Sunday, August 22, 2010

stuff..... and stuff I've learned

I've been busy over the last two weeks but not much to show... been working on bindings and quiltings and stuff............hopefully in another week or so I'll have new stuff to show... did a skinny runner and a snowman hanging that need to be quilted and bound... also been working on yoyo's for my mini quilts for xmas.........

Now anyone who knows me knows I'm somewhat of a ruler whore...........I love rulers.... regular rulers... specialty rulers.... etc...... I found a new ruler up in Lollys in Shipshewanna last week... it's called a double diamond and its pretty cool... Like any specialty ruler it has limitations but i think it can produce some fun gifts.... I'll post a pic below.......

Now I've also learned that when you use goo gone to remove sticky tape from your ruler.. it will also eat the paint on the numbers! One of my NEW 12"
QID rulers is now missing a few lines in the center but I can redraw them and it'll be fine.... I just added that to the Never armor-all your steering wheel note!

I did make an new lazy girl bag this week.... a new runaround bag. Hubby and I are heading to the tall ships next weekend and this fabric was perfect...and speaking of Lazy girl.... a NEW bag is coming out and I got to test it!!! Her name is Lily and she's beautiful... she's round and curvy and soft and pleated and just the right size for trips to the zoo and the museum....... my pics of her can be seen on LG's facebook page and when I get back to my other computer I'll post them here and on flickr.... she's just a wonderful lil girl!!

I'm behind on barn blocks and on my golden thimblebarn... I'm still hoping to be all caught up by the end of august.... so we'll see lol I need another marathon weekend!!!

Have a great week!!



Sunday, August 8, 2010

mini marathon

I had a mini marathon sewing weekend.... I made two christmas table mats from Atkinson designs... they are small mats and one medium mat from the same pattern for halloween...the medium is about 32" across. I have to back and batt them and then work on quilting and binding this week. I also completed 2 wonky house blocks for the august bee obsessed quilt block swap and 3 many blocks for the september bee obsessed quilt block swap ( I love being a head of the game) I also completed 24 bitty blocks for the september bitty block swap... those themes are circus/carnival and halloween.... can't post pics of those yet... not til september comes but at least I'm ready!

I finished quilting and binding the coastal door/party banner and that will go out in wednesdays mail.....

it was a good weekend for sure! but something was missing........... my wisconsin barn block for this week... jen of cre8tive quilter is having laptop issues....and that's not good! hopefully she'll be back in business next week and whatever is wrong is just minor!

all the pics are posted on the flickr site www.flickr.com/sewwunderful

take a peek when you get a chance. I have some hand sewing to work on tonite...and yes... I found my yoyo makers so I can get started on yoyo's for a few projects

til next week... take care and stay cool

Lish

Sunday, August 1, 2010

It's been a busy week!

Actually it's been a busy two weeks...... last week I made some napkins and coasters for a birthday gift... one set with ducks and one with fishies... its a long story... don't ask.... I also did block 29 of the Wisconsin BOW and cut out several table toppers. I got one of the table toppers made up... just needs to be quilted. It's from the Happy Camper line and will go with my napkins placemats and pot mats that I'm already using........ it's basic bricks and it's made from just one charm pack. I'm planning on making the little ones tic tac toe boards for christmas... they'll be soft and quilty and I'm going to make yoyo's for the x's and o's......... soon as I find my yoyo makers...... I have fabric ready and I'll use this as a fill in project while riding with hubby or when I need something to do that I don't want to have to think about....... I also ran across a pattern for some yoyo pot mats so I might make some for that also... those have a circle of batting in them so I'll have to see if the yoyo maker will work with those or if I need to do them the old fashioned way lol

I made a set of 6 placemats with reversible napkins and coasters this week for a small dinner party hubby and I went to this past saturday. I finally finished up all of the binding friday nite.... I even worked on them during lunch at work! This weekend I managed to make a coastal door banner for my niece who lives on the bay in north carolina and is just returning from Bahrain. She'll be getting married the end of august..... the banner is for her open house/shower thingy that my sister ( her mom ) is having for her in about 2 weeks. The quilting needs done but that'll be this weeks project!

I also completed the august 30's BOM...and the weekly Wisconsin barn block 30. I also joined in an extra 3.5" mini swap for august... it was a pretty easy swap for those of us who had the regular swap completed and mailed out. There were 12 of us. The theme was traditional blocks as opposed to novelty type blocks and the colors were primary red, yellow and blue. I cut my blocks yesterday and sewed them today. Friday will be mail day this week as I have a few other things to get ready to mail.

I completed most of my landscape mini swap this weekend also... just have to stitch the binding and that will hopefully get done tonite while I watch food network challenge.... I just love that show!

I'm runnng behind on my knitting again......... still have to finish the scarf and the two dish cloths I have started...... also have to work on my socks! It's been really hot so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! lol

I'll post the Barn Blocks 29 and 30 below and the rest are on the flickr site.

I have one more BOM for August to do... that's the Golden Thimble Barn Block... haven't downloaded that one yet... I'll check in a bit to see if it's been posted.

The sentimental journey BOM is done as far as I'm concerned... I have 6 blocks... and last time I check the july block hadn't even been posted yet... I plan to make 4 of the blocks into a table mat.... and the other 2 into placemats. I've already started making napkins and coasters from the remaining fabric.

