Bonnie's Mystery Part I Finished

Here is a picture of my 192 3-1/2 inch 4 patch blocks for the first step of the mystery.  This was a fun and easy step.....I'm hoping all of them are the same way  :) 
My grey is a little lighter than the suggested by Bonnie but I was limited in my selection at my local shop and I didn't want to order online for fear the grey would not be what I wanted to use.  I do like it though and I KNOW it's going to look perfect in this project.  This picture is from my cell phone so the coloring is a little off.

I was accused by one of my BFF's Laura No Blog yesterday of having help catching up to her and the others in our group.  She thought that my little friend Pedro the Preying Mantis (see previous post) helped do some cutting and sewing since I was able to catch up after a day out of state....She then thought that my daughter's puppy Luna may have even helped....REALLY Laura?  Luna would have preferred EATING the rotary cutter to cutting with it.....

Little does Laura No Blog know, but I have a sweat shop going in my basement and we have a team of praying mantis's down there pressing fabric, cutting strips and doing some sewing for me when I'm too tired after a hard day at work  :)

Easy Street-Part 1

     I have been waiting it feels like MONTHS for Easy Street to start and don't you know, the day it starts I'm in my car heading to Maryland for the day!  Luckily for me it was just for a haircut and color and lunch with my favorite hairstylist, then home by dinnertime.  We ordered some chinese and off to my sewing room to start cutting 2 inch strips.  I really love the variety of black on white fabrics I had in my stash, and I even picked up about 5-6 small pieces in the last week or two, just to add some variety. 

I cut and then sewed strips and even got them pressed and subcut, and in true "Peggy Fashion" I made my first 10 4 patch blocks so I could see how they looked  :)    Just an FYI, I tried Bonnie's twist turn for pressing the 4 patches flat and what a HUGE difference in how nicely they lay....check out her part 1 instructions for the link to those directions....

     I have a "family to be" baby shower today at 3:00....my daughter's future sister in law, so I'll try and slip an hour at the machine before I leave and then when I get home later.  I'd love to get all the 4 patches made tonight and then focus on other things tomorrow, but we will see.....

GOBBLE GOBBLE

Happy Thanksgiving....

Taking a walk down Easy Street

As previously posted, I am participating in Bonnie Hunter's mystery "Easy Street".  I took a picture today of the fabrics I am using and in true form, I'm doing the mystery in the exact colorway Bonnie suggested.
I figured that way, if she says "green" I won't grab orange, in case I changed it up a little.....
I had everything in my stash except for the "constant" fabric, which is a grey, and I did order some black on whites to add to what I have already, but they haven't come yet.  I think the mail being re-routed because of Hurricane Sandy is holding my new stuff up, but I have plenty as you will see, to start the mystery.

The first step is being posted Friday.  I will be away most of the day but I'll print it off and may even get to start it.  Saturday is a baby shower, so I won't get much done then either....but Sunday is MINE so I'll be sure to get to cutting.
I think the colorway is AWESOME and can't wait to get started!

Are you doing the mystery?  What colorway are you doing?

Peggy

Thanksgiving Eve

  We had a 1/2 day of school today, then hubby picked me up at 12 and took me to lunch, Surf Taco!  YUM  Now I'm home and I'm thinking I need to straighten up the house, maybe do a load or two of wash and then possibly sew.  I'm not having a lot of company tomorrow so it will be a nice quiet, low key kind of day.    I mentioned the other day that I'm thankful for mine and my family's health and good fortune throughout this month but I'd like to mention also that I have a couple of BFF's who I can almost consider "family".  I've laughed with them, I've cried with them, I've traveled with them and spent a lot of nice time sewing and shopping with them.  I don't get to see these girls often but when we do get together I feel like I've just seen them yesterday.....SISTERS is the word I'd use to describe them! 

   I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow.......GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!

