Friday night Sew-In Results

Hello all, Last night was another Friday Night Sew In. I am so glad that these happen every month. I get a chance to take a night all for myself. Well this Friday Night I started chain piecing a bunch of stars for a class I am taking with Rhea at Alewives Fabric. The quilt is Super Stars by Elizabeth Hartman.
This is what the finished blocks will look like the solid will be the same in all of them but there are 32 different prints. I love how this is coming together so much...
I decided to cut fabric to make another one. This one will have an I spy fabric in each star and the solids are a fat quarter bundle I got from Common Threads. I don't love the weight of the Common Threads fabric (very thin) but This isn't going to be an heirloom piece just a fun quilt.

That's all I got accomplished. Go check out what others have done at Handmade by Heidi.

Orca Bay - Overwhelmed

This is my sewing area on Friday night. Orca Bay has taken over...i can't believe how many little pieces have to get sewn together to make the final quilt. I had step 1 completed on time and step 2 was done a few days late and then I didn't like one of the color combinations. I finally like these colors together and am buckling down to get it done.

Here is a test lay out to make sure I really like the colors.

Amazing. Now to sew 224 more flying geese blocks. Then find some more neutral. There is a small border before an amazing border with 96 more flying geese blocks. I hope to have it all pieced by late this evening. Wish me luck!

My Blogger Fat Quarter Bundle

We all love pretty fat quarter bundles. This is the fat quarter bundle I would put together if I could. Quokka Quilts is having a contest or challenge ...well I know there is a linky party. Here is what I would put in my Designer Fat Quarter Bundle:

1. Backyard Baby Grey Bug Jars
2. Backyard Baby Aqua Birch
3.Backyard Baby Orange Snake Skin
4. Backyard Baby Windy Day
5. Backyard Baby Grey Ants
6. Bella Solid Amelia Apricot
7. Pajama Party Green Dot
8. Primativa Charcoal
9. Backyard Baby Samaras
10. Bella Solid Circa Celadon
11. Get Together Orange Birds
12. Backyard Baby Garden Party White
13. Crazy Daisy Turquoise
14. Get Together Green Hearts
15. Bella Solid Horizon

I had so much fun putting these fabrics together. Go check out the Linky party at Quokka Quilts and see the other "designers" choices.

UFO List for 2012

Here is my UFO List (I'm only listing 12 of them) for 2012:

1. Roll Roll Cotton Boll - Still have 600 - 2" Half square triangles to sew
2. Stuffed Turtles - 4 to finish
3. Chart Your Course - Final Border and then Backing
4. Across the Sea - Finish piecing back
5. Red and White Block Lotto Blocks - Need more to complete a top

6. Crazy Mom Quilt - Add borders

7. International Round Robin - Fix and backing

8. Pink amd green with Mitered border - Fix final Border

9. Star Bumble Bee quilt - finish piecing add border

10. Chickens - Finish quilting

11. Postage Stamp Quilt

12. Diary of Hazel Ilene Quilt Along Quilt

I am hoping to finish one of these a month. I am sure that i will be creating new UFO's as the year progresses.

Friday - Saturday Sew In

My list was long and I got a lot done but the list included going to see my daughter perform in a Christmas production. It was hilarious. When I got home I got to sewing. Here is what I got done. A back pack for my daughter. She saw this fabric and told me I had to make her a bag out of it. Then my son asked me for a bag for his drumsticks. The Junior High mascot is a Husky. He wanted a husky on the bag. Here is what I came up with....

I was still completing the paper-pieced husky this morning. The top still needs to be sewn and the straps put in. He has 4 sets of sticks and I put a pocket in for his music sheets. I hope he likes it.

Too many things to complete!!

I can't believe that it is the 13th already. I did the Friday night Sew-In last friday but I was doing more of a knit in than a sew in. :) I got this far on this hat. (for my daughter's boyfriend) And i completed this infinity scarf. This is a pattern from Swan's Island and it is very long. The first two I made from the same pattern weren't quite long enough so I hope this is just right for her.

Saturday we all got up at the crack of dawn, swim meets, Holiday concerts, evening Christmas performances. Sunday was Church and more performances.

Here are the projects for this Friday night sew-in:

Complete the matching hat for my daughter

Finish the socks for my Mother

Sew drumstick bag for my son (he wants a paper-pieced husky on the front) (how am I going to do that?)

Make quilted bookcover for daughter

Make pillowcase for other daughter

Can i get this all done in one Friday night? No but I can try.!

