Fabric Love

Happy Labor Day weekend! How did it get to be almost September?! But anyway, Conan has to work this weekend - but the world will be safer because of it. So what do I do - check out the sale at my local quilt shop, which is not too local, but works for me.

They were having a sale on fat quarters, so I picked up a couple, not sure what I am going to do with them, but I like them, and that is what matters!

Then I also found this 'scientific' fabric. My oldest has a quilt that was not made by mom, and that is a crime apparently! He has been asking me to make him a quilt. I don't know what I am going to do yet, but this fabric screams his name, so I got a yard of it and we will see what we do with it!

I also got a pack of hexi's. I love some of the stuff that I see on Pinterest made with these and have been wanting to make something to give them a try, and so I splurged and picked up a bundle.

I also have been sewing a lot, this quilt along that I did made we want to finish up some of those WIP I have floating around. So stay tuned and I will get around to sharing them!

I hope that you all have an relaxing long weekend!!

Enjoy!

Star Surround Quilt Top

My top is done!! I am doing a little happy dance right now! In case you haven't read any of my other posts, I have been participating in a quilt along by Happy Quilting. This was my very first quilt a long and a lot of fun! I don't think I have gotten a quilt top done this fast - ever!! And I love it! Here my top is in all its glory! This thing is huge, I made the biggest size option because I always need big quilts, not small ones! The pictures are not that great because I had to lay it out on the grass in order to get it all in the picture!

I was a little bit hesitant about the green for the background, but I really love how it accentuates the purple and aqua.

I tell you I am loving this quilt! This square with the dark purple surround is probably my favorite one, it has such a good contrast.

And here is the top again, I am going to bind it in the lighter purple, and I hope to find some more green for the back.

I am not going to quilt this right away because I am saving up to finally buy my long arm and I want to have something to practice on! So give me a couple of months before you see it completely done!

This is probably my other favorite block, just in case you were wondering. 

Thanks Melissa for doing this it was a lot of fun. And if you haven't checked out her blog you should, she has some talent!

Enjoy!

Patriotic Table Runner

I have been thinking about what to give to people this Christmas (I know it is only the end of August, but I need to get a head start, it makes me feel good.) and I just adore my neighbors here, they are so nice and kind and I know that they would help me with anything. This runner is for them, and I know it is a 4th of July kind of thing, but we are military and so 'Americana' is more of a household staple. I hope that they love this!

I saw a similar table runner on Pinterest, and made my own pattern based off of it and went digging through my scraps to see if I had enough to make one of my own. And I did and so we started!

This is what I have done so far:

And another view:

And yet one more, because why not?!

Here is a close up of my center star, I really kind of like how this turned out.

And then my flag blocks. These turned out to be a little bit harder then I thought, my math was not spot on, which is not good with quilting. But it still looks nice.

I have it all sewn together and the backing spray glued on, but I do not have any fabric for backing . . . I guess I will just have to go to the fabric store! and then decide how to quilt it!

Enjoy!

Quilt Along Weekly Check-in

This is the progress post of my Quilt Along I am participating in. Happy Quilting is hosting a great quilt along with some great prizes - I am keeping my fingers crossed that I win one!

But here are my surrounding pieces for my stars. I had this all done and came up with two extra background pieces - I am chalking it up to miss counting when I was cutting! But it did make me wonder for a bit!

And school starts tomorrow for us! I should have a clean house and lots of sewing done - hahaha!

But my counter looks like this right now:

Backpacks packed and the rest of the supplies in bags for them to carry, ready for our 7:15 am bus pick up tomorrow. Even my littlest who is not is school packed his backpack with a workbook, scissors and a bottle of glue! Here is to them having a great time, but I will sure miss having them around and all of the help they give me!

Enjoy!

Boy Baby Blanket

If you have been following me for a while you know about my sister who I help out in finishing her quilts. She pieces the tops and then sends them to me for quilting. We really have quite the system!

Earlier this summer she whipped out quite a few baby blankets, some for friends and one for her. This one was for one of her friends. It is super cute and easy.

I did a simple all over pattern on it because she wanted a quick turn around - I should just live closer to her because then we would all be happy!!

I am sure that the new mom loved this blanket!

I am off to sew a little!

Enjoy!

Star Centers - Quilt Along

As much as I love swimming with my kids, I have loved not having lessons this week - I have had much more time to sew! I think I finished my blocks in record time this week!

This week for Happy Quiltings Star Surround Quilt Along we were making our star centers. It was not too hard, but I did have to unpick a few times when I got turned around between getting the fabric from my ironing board to my sewing machine. Maybe it was because I was talking to my kids while doing this . . .


But here are my blocks.

