Busy Little Elves

I can't even remember when I started this project but it's been YEARS....maybe 3?  I'll have to ask Robin and Michelle 'cause they started with me  :)

Anyhoo, I took the last 2 embroidery blocks with me on vacation and got them both done in a day......

Now that I'm home I decided to pull the entire project out and see where I left off.

OH NO.....I didn't get very far!!! 

I did my blocks in a green variegated floss and am using greens, reds and whites for my setting blocks.    I'd like to get this assembled to hang in 2012 so rather than start something new today I'm going to work on assembling all the little stars and setting squares. What's on your design wall?

                                                                                                                     

Key West

Our mini vacation to Marathon/ Key West was mostly a "RESTING" vacation.  We took the first 2 days there and just slept in, went to the pool, sat on the dock with an afternoon tea, and pretty much relaxed.

The 3rd day there we decided to venture in to do little touristy things.  Over the 7 mile bridge we went and hopped the "CONC TRAIN" for a wonderful 90 minute tour.  You could hop on and off at 3-4 different stops along the way but we pretty much just stayed on and enjoyed the sights. 

Isn't this cute? 

We saw the Truman White House, Ernest Hemmingway's house, cute, cute, cute purple, pink, yellow and green houses, all with gingerbread on them and our tourguide had a story about the house, the tree out front or SOMETHING throughout the ride.

This light purple house was one of my favorites. 

NOW....I did get excited at one point when I turned the corner and found this fabric store sign.  I immediately texted "the girls" with a "LOOKIE" only to be very disappointed when I looked in the window and the store was deserted!

Didn't they know I was coming to Key West?   GEESH!

We had dinner at "Sloppy Joe's" which was a restaurant that Ernest Hemmingway frequented almost daily while he was alive since "JOE" was one of his best friends.  We did have the traditional "Sloppy Joe" sandwich with cheese fries and a salad and lemme tell you, the food was AWESOME!

After the tour, some shopping and eating, we decided to make one more stop.....The Southernmost Point of the US....  We did get on line to get our picture taken but the line didn't move and it was HOT standing out there in over 80 degree weather so we got off line and grabbed the best picture we could....

We came home Friday night to gorgeous weather here in New Jersey and not surprisingly, I'm happy to be home sleeping in my own bed and getting reacquainted with my new sewing room....

Back to school tomorrow  :(

Spring Break

Spring Break around here usually means a short inexpensive trip to someplace close where there's a lot of relaxing going on.  This year did not disappoint.  We hadn't planned anything but then got a call from our oldest daughter and invited us to Key West.  I jumped at the chance because she was there last year and had nothing but raves about the house on the lagoon that a friend of mine owns and rents out to friends throughout the year.  (thanks Patty) 

We flew out of Newark on Good Friday with a layover/connecting flight from Tampa.  When they called us to board the second flight, this is what we were met with.   10 people fit and lemme tell you, you were shoulder to shoulder with your neighbor! 

When we got to Key West we were met with this gorgeous view out the sliding glass doors! 

How does one not love looking at a beautiful lagoon with boats, fisherman and kids on paddle boards?

Here's the beach, which is a 5 minute walk from the house......

And yes, this is the gorgeous sunset.....

Visiting with Friends

Today I met up with old friends and made a new friend. 

Robin drove to my house from Long Island and we went for breakfast then off on an adventure to meet up with Michelle and her husband's cousin Tammy from Idaho. 

We met at Olde City Quilts in Burlington NJ.  Before I even got the car parked Michelle was texting us pictures of fabrics she'd already gotten cut!  Dang girl, the shop only opened 5 minutes before.....  So, we immediately parked and got to shopping.  I was only looking for a backing for this  Mystery quilt that I'm still in the process of assembling. I had no trouble finding "just the right" fabric.  NATURALLY, I was not going to stop there....I'd only been in the store 10 minutes!  So, off I went.

Found a great small quilt hanger, some fat quarters and even fabric for a cute tote bag...

