Robin Sighting

Yesterday I finally saw my first robin of the season. It was scampering across the roof of our garage and looked pretty plump. Today we have the sun shining and the temps are a bit warmer. I'm thinking spring may actually get here.

I was the lucky recipient of a 'fat chance' bundle of batiks at our guild meeting last Wednesday. So pretty!

Last summer, I made the eight 4 1/2" blocks for the Summer Stars Sampler at Temecula Quilts. They waited in a bag while I contemplated whether a ninth star was needed. I decided a little cheddar would be a positive addition so I made the extra star block in the bottom left corner. Not sure how I will put them together yet, but it's getting closer to a flimsy.

This is the chocolate bunny from Jim Shore's Easter selection. Doesn't it look good enough to eat?

Only three more days until the Tigers open the year in Minnesota! I hope they don't get snowed out.

Quilt Show Online

Our guild quilt show from last week-end is now up at this link. Even though being there is the ultimate thing to do, I hope you enjoy viewing the pictures.

To satisfy the 'picture in every post' idea...my husband bought these cutting boards last week. The red is for meat, the green for vegetables and the yellow for chicken. Cute and easy to remember!

Success!

We had a wonderful quilt show! Our co-chairs organized everything so well and there were many able and willing volunteers. Our "Needful Things" booth was a great success! We were very pleased. So many generous quilters donated and/or bought items. Thank you! Here's Helen, Connie and myself waiting for buyers.

Best of Show was made by Joyce Jones. It was so beautiful! We've watched her stitch those leaves one by one. A photo doesn't do it justice.

More ribbons on these next quilts. Connie's lovely "Bow Ties" from Pam Buda's Prairie Women's Sewing Circle, Journey One.

Connie's "Christmas Presents". The pattern by Kate Spain using Flurry fabric was adapted for a charm pack by LuAnn Krug from  Loose Threads blog.

The pattern "Lilies for Connie" was a must make for Connie using gorgeous repro fabrics.

Helen's beautiful "Venetian Tiles" was taught in a class by Lana at The Quilted Cottage.

Helen's striking "Nan's Harvest" was made using a Thimbleberries panel and their Autumn Sunset fabric line.

This is my "Spinning Flowers" made from a Humble Bee Quiltworks pattern.

"Starstruck" I made from a Bonnie Hunter class taught for our guild in the fall of 2010. I love the blues and cheddar.

These are my two little entries made from a Lori Smith Quilt Squares pattern. I was really surprised to find ribbons on them.

Our guild website will have all of the quilt show pictures up soon. I'll share when it's ready.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Needful Things Booth

Connie, Helen and I were able to finish the set-up for the Needful Things tables yesterday in time to have a birthday lunch for Connie afterwards.  We were blessed with many donations.I hope we have many 'needy' buyers tomorrow and Saturday.

We're Having A Quilt Show!

Tomorrow is the take-in for quilts that will hang in our show this Friday and Saturday. The location is Celebration Hall on Wheeler Road in Saginaw. Friday hours are 10 - 6 and Saturday 10 - 4. Connie and I are in charge of the "Needful Things" booth which consists of items made and donated by guild members. Yesterday was pricing day. It's not easy to put a value on someone's donation, but we did our best. If you are within driving distance, come and see all of the beautiful quilts!

Here are four more Farmer's Wife blocks. Still using my scraps. (I consider a FQ or smaller a scrap.)

Honey Fork Fabrics had an ugly fabric challenge. They would send you an 'ugly' fat quarter and all you had to do was make a 12" block and return it to them. The blocks would be assembled into quilts. It sounded like fun so I sent my address. The yellow floral fabric is the challenge print. I made a couple of blocks and they are now on their way back.

The photo also shows a couple more of the envelope bags I made for the 'Needful Things' booth.

While at the grocery store today, I saw this on an end cap and wondered how many of them I would need to house all of my stuff!

It's March!

I was so thrilled to turn the calendar page this morning. March sounds much more like spring.

Have you see the Mondo Bag pattern? You can watch a video about it here. There are quite a few being made around The Cottage. Here is mine. I used only strips from my stash. The pattern uses four rectangle grids to which you iron your 2 1/2" squares. There is also a smaller size which is even cuter. Of course, anything smaller is cuter in my eyes.

Easy Street blocks are being sewn into diagonal rows. It's not easy (no pun intended) to sew without furry interruptions. Here is Jasper 'helping' me lay out the blocks.

Once a month I attend a group called Lunch Bunch. The very talented Sandie
is in charge of this and always has a project or two to share with us. Yesterday she showed us how to make an envelope bag. You can make them any size you choose and use them to hold jewelry, hand sewing, make-up, etc. I'm hoping to make a few for our guild's sale table at the upcoming quilt show on March 15th and 16th. I'm working on a few others made with double-sided quilt fabric. I bound the edges and then the assembly is the same.

