Catching Up

I have not blogged in over a month!  Wow!  In the past month, I have finished two quilts.  One for my dad and one for a friend who was getting married. 

This is the quilt I made for my Dad.  I planned it to match his living room. 

The other quilt, I forgot to take a finished picture of.  :( 

Since I finished these two a few weeks ago, I haven't really done a lot.  I have still been busy with the start of school, Open House, and just getting back in the swing of things. 

This weekend, I decided to start something new.  I bought the Chopsticks pattern a while back as well as the fabric to make it.  I chose to use Fresh Flowers by Deb Strain.  My LQS also had some fabric that coordinated well with it from one of her earlier lines (the yellow). 

I got confused at the cutting table and was missing a fabric.  I chose another blue and not the red.  I planned for the other blue fabric to be in the quilt, but after it was washed, it was a bit too short.  I also realized that I didn't want two blue prints although I loved them both.  I went back and got the red which I think will add a lot to the quilt.  I will just try not to place the red and blue flowers side by side too often. 

I just finished sewing up two of the blocks.  Here is what they look like so far:

  I love this quilt already!  Only 22 more blocks to go.  :) 

Long Time No Blog!

Wow!  It has been a while since I have posted.  Since my last post, we have attended a wedding (P's best friend's wedding to be exact), enjoyed time with family, and started back to school. 

I can not say enough about my class this year.  I am so excited to really get into it in the next few weeks.  They have been wonderful with only a few small conflicts.  :)  They are all precious and sooooo sweet. 

As a late birthday present, P let me order some fabric I have been dying to get. 

Tidbits and Treasures

When I was ordering, jelly rolls were on sale, too.  I couldn't resist buying this Hullabaloo jelly roll. 

Look at that top!  I can't even unwrap it. 

Hullabaloo

I have finished quilting my dad's quilt.  Now I am working on the binding.  This is what I was doing last night.  I love to work on binding while watching my favorite shows.  I chose to bind it using the same brown from the front of the quilt.  Only a side and a half left to go!  It needs to be done by the 9th when I go back home.  I'm sure it will be done.  I calculated last night that this quilt has about 182 straight lines quilted on it.  That's a lot, but it looks great.  I will NEVER quilt lines that close together again!

Now I am working on a very special project for one of my best friends.  She has been asking for years for a blue and brown quilt.  She is getting married in two weeks, and I just started on her quilt.  She also chose blue and brown as the colors for her wedding.  I bought the paisley fabric a few years ago at a quilt show.  My grandmother said she was going to buy it if I wanted it and we ended up buying all that was left on the bolt (because they gave you a % off if you bought it all and it was already 50% off).  I knew that it was going to be used for this special friend, but I debated for a long time on what pattern I wanted to use.  I finally settled on using the Fractured Pinwheels pattern from the book 24 Hour Quilts.  Here are the strips cut into triangles and ready to be sewn back together.    

 Here are the two blocks that will make up the quilt.  I have made 5 blocks.  Only 15 more to go!

  I am loving this quilt and I know that she will love it too!

This afternoon, I will be home alone.  :)  I hope to finish some more quilt blocks as well as work on some seat belt covers to take to family when I go home.  Oh, and another collapsible market tote for my grandmother's birthday.  I love weekends!

What a fun week!

This week has been filled with fun.  A week ago, our new bedroom furniture arrived and we LOVE it!  Before, we had several pieces from different places that we put together to "make it work."  Now, we have a matching set complete with two nightstands.  :)

On Tuesday, I drove to Charleston for the day.  My aunt and cousin were there for a baseball tournament so I went to visit.  We went to the market which is always fun.  We enjoyed some great food and an afternoon of baseball. 

A few weeks ago, one of P's co-workers saw his sandwich wrap and said she wanted one.  She also requested a make up bag that was fairly small, but still large enough to carry essentials.  I found a site with links to many different tutorials and let her chose the bags she liked best.  In the end, I decided to use the tutorial for a Straight Sided Triangular Cosmetic Bag.  The tutorial is okay, but it became a little rough.  I just used what I already knew about making bags (although I am not too good with the zippers).  I made this as a test bag just to see the size. 


This fabric is from the remnants bin at Hobby Lobby

It turned out to be perfect, but I still needed to work on the zipper.  Here is the bag I made for L.  She requested cupcake fabric, and I knew the Michael Miller Cupcake Party would be perfect!  I used Michael Miller Little Hearts for the inside.  These prints work well together. 

Here is her sandwich wrap.  Again with the Cupcake Party and lined with rip-stop nylon to keep sandwiches fresh. 

