The Lorax

I never cease to amaze myself at what I find in my sewing room when I'm not looking for it.

I was actually looking for a piece of fabric to make one of the "One Hour Bags" that I've been seeing on Instagram but found this kit.....

I have a long list of quilts that I need to make for some babies that are coming later this year so while I had the kit at hand I decided to cut it out....figuring I could assemble it a little at a time.  Well, I HAD to make one block to see how cute it was, which turned into making all of them.......

You got it.....I assembled the whole thing and this weekend pulled some yellow and white minkee like fabric from the Dr. Seuss line and got the backing ready to mail to my quilter this week.

I LOVE when I something unexpected like this project comes together super quick and is really cute too!

Here is a view of my kitchen standing in my living room.    We'd built this house in 1992 and at the time the blue linoleum looked "awesome" LOL.  About 10 years ago we changed to the oak laminate which gave the room a nice updated look.  

 I loved having the L shaped island.  It helped lay out food when we hosted large groups, but we started having issues with the cabinet doors not closing and I also had an unfortunate accident with an electric skillet igniting the countertop on fire!  

We opted to not have a kitchen table anymore, we moved the fridge to the wall on the left and the wall where the kitchen table was now has cabinets, a countertop and we put 2 wall ovens up.

I always felt like the kitchen was pretty big but look at it now..........

I had the contractor put glass doors in these cabinets so I can showcase my red and polka dotted dishes.  

The two looks are totally different and every morning when I wake up and go down to have breakfast I can't believe it's mine, all mine!   I find myself standing staring around just taking it all it......

We still need some trim installed, our sliding door to the living room needs painting and since we replaced all the doors, we need new handles and some painting done.  We are able to work in the kitchen again which makes me happy, and we work around the builder during the day coming and going doing his thing.  

I'll update with other room fixes shortly....

Peggy

Burritos

    Pillowcase burritos that is  :)

    I've written before about my quest to use up some of my old fabric yardage and I've found the Con Kerr Pillowcase challenge to be the best use of my fabric.  http://www.conkerrcancer.org/volunteer/sew-pillowcases    Giving sick kids a reason to smile, one pillowcase at a time.  

     I've made about 40 for this cause in the past year or so, and as sad as it sounds, it barely fills the bill for the amount of sick kids that are out there....

    One of my goals for May was to make a few more pillowcases so that when my local quilt shop, Quilting Possibilities, has their monthly sew in, I can drop them off for delivery.

     I like making this pile

into "burritos"

then finally into pillowcases

"Spider Legs"

This week's block for the Red Sky at Night QAL is called Spider Legs.  When I saw the name I thought to myself hmmmmm  I don't ever remember seeing a quilt block with that name....and then I read Jodi's blog http://www.talesofcloth.com .   Jodi explains that she has lots of spiders, doesn't mind having them around and even named one Charlotte :)
I on the other hand have quite an aversion to them!  I don't think I always did but about 23 years ago we sold our house and for about 6 months lived in a rental in the woods where there were spiders a plenty!  YUCK!

So, here is my Spider Legs block......  I know, it's a lotta dots, but I LOVE red and add dots and I'm in heaven!   Those little hst's in the upper left corner are trimmed to 1-1/2 inches!!!  I'm telling you though, I could not have trimmed them and gotten such a nice result without my little Bloc Lock trimming template pictured on the white 2-1/2 inch square!    

I did good not cutting off my star points but I see I may have to take some spray starch and hot iron to the bottom right point so it lays flatter.

I'm really loving this QAL and can't wait to see as the months go on what other fun blocks Jodi comes up with.

Peggy

Happy Mother's Day

Did everyone have a good Mother's Day?  I know I did.

We are "this" close to having a working kitchen again so once again, making a reservation for Mother's Day happened.

We wanted to try a new to us restaurant so I threw a few names out there and let my oldest pick one for us.

This is where we ended up.  

I wish I'd taken pictures inside but you know how it is, you get inside, start ordering food and drink and then start eating, so all thoughts of pictures go right down the drain.  

We live at the Jersey Shore so we can pretty much go an hour any direction and find awesome places.  

Asbury Park, NJ is in the midst of a face lift.  A lot of the old buildings in the downtown area have had a ton of work done to them over the years, and surprisingly, it's the first time I've ever been to this area to see what it looks like.  

Here's my family standing outside waiting for our turn to eat :)

 

 

 

My son took a picture of me with my 2 girls and Olivia.  WHY I didn't get a picture of the men is anyone's guess....  Next time we are all together I will insist on a picture!

A great meal and enjoyable conversation was had by all!

Sew Along Update

I hit a dry spell with my sewing the last week or so but I did some sewing today to catch up.

First up is the new "Farm Girl Fridays" using the new "Farm Girl Vintage" book by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet.

Week one's block is called Apron Strings.  

This week's block is Autumn Star 

I was going to use Kona Snow for the background blocks but I'm thinking I might use some dots and other small prints for the blocks also.

The next sew along is my Red Sky at Night with Jodi Godfrey at Tales of Cloth blog.  These will be just red and white blocks.  

Last week's block was called "T" block.

and today's block is called "Album".

You should check out all the wonderful blocks on Jodi's blog!  You won't be sorry!

Peggy