"Crafturday"

Today has been a very crafty quilty day here... and since it is Saturday, I decided to dub it Crafturday. :-)

First the quilt top for a friend's daughter's graduation quilt is done. I have to laugh a bit when I see this quilt. It is so me! LOL!  I love sting quilts... Pink is my favorite color and I love it with green or purple or teal or all of the above... and I love bright fabrics.  Don't worry, I did not make this based on my likes.. I asked the graduating girls mom and my daughter (who knows her well) and they both suggested these colors. Seems the young lady has excellent taste! 

The it was on to a bit of Fusible Applique 101 and creative fun.  My son's girlfriend loves to craft. She saw a pillow she wanted to make. I had a tutorial ( Scrap Buster Pillow ) that was very similar. So we looked it over and hopped to it. She had fabric she had purchased, we added some from the stash and scraps here... mix with a bit of heat and bond lite, some heat, straight-line stitching.. and Voila!  You have a really cute pillow top:

We will finish the back and add an insert soon. (Son and girl had a wedding rehearsal and dinner to attend). 

Check out this cute flower:

More Fabric in the Mail

I could so get use to getting Quilty stuff in the mail every day!  I actually got a box earlier this week from Connecting threads and didn't post about it here. More of their lovely Essential Thread, as well as a couple of pieces of fabric that were on clearance.

Then on Friday, I received a squishy packet and a box.  The squishy packet was from my unofficial-sister (LOL!) who lives in PA. I mad a mug rug earlier this month and commented that if I had more of the fabrics I used (they were scraps), I would love to make a table runner with them. No surprise, she quickly emailed and said "I have some of that green on tan fabric!" and so it arrived on Friday.

The box was from a friend in IL who is an amazing quilter and has influenced me in more ways than she knows.  I recently sent her some TOT Creams and Tans for a project and she reciprocated by sending me some much needed browns and yellows and even a bit of the same green on tan my sister-friend sent.

Here is the green on tan fabric... it is, to me, one of those fabrics that look better when used than just by itself:

And here are the browns and yellows...

I really love that back yellow with the sort of folksy floral print. Love it!

I worked on my mom's GFG last night and will work on it more as the weekend continues. I am also putting together a pieced border for the graduation quilt. It is looking good.  Lots of quilt action happening here!

Oh yes... and just when I think I am caught up on Baby quilts, 3 more pregnant mommas pop up! LOL! I have a little boy quilt to make, a girlie girl and one that doesn't know yet. The earliest due date is late August, so PTL I have a bit of time.  But the creative process is already churning in my mind. I love baby quilts!

"Belle"

X another one off the list

I made this String-X top several years ago and it has been sitting in the closet on a shelf sadly watching other tops become quilts while it was ignored.  :-( I have no idea why it kept being passed over. I adore this top.  I love BRIGHT and SCRAPPY... this quilt definitely covers both those!

My husband has been pulling UFOs from the shelves (most of them tops he made) and getting them finished up left and right (8 out of 12 done so far this year!)  This is #9.  He quilted it a couple of weeks ago and then, once again, it sat.  I originally planned to bind it with black fabric.. just a solid black. He went to do that yesterday and found we did not have enough black for binding strips!  (Oh my!  How did that happen?!)  So we started auditioning other colors and fabrics. There were several he liked, but nothing really grabbed me.

And then I remembered.... we hit the clearance bins at Hobby Lobby shortly after the first of the year and hubby pulled out a TON of this wild reddy-purply-pink fabric.  I remember saying "Good grief!  I don't think we need that much!"  Seriously... we have about 10 yards! They were in 2 yard cuts and were $2.00 a yard. He kept saying they will show up in something. He was right... righter than right. Not only was this used for the binding of the String-X quilt, but I have some pulled to use in another string quilt I am working on for a graduation gift  AND I pulled some fabric to whip up some new cheery napkins for the kitchen table and this is one of them! (Yes, I know it is bright.. did you miss the fact that I love BRIGHT?)

When I made this top years ago, our daughter announced she wanted it.  Maybe one day.... LOL!  For now it is on the back of the couch.  The pups and I tried it out last night and it "fit" us just right!

"Belle"

p.s.  The pattern for this great quilt is found at Quiltville along with lots of other great patterns and other wonderful quilty info!

More Goodies!

