Last Week's Stitchy Things

Great title, huh?  Well last week, there was at least a little bit of stitching going on.  Not too much as I was busy, tired and not really feeling like it much.  But here is what I got done:

 I saw this on Diary of a Quilter and thought it would be perfect for new baby B.  I got a couple of the Children At Play prints and a few things from my stash.  It went together very quickly.  I just have to applique the airplane on it, then back it and quilt it and bind it.  I love it already.  I am going to make one for big brother V, but instead of the stacked coins strip, I think I will just applique a bunch of paper airplanes on it.  I think he would like that.

 I finally jumped on the stitching bandwagon with this sampler from Posie Gets Cozy.  Kristyne at Pretty by Hand is showing hers letter by letter.  She does some gorgeous stitching people!  And that's all the stitching from last week.

 Spring, however has been very busy around here.  Everything's blooming!

Have a great week.

Grandaddy's Race

Sew a little bit of sewing this week, but the big event around here was my husband's first ever 5K race.  There was a half marathon and a 5K race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway today and my husband, who started running for better health about a year and a half ago, decided to enter.

 We took V with us from Chapel Hill and spent the night with middle daughter and J Saturday night.  We had a great dinner at a pizza place and hit the hay.

 We got to the speedway about 7:20 and went inside.  Neither of the boys nor I had ever been there.  It is big!  Here they are before the race.

 It was pretty cloudy, but cool is okay for running.  A few sprinkles, but that's it.

 Here comes grandaddy after the first lap around the 1.5 mile track.  Looking good honey!

 Coming in for high five in pit row on the way to the finish line.  So much fun to cheer for all the runners.

 V and J checking out the medal that all the runners got.  Pretty cool.

All in all a great way to spend a Sunday morning.  I'll be back tomorrow with stitching stuff.

Bucket Brigade Number 2

Sew last year, I bought the Oliver + S book Little Things to Sew.  If you have little ones, either yours or grandchildren or nieces and nephews, this is a great book.  There are lots of things to make and the patterns are very detailed, great instructions and they look very professional when done.  I made 4 of the bucket hats last year for grandchildren and my great niece and a friend's little boy.  I was getting good at this pattern! You can see my first hats here.

My brother had requested a grown up sized bucket hat for the spring.  He is undergoing chemo, and his daughter and I had made him some warm hats for the winter months in Vermont where he lives.  It was not difficult to enlarge this pattern slightly to make one for his head.  Once his hair grows back, it may not fit, but for now I think it will do.  I am not going to show it to you today, as I want the fabric choice to be a surprise, but I have 3 more to share.

 Left to right: extra small, medium and large sizes.  Each takes 2-3 hours to complete.

 Extra small is for baby B who is due in June.  He is my newest grandson and I can't wait!  I made quilts for V and J out of this fabric a couple of years ago.

 Large is for Miss A, my great niece.  She is, I'm told a very girly girl and loves pink.  I added a hatband of pleated hearts to hers.  The band fabric is a jelly roll strip from Always and Forever by Deb Strain.

 The Medium hat is for my great nephew A.  Every boy needs a beach hat, right?  And lest you think these are simple little hats...they are REVERSIBLE!!!  Two hats in one!!

 That's right, here is the other side of each of those hats.  So when you make them, you get two for one.

Brims up!

Had fun putting them on my solar garden lights.

So cute.

So silly of me.

These are going in the mail this week.  Love you brother.  I'll share your hat after you get it.
Happy Sewing, Y'all.

Finally...another Sunday Swoon

It has taken me, I think 3 weeks to get it done, but I have completed Swoon block number 6!

I think I may be losing momentum.  When I began, I was going to do one block each week.  And I did until the fifth block.  The weekend of the sixth block, something came up and so I didn't even cut it out.  The next week I cut it out.  Then, half way through the week, I began piecing it.  Yesterday after work and today, I was determined to get it done.  I use lots of pins when I piece these blocks, but I usually don't when I piece.  It slows me down.  I want these to be nice.  We shall see if there can be another one next week.  Only 3 more to go.

A Tuesday Quilt

I actually finished this last week, but I don't blog on weekends much.  This quilt is for my middle daughter.  Since her birthday is in a couple of weeks, it's also for her birthday.  This is the quilt I made from scraps I won from Moda Lissa a few months ago.

 Notice also the Carolina blue sky...we love our Tarheels!

 I love the scrapiness of this quilt.  It feels very old fashioned to me.

 And the red borders...mmmmmmmmmmmm.  It's all so soft.

 Love the way the sun and shadows were playing on it.  Hope daughter does too.

 It's not a surprise, so that's why I'm showing it off to you.