Thankful

With Thanksgiving coming up and some friends doing a Thankful Daily post I decided that I should do one as well. 
I'm thankful for many things this year because as you all know, NJ was hit hard with Hurricane Sandy and a Noreaster.  I am minutes away from the large towns that you see on the news, Seaside Heights, Bricktown, Ortley Beach etc....but our little town lost a lot too.  I have co-workers that lost their homes and everything they own including their cars, we have kids in school that have nothing and are living with friends and family in other towns and when I see the devastation in my own town I have to be thankful for only having lost my power for 20 hours during the hurricane and 13 hours when the noreaster hit.  The principal of our school lost his car and power for 10 or 11 days.  He would come to school as if nothing happened and be smiling and understanding to the children and staff....yet, he'd run home to power up the generator so his elderly mother would have heat and lights during the day and then again at the end of the day.  Our school is doing food and clothing drives for the children, we have staff on hand  letting the kids talk it out and we are attempting to collect $$ and such for the staff that need to get back too some semblance of normal life.
So, you say I'm thankful ?  Yes, I have no loss of property or damage to my home, our health is good (yeah, yeah, I have a bum knee and bad shoulder but.....) we have our jobs and my kids all made it thru this with I think with a better understanding of "hard times".  My family is in the food industry and at one point the lobby of one of the stores was a hang out of sorts for people who needed to power up their cell phones etc.
The store provided tables and chairs in the foods to go area, coffee and donuts, lots of extension cords for powering up computers and phones and heaters were placed around to give warmth.  My kids had never seen this and came home with a gained introspect on what others go thru.
So, I know this is longwinded but I needed to put it out there that I am THANKFUL this year for many things.

Now, to move onto the holiday at hand, then our Christmas celebration and then once the New Year comes we'll have our daughter's wedding on April 27th.   THAT is going to be the highlight of 2013...I can't wait.  Jen and Tim are so perfect together and I can't wait for that celebration.  Here's a picture they had taken soon after the engagement. 

I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving....

What are you thankful for?

Peggy

Veterans Day

Today, like the other 364 days of the year I am thankful for all veterans that have served our country!

I've been blessed to have family members serve in almost all the branches of the military, one of my best friend's husband and son are both active Air Force members and I work with 2 men who are presently deployed for the Air National Guard.
Without these men AND women our country would not be what it is today.

Thank you!

Easy Street

Are you a Bonnie Hunter fan?  I follow her blog and have even been dragged kicking and screaming into her way of thinking with the "scrap" idea AND I have one of her quilts that will be out in her next book already started.  YES, I purchased a magazine from overseas somewhere and they'd had advance production on the pattern so I started it....but never finished it YET. 

Anyhow, Bonnie does a mystery every year and I follow my BFF's Robin and Michelle as they venture into the unknown with her and have loved their finished quilts.  I think my absolute favorite so far was Michelle's Orca Bay because of the colors.  I'm partial to blue and black as opposed to the pinks and greens Bonnie suggested using. 

This morning Bonnie posted "Easy Street" and is stating that it won't be as INTENSE as in years past.  I'm thinking I might have to jump on the bandwagon.....the colors are so "PEG". 

Are you going to Easy Street this year?

Sewing Room

Have I ever shared pictures of where I sew?  It's not a huge room but it's better than the 9 x 11 room (closet) I used to sew in before my daughter moved to Maryland  :)

Hubby bought me a really nice Horn of America cabinet for my cutting area and also a new sewing machine cabinet.  They weigh a ton (literally) and it took hubby and son HOURS to get up the stairs to the sewing room.  Yesterday I had an oopsie with an open basket of 2 inch squares.  Literally HUNDREDS of 2 inch squares were everywhere.  I decided that I could not spend hours again picking them up, sorting them by color and then putting them away so this morning at 7am when hubby was going to Shop Rite for some emergency food and stuff he ran into Walmart for me and brought back 4 bins for various size scraps.  I have them sorted by 5 inch, 3 inch, 2-1/2 and 2 inch.  I know my BFF's are proud of me for doing this since they've been so diligent at keeping their scraps at bay  :)   

Only problem with buying more bins is I didn't have a clue where to store them.....so, I looked in the cutting cabinet door and lo an behold, a whole spot that was being taken up by skinny little shelves that I presume are supposed to hold thread and bobbins.  I don't need those types of things because I have wall hanging spool holders.  Out they came, in went the bins and BANG!  a neat and orderly scrap cabinet!

