March

     Is today really March 31st?    This was a fast month!

     I sewed a few of these Star Challenge blocks this week to catch up to week 13.   If you're on Instagram, A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop (@anptquiltshop) is doing this challenge to make one star block each week.   I'm using a bundle of Riley Blake dots for my star points and left over fabric from my Lori Holt project from last year for the centers.  These blocks finish at 6-1/2 inches and work up fast and are a lot of fun to sew!

      Last year we did Churn Dash blocks.  I did all 52 and then decided I wanted to make the blocks larger for a summer quilt for myself for next year, 2017.  
I'm using scraps from my bin with no rhyme or reason for what I add to the 6-1/2 inch block.....just grabbing and sewing.

I love that pile of finished blocks........ It is NOT too late to join in so again, head on over to Instagram and check it out.

I'm excited too that it's getting warmer out and I'm able to start wearing all my cute sewing themed tee shirts that I bought this winter from Statelytype.  I love the pale green of this one with the cute old fashioned sewing machine....

New Project

Are you working on a new project today?  

My BFF Robin tempted me a few weeks ago with a Missouri Star Quilt Co. tutorial called
"Crosswalk".  Jenny had a really cute fabric she was cutting up so I made it my mission to
get something cute too.  I think Robin might be using strips from her stash :)

It's a really easy quilt to collect fabrics for.  You need 1 jelly roll, 2 5 inch charm packs (or cut your own)  a white to match your charm pack and then a border print.    I found this "Gooseberry" jelly roll on my last trip to Florida and what's nice is the shop had yardage laid out with it so I grabbed some polkas (naturally) and instead of buying charm packs, I opted to use Kona Snow since I have an entire bolt.

I did all my strip sewing and cutting.........

Started attaching the side triangles...............

Here's the unit.....just trim off the sides.  And then threw a few up on the design wall to see how I like the look.   I'm thinking I like it a lot.

I find this fabric line to be reminiscent of a Bonnie and Camille collection.  The scallops, the dots, a large floral pint....and even the same colorway.   Irregardless, I like it and as will be going back to sewing more units.  

Fishes and Whales and Crocs Oh My!

     Another baby quilt from my 2016 list done and ready for gifting.  The baby shower is this Sunday so yeah, just in the nick of time :)

      While in Florida back in January I picked up this bundle of fabrics with a particular project in mind.....  A baby boy quilt for a friend of my youngest daughter.  She'd been in the mama's wedding last year and now they're expecting their first baby.  Since we live at the Jersey Shore and are "water" fans I thought making something with fish, ducks, lobsters, whales etc. would be perfect.

I knew I would use these with a Riley Blake light grey dot on white from this nautical line for the background of the half square triangles.   I did 5-1/2 inch blocks so the prints were seen!

I hate when I make blocks small and then all you see is the ducks head or the tail of a whale....I wanted the mama and more importantly the baby to see the items.

I normally send my quilts out for longarm quilting but something this size I can handle on my own machine.  I used a wavy design to mimic the binding fabric.   I'd bought the blue whales yardage for the backing, which matched perfectly.   All in all, a great little quilt for a new little boy.  

I can't wait for the mama to see it!

The quilt measures 40 X 45.

We've been lucky to have a few more nice days here in NJ so we've been taking advantage of the days for walks on the Boardwalk......

My daughter was off from work last week so she came for a walk with us.  Grandpa, Jen, Olivia......

Retirement.....It's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it

81 degrees here at the "Jersey Shore" so hubby suggested a walk on the boardwalk.  He knows I'm not a boardwalk kinda gal but before it gets to hot and humid, I agreed to go.

Most of the stands were closed since it's too early in the season but there was a pizzeria open.....

28 inch round pizza's with slices almost as long as my lower arm!   And homemade lemonade......

It was so nice to see the rebuilding of the Seaside Heights boardwalk area after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and then the burning down of the boardwalk within weeks of the rebuild.   Olivia loved being pushed up one side and down the other...looking at the people riding bikes, dogs being walked and other little ones being chauffeured around.  This was our first trip this year but i'm thinking it won't be our last :)  Hubby kept saying "this retirement gig is pretty good".

