Finished May in July

Well, I can't really say this block from my Berry Picking BOM took me three months to finish because I didn't even start it until July, but it's finally done! Yay!!! It is one of the bigger ones that are on this project. I got the fabric ready to go for the June block so I'll trace that one tonight. Luckily, it's just a glass of lemonade so I'm hoping I can get it done in just a few days and then onto July, the monster beast of them all. :o) The final block is a basket filled with jelly jars and goodies.

I'm actually surprised I did as well as I did on this BOM. I would be happy to have to top done by the end of August. One month behind (for me) isn't bad at all! Let's see how I do....

And here is the make-up bag I made when my sister was over. This was a fat quarter we both bought but Isabel used different fabric on the bottom of her bag and different ribbon.

After I finished sewing the May block together (above), I started preparing the fabric to trace the July pattern but I was getting tired. I usually trace the pattern and then baste a piece of quality muslin behind the fabric so my thread doesn't show through. Instead I basted the fabric on first. That will make it very hard to see through the lightbox and trace the design so I will have to rip it out. I knew I didn't have it in me last night so I turned out the light and went out in the living room and watched a little TV while stitching down the scallop binding on my little quilt. You know, sometimes you have to give in and when I start making mistakes, that's when it's time! I got two sides of the binding stitched down when the eyes started to get very heavy. It was hard to stop because it's looking so cute, if I do say so myself. :o) But I had to get to bed so I wasn't a complete zombie this morning.

I marked the top of that little quilt all up with a blue water soluble marker when trying to decide what other quilting design to do before doing the scallop border. Once I'm done with the stitching, I'll lay it out and see what else it needs. My sis suggested stitching in the ditch in a section I missed so I'll do that and then see if it tells me it's finished. My friend Carolyn says her quilts talk to her but mine seem to be VERY tight lipped. hehe

Fun, busy weekend

I picked my sister up from the train station on Friday night and it seemed we were going, going, going until she went home on Sunday morning. We went to a quilt shop first thing in the morning and got some yummy Lakehouse fabrics as well as a few cute FQ's. Went to visit my SIL who broke her arm from falling off her horse. Thank goodness she is okay and all that happened was a broken arm! Dropped my husband off at the Indian casino and found another quilt shop to go to. Got home and made a make-up bag together with some new fabric we bought (we would have used some in my stash but I hardly have any!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). LOL We finally had to get off our feet so we went and sat on the couch and did a little stitching. I worked on this.........and I'm happy to say I'm almost done. Only one little cherry and raspberry to finish.

And Isabel worked on this. This is her quilt from the Sharyn Craig class we took a couple of years ago. Mine is made from civil war reproductions and hers is out of 30's. This is an older picture. Her binding is all sewed down but she is in the process of adding buttons to the intersections. It is super cute in person.

She quilted it with a stitch in the ditch and a pretty braid pattern on the border.

And that was all on Saturday!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, I took it easy on Sunday just doing laundry and worked on my baby nine patch/snowball quilt that I shared here. I used my scallop gadget and the information I learned in the Darlene Zimmerman class and got a pretty scallop border on my little quilt. I pinned the binding down and have to stitch it but I want to get my BOM done first. Hopefully, I'll be able to share a picture with you later this week.

Summer, bags and mom

Whew! Summer finally arrived in So. California in full force. All those people who were complaining about our overcast June and July asking where the sun was....well, it's here!!! Why couldn't they just be happy with 74 degree days? I WAS!!! lol It's supposed to be high 90's today in Fullerton. Other areas are supposed to be much hotter. This picture was my temperature gage at 7:59 a.m. It's not going to be pretty people! Gee, I guess I better stop and get gas on the way home. LOL
At TNT (Thursday Night Therapy), I made two more make-up bags. I posted about the pattern here. I really like the pattern. It's so easy to make and I love that it only takes small pieces of fabric. My buddy Neena is heading to the Stampin' Up! convention in Utah on Tuesday. She has a secret pal and needed some things for her. I was going to 'show her' how to make this bag but she had lots of paper cutting and cards to make for swapping so I just made it. This is some of the fabric she purchased on the So. Cal Quilter's Run a few weeks ago.

I had enough left over from the strips I cut to make two bags. This is the second bag and added twill tape as an accent. I might add a button or something on the ribbon but it was late last night when the girls left so I'll check my button stash tonight.