Guess that's it for now........ off to flickr to post some pics

Catch you all soon

Lish


Sunday, July 18, 2010

All caught up!!

I'm all caught up on my Block of the Week Barn Blocks.... and all caught up on my Golden Thimble Barn blocks..... I decided to do two more of the Sentimental Journey blocks and then make it into a table topper and napkins from the rest of the fabric....
I have several things backed and batted now and ready to be quilted... couple table runners... a sample wall hanging for a class and my bitty blocks summer fun wall hanging. The Bitty Block Committee does 3.5" squares.. in a theme... and we swap them... The June theme was picnic/bbq and it's just tooo cute! I have it backed batted and pinned... just need to quilt it...... July/August theme is beach/underwater... I've received a few of those so far and they are just too cute to be believed!!
It's been hot here and lots of nasty storms.... last nites storms caused power failures and flickers and lots of tree limbs down....... when I looked out side it reminded me of a hurricane the way the trees were bending...... didn't cool it off any though............still hot and hazy...

I'll posting a few pics here of the barn blocks and the bitty hanging.. even thought it's not done yet...... So you'll see blocks 25-26-27-28 and a mini block... block 1.

Have a great week!

Lish



Monday, July 12, 2010

July update

It's hot! lol but it's summer so I guess that's to be expected! I finally got some stuff posted on flickr today.... I'm sure I have more pics but they must be on the other camera so when I find that camera...I'll post those.

I spent most of this weekend getting caught up on things... I did two purses for birthday gifts.....got all of my packets and handouts ready for next weeks paperpiecing class... we'll make a coaster, a pincushion and a needle book while learning to paper piece... got my goldenthimble barn blocks for June and July done... now I need to work on my barn block of the week from cre8tivequilter...

I got my astrick mini quilt...2 placemats...and my red/white/blue star topper backed and batted and ready for quilting... I gathered up a bunch of orphan blocks that will be turned into two throw quilts for daughters of a friend..........worked on a pink/grey lacey dishcloth and quilted and added binding to my QuiltersWashline paper pieced wall hanging........

It was a very productive weekend for sure!! Hopefully this coming week will be just as good and I'll be allllll caught up again.

I need to take a look at my goals and see where I am on those also.... I know Dear Jane hasn't even been started........the scarf still isn't finished.... it's hard to work with wool in 98 degree temps! lol

Pics have been posted on the flickr site and hopefully there will be another update this week.......

oh ...and only 24 more weeks til christmas!!


Lish

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Yup I'm behind

Ok... so I'm now officially 3 barn blocks behind... although since this is a weekly thing that's less than a month behind... but nevertheless... behind

Life happens... things need doing...and there are just soooooooooooo many projects that I want to do! lol

This saturday... July 3rd starts the 25 weeks til christmas program.... time to get working on those christmas goodies.... I'll be done by thanksgiving again this year which means I get to spend the last few weeks before christmas baking and relaxing! wooohooo

I've been working on a few things.... I have a small astrick quilt topper in the works as well as my swaps... I got hooked on these cute little 3.5" blocks and there's just no stopping the fun! I've got picnic ones coming in now and in July/August it will be beach and underwater. I can't wait to make cute little mini's out of these blocks!

I'll be all caught up on the barn blocks in a week or so... they are near the top of my list now and all I need is some time........ anyone got an extra hour or two I could use?

I've got a few selvedge projects planned also... mostly pincushions... small ones and another one or two over the armchair type... they'll make fun gifties!

Ok.. I'm off to work now and I'll be back this weekend with pictures!

til then

happy stitching!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

My Hubby Rocks!!!

Last weekend hubster and I went to the Brookfield Zoo.. we hadn't been there for a while... before we left to come home, he gave me a list of cities that we would be traveling thru and told me to find some quilt shops in those towns and we'd stop at them on the way back... what a guy!!! I had my own mini Illinois shop hop!! We stopped at 5 or 6 of them and they were great.... one in Batavia was fantastic and so was the one in Morris!! the others were great too but these two rocked!! I did get some fat quarters and some patterns....... and a really nice bar of lotion.. it's shaped like a bar of soap but it's lotion and it's really nice...... a soy blend I think

This past week I didnt' seem to get much time to work on things........ but I got my pincushion swap done... don't need to mail that til july... finished the binding on my sisters july table runner..that gets mailed this week... made 3 other pincushions.. one over the arm chair kind with pockets... and two pineapple variations... the selvedge pockets were my very first project using selvedges... not sure if I like the process.......lots of fiddly little pieces but I'll try a few more small squares and see if it gets better... the pics of all this stuff are on the flickr site as well as some bejeweled key fobs that went directly into the christmas box......

Below are the barn blocks for 22 and 23. Block 22 has a mini block however, but 23 doesn't and probably wont... this block was a bugger to do... a lot of Y seams...and I can't imagine doing it in a 3 inch size! Perhaps when I'm totally bored one day I'll give it a shot..........

We've had a lot of rain and thunderstorms this week also....... waaaay too much rain for sure... but I hesitate to complain since droughts aren't fun either! lol

I'm hoping to finish up a lot of stuff over the next couple weeks and get ready for the start of my 25 weeks til christmas program... I have lots of fun ideas for the kids, plus I need to check my goals and see where I'm at... can you believe 2010 is almost half way gone?

Pics of the barn blocks below and the rest on flickr...

Lish