Cleaning out the spare bedroom...

....And I ran across these in the hope chest.  Its funny how we forget what we have.   These are some baby quilts I made back last year.  I brought them out to air out for awhile.

This was the first quilt that I tried free motion on.  Okay its not great but not bad.

 Made this guy with the help of EQ and resizing a pattern I found in a magazine.

I love this fabric.  It was left over from a class at a LQS. 

Modabakeshop pattern that I tweeked a little.

Went for a walk today

I love nature, the spring time is the best.  So much to see, everything is new .
This is the trail leading to the pond.  We've have geese that come back every year to have babies.  We checked on her two days ago and she was still on the nest, but today.....

The whole family out for a stroll.  How cute!  Daddy didn't like me being there and acted like he was gonna come after me, so  I high tailed it out of there!  Being bite my a goose isn't on my top ten list of things to do on a stroll.

The brigde that leads to the wild flower patch.  Which right now is the weed patch.  Hopefully it does better later in the year.

Clematis on the pergola.

I have no idea what this is, found it laying on the ground.  I'm pretty sure its a bloom from a tree I just don't know which one.

Finished the Strawberry Twirl quilt top

 This quilt went together fairly quick even though I had some problems with the inset triangles.  After EQ 7 failing to allow me to have full sashing squares at the border.  I went out and bought this calculator with a Joanns coupon 40% off!  Great buy!  It basically does all that EQ can to but I can stick it in my purse and never has to ask the sales gal again how much fabric I need.  And it can figure out those quilting math problems that sometimes take me hours. 

Now on the lighter side of things.  See what happens when the critters get mad at you for not having bird seed in the feeder.  I'm thinking that it wasn't a bird that threw this on the ground....Squirrel..maybe...Raccoon.....more than likely!  They have already broken one squirrel proof feeder and are now working on this one.  Just part of the fun of living in Podunk! 

First harvest for 2012

Well aint she pretty!  Me and honey will be fighting over who gets this in a salad tonight!  Since he picked it maybe he should get to eat it!  If it last till supper....HEHE!

Worked on the new quilt top for a little while today.  So do you think it needs borders?  I was thinking 2 borders, one solid and then a larger border with print.  Boy you can really see the cheap muslin.  I've a whole bolt of this muslin that was a gift from an older(81yrs old) quilter.  She loved this stuff, raved about it and then gave me a whole bolt.  Come to think of it all the fabric in this quilt was free. 

I won a book!

While checking out the new blogs at the Quilting Gallery . I stumbled across a new quilt blog that caught my eye.  Just so happens she was having a book give away .  So I joined her site and left a comment not expecting to win.  Well it was my lucky day!  If you get a chance you should hop on over to Amanda's blog and take a look at her lovely site.  Oh as soon as I finish this book I intend to give it away here on my blog!  So keep an eye out I'm a fast reader.

Today I spent the day working on my Strawberry shortcake quilt.  On point settings are new to me so it gave me a little trouble when I came to the edges of the quilt.  But with a little help from my seam ripper we managed to get it half pieced.



Back to Normal

My  little house guest has returned home.  While here I told myself no sewing but I couldn't manage not doing a little.  I made her this little bag for her DVD's.  Its not perfect but she didn't care, she thought it was the best little bag in the world.  I also made her a little play skirt but forgot to take a picture.

The two fabrics I used for this bag worked out so well I decided to make a quilt out of the remnants.
As soon as I get the top finished I'll post the entire quilt. But in the meantime heres a little snippet of the blocks.

I attempted to make a modern quilt.  Totally out of my comfort zone.  Sometimes you're better off not stepping outside the box.     Even if its not the best modern it still was a great canvas for quiting, so it wasnt a total loss.    Maybe this one should go on the wall for way to much quilting.  14 bobbins of thread!       How about the name of Bubblegum and Butterflies? 

Its nice to have a house guest that cooks!

No sewing for me for a few days.  Yep its a little bit of a bummer, but having a youngen in the house is nice too.  She just a living doll that never stops talking.  Remember Chatty Cathy?  Well this is the real life version!   I had forgotten how much energy little ones have.  