Visiting A Few Shops

     Flew into Tampa late yesterday, escaping the cold and snow that was falling in NJ.  It was so nice to disembark the plane to 70 degree weather.  Of course, we deplaned just before business traffic time on Rt. 19 so what should have taken 1 hour, took 3....YES, I said 3 hours!   I was a lunatic by the time we reached our hotel.....   We met up with hubby's brother and went for a delicious dinner so in the end a nice meal, a stop in Dunkin Donuts for a hot chocolate, some relaxing time reading and a good night's sleep helped view today in a better manner :)

      We had a light breakfast here at the hotel and then I had a game plan.  I'd wanted to visit a local quilt shop last time I was here but it happened that it was closed and they were moving the shop to a new location and enlarging it.  I checked online to be sure they'd finished the move and were up and running so with hubby behind the wheel and me manning Mapquest, we were off.

        First stop...."Happy Apple Quilts" in Tampa.  Can I just say "AWESOME"

The shop was spotless and the staff was sooooo helpful!  

I've been seeing those tuffets as so many shops and on a lot of blogs/instagram.  I sooooo want to make one but i'm a little intimidated to start one on my own, I want to take a class!  Well, they're offering one on April 2 & 3rd, but I won't be back down till the 22nd so I'll just bide my time.

There were customers in the shop commenting on my "Fabric Hoarder" tee shirt so I got to chatting with one in particular and I think I hooked her up with both Patchwork Threads and Statelytpe so she can order her own shirts.

Afterwards, it was too early for lunch so we Mapquested "Rainbow's End Quilt Shop" in Dunedin.

That shop is not to be believed....they have multiple rooms and each one is a theme!  Christmas, Halloween, Flannel etc.   This was my 2nd trip to this shop since January.  I could spend HOURS there but alas, with hubby following me around that doesn't happen.  

I got to chatting there as well with a woman that was sitting outside the shop....again, asking about my tee shirt :)

I did leave a few dollars behind at these shops......

The first picture are some low volume prints I picked up at Rainbow's End.  The second picture is from Happy Apple.  I want to make the Missouri Star QS's "Crosswalk" quilt so I was on a search for a jelly roll with a coordinating print for the outer border and came away from that shop with both plus some black and white stripe for bindings, some CUTE St. Patricks Day fabric, needles and a free postcard size pattern.  All in all, an awesome haul!

Right around the corner from Rainbow's End we saw people lining up outside "Eli's Bar B Que" and knew immediately that was the place for lunch....no stinkin chain restaurant for us!  So, we stopped. OMG, talk about good barbecue!!!  YUMMO!  

Afterwards we came back to the hotel where we sat out at the pool.  I took out my counted cross stitch project and worked on that for a while before heading out to The Lucky Dill for dinner before hubby and his brother took off for The Moody Blues Concert.   I grabbed dessert.....

and I'm spending some time updating the blog and looking at Patchwork Threads for a new shirt for the next time I'm out quilt shop hopping :)

I have some pictures of the NJ Quiltfest I attending on Thursday with my friend Robin but I have to upload the pictures first.

Happy Saturday Night Everyone!

Go For It

      This is my last post for the 2014 "GO FOR IT SEWALONG" quilt.

       In my last post on this project I think I told you that I'd cut the quilt out, sewn up ALL of the units and then it sat....and sat, and sat.  When I made my January project list I put this project at the top of the list and decided to stick to getting it done.

       

Here's the magazine page and small snippets of the quilt before I shipped it off to my favorite quilter Sarah in New York.

Here's a picture of it today......

I chose an awesome salmon tone on tone for the backing and binding.  This quilt had so many colors in it.  I loved this tone on tone in my stash, and had enough of it so there you have it.

I'm working on the 2015 "Tone It Down" quilt too....I'll do some update pictures soon on that.