A couple of finishes!

The Happy Halloween (Elizabeth Hartman pattern) wall hanging is finished........complete with a hanging sleeve.  Sarah had picked out this pattern for me to try.  Her thought was that now I would have patterns for all these different blocks and could do lots of things with them.  I have to say that the cat was probably my least favorite and as for my favorite, the owl, the bat, the ghost, the spider.........  I also put a flange binding on this one - note the little purple flange around the edge between the black binding and the gray background.

The quilting pattern is called cobwebs and it looks really cool from the back.

And the Slow Down baby quilt is all finished.  This was from the book Oh Happy Day by Corey Yoder.  It's made totally from my scrap stash.  All of the squares were from my 2.5" square box, and even the background was leftover trimmings from a quilt backing.  

The back was made from leftover strips of other backing fabrics.  

And here is a closeup so you can see the new quilting design I tried - turtles!  I will be using this on the other turtle quilt I made for Sarah and Aaron to gift as soon as I get the backing they picked out.

 I was in Bethany the last 2 days.  I gave the program at Mom's quilt guild meeting.  That was fun.  We went to eat pizza at the best pizza place in Missouri.  I was going to stop at a quilt shop or 2 on the way home, but it didn't time out correctly for my trip.  Mom got called to sub, so we were up early and Dad was coming to Marshall to pick up a bar mower and wanted to get on the road for that.............and I had to have something for them for lunch, so it just wasn't meant to be a shop hop day.

I'd thought to run up to Sew Sweet this afternoon, but have decided to wait (until my wish/need list is longer).  I may be feeling a little at loose ends with no piano students this week.  I'm also getting ready to go on vacation with Sarah next week, so, I'm feeling a bit weird or something with this break in my schedule.  

I'm thinking that an afternoon of running fabric through the sewing machine might straighten me out.  Esme agrees with me.  Of course, I still need to clean a bathroom and dust, but sewing first!

Christi

News from the sewing room..........

I know I have been in the sewing room a little, but I don't seem to have many pics to show for it.  I think a lot of things have been worked on, but little actually finished.  I did get the bunny wall hanging quilted and it hung in my dining room all through April.  I just love a good bunny! 

And I did get the 12 pumpkin blocks finished to go with the block lotto leaves that were gifted to me.  I even cleared a big space of floor in Sarah's room and laid them out.  Esme was in the room when I left it, but she has the ability to walk over blocks without messing them up.  Cici can't do this.  With each paw she places, the blocks scoot around without her even trying.  She hardly comes up to Sarah's room, so I felt safe leaving them overnight.

I hadn't counted on Mabel.  She threw a BIG PARTY on the quilt blocks.  No block was left untouched or any where near where I had placed it.  This was her morning hangover after partying so hard! 

Those blocks were laid out again and then picked up in rows to be sewn together at a later date.

Sarah and Aaron need a baby quilt for some friends of theirs who are expecting this summer.  I made the mistake of asking Aaron for ideas and he said turtles.  Note to self - don't ask Aaron for ideas again.

This is what we came up with.  The turtle is from an Elizabeth Hartman pattern.  Sarah picked all the fabrics out when she was here for a week and after I had the blocks made, she laid them out in the skewed design she liked.  This does waste a lot of fabric.  I now have lots of little blue squares in my scrap square boxes.  It's not quilted yet because she and Aaron shopped for the backing they wanted and I will be getting it from her later this month.

I also finished her college t-shirt quilt, but she has it with her since she wanted to pick the backing for that as well.  So later in May I will have some things to quilt for her.

I did make some new purses.  This is the Mia bag.  It has a zipper, leather bottom and handles, and a waterproof lining.

Then I made it again with some University of Northern Iowa fabric.  Both were gifted to my sister for her birthday in April.

Update on the college track nephew - He won the indoor conference high jump, long jump, and triple jump.  He also qualified to compete in the heptathlon at the NCAA national indoor track meet in Virginia Beach.  He went in ranked 10th and ended up 5th, so is a first team all American.  He set a new personal record for his total score.

The outdoor season is underway.  He competed in the decathlon at the Drake Relays.  He finished second there (only beaten by a guy from Germany who was 15th in the Paris Olympics last year).  He did get a high enough score to become the all-time leading scorer for UNI in decathlon, beating an 18 year old record.  And at the time, he was 4th in the US and 9th in the world.  That score has probably been bested by now though.  He also qualifed to go to the US track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon this summer.

Back to the sewing room - 

The whole turtle quilt thing had me searching for patterns and I purchased a new book that had a cute scrappy turtle in it.  Sarah liked the Elizabeth Hartman turtle better, so I was left to my own devises to make a scrappy turtle quilt............well, not really, I had LOTS of help!

She was finally exhausted from all her efforts and tried to snuggle up in one of her favorite places, a plastic project box of fabric.

Obviously she's growing because she doesn't hardly fit there any more!

And here is the finished flimsy.  It's called Slow Down and is made totally from my scrap stash.  Even the white background is from cut offs of backings.  It's on the longarm to hopefully quilt today.  I even made the backing from scraps of other quilt backings.

I need to get moving if I'm quilting today.  We're also going to a graduation reception later this afternoon.  It's a busy weekend.  Tomorrow my bell choir is performing at church (they haven't fired me as director yet).  It's our last performance until fall, so we have to put everything away for the summer.  I'm also having my piano recital at the church in the afternoon, so it will be a busy day for sure.  But no more lessons until fall!

Monday morning I'm heading to Bethany to do a trunk show (actually, my quilts are packed in my wagon) for my mom's quilt guild.  I'll be back on Tuesday.  So if you don't see a blog for a few days, that is my excuse!