Occupy Your Sewing Room

I have a long list of projects which need to be completed for Christmas and recently I have been reading a lot of blogs that are doing the Occupy your Sewing Room challenge. Well a lot of my projects are knitting so right now I am Occupying my couch as I knit. I am working on a pair of sock. They have 5 braids running up the front and after I turn the heel they will be running up th eback too. I can only do this project when I am alert. So I have a second project which requires very little thinking, counting, or cable needles. This is a Scalloped Edged Infinity Scarf. The design is by Swans Island and I am using an alpaca yarn. It is so much fun. This is the third time I have made this pattern and this time I added 52 stitches so it is 273 stitches. This is a lot of stitches. :)

The worst part is that I had 9 rows completed when I realized that I had twisted the first row and I had to take it all the way out. It was a double twist so it really had to come out.

I really hope to get back to quilting soon. The Friday Night Sew In is this friday. I will be trying to finish Orca Bay step 2 and start Orca Bay step 3.

My son has asked for a "bag" to carry his drumsticks. He has 4 sets of drumsticks. I have looked at various tutorials and I think I may use this one or this one.

That's all! Go have fun and occupy your couch or sewing room.

Another Friday Night

The first thing I did was get step #1 of Orca Bay finished. I am using a very deep green instead of black and my neutrals are on the white side. The next thing I did was sew together the rows of the Forest quilt along quilt. I like this quilt but it needs something more. my daughter says it needs a small brown border and then a wider Christmas print. I was thinking a little white border and then it's done.

I got most of the Backing for my Across the sea quilt done. It looks really big.

Then I laid the quilt top on it and remembered that I wanted to add a 4 inch white border on to the top and that is why i made the back so big.

That's it! I got alot accomplished and had fun. A great friday Night Sew In.

Friday Night Sew In Results

Well the list went out the window when I remembered that I had my class with Susan Carlson on Saturday. I hadn't done any of my homework. So I spent most of the night finishing this beautiful sea turtle. I also started a toad. I was pretty tired by the time I got to this spotty thing so he did not get too far.

I started the night off by trying to organize my scrap bin but was overwhelmed with the sheer volume of scraps. I settle with pulling all the colors i thought I might need for these quilts.

All in all another successful Friday Night

Friday Night Sew In - October

Well it is time for another Friday Night Sew In. I have lots more stuff on my To Do List. I have class on Satursay to work on my Sea Turtle so I should get the homework done...? This is a picture of a sea turtle at the Rochester Quilt Show. Isn't it beautiful? I am still working on my flippers and I haven't even thought of the background yet. I'll take a before and after picture. I have also been dreaming of a toad done in this style.

I have two bindings to hand sew and that is all I am going to try to get to this Friday night!! But... there is always the possibility I will get into my sewing room and have to start something new :)

Sister's Weekend

This is where I spent my weekend. That is Mt Dessert Island and Cadillac Mountain. My sisters and I decided a couple years back that we needed to get together every year to celebrate our Birthdays (which land in Aug,Sept and Oct). So the three of us used to get together for just a day and explore a new place. The last two years we have been coming up to Lamoine to craft for a couple days. I brought this quilt which only needed a binding. All the squares came from a Block Lotto win. I put sashing around each square and mitered the corners.

Next I worked on bindings on two other quilts but didn't finish them or take pictures because I really wanted to move on to the next thing. Here is the border I put on to this quilt top. I think now this is complete.

What I really wanted to get to all weekend was the Crumb along blocks from Jo's Country Junction. I got the Flying Geese and the Star Blocks done.

This is what my sewing machine looked like. Lots of scraps to choose from.

I am definitely going to do the rest of the crumb along because I really need to use up some scraps. The time together ended to quickly but it was so much fun. I am planning for next year already.

Rochester NH Quilt Show

My birthday is coming up so my Mom took me to the Quilt Show in Rochester New Hampshire. I am only showing you a couple of the quilts but they were great and there were a lot of them. Not as many as at Maine Quilts but still a lot.
I have been dreaming about making a Judy Niemeyer quilt, there were a couple of her patterns or patterns inspired by her. This quilt was pieced by Judey Clemons. She named it "Dancing Batiks"I loved how simple this pattern was and I might have to copy this. This quilt was pieced and quilted by Aimee Raymond.

This quilt was the first thing you saw as you walked in the door. What a precious face?

Here is a close up of the face. Amazing! This quilt is called "Dakota - Waiting for Papa to come Home" by Bette Jo Quinn.