 

The tote bag is called "Mini Miranda Bag" by Lazy Girl Designs.  I'm using the white floral Kate Spain fabric for the main part of the bag, the orange, also a Kate Spain will be the handles and bottom and flap, and the green print, a Valori Wells print will be the top binding and the inside.  I think it's going to be super cute for the spring!

I also picked up this cute small quilt hanger and 6 assorted fat quarters.  LOVE THEM!!!

After shopping there we drove about 20 minutes to Pennsauken, NJ to J&O Fabrics. 

Even before I knew they were in NJ I used to order from them online.  They have a great selection of novelty fabrics!  I didn't go with anything in particular in mind but did walk out with a few choice items.....

I like to make coin quilts so I'm thinking the bumble bees, lady bugs, ants and gecko's will make great additions to my kiddie collection.  The bagel fabric is going to join some coffee themed fabrics I have set aside for a table topper for my daughter.  Who knows where the pickle and  red licorice  fabric will end up but it's here for whenever I need it!  I did get some black and white polka dot yardage too for a quilt back and also found a great red and white floral for backing but didn't get pictures of them.....

My visit with Michelle, Robin, and Tammy was way too short but I'll take a short visit anyday over no visit!!!

Can't wait to see the girls again in May when we head to Indiana again for our annual quilt retreat.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!!

Sewing Room in Boxes

A couple of years ago when my friend Michelle moved from Idaho to Delaware she had a post called "Sewing Room in a Box" but her boxes held all her "stuff".

I recently had a conversation with hubby about moving my "stuff" from the little room off the family room to the 2nd floor of the house that was vacated by my son about a year and a half ago.  At the time I did paint it a nice buttercup yellow, had a new ceiling fan installed, and heavy duty shelving put up against 2 walls.  THEN.....nothing.  The room sat.  Over the holidays it became a catch all for gifts, wrapping paper and more recently when my daughter got a puppy and didn't want things damaged with a new pup around, that stuff went in the sewing room. 

On Saturday I decided after lunch that it was time....get the room cleaned out and either store it away or donate/toss it.    It took probably 4 hours to do but it is now clean and neat. 

 I went and bought a few more bins at Walmart (I seriously think I need to get stock in Rubbermaid by the way). 

So then on Sunday I went to my local quilt shop and ordered some Horn of America furniture.  I got a nice cabinet for my machine with a nice size work area, a new chair, the insert to put around the machine and a really great cutting cubbie! 
Today, YES TODAY, the furniture was delivered!!!  I can't wait for Saturday.  Hubby and son will assemble everything then.  As Robin said.....keep a "curse word count". LOL
I have faith it will be just fine!

I'll show pictures of the set up once it's all ready for a picture.

Just One Word

I only have one word for this picture.... "AWESOME".

This is my Fig Tree Twister quilt that my friend Michelle is quilting for me.

I assembled it at a retreat back in November but didn't get it to Michelle right away but she's got it now and it's getting quilted!!!

I love nothing more than getting these kinds of pictures sent to me while I'm slaving away in work.....they take my mind off that and get me excited to leave and come home and sew!!!

Thanks for the picture Michelle.............Can't wait to get my hands on this one and get it bound!!!

Tonight I worked on making units for the Ohio Star quilt I wrote about last weekend.  I have 20 blocks made and the units for the other 30 all made.  I'll be working on the assembly of those on Saturday.....

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!  It's supposed to be cold here in NJ!

Peggy

A Finsh and a New Start

I don't know where I've been since I last posted but I'm here now with a finish and a new project started.

This quilt to the left is called "Liberty Ridge". I actually assembled it back in the spring, had it quilted and bound back in the summer but there it sat. I guess the holidays intruded so it sat and waited patiently for a hanging sleeve....after all, I didn't need it till after New years anyway so why rush? Well, the hanging sleeve is on, it's been pressed and it's hanging on the wall in my kitchen behind the table.

The new start is with this bundle of fabrics called "Nine Dots" by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.
The bundle actually fell out of the cabinet on Monday which prompted me to decide on a project for them and get to it!

