Happy Anniversary!

Remember these placemats? I quilted and bound them and sent them to Mom and Dad for their anniversary.

Hopefully the obviously scrappy-ness of them will make her less afraid to use them. The slogan could be "Slop all you want; I'll make you more."

I'm finally able to show these!

During my first (and only!) snow day last winter, I finished up some presents.

I made a pair of placemats and napkins for my mom for Mother's Day:

I also made a pair of placemats and napkins for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day:

Now that they've received their gifts, I wanted to show them to you. Do you like them?

I've got a Sweet Tooth

Do you visit the Moda Bake Shop? I try and try and try to stay away, but they have so many wonderful patterns! I am desperately trying not to start new projects, but their patterns tempt me and before I know it, another UFO is born.

This Jumbo Coins quilt is no longer a UFO!

I decided against the applique because this quilt was cute enough without it. This quilt went to another one of my cousin's grandbabies. She has FOUR!!! And they are all marvelous!

Check out Crazy Mom to see what other people have finished!

Oh Baby!

Earlier this year, I made a quilt for Bumblebeans Basics. I liked the pattern so much that I made another one in bright colors for a baby:

I must confess I love to put scrappy backs on quilts:



The whole back:

I gave this to my first cousin, twice removed (aka my cousin's grandbaby). I hope I get to see all of her grandbabies again soon!

Check out Crazy Mom to see what other people have finished!

Mike, the sequel

Did any of you know that I am married to a rock star? My husband plays drum in a rock band and he's the cutest drummer that I know!

The band members pop in and out as life happens to them (job changes, back to school, new babies, coaching soccer, etc.)

The band always practices at my house and I love it! I even love it when the noise from the basement makes the glassware in the dining room rattle.

The original singer in the band, Mike, has had many life changes in the last few years and is not with the band any more. He has, however, changed the way I hear many songs. When I hear a song from an original artist and I am used to the way Mike sings it, it just sounds wrong on the radio somehow.

Not so many years ago, Mike got married. Then he had a little baby boy who received a little blue quilt. He recently had another little baby boy and that little boy will received this little green quilt:

With a scrappy green back:



I resumed work on this quilt last fall while living in a hotel room for a week and recently quilted and bound it.

Check out Crazy Mom to see what other people have finished!

For my gal's pal

I give a lot of quilts away -- a LOT of quilts. What else are quilts for?

My daughter has made a very good friend at college and such a friend deserves a quilt!

I used Bonnie Hunter's scrappy trip around the world pattern for the front:

I used a bunch of 10 1/2-inch squares and 2 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch rectangles to make the back of the quilt:

By all accounts, my gal's pal loved the quilt!

Check out Crazy Mom to see what other people have finished!

Happy Birthday!

If you read my blog regularly, you already know that my mom likes tablerunners.*

I pieced a runner for her last fall while living in a hotel room and I finished the quilting and binding in time for Mom's birthday:

Her table is larger than mine so it shouldn't cover her entire tabletop!

_____

* That post was from 2 1/2 years ago and she had 15 tablerunners then. She probably has nearly 30 now. I'll ask her to count again sometime.

Check out Crazy Mom to see what other people have finished!

A quilt in need of a home

Last fall I was in New Hampshire teaching longarm quilting by day but by night, my humble hotel room became my most divine sewing studio. I pieced the center of my latest quilt in that hotel room.

I added the border when I got home and threw the top in the "to be quilted" pile.

I basted this sweet thing on my longarm with a large loose meander, and then quilted it on my Sweet Sixteen.

The basting worked beautifully. Not a single pucker on the quilt. I felt so smart!

Then, I had to remove the basting. Hours days weeks later, I pulled out the last of the basting. I felt much less smart then, and my fingers hurt!

What is your favorite basting method?

Finally, though, this quilt is finished:

It currently has no home, but I do have a few people in mind.

Check out Crazy Mom to see what other people have finished!

A gift and a finish!

In January, I went away for a quilting weekend with my girls. As always, we ate, quilted, and laughed a lot. I love spending time with my quilting girls!

One of my friends, Isobel, made me a yummy quilted bag:

Tiffany blue!

Isobel probably has the highest level of technical sewing skills of anyone I know. The fact that she used those skills to bless me with this bag humbles me.

As I was looking at the bag, I kept thinking it looked familiar. She showed me the pattern and I realized that I own that one (Amanda's Purse).

After the retreat, I went to my box of patterns and it was not there. So I looked on my shelf of patterns and it was not there. Then I looked on my cutting table. And my bookcase. And every other surface in my sewing room. Nothing. Days later I was in a box checking out some half-done project and I found the pattern. Why it was there I do not know, but it is so exciting to find something that is lost!

