The final shop for the hop was Knight's Quilt shop in Cape Neddick Maine. i have been to Knight's before and saved it for last because i really liked it the last time i was there. They have a great selection a bunch of cutting tables and a couple of registers. I found a really cute giraffe print for a binding and some great novelty fat quarters. i usually check out their scrap bags but they only had one and it was all flannels. oh well I'll just have to come back again.

I had a really great day. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Another Friday night Sew In

I can't believe it is September 18th already. Last night I was having so much fun sewing i forgot to sign up on Handmade Heidi's blog. I got a lot of sewing done. First I finally put together some of my Boomerang blocks. It was hard to put together blocks that were made with many different colors but I think they look pretty good together. Then I have been trying to figure out a way to make my Modern Siggy Swap 2 blocks look like the quilt in my head. It finally came to me and I have pieced the top.

I love it. I used only fabric from my stash and made little 16 patches. I like the way the colors flow around the top.

I hope everyone had great successes last night I am off to check out all the blogs.

One great swap in and Three out

Well Blogger loaded these backwards so it is three out: My International Round Robin center is heading off to Brazil to have a row added to it.

Here are my Wonky Log Cabin squares for the Fresh Comfort II Bee

And the third is a themed block swap this month the word was vacation. I live in Maine and we love to go to Acadia National Park.

That would make this the One Great in!!! Isn't my posy needle case beautiful. It came from Martine in the Netherlands. She also sent a matching hexagon pin cushion, a charm pack and the quilter's best friend...chocolate.

My son says the chocolate is the best part of my package. I love the posy case (it has cute little houses on it) and I absolutely adore the pin cushion. I am going to be copying this for sure.

Well that is the news for now I will post the back to school pictures of the kids. We are dealing with a heatwave in Maine right now and by Saturday we will either have had a hurricane or just have the rain storms but at least it will be cooler.

And the results are in...

4 out of 6. I think that is pretty good. First I sewed the bottom row onto My son's quilt and it is now the right size. Then I worked on the log cabin blocks for the back of my sampler quilt but I think they look to good to put on the back of a quilt. Next I finished this paper pieced block for a swap that i am in. We were told to use yellow orange and black and any other colors. I hope this looks good with all thothers.

I recently joined an International Round Robin that starts in September. I am mailing my block to Brazil. We will have 6 rounds and I should get my block back next year at this time. I went with an I spy themed center. Everyone has novelty fabrics don't they? I am hoping to write some I spy lines on the backing for the kids to find.

I also got the seams ripped on my Crazy Mom Quilt along. My side strip should be 28 7/8 and I stretched it to 30 1/4. No wonder it was a little wavy along the edge.

Well the motivaton of the Friday Night Sew In has worked its magic and I have gotten a couple things off my to do lists. Thank You Heidi. I can't wait till September.

Friday Night Sew In - August

Is it really August already? Here is the list I am working on tonight:

1) I am going to sew one more row on my son's quilt
2) I am going to sew all the log cabin blocks for the back of the Modify Tradition sampler quilt
3) I am going to sew together strips of Kaffee Fassett for the back of my siggy quilt.
4) Tear out strips from Crazy Mom's Quilt along figure out correct length, resew
5) sew all the rest of the strips onto the Crazy Mom Quilt along
6) Finish paper pieced block for April

That's about all I might be able to complete tonight.

Design Wall (floor) Monday

Here is what's on my design floor today. These are the blocks for the Postage stamp Quilt along. The quilt along was a while ago but it has just moved to the top of my list. I will cut these blocks into 1.5 inch strips and then sew them back together. This is the other quilt that I am working on. Some of these scrappy blocks are from my bee month. Everyone made me at least two and some made me three blocks. This is a quilt for my son and he loves orange.

Well that's what I'm working on. Go check out what other's are doing on Judy's Blog.

I got it!

This is the quilt I got from the ALQS swap #4. I love it. I don't ever work in black but it really makes the colors so much brighter. I love it.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this swap.

Busy Summer full of Fun

The month is July began with a quick trip to Acadia National Park. This is a picture from our favorite beach, Little Hunter's Beach. If you are heading to Maine to go to this park email me and I will give you a couple great ideas of places to go. We go up every summer and the kids still love it. Next we started all of our summer programs, basketball, day camp, etc. I left for a week with my 15 year old to go to Presbyterian Youth Triennium in West Lafayette Indiana. It was very hot and humid and no airconditioning in the dorm at Purdue. We had a great time anyways.
Here is a our little group that represented Northern New England.

My husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a quiet walk on the beach and dinner at a seafood restaurant.

Then it was off to the Maine Quilt Show. i took a class on Saturday but went up for the preview of Thursday night. 873 quilts ...amazing.

I took the Carol Doak Paper Piecing Class. It was amazing. I have no qualms about doing a paper pieced project now, and I know how to estimate the amount of fabric I will need for the project. She is a wealth of information.

