The Gifts

     My husband retired 1 year ago this week and although I know he's tired of watching Paw Patrol and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I KNOW he's happy he's home and enjoying our time together.
We've gone on vacations, short day trips, shows in NYC and then in October our daughter had her 2nd daughter which has added to the "chaos and busy-ness of Casa Aront" but all in all neither of us would trade this for anything......

     Gone but not forgotten though doesn't apply to his secretary at work.  When she heard we were going to be grandparents again she got the Mister to working on something special.  On Wednesday we drove the hour to his old office and here's what we brought home with us.......

This toy box is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.....

And here's a picture of Gemma in the morning before we left to go......

She's just as beautiful as her mother and big sister Olivia....a little more vocal than we'd like LOL but all in all a beautiful baby.

OH, and speaking of Olivia....here's a really cute shot of her that morning.  What is up with that hair?

And not to leave out our other "baby".....here is my great niece Shelby sitting in Olivia's high chair helping me make soup LOL   Mama Shannon was getting her hair cut so this cutie kept me company.

She is the spitting image of her mother!

AND....as a thank you for our new toy box, I gifted Roe and Kim with this quilt

and a gift card for Kim to get some supplies for a new toy box for Shelby......but we're not expecting that till the summer for her birthday!

Off to sew on the Step 4 units of my Quiltville Mystery!

PEGGY

En Provence Mystery Part 3

   Welcome to my Part 3 update of Bonnie's 2016 mystery.

    I can't believe it's part 3 already....time is just going so fast.....but then again, don't we say that every year?

     I've long been a purple lover so I was happy to be sewing with it this week especially since I don't sew with it often.

     Our step this week is 168 4 patch blocks in a variety of purples....

I got to strip cutting pretty quickly on Friday.  Subcutting went quickly as well......

Look at these fabrics!

And here you have it....168 purple 4 patches.  I'm going to set them aside with the other steps and work on some other little things until Friday.    I'm getting excited to see what we'll be making.  I've seen some girls laying their parts out...

Here's a link up to Bonnie's Linky Party....go check it out!

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

Be back next Monday with another update.  Have a good week....

Peggy

Quiltville Mystery Linkup

     Another week, another step in "En Provance".....Bonnie Hunter's Mystery for 2016.

     So, our mission this week is 100 Magenta/neutral "triangle in a square units".

I did all the pressing and cutting on Friday.....

I sewed a few on Saturday and made a dent of about 60 of the 100 needed.  

The magenta is a "constant" in the quilt so making sure I don't cut wrong is important.

Hubby and I had a nice lunch at Panera today and then did some Christmas shopping but when I got home I buckled down and finished up the units.

Here is step 1 and step 2 side by side.......  I'm ready for Friday and Step 3.

If you're interested, you can still join in.....just head on over to Bonnie's blog and you'll be hooked up pronto..........

Here's the link up page...........http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

Happy Monday Everyone............

"Simple Life"

   

So, this awesome quilt is called "The Simple Life" by Thimbleblossoms.  It's made with "RUBY" flannel and if you can even believe me, I cut it out and sewed up all the alternating blocks in 1 afternoon.  A few days later I assembled all the stars and then got it assembled into a top in 1 afternoon.  The flannel was super nice to work with!

I sent it out to my favorite quilter Sarah and she had it back within a week.  With the holidays, I wasn't able to get the binding on but that was taken care of today.  Binding on and it's on the couch next to where I watch TV at night and it will be tacked down over the next week or so......

Flannel will keep some nice little girl warm this winter!

Quiltville Mystery Link Up Monday

    I'm back!  It's the Monday after the reveal and I'm back with my Monday Link Up.

    I don't always have the step from Friday finished by link up Monday but I do today.   I was happy to see that Bonnie gave us an east task this week since I was a little busy this holiday.....

I pretty much LOVE all of my neutral fabrics but these are my MOST favorite of them all.

Who doesn't like dancing ladies, words, carrots, bees, sheep, leprechauns and my "MUST" have in every mystery, a little piece of Olivia the Pig.  BTW, if anyone reading this has any of this fabric I'd sell my first born for some LOL

Look at this leprechaun......soooo cute!

Some pictures of the sewing process, my favorite blocks, my "Bonnie Spinning" of the center seam, and all 221 of my 4 patches.  In the blue basket are extra 2 patches since I obviously can't count and made way tooooo many units....BUT, I'll use them in the back or something down the road......

If you'd like to join in, by all means, it's not too late, here's a link to join in.....
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/11/en-provence-mystery-monday-link-up-part.html

I'm trying to be better at updating my blog so if you're so inclined to come back, you'll see my progress.....

En Provence! A Quiltville Mystery, Part 1

  If it's Thanksgiving Weekend, Bonnie must be in town with her mystery! Yes.....the  Quiltville mystery that we wait all year for is finally here.

