Quilt show

April 29, 2012

Yesterday was the annual Kalona, Iowa Quilt show. Five of us gals from church had a ball looking at the quilts on display and shopping in the cute little shops Kalona has to offer. 

This quilt was my favorite one at the show. I would love to make one like this...


State Birds....I love how each person who made a block, embroidered their name in their handwriting.



I think one was called Bible Story quilt. One of the quilt stores sold a book with all the designs in it. 



I loved the colors in this one. 


Can you imagine one of your quilts being around after over 130 years? 


Granny Square quilt.


Beloved Dresden plates. I like the details in the sashing. 


1940's Double Wedding Ring quilt. 


Modern day fabrics in a double wedding ring quilt. 

Both are beautiful. 


I couldn't get a picture of the full quilt. It was fun and the movement in the squares  are so neat. 


I loved this one. Simple but striking. This one would be beautiful with bright batiks. Does anyone know if this block has a name?


I hope you enjoyed the quilts. =) 


Simply Play

April 24, 2012

I thought you would want to see the happy couple with their quilt. =) 


I finished up the Simply Play quilt I was working on playing with the other day. 

I wanted to do scalloped edges on it, but it don't go so well and I gave up.  The mitered corners at the bottom of the scallops wasn't happening and it bugged me. Perhaps I need to start with gentle waves on the edges instead. 


This quilt quilted up perfectly. I didn't have on bit of trouble with shifting fabric or any puckering at all. It was a dream to quilt. 


My favorite part....The back.

Isn't this vintage sheet perfect for the back of this quilt? 


I cut a strip off the bottom of the sheet and sewed it to the top so I could make sure the top of the sheet with the eyelet and the row of flowers were left intact across the back. 


Size : 60 x 60



Playing...

April 23, 2012

Left over scraps from Norah's Stars (and a few others) are turning into a lap quilt. I am really excited about this one. More later...

Happy Monday, everyone! 



Wedding Gift

April 20, 2012

The bride who loves lime green....


Who designed her bedroom in her childhood home like this...


LOVES her wedding gift.




Guess all my worries about it being too wild was wasted energy. =) 


A picture with the happy couple and their quilt will be coming on another day. The bride has the photos on her camera and will get them to me later. 

Final measurements: 70 x 85 


What is that on your pins?

April 19, 2012

I'm still plugging away at the wedding quilt. I hope to have it done in time for the wedding reception on Friday! 

I've had several inquiries as to the pins I use for basting. 



I use the quilters bent safety pins and on them I attached Quilters Delight Safety Pin Covers. I also use the Kwik Klip. Both were one of the best purchases I have ever made. They make pin basting so much easier. The pins never tangle with the covers on them, so they are always open and ready to go in my mason jar. I sprinkle them out on my quilt sandwich and go to town. I put a bunch of pins into the quilt and I go back later to pin them all with the clip. It's really slick and goes so much faster.  =) 

On to the finishes I got done last weekend. 

I haven't fully joined the Swoon craze, but I did tip my toe into the water and made one block. I made the block quite a while ago, but couldn't decide how to quilt it. It sat and mocked me for weeks. There are so many great Swoon blocks on the blogosphere with fabulous quilting on them that I got all intimidated and thought I wouldn't be able to make my block cute. I finally decided to just get over it and did echo quilting with the walking foot, and a some small fancy stuff in the center. I think it turned out really great! Maybe I will do a whole quilt of Swoon after all. =) 


Next up a scrappy baby quilt. I used the Pieced Scrap Boarder quilt by Red Pepper Quilts pattern and added a four patch to spice it up. I have to say, I think this is my favorite quilt to date. 


Round corners. Pieced backing. Orange binding. Wonky square spiral quilting. It's my favorite go-to quilting style. 

Love this one....So much....


And new book. I used a 50% off coupon at Joann's. Yeah, baby! What a great book!! Seriously. So well written. I am determined to make a bag I will love this summer. 



Organizing update.

April 18, 2012

Monday I began a spring cleaning of my sewing room and a new way or organizing my scraps. Here is the update on where things stand now. 

The first decision was what type of containers to use for my scraps. The things I considered:

What size? 
Lidded or open? 
Cart with drawers?
Clear or concealed?
Cost?

I decided I didn't want the bins too big, for space and potential hoarding concerns. I ended up buying the 97₵ shoe box size with lids from Target. They ended up fitting perfectly on my shelf. Lets pretend I planned it that way. =)  

Once the sorting began I realized I had more scraps than I thought I did! My pink is crammed full (no surprise there) with blue and green not too far behind. I was beginning to worry I didn't get big enough bins and then I remembered the potential hoarding issue and decided if they get too full, I will sort them out and give some away. 

For those who would want to know, I sorted my scraps this way: 
red, yellow, orange, pink, black/gray, white/cream, blue, green, brown, purple, minkey, and misc. (panels, small projects).

One thing I have been doing up to now is keeping project bags. That is, after I would finish a project, I would put the scraps for that project in a baggy. Sadly they rarely got touched again. That's something that needed to change. I emptied them and sorted into the scrap bins. It was very freeing!  =) The only time I will have project bags is when I am still working on the project. Once the project is done, the scraps get separated and put in the scrap bins. 


The closet got a makeover, too. The two bins are full miscellaneous fat quarters. I'm not fully satisfied with how they are organized, but for now it works. I don't want lids on them or I will pile stuff on top and forget what I have. 


These bins (sorry for the poor picture quality)  are full of future projects or they have themes. One bin has all my 30's fabric whether it is yardage, fat quarters or scraps. Another bin has all my sheep fabric I have collected. For now, I am not ready to split up my Simplicity collection, so it's in its own bin, as is my Fresh Palette collection. Disclaimer: If it were the right project, all these bins would be fair game to riffle through. Hoarding issue, remember? =) 

I really heart the large bins. They are commercial grade Rubbermaid food storage bins I purchased at Sam's a few years ago. They are rock solid and so wonderful! And pricey. I think I paid $15 each for them. Ouch...Now that I am on a weekly allowance, I won't be buying any more soon. I would much rather spend my mad money on fabric. Can I get a witness?


Will you be doing a spring cleaning of your crafting area this year? 

18

April 17, 2012

We had a birthday in our home today. 

Kind of a biggie...

Reagan is now 18. 

wow....

That's all I have to say about that...


Mathena (Russ' mom), Reagan, Haley (my only girl and my oldest), and Mitchell (the baby). Holden wasn't able to make it. 


Haley and her baby brother. 


My daddy and step mom. 

Funny story...

Russ' mom always makes the birthday cakes for the kids. This year she had a wee little problem. It seems she didn't get the oven rack in straight, thus we have a lopsided cake. =D


Adding to that little problem, she transposed two letters in Reagan's name. Did I mention that on the way to our house, a package fell on the cake? 


This is one birthday none of us will forget! =D

I won a fun prize...

 I won a this lovely wallet from Michelle at Mrs. Sew and Sew. She was having a give-away for her almost 100 followers celebration. (She has 99. One more will put her over the top! ) The workmanship is wonderful!! 


Thank you, Michelle! It will be put to good use. =)




Organizing ie: avoidance...

April 16, 2012

Avoidance: I am avoiding quilting this quilt. It's a wedding gift for a young couple in my church. She is obsessed with lime green. It was her wedding colors. =) I don't know what I want to do yet. 


Organizing: That is why I am busying myself with moving scraps from baggies, into plastic containers....


Smiles...
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