The on Aug 1st I drove my teenager to Tanglewood 4H camp for a three week leadership program. She will be hiking and then teaching the younger campers. My youngest will be going up for the last week of her time there and will get to be one of the younger campers that she works with.

Now if I can just get back to the sewing machine and get some quilting done I would be just a little happier.

My Computer had a Trojan

That is what the Geek Squad guy told me. I couldn't even turn it on. It is so hard to be with out a computer. The good news is I had lots of time to sew. I got lots of small projects done but here is the one big project Which is almost done.
These are my Modify Tradiotion Sampler Blocks from Round #2. I really love the colors. I am putting a piano key border around the outside so it is taking a lot of sewing.

Friday Night Sew in is coming up and I hope I can complete the border then.

My 15 year old just got her permit so she wanted to drive me around today. She took a corner with out using her brakes which made me say "Use your brakes", then she stepped on her brakes everytime she got near the speed limit. "AAAArgh" I have too much gray hair already.

My 17 year old is away at a genetics study class, so the house has been really quiet. My 10 yr old is playing basketball and loving it.

Friday Night sew in

I started the night working on one of my bees. The theme for this month was "eat". My partner for this month wants yellow in her blocks. This is what I made for her. Then I caught up on some of my cutting. This is all the cutting for the "Not a Quilt Along" . The finished top looks almost like a whirlygig. I am using 5 inch i spy squares for the charm pack.

Then I needed to get caught up with my "Crazy Mom Quilts" quilt along. I hadn't finished the cutting from week one.

Here is my center block. I really like how clean the quilt will look.

I am amazed that sometimes in quilting you do a lot of work but you can't really record it with a picture. That is the way i feel about sashing. I am working on sashing and squaring up the blocks for 2 quilt tops. When i am done sashing i can sew them together and then it will look like an accomplishment. This was a great Friday Night Sew in. Yeah!

Design Wall (or table) Monday

Well here it is my design "wall". This is my cutting table. See that little yellow turtle. I bought the pattern at Alewives during the scavenger hunt that they sponsored a couple weekends ago.I had an odd charm pack and decided to make the turtle from charm squares. It worked really well so I decided to make 5 more. (just to use up the rest of the charm pack) They are in varying stages of being completed.

You can also see my modern siggy swap 2 squares all bagged and ready to be mailed to Jaybird. I really enjoy being a part of these siggy exchanges.

The other strips that you see are 1. black and white - for the reed blocks from the May Block lotto blog 2. ivory - for sashing for my Modify tradition blocks.

That's pretty much it I am really trying to push through all the projects that i have already started. The kids are getting out of school soon and this means lots of family time.

A Quilty Present from my MIL

Well these pictures loaded backwards but here is an up close look at a couple of the log cabin squares on this really old quilt my MIL sent me. The label says that it was made in 1880. The quilt was later given to my MIL's mother when she married.

It also has a NJ Heritage Quilts label on it. I have refolded it because it has definite crease lines where it has been folded for so long. Now to find a darkish room where I can hang this up and enjoy it.

Spring to Finish Wrap up

Wow! What a weekend! I have been cutting and sewing, and cutting and sewing.....
These are the Modify Tradition blocks. I replaced one block with the Churn dash block. I have 4 more blocks almost finished and then I can sash and border and finish this top. Next are the Jellyroll Sampler Quiltalong blocks. I did different blocks for 3 and 4 but am up to date with this quilt along.

I had one more swap to complete a Breast Cancer block swap. I was in for 2 sets. These are my blocks: Patchwork Heart and Memory Wreath

Besides these blocks I have the back for the Pinwheel Sampler almost complete. The other quilt I am working on is the Breast Cancer Quilt. I haven't finished the border yet.

Friday Night Sew In

I began the night with a nap. I was feeling a little tired and thought if I take a quick nap I will get some energy and really be able to get things done tonight. Well it worked and I woke up ready to get some sewing done. Look what I found at my sewing machine. This is my middle daughter sewing. (inside I am thinking, yeah, she is sewing) but now I have to change my plans a little.

This is what she was working on an I spy quilt from all the squares I have been getting in my swaps.

I stood and did some cutting for these blocks. They are for the Block Lotto blog. Each month we have a different block. Everyone post the blocks that they have made and you get into a drawing to win enough to make a quilt top. I love these blocks.

Finally I worked on this doll quilt / wall hanging. I had some squares left from a charm pack and used the no waste flying geese method to sew the charm squares into flying geese.

Before I took my nap I was going to put a binding on a large quilt. I have it all pinned and ready to sew...maybe next month.

