Tonight is Friday Night with Friends

Hello!  :)

Tonight is the monthly "Friday Night with Friends". I just signed up to participate. I kept meaning to all week but kept getting side-tracked per usual. Right now it's 5:45pm here in California so I'd better be getting my Friday night fun started.  :)

I finally made it out and about today and got the fabric I need for the boy's Super Mario Quilt borders.

That's what I'll be working on tonight. I'll be cutting the fabric for the borders and sewing them on. Hopefully at the end of the night I'll have a completed quilt top! Keep your fingers crossed that nothing gets in my way.  ;)  I'm hoping to have time to cut and get the binding ready to go as well since I got the fabric for it too. I'll be back to tomorrow to show you my results. Hope you have something fun planned tonight as well. And for all my friends out there . . . I'm here sewing along with you all!  ;)

Until next time . . .

I Can't Believe it!

Hello!  :)

Yesterday I worked on my Vintage Holiday quilt some more. I managed to get the sashing and the borders done. Do you know what that means??? That means I have a finished quilt top!!!!   :)

I can't believe I finished it so quickly! I'm really happy with how it came out!  :)  It really came together pretty quick. I've never finished a quilt this fast before. This is my first Christmas quilt and will be for me and my family. As you can see by the picture I was sandwiching it together with the batting and backing. I actually have it all pinned and ready to quilt. I will be hand quilting this with some red and white perle cotton. It will take a little while though as today I've started working on another quilt. I'll share more about that another day. I do plan on having this finished in the next week or two though.  :)

Until next time . . .

What I Did on My Friday Night Sew-In

Hello!  :)

Did you notice the title of this post? It kind of reminds me of the infamous, "What I did on my summer vacation" from my school days of long ago. Do you remember those stories we had to write about what we did?

Anywho . . . last night I participated in the Friday Night Sew-In

I had the chance to work on my Vintage Holiday quilt with that awesome Dear Mr. Claus fabric I shared with you yesterday.

I sat down to start the night off with that pile of prepped fabric. I couldn't believe I was actually prepped and ready to go (a rare occurrence for me).  ;)

The night started out well and keep going pretty darn good. I managed to get all 12 blocks done! Yea! It was a long night but I really enjoyed watching them come together. I had a couple little hiccups here and there but nothing major (thank God!).  :)  I even added a little bit of rick-rack to some of the ornaments for that extra little touch. Here are Blocks 1 & 2 . . .

Blocks 3 & 4 . . .

Blocks 5 & 6 . . .

Blocks 7 & 8 . . .

Blocks 9 & 10 . . .

and the last ones . . . Blocks 11 & 12 . . .

I'd say it was a pretty productive night!  :)  When I purchased the fabric for the quilt I couldn't afford to get the backing I wanted from the same line. I figured I'd see if I had something I could use or pick up something less expensive. Yesterday JoAnn's had their "Holiday Inspirations" Christmas fabric for 65% off (for one day only) so I went to see if they had something that I could use for the backing. I found a great fabric that doesn't match perfectly with the fabrics on the front but does match perfectly with the binding fabric. I got 4-1/2 for only $15.75 (that's only $3.50 per yard). Now that's a deal! Here it is . . .

What do you think? I really love it! It's called "Candy Cane Snowflakes" by Beth Logan. It's a pretty thick fabric and not paper thin like some fabrics from JoAnn's are. Doesn't it look great with the striped binding I'm using?

I had a great Friday Night Sew-In! I hope you did too! Thank you Heidi and Bobbi for hosting! You're the best!  :)

Well I'd better get going so I can work on the quilt some more. Maybe I can finish the top today and start cutting another one. All I have left for this one is the sashing, and borders. They should go together pretty quickly. I'll probably go ahead and get the binding ready to go too since it's already cut. Wish me luck!  :)

Until next time . . .

My Favorite Things is All Done!!!!!!!! :)

Hello!  :)

Yes it's DONE!!!! I'm soooo happy! I absolutely LOVE the way it tuned out!!!!  :)  Here it is . . .

And the back (not that you can see much - well maybe if you enlarge it) . . .

I tried to take a close up picture of the hand quilting but you really can't see too much.

In the borders I stitched four-petal flowers in every other square with a loop in between with white. In the strip sections I stitched larger four-petal flowers with 2 loops between with white. Four the blocks I outline stitched them in red and used white to outline all the shapes in the blocks. As for the smaller block sections between them I stitched one, two or three, five-petal flowers on some of the larger squares using yellow for the centers and either red, pink, blue, or dark blue for the petals. Here it is all folded up . . .

And one last peek at all that Pam Kitty Morning goodness! I love that fabric and it really made this quilt a treasure for me.  :)

I stitched this as part of a Stitch-A-Long over at http://stitch-a-long.blogspot.com/. Be sure to go there to check out some of the other girls quilts. Thanks for sharing in this experience with me. It's actually the first quilt I finished for myself. Yes, it's mine! All mine!!!!  ;)

Until next time . . .

Friday Night Sew In & More

Hello!  :)

Well . . . I didn't really accomplish what I planned for my Friday Night Sew-In this month.  :(

The design I ended up putting on my "My Favorite Things" quilt border ended up taking quite a bit longer to quilt than I thought it would. Oh well . . . that's the way it goes sometimes. I ended up loving how it turned out though and that's all that matters!  :)  On Friday I ended up running a lot of errands so I didn't get much done that day. When the night rolled around I sat and stitched more on the border. On Saturday I sat and stitched more and the border. On Sunday I finally finished the border quilting! Yea! I got the binding cut, sewed on and pinned today. Tonight I plan on sitting and stitching the binding down to finish it off. I don't know how long it will take but I don't care. I love it! I can't wait until I'm finished. Here's a small sneak peek . . .

