weekend update

Last weekend was the scrapbooking retreat.  It was a good time.  Very low key and pretty quiet.  I feel like I got a good amount of pages done, 15.  I've definitely done more before but I did finish all the picture I brought with me.  I only have a couple more events and I will be up to current!  Yikes!  I need to start taking pictures of things other than quilts so I can scrapbook!  Of course, I do have my childhood pictures I could get started on too. 
So, along with everyone else I'm sure, I've been admiring chevron quilting.  But, it looked kinda tricky and fussy and therefore not something that I would be willing to do.  But one of the blogs that I read regularly, Stitched in Color had a post about a bee that she's involved in and it had chevrons.  So, as I was reading the post it hit me that it looks like log cabin corners!  Uh-huh.  So, I started with a triangle and just started building from there.  I am going to make a pillowcase with it, so I took a piece of tissue paper and folded it in thirds, but kinda wonky thirds and that's my template of sorts.  I have another piece to make and then I will square it up.  Kinda fun, huh?
Since I have finished the quilts I had in my stack, I am free to start a new one.  I had a couple of weeks to think about what I wanted to do.  I had no inspiration at first.  But then, I had washed all that new fabric that I've just gotten and it was in a stack.  I did not intentionally buy that fabric to go together.  But, there it was all together and it just look right!
 


But now, what pattern? This took me a few days. But then I remembered that I had seen a pattern awhile back that had caught my eye. Naturally I am too cheap, ahem, frugal, to actually buy it. So, I put myself to work researching. I have an older Fons and Porter magazine that has a practically identical pattern in it, so that started the foundation of the star within a star. A quick google search with the block name and I found a tute. Course, for the flying geese I am doing the no waste method, which I love. The best part for me is that the geese come out bigger than you actually need so you can trim them down perfectly.


Here is my test version with vintage sheets.  I need to work on my seam allowances because they coming in just shy of 12.5 x 12.5.   Here is the first square of the quilt!  I love it!  Every large square is going to have that brown border star and then each middle will be either brown, orange, green or red. 

Yesterday I stopped in Joann's and came across this fat quarter.  Isn't it funny?  I have NO idea what I will do with it yet, but just knew I needed to have it! 

Yesterday I did a test run of riding my bike to work to see how long it would take.  Guess what?  8 minutes!  That is totally do-able.  Now I just need to figure out the lunch situation because those frozen meals upset my stomach.  And, I'm TOO much of a scrambler in the morning to actually make something.  Huh.

In other news, I started a new book last night, it's called The Preacher's Daughter by Beverly Lewis.  I was reorganizing my books and decided I should start reading some of the books on my shelf.  So far, it's pretty good.  I have not ever been disappointed by anything I've read by Beverly Lewis.

BTW, it's 81 degrees here today!  Love it.  I rode my bike to the library and it was fab.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Just a little post to wish my Mom a Happy, Happy Birthday!  I'm rubbish at getting cards out on time......even when I buy them weeks in advance (?) so this way I know I can say Happy Birthday on the actual day :)  Thanks for being a cool Mom!  I would not be who I am without you're support and love!  I hope this is the best year ever! 
Love you,
C ♥

waste not

Okay, this is a catch-up post.  I feel like I haven't posted in forever!  Not that anything particularly interesting has been going on.....So, it is starting to feel like Spring, finally!  A few of my daffodils bloomed today which made me happy, and my crocuses are blooming also.  Last week, though, this is what I woke up to one of the days:

Mind you, it all melted off by the afternoon, but it was a surprise to wake up to white. I took a picture because I thought it looked like someone dumped powdered sugar all over! And, here's a gratuitous dog shot, lol!

Last Saturday Jan and I drove over to Medford to shop for Mya's birthday. Mya is turning 11 and didn't really give Jan much to go on for what she wanted. She said she wanted a bunny. While over there we stopped into Craft Warehouse and their fabric was all 30% off! Yikes. So, I picked a bunch of stuff out and mostly got 1/2 yard cuts and some fat quarters. The fat quarters weren't on sale but they weren't in bolts.

It totally looks like I have something planned to do with these since they kind of go together, but - nope, no plans yet. I just really had to have that sheep fabric! Yikes. so cute. and the bees. Lovin bees lately :)
So, Sunday (Easter) I had totally planned on being a lazy bone-jones with the boys, buuuuut then felt like I should go to church. I'm glad I did. The service started an hour earlier than normal and I really appreciated being home by noon even after stopping at the store! So, we took a nap and then I felt like I should at least make something. 

I had this square leftover from the stars quilt and thought it might make a nice potholder.  I chopped it down a little and picked around in my stash and found the polka dots.  Luckily my Mom just sent it to me since it matches perfectly!  The binding took me a few.  I was going to go with some sort of contrasting bright color or something but then my eye landed on this teeny little stripe I had.  I quilted it with a loop de loop, which was sort of fun.  A little trickier free motion quilting with two layers of batting essentially, regular batting and then the thermo stuff.
This weekend I have the spring scrapbooking retreat so will be out till next week.  Jan isn't going this year!  You know, something er other about Mya's birthday party.... ;) I know all the ladies so there won't be a shortage of people to talk to, but you know, it's just not the same without your bestie.  Eh.

a couple finishes

And so, I finished the granny squares quilt last Sunday!  Ya-hoo!

