Back to The Shop

Looks like I need to take my Janome 6600 back to the shop.  It's not working right since I got it back a week ago from being repaired.  Look at those microscopic stitches!  And they are not consistant, some a bit bigger but mostly teeny tiny.  My little portable Janome has been my best friend lately.  All I can say is really good thing I don't need to do any quilting anytime soon.

More Ribbon Organization

This idea for cut pieces of ribbon too long to throw away but left un-organized can turn into a big mess.  I got this idea from Pinterest. The picture I saw used the other style of clothespins but this is what I had in the way of clothespins and it works.  I put them in a little basket, not only do they look better but I should be able to find a ribbon I need much easier as well.  Don't you just love Pinterest?  Me too!  I ♥ polka dots too as you can tell.

Ribbon Idea

I wondered around in Target for like an hour today trying to figure out an idea for organizing my ribbon. Came up with this idea. It's a toilet paper roll holder.

The arm of it for holding the TP works great to hold my Jelly Roll strips for my current Cross My Heart block project.

Basket

I made this cute basket for a friend for her birthday which was May 1st.  My friend who I've worked with for 30 years retired on her birthday - May 1st.  She loves to crochet so when I saw this free pattern by Fish Creek Studio I knew it would be perfect for her crochet stuff.  The pattern used Comma fabric and I liked that so I used that fabric too.  The pieced portion was made with a mini charm pack and used every piece of fabric.  I love how it turned out and my friend loved it too which always makes me happy.  If you like this basket you can make one too, go here for the tutorial.

Changed It Up

I already changed my blocks. That's one good thing about them being on a design wall, I can step back and really see if I like the layout. Like it much better now. Looks like I'm ready to sew my blocks together.  Please forgive the darkness of this photo, I took it with my cell phone and didn't adjust the colors like I did in the first photo that I took with my camera.


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Gentle Art Blocks

This is my first time using my new design wall.  It works great for the Schnibbles!  I got my 25 Gentle Art blocks done today.  Arranged them on the design wall, re-arrange, step back think about it, re-arrange again.  I think this placement is okay.  The fabric I'm using is Petite Odile by French General. I had a couple charm packs and they seemed like they would work out fine for this Gentle Art pattern.  May leave it like this or I might change those two bottom right blocks with each other. 

Color Block Pouches

Color Block Pouches is the name of the pattern that I used for these cute little zipper bags. The pattern is by V and Co.  I like the linen fabric on the top, the print on the bottom and the zipper matching the fabrics.  This is a fun little birthday gift for my SIL's birthday which was yesterday.  I'm a bit late with getting it completed and mailed off to her.  Guess it will be stretching out her birthday longer.  I had fun making these little bags.  

Scrap Basket Sunday

For my Scrap Basket Sunday I used a quilt block that I made a while back and wasn't using for anything. I used it to make this pincushion.  I like to have a pincushion in the drawer in my sewing room to put needles with thread.  Sometimes I hand stitch something like the opening of a lining in a tote bag or a hole in a dog toy and there's lots of thread left on the needle. I don't want to throw it away so I just keep it on the needle and stick in the pincushion to use later.  Also, sometimes you need to sew something quickly and it's nice to have the needle already threaded and ready to go.  I bought these nice Teak wood drawer organizers about a week ago at Bed, Bath and Beyond or as I call it the Way Beyond store (that's a joke from the movie Click with Adam Sandler.)

Turned out to be a cute little pincushion. I filled it with walnut shells and still had left over thread on that needle so there you go, I have a spot for that needle now.

I recently organized my drawers in the sewing room, they were in bad need of it.  Much better!

Here's the outside of my cheapie drawer unit. I covered the wood fronts with fabric and put on new drawer pulls.  I love how it turned out.

A Couple More Things

I meant to tell you about the background fabric I used for my mini spool quilt I posted about yesterday. The mini quilt size, by the way, is 17 1/2" square.  The Liberty Love book also shows the spools sewn up into a full size quilt which is really awesome.  

Anyway back to the background fabric.  As you can see in the picture it's a bunch of words about the making of a quilt.  The fabric by Robert Kaufman is called Architextures.  It's really fun.  I bought it in black with white letters too.

This ruler fabric is from the fabric line: Sewing Seeds by Quilting Treasures.  It is also available in Black & Red.