 Have a great week.  See you soon.

A New Start

I love to post finishes, but the one I have is for tomorrow, so today, I will post a new start.  There is going to be a new grand baby in the family in June, so it's time to get sewing for him.  Yes, another boy...we love those little boys!  I will be making many things for him, but I'm starting with this quilt.

If you haven't seen the Jack and Jenny fabric line from Laurie Wisbrun, you need to go to Hawthorne Threads and see it.  It is very cute as all her lines are.  I thought this one would be perfect for baby boy.

This is the main print, the cute little donkeys wearing rain boots, or Wellies as the Brits call them.  There are several other prints and a couple of colorways as well.  This was best for a boy, I thought.  Now, briefly, let me tell you about the fabric purchasing part of the journey here.  I wanted this print and a couple of the others very badly.  I could not find all I wanted at one of my favorite on line places, so I went to a larger on line place.  I'm not going to say who, but this is the second time they have messed me around on an order and so that's it for them, as far as I'm concerned.  I ended up buying from two different on line vendors, Hawthorne Threads and Pink Chalk Studios, to get what I wanted.  I was so pleased with the speed of the service from these two.  I need to remember that the next time...no more large on line vendor for me! (no, it wasn't Fat Quarter Shop, those ladies are awesome)

And this is the pattern I am making.  I have long wanted to make a zigzag quilt.  I remembered that someone had done a tutorial for a quilt that didn't use HSTs.  That's what I searched for and I found it.  I should have known it would be Crazy Mom, Amanda Jean!  I do love her stuff!  This is soooo easy you guys!  I did most of this so far in a few minutes here and there.  So I am going to get this done fast.  Wait until you see what I have planned for the back!
See you soon.

Lots of Show and Tell

I've really been making some progress here this week.  I am sewing a lot to finish some big projects and even squeezing in some smaller things that weren't on the list.  So here is my show and tell.  I have to tell you I cannot always get my pictures to load in the order I want without a lot of finagling.  So today, I'm just gonna narrate them in the order they came up because I'm feeling too lazy to mess with it.

This is my couch with all its quilty goodness on it.  It's sort of an off white and to protect it I have covered it in many quilts and pillows.

 I bought 2 charm packs of California Girl by Fig Tree.  I love to test drive a new line to see which prints I really love.  This line has quite a few, which could get expensive when it comes to yardage.  I had a couple of pillow forms that needed dressing for awhile now, so I decided to drop all else for the day and do them.  The border is a dotted print from the Strawberry Fields line.  See how well they play together?

 Under the green strips is the zipper.  I put the other strips on to add interest and mimic the zipper strip.

 And dig the mitered corner!  I am usually too afraid to miter, but yesterday I was not afraid at all! First a zipper and then a miter! What next?

 Here are my March Bee blocks for the Comfort Quilt Bee.  This was a great block From Don't Call Me Betsy's blog.  Her tutorial is so easy.  These were pretty quick and they are off to the post office today.

 Here is the second pillow cover using California Girl charm squares.  Also a good shot of the mitered corner.

 I like this one sooooo much.  Very cool prints in this collection, I must say.

 I didn't have another zipper long enough, so I did an envelope closure, again using two sets of strips to mimic the look like the other pillow.  The small check print is also from the Strawberry Fields collection.

 Here is another shot of my couch with all 4 pillows.  You can see in the background the quilt on the back of the rocker and the one on the wall.  If you look carefully in the bottom left corner of the picture there is my Irish chain quilt in its hoop.  Still not done with it.  Can you have too much quilty goodness in one room?  You should see the other chairs!

Last, but not least, my sister's quilt.  All that remains before quilting is to add the 2 inch border strip.  Then it will be off to the quilter.  I am so glad this is so close to done.  It is a very big quilt, even if I am not quilting it.  Thanks for coming along today.  Have a great Monday.

Modern Mini Challenge

I loved all the inspiration for this challenge.  I hadn't really planned to enter...but I kept seeing more and more inspiration quilts and then, the bug bit me.  Still, I hedged a bit.  I started one and told myself, if it doesn't turn out good, I won't enter it.  But I started and I changed it a bit from my original thought and when it was done...I LOVED IT!

 I always wanted a rainbow quilt and this mini was perfect in size for me.

 I made my strips of white-color-white and slashed them.  Then, I thought they needed more slashing.

 Then I fiddled with putting them back together until I was satisfied.

 Then I quilted in the ditch around the colors.  I was a bit stumped about the white area, but then it came to me...small stones...lots of them.  It took 3 sessions after work to complete.

So here is my rainbow modern mini challenge quilt.  It makes me happy just looking at it and now I want to make more minis.