Did You Do It? Did You Dare?

Did you brave the insanity of Black Friday? It was crazy out there people! I was completely happy and comfortable sitting here in my home in front of the computer doing my shopping, thank you very much! Caught a couple of deals on Amazon's lightning deals so I did okay. We went to my MIL's for Thanksgiving and I thought I would throw a picture out there of how she decorated her bedroom with my Bottled Rainbows quilt. I'm always interested to see how people use their quilts in real situations. I love how this looks at her house!

The kids decorated the tree and I did the house tonight so it has officially changed from Thanksgiving to the Christmas season! I have actually done some sewing as crocheting as well but I'll post that later.

Hope you're starting the season off right!

WiP and a Winner!

And the winner of my Traveling Stash is...

Number 4, Ella from ThrowAWenchInTheWorks!!! Congrats to Ella! I have sent you an email to get your deets!

Now, as far as WiP goes....I've been doing a little crochet , working on completing my Mystery Mini Round Robin...

Working on my Quilt U Be Mine block for the month (only hints here!).

and I desperately need to hit the store for some Kona white to finish up my Carpenter's Wheel blocks. It's going to start getting cold down here and we desperately need a quilt for our bed. I had made the Bottled Rainbows for that but when I washed it, shrinkage was just enough that it was no longer wide enough for my bed. My MIL really wanted it anyway so it now resides on her bed. So we are now without any top bedding because I got rid of the old one when I put the Bottled Rainbows on it. Sigh.... oh, what it would be like to finish something!

The kids are out for the week so we hit the new skating rink yesterday as a source of fun. My daughter asked if I ever skated when I was her age. After I picked myself up off the floor from laughing I told her that I skated EVERY DAY. I had my own skates and my neighbor had a paved driveway he let my sister and I skate on all the time. When we went to the rink it was fabulous cause we had a huge area to skate in! But I want to know one thing: where were these things when we were learning to skate?

That PVC pipe is some fab stuff, is it not?

What am I thankful for this holiday season? That my family is safe and healthy (BIL is responding well to his chemo), and for friends like you who come visit me and inspire me not only craft better but to be a better person!
Linking up at Lee's!

Back to School and Back to Sewing!

So I had a bit of trouble getting motivated to get back into my sewing room and routine but I have finally gotten going again. The kids are back in school today so it's time to get some things finished! And my Bottled Rainbows is first on that list!!

It is about 90x90 and I did free motion quilting on each block individually before attaching them all together.I will say that this caused a little puckering but you can't really tell when it's on my bed. The blocks were attached to the back with a zigzag stitch that I used only on the seams where the blocks met. Here are some of my favorite pieces that I FMQ'ed. Keep in mind that I have only done a little FMQ but I'm proud of it anyway.

And my favorite is this one. Again, not perfect, but I was really proud of how it all came together.

And here is the back of the quilt.

It doesn't pull up on the left corner. I just moved it and didn't realize it looked like that until I loaded the pictures. It is now resting on my bed (woohoo!). My MIL has already expressed how much she loves it but it will have to live at my house for a while. I am also going to put pictures of each block in my flickr account. I haven't decided whether the pics I took will do or if I need to take ones in better light. We shall see.

WiP Wednesday

Bottled Rainbows is quilted! That's about all I can say for this week, but that's saying a lot!

I am working on the most recent Round Robin Mystery Mini as well. Hope to get that finished and sent tomorrow.

It's Toni's Fault! Oh, and Allegory's Too!

I totally had no plans of starting anything new, cause goodness knows I have plenty of projects that are nowhere near finished. But then Toni posted about a Christmas quilt,...and Allegory's been having this Soda Pop Quilt along for Katie's Soda Pop quilt. So what could I do? I ask you, how could I say no?
I had these 3 charm packs of Jovial by Moda that I won several months ago at the LQS and I was thinking that would chop off a lot of time. I personally think the quilt looks better with lots of colors but I really just wanted a smaller version and I had no other grand ideas for those charm packs so... we'll see how this works out. I even came up with a cute name for it, cause you know people have cute names for these quilts. Mine is called Yule Pop! So far I'm just putting my squares together but I should finish that today.

I also got my monster Bottled Rainbows pinned and ready to quilt...but I haven't decided on a thread color yet. So I need help people! What color thread would you use on a rainbow quilt? Oh, and what color would you make your bubbles on the Soda Pop quilt? I haven't figure that one out yet either.

WiP Wednesday

You would think that with two kids at camp I would be doing a lot of sewing...but I'm doing a lot of lazy. I did get in the basement and start working on the back of my Bottled Rainbows quilt today. For anyone who missed it Friday, here's the front...

and here's the back I'm currently working on.