Mini Thread Spool Quilt

Isn't this so cute? Well I think it is. I love this thread spool pattern from the book Liberty Love. The ruler fabric for the border is perfect for a spool quilt.  I picked it up as a fat quarter when I was at a quilt shop in Colorado - Mama Said Sew.  Don't know the name of the fabric or designer but I'm sure it could be figured out with a Google search.  I cut all of the fabric out for this quilt about a month ago and just now got around to sewing it together.  Thanks for visiting. I hope all of you are having a nice Saturday. 


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Sewing Stuff

I got this awesome book in the mail today, Camille's new book, love it! I had pre-ordered this book from Amazon but it wasn't going to arrive until June and I noticed it was out now for purchase. So, I cancelled my Amazon order and ordered from Camille's Etsy shop.

And this is one reason why. So cool to have an autographed copy.  The quilts in this book are very cool. 

Other sewing news:  My Janome 6600 had to go to the shop for  service. I broke the lever for raising and lowering the presser foot. They said it would take about 3 weeks because they have to order the part. It's ok because I have my little portable Janome.  But can I quilt with it? I've never tried and I have a signature quilt that I need to quilt for a co-worker who is retiring on May 24th.  I would have quilted it by hand if necessary.  Today I tried out that wiggly zig-zag stitch that I've seen done on several blogs, Nicole from Sister's Choice Quilts is one of them.  The wiggly zig-zag is a long stretched out zig-zag to become a nice little wavy line.  I played around with the stitches on Baby Janome today and figured it out, yay.  I tried it on a scrap of fabric sandwiched with batting and it looks pretty good.  I'm so happy about that, you have no idea how much.  

Thanks again for stopping by for a visit.  I do my best to write back to you when you comment but if I don't get time please don't take offense. I enjoy each comment and I'm happy to have you visiting my blog to see what silly thing I'm writing about.

Mod Runner

I finished hand quilting this table runner a few days ago and threw it in the wash yesterday. This is a nice table runner pattern designed by Sherri McConnell and can be found in her book A Quilting Life.  I'm giving this as a gift to my Sister Jeannie who is having a birthday in about a week.  My idea for this table runner started with the purchase of the plates in the center with the silhouettes of birds and bird houses.  A nice little combo for my gift.  I think she will like it.  Now to ship it without those plates breaking.

Here's a close up picture of the hand quilting.

What! You want to see Buster.  Ok, here's your Buster fix.  He's so cute.  Happy Sunday Everyone.  Oh, notice my new kitchen chairs that Buster is sitting on.  Garage sale yesterday, 4 chairs for $30, a great deal.

Design Wall

I actually have a design wall.  I always thought there was no room for a design wall in my sewing room but then I found a tutorial called Making a Design Wall For Any Space by Oh, Fransson!  Great idea for how to make this design wall so I gave it a go.  Using foam board from Home Depot and Warm & Natural batting and a staple gun.  My husband actually had an extra piece of the foam board that he used for insulation for his Willys Wagon that he just finished fixing up.  The foam board was 48" wide so we kept that size and cut the other direction 37".  Then I just stretched the batting around the board and stapled with a staple gun.  

I don't have a current project that I need to use my new design board for so I put up some Farmer's Wife blocks.  I didn't think I would like a design wall but it's kinda cool, I think I'll get good use out of it.

Large-Block Quilts Winner

Thanks to everyone who visited my blog for Vickie's Large-Block Quilts book tour.  And thank you so much for your nice compliments on my quilt.  I guess I'm not good at following directions as I'm the only one who made an entire quilt not just a quilt block.  Well, the Stretched Stars pattern just wouldn't have had the same impact with only doing one block and also I just wanted to challenge myself to finish the quilt.

Anyway without further delay here is the winner for a copy of Vickie's book Large-Block Quilts:

Sew Cindy


Cindy sure is a lucky girl.  I hope you will enjoy this book Cindy.

Hat Trick

Here's my April Schnibbles quilt Hat Trick.  Turned out to be Patriotic but didn't start off that way.  My original idea was a Beach Theme. I have some novelty fabric with Beach Houses that I was going to use for the center solid squares. It didn't look bad that way but didn't have the wow factor either, just wasn't doing anything for me so I changed the solid background fabric to a fabric I had with stars and matched well with my 9-patch colors. It's Patriotic and it's cute and so is little Buster helping me out with my photo on our front porch.  I barely had enough day light left for this photo.  Did you notice that I added an additional 9-patch block to the center? Adds just the right touch.

