I designed the border and....IT FITS!

Border blocks are cut...

Border blocks are sewn...

Border blocks are joined...

Sewing them to the quilt...they FIT! Woot!

It's 103 Degrees Outside....

I am already sick of this hot, hot weather! I decided to do the border on my Project #2 quilt so I'm off to cut it (my grandson had to help me do the math with his physics calculator-lol). So here are some hot weather pictures for your enjoyment. They are from Pinterest so I have no idea whose they are...enjoy!

In the meadow we will build a snowman.....

and pretend that he is Parson Brown

Look! A snow dog!

AWWWWWW! So sweet!

I'm so making this sign for when it snows next winter!

Feel cooler? Have a great Friday!

No Work on UFO's Today! New Fabric in the Shop!

I'm not getting to work on my UFO project today because we got some new fabrics in at the shop and I'm putting them on Etsy and eBay and Luulla. It's so time consuming, especially since I have the "real job" to deal with!

We got an adorable line of fabrics by Bunnies by the Bay that is inspired by their book. Baby Bunnies Everywhere is just adorable as you can see. The coordinating fabrics have little ducks, bees, carrots (with little bites out of them) and more.

I love all the items from Bunnies by the Bay. I remember when two sisters started it and they only made stuffed bunnies. They are a huge success now and sell all kinds of things including children's clothing, toys and more.

 We also got this darling fabric line called Let it Snow by Debra Jordan Bryan. I love all the snow people! They are so bright and festive!

I'll probably be "forced" at some point to make a project from these fabrics for the shop...heh heh. Hope you are all having a good week! Cheery wave!

Painted Corner Cabinet and Plate by Gina and More UFO Progress!

I'm sure everyone is sick of just seeing my UFO Project progress so I thought I would show you some of Gina's work. Here's a corner cabinet we found that she painted. I love it and it's sitting in my dining room. If you click on the photo twice you can see a much bigger photo.

This is an awesome plate that Gina painted. I think these are great and have asked her to do more of these dishes but she doesn't like it so she isn't going to do more. Artists are easily bored and need to constantly do more and different things...at least that's what she tells me.

I did make some progress on my little Dresden Plate quilt by doing the corner flowers (here they are on the pressing sheet).

Now that they are on the quilt top, I'm thinking I should do the other border I have in mind. I will have to figure out the math and I'm not sure I want to do it bad enough.

If I don't do another border on Project #2, I just have to quilt and bind Projects #2 and #4 and I'll be finished!

More UFO Project Progress!

Today is my deadline day at my "real job" so I didn't have time to do much but I did get the Dresden Plate (Project #2) border pieced and on the quilt. I plan to put flowers in the corner blocks. I have an idea for another pieced border but it's going to make the quilt a lot bigger and I'm not sure I want to do that. I think the yellow inner border looks better than I thought it would. This UFO project has made me work on the quilts every day and I wasn't doing that before. I almost feel obligated to have something to show all my blog friends who have been emailing me. Thanks guys!

UFO Project #3 Complete!

Yipee! Quilt #3 in my UFO Completion Project is finished! I will probably go in and do some quilting on the border at some point but for now, it is done!

It feels so good to be getting these projects finished. For one thing, it's fun to work on them and for another, it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

For photos, I hung this little quilt in the dining room under a beautiful red wall thing (I'm not sure what to call it) that Gina gave me. I don't know where she got it.

Today if I get my "real job" done, I'm going to try to get the borders on the Dresden Plate finished so it can be quilted.

Hope your week is productive and fun!

A little bit of sewing and a lot of work on Sunday!

I had to work today on my "real job". We got a new client which means more work for me so I'm glad about that but Sunday work cuts into my sewing time. I did choose some fabric for the border for the Dresden Plate wallhanging a/k/a Project #2 of my Finish Some UFO's or Else.

I was going to do aqua and red but I do aqua so much that I thought I would change it up to yellow. Now that I have it cut and pieced, I don't think I like it. Well, it's not finished yet. Maybe it will grow on me. I'm sure not going to do it over!

