Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Cotton + Steel selvage birthday coaster.

Here's the back. I'm still fussy cutting this hilarious fabric. I think I'm about out of it, but I kind of hope I have a hunk stashed somewhere.

Our guild's BOM. The economy block, or square in a square. I got carried away and made four. They're pretty fun.

This is the charity quilt made for Quiltcon 2016. Our group consisted of seven ladies throughout the US. We communicated via email and came up with this traditional sampler quilt with an improv spin. I love how it turned out. It will be donated to a firefighter's organization. Our guild made a beautiful quilt as well, so I was able to participate in two of the charity quilts.

This little ditty is vacationing in Utah this month. Actually, it's getting quilted. I sent two others too.

 The backing came from my stash.

 Cool selvages.

Finally finished this hot pad at Sew Day yesterday.

And a quickie baby top using donated embroidery squares. We're making quilts for charity.

Found a cute way to use some hexies. I think I'll use mine for a coaster, but I might have to make some hot pads too!

Sunday Fun Day!

Finally found a way to hang my temporary design wall (aka flannel backed vinyl tablecloth). I've tried painter's tape, packaging tape, duct tape, and push pins. Seems that heavy cans of tomatoes and iron toy sewing machines are the best solution. Now I have no excuse not to vacuum my studio. I usually put my blocks on my design floor.

I attended World Quilt Florida right here in Orlando a few weeks ago. There were some interesting quilts and I had a little fun with the fabric vendors. I found some deals at the Pineapple Fabrics booth. Kaffe Fassett shot cottons and woven stripes on the left and a bundle of fun retro, novelty prints.

Charm squares!

Caught these in a sale.

I made a quilted planner cover for the quilting calendars our guild ordered. This is the outside. I fell in love with this retro comic book fabric. It's from Alexander Henry and called "Home Sewing is Easy." There's a second version, too.

Here's the inside. Skull and scissors crossbones and polka dots. Of course. The orange biz card holder is too small, but my cards fit in vertically.The polka dots are pockets.

Thats a zipper there! Easy peasy. I can cram all kinds of writing instruments in there.

Here's the planner installed. Now to schedule some sewing time!

I acquired a few books over the holidays.

Just look at that paella! We went to a paella party at Rene's house. Lots of fun company! Not only was the paella delicious, but th chef made appetizers and desserts to die for. We rolled ourselves out of their house! So fun and so good!

I have a Hungarian mushroom soup planned for lunch. It's so cold here. I'm changing up the recipe and adding in some celery, carrots, and the white wine I steeped the oyster mushrooms in. I'll use white mushrooms too. I'm in a cooking mood today, so no telling what gets made. 

Finished 20 Purse Strings blocks in pinks, yellows, and oranges. I wish I had made the 15" blocks, but I chose 12". I loved My Quilt Infatuation's color scheme, so I stuck with that. It's a fun and easy block and now I have 320 half square triangles from the trimmings. And yeah, I'm sewing those together. Scrappy, crazy, goodness.

On to more projects! And food! Have a great week!

Halloween Quilt

I made this for the graphic designer at work. She finished up chemo and got a new job, so I figured I'd whip up a quick quilt for her. She loves Halloween. I used a fabric panel to make the piecing go quickly.

The back is pieced as well. I used some fat quarters in halloween colors.The ghost print on the edges glows in the dark! I didn't know that!

My guild buddy, Frank did the awesome quilting. It's breathtaking! I think he had fun making this quilt sing. Or maybe scream is more appropriate. I know I was squealing when I saw his quilting. Wow.

See the witch?

I even labeled it!

Since I've been working crazy hours and doing stuff on the weekends, a few of our dinners have looked like this. Luckily I have an understanding crew.

Across the Finish Line

You know what they say about us crazy quilters. Find some fun fabric, chop it into pieces and then sew it back together. It's not as futile as everyone in my family thinks. I really liked this collection. Very retro and the colors were right up my alley.

