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.

"Tone It Down"

"Tone It Down" was the 2014 American Patchwork and Quilting Quiltalong.  

I did make a few blocks from some very dark and dreary fabrics and then set the project aside.  When I decided that 2016 was going to be one of those years that I either make the project or unkit it and forget about it.  THIS project was NOT one I wanted to set aside so I pulled my bundle of "Simply Colorful II" by Vanessa Christenson and a Kona silver/grey out and decided to start working on my blocks last week.  

The blocks take a little time to cut out and assemble but I just love working on them and I think the quilt will be awesome when I finish.  Below are my first 3 blocks......

I think right now that the blue one is my favorite but only time will tell.....

Stay tuned.....I hope to finish this quilt by the end of the month :)

"Farm Girl Vintage" Sewalong Finish

Do you remember this book?

There was a sew along this summer using this Lori Holt book....and yes, I did follow along.

I made all the blocks but then I got sidetracked with a few things.  I finally had my FAVORITE quilter work her magic on it and then it sat....and sat.....

After the rush of the holidays I got the binding on and tacked down so now it's all ready for either using or gifting.  I haven't decided which yet :)

I used a turquoise and white leaf print for the back and a pale white on yellow dot for the binding.  

LOOK at some of these blocks though....sheep, cherries, milk jugs, jars, stars and baskets.   I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this all came together and will have to do another of Lori's patterns sometime soon.

In the meantime, I'm doing a 52 week sew along of star blocks.  A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop is running it on Instagram.  The block can either be called Morning Star or Variable Star depending on where you look it up.    Here's a peek at mine so far.....

I'm using a Robert Kaufmann "dotty" bundle for the star points and cutting up my scraps from the Lori Holt project for the centers.     I did the 2015 sewalong with the Instagram girls also.  I'll have to take some pictures of those blocks and what I'm planning to do with them.......

Peggy

"Go Four It"

    I can remember it as if it was yesterday.......searching various stores for a copy of the April 2015 issue of the American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine.  The magazine actually comes out in January so when I didn't have mine by around the 27th or 28th I went on my search.....only to come home that day and have it in my mailbox LOL   Isn't that always the way?

     Anyhow, the same night I started cutting it out and making up sample blocks.  They are really cute little blocks!  

     Well, last week I'd finished a different quilt and didn't want to start something new so I pulled out my bin of blocks and started throwing them up on the design wall.  One thing led to another and before I knew it I had the entire thing laid out.

Of the 3 versions shown in the magazine, I picked designer Lissa Alexander's (Modalissa.blogspot.com) version.  She called hers "Rainbow Rows".  

I absolutely love how it turned out.  I used ONLY fabric from my stash but have had to order some backing fabric for it.  I can't wait till that arrives so I can ship it off to my favorite quilter and see what magic she will do to it!

Finished size is 80 x 80!

Now....it's time to move onto the 2014 Quilt Along which is called "Tone It Down".

Short Saturday Update

     I finally got all my 2015 projects done, last baby quilts mailed and my room a little picked up, so I took a few hours Thursday and Friday and prepped a few things for the weekend.

     1)  My 2014 Designer Mystery has been a monkey on my back for almost a year.  This BOM actually ran into the start of 2015 so it wasn't really "done" for a year!  I stopped after doing the first 10 blocks and then the other day my little monkey Olivia brought the packet for block 11 to me and it reminded me that I NEED to finish so it went on my "TO DO" list for 2016.
While trying to decide what to do with an hour the other night, I cut out #11 and #12 and actually found time to sew them up.

     This block is #11 and was designed by Barbara Groves & Mary Jacobson of Me and My Sister Designs it's named "Sister Mary".

Block # 12 is by Lisa Bonegan of Primitive Gatherings and she named it "Fast Eddie".

I love the blocks and especially the fabric.  I have the finishing kit out in a project box and will start the assembly of that after Christmas.....probably more towards the first of the year but for sure it won't be this week!

Next, I did my last 2 blocks for 2015 of the 52 Week Churn Dash Challenge.  I don't think I wrote about this challenge here at all but it was a challenge on Instagram with a shop called A Needle Pulling Thread.  I did 1 6-1/2 inch churn dash block each Monday morning and then set them aside.  Well, a week or so ago I used up the end of the cut parts for the churnies and ended up with 52 + 2 bonus blocks.  I asked on Instagram what everyone was going to be doing with them and got a mixed response.  Most girls were just setting them and making a child's quilt.  I decided that I wanted to make mine larger so I am continuing the challenge and will use the 6.5 inch block as the center of a 12.5 inch churn dash.  I'll continue doing one a week......

I used a large variety of fabrics from my scrap bin with Kona Snow......I think by adding another round I'll get a lot more scrappy added to an already scrappy pile of blocks.  I'll keep you posted!

Another ongoing scrappy project I've been working on for at least the last 5 years has been making string blocks.  I love making them when I can't decide what to work on but the past year has been a "NON STRING" year for me.  Somehow, I never ran out of things to do in 2015 so they sat and sat......

