Busy Week

Wow, did I get motivated this week.  I have been wanting to try these cute purses that popped up at Madame Samm's. I had gotten her pattern, which by the way is awesome.  I love hedgehogs, and have had this fabric that I just needed to play with. No denying, the sewing on of the frame is a bit tricky.  Once you get the hang of it, it is not too bad!  Next up has to be flamingo's!

Next up is Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street.  I do not seem to have a lot of black on white prints.  I see the next step uses black on white again.  I am going to have to do some digging for that!  I have at least 60 4-patch blocks made so far.

I have been making strip sets for the Oregon or Bust quilt I am working on.  After I cut the blocks from them, I have a bit left over.  Like a good quilter, I was able to make small 9 patch and 4 patch blocks from the left overs.  You just never know when you may need a few extra blocks.

Finished this little sewing needle case over the weekend.  It just needed the finishing touches (buttons, stitching) to be completed.  Why did I leave it so long?

Inside of sewing needle case!

Nothing like having 3 felt ornaments cut out and never stitched!  These have sat in their little plastic bags for at least 3 years. They just needed stitching to put them together. 

Two pincushions that needed to be stitched and stuffed!

How about 4 more pincushions that needed stitching and stuffing.  They had all been steam a seamed down, but not stitched.  These weren't sitting quite as long as some things, but long enough! 

Some times it is the little things getting done that help.  Did not make any dents in the unfinished projects.

The biggest thing done this week was getting all these blocks done.  I had received blocks from Isabelle in France recently. (We are working on this quilt together.)  When I went through all the blocks I had made and she had made, I found I was going to be 10 short.  We had agreed we would work on this all year.  I had started the year with a bang, and then life got in my way, and I had not realized how far behind I had gotten. Shame on me.  Now they are all done! Yea for me!! 
Now to get them read to send.
Actually, there are several things in this post that will be winging their way to new homes.

I hope I get a few more projects completed over the weekend.
Happy sewing.

Mary

More finishes for month

Earlier this year there was another signature block swap for the Dear Jane group and I decided I would put the two years together that I had participated in.  All done! More on it later. 

I really like making those zipper pouches.  Here are 5 more.  Great way for me to use up some of the thousands of buttons I have.  The buttons are a lot of fun to pair up on the pouches.

Done! My Patches and Pinwheels quilt from the Bonnie Hunter workshop I took in May.  I have washed it and now it is residing on our bed.  I made it a bit longer to make sure we had enough to fit our queen bed.  I love it.  There is nothing like a new quilt to sleep under.

At Thursday sewing I got 4 pillowcases made.  We needed a present for a wedding we were not able to attend, so thought I would make the pillowcases and then add a check.  This fabric is perfect. All about wedding, love, romance, by Michael Miller.  How perfect.

Off to do more sewing.  I am going on another retreat next week. I need to get my things together to work on.  What UFO should I finish this time!!

Have a great weekend. Sew on!

Mary

Busy Week!

Tuesday was Shipshewana day!.  United Airlines, Mainliner Club, sponsors a bus trip to Shipshewana every year. The bus leaves the reservation office in on O'Hare's grounds.  7:00am sharp is take off time.  We make a pit stop about an hour out from Shipshewana.  The driver lets us off at the entrance to the Tuesday Flea Market.

I immediately head to Yoder's to see what new and exciting things they have.  They have expanded their fabric department, and seem to be adding new things all the time.

The Cotton Corner, is a fairly new addition of fabric and sewing machines.

At the Davis Mercantile, in downtown Shipshewana, where Lolly's Fabrics is, was this beautiful quilt on display.
We arrive back at the reservation office about 9:00pm, after a full day of shopping and food.

Harriet Hargrave was the guest speaker at the Pride of the Prairie Quilt Guild on Thursday evening. WOW! what beautiful machine quilting she does. She gave us insight on using different types of batting, and types of thread to use when we use our home sewing machines for quilting.

This is the quilt on the front of her book, and was done on her home machine.  It is incredible.

Here is a sampling of her quilts.  It was a great evening.

This week a made this little Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  My friend Linda, in Elgin and I had cut these on her Baby Go, back in January.  She got hers done right away, but not me.  I was a bit afraid, as this was all machine appliqued and machine quilting.   Don't look close on the machine quilting.  I had to twick how this went together. It does lay flat!! Yea for me.  I need to work on the backside tension, but  all in all I thought I did pretty good. Definitely learned a few tricks.

Got this pincushion finally done.  It is from Kansas Troubles Club last year. I had gotten the wool sewn on the top, but no buttons, and not completed.  I had carried it around with me for a couple of months with the idea of putting the buttons on so I could complete it.  Did not happen until this week.  Another project done!

Monday, when my friend Jane was over is when I worked on Sunbonnet Sue, and the pincushion. I got these two zipper bags done as well. Liked how they turned out, too.

Like to work on hexagons when I get the chance.  These are great take along.

Sharon and I at our Thursday sews made these hexagon pincushion, tool caddy. They turned out a tab bigger then we thought they would.  Now I want to play with a couple of different sizes.  This one is using a 2 in hexagon.

This is one of the things I have been working on with my little hexies.  Now to applique and quilt this. Another great take along.

Treasures from my trip to Shipshewana.

It has been a great week. The weather was in our favor. Warm with a light breeze.  It has been great having the windows open  and letting the fresh air in.  The reports are that we are in for a hot week.

Have a great weekend. Happy sewing!

Mary

Finishes and starts

Here is another finish for February.  In 2010 one of the guilds I belong to had a basket swap. We each got one pattern, and had to make it 9 times. Once in your own color way, and 8 in 8 other color ways.  I chose purple.  The 8 blocks I received back are wonderful.  As you can see a couple of them added yellow.  This turned out so nice.  I got the binding, label, and sleeve done on Monday.

This is my finished "Apron Strings". It, too, has the binding, label, and sleeve, all done as of Monday.  It is going to be entered in our quilt show this coming weekend.

Look at this wonderful quilting. It fits in the spaces perfectly.

Wendy did a wonderful job. So that was my last 2 finishes for the month of February.  Yea for me.

Now here is the start of finishes for March!.  I designed and started this in February. During Thursday sew I got it done.

Here is a paper pieced Shamrock. I started and finished this also during the Thursday sew.  I think it turned out cute. Good for use as part of my header this month!

Here was a small plain canvas clutch!. Not so plain anymore.  I used one of the hexagon blocks I keep making. I hand stitched it on, and then quilted it down and added a stitch around the outside.  This was a quick and easy project.  Sometimes all you have to do is add a little applique, and you end up with a cute pouch.
You just never know when you might need a cute pouch with an applique on it as a gift.

Oh, one more thing.  There is an adorable bunny pattern over at Attic Window Quilt Shop.Carroll did such a wonderful job of designing it.  I am going to set it up for hand applique to take with me on my next trip.

Happy Quilting
Have a great weekend.

Mary