Happy New Year 2012

It's almost that time of year again where we wish health and happiness to our friends, neighbors and others that we come in contact with. I'd like to say Happy New Year early to all my blogging friends out there and wish you all a great 2012.

I have a few personal goals this year, one of which is to get into better shape personally and on a sewing front, I'm going to continue making my "Big 3" list with Robin and Michelle. The list kind of keeps me accountable in the sewing room.

Last year I made those Art to Heart minis for my mom every month and it felt so good accomplishing that and getting them mailed to her in Florida. This year, I am hoping that every month or every 6 weeks at least I can assemble a charity quilt top. Heaven knows I have bags of blocks and charm squares/coins etc. cut up and all ready for assembly so I'd like to keep myself focused on charity for 2012.

NOW...I know I may fall off the wagon somewhere along the road but I'm really going to try...and with luck all my BFF's will keep me focused.

Here's to a Happy, Healthy New Year and all of 2012 to everyone!!!

New Project

I'm going to start a new project today with the hopes of finishing it by the weekend.

My niece goes to"hair school" with a girl that is pregnant and a while back asked me if I could make a baby girl quilt using some fabric that has"hair products" on it like combs, hair dryers etc. I did do a search online, but didn't come up with anything so I just bought a white print focus fabric with flowers and lady bugs etc, on it and pulled fabrics that might go with it. Being as none have white in them it will work nicely for the separator strips.

I'm using a Moda "Jumbo Coins" http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/12/jumbo-coins-baby-quilt.html#more pattern that I found on their web site. Instead of using a solid white, I'm going to use the white print as the separator fabric.

I don't even have to buy a backing fabric because I have enough of these to piece the back AND I have a pink and a purple flannel up on the shelf that I can use! Can't beat getting an entire quilt almost for free from the stash now can you?

Peggy

Twister Finished

I started this twister quilt at a retreat in Indiana back in mid November. Since then I've started 2 new projects, finishing one totally. I finally made the executive decision that NOTHING gets started until the 2 borders were sewn onto the twister. I sat down earlier today and finally got them on.

The finished quilt is much brighter in person but we have to settle for a cell phone picture because although I got a new camera, I haven't had the chance to read the instructions etc.

I will sometime this week....

Now to get to the quilt store with a few of my Christmas gift cards and get the backing for this one.....

Oh, and by the way, it was made with Fig Tree fabrics and finished up to 73-1/2 X 88! I used 2 layer cakes and a little yardage for the 2 borders!

What's on your New Years Eve agenda?

Jamestown Landing

Have you seen this Bonnie Hunter quilt yet? I saw a sneak preview of it on a blog one day while I was hopping around so I tracked down the "Australian Homespun" magazine it was in and started to round up some neutrals and blues. Earlier this week I decided to start making the quilt so I got to cutting. Step #1 is 840 HST's !!!!

Here's 178 of the 840 all trimmed up.....

I'm thinking I have a lot of work ahead of me :)

http://www.joscountryjunction.com/


Did I really just sign up for my first block of the month for 2012?
Absolutely! You should go to Jo's Country Junction and check it out...all it will cost you is the price of the pattern! The fabric comes from your stash and it's a 12.5 unfinished block that you can finish off to be a candle mat or table decoration.....click on the above link and head on over....

December???

Where the heck did December go?

I haven't done much in the sewing room but I have been sewing. I did some binding on the red and white twister and got that on the coffee table and then I did some binding on a quilt I was giving as a retirement gift for my friend Helen.

Yesterday I thought I'd get some sewing done but when I sat down at the machine I just couldn't focus so I sewed a few 2 inch squares together to use as the center of a scrappy star block but then I lost my oomph and wandered out to the couch where I spent the night.