Friday morning the Part 1 instructions are up on the blog.........I immediately go to my sewing room and pull out the bin of fabric.............

Here are some of my favorite "neutrals"....dancing ladies, carrots, bees, chicken wire, Dr. Seuss words, leprechauns, dots etc......

Then we have our dark purple, lilac, yellow, green and a hot pink.....I am loving all of the colors!

Step 1 is 4 patch blocks from our neutrals.............

First I have to gather some "stuff"...the fresh rotary blades, a ruler, pins, chocolates and of course the required gummy bears :)

Then I got to cutting my strips, sub cutting units and then making 4 sample 4 patch units.....SUCCESS!  They all came out the right size and are super cute!

First run yielded 119  3-1/2 inch 4 patch units.  I cut more strips today, a few more than yesterday so I should be able to get the remaining 102 blocks made.  I'm going to go work on them tonight.

Hope everyone doing the mystery is having fun, and thank you Bonnie for an easy Step 1.......

Peggy

NYC Visit

            We had tickets to see 

Hubby accidentally bought evening tickets so we had to decide how we wanted to spend our day...  Since our daughter was coming we thought we'd go in early, like 4:00 and then we could do a few things that we have wanted to do.    So, we left south Jersey around 2:30 and took a slow drive up.

We get into the city and parking was AWFUL!  The 2:00 shows hadn't gotten out yet so it was difficult....We actually pulled up to a lot as KINKY BOOTS was getting out so we got lucky and they took us right in....after driving around for way too long!

So, we are up around 45th street and the first start on our trek is "The City Quilter".  

They had a tuffett in NYC fabric

                                         A skyline out of solids of day and night in NYC

                                          They've got a nice setup of machines for classes

My only purchase was the subway line fabric for 2 pillowcases and a Quilt Sampler magazine

Our next stop was the Macaron Cafe on 36th Street.

They have a cute "button" as their door pull

At first I thought it was a macaron but NO, that's definitely a button!

After that we had dinner at Jack Doyle's Restaurant & Bar.....where the tv's in the place were non stop running of the guy climbing Trump Tower with suction cups!

I saw these two on our way to the show....

We had a great time in NYC and look forward to our next trip.

OH.....yes, we saw Paul McCartney on Sunday.

The music and Paul's performance was AWESOME.....but we were all the way up in the top of the stadium so we could see Paul on the side screens....but we played "where in the world is Paul McCartney" looking down at the stage.  A nice time was had by one and all :)

New Babies

There are lots of new babies around here these days.  I feel like I've spent the majority of my summer making them all a quilt, sending them out for quilting then getting the binding on them all......It's been busy and crazy but it's all for good reasons!
One of the special babies was this one....

Her name is Shelby Grace and she's my niece Shannon's first child.  The doctors and Shannon were all expecting a teeny tiny baby since Shannon's not a big girl, but Shelby came into the world on Friday, July 29  a whopping 9 lb. 4 oz. and took everyone by surprise.  She's beautiful and we are so happy to have you in our lives.  My sister is now a happy grandmother!

My best friend from grammar school is going to be a new grandmother again too.  Her son Tommy has a 3 year old daughter with twin girls on the way in September.  I'd been cutting up rectangle scraps and a white with a black square fabric for background for another quilt so I cut enough to make some scrappy twin quilts.....

They turned out sooooo cute and I just love the turquoise bubble like backing fabric.  I know most people will give babies pink, purple, and flowery things so I went with something a little different.  I mailed them out on Thursday so I'm hoping to hear soon that they arrived safe and sound.

I had another finish this week too......  It's a Bonnie and Camille quilt called "Swiss".  I used all of their red fabrics with a solid white for the plus sign.  I actually started this quilt back in June I think.  I went gung ho cutting and making the units.......then it sat and sat.  I realized on Thursday that I didn't have anything that was for a deadline so I looked around and that pile caught my eye immediately.  I was done and had the back squared up by yesterday morning and voile....off to the quilter it went!

I just love it!

The next new finish was a quickie scrap quilt that I assembled Friday night for my friend Ingrid in Texas.  Ingrid lost her mom to cancer last year and got a lot of support from the Ronald McDonald House for her extended family.  When trying to decide what she could do for them she realized that her quilting reached a lot of people both on blog, Facebook and Instagram so she started collecting blocks and making quilts for them.  I've sent 1 or 2 a month all year for her but with all the other things I was doing I totally forgot to get one out to her so when I saw her post that she was going to be short for September I took the remnants of the last baby quilt and just made a scrappy top for her, grabbed some yardage for the back and cut out some strips for binding and shipped it off to her yesterday.  She'll sandwich it and finish it up.  