It's the little things in my sewing room that make me happy.....

100 Quilts

NO...that's not how many quilts I've made, at least I don't think so, but I did send it to my BFF Michelle for her to work her magic on it and I was her #100!   Michelle has had her machine now for a little over a year and I don't know about you, but I think that's a wonderful accomplishment!
I did benefit from this being her 100th quilt too, she presented me with a copy of the "Sweet Celebrations with the Moda Bake Shop Chefs" book.  I found quite a few really nice projects in the book!

I love Churn Dash quilts and when I saw this one on Amy Smart's blog back last October or November, I knew I wanted to make it and even used some of her fabric line.
I met up with Michelle on Tuesday morning for a Sit N Sew with some of the girls in her guild and she presented it to me in the parking lot of the church where we sew.

I found a nice teal fabric that will make the blue fabrics show up more so sometime this weekend I'll make the binding and get it on.

PS:  This was the 17th quilt Michelle quilted for me this year!

Binding

Once the baby quilt was done, backing assembled and pressed and set aside I asked myself "what's next?"

Well, it didn't take long to see that the 2 quilts I had quilted back this summer needed binding on them so I started with a red and white sampler.  Pulled out a nice red and white candy cane stripe, cut the strips and started attaching.  Got it all done and then decided that before I put the next quilt binding on that I should make a hanging sleeve for my elves quilt.  That's when I realized.......I need a 10 step program!

 

First off, it's another red and white project, the border on both was a red and white scrappy piano key, and the binding was the exact same red and white fabric....  Yes, I need help.  Is there a program out there for girls like me that pick the same thing over and over again?   ----------> sampler border and binding.

And don't you know, I was browsing on a blog or Pinterest this week and what do you think I found?  Yes, a red and white snowball quilt....and I want to make that now....

Another Finish

My daughter is marrying into a family in April that will bring her 2 sister in laws and 3 brother in laws as well as a new baby with one of the sister in law's, Amy and her husband Eric.  Amy's colors for the baby's room is very classic looking.  As previously reported I found a great pattern for the quilt she wants and even better, found a great fabric line that was perfect for it so I got right to it so it will be done, quilted, and bound before Thanksgiving when Amy and Eric will visit from Washington State.

I took advantage of today being a gorgeous 66 degree day with a nice breeze to go outside and take 2 pictures of the quilt with the quilt hanging on the clothes line.....I love how my shadow showed up in the corner of the picture.....

2012 Designer Mystery BOM

Month #5 and I'm keeping up with my vow to complete my block within the week of receiving the kit. 

This block is called "Cherry Sundae" and it was designed by Barb Adams and Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs.  Again....great fabrics and a fun block to sew up 

Looking

I'm looking for an embroidery pattern with the letters of the alphabet but I would like it to show something that goes with the letter like Z and it's attached to a Zebra...both in the design.  I'd seen on someone's blog they did an entire quilt from little alphabet blocks and I just loved the idea.....Anyone out there have a pattern or know where I can get one?
I have seen the Crabapple Hill pattern and it's not quite what I'm looking for.  I want childish and easy....

Ritzy Bitzy Babies

I've had a request from my daughter for a special baby quilt for her future sister & brother in law.

She wanted something along the lines of Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn.

I've had this pattern with the "girl" fabrics for at least a year but of course the baby is going to be a boy so I had to do a little searching online for the "boy" colorway.   

The fabrics are "Puttin on the Ritz" by Bunny Hill Designs and the pattern is by Kimberly Jolly for www.ItsSewEmma.com. 

