Finally, some sewing!

Things have been hectic since before Easter so I feel like I am still catching up. There are still wedding plans being made for my daughter so that takes time away from the hobbies that I love but I "suppose" a wedding IS more important. LOL

Last night I swapped out some blocks that I had received from a swap on Backporch Friends. This is a great scrappy block. I mentioned it some time ago and you can read about it here or an older post here. The block directions are from a McCall's flyer that I get for their quilt magazine. It's called Scrappity Do Dah. These are some of my blocks on my design wall just put up next to each other. I don't know if I'll get these sewed together in the near future. More than likely, they'll go back in a baggie. I have some bridesmaid bags to make so I think they might need to go "in the bin" with so many other swapped blocks. :o(

This is the second time we did this swap so we could get enough blocks for a bigger quilt. The picture above is some of the first and second swap. I only sewed about 84 blocks this time around. Last time, I did 120. I should get a nice size quilt from them all.

Off to get a few more things done before bedtime. Where does the time go???

Back in the sewing room!

Wow, that was a long break of no sewing but I'm back in the saddle again. :o) I've got some swap blocks due in a couple of weeks and I've got to put the sewing machine pedal to the metal!! If you get the McCall's Quilting advertisement, you might have received the free printout for a Scrappity Do Dah quilt. That's what I cut this fabric for. You can read about the swap I did on Yahoo Group, Backporch Friends, here from last September.

So, I went through my stash and picked out some fabrics that have contrast.

I got about 7 sets cut out but I have to mix them up a little more. We don't want to have any duplicates so I might keep some of my extras for a charity quilt. I've got a few more to cut out and then off to get some sewing done.

That's what I've been doing. I hope you've been doing some fun stuff too!

A swap, a little shoppin' and mark one off the list!

Tuesday I swapped out a hole lotta quilt blocks. These are called Scrappity Do Dah and I mentioned on my blog before that this is from a McCall's Quilting Magazine free pattern insert from a mailing I got. The blocks are 5" and I think the example quilt in the flyer was made with about 400 blocks!! I'll be doing this swap again early next year so we can all make some more blocks for a bigger quilt.


And yesterday my daughter sent me an email from an ad she saw on Craig's List. It was for two oversized clothes pins from Pottery Barn. The lady was about 25 minutes from me and she only wanted $20 for them. They sold for $80 in the catalog and I saw a set on ebay for $293.00!!!! I don't think I have to tell you they haven't sold on ebay yet!! But I got a steal of a deal! Don't you love when people help you spend your money? lol And my laundry room is dusty and undecorated so now this is probably going to lead to a re-do. Oh oh! I think my twenty dollar deal just got a lot more expensive. Ha!

And last night was craft night and Neena came over and we finished the rest of the wedding favors we needed for the 10/16 wedding. Now I just have to find a box to put them in to keep them safe until the wedding. Checking things off my list. Woohoo!

Scrappy Swap

About a year ago, I received a mailer from McCall's Quilting to subscribe to their magazine. Inside was a free pattern sheet for a quilt and it was called Scrappity Do Dah. I liked the block and it's super easy to do. It kind of wastes a little fabric but I like the scrappy look without doing lots of cutting and sewing like a string quilt. We are having a swap over on the Backporch (my Yahoo group) and the blocks are due October 1st so I'm trying to get mine done and move on to other projects. Here is a picture of four sets (of 12) I did a few nights ago. I already finished two more sets so I just have four more to go.

I did this sample layout on my EQ7 quilting program just to give the ladies who are swapping an idea of what the quilt might look like.

And today I received an email newsletter from a local quilt shop with this book for sale, Vintage Journey by Jo Morton. It looks like a similar block but those look like signature blocks. Pretty cute!