I decided to make up what I needed from the big print with a repeat of piano keys here and there since I still have some leftovers. So there will be another row of piano keys to fill the area where the quilt front is peaking through around the middle, and I may have to do another row on one side or the other to make sure it's wide enough. I haven't sewn that middle strip to the left side yet so you might notice some more quilt front peaking through there. I hope to finish it tomorrow so I can go on a "floor hunt" to find a space big enough to pin this thing together.

Ah, and you'll never guess what hubby noticed tonight. He walked past me after dinner and said, "Your willow tree in the backyard is on the ground." We both went out to check and this is what we saw.

I feel so bad for the birds. This was a big tree; our house is a two story but it's 3 stories on the back because of the basement and this tree was at least three stories. That little red box is a license plate birdhouse my dad made me years ago and is only about 8-9" tall if that gives you any idea of the size. There were upset little birds flitting all around the tree. Hubby has his work cut out for him this weekend.

TGIFF!!!! I'm on Top of the Rainbow!

Well, I FINALLY finished the top of my bottled rainbows quilt! Now, saying this actually means that all I have to do is make and attach the backing because it was a quilt as you go so the batting is already attached. One less step to do!

I did piano keys all around for a border out of the leftover fabrics plus some other Kona I had. I will more pictures later as I get it all finished up. I'm also going to take some individual pictures of blocks for flickr. I did it once already but the lighting where I took them was horrible. Oh, and I forgot to mention that with my extra row of blocks, this baby comes out around 90 x 90. Whew! Not gonna be fun getting this jewel on my little home machine!

Hubby also hung my quilt rack he made for me. It now decorates my sewing room with the 4 quilts I've made that still reside at my house.
* UPDATE: After being asked by several people about the pattern for the quilt rack, I figured I should include the links in the post.

Here is a link to purchase the pattern my husband used to make it.

In looking online, I also came across the same idea for one that is used to hold horse blankets. This one is metal and is purchased as a kit. Here is where you can find it.

It looks kind of neat with the arms all splayed out as well.

Linking up!!!

WiP Wednesday...Where All I see Are Rainbows!

I feel like I have been working on Bottled Rainbows for 3 years! I still love it but it has moved in my mind from being a bed quilt for my bed to one for the guest bed....and I'm still not done with it! So far I have all 20 of the blocks (yes, I said 20 cause I added 4 more) connected, and I've attached the bottom border.

I went with piano keys in all the existing colors from the quilt, plus a few extras. Basically its some of almost every Kona I own. I've got the top border ready for batting on my sewing table.

Then I will add right and left, finish the back, quilt it, bind it, and finally work on something else. I may end up putting it on my bed eventually, but right now I'm just at that stage of "I'm just so sick of looking at it can I please work on something else PLEASE!" Well, maybe not quite that strong. I do love how it looks now that it's sewn together. Isn't it weird how you can put it all together on a bed or a design board to get an idea of it, but it still looks so much better than you expect it to when you finally get it sewn together?

Oh, and a word of advice. If you are slightly klutzy like myself and have accidentally hit furniture when swinging your arms while walking through the house, take it as a sign not to wear watches in the house.

Pretty, huh? I couldn't just scratch the face...nooooooo. I had to completely decimate it. Annihilate it. Destroy it. Sigh..... Good thing I have 3 other watches. maybe I'll use the wrist bands to make more wrist pin cushions, but this time I'll make the cushions bigger. Hope you're having a good week!

Lakes and Rainbows

We're back from our little visit to my parents home. I quickly got together the last few blocks I need to finish out my BR top. I already had jade and it's finished but I also made crimson red, and what I believe to be corn yellow and bubble gum pink (not sure exactly).

The blocks are done, I just need to fill three with scraps. Then it's sew them all together, add a border and sew on the back! I'm closing in on a finish!

While we were at the my parents we took the kids to the lake. They have a fake beach there so we took the kids. They had a blast.

While we were gone, hubby was busy. When we left the kids rooms and the bonus room were a wreck. We returned to find this...

which meant their rooms looked like this...

and this.

The bonus room looked like this.

I was so ecstatic that everything was clean!!! Well, everything except that stained up ancient couch. And yes, there's usually a quilt on my daughter's bed but he didn't put it back on there. Yahoo for an industrious hubby! Or a bored hubby! Either way is fin

Reconfiguring...