The new client I'm writing for is in the UK. Did you know that in the UK, they call a sweater a jumper? A vest is a waistcoat and an undershirt is a vest. Shorts are underpants and pants are trousers. Yikes! Well, I'm off to write for our new client. Have a great Sunday night and Monday!

UFO Project #1 is Finished!!!

Project #1 is finished! Jason came through his surgery with flying colors! Charlie feels good enough to chase squirrels! All is right in my world today! I finished quilting Project #1 last night. This morning I made the binding and sewed it on.

Then trimmed off the excess batting and backing. I always leave a 1/4" or slightly less strip of the batting. The reason I do that is because, if you ever enter a quilt in a competition (this one certainly won't be entered in anything), the quilt judges feel the binding to see if it is stuffed. If not, they won't judge the quilt.They also want you to hand stitch the corners closed.

I sewed this binding on the machine. I wouldn't do that normally but this is just a seasonal throw size and was just made for fun and to use up some of my Halloween fabrics. Also, I always like having a quilt to snuggle with on the couch in the fall and winter. I really don't like that it isn't quilted more and I might go back at some time and add more quilting.

So here it is....ready to go into the washer and dryer to be cleaned and fluffed. It will be all ready for fall.

Next I'm putting the border on the Dresden Plate wall quilt. I have a really good (I think) idea for a border.

Friday Freak Out!

This is Jason--my baby--with his little girl. Jason (did I say he's my baby?) is having surgery today in Dallas and I am not there! I know he will be fine but it just freaks me out to have anything like this going on with my kids or grandkids. And as if that isn't enough.... This is my fur baby, Charlie. He's an old guy (14) and the vet says he has cancer but they can't remove the tumors because his heart is so bad that he couldn't stand the surgery. They told me to take him home and enjoy him because his heart would get him before his cancer did. Well, he doesn't seem to be feeling very good today. Or, because I am stressed out about Jason, he might be just taking it easy. I hate that dogs can't tell you what they're feeling. I don't know if I'll work on my ufo project or not. Right now I'm just waiting by the phone to hear about Jason while watching Charlie sleep to make sure he's still breathing. Uggg!

Project #3 is quilted!

Project #3 of my "I'm Finishing These 4 UFO's Before I Start Anything Else" project is quilted and I'm putting on the binding. I went to the store yesterday to get more orange thread for Project #1 and spent almost $100. but forgot the orange thread. Sigh... The binding is one the little wallhanging and I'm hand-stitching it down. Then all I have to do is put on a hanging sleeve, add some buttons and I'll have one of my 4 projects finished! Sorry the photo is so dark. It's a combination of a crappy camera and a very cloudy, rainy day.

Still plugging away....

Well I was working on Project #1 in my "I'm Going To Finish 4 UFO's Or Else" series, and I ran out of orange thread for the back! So I switched to Project #3. Thanks for all the encouraging emails! They have kept me going!

I almost have Project #3 quilted. It's been a while since I did a meandering stitch and I'm really out of practice! I really like this little quilt.

This is Lola. She does not appreciate my spending so much time at the sewing machine! She's a very serious dog as you can see. She was a puppy mill rescue and has a very intense personality. I don't know if you can tell, but she is willing me to pay attention to her. Needless to say, she got her way.

Back to Project #1 in the UFO series

I decided to go back to Project #1 in the UFO series of 4 projects that I am going to finish before I start anything else. This little Halloween quilt is ready for quilting. I chose an adorable fabric from Riley Blake Designs that we carry in the shop for the backing.

The quilt is in the sewing machine! As you can see, I'm quilting around the blocks first and then I'll decide what else to do for quilting. This little quilt is just for fun so I may not do anything more. I like to do free motion quilting for all my quilts, even the straight lines, because I think it's so much faster.

I'm making progress! Woot!

UFO Project 4 and why I need a design wall!