Today though, I was determined to do "something". I realized that I couldn't focus mainly because my "need to do" list is really non existent as opposed to my "want to do list" so it's hard to just pick one project and start it.....so instead, I pulled out some strips of fabric coins and started sewing them up....and this is what I ended up with tonight.
The colors are much brighter in person but I think you get the idea. I do have to admit that now that it's assembled and I see the picture I realize that I should have alternated the green separator strips but it's too late now!
I have some Laurel Burch flannel on the shelf to use for the backing...which by the way I bought for $5 a yard at my local shop, so it's going to make for a great charity top. OH....and by the way, everything for this quilt which finished up to 47-1/2 X 62 came from my stash! No credit cards were damaged in the making of this one!!!

I have a lot more fabrics cut for coins so I think I'll make another one!!

OH, and just a warning to any readers. 2012 is going to be the year of "using what I have" so you're going to be seeing lots of scrap projects here....just saying.

Peggy

TWISTER

Have you "twisted" yet? Michelle made a couple back in October while she was at a retreat so I thought I'd give it a try. WELL....I gathered up some charm packs as well as a layer cake with some yardage and while I was with Michelle at a retreat 2 weeks ago, I took my twister for a spin....I LOVE IT! I can't believe that you start off with all these 5 inch squares sewn together and after you start cutting, this is what you end up with!

This quilt is made with a Fig Tree layer cake.

I'm going to add a skinny border around it then also add a wide floral border which will make it full size!

As I look at the red and white one I realize that I should have moved some of the squares around but you live and learn...... I'm off to connect the blocks and get it on my coffee table by the end of the week.

I'm Back

I'm home from retreat....actually, have been home since Sunday but I've been running like crazy with having to go right back to work on Monday and then Thanksgiving thrown in there.....

The retreat center had it all decorated for us with trees everywhere, one prettier than the next.

We were a small group this time but we had fun!

I got 2 full size quilts assembled and a table runner. I haven't unpacked the projects yet that I worked on but when I do I will post some pictures.

Can't wait to see these girls again in May!!!

Peggy

On the road again

The car is all packed up with all the supplies and fabric I'll need for a fun 4 days at quilt retreat in Indiana. I'll be heading to Maryland Tuesday afternoon to get a hair cut and the grey's covered and then bright and early Wednesday morning Michelle will meet me at the Cracker Barrell parking lot and we'll head out to Indiana. It's a long drive but we'll have lots to talk about and so I'm sure we'll be in Indiana in no time at all!

We'll be gone until Sunday so next week I hope to have lots of pictures to show you of all the projects I completed.

Have a great week!

Peggy

December

No, it's not December, but I did finish my December Art to Heart mini for next month....
I did all 12 minis this year and didn't have to buy hardly any fabric, used from my stash!
I don't keep these, as I've mentioned in month's past, I send them to Florida for my mom.
So, now this project will be done, as soon as I pop it in the mail this week! OH...and just to show you the same project done in a different colorway, below my green one is Michelle's...Isn't her's great ?

Chain of Faith

This isn't a good picture of the finished quilt, but it's called "Chain of Faith" by Jo Kramer. I got it from the Moda Bake Shop probably back in March or April and after deciding on "BLISS" fabric I kitted it up and took it to a retreat back in May. I did the majority of the cutting and assembly there but then I hit a problem and didn't feel like tackling it then so I set it aside. Last week I decided I wanted to get an older project done and off my "to do" list so I pulled it out and got it done.
It's amazing how with a little focusing you can finish things up!

This is an upclose picture of the fabrics. I have both the red dot and the turquoise dot for the backing. I think it will end up being the red.......

Contest

I entered my Liberty Ridge quilt into an online quilt contest and would appreciate some votes from you girls..............

http://quiltinggallery.com/2011/11/08/weekly-quilt-contest-remembering-veterans/?_jpg

Voting starts tomorrow-Friday 11/11/2011.....

Best Trip Ever

I had the best trip ever to Delaware to visit with Robin and Michelle.

After a shopping excursion to the Delaware State Fairgrounds we had lunch at Chik Fil A-LOVE this place and don't get it here in NJ. Then back to Michelle's house for some fun time playing with her Longarm Machine!!!