I think they will fit the bill but I'll reserve cutting into them until after I see her on Monday and get the okie dokie.....

Basket of Flowers

   I swear this project was one of those "record" finishes.  Started the hst assembly on Friday and by Sunday I had the quilt top assembled and quilted with the binding on.  I spent a couple of nights in front of the TV tacking down the binding so by Wednesday I had it done and then washed, dried and stored away awaiting a baby in need of a quilt. 

I've never mastered the allover quilting so I just did some straight line stitching along the line of the half square triangles.

Since at this point it was October, I made my Big 3 list and chose some projects that I could get done without stressing myself out. 

#1 was getting the binding on my Elves quilt.  That was an easy one....got that on last night and even tacked 1 long side down.

I've also decided that I need to make at least 6 Great Granny blocks this month.  In the past 2 nights alone I made 3 so I think I can probably get 6 done

One of my other goals is to keep up with Terry's Scrappy Star challenge.  I absolutely love working with all my scraps....who'd have thunk I'd ever say that  LOL

Here's a picture of my 2 blocks.

I do have to admit that I didn't only make these 2 blocks, I got carried away with my scraps and actually made 11 of them  :)

I'm good to go until February I think.....

Monday (10/8) is a holiday from work...YAY!

I'm taking a road trip with my youngest daughter to Baltimore to meet up with oldest daughter for our first and hopefully only bridal shop dress shopping  :)

She's got an idea what type of dress she wants to wear so with luck the shop has "the perfect dress".

Hope you're all enjoying this heat (YUCK) 

Please bring on the cooler weather.....PLEASE!

Inspiration

Not too long ago I found a blog called "A Bright Corner".  She had so many cute projects which gave me a lot of inspiration for new projects....like I need new projects.  Anyway, she had this cute quilt posted back about April and it was just so cute I decided that I needed to make a simple HST quilt.  I went into my "Magic Cabinet" (it seems that jelly rolls, layer cakes etc just show up in there) and found a cute Mary Englebreit "turnover called "Baskets of Flowers" as well as some blue and white ME yardage.  Coincidentally, it's the same fabric line that Bright Corner blogger used so today I decided to get started with the cutting, trimming, assembly process.....

I've got all the HST's ready and up on my design wall.  Now to get to sewing them all into rows.

2012 Designer Mystery BOM

I've been having so many Blogger issues so rather than risk writing a long post, I'm going to post 2 pictures of my Block # 4 BOM and a picture of all 4 so far. 

I can only say that this fabric line is gorgeous and wonderful to work with......

Big Week

Big week last week in Casa Aront.....Jennifer, my oldest, got engaged to her boyfriend Tim

and my youngest, Sarah, turned 24. 

We'd planned to celebrate Sarah's birthday at Camden Yards but got to celebrate twice as much since we had the engagement too.....

Camden Yards is such a nice area of Baltimore to visit.  Cobblestone streets, great restaurants, old buildings and a great stadium....

Are you rowing?

Are you rowing along with Bee in my Bonnet blog?  I'd promised myself that I wasn't going to start anything else until I got my scrappy stars with Terry done, my Designer Mystery BOM and my own scrappy star project but I rationalized it with "it's only 1 row every 2 weeks"....  LOL 

Well, I started last week because I'd lost a week somewhere along the way and the night I finished I saw that Lori had put up the next row.  I cut them out Wednesday but we had a power outage on Thursday so NOTHING got done then.  I worked a little bit on them last night but finished up this afternoon.

NOW, they're just blocks right now.  Apparently I have to make spacer strips, flip every other block sideways and then make a sashing strip for the top and bottom of the row.....

I haven't looked at the Flickr page to see what the others are using for their blocks but I'm desperately trying to use up my 30's fabrics so that's what I'm using along with Kona white.  I did buy a small piece of a grey on grey to use for the butterfly bodies since I really didn't have anything that I felt was appropriate.  Lori used a solid grey but I wanted a little something extra on it.....