Tomorrow our Farmer's Wife Club meets. It's fun to see the blocks made from so many different color and fabric combinations.

Tuesday

Yesterday we had a Farmer's Wife sewing day at The Cottage. The tables were full of gals cutting and sewing with all different kinds of fabrics. I set up my machine and had all of the necessary tools ready and couldn't find the six blocks I had cut out the night before. Did I leave them home? Yes, I did. Luckily for me, my husband delivered the missing baggies to me at the shop and I was all set. He's a keeper. I managed to finish four blocks and parts of the other two.

I mentioned before that our guild was doing easy applique blocks for the year. Last month I was fortunate to win a set of snowman blocks.The guild supplies the background and pattern. Here is my heart block for February.

During the last storm, I tried to take pictures of the snow flying in the air. Can you see the tree in the photo? I thought that turned out kind of neat. I love the mornings when I wake up to scenes like this outside.

Sleep At Home Retreat starts tomorrow. I need to get my things together so my husband doesn't have to make any 'emergency' trips to the shop.

Wednesday progress

My Cheddar Cheese & Crackers top is complete! I wanted to do this quilt since Lori (Humble Quilts) posted it as a QAL almost three? years ago. I even had many of the pieces cut and the sewing steps were printed. Everything was assembled in a large zip lock bag. I tried working on it at a retreat, but it required more space than I had to lay out the blocks. Thank you, Lori, for providing such fun quilts to make. If anyone notices any piecing errors, please don't tell me!

These pretty FQs had to come home with me last Saturday. They are Nib & Quill by Sara Morgan for Blue Hill Fabrics. Aren't they yummy?

The weather forecast says we are going to get some snow for the next two days. I'd kind of like to be snowed in for a bit as long as the power doesn't go out.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching  because I finished the binding for my little Abundance doll quilt made from Lori's (Humble Quilts) SAL. I need to find a bigger doll or a king sized doll bed!

The pink fabric is the back side since the front was too bright. An instructor once said, "You pay for both sides of the fabric." Don't be afraid to use the back.

More Little Stuff

 I finished the second part of Lori's (Humble Quilts) little doll quilt. The pink hourglass blocks have been replaced with blue ones which I like much better.

 A couple of years ago, I started the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. After about a dozen blocks, it was put on the back burner. Our Civil War group at the shop has decided to work on this quilt at our monthly meetings. It's not a civil war quilt, but lots of us are using civil war fabrics. We were each given two blocks to do for the first meeting. Mine were 23 and 98. They will finish at 6 inches.

 

I finally found a frame that fit the little 5" house sampler that I cross stitched back in 2007. I could have bought one, but it's more fun to find one at the thrift store or a garage sale.

At Christmas time, I finished the little sheep and Santa ornaments for my grand children's money gift. Last week I did three more. These are like envelopes in the back so you can include money or a gift card. Just need to finish the snowman before December.

Yesterday I took a class to make a Mondo Bag. I didn't quite finish it, but it was a fun bag to make. Photo soon, I hope.

Little Blocks

Lots of little pieces on my cutting table in the last few days. I was able to catch up with Pam Buda's little blocks over at Heartspun Quilts. These blocks will finish at four inches.

I especially liked how she made the little four patch units. This was new to me. Check it out here.

Library Additions

I love books! Here are some of the latest titles added to my library of quilting books.

The bottom book which has the light reflecting on it is special because I had a small part in making the quilt. Rosemary Youngs is a very talented quilter and author who kindly asked several quilters to help with the blocks. We were each given the patterns for nine blocks and fabrics to use in them.

At the November Dear Jane gathering in Shipshewana in 2011, a group picture was taken of all the gals who made blocks.

This book was extra special for Rosemary because her father fought in World War II. She had a great time collecting letters and stories. Thank you for letting me 'help'.

I was able to sew the first part of Lori's (Humble Quilts) quilt along. There was a slight snag, but I worked it out. The photo colors are another story. The first is too bright and the second too dark.

And finally, here's the piles of Easy Street blocks all sewn! Now they head to the ironing board for pressing and then comes the assembling.

M.O.B.

M.O.B. Missing on blog..
I'm back to catching up, as usual. The last couple of weeks have been busy. It's the second half of January already!

I finally had a chance to make the little Mountain Trail quilt from a previous    quilt along that Lori hosted at Humble quilts. Once the squares and logs were

cut, the sewing part was pretty quick. I love how it turned out.                    

There are six more Easy Street blocks waiting to be assembled and then I can put the whole quilt together. I was seeing green, purple and aqua in my sleep so I needed a short break from the mystery. Hopefully, I'll have a finished top very soon.                                                                                              

Last night was our guild meeting. One of the activities we are doing this year is an easy applique block. Lucky me! My name was drawn for the snowman     blocks. The second picture shows the blocks that I made for the drawings.