I hope to rummage one day this week into my stash and come up with 2-3 more and whip some up.  I love that I'm able to help some sick children at a wonderful place!  I could hook you up with Ingrid if anyone out there has some tops you don't need and don't know what to do with....or if you have some blocks you want to get rid of, just message me and I'll get you the information!

This next quilt is an update on my "Lucky" quilt from July 13th's post.........

The way I have this quilt on the design wall is the way the pattern is written.  

I really love how it looks even with the cornerstones missing but I want THIS quilt for me and I have a king size bed.  This quilt is only 66 across which is way too small for a king so I spent a couple hours yesterday cutting out more solid and white squares, drawing lines and cutting hst's apart.  

I now have to press and trim so I can assemble approximately 16 more blocks.  

I have a lot of leftover solids for the cornerstones and sashing strips so I'm all good for making a larger quilt.  What I will have to decide is do I want a solid back or a nice print?  I think if I see something "print" that I like I'll get it but I'll have to do some searching......

Well, I think that's it for Sunday morning.......I'm off to do some pressing and trimming!

So, as I say goodbye, I'll leave you with an updated picture of Olivia doing what she loves best....dishes!  We will have to show her this picture when she gets older and remind her how much she liked doing them at 20 months!    New sister will be here the last week of October.....can't wait to see how she reacts to her!

We have tickets to see Paul McCartney tonight at Giant Stadium!!!  I can't wait......I've always wanted to see him!  Hoping I can get some good pictures....check back tomorrow!

Have a nice Sunday!

Peggy

"HOMESTEAD" Revisited

Back over Memorial weekend I finished this quilt....

I LOVE this quilt and totally enjoyed making the blocks and assembling this top.

I didn't send it right out for quilting but finally did 2 weeks ago and then when it came back it just sat on a chair.  I don't like having un-bound quilts sitting around because when I am watching TV at night I have to keep my hands busy....and if I finish mid show, I need to know there is something ready to sew on.

I had my quilter use an "hourglass" type of design on it and I think it works nice.  It will crinkle up in the wash and still stay fluffy I think.

BUT, the question I had is "what do I bind it in?".  There is so much going on and the back is just a big floral that I almost thought it needed just a plain white.....NOW, that's something I haven't done in a LONG time!  White???????  

The white works and makes the back look neat but it's just so strange to use a solid white......

I have 2 more quilts that need bindings sewn on so i'm off to prep them.....I sure hope they'll be easier than this one.

July's New Project "LUCKY"

     I wasn't going to start anything new this month but I couldn't help myself...... this pile of yumminess was out on my ironing surface so I told myself I could iron the fabrics and get them ready for cutting "one of these days".

These are all Moda B&C Solids with a few stash solids thrown in for variety.  On the bottom of the pile is a hunk of Moda Bright White......

So, I press them up and figured "what the heck"  Cut out one block just to see how it looks.

I love the sherbet like colors most of all so I cut one of those first....

BTW, I'm using "LUCKY" by Camille Roskelly of Thimbleblossoms fame.

Voile!   Block 1 of 12 done........

And then I got the bug......I cut 2 more out

The more I sewed the more I LOVED working with solids......

So, here I am with the other 9 ready to go.  I've got them cut out and the HST's are sewn and ready for pressing open and trimming.  YES, I still make them larger than I need to and trim down using my handy dandy "Bloc Loc " ruler!

Now........This quilt finishes at 62 X 81, which is a nice size but I have a King size bed and I'm anxious to put a new summer quilt on next summer so I need more than the 12 it calls for.  I'm thinking I need 18 more.  What I think I'll start off doing is make the 12 and then I'll make the rest......

Stay Tuned!

A Small Finish

Anyone that knows me as a sewer knows I love quick and easy projects.
This summer has been the year of the baby quilts.  I've made more this summer than I think the last 2 years combined.

Yesterday I needed a quick project so I went into my little UFO bin and found some hst's and not only were they made and trimmed to size, they must have been laid out in rows at some point in time!  YAY for me!

I quickly threw them up on the design wall and got them sewn together in no time.  

It's not a big quilt, only 36 X 36, but it's for a newborn so it doesn't need to be huge.

I found a green dot in my "backings" bin which is the perfect match for the green on the front so I'm going to sandwich it one night this week and get it quilted.  The baby is due in early December and my friend will be the great aunt.  A funny note about this is my oldest daughter dated the baby daddy back about 8 years ago so he'll be surprised to see something I made as a gift :)

And here's Olivia.....now 18 months old and LOVING helping me do dishes.  We do bottles, plasticware etc. every morning and that makes her feel like a big girl.  I know I have a picture of Olivia's mom doing the same thing "somewhere" but today's not the day to go looking for that.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July......

Peggy