Jared Takes a Wife

My sister Isabel and I went to Road to CA on Thursday. We took a Bonnie Hunter class (from quiltville.com). The class was called Jared Takes a Wife. Here is Bonnie's sample quilt hanging in the classroom. It's was so pretty.

She shared with us with us a GORGEOUS quilt she is making. You can read more about it here. It was so vintage! The piece she is holding up was one of the borders. So pretty!

These are my quilt block "parts". We did pretty good by getting to this point by lunch break.

The afternoon, we did more sewing and I got three blocks finished before we packed up our stuff at 4:00. Bonnie was fun and it was a great class. I highly recommend any of her classes to anyone. Here are me, Bonnie and Isabel. We're happy cuz we were sewing all day and the next day, we shopped and looked at quilts. Who wouldn't be happy about that!?? :o)

These are my blocks I finished at the class. I auditioned them in the hotel room that evening. I needed to find another fabric for my sashing. This one was a bit too 'peachy'. I found a great subtle floral fabric and am just loving this quilt so far.

Gotta go get busy making more blocks!

If you'd like to see more blocks or class photos, you can see them here.

And here are pictures of the quilts at the quilt show....here.

Shouting from the rooftops!

My youngest daughter Ashley is engaged! Thanks to email, facebook and blogs, I think the world officially knows now. LOL

The groom-to-be, Dave is a sweetheart. We couldn't be happier. He proposed at a restaurant at the beach while the sun was setting. It was a gorgeous California day so I imagine it was perfect. Ashley is so excited and her ring is beautiful. It was Dave's grandmothers and dainty and vintage looking. Dave's grandmother passed away two years ago so I'm sure it's very special to get her ring.

It's a good thing I helped with all of these weddings over the years so I can get my craft-mojo to help with this one!

Sew and Gather

I have been sewing the last few nights after work but I haven't been making pretty quilt blocks or finishing one of my many ufo's. The sewing I've been doing is the kind I don't like to do.....mending and 'need to' sewing. My youngest bought a couple of tops that were too long but they were 'such a good deal', she bought them and asked me to hem them up. That was two months ago! Hey, we had holiday happenings!! She should've known better. lol

The sewing I did last night was for the office I work at. There are small windows above the doors in the building and at around 3:30-4:00, the sun shines right through the window, into a mirror and in my boss's eyes. Now, we could've just moved the mirror but it gives the boss a straight shot to the door coming into the office and if I'm not here, she can at least see if the boogy man is coming in to get her. hehe So, I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond for some other office things and could not find anything for the size window we have, 16" x 35". I thought maybe I could buy a valance to stick up there but they had few to choose from. They did have a clearance rack though and I found a tab-top panel, about 54" x 81". I bought two tension rods and the panel for $4.99 and made a little curtain. Not much in the "looks" department but it does the trick. The boss is happy and now everybody is happy. (I'm the only other one that works here so that didn't take much!) LOL

And with all the snow storms I've seen on the news the last few nights, I thought I would share this picture too. Looking out the office door. I don't usually have the door open because it's very noisy. We have a bus depot right outside the door and a little farther is the Amtrak train station. Between buses and trains, it's not exactly 'phone friendly'. And if you look really hard, you can see Newport Beach! LOL.....okay, that's a lie but it is that direction and if you drove about 45 minutes, then you'd see it. Such a comedian today. hehehehe

My sister Isabel and I are take a class at Road to California next week. It's a Bonnie Hunter class of Quiltville.com called Jared Takes a Wife. Isabel and I have both been quilting for a while and we both "collect" fabric. She is using some Robyn Pandolph from her stash that she was going to use on another project. I am going to use this Moda fabric called Cinnamon Stars. It was out, gee I don't know, maybe 4 or 5 years ago. I was going to make a quilt from Jodi Barrows but couldn't get that ol' square in a square technique so I'm a Jodi Barrows drop out. So the fabric went in a bag for 'another day' and well, 'another day' is next week and I'm going to use it for this class.

I'll use the reds for the bigger star points and maybe these golds and yellows for the smaller star points of the block. I'm still playing with the design in EQ7.