Gotta get those blocks done because my friend is planning a sewing day on Saturday. Looks like I'll be hauling everything AND the kitchen sink to go play. Now to toss the names of all my UFO's into a hat and see what I'm taking to work on!!!!! lol

The Birthday Boy, cuttin' and sewin'

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday. The family went out to PF Changs for dinner. Yum! We were pretty stuffed after our meal but I still ordered their Banana Spring Rolls for dessert (six warm, crispy bites with coconut-pineapple ice cream drizzled with caramel and vanilla sauce and sprinkled with berries) because we couldn't make the Birthday Boy share his little itty-bitty complimentary chocolate mousse dessert. :o)

Then, we all had a little fortune cookie. We all read ours out loud and Richard was last to read his. This man is all about numbers and luck, and look at what his fortune said....

When he first read it, I swore he was pulling my leg!! Last year, his birthday was 09/09/09 so we went to Las Vegas. We had fun but the numbers didn't help us any. I still think he should go buy a lotto ticket this week, don't you? :o)

And just so you don't think all I'm doing is sitting around twiddling my thumbs and eating spring rolls, here are a couple of pics of what I've been doing in the evenings. These "parts" are for a scrappy swap I'm hostessing on Backporch Friends. It's from a free handout from McCall's Quilting.

And I'm STILL working on my last block from the Berry Picking BOM. I can feel me getting closer to the end!!!!! I might have a quilt top ready to be quilted one day soon. "I think I can, I think I can!!"

I don't really have any plans this weekend. I would like to get in my sewing room and clean up a couple of piles that have not put themselves back into the closet. The nerve! lol Have a great weekend everyone!!

Missed my deadline

I signed up to play in a block swap over on the Yahoo group I run, Backporch Friends. This time I didn't have to do the be the hostess, I just got to play along which was fun. One of the regular ladies who is chatty like me, Barb, offered to be a guest hostess. Wasn't that nice? :o)
Due to all the goings on with my mom's illness and her funeral, I didn't get my blocks done on time to meet the 8/31 deadline. Barb let me send them in late so I got those in the mail yesterday. I had the "parts" left to make one more block so I'll sew this up and try to get a few more put together so I have more to work with for a little quilt.

There are only 5 blocks in a set and I did two sets so I'll just have 10 blocks. They are 8 1/2". My initial thought for the setting for these was to put the blocks in the middle of the quilt and do a big white-on-white border and try my hand at applique. Machine applique probably! Swaps are fun but I hate that they lead to UFO's. Not for everyone but they seem to for me. Grrrr.
Heading to a car show on Saturday with my hubby. We'll go with my sister and BIL and my nephew and his wife. We'll stay the night and come home Sunday. Hubby has homework to do for his online class and I have the need for speed...on my sewing machine foot pedal, that is. ;o) Have a wonderful Labor Day!

Now what? And 'hello Shannon' :o)

I can't grow tomatoes. I will spare you pictures of what my tomato plant looks like. It's VERY sad. But guess what? I can grow jalapenos.

But guess what else? I don't like spicy food. LOL Now that's some smart farmin', huh? What I need is for my tomatoes to grow like my jalapenos because I love me some 'maters. :o) Guess I'll go buy a crate of tomatoes and maybe try my hand at salsa. You can 'can' salsa right? CanCan....hehehe.....I got a picture of jalapenos doing the can-can but I should've pictured them doing the Mexican Hat Dance!!! Arriba!!!! Ole'! :o)



Okay, let's get serious. Mmm, maybe not! Let me take this moment to pretend that I'm Queen Latifa and send a "shout out to my girl Shannon" in Kansas. hehe It's a small world we live in and the Internet makes it even smaller. I got an email from a friend, Nan, who I know from one of my Yahoo groups. She works at the quilt shop in Kansas called Quilting Bits & Pieces, the shop I am doing my BOM Berry Picking from. This is from Nan's email:

"Something funny happened yesterday at the shop. Shannon, my Monday co-worker asked me if someone named Liz did the Berry Picking BOM. I said yes, why? She said one of the blogs that she reads, "Busy Liz" had pics of Berry Picking blocks and she looked really close at her computer and decided they were our fabrics! I said, yes they are! :) It turns out, Liz, that she found your blog from Reeze's blog on the sidebar of favorite blogs. Cool, huh? She said she loves your blog and all the cute stuff you do."