Now no more peeks until I completely finish it. You'll just have to wait!  ;)

I can finally show you the blocks I made last week for my monthly block swap. Here's the one for August that I made for my partners. The theme was camping.

I got my inspiration from My Sew Sweet Studios blog (just scroll down a little to see her camper). I made the same block for myself but with the camper in colors just for me.  :)

The second block was for September. The theme was school.

I love how this one turned out!  :)

Thanks for your patience with me and showing you my projects. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow to show you my finished quilt! The deadline to finish is October 31st so I'm really cutting it close.

Until next time . . .

The Weekend Update :)

Hello!  :)

I have a little update for my "My Favorite Things" quilt.

Did you notice I said "little"? The only thing I've done this last week on the quilt is to order more of the blue polka dot Pam Kitty Morning fabric for the binding. (I told you it was a "little" progress... lol!) I ordered it from The Quilting Bug on Thursday night. It shipped Friday and arrived Saturday! How's that for great service?!!!  :)  Here it is . . .

Did you notice I also ordered more of the fabrics from the same line? The white one on the left is more of the same I already had. The others to the right are all new ones that I didn't have before. Aren't they awesome?!!! Believe it or not there's still more that I don't have yet! I love that fabric line and will be using it on another project that I'll be starting when I finish my "My Favorite Things" quilt. I really need to get started on quilting it but I couldn't on the weekend as everyone was home and I can't lay it out on the floor where everyone needs to walk. I was going to start it today but then the boy stayed home sick. He has pretty bad asthma and when the weather changes it really acts up. Plus he has a cold on top of it. I may have to take him to the doctors tomorrow for some steroids. They're the only thing that relax his bronchial tubes and lungs enough for his normal medicine to be effective when he's sick. I really hate seeing and hearing him struggle to breathe.  :(

Saturday was a great mail day! Not only did I receive the fabric I ordered, but I also receive a couple of patterns and floss that I ordered from 123 Stitch on Thursday as well. I can't show them to you as they're for an exchange. If that wasn't enough yummy mail, I also received a surprise pattern that day from my Blog Buddy Karen of Sew Much 2 Luv! She sent me this awesome pattern . . .

Isn't it adorable! It's so me! She know's me so well!  :)  She didn't even know that this has been on my wish list for a while now. I love it and can't wait to start it! Here's a close up of the pattern . . .

I love it! Thanks so much Karen! You're the bestest!!!!  :)

Since I couldn't work on my quilt this past weekend I worked on a cross stitch swap piece and this Christmas piece for myself . . .

I loved this pattern the first time I saw it! I've had it for a while now but finally got around to starting it. I'm going to make a mini quilt out of it. Sad to say I will have to put it away for a little bit though as I have to finish that swap piece first. I only have a week before I have to mail it out. I hope I get a chance to get started quilting my quilt soon too. I'm hand quilting it so it will take a little while. I definitely have a lot on my plate, but I always do. That's the way I am. I have to keep busy.  :)

Until next time . . .

It's done!

Hello!  :)

I did it! I finished "My Favorite Things" quilt top! Yea!  :)  The pictures suck though . . . sorry! I have a real small area to take them in. I tried really hard to get some good ones with no success. Maybe when I complete the quilt I can talk the hunky dude and the boy into holding it for me. Here's a blurry hanging picture . . .

What do you think? Do you like the borders? I love the color it gives to the quilt. I second guessed myself many times as to whether I should change them or not. The original quilt from the book ("Some Kind of Wonderful" by Anni Downs) looked like this . . .

I decided to bring all the beautiful Pam Kitty Morning prints and colors to the outside of the quilt as well. I just had to. I absolutely LOVE this fabric!!! I already have planned another quilt with the leftovers. I may even get some more as well (I can't help myself!). Here's another picture with it laid out on the floor.

Here's the top half . . .

And the bottom half . . .

Now I need to sandwich, pin, quilt and add the binding. I plan on hand quilting it with the same perle cotton threads I used with the appliques and stitching. I wonder how long that will take? Hummmmm . . . The deadline to complete it is the end of this month. I'm sure I'll make it. I'll be using a red gingham recycled sheet as the backing that goes perfectly, and the Pam Kitty Morning blue polka dot print for the binding. Hopefully I can get this done soon as I want to start on the next quilt and I told myself I can't until I finish this one first. Wish me luck!  ;)

Until next time . . .

My Favorite Things Update!

Hello!  :)

Last week I managed to sew the strips together. I forgot to take pictures of that step but you can see them here . . .

Yes I actually got the rows and strips all sewn together this past weekend.  :)  It's really hard to get a good picture since it's so big. It's even harder when your dog keeps wanting to get in the picture.  ;)

I think he's showing his approval.  ;)  It really could use a few more dog hairs added to it anyway (rolling eyes). Here's a closer view of the top half . . .

And a closer view of the bottom half . . . 

Next step are the borders and then the quilt top will be finished!  :)  The original design called for more of the strips for the borders but I'm going to do something different. Just because I can!  ;)  Stay tuned!  ;)

Until next time . . .