Lola Bag and a Pattern for YOU

I've been sewing stars for one of my son's quilts - I need 48 stars and I have 3! I didn't say I was sewing very fast! But I took a break and made myself a travel bag.  I made the same bag for Julia last year - she used it as a book bag and it actually survived the whole school year.  I couldn't believe it! Here's a photo of my new bag for you:

Each time I made the bag, I had to read and re-read the instructions.  I am not that literate when it comes to sewing garments or bags, so it may not have been the pattern.  I think it was me! With that said here is a picture of the pattern:

 

I decided to make my bow a little smaller that the original pattern.  I may change that after our trip.  We are taking my oldest son to college next week and I wanted to have enough room in my bag for my camera and lots and lots of tissues. I can't believe it's time for him to leave the nest - I'm happy for him and I know he's ready; but I'm not as ready as I thought I would be. I'll let you know what happens when we actually drive away and leave him there next time I write.  Wish me luck! 

Before I forget, would you be interested in this pattern? The pieces are cut out, but everything else is as it was when I purchased it. If more than one person is interested, I will have a draw for the new owner.  The shipping is on me.  Just leave me a note in the comment section if you would like the pattern.

 

See you soon!

Quilts of Valor Blocks

Here are my Quilts of Valor blocks for the month.  Quilts of Valor are celebrating their 10th anniversary and they have offered an anniversary block pattern for volunteers.  They are hoping to make 100 Quilts of Valor by November of this year.  These blocks will go toward that goal.  If you have red, white or blue material and would like to contribute to the Quilts, visit the links to find more information.  It's the least we can do as quilters to celebrate our returning soldiers.  This fabric that I used is from the Sew Fabulous Quilt Shop and can be found here. Everything in the shop is 10% off while the owner moves from Florida to California.

 

See you soon! 



Hannah & Harrington

 

 

I finished appliqueing the Hannah & Harrington months of November and December.  Now I have the stitching to do for August through December.  I thought the stitching would be a good summer project for sitting outside and enjoying the good weather.  As I finished the applique, I realized how much work was involved creating this year long project.  Michelle May of The Raspberry Rabbits created the project.  She is an awesome designer - she perfects wool fusion and designs some incredible work.  Take a minute or two to visit her site when you get a chance!

See you again soon!

 

 



I Love Pre-Cuts

 

This little ditty is my latest flimsy.  It measures about 12"x14" and it is made from a mini charm pack of Avalon from Fig Tree.  I'll finish it with batting, backing and I may even try my hand at a little free motion quilting.  The reason I love pre-cuts is that they allow you to create your own little masterpiece that becomes all color coordinated without any fuss.  Pre-cuts come in various sizes - from layer cakes of 10" blocks to mini charms that are 2 1/2" square.  All from the same line of fabric, all color coordinated! So,  for those of us that are color illiterate, with pre-cuts,  we can look like masters when we put together our quilts and wall hangings. 

 I LOVE IT!!

 

See you again soon.

A Finish!



This is a signature quilt that has taken me forever to finish.  I'm not sure why - it just has!  It is a gift that is long overdue - hopefully the recipients will be forgiving.  It's a small lap size quilt made of signature squares from the friends of the recipient.  The quilting was done by my favorite go-to quilter Joanne of Splitting Stitches.  She surprised me with this awesome heart design.  It is perfect for the theme of the quilt!

 

For the first time I used these:

Binding clips! They make sewing the binding a breeze.  If you haven't tried them you are missing out on saving time with this quilt step.  I loved them!

 

Here are two of the individual blocks I thought you might like to see.  I think you can see Joanne's quilting a little better in these pictures.



 

See you again soon!



Happy Mother's Day

Playing Nurse and a Giveaway!

Well, not much happening on the sewing front right now.  My hubby had a scooter (more like a small motorcycle) accident 2 weeks ago.  A young driver didn't stop at a stop sign and as she approached the road he was travelling on, he swerved to avoid her.  As a result of the swerve the scooter tipped to it's side and then threw him across the pavement.  He is a very lucky man - to be alive AND not to have sustained a head injury as he wasn't wearing a helmet.  He broke his ankle, his wrist, his nose and all of the facial bones in addition to numerous cuts, scrapes and deep wounds.  I stayed with him in the hospital and have been playing nurse since he got home.  We have been blessed by friends, family and Church members during this whole ordeal.  I haven't cooked a meal in two weeks!  Plus the prayers and contributions have been amazing.  He hopefully will be able to put weight on his leg next week and that will put him back in the game.   It's been one of those experiences where one day everything is going smoothly and the next your whole world is turned upside down.  But we are lucky to still have him - so I'll take playing nurse any day!!

