Another Old Project Finished

I'm sure I'm the only one with a bunch of unfinished projects - :)
I have been working on trying to get them done, just cause I'm tired of them laying around. Have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but at least the tops are finished and maybe I have some quilt tops that I can practice my free motion quilting on --  Lemons to Lemonade!

This is the latest, just finished it today.  It was a kit that I bought, came with the pattern - "Not Your Grandmothers Tubmling Blocks". I remember starting this at a retreat ( it was where I learned NEVER to cut the fabric for a quilt while at retreat --  I got so confused! ) and the pattern is a really cool way to make a tumbling block quilt. I might even sometime make another sometime in the future.  It's strip pieced! Cut it right and it goes together really easy.

But I also learned another thing from this project - that not all kits are created equal -- either I did something really wrong or they just didn't give enough.  There was just not quite enough fabric for the outer border.  The kit came pre-cut strips. Four strips for the outer border...that was all well and good, but I need just TWO MORE INCHES!~  Just TWO MORE!  I think they measured without the inner border.

So I got creative and added in a couple of strips at the bottom border.  A quilter short on fabric has to do what a quilter has to do ;D

So here it is! and I like it.

Christmas in August

Have you seen the book by "Art To Heart"  called Christmas Favorites?

I was at a local quilt show with a couple of my friends and we spied this book - my friend tirane thought it was just too cute for words,
 and of course we both just  had to have it..

( like we have nothing else to work on, sure, who am I kidding! ) But it's Oh So Cute!

This weekend, tirane and I got together and , it was like being a kid at school again, Where was the  glue and glitter?? We were tracing, drawing, fusing, cutting ( like paper dolls ) and we got two blocks finished. The same but Oh so Different!  

Can't wait to get to the next blocks :)

I've got the Joy Joy Joy Joy Down in My Heart! Down in my Heart! Down in my Heart!

It was a two quilt weekend --and! Plus one more!

It was one of my bee's retreat weekends, always a good time! I took a day of vacation so I could get some quality friend and sewing time -- you know how that is, you just get tired of being wife, mom, employee, all those different hats we wear, and you just have to get away, right? Right!

This was my time to just be me, quilter, and friend.

It was great!

Is was a quilt that I started about 6-7 years ago. One of my friends in the bee is really good at learning a technique then teaching everyone ( in fact she is now a teacher for Judy Niemeyer quilts and travels all over) so we all got together and she showed us all how to make a stack and whack quilt. This was mine. It's been sitting in a clean pizza box ( LOL, no, I didn't eat the pizza first, it was brand new, never been used) for all those years. All it needed was the sashimg cut, I had it sewn, just not cut, and I needed to make the corner stones. Oh, and sew the borders on. This is the fabric I used Isn't this pretty?

and VOILA,take this fabric with all the pretty colors, cut it into like pieces and POOF!

I like it.

 Not very practical cause it's white,

 but I do like it

#2

 I had found the border fabric a year or so ago and knew that I wanted to make a quilt with solids and use this fabric as the border. It took all this time for me to find the right one, and finally in this months Mccalls Quilting, I saw this pattern, and ignoring the colors, I knew the pattern would be just right.

This is what the magazine quilt looks like.a very versatile pattern, don't you think?

And --  this is mine! same but oh so different.. I really stepped out of MY box this time.

 I just love the lamp fabric. I sewed the borders just like the blocks, around the quilt, with a partial seam. Makes the lamps go "around" the quilt.

and last is #3. I made this quilt for a baby shower at work. In two evenings.

it's all minkee - soft and soft and gee, soft!. I used pink and white polka dots for the pink strips and the letters, and brown  - these are the colors she is using for the baby room decor.  It's not a very good picture - I rememberd to take it the morning before going to work ( I had to unwrap it! ). and I just sorta threw it down on the kitchen floor in a rush, so it's not straight or anything. - Its the only pic I have, oh well. Did I mention that this is SO SoFt!

From Blogsy Photos

So now I'm all pumped up to get my projects done, why have these hanging around? Just because I might not like them any,ore, or because I haven't the foggiest idea on how to finish them, doesn't mean that they have to sit!

I'll be tough, I'll get motivated, I'll finish them!

Retreat this Weekend

I'm so excited!  And I just can't hide it - I'm about to loose control and I think I like it!

thanks Pointer Sisters

 I'm not ready - but I'm Excited!  what am I going to take? what can I get done?
 Should I take wine? Chocolate?
 ( well, now, that is just a stupid question)

take the big machine or the Featherweight?
How many projects should I pack?

I have an easy one that I want to cut out and sew ( Oh Golly, I can NOT cut when I'm at retreat - there is no telling what my measurements would be, so I always cut at home, alone, and then take the 'kit' with me - what do you do? Can you cut out at retreat? Be honest, now! )

I have to finish a baby quilt tonight  ((  that's another story! but the shower is tomorrow, oh my )

gotta go,,

I'm so excited - lalala im singing my song

The Best of the Best

)

Friendship. Belgium. Chocolate. Yes.