Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show !!!

I don't feel comfortable posting pictures of quilts that aren't mine, I would of course give proper credit but with out specific permission I don't want to get into trouble. Any how, I fully enjoyed myself for the four days that the show was here. Met with friends, shopped , had lunch, looked at the quilts several times.

So many wonderful quilts some with had stitching,  more machine stitching then I care to brag about. Many with the twists and turns of the mariners compass. I had to get a couple of books on paper piecing so that I could try my hand at the technique.

Making points that are flat and well you know points are always tricky and most quilters say that paper piecing is the way to go. So I have been encouraged and inspired to try.

I do so love seeing traditional quilts as well as the artistic, but my old-fashioned self will always love the traditional. I do tend to lend myself to the scrappy type quilting not more so the crazy but any scrappy quilt. I guess they seem more cuddly than the others. I was able to ask a couple quilters about their quilts one nice lady who had finished a gorgeous Baltimore album (huge) said it took her twelve years to complete (WOW!). I was so glad she said that I feel like I don't have to rush a bed size quilt like that. I of course bought fabric, not a ton but about 6/7 yards of this and that and then I think two dozen or so fat quarters, and four books, and some yarn. I was successful in finding fabric for the two color quilt challenge and that is important, so mission accomplished.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show 2011
I have been getting more and more excited about this years show. Our guild always displays our previous years quilt challenge, and this time I will have a small quilt in the display. I will be honest its not the greatest, still I am proud of what I made and it will be there!!! I have plans to shop and take pictures and have lunch. To keep my purchases to a minimum I have a list, I just hope I stick to the list. I will try to post what I bought and my quilt. I spent President's Day sewing all day. I finished a table runner, and a mug rug (green for March). I am going to plan another sewing day soon to work on more so I can get started on more quilts!!!

Long time no post.

Well from time to time one does get busy and just can't muster up the time, energy or whatever to post something, anything at all. SO.....

This is a charity quilt I am quilting I didn't actually make the quilt but kudos to who ever did it is going to make someone feel really good.

These are some blocks I was messing with just to be messing around which can be a very bad thing but if I make it up and give it away then it is okay. I feel that it needs to have more than nine blocks maybe three more to make an even dozen.

These are some blocks that I am sending to help the flood victims in Australia, I will be sending four to a contact person who will take goodness knows however many and make them up into goodness knows however many quilts to send to the families that need them. It does make me feel great to help others and when one feels depressed that is the best way to feel better. 

This is a little something (mug rug) for Valentine's Day. I think I will be making one for each month for the entire year. These little projects always cheer me up.

SO..... I have been doing plenty of work on quilting type stuff its just always seemed not the moment to take the picture and sit down and write something. I hope with the change in the weather will help me be more energitic. Happy stitching!!

Guild meeting, challenges, and giving !

At our wonderful guild meeting our consumer reporter gave a challenge to take this obvious container and make something out of it, due in May.

This is what I was able to do quickly ! I may not be an expert seem stress, but a working usable caddy is never a bad choice.

So many of us are doing what we can to send relief to the victims of the flooding in Australia, our guild received this via other guilds for a rail fence

12.5 inch block with an address to send it to and wonderful instructions. Any way may I offer a well deserved shout out to all and any who have pitched in what they can to help. Hurray !!! It is always a great feeling to give to others. Quilters to the rescue ! We can be such a great group of giving people.

Dresden Done!

I've had a house full of sick family, and with all the laundry thats piled up etc. etc. I didn't have a chance to post my finished quilt. Isn't it wonderful. It's not very big but still it is done. I have a guild meeting this weekend, we will be working on service projects, you know a big day of sewing. I am so excited because I also haven't bee able to sew either. Hope others are doing better than me.

Inspiration,jubilation,progression, quirkie stuff

As I surf other blogs on the Internet I see so many incredible quilts that are very inspiring, wonderful encouraging words, as well as the cute stuff. I see almost every blog has something like Work In Progress Wednesday, or Fabric Friday, or block of the week or month. I don't like to be a copy cat, still it gives us that,  "look forward to something" new. I also think with a deadline like progress reporting on blocks or projects it provides that  motivation to get something done and we all need some motivation.  So as I contemplate what would get me going and keep me motivated and hopefully motivate others I will enjoy the blogs that are out there and hopefully come up with my own idea. By the way I have made progress on two quilts the Pineapple Blossom ( found on quiltville.com I love Bonnie she is amazing ) and another quilt that I failed to put on the list. I mentioned a while back this scrappy Dresden Plate that is just needing a little bit more hand stitching and binding and it will be done, so hopefully by the end of the week or middle of next I will have a picture of a completed quilt to share! Hurray for stitching days! ( is there an idea in there somewhere??? )

List of UFOs to finish, Works In Progress want 2 Bs.