 

Before the accident I was able to work on two more blocks for my Hannah & Harrington wall hanging.  I decided I would applique all the remaining blocks and then stitch them at a later time.  Here are months September and October - without the stitching.

 

 

And now what you have been waiting for - my giveaway!  I wanted to join in on the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, but didn't get organized in time. So here I am with my own giveaway day.  Up for grabs is the Moda Project Book for Mini Charms.  The book has 18 projects (mostly small wall hangings).  And to get you started I will throw in a Mini Charm pack of Fig Tree's Avalon.  It's a beautiful collection.  The project that is pictured below is the one that I will work on - once I am no longer needed at my nursing job! 

 



 

For an entry, tell me what your best family vacation was.  I'm planning our summer soon and I'm looking for fun ideas.  For another entry,  blog about the giveaway and come back and let me know that you did.  Easy peasy!

 

Good luck!  I will choose a winner a week from today.

See you again soon :)

 



Flying Geese and Birds

Here's my Flying Geese block from Karen at Sew Many Ways BOM.  I'll tell you - she gives an awesome tutorial.  I've made a quilt - a long time ago - with flying geese and how I wish I had had her tutorial at the time.  If you want to check out the club, her badge is on my sidebar. 

 



 

I purchased Simplify a few weeks ago and just got it in the mail today.  Stash Books were having an awesome Spring Cleaning sale and I had to take advantage of it!  It's an awesome book with 10 easy to follow patterns and nice basic quilting hints in the beginning.  Here's my favorite quilt from the book:

 

Isn't it pretty?

 

I've set up my bird feeders and wanted to share some visitors with you.  We have a Purple Finch, a Common Sparrow, a Mourning Dove and a Bullock Oriole.  I haven't been able to get a shot of the Hummingbird yet.  Hope you enjoy the pictures! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for welcoming me back - it was so nice to read your comments and emails.  I treasure my internet friends!  See you again soon :)

Don't Be Mad at Me!

OK, Don't be mad at me - I know it's been a long, long, long time since I last wrote in this blog.  I could tell by my last post in AUGUST.  It seems that I lost my mojo back then and never really got it back - even through the holidays.  I also suffer from depression, so there are times when getting out of bed is difficult.  BUT, no excuses - I just wasn't in the creating mood.  I even stopped reading blogs until about a month ago.  That's when my heart started getting warm again.  I saw what all of you where creating; what you were doing with your families and what beautiful, beautiful fabric there is out there.  And today was the day - I sewed again!  I had been afraid of my machine - afraid that I wouldn't sew straight or that it would crinkle up all the underneath thread or that it would make these really, really loud noises in protest of being left alone for so long.  But none of that happened! I was able to make 2 blocks to go along with Sew Many Ways Block of the Month club.  Here they are:

 

 

This Block of the Month (button on sidebar) is a no-stress club.  Karen will be offering a block each month - not to end in December.  You can make one block or as many different ones as you like. You can join in or jump out whenever you like.  I really like this because I had promised myself not to start anything until these were finished:

 

 

I do have a plan for the new blocks from Karen's BOM - they will be part of my second son's quilt.  The above patchwork picture is my third son's quilt - unfinished.  (My oldest's is finished and my youngest's is a flimsy)

 

As you can tell I also spruced up the blog with a new look.  Carrie from Carrie Loves Design created it for me.  She does wonderful work and is easy to work with if you're looking for a new look.

 

That's it for tonight - I'm glad to be back, glad to be sewing again and glad to see the colors of the world again.  I hope to see you again soon!

And remember, don't be mad!

 

 

 



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Day 236

A glimpse of the scarred Loblolly pines in Bastrop State Park that were part of  the disaster burn last summer.  There were miles and miles of glimpses like this.  The trees near the road have already been cleared.  It's pretty scary to see how wildfires just take over completely without being able to be controlled.  It was an amazing thing to see. None of the cabins in the state park were burned - there were firefighters stationed at each cabin - dousing their roofs to prevent the flames from jumping.   Another amazing thing that you'll notice in the burn area is that there are no animals-no birds-no wildlife.  Although it is incredibly sad, it is also heartening to see a year later all the grasses and saplings growing in all on their own.  It's a renewing feeling to be a witness to this.