We had a great day! I will definitely be back next year.

September Friday night Sew-In

Well another productive Friday Night Sew In has happened at my house. I thought it was going to be unproductive because i am working on a UFO that is a postage stamp quilt (king size) and i am getting a sore back sitting at my sewing machine. I decided to get at some of the other UFO's in my box and so ... I combined a Breast Cancer pink and white block swap with my Boomerang Buddies swap from the Quilting Board. I had sent a pale green fabric with little pink flowers and asked for pink green and white blocks. Here is the first one.

These blocks were the ones that the colors just didn't go very well with the bright pink of the first quilts. I am going to have them quilted and then donate them to either the local hospice group or the hospital. i might add a border before I call them really done.

In other news I am taking a class today at Mariner's Compass in Bath with Susan Carlisle. We are making Sea turtles. I'm off...this is such a great sewing weekend :)

Dessert Plate Quilt Top

I absolutely love this quilt. This is inspired by Modern Quilt Relish Dinner Plate Quilt Along. She is using a larger circle and has a fancy tool to stitch the circle into the square. I used the six minute circle tecnique. A little freezer paper, a glue stick, and some patience. The blocks aren't sewn together yet, but I think this quilt does not need a border and will go directly to my longarmer.

Across the Sea

Last night I finally got the bug and worked on this Quilt along. Here are the fabrics I chose. This Kaffee print I have had for a while and really love. I picked up this fat quarter bundle at Maine Quilts 2010. It is a bundle of Hand Dyed cotton from Rainbow Dyes of Auburn Maine. I love these colors. The pattern and cutting was really easy and I put the blocks together quickly.

I think this is my final layout. Maybe i will move those two dark purple crosses farther away from each other.

One Finished and A little Irene

My big goal for the weekend was to get the last border put on this quilt. I am in an International Round Robin and i had to put an 8" border on this. I put the orange border. I think it looks great. We drove my daughter to college on Saturday. Her and three of the kids from her class are going to the same college in massachussettes. We dropped off and drove quickly home to try and beat Tropical Storm Irene back to Maine. Mines the one on the left. She is saying "take the picture and go already Mom" Well they called us this morning and Irene knocked down too many trees around the college that power isn't going to be restored till Thursday. We were asked to come get our kids. She's home and a little bit bummed but the final straw was that she couldn't charge her cell phone and she can't live with out the cellphone.

What is on my Design Wall/floor

I know that design walls are usually on Monday but I am thinking of it now and have taken the picture.
I recently took a class at Maine Quilts from Jan Krentz. This is the second quilt I designed from the class.

Quilt alongs - I want to do them all!!

I have been bitten by the Quilt along Bug again! So I thought I would put together a post with all the great quilt alongs that are going on or will start real soon.

Oh, Fransson Billboard Quilt along
Happy Quilting Stars Quilt along
Diamoond Mountain Quilt along
Little Forest Quilt Along
Across the Sea Quilt Along.
Dinner Plates Quilt along

Now I will not admit to doing all of these quilt alongs but I will say that at least two of these have fabric purchased for them. I didn't join any quilt alongs this summer and am jumping with both feet now.

A little Sewing going on

Well here is the reason I haven't gotten a lot of sewing done. My oldest daughter has mononucleosis and they called last night to say that the strep test that came back negative on the quick strep test was positive. She has a rare form of strep along with the mono. We finally got a diagnosis on Wednesday but she had been sick for about three days by then. I think we may be turning the corner today, she actually got some school work done this morning. I did find time to work on these Block Lotto blocks for the month of March. this is the first time in a couple months that I have been able to make the blocks. They were fun.

I had to drive #2 daughter to a swim meet in Orono yesterday. During the met I got one of the Birdie Stitches blocks done. No picture today but I will put the squares around the block and then I will take a picture.

It is raining here and melting all the snow. It is a bit ugly but I am so glad to see the ice and snow melt that I will deal with the little bit ugly. :)

Results of FNSI

Here is what I got accomplished last night. For one of my bee's the December block was a paper pieced Harry Potter themed 8x8 block. We are supposed to make two blocks. This has taken me a very long time to finish. the second block is the Hogwarts express. It looks a little easier than this. If your not a big Harry Potter fan this is Hagrid's umbrella which we find out in one of the books has his wand hidden in it (or something like that) All of the patterns are available here. Some of them are really hard.

I did organize a bunch of my sewing room but that really isn't sewing. It sure will help me to get sewing quicker next time I get a chance.