All Caught Up

Whew......can you believe it hit 70 here today?   I don't mind since it gave me the opportunity to open a few windows and air the house out but I could do without sweating while I try to get the house in order for Thursday!

I caught up yesterday and today on a few of my projects so I feel good.

First was my "Have Yourself A Quilty Little Christmas" project with Lori Holt and a bunch of people on Instagram.

The 4 blocks with the gingerbread man and the 3 blocks with the candle are all connected.

Just waiting for instructions on the others and possibly?  more blocks?

Next I caught up with my "Little Letters" which is a free block with Temecula Quilt Co.

I'm using solids with a black on white pin dot for the background.  Only 3 more letters to go then I can figure out what I want to do with them.  

The letters are only 4-1/2 inches square so you know I may have done a little swearing while I made the little HST's!  Those little guys are only 1-1/2 inch sq.

Below is a picture of my little trimming templates.  I would be LOST without them and also having my pins......You really need to pin those little ones so they don't get all wonky!

(I LOVE my red dotted pin holder)

And last, it's not really a catch up, it's a finish.   My Star Plus QAL quilt is back from my quilter Sarah.   That girl is awesome!  1 week turnaround time and she trims the quilts down for you!!!

I have binding all made, I just need to get it attached.

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday.

Peggy

Olivia

      We interrupt this blog to announce the birth of my first grandchild Olivia Grace.
Born at Jersey Shore Hospital in Neptune, NJ on November 21, 2014.
I may be a little biased but I think she's the most beautiful baby ever born there!!!

Daddy inspecting her

Mommy talking to her

Listening to mom explain why her hair is so wild

And this is the way she'll be for a bit...all snug as a bug!

Orca Bay

     Back in November 2011 Bonnie Hunter revealed Part 1 of her "Orca Bay" mystery quilt.  At the time I did not participate.  Frankly, I did not feel like I was up to the challenge of something of that magnitude.  I oohed and aahed when I saw my friend's versions and made a promise to myself that I would do the mystery in 2012 and I did.    BUT, I was constantly thinking about Orca Bay and how much I loved it.

       Well, I collected up some fabric back in May and cut what I would need to do Unit 1.
Unit 1 is Quarter Square Triangles.  In all, 224 hourglass units are needed...yes, 224!

If I've counted correctly, this basket has 448 halves that need to be pressed open and connected into the hourglass unit.

At this point, Bonnie has us set the hourglass units aside until other units are made.  Since I have all the fabric cut for the whole mystery, I went ahead and pulled out Unit 6 and this is what we are making.....

6-1/2 inch Ohio Star blocks with red centers!   

I haven't sewn it up yet but as is typical of me, I had to press at least a few units and lay them out to sew.  I LOVE Ohio Star blocks so I'm thrilled to be making these for this quilt.

I will most likely work on these stars this week then set the whole thing aside so I can start with Bonnie's new mystery on the 28th.

Peggy

Random Stuff for a Rainy Monday

Today I'll just update you with some random finishes from the weekend.

I did the 2 Women of the Bible blocks yesterday

I'm using my collection of Fig Tree fabrics for these and I'm having a great time making them and I LOVE how they're turning out.

I worked on some swap blocks too.  I blogged about this swap about this time last month and did this month's this weekend.  I'm doing these with an Instagram friend Jean.....

The blocks below are my October and November, Jean's October blocks and right there in row 4, block 3 is one that a friend/neighbor/blog friend, Carolyn, made for me.  I may or may not have had a little influence in her liking this block and starting some of her own :)    I made her a block a couple of weeks ago and one day on my way out to run errands I popped it in her mailbox and hoped she'd put it in her quilt so one day last week I came home and there was one in mine  :)   I'm going to start connecting my blocks this week so as I get Jeans and I make my own, the assembly process goes quicker.

Here are my "Have Yourself A Quilty Little Christmas blocks too.

AND........last but not least, here is a picture of my daughter.  Do ya think she's ready to pop?

Her due date is this Thursday and we're hoping that Baby J will be here right around then, or earlier.....  I'll keep you posted.

OH....and not to leave anyone out.  Here's some pictures of my youngest.  She likes crafts....but not sewing so much.  She wanted to make some pillows for her English inspired bedroom so she did some searching on the internet.  I like that she wants to make stuff but I want her to feel like she did it on her own so I had her bring one of my travel machines up and set it up facing me and we sewed together.  I don't think it will happen much more but for the one day, it was fun....

I'm proud of her for attempting to make these on her own!  And I will admit that I did very little, she did them all on her own!!!