Christi

It's Friday!

I should inform you that David's dog, Kenzie, passed away on Good Friday.  She was getting pretty old, but loved to help herd pigs to the very last.  

David now has a new puppy.  Friday is 3/4 Aussie, 1/4 doodle.  

Friday is two months old and will follow David everywhere.  He would love to play with Willow and tries, and she likes him OK, but she is so much bigger that he often hides under something to stay out of her way.  

 

We have been having lots of rain, (which means David has had lots of time to spend with Friday since he can't get in the field) and Friday has never met a mud puddle he didn't like.  

The cats aren't thrilled with Friday, but he doesn't seem to bother them.

Mabel still doesn't understand "personal space".  But then, neither does Willow.

I think they will always be besties...........at least I hope so.

Yes, Cici is still around, but she has been shunning the camera of late, so no photos of her now.  She is probably expressing her dismay at another dog on the premises.

Christi

May Day!

 Can you believe it's May?  Here are some May flowers for you.  These are my block lotto blocks for this month.

I don't know where the time has gone.  I know, it's been a month and half since my last blog post.  

A little catch up.........

Sarah spent the last week of March with us.

She wanted to be here when we received the Missouri Century Farm award.  This was something we applied for (and paid the fee, of course!) to do for David's parents 2 Christmases ago.  They finally got around to having a presentation.  We now have the sign up on some new fencing by their driveway (that will be their Mother's and Father's Day gifts for this year).  

Then, we made a quick one day trip to St. Peters to help her with some water issues from all the rain they had.  She had water in her basement, living room, and half bath.  We did some drainage work in her back yard - in the rain - and that seems to be helping the situation some.  It was only a 3 trip to Menards day!

We have done some work on our flower beds, and planted some garden.  The lilacs bloomed.

The sweet corn got planted - 2 varieties this year.  One should be ready around June 26 and the second about July 6 - if you can believe what it says on the packaging.

And my guild took a day trip to a quilt gathering and some other shops.  Here is my haul.

Yes, you do see pasta, fruit pectin, and vanilla there because my car stopped at an Amish bulk foods store on the way home.  We also stopped at DQ, but my ice cream was consumed before there was a chance to photograph it.  

I have been sewing but will post pics in a few days.

Christi

Quilting Catch Up! (and other stuff)

I got to show off a couple of other quilt finishes at our meeting last week.  These weren't UFO's, since I got both patterns as Christmas gifts.  Both are Elizabeth Hartman patterns.

This first one is a pattern Sarah got me called Lookout.  I made the small version which could be a large baby quilt.  It's all from my scraps and it turned out so cute!  It has a blue plaid flannel back so will be super snuggly.

The second one is a pattern David got me called Randolph and Rudy.  I spent most of January making the bears and deer.  They turned out so cute.  This is the large version and it has the same blue plaid flannel on the back.

 I also got Sarah's 4-H t-shirt quilt longarmed and finished in time for the guild meeting.

This was the quilting design she picked for the quilt.  We quilted it in gold thread.

This was a UFO.  She wanted it large enough for her bed.  She'll be visiting next week, so can take it back to St. Pete's with her.

And I have been working on some baby quilts for one of our charity projects.  I had a Thomas the Train layer cake and have been making some tops from that.  I have 2 hanging in the closet and another cut and ready to sew together.

I also got Sarah's college t-shirt collection cut, stabilized and sewn into a quilt top.  She will take it with her and go to The Quilted Cow in St. Peter's to pick out some backing for it.  It's another UFO so will be glad to check it off the list.

And it was time for the bacon bits to arrive.............all 2700!  I got to help.

And I had to do some of the feedings which is really just a time every 4 hours to wake them up and encourage them to eat.  They especially like to sleep at this stage, even in the feeders.

Of course, all this activity made me hungry, so one night we did grilled pork chops with pineapple salsa and cilantro lime rice for supper.  Delicious!

It's another blustery day here!

Christi

Snow, Cold, and Spring Fever

 When last I blogged, we were in the midst of big snows, and lots of cold weather. I can't count the number of days David spent in flannel shirts (and he really doesn't like flannel).  I even purchased some more just to keep from having to do laundry every other day.  All of this winter weather led to a bad case of Spring Fever.  I spent my days finishing the Orange Crush quilt............

Here it is on the longarm.  I put this little topper on the longarm at the bottom of the quilt and quilted it as well.

They are both fully finished now and ready for show and tell at guild tomorrow night.  Such nice spring looking fabric.

And then, I just couldn't help myself, so I made a rabbit..............and some paper pieced carrots.

Here is the flimsy of this wall hanging.  It's not quilted yet, but will be soon so that I can hang it for Easter.

The whole thing was so fun to make.  The bunny comes from the Elizabeth Hartman Bunny Bunch pattern and the carrots are paper pieced from a pattern I downloaded.  Each carrot is different.  The bunny's shirt fabric came from the fat quarter I received from our guild's Quilted Cow box.  I will be using this as my challenge project for guild.  We had to use some of the fat quarter we were given and keep the dimensions to less than 80 inches in perimeter and a few other requirements (which I may have bent the rules on a little).  

All of the bad weather found Mabel getting to spend more time inside...........

She helped bind the Orange Crush quilt.

She tried to take on Esme with a pencil, but Esme wasn't having it and got the pencil away from her.

And the back of the couch became a favorite place to sleep.

More cutting table mischief.......

Orange Crush was a UFO, so that crosses another off my list.  More finishes to come.

Christi