Quilt Square Quilt Along Reveal

Have you been over to Jo's Country Junction http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

to link up and show your block picture? The girls have done a great job making their blocks and there is such a variety!!!

So, what are you waiting for? Get your linky on your blog and go show your picture for a chance to win some great prizes!!!

Oh, and while you're there, you can see which block is next!!!

Peggy

NYC Trip

Today was Part II of hubbys and mine birthday/Christmas presents from our son. He got "Rock of Ages" tickets, which we went to back in late December and today we headed back into NYC for my show.

Before heading into NY you have to travel thru Union City NJ which happens to be touted as the "Embroidery Capital of the World since 1872".
There is a banner hanging above the highway that announces it!!! I tried to get a picture but it's impossible with a cell phone to zoom in close enough. There are plenty of pictures of it though on the internet....

Look at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel!! Have you ever seen it this empty? I sure haven't!!!

After parking our car we started walking around to decide where we wanted to eat lunch.
Only in NYC will you see a life size frog playing a musical instrument and a gorilla!!! There was an entire store on 8th avenue that just sells these types of statues with luggage....go figure!

We didn't want any "fast food or chain food" so we picked the "Playwright Irish Pub" on 35th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. The menu looked good and after being invited inside by a nice "Irish" man holding a cup of steaming soup, we ventured in.... They did not disappoint with their food.

I had a burger with irish bacon, cheddar cheese and red onion that was out of this world!!! Hubby had a couple of beers and a chicken sandwich and fries. And when I tell you we cleaned our plates...I mean we ATE!!! I would recomend this pub very highly!

We did a little wandering around before heading over to the Ambassador Theatre to see "Chicago". That too was a great show. The music, dancing and story was so much fun!!!

We have been very lucky with our last 2 outings into the city.....the weather was clear and gorgeous so you didn't mind wandering around looking at the old architecture and just people watching.







Here's just a couple of pictures of the high buildings, an old apartment building (that I sooooo think I could live in. It's just gorgeous)

and the last picture is of a Yankee store. I thought hubby was looking in the window....I have NO idea what he's staring off looking at but he did enjoy all the goodies inside the store!

Binding, Binding, Binding

Here's a picture of my 3 quilts that I need to bind......

Of course, I need to do the princess one on top but that binding isn't made LOL The middle one has the binding ready and the bottom one has the fabric picked and set aside but not made...

Guess while the girls are still traveling that I should get the princess fabric cut and on the quilt!

BFF Visit

Today I was lucky enough to spend the day with 2 of my best friends Robin and Michelle. Robin was up at some ungodly hour like 4:30 to come to NJ and although I forgot to ask Michelle what time she got up, she was at my house at 9am so with a 3 hour drive, I'm sure she was up around the same time as Robin.....but as they will both attest, we'd get up at any time for a visit with the girls.

The day started with some Show N Tell. In November I'd brought 3 quilts down to Michelle's house so today she brought them back for me. She does an AWESOME job quilting!!! One is a baby quilt for a girl my niece goes to school with, one is a wedding present for whenever my son and his fiance set the date, and the other is a top I started at retreat in May of 2011 called "Chain of Faith" and really doesn't have a recipient in mind. I just liked the pattern, LOVED the fabric and wanted to make it :)

After I saw my tops, Michelle gave Robin her "My Blue Heaven" quilt that she'd done for her....again, another AWESOME job!

At that point it was almost 10:00 so off we went to my local quilt shop, "Quilting Possibilities".

We started off slow....each of us only carrying a few fat quarters around but we eventually picked up some steam and started piling a few things up.

I got some yardage to do a 3 month mystery quilt project with both girls that Michelle is hostessing with her guild.

By the time we piled fabric all over the store and then paid, it was lunch time. We went to a local place called "Via Napoli" for some penne ala vodka and cheesesteaks.....YUM!

I will take some pictures of my haul probably with a new post when we start the mystery.

We topped the day off with chocolate chip cookies that Michelle brought and some brownies that my daughter made for me to serve......

We had a great day and we're hoping that in March, or sooner, we'll be able to get together again....

Thanks for coming girls...........I miss you already!!!

Peggy

I'm Having Some Company

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm having some company tomorrow and I'm so excited!! 2 of my BFF's are coming to NJ to have lunch, go to my local quilt shop, talk, laugh and shop :)

This is a picture of us last year at Michelle's house down in Delaware.