If you are visiting to check on the winner for the book Large-Block Quilts, come back tomorrow and I'll announce the winner.

Vintage Sewing with Vintage Modern

I decided to give my Vintage Singer 99 sewing machine a try today.  First I checked out YouTube to find out how to wind a bobbin and thread the machine.  Figured that out and thought I would actually sew something.  I made 5 of my Cross My Heart blocks that I'm making with the book Scrap Basket Beauties.  Since the edge of the sewing machine foot would have been a pretty narrow seam, I eyeballed it by extending my fabric to the right about 1/8".  It turned out pretty well I think.  I'm not sure how often I'll sew with this machine but it works and of course I love the nice Vintage look  of it in my sewing room.

Since I didn't get any sewing done yesterday for Scrap Basket Sunday at least I got a few blocks made today.  I know the fabric for my blocks are not from a scrap basket but since I'm using the book Scrap Basket Beauties I'm going with that for Scrap Basket Sunday.

Large-Block Quilts - My Day

Hooray it's my blog tour day. I'm so excited to be included in Vickie's blog tour for her new book Large-Block Quilts.  We only needed to make one block for the tour but I wanted to make the whole quilt.  I used the pattern called Stretched Stars.  It's a perfect pattern for my fabric of choice, Glamping. I love the Glamping fabrics, so bright and cute and I love the retro trailers cause we're into camping in our tear drop trailer.  The gray fabric is from Riley Blake called Little Red Riding Hood. It's perfect with little aqua, red and pink flowers.

This was a fun quilt to make. The book suggests using a design wall and I can see how that would be very helpful for this pattern.  Since I don't have a design wall in my sewing room I just lay out my fabric pieces on my "design floor" in my bedroom.

Anyway back to the quilt. It's a nice size quilt finishing at 64 1/2" square.  Great for snugging on the couch or perfect for a picnic quilt.  The blocks are 16" finished.  Sixteen blocks and no border makes for a nice quilt.  I do like the ease of no border and it looks great like that too.  I just did easy Quilt in the Ditch quilting as I was on a mission to get this quilt all completed for my blog tour today.

We have pine trees in our back yard so I figured it was a perfect setting for my Glamping quilt. I'm using my pink camping chair, the only thing I have that is anywhere near glamping.  My cute little dogs are helping me with my photos.  They took such cute pictures I decided to use both of them.  Betty is in the chair and Buster is in the other photo next to the chair.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog for my blog tour day.  How would you like to win one of these books for yourself?  Just leave a comment and a winner will be chosen at the end of the blog tour on Tuesday, April 30th.

Here's the list again of the blog tour participants. Visit A Spoonful of Sugar tomorrow or go back and visit ones you might have missed.

4/20 Me! Vickie Eapen www.spunsugarquilt.com

4/21 Me & My Sister http://www.meandmysisterdesigns.com/blog/

4/22 Natalia Bonner http://www.pieceandquilt.com

4/23 Kathy Brown http://theteacherspet.typepad.com/theteacherspet/

4/24 Jen W http://misspunkiepie.blogspot.com/

4/25 Carol Lewis http://carolscraftblog.blogspot.com/

4/26 A Spoonful of Sugar http://www.aspoonfulofsugardesigns.com/

4/27 Kate Spain http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.com/

4/28 Stefanie R. http://littleladypatchwork.blogspot.com

4/29 Stitch This! Martingale’s blog http://blog.shopmartingale.com/

Singer 99

I bought this antique Singer 99 sewing machine.  It's 1934.  I think it's cool but silly me I can't figure out how to turn it on.  If anyone is familiar with this type of machine, let me know where the power switch is.  The book which is a PDF says turn it on . . . .  blah, blah, blah.  Okie dokie but I can't find the on/off switch.  The light works.  Wish it would have come with the Bentwood Box, maybe I should have shopped around more.  It looks cool.  If I figure out how to use it I'll let you know, otherwise it will end up being a sewing room decoration.

Update: Duh . . . My husband showed me that way back when, sewing machines didn't have on/off switches, just press the foot petal.  I did not know that. Guess you learn something everyday.

