Playing in Turkey

I wish I could read Turkish.  Saw these great magazines at the little corner market when we were picking up some produce.  They had some of the cutest projects inside.  Probably a good thing they weren't in English  because the last thing I need are a few more projects to do!

Monday was my hubbies birthday so he took one more day of vacation and we went to the mall where Ikea is and walked around.  We saw these cabinets  They are perfectly vintage looking and he thinks he's going to get one for his car collectibles.  It's too bad they don't have it in the new turquoise color they're using on so much right now.  Richard said he'd go back and get one for the game room.  Lord knows, he needs something in this big empty apartment.  lol  I told him it will give him a place for all the souvenirs he's getting and I told him to paint it before he puts it together.  :o)

 

We passed by the rug department and Richard spotted the button rug we saw in the catalog back in May last time I was here but they didn't have them yet.  He said, "There's your button rug.  You better get it." :o)  I told him I didn't think I wanted one since they have a white background and it would be too hard to keep clean.  You can see I put up a fight and gave in.  LOL  It makes me happy to look at it and it is comfy on my feet when I'm cutting.  Guess I'll keep the vacuum handy.

 

 

I put that room and rug to good use the last few days.  Before we took our trip to Ireland for Richard's "mandatory R&R", I made these red and light blue blocks.  These were from the class at quilt camp I went to in July.  I had to pack that away though because I didn't bring the ruler with me to make the other two navy ones.  It'll have to wait til I get home.  It's looking good though and I'm loving them.

 

I did those, a breast cover for my daughter Ashley and this little iron caddy/pressing mat.  Thank you for the pattern, Carolyn!

This will be great for retreats and sew-ins.  :)



Yesterday, I took this kit out and got it cut out.  It was a perfect, easy project for sewing while doing laundry.

 

 

I think it's a perfect little boy quilt.  It measures 38x48 so it'll be nice and easy to quilt when I get home.  :o)

 

Almost All Done!!!!

I'm almost done with the baby bedding!  Yay.  The back of the bumper pads are the mushroom print.  The "doily" turquoise design and the mushrooms were Ashley's favorites.  I finished the dust ruffle last night.  My friend Carolyn gave me a pattern for the pads and dust ruffle but the ruffle on the pattern was pleated.  I decided this fabric needed to be gathered.  :o)  And there is no crib yet so the ironing board is having to make do.

 

 

Here is a close up of the dust ruffle, which is the same focus fabric for the center blocks of the stars on the baby quilt.  The little "Red" and wolf are so darn cute!

 

I love the big gingham cut on the bias for the cording.  I ran out of the fabric because the Riley Blake pattern only had nine stars and I made 12.  I didn't take that into account when I ordered fabric.  DOH!!!!  I had to piece some of the fabric strips but I figured once they are tied on the crib, it won't even show.  And I used every bit of it up!!!  That's a first.

 

I finished the binding on the quilt last night.  This picture is taken on my double bed so it's a good size little quilt.  I love how it turned out.  The original pattern by Riley Blake used red, aqua and gray.  I like adding the yellow in there.  It doesn't hurt that the yellow has cherries on it.  ;o)  I stitched in the ditch on the interior of the quilt.  The sashing is 1 1/2" and the blocks are 8" so it's nice and secure (I hope).

 

I outlined the stars and center squares.

 

 

 

For the outer border, I got input from my girls for the design.  I had several stencils and this was the top pic.  I love this little loop design.  It's just the whimsy the quilt needed without being too much.

 

This was my first time using my new sewing table and longer throat Pfaff for free motion quilting.  My stitches aren't perfect but they are okay.  More practice is in order.  All I have left to do are little things to complete everything....serge the under side of the dust ruffle, hand close the bumper pads (which I'm saving for Thursday night sewing with the girls) and a label.  Can't make the label til the new parents decide on a name.  That might happen after my little granddaughter is born.  :o)

Seeing Stars...