I really like the way it turned out.  I decided to stipple the quilt instead of straight stitching around the squares and I'm glad I did.  It has a nice crinkly look to it.  Here's an up close of the quilting:

And the backing is a super fun citrusy print. Connie said it reminded her of those big swirly lollipops.

And a gratuitous binding shot! Lol, it turn out how I thought it would at all. I was thinking that the stripes would be short, not long. But, after I had already started cutting the bias binding and realized it I also decided I was not going to start over! Besides it takes a lot more fabric to cut the binding the other way not on the bias....I think it fits the quilt anyways :)

Yesterday there was a scrapbooking get-together and I thought it would be brilliant to take my stars quilt and use the big table to pin baste the layers together. Um, not so much. I think it's much better to tape down the backing so it stays put. But, my knees don't hate me today so I guess it's a trade-off :) I finished my pompom wreath which I realized that I didn't take a picture of, sorry. Trust me though it turned out super cute! Here's what I'm working on today:

This is by far not my best quilting, but oh well.  I really just wanted to stitch around each squares.  I thought it would look fun to hand quilt.  But, I did like one point and realized that would kill my hands and I might just chop the whole thing up!  The walking foot was going to be a huge pain turning around each star so I decided to try my hand at straight stitching with the free motion foot.  Way, way easier....but sort of tricky in areas to get a straight line.  This is going to be my curl up on the couch quilt so I chose flannel for the backing.  Here's the back:

I had one of the stars leftover from the front, the gray floral with the red center.  It just didn't play nicely with the other squares as much as I really wanted it to work.  Then, yesterday when I was putting the backing together I realized that I didn't want a big turquoise chunk, I felt like it didn't make sense.  So, I made the other two and called it good.  You can sort of see the quilting on the back, but not too clearly.  All I have left is the binding and then I can put it to use!
The boys hung out with me in the craft house.  They, like George, want to have the door open and watch the goings on in the back yard even though it's kind of too cold to have the door open!  But really, how stinkin cute is Joey???

So, yep the door stays open.

slowly spring

Last Saturday was the annual sale at the local quilt store.  I just had to go, natch.  I told my Mom that I don't know what I was expecting -  a marching band and banners or something?  I was a little disappointed.  I know I was expecting everything to be on sale, and I'm not sure where I even got that idea because they never said ahead of time what the sale was.  Anyhoo, I didn't leave empty handed.  They had bolts on sale for 60% if you could find one with a red star stamp on the top.  I found a couple that I thought would mix in with stuff well, it was a 1 yard minimum on those so I'm set if I need orange or yellow :)

Everything else was a half yard minimum that day so I picked a couple other prints that I really love, and the Christmas is a fat quarter that was precut. I'm not allowed to start anything new yet, but when I do I'm sure these prints will be part of it!
The one thing I did make last week, which I didn't get a picture of for some reason (!) was a mug rug that I mailed off with my embroidery for the Wild Olive Stitch Swap. Here's Rocky, who likes to hang out under my sewing table whilst I'm in the craft house. Sorry about the mess, but bits of fabric and whatnot just find their way onto the floor somehow :) I'm pretty sure I'm not alone there!
And, do you want to see what the first day of Spring looked like here? LOL you're going to love it:

You can see Rocky running along the fence behind the chair :) The day before was clear, cold, but clear. Then there was all this snow over night! And, then by the end of the day ALL of it had melted off! You just never know around here what you'll wake up to!
In other news, I finished the 3rd book in the Hunger Games series called Mockingjay. It was really good, as were the other 2 in the series. I liked how it ended although there was one relationship that didn't quite have the closure I would have expected even though it did make sense. I was hoping that she would end up with who she ended up with, so that was nice :) Tomorrow Jan and I are going to see the movie! I'm really hoping it's good. I'm wondering how they are going to do certain scenes! I think that's part of the fun of reading a book before the movie, you know how you picture things in your head and then to see someone else's interpretation....
I am going to start quilting the granny squares quilt today, it's all pinned up in a quilt sandwich waiting for me! What is everyone else up to this weekend??