I have 16 of them, but with the fabrics I chose there are only 4 different ones, so I just took a picture of one set of the 4.

And I think that this block is my favorite. That aqua and purple just look so good together!!

And here is a just because picture.

While I was sewing I turned around to get one of my pieces and my little boy had it on the floor studying it with his head lamp. When I asked him what he was doing he told me he was checking to see if it was perfect. He then handed it to me and told me 'It's perfect!' I think I will have him help me every time I sew!!

Enjoy!

Cub Scout Patches

Scouting is a big deal in my house. My dad is a big scouter and my kids love sharing their scouting stuff with him.

My oldest boy is out of cub scouts now and I have kept his shirt with all his patches and awards - I just didn't know what to do with them.

Then my next boy turned 8 and started cub scouts. I am frugal and did not want to go and buy another cub scout shirt when I had one sitting in my boys closet. So I removed all of the patches and fixed it up for my next boy.

I saw a pennant on pinterest of patches and decided that I would do something similar. Here is my take on the Cub Scout Memory Pennant.

I used the arrow from the Arrow of Light award to hang it from(except in the move we lost the tip - still trying to figure out how to fix that). It gives it that extra boy touch!

I kind of like how it turned out - and he LOVES it, which makes this project a success!

Here is some of the info on how I did it. I just eyeballed how big I wanted the pennant and cut it out. I used kona solids from Joann's for both the navy back and the yellow binding. I sewed all of the patches on then then used an heat'n'bond and sewed a piece on the back. I did not want to have a ugly back full of strings, so now my back looks like this:

It is not perfect, there are still strings on it, but my son wanted it hung up and I obliged him!

Enjoy!

Flying Geese

 Here are my flying geese for Happy Quilting's Star Surround Quilt Along. I loved the method she showed us to make these, it was so easy and quick!

I am a little bit bummed that the grain on my green fabric is running two different ways, I have thought about unpicking it and fixing my problem, but I realized that it would not matter because the grain will not match up when I make the bigger stars.

And I have two pretty birds that are still intact! I love this bird fabric so much, I am thinking that maybe I should make something else with it.

 We are getting ready for school here and so I have spent a lot of time in the car driving trying to get all of the errands done and appointments. Soon enough school will start and I will be able to sew more then just once a week!!

Enjoy!

Bias Tape Bag

As some of you know I live in the middle of nowhere. So middle of no where that the closest Walmart is around 100 miles away. This assignment is called 'remote', and boy is it ever! Which is why I have this project to share with you today.

About a month ago my daughter got invited to a birthday party. She was super excited because this does not happen all the time out here. I was too, until I realized that the party was next week, and we had already made our monthly trip to the big city! What were we going to do for a present?!

Sure there was a small little shop, but I have been in there and my budget does not always agree with them. It was then that I decided that I would have my daughter give a 'homemade' gift.

We picked a bag, because was pre-teen girl does not want a bag? After browsing through Pinterest I decided on the classic bias tape bag. I followed the instructions here, but I made it bigger because I did not like how long and narrow it looked.

It was so easy and I loved that!! I think it took me about an hour from start to finish! I just went through my stash of fabric and picked fabrics that I liked and would work well. The pink is a heavier fabric, so that worked out great, and you cannot see it, but I lined it with yellow satin. That just adds to the greatness of this bag!

This is the bag before we added a little 'more'. It just was kind of boring as my daughter said.

What better then some classic rosettes to make this a little nicer and more girly?! Add a few buttons and they are beautiful!

And doesn't that just do the trick nicely? I loved how it turned out!

My daughter loved it so much she requested one for herself!

The best part of this story is that my daughters friend just about died when she got it. Her mom later came over and told me that she loved the bag so much, and her older sister was jealous! Win for mom!

Enjoy!

linking up to the parties listed in my tab at the top.

Half Square Triangles - DONE!

This is what I have been doing this week:

That is my 6 yr old going off the high dive! He had become quite the swimmer this summer, in fact all of my kids have. I think in looking back this might be called our summer we spent at the pool. We have been up there every morning and pretty much every afternoon this whole month - it has been busy, but great. Today was our last day of lessons and I am a little bit sad about that because my kids love the water.

But I managed to finished my half square triangles for the Star Surround Quilt Along over at Happy Quilting.

 I am really loving these colors - part of my wishes that I had picked turquoise for the back ground color, but now that I have sewn some of the parts I think green will be just as good.

And I managed to keep my bird square!

 Holy cow all this trimming! I don't know how long this took, but for some reason when I was sitting there doing it the 'just keep swimming' line from Nemo came into my head. But it was more of 'Just keep trimming, just keep trimming . . .' Pretty fitting if you ask me.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!