So, i've had a project in my mind, and even had a picture of it I nabbed from http://alittlebitbiased.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-finish.html this blog. I'm a HUGE fan of Ohio Star blocks and seeing them again after not making some for a good long time, made me want to be a copy cat :)



So, I washed and ironed the bundle, grabbed some Naturally Naturals II from my stash and cut a couple of them out this afternoon. I think the white with the neutral dots is going to be a nice change from my usual Kona White.

This is definitely supposed to be an in-betweener project that I do along with other ones but sometimes a fabric just grabs my eye and I have to work with it till it's done so I'll keep you posted!

2006- It was a very good year

2006 WAS a very good year...at least for me it was. I was making friends online with girls from all over and I was participating in a lot of block swaps online. I decided to hostess a centralized swap of red and white blocks, 9.5 inches unfinished. Between the 6 of us we picked our favorite blocks and did a different one each month. ALL the girls were excited to make the blocks but I guess our excitement didn't carry over into actually assembling the blocks....but then again, how many girls really make and assemble right away?

So, since 2012 is going to be one of those years where I am going to try and ASSEMBLE not BUY AND HOARD, I pulled out the bin of blocks, rounded up some loose fabric and voile! In less than a week I had 10 months worth of the blocks assembled into a quilt top !

It's all ready for quilting...once I get the backing.

On another note, our puppy has reached the running off with my slippers stage as well as chewing on everything in site stage. We made an appointment for Bark Busters to come out and evaluate the situation and set up some training for us.... They were here promptly at noon and after an hour and a half our Luna was sufficiently "tired" of being trained but that didn't stop us, we kept on going. After he left we found her peeking out from behind the couch kind of saying "is he gone yet?" To which I replied "yes he's gone, but he'll be back in 2 weeks-so don't even get comfy......" LOL

I hope what we learned will make for a happier home environment!!!

QSQA

Month 2 of "Jo's Country Junction" Quilt Square Quilt Along" block, Bear Paw is finished.

Jo was not kidding when she said this block was "labor intensive". The gold half square triangles finished up 1-1/2 inches which tested my trimming patience! BUT, I continued along and assembled the block and am thrilled with how it looks.

Now to set it aside with January's block and move onto something else.

This has been a very productive weekend for me :)

Step 1

I finished Step 1 of my Mystery Quilt. This picture doesn't do my fabrics justice but trust me, this is going to be a gorgeous quilt!

Now to set it aside for next month's clue.

It's a Mystery

Do you like doing mystery quilts? For the most part I don't, but I couldn't help myself this time.

Michelle is doing a mystery with her guild and invited me to join in, and after NOT doing "Orca Bay" this winter with Bonnie Hunter, I decided I had to do it. Last Friday when Michelle and Robin came to town for a visit we went to Quilting Possibilities, Michelle and I bought the yardage for ours. Robin had a focus fabric at home and is buying her other 2 fabrics this weekend.

I carried the dark fabric around with me trying to find 2 others that I thought looked ok with it. I finally settled on the light one and Michelle found the bottom one which is a batik.

I have step 1 cut and with luck I can start sewing it up today.

I'll be back with an update later...........................

Quilt Square Quilt Along Reveal

Have you been over to Jo's Country Junction http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

to link up and show your block picture? The girls have done a great job making their blocks and there is such a variety!!!

So, what are you waiting for? Get your linky on your blog and go show your picture for a chance to win some great prizes!!!

Oh, and while you're there, you can see which block is next!!!

Peggy

NYC Trip

Today was Part II of hubbys and mine birthday/Christmas presents from our son. He got "Rock of Ages" tickets, which we went to back in late December and today we headed back into NYC for my show.

Before heading into NY you have to travel thru Union City NJ which happens to be touted as the "Embroidery Capital of the World since 1872".
There is a banner hanging above the highway that announces it!!! I tried to get a picture but it's impossible with a cell phone to zoom in close enough. There are plenty of pictures of it though on the internet....