Happy Sunday

I didn't get a chance to do Scrap Basket Sunday today.  I was busy finishing up a sewing project for a blog tour that I'm in for Vickie's new book Large-Block Quilts.  Vickie is from Spun Sugar Quilts, but I'm sure you knew that, right. See the list below for each day of the blog tour.  Each day you'll get to see fun quilt blocks from this book and get a chance to win a copy for yourself.  My day is Thursday April 25th, I hope you will stop by and see what I've made from this book.

4/20 Me! Vickie Eapen www.spunsugarquilt.com

4/21 Me & My Sister http://www.meandmysisterdesigns.com/blog/

4/22 Natalia Bonner http://www.pieceandquilt.com

4/23 Kathy Brown http://theteacherspet.typepad.com/theteacherspet/

4/24 Jen W http://misspunkiepie.blogspot.com/

4/25 Carol Lewis http://carolscraftblog.blogspot.com/

4/26 A Spoonful of Sugar http://www.aspoonfulofsugardesigns.com/

4/27 Kate Spain http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.com/

4/28 Stefanie R. http://littleladypatchwork.blogspot.com

4/29 Stitch This! Martingale’s blog http://blog.shopmartingale.com/

Polka Dot Stitches

I received a fun package in the mail today.  A fat quarter bundle that I won from Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet.  Polka Dot Stitches fabric is so cute.  Buster's pretty cute too.

A Real Scrap Basket Sunday

Today I did a scrappy quilt on Scrap Basket Sunday. Usually I just do quilt blocks for a pattern in the book Scrap Basket Beauties.  I did do that too and I'll show you a photo but first I want to show a small quilt that I made with my Patriotic scraps.  I made this whole quilt today.  The pattern is a Schnibbles pattern called Four Corners.  I didn't want to add a border, like it fine like it is with just the 16 blocks. This was a fun little quilt that sewed up fast. I also just did easy peasy quilting.  I still need to hand stitch the binding and I'll probably do that later this evening. Oh, my silly dogs wouldn't help me with my quilt photo because they are scared of the binding clips.

I just had to find time to make my Cross My Heart blocks for this weekend.  I made 10 blocks.  This has been a busy sewing day today, fun busy ya know.  Meanwhile my laundry needs folding and I need to go to the grocery store.  I hope you had a nice Sunday.

Happy Saturday

Hello and thanks again for stopping by my blog for a visit.  I had a nice birthday, thank you so much for your birthday wishes.  Thought you would like to see my birthday gifts.

My friend Nancy made me this beautiful quilt. Love this friendship star pattern of Camille's.  This is just lovely with the civil war fabrics for the stars on a nice cream color background. Thank you so much Nancy, I love it!

Notice the quilting, so pretty.

My good friend Mary from Quilt Hollow made me this mini quilt, so nice with the Baptist Fan pattern. I really like the look of the Baptist Fan.  Thanks Mary.  She also sent a very cute apron with Cherries that I forgot to take a photo of.  Thanks Mary.

I got a couple gift cards from the Fat Quarter Shop which is totally awesome. Along with using them I took advantage of their free shipping promotion.  I got this Fat Eights bundle of Boho. Nice!

I bought a Jr. Jelly Roll of the Taupe color Bunny Hill Windsor Lane and I got a little Riley Blake Jelly Roll of Ladybug Garden.  I also bought some yardage of Vintage Modern to use for the border of my Cross My Heart quilt that I'm making with Scrap Basket Sunday.

My friend Nancy also got me this book.  There's lots of stories that I will read sometime soon.  Thanks Nancy, so nice of you to get this book for me.

This red basket quilt is the main reason I wanted this book.  This would be lovely on the wall in my living room behind the couch.

This pattern is nice too. It would be great in 30's fabrics.

Love this too as a table topper maybe in the bedroom.

I got a few gift cards.  Looks like I'm all set for Starbucks.  My husband said the iTunes can be used for other things besides music; it can be used for books or magazines too so that gives me options.

My sister Kate sent me this insulated lunch bag with my name on it and the tin buckets that she thought would be cute in the sewing room.  Her card was so cute "What to get for the girl who has everything".

This is the table from my husband for my birthday that I had in my newly remodeled bathroom but then decided it was too big for the bathroom so I moved it to the hall.  I put a smaller cabinet in the bathroom that works better in there. I could not get a decent picture of this table, I tried several times. I think because it's a dark table and I could get a good angle.  Anyway, it has that shelf on the bottom good for displaying something like the flower pot and a drawer under the shelf for whatever.