I was all excited at how much progress I've made on my Bottled Rainbows quilt, especially since it has to be done by August for my quilting guild's little wrap up for it. So far I have totally finished 14 blocks, and 3 have scraps to be sewn on (they are glued down so I used them in the picture below). Yes, I know how to count. I know that's 17, not 16. When I first got the fabrics, I had one called blue jay in the mix which was not exactly my favorite color. It was not a blue I use much and I was afraid I wouldn't have enough to make a block, so I pulled together some leftover jade from my Riley Blake Christmas quilt and made another block. Now it looks like I will have enough to do the blue jay one too. My first instinct was to make a second extra and turn them into pillow shams. But today I placed them all on my queen sized bed to insure they would fit and, low and behold, I need another row deep to make it fit.

I was planning on a border just to make sure the drop was enough to cover the sides (I have a sleigh bed and the mattresses show), so I measured to see if the border would be enough. I need approximately 8 inches more to get the drop I want on both sides, and 8 inches is not enough to complete the top to bottom. In fact, with 8 inches added to the top and bottom, it would not quite touch the headboard or footboard. If I decided to cover the pillows with the quilt instead of having the pillows on top of the quilt, I would definitely need another row. So, in my infinite insanity, I have chosen to create 3 more blocks. So now instead of being within 3 of being done, I am within 6. Just when you think you're closing in on a finish line. But I really do think it will be worth it. It will be plenty big and the border will give it a bit more that can either be tucked in at top and bottom or used to cover and tuck pillows. Plus, if it shrinks any in the wash, it will be worth it to have it bigger.

I am also hard at work being a pattern tester. I finished the book side of the "READ" bag and started the letters too. So far the pattern is very well written. Hopefully I will finish soon and can review it all together, but until then here's a sneak peak...

Yeah, I don't know if it's because I've been working on the BR quilt but my 'neutral' ended up being a bit more colorful than originally planned. But I think I'm going to like it more colorful anyway. Hope your weekend is looking promising. We finally do our first read thru for Seussical tomorrow morning so I'm excited!

Getting Through Monday

I know it's Monday, but I've actually been making some progress. Got my three Granny Squares done for quilt guild tonight...

(keep one, donate one for a charity quilt, and one goes in the pot; names go in for each person who brought one and whoever's name is drawn gets all the ones in the pot)

and I have made great strides on finishing Bottled Rainbows. So far I have 10 completely done. I have some greens...,

some pinks and a red...,

a couple of blues...,

and some oranges.

I think I have 4 more that are completely glued down, just needing to be stitched. I also have my Kona solids in papaya and blush cut and ready to send for Jane's layer cake solids swap. Now, if I can just get to the post office.

I also decided to throw out a little sneak peak on one of the most recent Mystery Round Robin blocks I just worked on. I was excited because there were pinks and someone added a yellow so I got to add something that tied those colors together.

I'm having a lot of fun with this swap. I can't WAIT until October when I get mine back and I get to see what the others did to my block.

Somewhere Working on Rainbows!

I'm finally getting my copy of Free Motion Quilting by Angela Walters! I ordered this a while back with an Amazon card I got for Christmas, but it was only just released. Amazon sent me a little head's up last night that it was on it's way! Angela has a little blog called Quilting is my Therapy. Definitely check it out. It's a good place to see and be seen!
I've been working hard on Bottled Rainbows! I have 7 completely done, 3 need some pieces, and all the rest are completely glued down ready to sew.  I had some jade that I had plenty of pieces for so I went ahead and made an extra. I'm probably going to end up doing one more so I can make pillow shams out of the two extras.

WiP at the Pool!

Well, that's what it feels like, anyway! We've been staying at the pool a lot this week. It keeps the kiddos happy and outside which works for me. It also keeps me away from my sewing machine, which doesn't work for me. I HAVE been sewing in the morning so I finished getting all my Bottled Rainbows blocks prepped and ready so I don't have to keep doing a few at a time before working on them. What was that you ask? When have I been getting the cleaning done? Who let you in this party?

Anywho! What do I have going on this week? Well, still waiting on my second Kona solid to arrive via mail so I can cut it up into 10" squares for Jane's swap. I have papaya and blush pink.

I have my Bottled Rainbows all stacked up and waiting while I finish a second orange.

I also volunteered to be a pattern tester for Michelle over at CityHouseStudio for this cute little bag. I have been dying to try out quilting letters. I can't decide if I want to quilt them or applique them. Either way it's adorable. Gotta get started on that one soon too. Mitzi reminded me that I also need to have 3 granny squares made for Monday's quilt guild meeting. I totally forgot but luckily they come together pretty quickly.

Still no word on when Seussical practice starts but I think it's going to be fun!