Peggy

Star Plus Quilt Along

I was impatient to be waiting around on this Star Plus Quilt Along so whenever I had a chance I made a few blocks.....then I found myself with nothing to do on Friday so I finished up the remainder of them, made the last unit today and voile!  a finished quilt.

I LOVE the fabrics I chose, I LOVED making the blocks and even the backing was fun.  I used up anything over half a yard and made a very scrappy back for it.

My favorite quilter Sarah has been warned....it's coming her way on Monday and I'm betting anything that this time next week I'll have it back all quilted.

Here's the details on the finished product...........

The pattern is called :  Star Plus by Machen & Tun, I bought it on Craftsy.

The quilt measures:   61 X 81

The fabric used is : Nine Dots by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. for Henry Glass.

And the thing I'm proudest of is I didn't purchase a single thing.  It all came from my stash!

NOW.....I do have quite a bit of fabric left over, and after having it hanging around for so long, and making 2 quilts with it, I'm ready to offer my leftovers to anyone that thinks they "need/want" it.

There is I'd say a yard of the dark pink and at least a fat quarter of the rest seen in this picture.

Just leave me your name and I'll pick a winner from a hat early in the week.  

This fabric is out of print and although you might be able to pick a few pieces up out there in cyberspace, it's not a line that will be easy to get more of......

Have a great rest of your weekend.

Peggy

" Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas "

Have you joined in on the fun?   Lori Holt from "Bee in My Bonnet" blog is doing a sew along and naturally, not to be left out of the fun, I had to join in!  

Of course, I was behind before I even got started because I kept asking myself if I REALLY needed to join in on another sew along?  REALLY???????   So, I waited and then after seeing the little house and mug,  I knew I had to join.  I caught up pretty quickly and now I watch for a new block every day or every other day.

Today we made a Gingerbread Cookie......

I found the brown & white dot buried in my brown stash and I had the background fabric......what I had NO idea I had was the cream ric rac!
I took a chance and opened a drawer that I throw all kinds of scrappy stuff in and there was a little pile of it!    I think it must have come in a kit that I didn't use so voile!  I had the "piping" on the cookie.

Here's a picture of all of the blocks to date..........

I have no idea what we are making or even how many blocks we are making but I'm "blindly" following along with all my IG friends and just doing what we are told :)

It's not too late to join in on all the fun....
Head on over to Instagram and look for
beelori1 and start cutting and sewing  :)

Moda Modern Building Blocks Quilt Along

     For the month of November Section B of the Modern Moda Building Blocks is only 3 blocks.

     Block # 1 is a whopping 36 inches square

Block # 5 is 18 inches square

Block # 6 is also 18 inches square

I connected these 3 blocks and came up with a 36-1/2 X 54-1/2 inch unit!  Holy Moley!!! And this is only a small part of this quilt!!!!   This is the picture that Moda sent with the pattern.

Here are my Units A & B.....

As I said in my post back in October, I'm using mainly Denyse Schmidt fabrics with some neutrals thrown in.  Block # 1 will be an exception though.  I'm working with fat quarters and half yard pieces and believe it or not, the geese units that make up the star measure 9-1/2 X 18-1/2!  I had to dip into some of my stash to make this block but I kept with "like" fabrics so I think it will all look nice together.

On another note, our baby watch is still on.......9 more days to go  :) (or thereabouts).

Peggy

" STEMS"

     Last month our "Another Year of Schnibbles" started back up after the summer break with "Harvey".  Harvey is a Schnibbles pattern and even as large as it turned out to be, it was a quick and easy project to make.  This month Sinta and Sherri picked a smaller pattern called "Stems" which was much smaller and not a Schnibbles pattern.   We knew going into the newAYOS season that we'd be doing a variety of quilts and that was ok with me...just give me a project that everyone else was doing and i'm happy.

     Most of the Stems quilts I've seen on Instagram and on blogs were made with pretty florals and looking traditionally like leaves and stems.  I wanted something more in keeping with the colorway in my house so I could use it all the time so I went with "Grant Park" by Minick & Simpson.  It helped that I had a charm pack and about a half a yard of the red from one of their other lines hanging around just waiting to be turned into something.

And there you have it, another finish for November.

Peggy

"Veteran's Day"

It's Veterans Day here in the U.S.  
Take a moment today and think about your freedom and thank a Veteran because without them you may not have them!

Star Plus Quilt

     Back on October 27th I posted pictures of my fabric choice for the Star Plus Quilt Along going on on Instagram.

     I am LOVING my fabric choice....I was thinking I'd do darker fabrics but "Nine Dots" by Carrie Nelson are perfect for this project!