I will keep the list short and sweet I don't want to out do anyone or spread  myself too thin, you know what I mean.
1) Challenge quilt for the guild's yearly challenge (two color quilt, colors chosen brown and blue green).
2) Pineapple Blossom for my friend, in the sandwiching stage this week.
3) Wonky Log Cabin for my bed ( king size ) I need to finish the pieced border and get a backing and batting. I may have someone else quilt it for me.
4) Scrappy four patch for another friend who gives me many scraps ( b-day in June ).
5) Garden Nine Patch, needs the applique to be finished, then borders, etc. etc..
6) Crumbs Welcome wall hanging, just the quilting and binding to finish.
7) Halloween table runner, also just the quilting to finish.
8) Scrappy Squares and Hearts for my youngest, for her bed. I may have someone quilt that one too.
9) Twirling Stars from Pat Speth's 5" squares.
10)  Crumbs lap size to donate.

There are several others, but lets just stop there. Several will be checked off the list hopefully in the next few months as they are gifts as well as donated. Some that aren't on the list are service projects that I help to finish in one stage or another, so a very busy year. I won't even mention classes that will be attended this year but those tend to be small so I finish quickly. I need to make a list of what I finished last year, or at least worked on. I will not beat myself silly if I don't finish all of this list, as a mom and wife I can't just always sit and stitch. Good luck to me and any one else working on a list of UFOs may they all just be WIPs.

Working on WIP's !

 This is my attempt at making a mug rug for my sister on her birthday. Its a little crooked. But she did like it.

These are better attempts at making mug rugs. I will be giving one to my friend who is always giving me her scraps. I like to make her something for being so generous, I'm also working on a lap size quilt for her with the scraps she's been giving me. I hope to be done with that for her birthday.

This is the quilt I gave my oldest for Christmas in 2009 I finally got the binding on, she is sleeping under it as we speak. I asked her after the first time she slept under it if she had any interesting dreams, she said she couldn't remember.

I made a journal cover for her rather than spending $$$ on a store bought one, this is more personal. She loved this better, its in her favorite colors.

Clean out !

I have completely gone through ALL of my scraps and organized them according to size and shape. The scraps that are big enough have been marked for cutting into the size labeled on the bag. That small box of scraps that was given away on crazy mom quilts ( congratulations  to the lucky winner ) is no where near as big as my pile. I guess I could say its a good thing that I didn't win I don't really need them.

 I have stuck to my guns and am finishing the first of many quilts, the binding on my oldest daughter's quilt ( for her bed ), its of course huge and is taking me a while. I am itching at the seams to get onto making blocks from any project I have touched today in my clean out and organize but I have resisted the urge. Well done and kudos to me! I am so very proud of myself, and it feels great to almost be done with this big project. I still have many chores to do and stuff to clean out, I will even be rearranging my bedroom for some new matching armoires. At the moment the house is a wreck I am barely hanging onto my sanity, if I wasn't  seeing the end results, I don't know what I would do. It always helps to have some stitching to do at the end of the day and a reward, both a cleaner more put away house and next month a quilt show. Not to mention how much more I will finish with the improved working space. Happy Stitching!

Happy New Year !

I have started on my resolution to work on UFO's until each one is completed. I don't have finished objects for pictures, how long each project takes is anyone's guess. I have the binding on one quilt, I have almost finished several mug rugs for the give away. So maybe this weekend, I will be able to take pictures for show and tell. I have still be surfing blogs for also ideas on stash buster quilts. If anyone is ever lack for ideas the internet is a great place to get some inspiration.
I also plan to try and clean out, update and get better organized so that my house isn't always such a mess. Especially my room. I will be making some purchases and getting rid of the old and hopefully be able to have better use of the space that I have. I suppose a picture of the before during and after would be a good idea.
Back to work.

A year for finishing!

I'm trying to put myself in order, get myself organized and then maybe get things finished. Several plans of attack have come to mind. One is to pile projects into some order and finish one at a time and not move onto another until I have finished that choosen project. However, what happens when classes come up and I start a project there. Another plan, is to be working on the finishing stages of one (like the binding) and be getting another one ready for its next stage either, layering the top/middle/bottom or putting the blocks together or working on the blocks to put together into a top. Of course, there is always having leaders and enders going, so, one can tell I need to make a plan and just stick to that plan.
So many of us have quite a few projects to work on that it can become overwhelming. I realize teachers have an excuse to have samples, to illustrate how to accomplish the next step and therefore, seem to have several thousand projects to finish, thats a teacher. The rest of us don't have that kind of excuse. We get caught up in the day to day stuff ( cooking, shopping, cleaning, laundry, taxing) and have to put this that and the other project aside and work on it more later. Then more stuff comes up, group taking class, group making gift for good friend, and just making something for self. So the one project started grows into 10 + projects. I have been told that it is okay to also discover that some of the started projects loose their appeal and so then, one can find someone who is wanting to finish that, because they just do.
Whatever the reason, it is a new year, I'm going to try to make a plan and try to see it through. Make a plan either choose a day or week to work on those projects and nothing else, or make a list of projects you want to finish, maybe even give yourself a deadline to motivate yourself, also get a really great friend to remind you that you need to work on that list. Don't forget to give kudos when you do work on and especially finish a project.  Anyone what to join me????

