Weekend Sewing :)

Made a doggie bed cover yesterday. Nothing fancy but it serves the purpose. Kathy came over and I putzed around a lot, cutting up bow ties and pieces for future jack in the box blocks. I actually went through all of my drawers and tried to cut from them and did some strips and re-color coordinated it all. I can't wait til all my fabric is on the shelves or in strip form in the drawers, but I made progress.
Kathy added the sides to all of her NYE blocks and did one with the top and the bottom. We also all went out for sushi and a trip to the fabric store for her backing. This is what she picked.
The one below DJ fell in love with so almost four yards of it hit her stash. Oy vei, I have created a monster! I told her she needs to sew more and put fabric in the cart less, haha!
I got a yard of this fabric on clearance. I liked it and the price was right. I also got a Civil War quilts book.
And too funny but I read this gal's blog so when I saw the pattern I decided I had to support her (had to!) and I really do like this pattern. Then today when I was organizing my pictures I saw where I had saved her picture of this quilt as a "want to make someday" quilt. I am thinking about doing it in my Denyse Schmidt fabrics.
Today I quilted and bound my Schnibbles I.S.T.H. quilt. This is the backing..two leftover Christmas birds fabrics.
And here is the front. Love, love, love it. Way more than I thought I would. It really appeals to me for some reason. Too bad--it will be a gift for someone next Christmas. (I am really doing well at putting stuff away this year early...love blogland!)
Then I decided to play with some of my cheddar bow ties! This first one is a Barn Raising layout.
What I have been doing is Straight Furrows. This is what is in the inspiration quilt I think..so that is what I was doing.
This is Zig Zag.
This picture is sideways, but if I added some solid squares to it, it would be On Point.
This is the Magic Circle.
And this is Half Dropped Rows.
And here is how they have been multiplying on my design wall! I need to decide it I will just keep putting blocks together as I have been or if I want to do some combination of all the choices.
By the way, I have an article that I saved out of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine from July-Aug. of 1995 that shows these and other Bow Tie "Great American Quilt Classics". Sure would be fun if they would pick up Bonnie's Cheddary Challenge story and do an article with all these Cheddar Choices! Really fun!

President's Day Sewing

Finished up "Bull's Island" that Ros borrowed me...actually really like this one though the ending was a bit neat and tidy. I made more bow ties, but didn't photograph them yet. I also cut a bunch more since I was in a cutting mood which is rare!
I whipped up those pinwheels I have been meaning to make...found some extra yellow hst's and added them to the mix since I was puttering. This quilt is going be so colorful, I love it already! (Jack in the Box).

Here is the backing for the NYE wedding gift that is now in my car for Ros to quilt. I also did some organizing and cutting of more tissue holders, made one more too.

Am in a crabby, stressed out mood so I am going to find a good book and go read myself to sleep. Tomorrow might be a better day.

Some Outdoor Pictures of What I Have Been Up To Lately...

DJ's pillow Valentine is done! This is from the smallquilttalk yahoo group challenge for this month. Done!
The I.S.T.H. Schnibbles top is ready for some quilting.
Auntie's Anvil is also ready for quilting. Do we see a theme here?
And all three of the January smallquilttalk challenge tops are also ready to be quilted. Man I have some basting to do soon!
And here is my NYE mystery from Ann B. Smith for this year. I pieced the backing today but didn't have time to get it ironed for the photo before Christine came over to work on our Math Sign Workshop. It is coming together well! DJ is still out of town til tomorrow...so I am cooking burgers and prepping for teaching this afternoon...but may make it back to the quilting studio before it is all said and done. Tomorrow is a holiday from the college, so I picked up hours over at my video relay job. My day will be short though and I may get in some sewing!

Saturday Schnibbles and More Sewing :)

Decided to start my I.S.T.H February Schnibbles today. I started out with this first block but decided to use my Thangles to do the hst's and went with the wrong size. So I have one 8.5 inch orphan block. Then realized that I could use hst's that I already had in my leftover bucket...so changed it all up to this:

Looks a little more Christmassy than I had planned, but hey a good gift it will make!

So I went with it and here is my smaller version of I.S.T.H. (Insert Snappy Title Here).

Then I whipped up my second green Jack in the Box block for SoScrappy Saturday! Lovin it!
Here are all four together. I pressed the bonus triangles (Amy, lol) but didn't make them into pinwheels yet. Gotta get on it before I wind up a zillion extra hst's. I stole some of the one's I had from this project to put in my Schnibbles, but there are more where they came from!
I also went with simple purple borders for the NYE Mystery that has been waiting for some work. Kathy came over for a bit today and advised purple from the choices we had. It looks good!

Will get a better picture out in the sun tomorrow. That's it,,,now Randy, CJ and I are going to see "The Awakening" that they want to see. DJ is out at the Sand Dunes riding a quad. Tomorrow hope to get in some sewing, but working with a colleague on a Math Signs Workshop we are giving in March (eek!) and I need to prep some teaching stuff too! Weekends go too fast!

DJ's Valentine's Day Gifts--so far!