Look at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel!! Have you ever seen it this empty? I sure haven't!!!

After parking our car we started walking around to decide where we wanted to eat lunch.
Only in NYC will you see a life size frog playing a musical instrument and a gorilla!!! There was an entire store on 8th avenue that just sells these types of statues with luggage....go figure!

We didn't want any "fast food or chain food" so we picked the "Playwright Irish Pub" on 35th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. The menu looked good and after being invited inside by a nice "Irish" man holding a cup of steaming soup, we ventured in.... They did not disappoint with their food.

I had a burger with irish bacon, cheddar cheese and red onion that was out of this world!!! Hubby had a couple of beers and a chicken sandwich and fries. And when I tell you we cleaned our plates...I mean we ATE!!! I would recomend this pub very highly!

We did a little wandering around before heading over to the Ambassador Theatre to see "Chicago". That too was a great show. The music, dancing and story was so much fun!!!

We have been very lucky with our last 2 outings into the city.....the weather was clear and gorgeous so you didn't mind wandering around looking at the old architecture and just people watching.







Here's just a couple of pictures of the high buildings, an old apartment building (that I sooooo think I could live in. It's just gorgeous)

and the last picture is of a Yankee store. I thought hubby was looking in the window....I have NO idea what he's staring off looking at but he did enjoy all the goodies inside the store!

Binding, Binding, Binding

Here's a picture of my 3 quilts that I need to bind......

Of course, I need to do the princess one on top but that binding isn't made LOL The middle one has the binding ready and the bottom one has the fabric picked and set aside but not made...

Guess while the girls are still traveling that I should get the princess fabric cut and on the quilt!

BFF Visit

Today I was lucky enough to spend the day with 2 of my best friends Robin and Michelle. Robin was up at some ungodly hour like 4:30 to come to NJ and although I forgot to ask Michelle what time she got up, she was at my house at 9am so with a 3 hour drive, I'm sure she was up around the same time as Robin.....but as they will both attest, we'd get up at any time for a visit with the girls.

The day started with some Show N Tell. In November I'd brought 3 quilts down to Michelle's house so today she brought them back for me. She does an AWESOME job quilting!!! One is a baby quilt for a girl my niece goes to school with, one is a wedding present for whenever my son and his fiance set the date, and the other is a top I started at retreat in May of 2011 called "Chain of Faith" and really doesn't have a recipient in mind. I just liked the pattern, LOVED the fabric and wanted to make it :)

After I saw my tops, Michelle gave Robin her "My Blue Heaven" quilt that she'd done for her....again, another AWESOME job!

At that point it was almost 10:00 so off we went to my local quilt shop, "Quilting Possibilities".

We started off slow....each of us only carrying a few fat quarters around but we eventually picked up some steam and started piling a few things up.

I got some yardage to do a 3 month mystery quilt project with both girls that Michelle is hostessing with her guild.

By the time we piled fabric all over the store and then paid, it was lunch time. We went to a local place called "Via Napoli" for some penne ala vodka and cheesesteaks.....YUM!

I will take some pictures of my haul probably with a new post when we start the mystery.

We topped the day off with chocolate chip cookies that Michelle brought and some brownies that my daughter made for me to serve......

We had a great day and we're hoping that in March, or sooner, we'll be able to get together again....

Thanks for coming girls...........I miss you already!!!

Peggy

I'm Having Some Company

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm having some company tomorrow and I'm so excited!! 2 of my BFF's are coming to NJ to have lunch, go to my local quilt shop, talk, laugh and shop :)

This is a picture of us last year at Michelle's house down in Delaware.

I'll try and get a newer picture of us tomorrow when we visit "Quilting Possibilities".

Blue Twister

This is probably my 3rd or 4th project in less than 3 months using the "twister" template. I LOVED my red and white one made with Christmas fabrics but alas, that season is over and it was time for something new. It still amazes me that the layout to the right creates this twister top!