I'll try and get a newer picture of us tomorrow when we visit "Quilting Possibilities".

Blue Twister

This is probably my 3rd or 4th project in less than 3 months using the "twister" template. I LOVED my red and white one made with Christmas fabrics but alas, that season is over and it was time for something new. It still amazes me that the layout to the right creates this twister top!

I found a perfect blue on blue paisley for that final border in a kit that has yet to be assembled so I'll have to replace that sometime but for now, it's on my topper.

Now to spend some time getting it quilted and bound and on the coffee table by Friday :)

Where did this week go?

I don't know where this week went but I certainly was not in my sewing room!

I guess my daughter getting her puppy on Tuesday and then waking up in the middle of the night with a stomach bug that had her incapacitated for 2 days really put a crimp in my sewing time. With being home for the weekend and then again Monday for the holiday, I'm hoping to dedicate myself to a little bit of sewing.

To start today off I'm going to piece the back of this quilt. In my stash I found the cutest yellow flannel fabric. It has these fluffy whimsical clowns on it....LOVE IT! The selvage is still on it too and it's a Marcus Brothers and the designer is Dana Simson....and get this. The selvage has a printing date of 2002 on it!! Does anyone out there have any of her fabric?

I looked online and could not come up with anything so I'm guessing she didn't do a lot of fabric designing! Anyhoo, it's long enough for the longarm machine but not wide enough so I grabbed a bunch of coins and I'm going to cut the backing a little off center, pop the coins in and then attach the side. I think the backing with this little quilt will make some little one smile :)

If anyone out there reading this has any of Dana's fabric, I'd be willing to swap you something for it!!!

How's your Saturday? It's cold but sunny here in NJ!

Welcome Luna

Let me preface this post by saying I have never been an "animal person". I don't dislike them, but I never really had that yearning for a puppy or a cat..... Sarah on the other hand has HOUNDED us for 20 years I think (and she's only 23) for a puppy. As luck would have it, our oldest daughter Jen knew that a client to her hair salon had quite a few that were born in November so when we started tossing the idea around we contacted the woman down in Baltimore, got pictures of them and voile! Luna was picked from the litter and today came home to Casa Aront to live. Here's Sarah holding her in the car right after we left the kennel. Of course we had to go to the salon to show Jen so here's a cute picture of Luna on Jen's lap.....
And finally, a picture of the two girls (sorry about the sun coming in the window) with the puppy.

Jen has a 9 year old pit bull named Romeo that has such a great personality and is so friendly so we're hoping that with Sarah's laid back personality that Luna will be just like her.

Here's hoping that the first pet we've ever had works out just like we hope!!!

And Yes, the name is from Sarah's favorite book HARRY POTTER....not that I'd know since I have never read any of the books...sorry all you HP Fans.

QSQA Block #1

I am doing a Quilt Square Quilt Along with some of my BFF's and Jo's Country Junction.

Lori Smith is the designer of the blocks. I had originally thought I was going to make mine in greens with a goldish center pinwheel but as I started looking thru my fabrics I KNEW it would never end up being green...not with all the pretty reds I have so I spent an hour or so making it up.......

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with each of the blocks yet. I originally thought I'd make mini's out of them and put them around the house but now I'm not sure, so for now I'll just make them and set them aside. I'm sure I'll get some inspiration after I start seeing what the others are doing.

Peggy

"Purple Coins Quilt"

Once the house was in order and lunch was done today I decided it was sewing time. I came into my sewing room and did a little work trimming down some HST's for my Jamestown quilt but then I got a little bored so I decided it was a good time to start pulling some "coins" out and get a charity top assembled for a retreat I go to every May.

The coins went together super fast and I had the "perfect" purple marbelized fabric for the separator strips so as fate would have it I got the top assembled, the backing fabric pieced and voile! it's ready for quilting.

This isn't a big quilt, it finished up to be 37 x 44 but I still have lots of time to make another top to bring along with this one.... So, I get to add my first "finished project" to my blog list and I get to cross off my first project on my "Big 3 List" that I do every month with 2 of my BFF's.....

Isn't this Laurel Burch flannel perfect???

PS: That's Pierre the Sock Monkey up there inspecting the quilt....unlike a lot of quilters, I don't have a kitty inspector. I relied on Pierre today to make sure the quilt was sufficiently cute for some little girl :)