almost spring

Yikes, this is a long post!  Okay, so I finished the granny square quilt top last weekend, here it is:


and here's my attempt at an artsy angle *grin*

It was a blustery day and kind of shadowy in the back yard, so I didn't get great pics, but you get the idea.  So I added a thin border of more scraps.  If you remember, my Mom gave me a giant bag of scraps this last Fall I think it was and there were a lot of long thing pieces that sort of made me think they were binding extras.  So I trimmed down a bunch to 1.5" and then just randomly put them together in long strips.  I like the way it turned out.  I wasn't sure at first, but once I got it all put together then it kind of made the center even more colorful, if that's possible?  I do have the back sewn together but just haven't quite had the ooompf to tape it all down to the floor and pin it together.  I have linked up with the Stitched in Color Festival of Scrapiness. 
In other crafting news I joined an embroidery swap, I think I mentioned it previously.  It took me awhile to think of something I'd like to stitch up.  I have to admit I was completely intimidated by the work others have done that are also participating.  I thought of doing a pattern....but then I felt like it wouldn't really represent me.  I don't know, maybe that sounds pretentious or something and I don't mean it that way.  Anyway, I started doodling, and came up with this:

I bought some stickers last weekend that had little bunnies and also some pinwheels and then I thought, what if there was a happy little bunny holding a pinwheel?  I like to think of little stories as I stitch things and so I had fun putting this together.  I also now have in mind to recreate my bunny painting wreath into an embroidery.  And, when it's something for me then I won't feel badly making the bunny a fun color like lime green :)  heee, heee.  I also stiched up a mug rug to put along with this, I'm going to redo the binding because I feel like it came out too thick.  I hope she likes it!
I'm also working on a knitting project, a knitted bunny.  So far I have the body and 2 legs.  Once it's done I'm going to knit it a sweater, because you know how bunnies need sweaters right?  lol.  Oh yes, here is a pic of the fabric I picked up last weekend.

The stripey one is going to be the binding for the granny squares quilt, which I think is kind of perfect. All those colors. Also the stripe is on the bias and since I like to do a bias binding the stripe will come out well on the fold.
In other news, I finished the 2nd book in the Hunger Games series which is called Catching Fire.  I really liked it.  While in Barnes and Noble last weekend I read the end of the third book.  I've been on the waiting list at the library and couldn't stand it anymore!  I had to know how it all ends!  LOL I know this makes a lot of people crazy that I read the ends of things, but I can't help it and I will still read it :)
Today I made banana bread, and man it turned out GOOD!  This is my first time making banana bread, shocking I know.  I've made tons of zucchini, squash, pumpkin and even persimmon bread.  It's the same recipe except with 2 cups of banana.

Bread:
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1 cup oil (or can sub applesauce or crushed pineapple)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups bananas (or whatever like zucchini, pumpkin puree.....)
walnuts are optional, it's also fun to add stuff like raisins, shredded coconut, cranberries

I put all the dry ingredients up till the nutmeg in one bowl and mix it all around.  In another bowl I add everything from the eggs down.  Before adding the bananas I mix everything with a handheld mixer, then slowly add in the banana and mix with the mixer.  This is very tricky when using shredded zucchini and I don't recommend mixing with zucchini, but do mix before zucchini.  Once that's all mixed together and nice and smooth add in the dry ingredients.  Mix well.  I spray two glass bread pans with nonstick spray and then divide the contents of bowl between the two pans.  Bake at 350 for approximately an hour.  I usually start checking on it about 45-50 minutes.  You don't want to over bake.  Cool on wire racks.

mmm, delish!  This is like the easiest recipe.  You can also sub sugar for 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup honey if you want to try that.  Or sub margarine for oil.  Basically I play around with things a lot and so far haven't gotten anything grody.

Hope you have a great week!  Tuesday is the first day of Spring!

blah blah

Just checking in to let you know I'm still around.  I've had a very annoying cold that has just wiped me out!  I have just been soooo exhausted.  Rest assured that I have still been sewing in small increments of time....I just don't have anything exciting to show yet.  Yesterday I drove over to Medford and spent the day shopping, something I don't normally do.  But, the weather was nice and a road trip beckoned.  There's a store over there that I could definitely spend waayyy too much money in, Craft Warehouse.  It's got fabric, moda quilting cotton variety, it's got scrapbooking, beads, yummy candles, and TONS of ideas, there was even the mesh I wanted to try for wreaths.  I was very restrained because I didn't have a focus of project, or color so I did pretty good.  I did get some nice fabric though.  The Joann's over there had some great fabric and I also bought a book, Quilting from little things by Sarah Fielke.  She's one of the authors from Material Obsession but this one was on her own. 
Oh, yah, I signed up for an embroidery swap at Wild Olive.  Um, I'm sort of feeling like what was I thinking?  I have no good ideas and I'm not even that great at embroidery....I'm sure it will work out fine but I don't want to disappoint my partner.  Like, I kind of want to do something with a gnome and toadstool, natch.  But then I keep thinking a bunny would be cute.  I don't even know.
Today I'm just chillin.  Went over to Jan's to let her dogs out while she's at a volleyball tourney.  It's kind of weird to be at your friends house when they aren't there.  It's been snowing off and on, not the kind that is sticking yet, but it might.  Oh, did I mention I was reading the Hunger Games series?  I'm on the waiting list at the library for the last book so yesterday while I was at Barnes and Noble I read the ending.  It ends pretty close to how I wanted it to :) and yes, I will still read the book and enjoy it.