I pulled out some lovely limey scraps from my stash and pieced up this purse. I decided to show my Sweet Sixteen some love, so I quilted the purse on my baby.

If you quilt your quilts by pushing fabric through a machine, you need Machingers Quilting Gloves. Yes, you really do!

I decided that lime green fabrics deserved some whacky quilting:

After installing a zipper, discovering that the zipper was broken, and then un-installing the zipper, I finally finished the purse (serious amounts of time elapsed):

I have different applique projects in my two lovely bags. I will think of my darling Isobel every time I touch either one.

BASICs

In February, I took a trip to New York City (PVSD -- sigh) to visit the NYC Metro Mod Quilt Guild. Victoria, the hostess, was as lovely as ever and I met a bunch of other incredible quilters. I could practically taste the joy of quilting when I entered the meeting. Such a different guild experience for me.

Check out what they had to say about the meeting here. Read a few posts before and after, too, because there was too much wonderful quiltiness to be contained in a single blog post!

Victoria has a charity called Bumblebeans Basics. Consider making a quilt for this incredible cause. I made a quilt for them at my quilt retreat in January. It is based on a Moda Bake Shop pattern, but slightly different because I cut the first block wrong and decided I liked it that way.

A scrappy front:

And a scrappy back:

Victoria posted about this quilt and others here. (her photos of my quilt are much better than mine)

I machine bound this one at the recommendation of my real-life, in-person BFF Kim. She sent me a link to this tutorial and it worked!

Do you machine bind?

A gift keeps on giving

Quite a long time ago, I made a quilt for my friend Marla. (She liked it.) I took all of the leftover fabric and put it in a box. In the spirit of finishing things this year, I pulled out the scraps and made a tablerunner:

Please do not tell Mom about this tablerunner, though, because it is not for her. It is for my friend Karen. I made a pink tablerunner for her before she moved away. Every time I visit her, the ladies at her church say, "Oh, you are the one who made that tablerunner. She puts that on the table for every coffee hour!" It sure sounds like Karen needed a second tablerunner, right?

So, I finished the tablerunner yet I still had scraps. I turned those scraps into a Potato Chip Bag and a Wonder Wallet just in time for my trip to New York City (PVSD -- sigh).

It was a great hands-free bag for vacation, and who doesn't love those colors?

The fabric is finally gone! What old project shall I dig out next?

Just in Time

Several years ago at Quilt Festival, the Handi Quilter booth was across from the Cherrywood Fabrics booth. I wanted one of everything that I saw! That was one expensive quilt show for me. If you haven't seen (or touched!) Cherrywood Fabrics, then you haven't lived.

I bought as much fabric as my luggage could hold.

Recently, I was invited to a party and wanted to wear something different than my one black dress. I chose to wear my one black dress with a new colorful wrap made out of Cherrywood fabrics:

I finished this wrap at 6pm and had to leave for the party at 7pm. Why was I worried?

Orange You Glad?

Last fall I taught a tablerunner pattern online for Patchwork Posse. I chose bright and fun colors:

It was so much fun teaching for them. They have some other wonderful classes online that you should definitely check out.

As always, I had extra fabric from the tablerunner. I actually had a lot of extra fabric, so I decided to make matching cloth napkins:

After I was done with the cloth napkins, I still had some fabric left, so I decided to make some Potato Chip Bags and Wonder Wallets:

These have been gifted to some lovely young ladies. I hope they love them!

_________________

Weird fact about me: I love dishes. I constantly struggle to not buy dishes. I lost my battle when I saw these:

C'mon. You couldn't have resisted them either.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving!

Last summer, I made myself a Christmas bedspread and pillowcases and shockingly remembered to put them on my bed in December.

I had some fabric left over. Isn't that always the way?

Moda Bake Shop posted a pattern for a gym bag a while back. I made the bag, but used cotton instead of PUL.

It was a great pattern and I will definitely make another one.

But, I still had fabric left.

I pulled out my Potato Chip Bag pattern that I've been meaning to make for a few years:

While I was at it, I pulled out my Wonder Wallet pattern and made a matching wallet. How cute is that?

I have to put all of my Christmas fabric items away, but I can't wait to get them out to use again next December!

for Hannah

My blog has been sadly neglected for a while, so I am pleased to post a finished quilt:

And a scrappy back:

I started the quilt sometime last year, quilted it in November/December, and recently finished the binding. The quilt has been shipped off to baby Hannah (born last fall) and I hope she loves it!