Yesterday I sewed together the blocks for my UFO Project 4.

This top is made from Breeze fabric from the shop. I thought I would make a quilt from the Breeze fabric because it wasn't selling very well and before I even got the blocks finished, it sold out. As you can see from looking at the picture, I really need a design wall. I just don't have any room for one. I would never have put the blue check or pink floral blocks next to each other if I had a design wall. Oh well, I'm not taking it apart! There's lots of trimming on the edges of this quilt and lots of bias edges. I guess Charlie and Lola will get this one! I'm going to finish it though! It probably needs a border but we are out of the fabric so guess I'll just bind it. At least I'm making progress!

Progress on Project 2 and Project 3

I've made some progress today on my UFO projects. I decided to finish 4 projects that I have underway before I start another. So today I've finished the blocks for the Dresden Plate, trimmed them and sewed them together with some little flowers in the middle. Now I have to decide what borders to do.

I also decided to start quilting this little top. Both of these tops are from my favorite color palettes.I'll probably keep using these colors until I get tired of them but that might be a while.

I watched Eleanor Burns today (LOVE her) and she admitted to 26 UFO's just on one table in her sewing room. That made me feel a little better.I'm making progress. Now if I just didn't have my pesky real job to go to this week....

Project 2 - Dresden Plate Wall Quilt

I'm making progress on my resolve to finish 4 ufo's before I start anything else. Yesterday I sewed a Halloween throw together and it's ready to quilt. Today I appliqued the 4 Dresden Plate blocks I had pieced together. I love doing machine applique. It's so fast! It's fast AND fun! As you can see, the applique is with invisible thread and the stitches are so close together that they will hold during washing after washing. Of course, if this ends up as a wall hanging, it won't be washed much, it at all. I don't do machine applique on the flowers in the center of the block. I prefer to quilt those down. So good for me! I'm off to trim the blocks and sew them together. Then I have to decide about a border.

Working on UFO's this Weekend

I'm getting an early start on finishing some of my UFO's. I have made a solemn promise to myself that I'm going to finish at least four projects that I have underway before I start another one. These blocks were sitting on the machine so I sewed them together this afternoon. This will be my Project #1.

Now I'm trying to decide what kind of border. The fabrics for this quilt are only a few of the Halloween fabrics I have in my stash. After I put these blocks together, I sewed the scraps together for a scrappy border but I think now that it might be too much. Maybe I should just quilt it and leave it. Hummm....

Still Waiting for My New Blog Look....

Gina is going to completely revamp my blog...hopefully soon. I hate the way it looks now. I'm still cleaning the sewing studio. Here's a pic of an applique block from one of Jan Patek's patterns. It was done so long ago that I don't even know what pattern it is. I do still have the beautiful blue fabric with roses that goes with this line so maybe I can do a border and make a wall hanging or something. Or a pillow. It's almost frightening how many unfinished projects I have. I wish I had the money to have them machine quilted. I need to join one of those UFO groups. Anyone know a good one?

Yet Another UFO

While cleaning the studio, I found yet another UFO... I love these bright blocks. If I remember correctly, I didn't finish this because the fabric I was going to use for the border got sold at the shop. Why didn't I keep some for myself....why....why....

Can You Guess What These Are For A Prize?

Well, I'm getting a new blog look! For reasons unknown I lost my blog banner! My wonderful daughter, Gina, is re-designing my blog! Woot! In the mean time, I'm cleaning my studio (slowly) and am realizing what a pack rat, hoarder I am. I found these jars of scraps and thought it would be fun to see if anyone can figure out what kind of project these scraps are from. The first person to figure it out will win 4 Fat Quarters of Lecien's French Rose fabrics (1 yard total). Just leave me a comment with your guess. If no-one guesses correctly by this time next week, the little contest is over. You can click on the photo to get a better look.

Hey! Where's my Banner??

Wow, my banner is gone and I have NO idea how to fix it! Bummer....

Must find kid or grandkid to fix this!