     I did block 5 first.  I don't really know why, but maybe knowing it's the largest block at 30-1/2 and I wanted to be sure I had enough fabric?

Units 1 and 2 are each made up of 1 20-1/2 inch block and 5 10-1/2 inch blocks

Here's Units 1 & 2 laid out side by side....

I'd love to continue working on this tonight but I NEED to work on my "Another Year of Schnibbles" project so this will have to wait till mid week.

I am thinking that I will be having a lot of this fabric line left over so once the top is assembled, you can watch here for a giveaway of the extra fabric.

Have a wonderful week and watch out for the "arctic frost" we are supposed to be getting this week here on the east coast.

Peggy

Welcome to my sewing room

     Welcome to New Jersey and my sewing room.

     I am set up in a compact 12 x 12 room that used to be my son's bedroom until about 4 years ago.
Before that, I sewed in a 9 x 11 small room off the living room on the first floor and frankly, I was really nervous about moving upstairs thinking that I'd be too far removed from the rest of the family but when your daughter's bedroom is across the hall and hubby visits once or twice a night, my fears were unfounded.  I'm happy for the room and the space I've been afforded....especially when I know people that set up and break down nightly on the dining room table!

This is the "Command Center".  I check email, Instagram, Facebook and my blog from here.

I also sew at this wonderful sewing machine table hubby bought for me when I moved in here.

This is the matching cutting area that's kind of messy right now but I know what's there and it will be cleaned up once I'm done with my sewing tonight.

My design wall with my favorite Ikea cart that I keep my work in progress projects.

Below is my mini wall and ironing area.........

And last but not least is the storage area for fabric.........

The bins on the left hold pre-made quilt kits....made mostly by me.  I keep my fabric in the closet on the shelves in color order and I also have a few kits that I've collected in there.

It may not be as neat as some girls I've seen but I KNOW where everything is and it works for me.

RSD/CRPS Awareness Month

Did you know that November is CRPS/RSD Awareness Month?  We all know that February is Heart Disease Awareness Month and October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month etc, but I doubt any of us know about RSD/CRPS. 

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), previously known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) is a chronic pain disorder and my friend Carolyn suffers from it.  
Monday, November 3, was Color the World Orange Day.  A day to wear orange to support those fighting this disease. 
Carolyn is a member of the New Jersey Modern Quilt Guild and her guild is collecting blocks to assemble into a quilt to raffle off at an upcoming event.

Here is a link to Carolyn's blog....http://sweetboaterchick.blogspot.com

I really wanted to support Carolyn's guild so I made her an orange block....

It measures 21 X 25 and is made totally from all of scraps from my scrap basket.

Peggy

Baby Quilts

     Baby "J" as we call her will be here soon.  She is MORE than ready with clothes, diapers, formula, etc.   Oh yeah, and blankets!  She received knitted, crocheted, quilted and store bought blankets/quilts at the shower a few weeks ago so this baby is ready for winter and picture taking on them!

     I don't think I'd known a monthwhen I started making the first quilt.....   I bought all of these "water" themed fabrics at Quilts Plus in Indiana while I was there on retreat in May.

     Jen and Tim live for all things water related...boating, fishing, swimming etc.  I am sure this baby will get up close and personal with the Jersey Shore next summer whether she likes the water or not......

I made a lot of Sawtooth Stars and just put a simple border around it.  The backing is a Dr. Seuss blue on Blue dot minkee!!!


























Next, I found a bunch of kiddie themed hst's in my kiddie bin so I took them out and just made a big ole scrappy quilt from them......

I took all the scrappy leftovers too and made a strippy border with a black and white striped binding.

Lastly, after the kids found out they were expecting a girl I talked to Jen about quilt # 3 and had her pick some fabrics from my stash to make a quilt for the room that would match.

The baby's room is a very pale lilac with this gorgeous dark wood crib and dresser.  

You can't even see that the walls are lilac in this picture.  The colors of the room are lilac, turquoise and grey.  She even has a cute little grey and white mobile on the crib!

They're not done setting up, hence the box in the corner but they are getting there....Baby "J" is due in the next week or two so they'll finish soon!

The house they live in is surrounded by literally million dollar homes.  They live in a small town at the Jersey Shore and love being within walking distance of the beach.  Their house is a small cape (hence the dormers upstairs) and is about 100 years old.  It's not their forever home, probably only their 2014/2015 home but it's ready for this new baby whenever she decides to make her entrance.....I can only hope it's soon!!!   I cannot wait to get my hands on her!

Grandma To Be Peggy