I was able to quilt this blue star runner as well as this summery runner all by myself!

This was so much fun! I hope to be able to make and take a couple more projects down to Michelle's in the future.

Everyone enjoy that extra hour of sleep last night?

BFF's

Yes, that's me in the center there hanging out a couple of years ago with my 2 BFF's.

Tomorrow morning (Saturday) Robin will be leaving Long Island at about 3am and heading here to NJ where we'll travel south to Delaware to meet up with Michelle and spend the day chatting, laughing, eating, shopping and plain old having fun. There is a craft show that we'll start the day at and then we'll have lunch and spend some time at Michelle's house inspecting her new longarm.

We might just have to get a new picture of us.....

Chain of Faith Update

I didn't get to sew as much or as long as I would have liked today but I did make a little progress on my Chain of Faith quilt. It's an 84 x 84 quilt and this is 2 units connected with a sashing and cornerstone strip. You can't really see my red cornerstone "X" but I like how the quilt looks and the fabric is awesome so it's not a big deal.

It's back to work in the morning even though I'd rather be home sleeping in and sewing :)

Happy week everyone!

Peggy

Awesome

Isn't this an awesome picture? I snagged it from the Monument site on facebook.

Lady Liberty is officially 125 years old this week and is undergoing major inside renovations so there have been a lot of pictures of her lately on their site. This picture was taken last night and I think it's supposed to be showing the swirling snow but it's kind of hard to see....

I don't know about you, but I'd LOVE to get a glimpse of her from this angle!

Peggy/Southern NJ

Chain of Faith

You probably don't remember me mentioning this project way back in April or May but I had kitted it up with the free pattern from the Moda Bake Shop site.

I took it to Indiana where I worked on it at retreat and actually got quite a bit of the block assembly done while I was there but then I remember setting it aside to work on something else and then never got back to it.

I used "BLISS" which is by Bonnie and Camille. It's nice and bright and would make a nice girly girl quilt!

Did anyone out there make this quilt? I'd love to see it assembled in another colorway!!!

Here are the first two blocks I have assembled totally. They are 18 inchers so I think the rest will go together pretty quickly.

Lil Twisters

Have you seen these templates? I've seen a lot of girls making tabletoppers and quilts from these templates so I thought I'd order myself a set. Well, I thought I was ordering a book and a set of templates but instead I ordered 2 sets of templates.

My stupidity could work to your advantage. I'd be willing to pay postage if you'd like to buy these from me....

Email me privately and we can talk $$$

paront1222@comcast.net

Peggy

Hunky Dory Pinwheels Finished!

Remember this picture? Well, I finally finished my version of the "Scrap Basket Bounty". I liked the designer's version but I had a ton, and I mean a ton of "Hunky Dory" fabric that I needed to use up so my version is from the Hunky Dory and I added a top row of the piano key border where the designer did not. To me it just didn't look finished.

It looks great in the picture but it's even nicer in person.....Now to get a backing fabric.................

Is this for real?

Is this for Real? If it is, it's unbelievable !!
My daughter LOVES Pinterest and is always finding interesting things so the other night when she called for me to come check it out, I thought I'd find sparkly shoes, a new cake/cookie recipe or even a picture of a vampire...but no, this is what she showed me.

I think if I was playing against this person I'd have a little self esteem issue about now LOL

Do you play Words with Friends? What was your highest one time score? I haven't played that long so I don't have anything up in the high double digits...maybe 50-56? I'm aiming high though :)

Hunky Dory Pinwheels

Back in the January/February 2011 Mc Calls Quilting Magazine I came across this page of pinwheels and 9 patches and fell in love! So I kept it open on the side of my machine for inspiration. Each pinwheel point in the picture is a different fabric which is looks fabulous but I thought I'd do mine with each pinwheel from the same fabric.