On to new and hopeful creativity!

 Wow what a great Christmas! I gave many a well made gift. Pictures of the girls and slippers and scarves and little things to cuddle. We didn't rush through all of the gifts either we really took our time. Because I make Christmas Eve dinner I can spend Christmas day just playing with my girls and snacking on leftovers.

Believe it or not we got snow starting Christmas day! Not the norm for our area of the world, sure its cold but not snowy. I know my youngest was very pleased with that gift from nature, it snowed all day and all the next day as well. What a great time we had sledding and snowball fighting and making forts and maybe a snowman in the next few days.
I'm looking through some of the wonderful blogs out there and getting more and more ideas for gifts next year , cute little sewing pins, the bulb wreaths are so easy and inexpensive, plus the ornaments and aprons and skirts and many many more.
I'm also a little jealous of others blogs. But I remind myself that my blog is for me what happens with the silly thing is all good and wonderful.
I hope everyone has had a great holiday and gets as pumped up as me about getting a jump start for next year! So much is out there for ideas, and inspiration is easy to find. My quilting buddies are heading up to Richmond (yes Virginia) there is a wonderful exhibit of quilts at a museum and since we have the time we are going. I think we all need a break from the houses.
My new years resolution is to get organized.  Big plans to take time in February and clean out and reorganize. Whats yours??

Finished Christmas projects

 Pay no attention to the date my new camera still has to get its kinks worked out however at least it takes a good clear picture. This is one of the finished wreath quilts, I sent one to my mother in law and I will try to finish one for my sister.

 This is my small but ever growing collection of snowman stuff, this can stay up until the end of January.

 These are the scarves I have made for my oldest so she will stop taking the ones I have for quick gifts.

 This is one of the many pins I made for some of my quilting friends and I want to finish a few for myself and my girls.

 This pin idea I stole from a quilting friend, she was wearing something similar and I thought I would try to make one like it, this is as far as I could get with all the stuff everyone has me doing.

 This is another of the ornaments I have made for my quilting friends and I hope to also make some for my girls and one for myself.

Aren't they too cute I saw an entire tree decorated with a whole mess of tiny and all different quilted squares.
I have also made some cookies for friends and neighbors. I hope I can get more done before Christmas but as long as everyone keeps taking me away to do other stuff I will never finish. I try to start early, but when it comes to deciding what to actually make and do takes a few months, so I get started late and then I can't finish everything. Oh well I tried. Merry Christmas blahs almost gone.

Christmas blahs

I am having trouble with my camera so truly I have a right to have the holiday blahs.
I have sent cards and small gifts to good friends and I am getting other gifts finished everyday.
I may feel a little overwhelmed still I am not sure why I have the blahs or what I need to pick
myself up out of it. Maybe a little shopping for a better camera so I can put pictures up again
will make me feel better. Hope the weather isn't a factor the snow is so lovely.
Lets see I have made 8 scarves, two slippers, 5 ornaments, 4 lapel pins, and 13-15 cards. The tree is up so are the lights in the yard. I have most of my shopping done, I have watched movies with the girls
and had a nice card game with our good friends. A little holiday blah is normal, so many people
are out of work and having trouble this year. Our family always picks an angle from the trees that
are at the stores. I think I will pull myself out of it in a few days, it might also be that I need to eat
better ( you are what you eat ). I will think happy thoughts and list my blessings.
Have a happy week.

More handmade Christmas Goodies !

 I love making these "Its" they are so easy and fun, just take any kind of fabric cut out two shapes any way you want put on eyes and sew the two sides together, stuff and sew closed. I think they look very cuddelly and they do make a nice stocking stuffer.

Here is a shawl I am making for a special someone I will make another one almost like it for another special someone. There are many more gifts to make. I will probably make 5 to 6 slippers sets, a dozen ornaments, several merry mixes, a few pins for festive wearing, plus a few scarves and I think that will be all, parties have a way of poppinng up out of no where and I will need to have a gift for something or other.

I have managed to put the tree together but the ornamenst will have to waite for later. I put up several trees all over the house I have alot of ornaments.