I had to run some errands earlier today including a dash into a local thrift shop. My son leaves tomorrow to go work at Youth Retreat over Spring Break and he needs shorts. He is a tall thin fella and has a difficult time finding pants and shorts. I hoped to find either some shorts or some pants that could be cut off and hemmed for shorts. No luck. BUT while there I found a bunch of sheets. One particular sheet caught my eye. Cotton candy pink with butterflies! I am thinking this will be the perfect backing for the graduation quilt I am making.  I was able to get the entire set.. fitted sheet, flat sheet and 2 pillow cases. Then I found a   set with a neat folk-art type floral pattern. Got a flat and fitted sheet, no pillow cases. Lastly I found a pillow case I had to have. LOL!  A bright green gingham.  I love the color! Got all those treasures for $4.82! Whoo Hoo!

When I got home I found goodies... first, my hubby took the afternoon off and came home to be with me. (Happy Face!)  second, a package in the mail from another quilty buddy.  She knew my stash was running low of browns and yellows and sent me some!  Aren't they great?

I could get use to getting goodies like this every day!  What's more.. I think I need to make sure some other folks have "goodie" days too.  Hmm... wonder what I can send to someone???

"Belle"

from a Sweet Friend...

The other day I was quilting and I needed to wind some bobbins (I go through so many!).  I loaded up my handy-dandy sidewinder (which I love) and away I went.... hmmm... away I went.... nope, away I didn't went!  I fidgeted with this and that and finally realized that I have worn the poor thing out... kaput... dead.  I was so sad.

I mentioned this tragedy to online quilty friends and one quickly replied "I have one I can send you!" and she did... along with some quilting inspiration!

Aren't Quilting buddies the best!?

Cannot wait to plug my new side winder up and start loading those bobbins for the next project!

"Belle"

Mug Rug!

I have seen Mug Rugs on various quilting blogs and thought they were rather cute. Then my friend, Frances, started making some. She has been having a great time and they really are cute!

This morning, I decided in the midst of things I need to do like finish paying bills... reconcile the bank statement... all those kind of things... I wanted to do something just for fun... so I decided to make a mug rug!  I found some leftover block pieces from a quilt I made a number of years ago for my brother and his wife.  I grabbed a few of those and some black scraps and leftover batting and off I went.

It was a quick and easy project... this first  mug rug is super basic!  Provided me with a bit of instant gratification. LOL!

I think it turned out pretty nice:

There are issues with the binding.. but then I always have issues with binding!  I am thinking mug rugs will provide some much needed practice.

Off to do things I need to do now. But no doubt there will be more mug rugs in my future.

"Belle"

Finishing things up....

Two projects were finished this weekend... one just in time!

First - a baby quilt for a shower this afternoon!  The nursery for this baby boy has a jungle theme. I had no jungle fabric here so I found a charm pack on eBay and ordered them... then found some fabric at Hancock's and bought it. Didn't know which I would use.... and then ended up using both!  I think it turned out very cute.

Here is a close up of the quilting. Hubby did that part and chose a bright blue thread. (He also did the binding.  Such a treasure!)

That blue looks so good on the back. This photo really doesn't show it well as the back is a dark milky chocolate brown.

I am sure the Mommy and Daddy to be will like it. I so love making baby quilts!

I have to add that today at church I went to love on one of the sweet babies we have had born recently and their wadded up in his carrier was the quilt we made for him. I have seen it with him many times this winter and just love it!  Not because I think it is a marvelous quilt or because I want folks to see it, but because it is being used!  That, for me, is the best way to say Thanks!  Use the quilt!

The other completed project was a UFO. I found a cute BOM in 2005.. YEP 2005.. early in my quilting days. It was redwork and I just fell in love with it.  I immediately had an idea of how I wanted to do it. Each month I would use a specific themed fabric to coordinate with the pattern.  I would pick a color from the fabric to use for the embroidery.  I jumped in like gangbusters for 6 or so months and then it happened... Quilter's ADD... I got caught up in other projects. I would work a bit on the blocks every now and then. I made it through November and then set it aside... for several years!  So in January, I pulled it out and finished up the December embroidery and then set out to create a quilt. I love how it turned out.

This is one I did start to finish on my own.  (If you could see the binding up close you would know that hubby did not do it!  He is much better than I am at that.)

Here are some close ups of the blocks:

The pattern is from Bobby Socks Quilt Company  and is called Child's Play. There are some super cute whimsical patterns there, as well as a free BOM available.

Off to a baby shower... then home to work on the GFG some more.

"Belle"