Well, isn't that somethin'? And what a small, small world. So Shannon, this is where I am on my block. I'm still a month (or two) behind but I'm getting closer to getting this one done and then it's onto that monster block! The last one is a biggie - a basket full of jelly jars and 'stuff'.


I am also working on some scrappy summertime baskets for a swap. The block is from Quilter's Cache and it's called Bouquet. I've got three more sets of five to finish so I better get busy and get these mailed off. Lots to do.........

Bye Shannon!!! :o)

Blooms `n dresses

I've seen so many bloggers share their gorgeous spring flowers so I'm jumping on the band wagon. (Yes, I probably would follow them if they all jumped off the bridge too!) :o)

I will be the first to admit I have two brown thumbs but I keep trying! The only reason I can grow these roses is because they are a shrub. And they're all over the place so I'm assuming "anyone" can grow them. *sigh*

They smell so good. They are right under the kitchen window and the fragrance comes in with every breeze.

I swapped out the I Love Lucy dresses from the swap on Backporch Friends. Everyone did such a nice job. I'm not sure how I'll set mine yet. These will sit a while since I have so much more to work on that takes priority.

One of our swappers, Betti, found this fabric in her mother's things. She said it's from the 1940's and everyone who swapped got one of her blocks.

And one swapper, Kris, made these blocks with a little apron on it. Isn't it just the cutest!?

Well, off to go straighten up my sewing room only to make a mess again. I am going to go have a little sewing retreat Thursday-Sunday with some friends in Lake Arrowhead. I have to clean so I have room to pack my bag! What a sad tale, huh? ;o)

Swap-a-roo!

My daughter Kelley was going to do a "pay it forward" on her blog in October. She had seen it on another blog and liked the idea but she only got a few responses and two of those were people who didn't have a blog (a requirement). So she decided to cancel it but still do an exchange with the interested ladies. There were six of us - Kelley, Stephanie (my daughter and Kelley's sister), me, Isabel (my sis), Neena the Stampin' Up! chick and a friend of Kelley's, Jackie.
Kelley swapped out the goodies last week but I'm just getting around to post about it. Tis the season to run around like a headless chicken!!! :o)
These are what Kelley made. Little kids dressed up like Humpty Dumpty like one of her drawings. The only thing missing was a crack in the shell and a little bandaid. I thought she did really good especially since she doesn't sew that much and they had little tiny arms to get turned out!

These were some of the other treasures I received. Jackie has a Yulu printing machine so she printed us a tote bag to drag around our unfinished projects. (Hopefully to get them finished!) Isabel was on the ball and made little Chinese take-out boxes. Since this swap was announced in early October, she made some out of Halloween fabric. Who knew they'd be swapped out in December?

This adorable little ghost was tucked inside the Halloween take-out container. Isabel crocheted it from a free pattern from Lyon Brand Yarn website.

And Neena made these fabulous personalized stationary boxes for each of us. They contain a post-it note, a spot for stamps, three greeting cards, gift tags and gift cards. They were all so pretty. The decorative paper she used was gorgeous and they were all different.

A little close up. I turned the flash off of my digital camera because it was too bright and overexposed. Without the flash, the pictures look orange but believe me, the cards and box are a gorgeous cherry red. Yummmy!

Aren't my friends talented. My daughter Stephanie's project isn't shown here. She needed to finish up one last step so I told her I'd photograph it later but wanted to share these for now.

I went to my friend's house last night and quilted a quilt for my boss. I just did a big meander all over. It's just a piece of fabric with borders on it. I showed a picture of it here from the trip to the condo. It's the one with deep red borders. Anyway, I just did a big meander all over it and will get the label made tonight and sew on the binding. Sooooo much to do, so little time!

Cherry quilt coming along

I "finally" got my cherry blocks all sewed together. I put them on point and used the same black pimatex fabric for the setting triangles. Since it was so long ago that I mentioned this project, the block is the Swapper's Star from Quilters Cache. The blocks are 9" finished. I lost some points on these since it was a swap and some blocks did not have the 1/4" seam allowance. With the light fabric against the black, that does show but I figured it would be fine since it's such a busy top.

