Saturday, February 19, 2011

Weekend Sewing

Every year Joellen's hubby goes away for a weekend & our sewing small group, Seams Like Sisters, takes over their house. I wish I had gotten a picture of the snack table! Joellen had quite an array of food for us.

I got a lot done over there the last two days. Spent lots of time quilting this quilt:I decided to try the "utility stitching" that several bloggers have done. I like it! But my hands got tired after a while & I would stop & work on other things. Like this block which will become a pillow form: Why Joellen felt she needed to stand on a chair to take a picture of it is beyond me! I'm just glad she didn't fall! I would have been happy to put my block on the floor....
I also fused all of the starts onto the blocks for my story book quilt....
Joellen worked on lots of projects & I didn't get pictures of all of them.
Her Birdie Stitches blocks are so pretty & all ready to go....
Ellen W was machine quilting. I wish I had a close up shot of her machine quilting! She free formed lots of stars on this quilt & it looks great.
The quilt is so bright & cheerful!
Carol was machine quilting too. I need to learn to do this! These gals are so good at it....

Isn't Carol's quilt bright & happy? Wait, what's that I see?
Oh, it's Pepper all cozy on Carol's quilt. I guess he thinks she made it for him!
Libby was helping Joellen quilt too, but when I went to take her picture she hid under the table. I guess she's a shy quilter
What a fun & productive weekend it has been! I hope yours has been as well.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

surprised!

Sunday night my sweet hubby informed me that he was taking me out to dinner for Valentines Day. Sweet! Honestly the two of us eat out all the time, so I don't know why he was making a fuss about it, but hey, I didn't have to cook so who am I to argue? So he took me to.... Which is great! Because they have a yummy gluten free menu. So I was happy. & when we got inside I found....
These girls! Waiting to wish me a surprise happy 50th birthday! My hubby had arranged the whole thing behind my back. He left me there with my girlfriends to enjoy the evening. It was really kind of funny because this picture was hanging over the table where we gathered.... A glimpse of the future perhaps? Which one do you think is me? Oh & there were big balloons tied to my chair....
And we ate amazing food. Here's a sampling...
I opened sweet presents. And then, you guessed it, a little man came & sang Happy Birthday to me in Italian! And they delivered this yummy dessert (which I am just guessing was yummy, judging by the looks on my girlfriends faces as they devoured it! & the waiter brought me an ice cream sundae since the cake was not gluten free)
What a wonderful evening! Did I mention that I have the most incredible hubby on the planet? And the most fantastic girlfriends? Well I do. Thanks guys!
(pictures courtesy of Joellen!)

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!
Here's a little hairclip I made for my little niece Mackenzie.... simple simon, just felt pieces, a few embroidery stitches & a button stitched onto a little hairclip.
The sun is shining today in Texas. Hope you are warm & cozy where you are!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

pincushion swap

Remember when I made this for the pincushion swap? Well last night was the big swap at The Quilt Asylum. And what fun it was! There were more than 30 pincushions entered (some ladies had 2 or 3!) and none of them were even remotely the same! So many cute ideas. Of course, I forgot my camera (shame on me!) but here is the pincushion I received:

Isn't it the sweetest little Birthday Cake? And what good timing, since I just celebrated a birthday on Saturday. This was made by Emily & it's so cute & well made. I love it! It will be displayed on my sewing table & will make me smile every day! Thank you Emily & thanks to TQA for such an awesome event!

Next up, pillow swap! Not until April though so I have some time to come up with a fantastic idea!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Winner!

Today we have a winner of this beautiful necklace from Big Girl Studio. You might remember it from this post.

17 wonderful people commented on my post, but I couldn't help but notice how many of you didn't leave an email address or any way to contact you if you won! I was so relieved when Random Number Generator gave me "Number 4" and it was someone with a profile who I could email! And yes, that was the first number it gave me. Whew. So the lucky winner of Danit's beautiful necklace is.....

Holly Days Closet!

Congrats to you! And thanks everyone for playing along.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

so we had a snow day....

Yesterday morning I was awakened about 4AM by frozen rain hitting my bedroom windows. And thunder and lightening. Blah. I really did want to be sleeping but it was not possible (for me anyways! The rest of the family didn't seem to care).


So I came out to the family room & turned on my computer. Confirmed that school had been cancelled, read my email....


Then it dawned on me! It was the day I had been waiting for since I finished up this block. February 1st! Would the new block be up yet on Little Miss Shabby's blog? Yes! I had to wait for hubby to wake up before I could print it, as the printer is in the bedroom. But, by 8AM I had that block printed & traced onto my quilt block! Woohoo! Away I went... Look at those adorable birdies! I couldn't stop stitching until it was done. By 4PM I had my block finished & posted to the Birdie Stitches flickr group.


Is it March yet?

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Schoolhouse Tunic - pattern review

I really don't need any new clothes. I have plenty. BUT..... I get bored with my clothes. I admire people (like my sister & several of my friends) who wear classic clothes, the kind that never go out of style, & they look great in them! Not me. I like variety.


So, a while ago I picked up this pattern, the Schoolhouse Tunic by Sew Liberated. I couldn't wait to try it out! I had bought a pretty piece of fine wale corduroy that I wanted to make it out of. BUT... the corduroy was pretty pricey and I didn't want to mess it up. Or, have it end up not fitting (don't you hate when that happens? You spend precious time making something & the pattern is SO not true to size). So I picked up a piece of suede-like fabric in a purple that I love, on sale at Joanns. I made the tunic up in the inexpensive fabric first (I don't like to make a "muslin" like so many people suggest because, well, that just seems like a waste to me, know what I mean? If it comes out great, I want to wear it!). So, here's my "muslin": Cute huh? I think so too! It was a breeze to make (about 2 hours last Saturday afternoon). The pattern instructions were clear & easy. Sizing was pretty good (I made a size bigger than I normally would because that's what matched my measurements on the pattern. And it fits great). My only problem was that my sewing machine did NOT like this fabric. It is backed in kind of a nylon & my machine kept skipping stitches. Yes, I unthreaded it, cleaned it all out, changed the needle, wound a fresh bobbin, rethreaded, still a mess. Boo. But it ended up cute & wearable for all my aggravation. I give the pattern five stars!


So..... yesterday I decided to make the corduroy one too!

Don't you love that rusty brown color? Yum. Tunic #2 went together even quicker! No skipped stitches, no cursing & rethreading. Whew! Oh & I changed up one thing... I thought two layers of corduroy at the neckline would be too bulky. So I picked up a 100% cotton print and used it to line the front facings and to create the bias binding for the back neck edge....

LOVE! You should all make a few of these. Just sayin...