After organizing all my tax information and some stuff for CJ...I watched two hours of "Once Upon a Time" which I really like...such clever writers...I stitched away on the center heart for this little wall hanging. Then when it was over I snuck up and stitched away the rest of the top. DJ likes it! She says I should make it a pillow for her though instead of a wallhanging.

This little Venus Fly Trap is her other gift. She really wanted it so we ordered it from Amazon (got one for CJ too) and after transplanting it this is how it looks...just a few days and already babies are growing! Can't wait to find a fly or something to feed it!

Lucy kitty is settling in well with the dogs. She is feisty and they are learning to leave her alone. We think we may start calling her Lucy Stitch...with Stitch for short. Coleman thought we should go with Stitch for Lilo and Stitch and I like it because of all the stitching I do! Hopefully she becomes a quilting studio kitty and the name will suit her. Well, off to bed, I work in the morning.

Christmas Throughout the Year and More

I made a bunch of simple Kleenex holders for Christmas gifts today. Loving Christmas throughout the year. I am a planner anyway but it is nice to just take a few hours each month to make something and build my stockpile!

Here is our new addition. Lucy kitty. She came with her name and not sure we will change it. So far she has met all five of our dogs (and she wasn't thrilled) and then has spent the day chilling upstairs with us and Bug the chihuahua. In another hour or two we will try letting the boxers up (as they are usually with us) and see how it goes. Really four of the dogs aren't too interested, but the number of them is daunting for any cat. This cat was a rescue cat and was being catsitted by Kathy's nephew Buck. The owners never came to get him and refused to answer their phone. So Buck let them know he was relocating her. I have really been missing not having a cat. Our Jade learned how to use the dog door and stopped coming in the house. We haven't seen her in months. She was a really good cat but we just couldn't keep her in the house. I am hoping she is still around but she prefers the great outdoors to being in the house with the dogs! This cat doesn't like the outdoors and hopefully will not learn how to use the dog door.
I sewed up the other red Jack in the Box block since I decided I need two each month.
Here are the first three blocks together. I also finally put borders on Auntie's Anvil. I have lots of little quilts to get quilted!
I also spent some time piecing a backing for Orca Bay today but didn't take a picture. It is huge. It has two hunks of fabric that I was glad to get rid of and all of the fat quarters that were of a larger print that would not work too well in my quilts. Not sure it all looks great together but once it is quilted I suspect it will be fine! It is all loaded up to go to Ros' hopefully next Saturday for the Huggy Bunch!

Saturday Sewing :)

First I want to shout out a THANKS to Kate of http://quiltingprofessor.blogspot.com/ for sending me these two books I won on her blog. I love all the colorful pictures and think I might just have to make the cherry basket quilt in one of them (in my spare time!). THANKS!
Next Thanks goes out to Ros Atwood for her fabulous quilting on my Full House Schnibbles. Check out the close up, love it!
I got it bound today. Can't decide if I am keeping this one or giving it to a friend for an overdue housewarming gift.
I also cut out two and sewed one green Jack in the Box for Angela at SoScrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I also cut another red one...decided since these are smaller I will need two of each color to make a good size quilt. I really like these Bonnie Hunter blocks. Funny I used to really like the planned and coordinated look and now I really like things scrappy.
Here are the two that are done so far! I couldn't resist putting in the green fabric with the hearts on it since it is February!
I also whipped up these blocks for the SmallQuiltTalk challenge of the month. I just need to do the handwork on the center block so I can sew it all together. I pieced a back and picked out borders, etc.

There is the center square which will get done in red. I think it will be really sweet although I don't do much embroidery so I hope it looks fine.

We went tonight to one of my last semester student's house for dinner. She invited over two of her classmates (also my former students) and several other people...it was quite the group with five or six of us signing and the other half all speaking Spanish...one the hostess could do all three. We had fun but it meant I didn't get any more sewing in today! We are watching Breaking Dawn now but I plan to sew some more tomorrow!

Orca Bay is a Flimsy!!!!!

Linking this up for Bonnie's linky party! I can't wait to see all the other Orca Bay quilts. So far I haven't spotted one in my colors...usually I follow Bonnie's color scheme but this time I didn't and whew, it all worked out!

Zoe couldn't resist posing on the quilt as I took pictures. Really hard to get a good photo of this HUGE quilt in the house at night...tried the bed, having my oldest son hold it and finally clearing a space by the front door. Tomorrow I will do my best to drag it out on the driveway in the sunshine for more photos. Worth every minute and all that unsewing. Thanks again Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville, from your number one fan!
Orca Bay/Long Lake/Green Bay. Ros said she might quilt it with a whale panto in commemoration of Orca Bay but I am wondering if she has a football panto, LOL! I should also say this is my UFO for Judy's number one draw...so other than getting a backing and binding together I have just about met that February goal! (Ros sent me this football panto, I think it is a winner!)

Edit * got the new pic on top though it wasn't too sunny when I got home!

Can't wait for the next Bonnie Hunter mystery! Thanks again Bonnie, from your number one fan!