Now for the borders. I tried this one but it didn't 'hit' me. There yellow print just blends in with the seed packet fabric.

Then I put a red polka dot against the quilt and the yellow gingham on the outside. It kind of works but the scale seems too small.

Then I tried the red with this green because I had quite a bit of it. Still wrong and even smaller in scale so no-go. If these were my only two choices, the yellow is better. So at this point, I emailed pictures to my sister, Isabel. I needed a second set of eyes. And of course, the genius said, "Try the green with that seed packet fabric."

So I did. And all was right with the world! LOL I love it.

I told her I never would've thought of this combination but the green matches the seed print perfectly and there is just enough contrast to see when one print stops and the other print starts. And I bought this seed packet fabric specifically for this project so it's nice that it worked out without having to make any other purchases. I'm hoping I have enough cherry fabrics left that I can sew them all together for the backing. I'll see how it goes.

I've got to pack tonight for a retreat I'm going to on Wednesday. I might take this one with me to get the borders and back ready for quilting.

Finally, I can share!

My Brown Bag Swap buddy Joyce, "finally" received her package from me so I can share the picture of the project I made for her. As I mentioned in a prior post, the saying for this wallhanging is from Angela. It worked up really quick. The burgundy floss, background fabric, blue snowflake fabric and buttons are what Joyce sent me in her bag. I could make whatever I wanted with it but when I saw the little faint snowflake design in the fabric, I saw visions of snowmen dancing in my head! Only one made it out and onto the fabric though!!! LOL

The other little goodies I sent her were a tablet, some note cards, both with snowmen on them, and a little button box with a pincushion inside that I bought from Angela. Her stuff is so cute and it's nice to give crafters and quilters things that are made by other crafters. We SO appreciate every brush stroke and stitch in fabric. At least that's how I feel.

And here's some eye candy for you. I guess I just forgot to post about my guilds quilt show. I didn't submit any quilts. Probably cuz I can't seem to finish any! Just kidding....sort of. :o) But this first one is from Juanita Schwartz, who lives here in Fullerton. She is an older woman but stays active teaching at our local shops. She usually teaches hand quilting and trapunto, which she does beautifully as you can see from this quilt.

And I can't remember who made this quilt but she said she took Jodi Barrows workshop and made this quilt. She thought Jodi's technique was fast and accurate. Me and my friends are Jodi drop outs so I can't sing her praises but whatever gets the job done, right?

If you'd like to see more pictures, I posted them in my webshots album here. Now, off to try and do some sewing.

Brown Bag goodness

Before I share what I received from the Brown Bag swap I was in, I want to share a picture you will see if you come to Fullerton via the Amtrak. The train station is right across from where I work. It's in the hub of Downtown Fullerton. Isn't this tree pretty? Seems like it would bloom during the springtime but here it is Fall and it's pretty in pink. It was so pretty, I had to unload my bags in my arms and snap a picture.

And now onto my goodie I received from Joyce, my Brown Bag Buddy (BBB). The guidelines for this swap were you mailed a fq of background fabric, fq of focus fabric, some buttons, rick rack and ribbon. Your partner could use some or all of what you sent and they kept what wasn't used. I mailed Joyce the sewing fabric for the main part of this little trashbag and the blue that she used for the pincushion. Isn't this the coolest little trash tote?

I love all the other fabrics she used. That tan dot looks perfect with the fabric I sent her. And I LOVE all the fun buttons she used on it! Only a few of these were my buttons. She said she has quite a collection. The bag has a great little pocket on the inside and a velcro closure.

Joyce included lots of sewing notions inside like an air erase marker, more rick rack, a thimble, seam ripper (unfortunately, I always use one of those!), thread and a pair of stork scissors!

Joyce said she has made quite of a few of these bags for friends. People use them in their cars for trash because the pincushion holds it in place, for stitching while watching tv, and of course in the sewing room. This little grip is on the back to keep it from slipping and the pincushion is weighed down with sand so it really stays in place.