I made a quilt for a girl in work from Hunky Dory fabric and had so much left over that I started making pinwheels using the Triangulations papers. I took all the cut up triangulations in the car with me as I was traveling to Indiana last May and trimmed them off and pressed them open at retreat. I didn't touch the ziploc bag again for weeks/months. Finally I gt all 80 pinwheels made and then had the task of amking all the 3 x 3 9 patch units. Got them done too in record time...then closed up the ziploc bag and moved onto holiday projects.

Well, the other day I decided to look at it all and started to assemble one row just to see how I liked it.

Here's what I have so far! It's much prettier in person, and very pastelly (sp), more so than what I'm used to working on. I have 6 more rows of pinwheels to assemble and then start more assembly. Then figure out a nice skinny border and then make the piano key border for the 3 sides. (yes, 3 sides. this pattern calls for only 3 sides) .

I'd like to finish the top assembly this week or by next weekend for sure.

I will most likely have a lot of Hunky Dory left over and although it's a nice fabric, I don't want to see it again for a good long time, so keep tuned in....I may have a scrap bag give away!

Hope everyone is having a nice sunny Sunday.

Peggy

This has been a banner week

Yes, this has been a banner week for binding. Never, ever, never, have I started and finished binding 2 quilts in one week. Anyone that knows me knows that the binding is my least favorite part of the quilting process, but once in a blue moon I get on a roll and just "git er done".

First off, this black and white Yellow Brick Road quilt was assembled back in April or May and then just sat. The baby (Rylin) that it was made for was born the first week in August and still it sat. I sent it to Michelle for quilting and it came back finished and sat too. Finally I was embarrased at seeing Rylin and her mom in school one day last week and decided that enough was enough. I started it Sunday and finished it Tuesday. Got it washed and dried and took a picture today since the sun was back out.....



This next quilt....OMG, I assembled at retreat in May of 2010. It's all stash flannels!!! I had it quilted almost immediately upon coming home from Indiana...and then it SAT! We had a few chilly nights last week so I KNEW I had to get it bound and washed so we could snuggle up with it. That got done and it too got washed on Tuesday night.

I actually took it for a test drive on the couch this afternoon when the temps dropped and it did the trick! Put me right into la la land :)



I'm happy to say these 2 are done, 3 more to get binding tacked down, and 2 more quilts off to the quilter....I best get my butt moving!!!




Below is a fat quarter bundle of "Nine Dots" by Henry Glass.

Nice yellows, pinks and a spot of grey. I need to figure out a nice pattern to showcase the gorgeous fabrics......I'll keep you posted on the progress :)

November Mini

I got the buttonhole stitching done on this mini this afternoon.

I've done 11 month's now for my Mom in Florida....one more to go and I've kept up all year :)

I will close up the bottom and put the hanging sleeve on during "Dancing" tonight, then it's ready to go in the mail.

Next year I'll have to make myself a set.

Columbus Day-Weekend Update

GORGEOUS Columbus Day out there isn't it? Not only is it 79 here in NJ, it's a day off from school....double nice!

How can you tell you've been doing some catch up sewing?

Lots of empty bobbins! Spent some time this morning refilling them with my usuals...grey, cream and white.

Then onto photographing a charity top I made for retreat in November. This pattern is called "Glorious Geese". The cutting took about an hour if that, then the assembly maybe 2-3 hours.....It finished up to be 60 x 72 which will be perfect for a little boy. The black and white print is a town with multi colored cars, trucks, busses etc. all driving around. I picked a red, yellow and blue print to accent it. I think you can click on it to see better... I'm going to ship this one off to be quilted once I find a back for it.

Then I decided this week I needed to get some binding on some quilts. I can't just sit in front of the TV at night so when I'm not in the embroidery mood I do binding.... Here's the 3 that are in line now.....The flannel on the bottom may win out as the first one to get done since "someone" in my house has been fondling it and saying how much she likes "flannel". We won't name names though :)

I have some machine buttonholing to do on the November mini for my mom..... I'll report back on that once I finish.

Hope you're all having a nice holiday.

Punkin House

I got the binding and hanging sleeve sewn onto this wallhanging Thursday night so since I had made the executive decision that I would NOT go to bed till it was finished, I pressed it and took down the other wall quilt and hung this one. I love how the kitchen wall looks with it there.