It looks pretty good together. I also found some fq's from Fig Tree that I've had sitting for-ever!!

I just have to figure out if I want to pull in the green or maybe use a chocolate brown. I've got to decide soon because I have to pre-cut my fabrics for the class. Good thing my 'mending' is done!! :o)

Love Bot

Me and my daughter Stephanie went to my buddy Neena's house yesterday for a yummy dinner and a project. Neena wanted to do this during Christmas but things just got too hectic so she revamped the project for Valentine's Day and got the party started!

We made this adorable Valentine robot filled with yummy treats. It was easy to make but a bit of a challenge to keep the parts attached, even with the super sticky tape.

He's got corduroy brad ears and heart brad elbow joints. The gears are a Stampin' Up! punch. Adorable.

And look at this cute face. Everything on his little face is punched. Made it super easy but also super-cute!

Thank you Neena for a delish dinner and super fun project!

Bring on the dollar dance!

I had my eye appointment last night but didn't have to get them dilated after all so woohoo, sewing time!!! I got the bride's little purse made, though I was up til the wee hours of the morning doing it. lol The bride, Mailei picked the fabric which is a cotton blend from Joann's. I laughed when I got this finished as I think they bought two yards and I think I might've used a quarter of a yard, maybe!

I am pleased with the finished product since I have such a hard time making things without a pattern. You know how you picture something in your head but getting out of that cranium is challenging! :o) I don't have enough experience making bags to 'whip one up' so it was tough to figure out how things go together........(see of you can stay with me here) like how to sew the lining to the outside fabric so the seam would be hidden once I folded the right side of the fabric down a bit for the ruffle. You know? I put the pieces the way they "should" be and then reached inside the bag and pinned it so I would know how to sew it together. It was pretty funny actually. A little tweak of my head and I got it. lol

And since I didn't really know what I was going to make, I had to use things from my stash. I didn't have any pretty satin cording for a purse and fabric handles would've been too thick so I decided to use ribbon. I had a pretty satin one but it was too wide and the purse wouldn't pull closed, you had to force it with your hands. Not good for a bride on the dance floor. The grosgrain was kind of hum drum so I went through my craft stuff and found these little silver charms and some leftover beads from a Christmas snowflake craft. They've been in my craft room forever and recently I thought about throwing them in the donation pile. Glad I didn't do that!! They were just enough 'bling' on the ribbon to dress this up a tiny bit. (I sewed them on with quilting thread.)

That dressed it up just enough. When searching the internet for ideas, all I could find were pretty dainty satin bags. This needed a little something else and those little dangles did the job. When I talked to the bride on the phone the other night she said, "Anything will do Liz. I would just like something to tuck a lip gloss in and maybe to hold for the dollar dance." I think she'll like it.

On to my UFO's, blocks, quilts, charms..........

A New Year

Happy 2011! Hubby and I went downtown with some friends. It's a family-friendly environment with some bands, a kiddie train and lots and lots of people. We get treated to fireworks at midnight so it's a fun way to bring in the new year. I hope you had fun bringing in the new year in your neck of the woods!

My youngest daughter's friend Mailei is getting married Saturday and asked if I would make make-up bags for the bridesmaids. She mailed me this fabric so I used it without adding any lining since it's pre-quilted. Of course the holidays are too busy to do any 'extra' crafting so these had to wait until this week. Argh, it's a close call for a wedding this Saturday but these are done so woohoo!

The wedding colors are black and yellow and even though the wedding yellow isn't this bright, the bride gave me the okay to use what I had, this bright yellow ribbon. I stitched on a little lace or rick-rack and added a button and all done. All eight of them!

(Second wedding with this color combo. Must be popular!)

I still need to make the bride a little bag for the dollar dance so I'm cutting it close and I need to have my eyes dilated tomorrow after work. I don't know if I'll be able to see well enough to sew tomorrow or not. Hmmm, I wonder how many favors my husband owes me? LOL

I was trying to get this done by Thursday night so my daughter could take these items with her to the rehearsal dinner. At least I got the bags done so she can fill them "in her leisure". :o) That brides purse might have to be special delivery the day of the wedding.