I took my sister Isabel to San Diego on Monday and we had a visit with our mama. My sis stayed to help take care of mom and to spend some time with her. My mom used to go to Isabel's house a couple of times a year during her vacations from work but due to her health, mom can't travel anymore. She pretty much stays home with a caregiver during the day. It makes us sad but we're trying to get there as often as we can to spend as much time as possible with her. It's hard when you are "working girls". It is sad but it's a reality. We can't do anything about getting older. I realize that with my mom and every morning when I look in the mirror!


I took this picture when we were sitting at the table doing hand work together. It makes me teary eyed when I look at it. Mom was showing Isabel some embroidery patterns she had for "her next dishtowel".


My mom is 82. My dad will be gone five years next month. Boy, I'm feeling pretty melancholy today.

Class with Darlene Zimmerman

The Orange County Guild holds a quilter's camp every other year to alternate with our quilt show. My sister and I took a class called Finishing School by Darlene Zimmerman. It focused on edges from her book The Quilter's Edge. It was an excellent class and both me and my sister feel like we will add scallop borders, flanges and wavy borders to quilts now.

This is a sample of her bunny ears scallop border.

Darlene was helping Isabel with the bias binding on the scallop border. She sure made it easy!


One of the many quilts Darlene brought with her. Adorable!

And here's Darlene encouraging....um, yeah, that's it.....her top pupil. LOL

Gotta go finish sewing before I get in more trouble. :o)

A few more finishes

Last night, I made a small set of curtain panels out of that same mushroom fabric I used for the make-up bag for my daughter, Kelley. She has a bathroom that faces a walkway and said she was concerned for her privacy when the window is open. These little panels should do the trick. I whipped them up pretty quick using the serger to attach the red strips and sewing a little casing with my regular machine.

Then, I had this UFO sitting in a basket in my sewing room. I looked on my blog to see if I posted about it before and I had. Last year!!! Here. Honestly, how do these projects sit so long without finishing themselves before I get back to them? How??? lol

It's a caddy/mat for your machine to give you storage pockets when you have limited space.....or if you just want something cute to look at while you're sewing! Part of it sits under the machine, but it's also a tote so you can haul your project, mat and some supplies in it. Pretty clever, huh?

The pattern is called "Sewing Machine Mat and Caddy" by Sheila Cautillo and it was put out by a local quilt shop, Flying Geese Fabric, Inc. They designed it using the Sandcastle fabric on the outside and the pretty fabric on the inside but I flipped it around. Why let the pretty lining hide under your sewing machine? This fabric has been in my stash for a while. I loved the butter yellow with the red and black designs but didn't know what to do with it. I thought this was a good project for the bigger design.

The little trash tote is attached with Velcro and the pincushion is just stuffed with poly fiber fill and stitched onto the bag. There is also a pocket for a ruler or other supplies behind the other pockets. My Sandcastle got stained a few years ago when we had a flood but I used it for this project anyway. The stained parts are inside the bag and on this pocket.

Okay, what else can I work on??? Let me at it. I'm on a roll! lol

A little sewin'

Last weekend on the quilt run, I bought some of this little mushroom fabric for my oldest daughter, Kelley. It's called Critter Jamboree by Barb somebody for Clothworks. I can't read the lady's last name on the fabric. Kelley's lovin' red and white polka dot mushrooms lately. So much in fact that she decorated her bathroom with them and I'll use whatever fabric is leftover from these bags for some little panels for her window.

Anyway, I used the fabric to make her (and me) a make-up bag. I got an easy pattern, also on the quilt run, called Little Glam Bag from Pink Sand Beach Designs. It was pretty easy to make and they offer all kinds of ways to piece them together.

The green dot was in my middle daughter's scrap bag and the gingham was in my stash. It worked perfect for the lining. And I had some little 'dingle balls' that Kelley liked for the trim. I used ribbon for my bag.

I might make a few more of these. Don't you like smaller projects to get you by in between massive quilt projects?

I might put more bags on the back burner for a while though. I need to do some of my stitchery bom. Man, I already got the one for July and I haven't even finished May yet. Geesh!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you are having a wonderful time celebrating this wonderful country that we live in! There are things that could be better but that just gives us room for improvement.

My boss gave me these cute little mums last week. They look like little explosions, just like fireworks. So festive and cute!

However you are celebrating today, I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend.