Stuff that's up

I have been working on a new quilt design for the past week or so. I am not ready to show and tell, but it is coming along nicely at this point. It takes time and lots of tweaking. I work on it for awhile and then have to stop and let it rest so I won't keep doing the same thing over and over. I think it is almost ready now. Then I will need fabric, as I know that I don't have enough for this one. Shopping, oh yea!

I have also been working on a block design for a contest. You will hear more about that later...

Finally, I am working on a little something for my daughter's birthday, but I can't tell you what it is or show it to you. She sometimes reads my blog, so I don't want her to find out.

Today at 4:00 p.m. my spring break from school begins....even though I have a long to-do list, I plan to do a few fun things as well. Maybe even a little chillin' with Smokey & Conrad!

Tumbler Explosion!

 During Saturday's Tumbler Quilt class, everyone relaxed and had fun. Some were even exchanging tumblers as everyone made theirs scrappy.

 I didn't end up doing any sewing Sunday, though I did work on some quilting related things. I also went shopping for awhile, which was fun. I got a new purse, among other things.

Yesterday it was back to work....but it is easier going this week, knowing that we have next week off! Spring break...oh yea!

 I have so many things planned to do next week, that I may need an extra week to get it all finished!

I am teaching a Sampler Club class tonight and have a few models to hang for other classes, so I plan on going to the store right after work. A couple of the ladies in that class were in Saturday's class, so I hope to see more finished Tumbler Quilts!

My round robin has come home to roost and a bonfire

 Don't worry, the quilt isn't in the bonfire! I was so excited when my friend Jo brought over my round robin yesterday! I love it. Here it is in it's humble beginning. Now to decide if I will add to it, or consider it finished....hmmm...what do you think? We need to have them finished by the time we meet again in May.

 Two of my nieces came to visit from Des Moines yesterday, so my daughter had a cookout. We had a great time visiting, laughing and sitting around the bonfire.

My daughter's boxers have a new friend!

Deb's Round Robin and the animal border is on!

 I taught a Sampler class Wed. night and when I got there, I saw that Rose had dropped off Deb's round robin. Love how she finished with the spools that were in the original center.

 I sewed the last border on the baby quilt last night...I love that playful animal border.

Now to find something for the back and get it quilted! I am counting down the days until our spring break (5, in case you are wondering). I have so many things I want to do...including some quilting, of course. 

A little more progress...

 I worked on the baby quilt some more last night. Filled in around Matthew with some background and some small four patches.

I added a small green border that I think looks really nice with the animal fabric I got to go on the border.

I am excited to get it finished!

Some Sunday sewing...

 I guess I was still celebrating National Quilting Day yesterday...after doing some cleaning and laundry I worked on the baby quilt I started Saturday for awhile. I played around with some ideas and finally decided to go with four patches using some of the animal prints I had. Now I need to decide what to do to fit the name in. It only needs about 6" to make it the same width as the rest, so I could just add some of the background to make it the same size and call it good. I definitely want background above and below the name. I have that really cute fabric to use on the border, too. I'm excited to get it finished.

 It is hard to get a good pic of Conrad, since he moves all the time and if the light isn't right, you can't see his face since he is so dark.

 I think these turned out nicely.

He has grown so much!

Great day sewing!

I had a great day sewing with friends yesterday! The first thing I worked on was the easy receiving blanket that I saw on Missouri Star Quilt's YouTube video.  It was as easy as they said, and I can see where the more you made, the faster you would go. I made mine using 42" and 52" squares instead of 30" and 40" squares because I like them just a little bigger. It turned out about 47". 

I also got started on my new great nephew's quilt....since we know his name, I thought it would be fun to do some free pieced letters. I just hope the Dr. is right about the sex of the baby...cos that could render this quilt useless! Anyway...I hope to work on it some more later. Am not positive what I am going to do, but have a few ideas. 

 
 Two ladies worked on hand stitching bindings down.

Yuko is a new quilter and finished her binding on this quilt. She quilted it herself also.

 Cindy also worked on hand sewing a quilt label. Doesn't she look comfy?

 Brenda worked a quilt she is making her husband.

 Dianne is making a special quilt for her granddaughter.

