A Gift for Family

Remember this recent quilt finish? And this recent trip to Washington for a family wedding? Well, they were actually a combined event. I actually made that quilt for my brother in law and my now sister in law. Here is a pic of them opening their gift.

I'm glad they were happy with it. I purchased the supplies and made it; then my mother in law had it quilted. So it was a combo gift from us. 

I am still working on getting my Skill Builder quilt quilted. It will probably end up with one of the nieces who has not yet received a quilt. I hope to work on yet another UFO to give to the other niece on hubby's side of the family. Then that side will be done. Well, except for my nephew. Do nephew's usually want quilts? He is currently big into theater like me; I need to figure out a way to incorporate something theater '-ish' into a quilt. Hmmmm....

A Finish! It Feels So Good!!

This is my latest finish! There are a lot of firsts on this quilt: my first queen size, the largest quilt I've made thus far, the first time using double sided binding (which I love!!!).

This is the Falling Charms quilting tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Co. using Kate Spain's Good Fortune. It is queen sized and approximately 94x105. I accidentally lost some width from a miscut that I didn't catch until it came back from the quilter's.

The quilting was done by a long armer with a pale purplish thread.

I love how it turned out and will definitely be using this pattern again.

The backing is solid with the little floral you see above. I also created double sided binding for it since the front and back were so vastly different. It was totally easy and came together so well!!!

I'm so excited to be done with something. Now on to finish some UFO's!!

Living and a' Working!

I'm actually getting some work done on the Falling Charms quilt today. I got the binding cut out yesterday and and today I have to sew it together and get it ironed and on. I also have to get a crocheted wrap done for my MIL. I'm using this tutorial to do double sided binding. Here's what it looks like so far.

Here you can see both sides.

And here is looking straight onto the side of the binding.

Pretty cool! I'm excited how it is turning out. It will end up being totally reversible!

A "Pinterest" Type Site...For Food!

Have you heard of TasteSpotting? I was looking for granola bar recipes and came across it on Pinterest. Where have I been? It supposedly has been around since 2007 but I am just coming across it... and it's wonderful! Billed as a "virtual potluck" for it's visitors, it works sort of like Pinterest in that pictured links are posted to the website which carry you to directly the recipe on various websites. I do think you have to submit your recipes to be placed on the site, but right now I just plan on reaping the benefits of having other people come up with the recipes and I just have to cook them and try them out! I did have good luck with one granola bar and bad luck with another, but the kids LOVE the one that was good so I have a plus in my cooking arsenal!

***Update: I decided to add a list of my recipe trials on my sidebar to let you know of any TasteSpotting recipes that are REALLY good. So far the Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats (not what the recipe author refers to them as) are a huge hit at my house with me and my kids!

Oh, and the top AND back of my Falling Charms quilt are done so it is off to the quilter this week!!

All I will have left to do is binding when it comes back! Yay!!

I Like it When Things Come Together!

I was debating making another Falling Charms out my Simply Color charm packs because I kind of didn't want to have to purchase a lot more of the fabric for the borders. However, I was sitting in my sewing room and just happened to glance at my shelves and happened not notice something. Surely it wouldn't match...it did! Surely there wouldn't be enough of it...3 yards so yes!!!

There are plenty more colors in the line but I thought it blended well with this print! I still need to pick up one more charm pack and some solid. Or I may try to reconfigure it with just three and have a second inside border using the solid. This was a quilt that came together fairly quickly and I like how it looks on my bed! The other one is going to the long arm quilter next week so I've got to get the backing together tomorrow.

Charms are Falling!

Finally finished the top of my Falling Charms quilt Tuesday night, but only just got a picture of it last night. It took my MIL and hubby to hold it over the deck since it's a queen. That's the largest I've ever made! Still got to put the back together but at least the top is finished!

I know it looks a little wrinkly. I actually did iron it the night before but you take what you can get when you have help holding something up for you! This was in Kate Spain Good Fortune. I will post more when I get it quilted. Definitely going to have to get this one done by a long armer but I still have to get the back done.

Progress and More Tammy Bags

I am finished with the Falling Charms portion of that particular quilt...now I just need to add borders to make it big enough. I put it on my bed to see how it looks.

I really like how this quilt is coming together.

Oh, and don't forget to check out Day 2 of the Tammy Blog Hop! You can see my Tammy bags and enter my giveaway HERE!

Thursday, June 13th

Les

Marlene

Lisa

Anjeanette

Kristen

Marica

Lynn

Gingini

Linda J

Nicole

Judith

Whole Lotta Sewing Going on!

I decided for a little in between project while working on my Good Fortune Falling Charms and my READ mini wall hanging. I decided I needed to replace our coasters since the new pup has eaten at least two of the ones I had crocheted. Sigh....life with a dog! Anyway, I was all keyed up to do some string coasters with my tons of scraps when I came across some leftover Georgia fabric on which I had already attached iron on fleece floating around in my scraps tub. Can't beat it when a step is already done for you!

 So I salvaged enough to make 5 coasters. I cut my fabric to 4.5" squares and sewed around three sides and a little in on each corner of the fourth side.

 Not all tutorials will tell you to do this before turning but it helps immensely to me. It creates your corner so you can go ahead and poke out all the corners at one and they are more uniform. I also snip off each corner close to me seam to make sure the corners don't pucker.

 Here I have turned my coaster out and poked out my corners. Now I just folded the opening in about .25" and ironed. I did a stitch all around for closure close to the edge on all 5 coasters. I had an idea for doing some hand quilting to make a meandering stitch throughout (sort of like a road visiting all the sites) but I never thought it looked right. I love hand quilting on everyone else's work but it never looks right to me when I do it! So I just ended up doing some minor quilting on each one. I did something different on each: concentric boxes, improv, a grid, an X, and some outlining.

I thought they turned out pretty cute! Maybe the dog won't eat these! And I still have muslin and batting I cut out to do some string coasters, so I'll probably go ahead and make those too.

I finally pinned Falling Charms to the wall so I could get an idea what it's going to look like. I also placed it on my bed and it really looks nice. Six more rows before adding borders!!!

WIP and some Graduations!

I have actually been sewing a lot this week! I have 7 of the 14 rows done on my Falling Good Fortune Charms...

No, that's actually not the direction it goes on the bed, but it fits that way while I'm deciding what block goes next. And yes, it could use some more ironing! I left it at my sewing machine with one row all pinned and when I got back to sew it, it had gotten a bit wrinkled.
I have also been working on a READ wall hanging for my friend who is the media specialist at my kids' school.

I haven't gotten far with it yet but  I did go through my bag of selvages to find some "titles" for the books that will go with it.

I really need to come up with something to do with these selvages. Hmmm...
Anyway, I did find a few and I can sew in the rest.

My beautiful niece got her quilt from me this weekend. She was so cute and excited! This was a combination "turning 18" and graduation quilt.

There was a cookout at her house to celebrate her graduation. She told me later it was already on her bed at home. I love it when a quilt brightens someone's day, don't you?