I also want to show you what my daughter Sarah  is doing these days.  She paints, I sew.....  She redid an old end table for my other daughter Jennifer in a yellow with a black glaze over it for her bedroom.  Jen had seen a bedroom on PINTEREST and wanted to recreate it so Sarah painted the nightstand and I made the yellow quilt for the end of the bed.  Then, for herself,  she got an old 2 drawer file cabinet and painted that to look like a phone booth.  It will go nicely in her London themed bedroom with her tv stand, which is an old dresser painted too.....

First Off

First off, I want to say right now that I don't like the new Blogger template and if anyone has any hints on how to get things working properly, please let me know. 
I like to use backgrounds for my blog from one of those independent girls but when I try to upload them I lose the dashboard access to my blog.  I end up having to pull the blog up in a new window and reset the blog to one of Blogger's templates....BORING!  So, for a week now I've been disgusted with the look of mine!

Anyhow....tomorrow is my youngest's birthday.  She will be 24!  Coincindentally, my oldest was able to get Yankee/Oriole tickets down in Baltimore so we'll be traveling.  Everyone keep your fingers crossed for nice weather ok?

I decided to put the binding on a recently quilted baby quilt so I have some hand work for the car

This cute pink and yellow bumble bee like fabric is the backing which I bought a while back in the $5.00 room at my local quilt shop.

And here's the awesome quilting Michelle did on it with the cute yellow dot binding.

Lots of Sewing Going On

I have been getting quite a bit of sewing completed although I'm not actually making full quilt tops or runners or anything....really just doing blocks. 

I saw that Terry at "Terry's Treasures" posted that it was time to make our Scrappy Star block so I got mine all made up yesterday.  I'd already made up a lot of star points and center 9 patch blocks so it was really just a matter of assembling the blocks. 

I also took another trip to Delaware to visit Michelle on Tuesday morning and spent some time with her guild ladies making pineapple blocks. These things are addicting!

If you go over to Michelle's blog  you can see her completed Pineapple Quilt....that is surely some gorgeous eye candy!       My blocks are only approximately 8 inch blocks so I'm going to need to make a lot of these guys to assemble a top.    It's one of those projects that I'll keep handy in case I don't know what to work on.     

I am working on some blue and green churn dash blocks today.....  I couldn't decide how big I actually wanted the quilt to be but when I finally got them up on the design wall I decided that I needed 6 more so I whipped them up yesterday and now I'm going to start sewing them into rows today....I'll report back with my progress later or tomorrow.

                                                                           

To Liberate or not to liberate, that is the question!

How soon after you buy a fat quarter or half yard bundle do you liberate it from it's ribbon?

I have purchased quite a few bundles over the years and yes, I've liberated some but not enough....

I bought this Riley Blake "Pieces of Hope" bundle last week with a discount thru Green Fairy's

anniversary sale and then told some teachers in school that I would make and donate a quilt

during Autism Awareness Month, which I think is in April...so I do have to take the bundle apart but I'm having a hard time pulling that ribbon....guess it's like a band aid, huh?  Do it quick and be done with it....

Any suggestions for a pattern to showcase the fabrics?

Peggy

(who's sad that school opens on the 6th....I sure was enjoying work without the darlings LOL)

Are you a Great Granny?

Are you on the Great Granny Block Bandwagon? I wasn't but yesterday I was cutting up fabric in my scrap basket about the same time I saw yet another Great Granny block on someone's blog so I thought I might try one....YES, they're addictive! I thought I could make one and then set it aside...I couldn't I made 3 and cut out a fourth. Then, I got up for work this morning and had a little extra time so I started sewing yet another one......

When I got in from work today I finished that one up and cut 2 more.

I'm going to spend an hour or two now assembling those 2 blocks.....

Trimming, trimming, trimming

Yes, trimming half square triangles.  I hate trimming half square triangles but it happens that every project I've chose to work on lately has had tons of them.  Guess I better put a new blade in the rotary cutter and get to trimming.....