In case anyone was wondering, it's a Thimbleberries pattern that I got as a kit AGES ago. I can't even remember when. I have a mini kit of the same thing......that is sitting in a bin UNDONE!

Now, I need to get myself a winter kit to hang.......

This is a long weekend for me. School was closed yesterday for professional day for staff...I had a vacation day and went shopping with my girls :)

Monday we're off for Columbus Day. I'm planning on doing a little housework and changing out the clothes closet and putting up fall curtains and comforter in the bedroom but the rest of the time I'll be sewing. How about you girls?

Peggy

Best Woolie Friends

Girls that I go to retreat with LOVE working with wool so we've been doing a wool round robin. The first one we swapped out at retreat in Indiana back in May. We started a new one I think in June or July and this gnome was my inspiration for mine..

Here is my finished woolie..........complete with a tree, a bird's nest, flowers, a butterfly, a snail and mushrooms. I didn't really give the girls anything to work with except the gnome so I am absolutely thrilled with what they came up with.

Binding, Binding, Binding-Part 2

So, not only did I get the Melly and the Berry Pickin back from the quilters this week, i also got the Thimbleberries Punkin House back.



I had Sandi quilt it in an allover meander and I even got it trimmed down.



I NEED to get the binding on so I can hang it THIS Halloween in my kitchen! It's been sewn and done for 2 years now, I don't need it sitting around for a 3rd year undone!




I also got this Liberty Ridge Top back from Michelle yesterday! Michelle did loops and stars on it and it looks great!



I guess you can figure out that for a good long time, at night, in front of the TV, I will have projects to keep me busy!


Michelle has some nice pictures on her blog of my 2 quilts.....if you're interested in popping over!

Binding, Binding, Binding

Here to the left is a quilt called "MELLY". It is a Rachel Griffith Design and the fabrics used are "Buttercup" by Fig Tree as well as some Moda Solids. GORGEOUS fabrics to work with and the result, especially with Michelle's quilting is WONDERFUL. It's a 65 x 65 square top that will be nice for a little girls' room.
You can click on the pictures to see a close up of the quilting Michelle did too!
Now to get the binding made and on the quilt!

This quilt is a "Crabapple Hill" embroidery BOM that I did 2 summers ago.

It's been finished and sitting around for a bit but I decided that too needed to be finished so this went out about 3 weeks or so ago to another friend Sandi and she quilted this one. The closeup is of the embroidery block with the quilting overtop of it.... Another great job AND another top that needs binding.

Shoppin with the girlies

Yesterday was a long time coming but it came and I got some shopping, chatting and eating time with Michelle and Robin....YAY!
Robin and I have always lived on the east coast but only see one another once a year when we go to retreat since she lives 3 hours away but since Michelle has moved closer we're trying to get together at least 3-4 times a year...and yesterday was one of those days.

Poor Robin was up at 4 or 5 am and at my house by 8:30. We went for breakfast at a local bagel shop and then we got on the road to Olde City Quilts in Burlington NJ, where Michelle met us. We shopped for over 2 hours! But I have to admit, some of that time was spent talking to the owner about his long arm business. Michelle recently became the proud owner of a Gammill machine and is taking a class at Olde City on Friday so there was a lot of questions/answers/showing of the machines in their big classroom.
I did a little shopping....got 3 kits and 2 fat quarters and then by this point in time we were hungry so we went a few doors down and had a nice lunch together.
Then we had 2 options. Village Quilt Shop or J&O Fabrics. We drove to J&O and I found a few


fabrics. I will have to schedule another trip to Village because by the time we drove down to J&O and browsed, it was time to start back to my house so Robin could take her drive back to NY and still get back at a decent time.
No pictures in or around the shop and we totally didn't remember to ask anyone to get a shot of the 3 of us but we are getting together again on November 5th for a craft show down in Delaware so maybe we will get pictures then.