I am getting things Finished

I am finally getting some quilts finished. by finished I mean tops complete, backings sewn and bagged to go to the long armer. Yes there are four bags there with tops that have been finished for a while but I never finished the backings. Yeah. The two tops you see just need a little sashing or a border and they will be finished. I have a backing for both so I hope to get 6 quilts to the quilter tommorrow. I am working on the Spring to the Finish challenge that is why I have been getting things done but look what I got in the mail the last couple days. I spy blocks... I was in a swap with fabrikate for 200 blocks a set (at the time I thought I'm really going to need two sets) so I sent enough fabric to get two sets. Then Project corner had a second swap and I just had to get in that one and of course I needed two sets. So now I have 800 - 4" I spy squares.

For those of you that have done these kind of swaps before you already know this but for anyone who hasn't done one of these swaps not all the fabric that you get is quilt quality. I pulled out a couple of flannel squares, fabric that was very seethrough, and some fabric that really wasn't Ispy. This leaves me with 788 squares. I can't start assembling any quilts until I finish 2 more projects.

1. the modify tradition quilt along (I have three more blocks)

2. the postage stamp quilt along ( I have 15 more blocks to make)

I am dreaming of a large cathedral window quilt with I spys in the windows, or an attic window quilt, or a quilt with flaps to lift and spy the squares underneath.

No more dreaming. I am going to finish these projects and then I will play with the I spy squares.

FInally some pictures of quilt blocks

I have been trying to get things done. Here are two blocks for the Block Lotto blog. I don't think the green shows up very lime but it is. This was a fun learning experience but one of my reeds looks a little pregnant. :) Here are some 5 inch I spy squares. This is the third I spy swap I have joined. I have started 3 quilts and only completed one, but I love arranging and re arranging the blocks.

Finally I have completed these blocks for a swap over on the Quilting Board. It is called the Great Mini Block swap. Each of these blocks finishes at 4 1/2 inches. The patterns come from Sentimental Stitches. This is a really amazing pattern resource. I have printed all 92 and hope to do most of them. Maybe in modern fabrics though.

Spring to Finish - update?

Ok, so I was supposed to post a list of the projects I wanted to complete by the end of May and I was too busy to post the list. I have created a list in Word and have been using that so I will let you know how I am doing.

1. Breast Cancer Quilts-I received the blocks back from my swap partners, I have laid them out and now I need to cut the sashing and sew the top together. I think I can finish this by the end of the month.

2. Pinwheel Sampler - I wasn't happy with the 4 block by 4 block layout and so I had to add 4 more blocks. I have completed all of the blocks now and all the little 2.5" pinwheel corner blocks and I should be able to sew this top together by the end of the month.

3. Jellyroll Quilt Along - I have only done the first three blocks so I need to catch up. I hope to be up to date on this quilt along by the end of the month.

4. Modify Tradition (quilt along)- I really like the fabrics I chose for this quilt along. I have made the first 4 blocks and I have 4 more to make.

5. Too many swaps - Here is a list of all the swaps I have completed in the last two weeks: Summer Sadie's building block swap, a mini block swap, a couple I spy swaps, Fresh Comfort 2 Bee, Sew Bee It Bee, and I am part of a Boomerang swap I have completed 31- 12" blocks for that swap.

6. Double Delight - I have worked this quilt all the way to step #4. I just have the assembling part to do. I am kind of stalled because I realized that I didn't get enough fabric for finishing the edge. Why that has stopped me from completing the top I don't know but... oh well.

7. Postage stamp quilt - I have barely started this quilt. I have all the strips cut and a few sewn together. I did not like the way the fabrics repeated in a pattern so I am still trying to figure out how I can put the fabrics together to eliminate this problem.

8. A Little more I spy Quilt - This one just needs sashing around the blocks and then assembly. Hopefully this can be completed.

Do I really only have 20 days till the end of the month. I am pretty sure that I can get 6 of these 8 things done before the end of the month. If I can then I may just go and by that fabric I have been eyeing for a quilt for myself.

College Touring - Not a quilt shop visited

Well I am back from doing the college tour thing with my Junior and my other daughter who is a freshman. First we went to Muhlenberg in Allentown PA, then Dickinson in Carlisle, PA. This is a picture of one of the buildings on the Dickinson Campus. The nest day we toured Bryn Mawr (an all girls school near Philadelphia, PA),

then we drove through Haverford and toured Swathmore in Swathmore, PA. After we left Swarthmore we drove through Villanova. This is a picture from Swarthmore.

The next day we toured Quinnipiac in Hamden, CT. This is a beautiful campus. The only drawback is that they are moving most of the housing off campus.

That same day we went to Connecticut College for a tour but we missed the tour and the next was in an hour. My daughter didn't want to wait so we did a self guided tour and left.

They were all beautiful schools but after that many days in a car with a teenager that really just wants to hang out with friends i was very glad to get home.

The amazing story behind all this college touring is that we had my in-laws come up to help my husband while I was gone with my son. They arrived the day begore I left but something was wrong with my MIL. She had a mini stroke. We admitted her to the hospital. I left (there was plenty of other family around my husband had really just wanted to see his parents) and she came home the next day. We are now trying to get her to take the medicine that should prevent any new strokes from happening.