 Kim hosted this fun day and is working on a miniature quilt. Lots of tiny pieces!

Pat brought her finished Twisterweave Mystery Quilt to show and tell! Love it! She worked on a sampler quilt we are doing in class.

Did you get to sew on National Quilting Day?

Sewing with friends on National Quilt Day

 I have to admit that after Monday night's class, I didn't get a lot accomplished during the evenings this week. I did do some sorting and putting away of leftover fabric from the past few projects I've made, but that's about it. I have been riding my exercise bike again too, have to get back in shape for the summer!

I'm excited that I am sewing with friends today! I have another great nephew on the way, so want to work on his baby quilt....he is due in May. I am going to use some of the animal themed bits and pieces left from another baby quilt...

 along with this adorable fabric that I fell in love with. I am planning on doing some free-pieced letters. The light blue will be the background.

 I saw a YouTube video from Missouri Star Quilt Co. for a self-bound receiving blanket. It looks so fun and easy, I have to try it. I am going to make mine slightly larger than they do on the video. I have no idea who this will be for, but who could resist those cute little angels? Someone will have a girl, eventually!

 I probably won't get to this, but threw it in anyway. These are the leftover strips from the Tumbling Blocks quilt. I plan to sew them together in stripsets.  I have been doing that with leftover strips lately, instead of throwing them in the stringpiecing bin. Two reasons....it is full (surprise, surprise) and I thought it would be fun to just sew strips together and think of something to do with them later. There are lots of these, so I could probably make a baby quilt out of them.

Only one bag, just flipped it over. Do you save the bags that sheets come in? They make great quilting project bags. You can see what's inside.

What are you doing for National Quilt Day?

Tumbling blocks class finish...

OF course that doesn't mean that the quilts are finished! But everyone got lots done and had a good time. This quilt is pretty intense, but I was happy to see that they all had their blocks to the half hexagon stage by class.

Some had laid them out at home...who could resist? so had an idea what they wanted to do. This one is Jane's...she had it the way she wanted it at home, but then couldn't recreate it here. Hopefully she got it back the way she had it once she got the blocks home. She wanted a scrappy look.

 So many pretty fabrics and great 3 color selections for light, medium and dark.

Deb tried a little different arrangement...can you see her pattern?

 She is really concentrating on getting it the way she wants it!

After class on Saturday, I went up to my hometown to see my mom, dad and sisters. I hadn't been there for awhile and had a great time catching up.

I have spent the last few weekends (including Sunday) writing the patterns for the new Sampler. I still have one left. I start teaching the class tomorrow night. The Sampler classes meet once a month for 6 months. 

The round robins go home!

All but one.....Debbie's is still being completed, but I will get a picture when she gets it.
 Here is Rose with her purple and teal beauty....she loved it.

 Cindy and her Christmas Spirit!

 Jo's wiggly worms...I loved how everyone brought out the wiggliness of her original block.

Here is mine. It is almost finished. She has been sick and didn't get the last 2 borders on. She said they would have more flying geese. I can't wait to get it back and finish it.

We all agreed that this was definitely a challenge, figuring out what to do and how to fit it all together. Our challenge for next time is to finish them....quilting, binding, whatever we are going to do to finish them. Then we will have to figure out what to do next!

Night out tonight...round robins unveiled

Tonight I meet with my group of friends that have been working on the round robins. I can't wait to see mine  (this is it before anyone else did anything to it) and I will take pix of all of them so you can see how they turned out. I posted about the last one I worked on a couple of weeks ago here. The links to the others as I got them are in this post if you want to take a look. 

Playing with cubes

 I want to make a small quilt out of the leftover tumbling blocks I had left and the yellow/orange ones I demo cut during class on Saturday. It's always fun to figure out something to do with extras. Plus I want to sew the rows together vertically so that I can demonstrate with them Saturday for the 2nd session of the class.  After moving them this way and that I stuck with this layout.

 I found a dark blue print to fill in around the edges. Now to get them sewn together.

There is just enough for a small border around it. I know I want to add another border, haven't decided if I will do the piano key or find something else.

Sorry the color is so iffy on these pix. I took them at night and that never works out well.