This turned out cute, but this is the first on I have made from a directional print.  I am not crazy about it because it is right on the flat size, but upside down on the folded side.  It is still cute, though.

I haven't made much progress on the quilt.  I have about 3 other quilts that I need to get started on, but I want to finish this one first.  I just can't find the motivation to do it.  :( 

Only two more weeks of vacation before school starts, but I am ready!
 

Older Completed Projects

Here are some other quilts that I have made.

This baby quilt was made for a co-worker of P's who was having a baby boy.  Needless to say, this family was crazy about the Kentucky Wildcats.

This is a split nine-patch quilt that I made for my cooperating teacher during student teaching.  I gave it to her on my last day.

This is another baby quilt.  It was alsow made using the split nine patch block although it looks nothing like the quilt above.  This quilt was made using only Amy Butler fabric from several different collections.  It has no owner. 

This is a baby quilt that I designed the pattern for myself.  I used the Animal Alphabet fabric collection and a few solids.  This quilt does not have an owner.

I have made two other quilts (that I can think of right now), but I don't have any pictures of them.  They will be coming soon.  They are both very large. 

The Visitor

We will have a visitor tonight and I could not be more excited!  My mom is coming back for a visit this week and I will have her all to myself!  I hope that there is atleast one rainy day this week so that we can go to Savannah and snag some fabric.  Since my birthday is coming up, I hope to be able to buy lots of new stuff.  I also am working on cutting out the dress below (Lisette by Simplicity Passport Dress.  Right now, I am just cutting it out of muslin to test it out and since most other attempts have ended up looking like tents.  I am also hoping my mom will help me construct it and make it fit better since she used to make lots of clothes befor we came along.      

I can not wait for this visit!  :)

What can you make with one yard of fabric?

The book One Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Projects has 101 different projects that use only one yard of fabric!  It has many different things in it from purses to dog beds.  I have had this book for about a year.  I've looked through it several times and even flagged pages of things I wanted to make, but that was as far as it went. One day last week, I discovered that the people at Pink Chalk Fabrics were sewing two projects a week from the book and writing reviews about them.  During a late night, I made a new list of items that I wanted to make. 

Since then, I have crossed two items off my list. 

Dresser Organizer/Charging Station

I made the Charging Station to match our new bedroom colors.  (Oh yeah, we ordered new bedroom furniture and can't wait to get it in!)  Our new comforter is red and I think we are going to stick with tan as an accent color.  I made the inside with a tan and made the outside with a FQ that has many different colors.  The bias tape on the top does not look too good and I can't make it look very square, but it is functional!  It will look great on our new dresser and help us keep things together and more organized. 

Folded Collapsible Shopping Tote

 
What is this?  It is the Collapsible Shopping Tote.  It folds up into this small little rectangle so that you can carry it where ever you go.

hanging Collapsible Shopping Tote

I did a few things different from what they book said.  After the debacle with bias tape on the previous project, I opted not to use bias tape on the bag.  I made a liner out of muslin and attached the lining to the exterior from side seam to side seam much like the lining of a dress.  Everything else I followed from the book.  It is a nice size and would be great to use on quick trips to the store.  I think I may give this bag to my mom when she comes to visit next week.  :) 

Well...gotta get back to some other items on my to-do list before hubby gets home from work.    

Trying New Things

It's no secret we love to eat!  However, I am kind of picky.  I do not like trying new things.  I feel like we eat the same things and at the same places all the time.  To avoid this, I am going to try at least one new recipe every week.  We also tried a new restaurant this week.  It is called Squat 'n' Gobble.  It was great!  It is a 24-hour restaurant that serves food similar to a diner.  P ordered an omelet and I had country fried steak!  I can't wait to go back. 

Earlier this week, I looked through the Pioneer Woman recipes.  I chose two to try.  First up was the Tuna Melt.  P really likes tuna so I knew this would be a hit with him.  I eat tuna from time to time, but not very often.  Some of the flavors in the tuna salad helped to hide the "tuna" flavor.  Here is a picture of our lunch.  We experimented with different cheeses on top including provolone, cheddar, and American.  We didn't really have a favorite though. 

Also this week, I used my bread maker that I got for Christmas to make a loaf of white bread.  I LOVE my bread machine!  Here is a picture of my toast with the homemade bread. 

For tonight, we are having stuffed flounder that we bought at the store.  I can't wait to try it.  It looks delicious.  Tomorrow we are having another Pioneer Woman recpie, The Marlboro Man Sandwich.  I can't wait.  Cube steak, peppers, onions, and mushrooms.  Yum, yum!