I can't share pictures of what I did for her just yet but I did mail it yesterday. I'll post a picture or two once I know she's received it.

After finishing the project for Joyce, I started working on my Berry Pickin' BOM #3 and added some of the setting triangles to my cherry quilt that has been sitting on the design wall for the last couple of months. I didn't get a picture of it yet because I only got half of the triangles on. I hope to have a finished top to share soon. :o)

Finishing touches

I made this little block quite a while ago. In March as a matter of fact. I had to go search my blog and found the post. I wasn't even sure if it was THIS YEAR that I finished it but I'm glad to say it was, even though it was seven months, 6 days ago! (Do I need to admit again that I have finishing issues.)


Basically, I've been moving this poor little block from table to bin to counter top in my sewing room. When I was cleaning up my sewing room the other day, I remembered that I had bought a couple of 8" square picture frames from Tall Mouse (our CA equivelant to Hobby Lobby stores). I went and searched for where I stashed the frame and look at how perfectly my little stitchery fits inside! I told my sister last night, "Now all I have to do is to find an empty table to display it." Eeegads, it's hard to have so many flaws!!

Wednesday I received block #3 of the BOM I'm doing. I messed up cutting my pink border (flaw, flaw) on block #1 so they were sending me another strip with this month's kit. I still had to piece my border but I didn't care. I figure when it's quilted, no one will notice and if they do, I'll kick them out of my house. LOL So I finished block #1 and sewed it to block #2. This is going to be such a pretty quilt!! I don't what came over me with this one. I don't drink tea, I don't have pink anywhere in my house and I'm don't usually like sparkly. I folded under pressure from Robin, Peggy and Michelle!!!!

This is a peek of my project I'm finishing up for Joyce, my Brown Bag Buddy. I got the binding on last night but I think it might need a little bit of embellishment. I used my Juki to quilt it and it's been a while since I've quilted anything. I marked some parts first so I might do it a little more even.

Since it's a smaller project, I just signed the back. I need to get a new marker. This one was a little bit dry.

My girls are having a yard sale at our house tomorrow. I hope to get some sewing done and put out some Fall decorations. Hope you have a nice weekend.

Cute lil' birdie!

My friend Angela participated in the Pincushion Swap we did on the Yahoo groups site, Backporch Friends. I have gotten some really cute pincushions and I'll share a picture of them once I have them all out to swap. In the box she sent was a gift for me of this cute-as-a-button birdie helper.

Look at what a little gem she is! Her little basket is filled with teeny tiny little scissors, a red thimble, a needle threader and a pack of needles. ALL THAT in that little basket that probably measures one inch!!! Angela makes some lovely Raggedy Ann dolls and lots of prim deco stuff that she sells on Etsy so if you're ever needing something that looks like it was in the dirt and then got run over (LOL), she's the gal to call! ;o)
She has been going through medical treatments so if you said a little prayer for her, that would sure help send some blessings her way!

We got tickets to another Angel game last night. My husband works with a guy who is a season ticket holder with GREAT seats. This was our second game in five days....for free! On Saturday, a neighbor we haven't seen in years knocked on our door with tickets he was trying to give away. They were in the nose-bleed section and it was HOT up there but it was still fun to be at the ball park. It cooled off for about five minutes yesterday!!! LOL We had nice temps of about 80 degrees so it was a great night with great seats. And the Angels won 5-0!! Whoohoo.....c'mon championships and playoffs!!!

I finished the little stitchery I started for my Brown Bag Buddy, Joyce, after we got home from the game. (I can't show you in case she's peeking!) hehe Then I got in my stash and pulled out some fabrics for borders.

In Joyce's brown bag, was the fabric on the right, the kind of gray-blue snowflakes. I pulled out some Christmas fabrics and found a cute Thimbleberries print that I thought would work perfect. I wrote Joyce and asked her if I "needed" to use her fabric. LOL She said "No, surprise me!" So what do you think? The three on the right, or the three on the left???