I really didn't think I would finish the Michael Miller challenge before the deadline, but I made it! I even quilted it myself. There were hurdles. I didn't photograph them. Did I mention I hate the quilting part of quilting? I do.

Look how close the binding was. Not even enough binding to do a mitered seam. No biggie, straight seam it is! The backing striped fabric matched pretty well and I found it in my stash right away. Bring on a new project. Oh wait, I have seven million works in progress going on. No shortage of projects around these parts.

Happy Sunday!

We loved these Turkey Sriracha Meatballs. Just a few ingredients and then pop them into the oven to bake. The sauce is the bomb! I made brown rice to serve them on and broccoli slaw with peanut dressing. Yummy! The photo doesn't show fresh ginger. I keep my ginger roots in the freezer to store them longer. Always hated finding those dried out ginger roots in the crisper.

Bones turned 14 April 12. I had to get his "birth certificate" out to double check the date. Loved reading his relatives' names. His dad was Snoopy and his grandfather was Festus. Grandma was Sprinkles. Great Grandma was LuLu! That's what I call my Hollywood! Funny! Bones is pictured with some bearded gentlemen who used to be my little boy.

We didn't have a party for Mr. Bones, but he did get a container of Mighty Dog for dinner. He loved it! He normally only eats dry food. Don't feel sorry for him, the dry stuff is usually topped with meat and broth from our meals. He may be spoiled.

Last Saturday was Sew Day for our guild. I had Friday off, so it was a perfect weekend to get the chores done early and goof off the entire weekend. Greek layer dip was my potluck dish. It's easy and quick.

There's hummus on the bottom, feta cheese, scallions, olives, cucumber, tomato, and parsley. Serve with pita chips. The dip can be made ahead of time or served immediately. I love this stuff so much.

I finished the CatVent quilt Sew Day. Yay! I like how it turned out. The blocks were fun to make.

The back is a mess, but I was determined to get rid of that mottled gray fabric from my stash. I have no idea where it came from. There were just a bunch of wide strips.

I hope your weekend is wonderful. What's everyone up to?

Sweet Weekend!

I finally finished my Riley Blake challenge quilt. And just in time too; a new Modern Quilt Guild challenge is starting this month. More free fabric. Whee!

This little quilt makes a great hot pad for my cast iron pot, which I have been using non-stop.

Speaking of the Modern Quilt Guild, they've announced that QuiltCon 2015 will be held in Austin, Texas again. Yay! I'd attend just for the food! So many great places to eat. I'm thrilled to have my same roomie Rene' and already getting excited. Last time was a blast. Squeee!

Also exciting was this huge gift box from my buddy Yumi. She sent me all kinds of goodies from Japan, including an entire case of Cheezas which I shared. I usually hide them for myself. ;) There was a cool toothbrush, lots of snacks, dumplings to steam, gorgeous fabric, horse oil hand cream, and some scary green drink powder with brown bits. Wasabi coffee with chocolate chips? Yumi will tell me what it is, but sometimes it's fun to just try these new things. Unless it's wasabi coffee with chocolate chips...

I had College Boy build the little bird that was in the goody box . These are the tiniest Lego-like pieces I've ever seen. So cute. Birdy is hanging out in my studio.

Our guild's Saturday Sew Day was a blast. I cut the fabric for the Canoe Ridge Creation's Gigantic Starburst quilt before I left and happily stitched the top together in no time. It makes a 60" square quilt, so this pattern is a keeper for quick quilt tops. I plan on quilting this one in 2020.

We had a smaller group sewing on Saturday, but the talent was in abundance. Just look at all the projects my guild buddies are working on. I'm always in awe around this guild group. We have so much fun. My sides were starting to hurt from laughing. On another note, only one gentleman walked in the room where we sew at the library and asked if we could tailor his suit. I hope our laughter didn't offend him. Ha! We always get at least one person wanting us to tailor garments and we always laugh.