Went out to dinner on my birthday to a steakhouse called Black Angus, got a coupon from them in my email for a free steak dinner with purchase of a steak dinner.  So it was cheaper for us with mine being free. This is what my husband had for dinner, he really enjoyed it. This steakhouse is only in the Western states of Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, California and Alaska. They also brought over a free dessert. We were so stuffed.

Earlier that day at work my co-workers took me out to lunch to a place called Firebirds.  I had a BLT salad which is so good, that's what I get all the time there.  It was awesome because nearly our whole department came to lunch, there were 10 of us, it was really nice.  Again, this is a restaurant not countrywide but I did notice they are in North Carolina so Mary could give it a try sometime.

The next day I took a day off from work and my husband and I went to the Phoenix Zoo.  It was too nice of a day not to be outside with only a high of 72.  We had a lovely time walking around the zoo.  Here's one of my better pictures of a cute Squirrel Monkey.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day today doing fun stuff.

Another Birthday

Well I'm officially able in some instances to receive a senior citizens discount. Not that I'm anxious for that mind you but one of my co-workers thought to point that out to me yesterday on my 55th Birthday. 

I'm actually fine with my age, I know I don't look that old. Well, except for the grayish/silverish/blondish hair but what can you do about these things, right.

I made myself these lemon cupcakes the other day. The black polka dot cups, so cute, are different because they don't need a muffin pan; you just put them on top of a cookie sheet and bake.  Only thing is they aren't as easy to eat as the typical cupcake wrappers, you have to tear them off which can be messy with the frosting.  I found them at Home Goods.  

So, I was thinking in honor of my birthday that I would give a gift to one of my followers.  I randomly picked one and the lucky friend/follower is: Sew Cindy.

Here's a nice little blog description taken from Sew Cindy's blog:
I've been sewing since I was able to thread a needle. Creating garments, home decor, quilts and Christmas ornaments is just "Sew Cindy". Somehow the years have passed with laughter, tears, pets, two great kids (and one in Heaven) and now two wonderful grandchildren. I have the sewing room of my dreams, the sewing machines of my dreams and a "space" to call my own. Simply put - I love family and I love sewing.

Congrats Cindy.  Email me your mailing address and I'll send you something fun.  Only thing is you must promise to post about your prize cause everyone will want to know the fun little gift you got.

Have a nice day everyone!

Scrap Basket Sunday

Here's my blocks for Scrap Basket Sunday. My idea of scrap basket is doing a quilt from the book Scrap-Basket Beauties. The pattern I'm doing is called Cross My Heart and the fabric is Vintage Modern.

Even though I'm not using scraps I am using a Jelly Roll from my stash.

I made 30 blocks this time. You can get 5 blocks from 1 Jelly Roll strip and 1 strip 1 1/2" wide of background fabric.

Happy Sunday Everyone.

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Lots of Sewing

I've done lots of sewing lately, feels great.  On Sunday I spent a good portion of the day cutting out fabric for different projects.  I also made this cute mini quilt last weekend.  I wanted it to have a vintage look so I used just the neutral fabrics in 3 mini charm packs that I had of Moda La Belle Fleur by French General. I really like how it turned out.  I have it on a small table in my newly remodeled bathroom.

My husband suggested I pull the shower curtain to the other side to be able to move the table closer to the bathtub and save space.  I think I will get some cream color towels and put them on that bottom shelf.

I got lots of other sewing done too.  I made this cute lime green, black and white table runner for my sister's birthday which is in May so I have time for the quilting. I used a pattern in Sherri's new book, A Quilted Life.  This table runner sewed up so fast and I think it looks great.  See that little rack of plates in the center, that was my inspiration for the colors used in the table runner, matches perfectly.  The fabric I used is called Cherry Fizz by Barbara Jones of Quiltsoup. The plates are so cute with silhouettes of birds and birdhouses. I got the plates at Home Goods.

I made lots of half-square triangles for a project I'm doing with Glamping fabric, no photo, but wanted to throw that in there of my sewing accomplishments.

And, last but not least, I got a quilt top sewn together except for the piano key border for a Schnibbles quilt I've wanted to make for a long time called Jacks.  The fabric is Avalon.  When I sewed the squares together for this quilt last evening I did something I rarely do, I totally randomly sewed them together. I usually want to think and re-think things. Then when I was laying it out for sewing the rows together I ended up with a couple places of red touching red but decided not to worry about it because over-all it looks pretty good.