Cheery Table Runner

I've had this table runner pattern for a couple of years now. I got it on one of the So. California quilt runs. The pattern is from Sand & Sun Designs and you could probably find the pattern if you did an on-line search. The pattern is called Happy Birthday! There are other motifs for placemats like a party hat and presents. Very cute but I'm just making the table runner. This cake design is on each end of the runner with confetti sprinkles in the middle. I'm heading over the Pfaff store for the rayon thread and tear away stablizer they suggest using for the satin stitching. THAT should be interesting! :o)

Happy Traveler........

Well, since I have been gone the last few days, I have been having fun, fun, fun and seeing quilts galore. On Friday, I went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana for an exhibit called "American Quilts: 200 Years of Tradition. It will be on display until March 15th. It was a smaller exhibit, with about 30 quilts but just wonderful. If you live in the area, you should go see this exhibit. There's are pretty quilts to see and lots of places to have lunch.

Friday night, I sat and got the binding stitched down on UFO #3 on my list.

It was a pattern by Billie Lauder and she gave the pattern away at a retreat I went to with my sister a few years ago. I didn't start the quilt at the retreat but did it a few summers ago. It's not that complicated, being a nine patch, but you do need to sew the fabric strips in order. It gives you a scrappy quilt but with a more organized look. I got it quilted this week with a simple grid pattern.

Here is a picture of the back. I just pieced 10" squares together.

I will keep this one for when my grandbabies visit. I don't have any grandbabies yet. I hope the fabric holds up until I get some grandbabies. I suppose dust could eat away at the threads and it could disinegrate before I have any grandkids. lol

Then.........today I went to a quilt show with my friend Neena. It was the South Bay Quilters Guild in Torrance. It was a nice size show with a good variety of quilts. Here's a picture of a quilt I really liked.

You can find more pictures of quilts from the quilt exhibit and the quilt show on my webshots album here. Sheesh, good thing I'm going back to work tomorrow. I'm exhausted!!!

Tech Bag

My boss's birthday was on Friday, the 13th. Her favorite pasttime is shopping so she is really hard to buy for. At least for me because I break out in hives just having to go to the mall. :o) I found a pattern on a blog some time ago for a cute little "Tech Bag". A quilted bag to take all your power cords for cell phone, camera, lap top, etc. when you take a trip. I wish I could give credit to the woman who made up the pattern but her name isn't anywhere on the pdf document. Here's the finished bag for my boss.

It measures 6.5" x 9" x 2.5".

My boss, Donna, is going with her daughter on one of those infamous 8th grade trips to Washington D.C. in May. I thought with a trip pending, I could make her this little bag for her birthday. I went to Target and filled it with travel goodies, including Tylenol, Advil and Excedrin. I thought that was good for a laugh since she was spending a week with oh, a hundred or so 8th graders!!! LOLShe loved it. Now I have to make me one. I loved it too. :o)

UFO #2 Done!

I got UFO #2 done. I used the setting that I created in EQ6. I stitched in the ditch on the entire hanging and quilted around the snowmen. My quilting has a lot to be desired so I didn't take a close up.
It feels go be chipping away at these projects. I have another easy one to quilt but that has to wait while I work on a birthday gift for my boss. I have President's Day off. Yahoo!!!

Thursday Night Sewing

Do you have a sewing or crafty group you belong to? Me and some friends started getting together several years ago on Thursday nights. Some friends have come and some have gone but for the most part, we've got a solid few that will probably always hang out together. The gatherings during the holidays were scarse but we are getting back into the swing of things now. We tried to think of a name for our group because we hear all these cool little initials, like GNO for Girls Night Out or SNB for Stitch 'n B**ch. But we have struck a big zero with a name. Any ideas? We're kind of loud, and crazy. We laugh a lot and we talk too much. We always eat. :o)
If you think of a name we can call our group, I'll send you a little goodie.

Last night, I worked on one of my ufo's. I have five redwork snowmen for a Backporch Friends swap. This is one of the blocks. I think Sherrie made this one.


I worked in EQ6 and came up with a couple of ideas. I had three settings done up and asked my hubby which one he liked. He picked one out so I printed up the foundation pages and got to sewing. I got two blocks made like this.....

And two made like this.

So, I got all the blocks sewed together with the embroidered blocks. I picked out some fabric for two borders and will try to get those added this weekend. Maybe I'll even get it quilted!!!!

Snow Covered Mountains

Or course, I can't see them with my huge commute I make to work. I barely get a glimpse. Can you see them? Yeah, me either. This is Harbor Blvd. It will take you to Disneyland if you were traveling the other direction. Me? I'm going to work. Is there a law about taking pictures while driving? lol


Okay, how about this picture? This is the front page of today's paper. I never buy a paper. I can't believe it's up to 75 cents!!! Where have I been? The snow is from Monday, when we got some much needed rain. I can see these beautiful mountains if I hop on the freeway but I haven't had to go too far from home lately. My drive to work is 2.4 miles. My hubby, who drives 40 miles one way, doesn't feel very sorry for me.

Monday, I picked up these two little star hook things at Tall Mouse. If you're not from around the So. Cal area, that's like Michael's or Hobby Lobby. I think they are supposed to be towel or coat hooks but the hook part looked big enough to hold a curtain rod so I bought them. They cost me around $11.00. Just trying to help the economy you know! :o) Then I picked up a curtain rod from Target. I've been wanting to hang up some quilts around the house but don't have much wall space. This is in the entryway.

It brightens up the spot a little bit and now I can hang up smaller quilts and change them out when I want something different. When I was ready to test out the rod and hang up a quilt, I realized two that I had in mind for this, the Stack 'n Whack quilt and my little 30's table cloth quilt, don't have a quilt sleeve on the back. Roh-Roh Relroy...back to the sewing room!

One week later...

My, oh my, how time flies when you're BusyLiz! :o) My boss has had us busy at the office. She was in charge of her daughter's fundraiser for the 8th Grade D.C. trip. They had a gala and auctioned off baskets. We had 54 baskets at the office and I was in charge of typing up the auction sheets and description cards. I also helped her wrap quite a few of these gems. The gala was yesterday so tomorrow should be a regular work day. Woohoo!


Friday I finished my first UFO. Can I get another woohoo? lol This stack 'n whack is about four years old. All because I couldn't figure out how to quilt it. So much empty background space just threw me. I finally decided done was better than in a box somewhere so I just did a flower motif in the background, stitched in the ditch on the purple borders and a leaf design on the big pansy border.

My sister, Isabel taught me how to do the SNW. She has taught quite a few SNW classes at her local quilt shop. She's a good teacher, even to me, who doesn't usually listen. :o) Here's the back.

And I don't know if you can see it but here is a little bit closer shot of the quilting.

And my label. I couldn't get a better shot of it.
One down, 14 to go. (I have lots more than 14 but that's the number of the challenge for a June deadline.) Back to work!