Tabletoppers

     I had a request from my niece for a tabletopper for her kitchen table about 2-3 weeks ago but never got around to it and then the other day something reminded me that I hadn't made it so I cut a topper out but it was HUGE....so I ditched that and decided to look in my "orphan" block drawer and voile....I found 5 star blocks that were left over from the quilt I made my daughter for her wedding last April.  I wasn't sure Shannon would like the topper but once I quilted it and added some fun tiny dots for the binding I knew she'd love it......

     I put a picture on Instagram and figured I'd text her and tell her it was done but she saved me on that, the minute I posted the picture, she was on the phone asking if she could come right over for it.
She loved it!

     After that I decided to ask my own daughter if she wanted a runner for her coffee bar in her kitchen.  Which she did so I pulled out some coffee themed fabrics and voile....

I fussy cut the coffee cups for the center of the churn dash blocks and used a neutral that has little tiny coffee beans on it for the background and binding.  I love the backing fabric too...all different coffee cups and coffee makers.....

Gotta love quick and easy projects for the afternoon.

A Couple of Finishes

With more cold weather and snow I've been holed up in the house sewing......

Here's a halfway decent picture of my "SWOON" quilt.

I've been doing 1 block a month as part of my "Big 3" list with some girlfriends.  When I finally got that yellow block done and realized I only had to do 2 more, I spent Saturday afternoon cutting and sewing and just making it a goal to finish!   I laid all 9 blocks out on Sunday and voile! it's done!

Each block is 24-1/2 inches and I used I "think"  "Marmalade" by Bonnie and Camille....

The quilt finishes up to 80 inches square which is a biggie!   I can't wait to get it quilted and see how pretty it is!

After finishing up that quilt I decided that a few "mini's" were in order.  

I needed a "P" for my sewing room wall and I wanted a house quilt and sewing related items like a spool quilt so I pulled out my mini patterns and set to making them.....

I already had a P and spool quilt on my wall that I'd made a few weeks back but something about them just bothered me.  My P was NOT red and white dots and while making the original one I knew I should change from blue to red but I just went ahead and did it blue.  I didn't like how one of the actual brown spool parts looked on the original mini so I wanted to change that up too.  Those 2 now hang in my downstairs storage/old sewing room...so I didn't waste them, they just were relocated :)

And look at that mini house....OMG, 3-1/2 X 4-1/2....I could not get over the size when I finished the first one.  I LOVED it.  So, I spent the afternoon making them and then after dinner did some simple quilting inside the houses themselves then a simple wavy stitch down the white strips that separates the houses.  It finished up to I think 15 inches long.....SO CUTE!!!

And last but not least is a mini log cabin block I made from some paper piecing kit my friend Michelle sent me YEARS ago.  This log cabin finished up to I think 3 inches.  I swear, it took 3 stitches on the machine to sew the center square...3 stitches!!!

Someday I'm going to make more and use them for a runner or table topper.

My mini days are not over though.  I have empty space on the wall with the others so I'm going to make a mini swoon, puddle jump, etc....   

Hope you enjoy your day!

Peggy

Painted Furniture

Showing my picture yesterday of the turquoise dresser in our upstairs hallway brought to mind a few other pieces of furniture that my daughter painted in 2013.  This telephone booth was her first try at adding something other than color to a piece.  This piece is an old metal file cabinet!!!  She uses it in her bedroom as a side table.

This yellow nightstand

was found in a Goodwill store in Maryland I think too .  My oldest daughter needed a night stand for one of her rooms so Sarah painted it and distressed it a little to match the quilt I'd just made her.  The quilt is all yellow, grey and black.

And last but not least, this is an old children's dresser that she found in a barn like store in the next town over from us.  She wanted a unique tv stand and as you can tell, is obsessed with english things....   I actually think from looking closely that the drawers are not closed so the stripes look a little "off".    

NOW....if she'd just make a decision and do something with the old pieces she's got out in the garage she'd make her father a happy man!!!

Another Finish

     This is month 2 of Sherri McConnell's "Simply Small Challenge".  This month our project is called a Scrappy Churn Dash Table Runner.

     I don't necessarily have the need for a long skinny runner right now but I did find inspiration in my house so it's going to work out ok.

     I had a small basket of 2-1/2 inch squares already out on my cutting table from some of the "mini" quilts I've been making and hanging on my sewing room wall so I just grabbed from that.  They are all Thimbleblossom fabrics but since they are "springy" it was perfect!

    We started with 6-1/2 inch churn dash blocks....and before you start saying "where are they", they are in there but my choice of dark/light fabrics for the hst's was a little off so they don't resemble churn dash blocks at all.  We made 5 of them then sashed with white strips on all 4 sides.  Here's mine before the final sashing.

And here are a few pictures of it finished.

The first picture is right after the binding was attached.....  I used a leftover piece of BLISS for the back and since it's only 9-1/2 by approx. 45 in long, I didn't need a big piece of binding so I used 3 strips of the dotted BLISS for that.

   

Her's a picture of it on my son's sofa table....  Can you tell it's a guy's apartment?  (note the basketball and junk under said table)  LOL

And this old dresser is in the hallway in our upstairs.  We dragged that dresser home in the back of our car from Maryland a year or so ago "just because" my daughter thought it would awesome in turquoise.  It doesn't match anything else in the house but it comes in handy for laying finished quilts on, holding books for me and we've put a small lamp on it so the hallway isn't dark at night when we go up to bed  :)    There's nothing in the drawers but Sarah loves it and the color so there it is  :)

This was a super fun project!!!!  And, if you would like to join in, just go over to Sherri's blog and you can upload the pattern from Craftsy.  Sherri blogs at "A Quilting Life" and BTW, has an AWESOME new book out that just shipped less than a week ago.....I've read mine cover to cover twice!!!

PEGGY

It Takes Two

     In an "attempt" to empty out some project bins and use up fabric on my shelves, I'm taking one bin a month and trying to make up the quilt I kitted when I found it and "HAD" to make it.

     March's kit was called "It Takes Two" and it's from the APQ magazine from December 2010!  I know, it's crazy how long I've had this kitted!    I'm sure since then Camille Roskelly has had at least 3-4 fabric lines and numerous patterns published.

On Friday night I did all the cutting.  I found in the process of cutting that I was short 1 turquoise from the line so I had to use a blue turquoise dot from my stash.  It kind of jumps out of you in this picture but in the quilt it looks great.

I was thinking as I cut the print rectangles that "this isn't going to take too long to assemble".  THEN, I got to the cutting instructions for the white 4 inch squares.  192!    Is that for real?  Yowzer!

So, I took my ruler and pencil and sat on the couch with my lap desk and proceeded to do all the line drawing thru an episode of Hawaii 50 and Blue Bloods.

Over the next 2 days I got all the white corners sewn, trimmed and pressed and then Monday morning I woke up to a snow storm so I proceeded to assemble the whole top....

I absolutely LOVE the grey sashing with the white background and this "Bliss" fabric.

I've wanted to use a solid grey in "something" but I just didn't find the right project till now.

Here's a close up of one of the blocks......Don't look too closely though, I need to do a little better pressing on the grey so there's some little wrinkly issues  :)

As luck would have it, I have a HUGE pile of "RUBY" flannel yardage (another of Bonnie's lines) that cost me $5 a yard in the clearance room at my local quilt shop so I'm going to press it up and get it ready for use on the back!  It's two different lines but the same color way and it looks great together!!!   

If anyone is interested in the pattern, let me know, I have the whole magazine and would happily share it with you.  The quilt finished up 59 X 75.

Peggy

"Laura"

Meet Laura.....Laura was one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet and I was proud and happy to call her a friend.     Do you see that smile?   She was always smiling!!                

I pretty much either texted or emailed Laura every morning.  She was one of those friends that checked in every day with her friends even if it was only a hello or invited you to play Words with Friends or in my case, she was always sending me links to quilts and projects that she thought "we" should do.  We'd text back and forth and would inevitably order the pattern, share with one another and then get working on it.  I have a binder in my sewing room that is called the "Laura Binder" and it's just the projects her and I worked on together.  

This here is "PEPE".  He's Laura's praying mantis friend.  I don't remember how it started, if Laura was afraid of them, liked them or just thought they were "icky" but one year at our annual May quilting retreat I'd ordered probably 10-12 of these little praying mantis's and gave them out to some of the girls.  Laura named her's Pepe and one of the girls knitted him a hat.  I think Laura made him a quilt and I know my little friend of Pepe has a little scrap of red and white polka dot tied around his neck....  mine sits on my OTT light over my machine and reminds me daily of PEPE....

Here's another picture of Laura during show n tell...  She was one busy girl.  If you asked her what she was doing she'd say " a little of this and a little of that" and would show up at retreat with about 10 snow n tell projects, one more beautiful than the other.   

This post is all about missing Laura.  On March 15th, 2013 I talked to Laura when I got to work....she wasn't feeling good but didn't think she could go home from work since she was the only one in the office that day.  I texted her that night to see how she was feeling but didn't get an answer.  

I never heard back from her again.  She'd passed away during the night from spinal meningitis......We lost a beautiful soul that night.....someone I will miss forever!!!

This is the last group shot of the retreat girls with Laura.  I can still hear her saying "does anyone else think this is a little creepy?"

I know I can honestly say that I'm not alone in missing her.  The world lost a beautiful soul that night and will be remembered by everyone she touched throughout her short life.

We miss and love you Laura!!!!

National Quilting Day

   

     So, tomorrow is Worldwide Quilting day.....What will you be doing to celebrate?

     I decided that to celebrate the day I'd pull out one of the oldest projects I have nearby and work on that.  Do I need this quilt for anyone in particular?  UH, no!  But has this been on my mind?  UH, yes!   

     

  The magazine is American Patchwork & Quilting and it's from December 2010!   I remember when it came out I fell in love with this project "It Takes Two".  The magazine has it made up in Thimble Blossom fabrics from Bonnie & Camille.  I remember I tried tracking down as many of the fabrics as I could but even now, looking at the pile, I think I may be missing the red dot for the final border  :(

I'm not going to let that stop me though, I am going to assemble this as far as I can and then I will do a search if and when I find I need something in particular....who knows, the fabric designers may just have some that they can sell me....

So, to celebrate World Wide Quilting Day tomorrow I'm going to be working on this project!

What will you be sewing on?

Peggy

Some oldies but goodies

     For Christmas hubby gave me a new MacBook Air and I just LOVE it!  However, anytime I want to write a post with a picture and it was taken anytime before December 2013, I have to go pull out the old Dell and email it to myself.  The other day my friend Michelle mentioned a quilt she had made, and mentioned I'd made one similar but used the same fabrics.

     Going thru my pictures looking for my quilt and looking at all the old quilts I did had me uploading just a few to share here....

   

This quilt was made when a co-worker ran her first marathon on her 28th birthday, and FINISHED!

This black/white/turquoise was made for my daughter in her first apartment.  

This quilt was made for me, by me, from a layer cake I'd received from my friend Michelle as a little "hello" gift when we met up at retreat one year.  

This one was made to be used as a raffle quilt for our Special Ed class in school.  It enabled them to go on extra trips throughout the year that they wouldn't normally get to go on.

And, last but certainly not least, my daughter's wedding quilt and label.  I'd made this quilt from a tutorial on "A Little Bit Biased's" blog.   

I actually made this one and another but that one hasn't been photographed yet nor has the binding been sewn on....and yes, it's from early April or May of 2013 but it's one of those quilts I made because I LOVED making the stars and since it's not for anyone in particular, the binding will go on whenever I find the time or whenever I need a quilt .

And HERE is the quilt that inspired my search

2013-2014 Designer Mystery BOM Update

     Block Nine came....."Prairie Town" is the name and it was designed by Kansas Troubles Quilters.
www.KTQuilts.com
 
     Once again, the fabrics are just so nice and FQ Shop is still very generous with how much they send to make the blocks!   There was one "new to me" fabric thrown in this month, and it's the red swirl!   It's the first time we're seeing that in one of the blocks!

     I've been partial to the red and blue dots so far but I think this red swirl might be going out in front for the favorite!

   
   

I received the finishing kit right at the start of the block of the month but I didn't do anything with it.  Now that I'm 9 blocks in I decided I'd get started assembling the rows with the setting units.

So, we have 3 baskets, 3 stars and 3 houses.  I wonder what the next 3 are Is anyone else assembling as they go?

"Bungalow"

     I finished this Schnibbles quilt called "Bungalow" at least 2+ weeks ago but never did quilt it.
I wanted to use the red floral that I used for the centers and had enough yardage but I'd have to piece it.  I kept putting it aside and moving it until this morning when I told myself to just get it done and stop procrastinating!  I went in search of the extra fabric from the top and found what I thought was yardage of the big green and blue dots.  Look at the surprise I found when I opened up the yardage......

I have it all sandwiched and pinned and I'm thinking my good old standby wavy stitch will be how I quilt it!!!!   I think some little girl is going to love this quilt once I finish and get the binding on....which is going to be the same as the backing since I have a piece big enough to use!