I didn't finish the quilt tops from the classes I took with my sister three weeks ago shared here but I decided to set them both aside for a little while. 

My daughter, Ashley, is in her 6th month of her pregnancy and I will be leaving for a trip to see my hubby in about three weeks.  Her shower will be a few weeks after I return home so I figured I better get to her baby bedding before the time has flown by in a blink!

I had to fussy-cut the center of the blocks and in order to get variety with both the centers and the star points, I had to do a little rearranging.  The design wall was great for this.  It's like playing on a flannel board, like back in Kindergarten!  :o)

 

Got the blocks all sewed together.  There were some repeats but it was bound to happen as there aren't that many designs on this fabric.  It's so darn cute, who cares?  hehe

 

My friend Irene knows I love cherries.  She asked me if I was going to use cherry fabric in the quilt?  I hadn't thought about it but when I came across this Riley Blake fabric when I was shopping for the Little Red fabric, I "had" to include it.  And I think the yellow helps break up the red and aqua.  I decided to just use this one print, instead of doing different yellows.  It was cute enough to be used several times!  And here's a close up of a few of the block centers.

 

 

 

Got the cornerstones worked out...

 

And the sashing on.

I started sewing on the borders and had a little (or a BIG) issue.  The borders were looking like they angled off at the edges.  I tried to be careful but not careful enough, I guess.  I could've lived with it or I could rip out the borders and redo them.  Guess what I decided to do???? 

 

And the last issue for this little quilt.  The free pattern I got for this quilt was from the Riley Blake website.  It is for nine blocks and finishes at 46x46".  I wanted it a bit bigger but didn't decide that until after I ordered the fabric.  I didn't buy enough of the border print, the one on the right.  I was trying to convince myself that the print on the left would be okay.  I called in the boss, my daughter Ashley.  She liked the one on the right too. 

 



 

The order will be delivered tomorrow.  :o)  I should be able to finish this by the weekend and get started on the quilting.  Until then, I'm in bumper pad and dust ruffle mode.

Life is a Jungle!!!

:o)  I had to make a little "it's a jungle" joke about this crazy life I'm attempting to live and the project I started working on.  I have been trying to stay very busy since Richard left and have a lot of cleaning and sorting still to do but Sunday I had had enough.  I threw in the towel and said "I need some sewing therapy!!"

This little cheater quilt (only the top so far) is for my daughter's friend, Jenny.  She's the mom of that adorable little flower girl seen here at Ashley's wedding.  Jenny is pregnant with her third baby, a little boy, and because it's her third baby, there won't be a shower.  Whoever heard of such a thing?  lol  I didn't really know her when she had her first two babies but I like her.  She calls me Mam, like Ashley does so she's getting a little quilt for her bouncing baby boy.  This was a kit I bought from Road to CA.  Just the panel, border and binding fabrics so it wasn't too expensive.  You trim a row off the side and sew on borders.  Easy enough even for me at this time in my life.  My only complaint is the fabric was 'tweaked' at the right side.  It was really bad on the last row so thank goodness I chopped that one off!

That piece that got cut off was attached to the back fabric that had to be pieced anyway to make it big enough to work.  I got it on sale Sunday for $6.00/yard.  I wanted to put flannel on the back but the flannel that matched was $13.00/yard and I just couldn't do it.  Have you been buying fabric with these new prices?  Oh, it's killing me.  And convincing me to use what I have as often as possible.  Of course, this kit and the back are all new.  LOL

Here's a close up of the cute little monkey and polka dot border fabric.  The binding is a cute colorful stripe and I can't wait to get this pinned and quilted. 

 

But...it's still hanging on the design wall. I have to get a closet organizer in my room so I can move my clothes over from the master bedroom to prepare for my "roomies" to move in in a couple of weeks.  This transition has been hard for so many reasons but the biggest one has been living in our house for 28 years!  SO.MUCH.STUFF!!!!