Such a pretty block

But its not mine.  Hop on over here for the free download.  Its block 3 of a BOM 2012.  By far this is one of my favorite blogs to visit.  Erin does such lovely work and loves to share her techniques and patterns. 

Nature walk

We've quite the nature reserve here.  Today we cleaned out the bluebird houses.  This little guy was one bad egg.  The sparrows had already started building a nest on top of the vacant bluebird nest.  We cracked it open to see what was so bad and it wasn't worth the picture...YUK!

Then I found this pretty patch of wild flowers.  Never seen this red flower before!  Anyone know its name?

Tools of the trade?

We all have scissors, rulers and cutters.  But are you constantly steeling from the garage?  These are a few of the "Odd Balls" in my sewing room.

1.  Carpentars apron-  great for little scissors, thread clippings and small screw drivers. 

2.  Small screw driver, and a ratching screw driver- these are easier for my hands to handle.  Those Barbie drivers they give you with your machine are in the toy box. 

3.  Razor knife- used for cutting mylar templates

4. Needle nose plyers- great for geating loose threads out of tricky areas in my sewing machine.

5. 400 grit sand paper- Every once in awhile I get a burr on my hook and race assembly.  Rather than take it to the shop for an $80 charge, I sand off the burr  myself.

6. Small paint brushes- removes lint from the bobbin area

7.The long "T" is an Allen wrench- my machine has tons of allen head screws ad this "t" wrench gives me the leverage I need. 

8. Cotton swabs- oiling the bobbin casing and race.

9. Dental hook- Makes threading the closed thread guides so much easier(works really well with sergers.)

10. Flashlight- for checking the backside of my quilt while still on the frame.

What strange tools do you have in your sewing space?

I need this fabric!

Okay so maybe need is a strong word.  I want it I love it!  To much fabric is a bad thing.  Last year I put myself on a fabric budget.  No buying unless its needed.  The thing is I seem to need alot.  Nothing in my home would match this fabric, so I would have to redecorate in order to make it work.  All of her lines have such a springy feel to them.  And I have yet to buy one piece of her fabric. She also has a great line of patterns and books to compliment her fabrics.  Stop by her site and check out her simple but so cute patterns here.

Well I'm going a little over board on this one, I just can't help myself.  Love affair with feathes and swirls.  Don't look to close or you see tons of cross overs.  Bonding with this frame is not coming naturally.  All in all I'm please so far. 

Red Snappers Arrived

If you are still pinning your quilt to your leaders you should consider purchasing these.  It cut my loading time down to 15 minutes.  Some of my friends use zippers and then pick stitches.  I'm liking the snap and go, snap and done!  I also order a new curved ruler for arches and swags, cross hatching.  

I had to try them out right now, so this a quilt top that I made last year.  It was my attempt at a modern quilt with some scraps.  Not sure I pulled it off but it has alot of open space for custom quilting with my new frame.  And the plus side is I'll have a young girl house quess this month that can use the quilt!

I had a Birthday!

 A good friend sent me these lovely flowers for my Birthday.  Aren't they goregeous!  I must admit though I had to play a little April Fools joke on her.  Well being that my birthday is April Fools it's a must.  Time to turn the tables.  My entire life has been a joke...LOL!  So when they arrived I called her to let her know that they were the ugliest, wilted, brown on the edges flowers I had ever gotten. APTRIL FOOLS! Of course only after she offered to send them back and give the floral shop a good lashing...HEHE!  Love you Connie, thanks for being a great gulable friend. 

So you have to treat yourself when its your birthday and, I did.  But the joke was on me this time. Instant karma I suppose.  When my self bought birthday package arrived it was not in good shape.   

After examing everything in the boxes(3 total, one in good shape) it all came together like magic.  Magic takes a week and one stiff neck.  I feel like I've been kicked in the neck by a mule but I love my new frame!  She glides along smoothly, allowing me nice rounded feathers.   Theres still alot to do.  Cleaning up the mess that you can't see behind the camera.  Hanging up my rolls of batting.  No time for that I just wanna play with my new toy.  Still waiting on my Red Snappers, they should be here later in the week.