Working on ...................

Here are two of the projects I am now working on.  One is Jakob's quilt - which is turning out to be quite a project.  It comes from "Jelly Roll Quilts" and involved lots of cutting and now lots of piecing.  I think in the end it will be worth it, but boy this takes a lot of patience!! Here's the book and where I am right now.

I am also working on hexagons again.  These are much larger - 1 1/2".  I've always wanted to make a yellow and blue quilt and so I started on a few yellow hexagon flowers.  I have some blue materials picked out also that I will start when the yellow is all done.  I think this one will be for me!!

Day 229

This is the closest I've ever been to New Mexico's State Bird- the road runner.  He stayed at the pool to let me take his picture for just a few minutes.  And they really do just run!

Day 228

A beautiful loblolly pine from Bastrop State Park.  I'll share a few more pictures from our mini-vacation in the coming days.

A few finishes.....

A baby quilt for a friend due any day now - she'll have to wait until baby is here for it to be quilted.  Maybe someday I'll make a baby quilt that arrives before the baby does!  I've always wanted to make a pinwheel quilt - this is my first.

Here is Julia's quilt top finished - this was my first quilt that I appliqued.  Not really sure if I like applique or not.  What do you like to use for a fusible web - I can't seem to find one that I really like! 

And finally a finish before the next block arrives on the 15th of the month.  This is Hannah & Harrington's July block.  I use Steam-2-Steam for these blocks and they seem to hold pretty well.  I used it for Julia's quilt also and the flowers didn't really stick as well as they should.  I had to do quite a few a second time.

AND..........about the computer picture problem, I'll share what I learned.  Actually it's what my husband learned because I refused to call the technical people at the cable company.  They always make me feel completely computer illiterate.  If you are having problems downloading/uploading, you can test your computer speed at a place called "Speedtest.net".  Check the download/upload speed with your router plugged in.  Then, you plug in an ethernet cable into the router so that you are connected directly to the internet (rather than being wireless). If the speeds improve dramatically like they did for us - then it's a router problem.  A new router will be delivered to us in a few days and I'm plugged into the internet directly to load these pictures.  Now I don't feel so illiterate!! Makes perfect sense now, doesn't it?!  It was great to see that little upload bar actually work when I uploaded the pictures.  Funny how little things can make us happy! 

I almost forgot, the lottery gods were smiling down on me and I was so fortunate to win Margot's giveaway over at The Pattern Basket.  Look at what I won!  I've admired this fabric for months - I actually had it bookmarked to purchase when I received some extra spending money later in the year.  So, now I will get the fabric I've been waiting for - pain free! How lucky I am!!

This is the pattern I think I am going to use this luscious fabric on.  It's from Ellie's Quiltplace - a new to me site that I found recently.  Ellie is one talented designer!!

If you've made it this far, I am finished for this post - lots of time to make up for and lots to show you.  I think I've been creative lately because I finally set up my sewing table in my bedroom (rather than sewing at my dining room table).  It's made a huge difference in me wanting to sew - and it's made me happy. 

Thanks for coming along for the ride today!

I need help

(This is an old photo from the blog)

We went on vacation last week to Bastrop State Park - it was beautiful and there were lots of trees - unlike where we are in the desert of West Texas.  I'll share some pictures with you in the coming days.  I also finished Julia's quilt top.  BUT, I can't upload any photos!! So frustrated - I'm not sure if it is a problem with my internet connection, my computer or Blogger itself.  Do any of you have any suggestions.  I can't even upload to Photobucket - HELP!!

I also wanted to let you know in the coming weeks I will be organizing a giveaway - I am trying to collect blocks for Quilts of Valor and I thought a giveaway would be a good incentive to help quilters donate blocks.  But I need to upload photos!! ARGH!!!!!

H & H June Block AND Fantastic Book!

Here's the Hannah and Harrington June block from the BOM from Raspberry Rabbits - one of my favorites so far.

And.........here's a new book that I just received that is fantastic - thought I'd share with all of you that love making softies.  This is an easy to follow book of exciting monsters to make - and they are knitted! What could be more fun and easy to take along with you then a knitting project.  It also has beautiful pictures of the monsters and the book is put together very well with easy to follow guides and pictures.

You can purchase this book through Martingale's here.