Thursday, April 19, 2012

Nothing much going on....

Today was one of those days when you are busy, but nothing much going on quilting wise. We went out to lunch with my mom, and then came back to my house and chatted for awhile. Then she left right after the kids got home from school. I had to run to the grocery store for a few things for my girls field trip tomorrow. They are going to Carowinds ( a big amusement park). They are excited but mom always worries about things like that..lol! Got supper done and surfed on the web for a little while to "chill out", but no sewing today :(  I will be at it tomorrow cause of course I have some swaps to be working on. I plan on sewing like a mad woman this weekend, cause I want to stay ahead. I want to get my Spring Garden Quilt Block Swap, Good 'Ol Summertime, and another set of 12 for the Mini Paper Piecing Swap done. I know, lots to do, but sew much fun!

I mailed off 16 baggies of 2.5" Floral strips yesterday for a swap, and when I receive the swapped out baggies in the mail, I plan on making a Triple Irish Chain quilt with them. There is a quilt along that started on one of the sites I belong to, and I want to follow along. I love staying busy with something.

I almost cut into some fabric to start a project yesterday. I have a quilt kit of gathered fabrics, and they are sew yummy, but I resisted, and reminded myself of all the other things I have going on.

I do have my pincushions up here that I can work on by hand, so I think I will do some work on those!!

Quilty Dreams,

Susan

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Funky House Blocks....

As mentioned in my earlier post I was going to share pics of my Funky House Blocks that I made for a swap. Also, I explained how I struggled with the "funkiness" to get funky...hehehe. This is what I came up with for my blocks:






Now, I have moved onto some other swaps - have I mentioned that I consider myself a swapping queen??? lol!! I am currently working on some blocks for a Mini Paper Pieced Block Swap, A Spring Quilt Swap, and a Pincushion swap. I have some other swaps on the agenda, but will get to those soon. I keep a schedule, and things marked on the calendar! I am also hosting 2 swaps - a Batik Sampler Swap and a Churn Dash Swap. It's so fun to enjoy a quilt made with the help of friends.

On another note, the kids go back to school tomorrow from Spring Break, and I hate to admit it, but I am going to be kinda glad to have the break from cooking for 6 people everyday, but then again, it will be summer soon! I had to help type up a project for my 8th grade son this evening. He done all the work on the report, and wrote up his rough draft, and he attempted to type it up himself, but mom is a faster typer, and more grammatically correct - most of the time anyway...LOL!

My sewing area, which is quite large and spacious in the basement, is of course downstairs, and I like to come upstairs and be around the family after 8 pm most of the time. I do like to bring something up with me cause I want to keep getting stuff accomplished, so tonight I am going to work on the handwork on the pincushions, and make some copies for my next 12 patterns for the mini paper piecing swap, and get started on the freezer paper templates for the appliques for the Spring swap... I like to keep something quilty handy, as I don't care that much for TV.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Susan


Thursday, April 12, 2012

Just Some Ramblings...

Yesterday, I finished up 6 sets which equal 18 blocks for the Funky House Swap (I will post a pic later today). I done some birdhouses yesterday and they turned out really cute.

The definition of "Funky" for this swap. means  that you have creative licences to well get creative, wonky, and funky with them, and that they can or preferably cannot be traditional. I have noticed while working on these funky blocks that it was hard for me to get funky. I am creative sure, but to totally feel free and get wonky was really hard for me. This quilt board that I am doing these blocks for encourages alot of funkiness, and it's something I need to work on. I got there a little bit with the skewed window stitching, so little steps at a time. I am not a "traditionalist" at all and I do love me some funky fabrics, and I love,love,love altered art (but yet to find time to try it). I think I need to let my creative spirit free, and looking back at this swap I think it's from years of  striving for "perfect piecing" that may be a culprit, and I need to realize it's OK if it's Not perfect :)

On another note, I want to share some of my 12-year old daughter's origami. She has been doing this for several years now, and like me she is self taught through books and YouTube. She can look at something and figure out how they done it if it doesn't have instructions - amazing isn't it. She is also good at drawing and making the friendship bracelets. She made a bracelet a few weeks back that look like a DNA helix!!

The day I was taking pics of my quilts last week she snapped a few pics of her latest origami creations, and I wanted to share them.

                                            
                                            Her swan she made with pastel Spring colors.


                                                Side view ...

                                  
                                              Her penguin, and it's sooo adorable and I requested it!! :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

Susan

Friday, April 6, 2012

Stars and Stripes Quilt ~ UFO Finished :)

I wanted to share a pic of my Stars and Stripes Quilt that I finished on March 28th. I just love how it turned out. I posted it to an online quilting board, and it got rave reviews :) Those ladies are so sweet!

Also, this is my 3rd UFO finish this year. I have a list with about 30 UFO's on it, and with 3 off of there it's down to 27! Progress is progress ;) My dream is to have all 30 done before Jan. 1st 2013!!






I also wanted to share a quilt that was finished about 2 years ago, and it's my Thinking of Spring Quilt. It was made in the winter months, and I was soooo ready for Spring to get here at the time.Pardon the fold line down the middle :)


For the backing, I had these 5 blocks leftover, and I wanted to incorporate them somehow, so I appliqued them to the wide quilt back, and used the center one for a quilt label.

Well off to what I like to call my sewing lab!! I will be working on some more of the Funky Houses and cutting into some fabric for my pincushions. I also want to try and get a few things done on my list I mention last night....

Hopefully, I will come back with an update tonight on what I did get done :)

Have a great Friday!

Susan

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Sewed away today....

I had a wonderful day today of sewing away - actually yesterday too :) The last two days I have been sewing away on some Funky House blocks (will post some pics soon) for a swap. I loooooove swaps!! I do alot of them on two groups. It's such a wonderful way to get connected to other quilters, and see all the different talent. Not to mention all the new friends you make.

I am also planning out and will be making 2 pincushions for another swap. It will be so fun to see what I get back. The creativity in these groups are amazing!

On the agenda to get accomplished, I need to get done:

- Preparing binding for my Hot Pink Log Cabin quilt and then get it sewed on
- Get the final borders on my Spring quilt
- Get the sashing completed on my Yellow and Blue BOM
and
- there is a long list to go on from here.. lol.. but a few things at a time and it won't feel so overwhelming!

Keep sewing :)

Susan

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

So much for keeping it updated!!

Okay, I have been bad I know.. I should have done better with my New Year's Resolution, and gotten more than just 2 posts since Jan.!! Oh well, better now than never - right????

It had crossed my mind the last couple of weeks - like hey I need to update that blog I started, but then get side-tracked. It happens to me all the time!

Anyhoo, I have had 2 finishes for a total of 3 so far for the year 2012. At least I have managed to keep that resolution!!

Here is a pic. of my batik table runner that I have named Ocean Blue, cause it reminds me of the Caribbean waters and colors :)



Here is a better pic of the quilting. I wanted something organic for the runner when it came to the quilting. It will look so good this summer on the table. For some reason that's when I want to display it.                                                                                                                                                             

Today, I took a some pics of my fur babies... I love 'em so very much!!
This here is my Sabie, and my daughter. I have twin 2 legged girls that are 12, and this here is my 4-legged daughter who is almost 3. I have had her since she was 3 months old! She is the sweetest ever!

Ok, this fella here is our Jiggy! As you can tell he is a character, and loads of fun. We (me and hubby) put those clothes pins on his ears (only on the hair and not the actual ear). He sat there for a good while like that and he never even knew they were on there! He was wondering why mom and dad was laughing at him so!! He has an I'm a kid personality, and he is about 2 years old.

Hope everyone is quilting or enjoying life :)

Susan