I found a perfect blue on blue paisley for that final border in a kit that has yet to be assembled so I'll have to replace that sometime but for now, it's on my topper.

Now to spend some time getting it quilted and bound and on the coffee table by Friday :)

Where did this week go?

I don't know where this week went but I certainly was not in my sewing room!

I guess my daughter getting her puppy on Tuesday and then waking up in the middle of the night with a stomach bug that had her incapacitated for 2 days really put a crimp in my sewing time. With being home for the weekend and then again Monday for the holiday, I'm hoping to dedicate myself to a little bit of sewing.

To start today off I'm going to piece the back of this quilt. In my stash I found the cutest yellow flannel fabric. It has these fluffy whimsical clowns on it....LOVE IT! The selvage is still on it too and it's a Marcus Brothers and the designer is Dana Simson....and get this. The selvage has a printing date of 2002 on it!! Does anyone out there have any of her fabric?

I looked online and could not come up with anything so I'm guessing she didn't do a lot of fabric designing! Anyhoo, it's long enough for the longarm machine but not wide enough so I grabbed a bunch of coins and I'm going to cut the backing a little off center, pop the coins in and then attach the side. I think the backing with this little quilt will make some little one smile :)

If anyone out there reading this has any of Dana's fabric, I'd be willing to swap you something for it!!!

How's your Saturday? It's cold but sunny here in NJ!

Welcome Luna

Let me preface this post by saying I have never been an "animal person". I don't dislike them, but I never really had that yearning for a puppy or a cat..... Sarah on the other hand has HOUNDED us for 20 years I think (and she's only 23) for a puppy. As luck would have it, our oldest daughter Jen knew that a client to her hair salon had quite a few that were born in November so when we started tossing the idea around we contacted the woman down in Baltimore, got pictures of them and voile! Luna was picked from the litter and today came home to Casa Aront to live. Here's Sarah holding her in the car right after we left the kennel. Of course we had to go to the salon to show Jen so here's a cute picture of Luna on Jen's lap.....
And finally, a picture of the two girls (sorry about the sun coming in the window) with the puppy.

Jen has a 9 year old pit bull named Romeo that has such a great personality and is so friendly so we're hoping that with Sarah's laid back personality that Luna will be just like her.

Here's hoping that the first pet we've ever had works out just like we hope!!!

And Yes, the name is from Sarah's favorite book HARRY POTTER....not that I'd know since I have never read any of the books...sorry all you HP Fans.

QSQA Block #1

I am doing a Quilt Square Quilt Along with some of my BFF's and Jo's Country Junction.

Lori Smith is the designer of the blocks. I had originally thought I was going to make mine in greens with a goldish center pinwheel but as I started looking thru my fabrics I KNEW it would never end up being green...not with all the pretty reds I have so I spent an hour or so making it up.......

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with each of the blocks yet. I originally thought I'd make mini's out of them and put them around the house but now I'm not sure, so for now I'll just make them and set them aside. I'm sure I'll get some inspiration after I start seeing what the others are doing.

Peggy

"Purple Coins Quilt"

Once the house was in order and lunch was done today I decided it was sewing time. I came into my sewing room and did a little work trimming down some HST's for my Jamestown quilt but then I got a little bored so I decided it was a good time to start pulling some "coins" out and get a charity top assembled for a retreat I go to every May.

The coins went together super fast and I had the "perfect" purple marbelized fabric for the separator strips so as fate would have it I got the top assembled, the backing fabric pieced and voile! it's ready for quilting.

This isn't a big quilt, it finished up to be 37 x 44 but I still have lots of time to make another top to bring along with this one.... So, I get to add my first "finished project" to my blog list and I get to cross off my first project on my "Big 3 List" that I do every month with 2 of my BFF's.....

Isn't this Laurel Burch flannel perfect???

PS: That's Pierre the Sock Monkey up there inspecting the quilt....unlike a lot of quilters, I don't have a kitty inspector. I relied on Pierre today to make sure the quilt was sufficiently cute for some little girl :)