The piles in the 2 top pictures are "in progress".  I pulled that pile on the left up to my sewing area from that bucket in the picture on the right.  I was actually able to make the 15 blocks in the bottom right picture from the strips I'd pulled....

The bag in the bottom left picture is about 30 or so blocks that have been languishing for the last 5 years or so.....  

THIS is the pile of string blocks after my sewing session on Thursday.....not bad huh?

How do you make string blocks?   I used a tutorial way back when I started and the girl in the tutorial suggested cheap muslin as the base so that's what I've been using.  I realize now that the top will be pretty heavy once I start assembling it but I guess I can use a light batting once (if ever) it's finished.....

Finally, I was caught up with my "Allietare" mystery units so when Bonnie posted the Step 4 instructions yesterday I was ready to go.  

Red and Neutral 2 x 4-1/2 inch units all with geese-like corners.  I LOVE this color combination!

I think this might be my favorite step thus far because of the colors we're using.

I did make a boo boo when cutting the neutral units so I'm going to run out to the quilt shop this morning for an extra yard of my neutral (I'm using 1 constant and don't need to run out) and also a white pencil.  I'm having trouble finding something that will show up on the back of my blacks for drawing HST lines.

Well, there you have it, my 3 day update.....  

I'm off and running right now but I'm sure i'll be back tomorrow or Monday with my Allietare update.....

Peggy in cold cold cold NJ

 

Allietare- Part 3

The house was a little less hectic this weekend so I was able to cut for Part 3 of Bonnie Hunter's Allietare Mystery.

This week's step was 4 patch units using our neutral/yellow-gold and cutting 3-1/2 X 7-1/2 inch rectangles.

This giraffe fabric was one of my favorites............

When I cut the first half of my yellow strips I realized that I needed more variety so I went thru some bins in my room and found yardage, fat quarters and even some scraps......I pulled everything from old Thimbleberries to Debbie Mumm and the above giraffe fabric that I just got last month!  A little bit of the new and old makes for a nice variety!

I'm happy I was able to finish this step early this week so I can make a few handmade things for Christmas gifts and with luck I can get my cards out by Wednesday.....

It's not too late to join in with the mystery.....go and check out Bonnie's blog and if nothing else, print off the directions so you can start after the hustle and bustle of the holidays is over....  Here's the link to today's linky party---->  http://quiltville.blogspot.com  http://quiltville.blogspot.com

In closing....a few pictures of my little monkey doing exactly what grandma told her not to.....

There is NO sitting up at Grandmas sewing machine....scissors and rotary cutters are a no no, and then standing up in my chair on the back room because she doesn't know how to get down and then yelling ensues :)

It's hard to believe Christmas is 12 days away...It was 66 here today and we did our dog walking etc in short sleeves!   

Have a great week!!

PEGGY

"Allietare" Mystery Monday Link Up, Part 2

Yeah, that "Monday" link up didn't happen but it's done now :)   Can I get a WOO HOO!

I got all the above units cut on Sunday......then life happened and I didn't get back to working on my units until yesterday (Tuesday).

Voile, all my units are made, my 2 inch black and grey squares are cut so I'm ready for Friday when Step 3 comes out!

I noticed this morning that were a LOT, and I mean a LOT of link ups so if you'd like to see the fabric variety and even some different color ways, check out Bonnie's Linky page http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/12/allietare-mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

For me, I am doing Bonnie's color way and since I'm a red fabric hoarder of various shades, I was able to pull some Robyn Pandolph, Debbie Mumm, Moda Marbles, and even added a newer polka dot and some Bonnie & Camille prints......I LOVE MY RED STASH!

So, lets go check out the link page and go check out some awesome girls pages, and post your pictures...and don't be the end of the line, link up to Bonnie's page too....

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/12/allietare-mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

A Few Finishes

It's been a busy couple of months and there haven't been too many finishes but I do have a few.

First off is a baby quilt I made for my son in law's sister.  Her 2nd baby, another son, will be born C-Section on Wednesday 12/16.  When big brother was born the mama had a very chic bedroom in light greys and light blues etc.  I had totally forgotten about it since it's been 3 years so when I found out she was expecting again I just went ahead and started making all kinds of hst's that would be nice for a little boy.....ducks, whales, fish, cars etc.   I didn't ask if there was a theme, I just went and made it up.

Here's the back...cute whales

A couple of the blocks up close

Next finish is a quilt made from all 2-1/2 inch squares.  I was connecting them all as a Leader/Ender project over the last year.  

1200 squares!  It was a great scrap buster but truthfully, didn't make even a teeny tiny dent in my scrap basket!

Here's a picture of the back.......Found this fabric in my local shop for $6 a yard!

The binding.....

And once again, my girl Sarah did an awesome job quilting it!!!!!!!!

Finally, here are 2 pictures of Olivia on Thanksgiving.  She was 1 in November and this picture is from Thanksgiving when she was on Grandpa's lap.....

Hope you all had a nice holiday.....

Peggy