Little Time for Sewing

It's been a crazy couple of weeks here,

but I am here.

Not much sewing is going on in my Hidey Hole,

but my yard looks good!

Now if we could just get outside and enjoy it.

The rain storms have been unbelievable.

I don't have a lot to show, but wanted to

hop in and say all is well.

Here are some more socks I've made!

These are all children's socks,

made from leftover yarn I had.

They knit up so quickly!

This quilt was started a couple of weeks ago

and is still hanging on my design wall.

It is not an attractive quilt by any means,

but is made with denim and  pieces from colored jeans.

My brother and SIL sent me two boxes of colored jeans

a couple of years ago to use in quilts.

This quilt will go back to them to use outside with their grands.

They won't have to worry about being gentle with this one at all.

What did they call these?

Utilitarian quilts?

I hope you all are doing well and getting into the summer mode.

Happy Quilting!

Hands2Help Quilts Finished

This year I participated in the

Hands2Help Charity Quilt challenge

run by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

for the first time.

My plans were to make two quilts and donate one to

Little Lambs and one to Quilty Hugs.

With my mother being in an accident and other unexpected

occurrences, I was able to make one new quilt

and pulled a baby quilt from my stack of 

"waiting for babies" quilts that I've made.

Quilty Hugs will receive

"Deep in the Forest"

made from the Canyon Dance pattern.

I made this one thinking it would be great for a male or female.

All of the greens just sparkle.

This was such a fun quilt to make!

Little Lambs will receive this baby quilt

that I made earlier this year.

I really like the fabric that says "baby" all across it.

This was a very quick quilt to make.

I even pieced a backing!

Something I really dislike doing. :)

These will be mailed to their recipients and will, hopefully,

give some comfort to those who receive them.

Thank you, Sarah, for organizing this wonderful event.

Please visit her blog to see the beautiful quilts being donated.

Happy Quilting!

I've Been Exploring!

In 2010, I went on my first quilt trip

with a company that specialized in such trips.

On this trip, I met two women and we became fast friends.

You'd have thought we'd known each other for years.

Just about every year since then

we have gotten together,

either on another quilt trip tour

or we've met somewhere on our own.

On Tuesday we met in Kansas City, MO

and spent all day Wednesday at

Missouri Star Quilt Company

in Hamilton, MO.

Hamilton is about an hour away from Kansas City,

so we left after breakfast and meandered our way up the road.

 

Missouri Star has taken this little town over

and really has brought life back to it, from what I read.

This is a map of the main street in Hamilton.

The quilt shops are the buildings in orange.

Each shop was so well laid out,

so well lit

and the people are so friendly!

We were asked so many times where we were from

and if we came for just the quilt company.

 

 

These little banners lined the streets and said different things.

These three murals were on ends of the rows of buildings

and added so much charm and color to the street.

Of course, I found some treasures to bring home,

but did keep things under control.

(I really am trying to use what I have!)

One day was plenty of time for us to spend here.

We enjoyed a nice lunch

and wandered up and down the street for the day,

going in and out and back in and back out

of the various shops.

At the end of the trip,

we started thinking about where our next adventure

will take us.

Any suggestions?

Happy Quilting!!

Deep in the Forest Finish

I haven't enjoyed making a quilt as much as I enjoyed

making "Deep in the Forest" in a long time.

I don't know if it was the relaxed sewing in making the curved pieces,

or the abundance of green batiks,

or that I had nothing else that I had to be making

at the same time,

or all of the above.

This was such a fun quilt to make.

This is finished and ready to mail to the

Hands 2 Help recipient.

This quilt was made completely from my stash.

I had to give myself a pep talk about using all of these

gorgeous green batiks,

but they were purchased to use in quilts,

not gather dust in the cabinet!

My blocks ended up being 9" squares finished,

so this quilt is 54"x63".

 There will definitely be another quilt with this design

in my future...maybe using some bright batiks!

Flowers from my garden.

Peonies are my fave!

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.
Please visit to see what others are creating.

Happy Quilting!

Deep in the Forest Progress

When I posted about one of the

Hands 2 Help quilts I'm making the other day,

Sara at My Sewing Room commented that

she thought of "Deep in the Forest" when she looked at the blocks.

The name was found!

Thank you, Sara!

I've worked on the quilt on and off all week,

in between other life adventures.

The blocks were all made within a couple of days.

(I had to stand on a stool to take the photo.)

These blocks went together so quickly

once I got into a sewing groove.

The quilting was done over a couple of days.

Since the name is
"Deep in the Forest"

I decided to quilt leaves onto the quilt with a little

meander in between.

The binding is being sewn on now and will, hopefully,

be finished tonight.

This has been one fun quilt to make!

I see another in my future with some of my bright batiks.

A friend traveled to Africa to visit her son

and brought back some fabric for each of us in our quilt group

to make a Becca Bag.

This is mine and I love it!

I didn't add the flange to this one and love the patterns together.

 She also brought back earrings to use as zipper pulls.

What a great idea!

Thank you,  Laura!

Happy Quilting!

Christmas Tree Skirt Finish

We have been invited to a wedding over

Memorial Day weekend

and some of you know what that means...

it's Christmas Tree Skirt time!!

This has become the traditional wedding gift

for me to give, when it's appropriate, of course!

I saw this tree skirt last year on Diary of a Quilter's blog 

and liked it so much that I knew I would make it one day.

The pattern is called

"The Quilted Tree Skirt" on Craftsy and was easy to make.

I did not use the quilt as you go method,

but sewed the entire top together,

basted it to the batting and backing,

did a little stitch in the ditch quilting,

and bound it.

 

 

The ties are already sewn on,

so this is ready to wrap.

Now I just need to find something to wear!

Too bad this won't be as easy as quilting the tree skirt was.

:)

Happy Quilting!

Hands 2 Help

This year for the first time,

I am participating in 

Confession of a Fabric Addict's

Hands 2 Help charity quilt days.

 I have agreed to donate quilts to

Little Lambs and Quilty Hugs.

The quilt for Quilty Hugs has been started

and I am really enjoying sewing these blocks together.

A while ago Julie at Idaho Quilter's Adventures

made a quilt that looked like it would be so much fun to make.

Julie sent me the contact information for the pattern

designer and I ordered the pattern and templates below.

 

I knew as soon as I received the items that I wanted to make this quilt using

a variety of green batiks.

This would be a great quilt for a man or woman.

 

I began cutting the pieces and the sewing fun began.

These six blocks were the first ones I finished.

As of this afternoon,

all the blocks are finished and trimmed.

My blocks ended up being 9 1/2" square.

Thank goodness for allowing room to trim the blocks evenly!

Now I can put the puzzle together and finish the quilt top.

I sure have gotten proficient at sewing curved pieces!

Hop on over the Confessions of a Fabric Addict

to see what other quilts are being made for donation.

Happy Quilting!

Blooming Burst of Color

This week summer has hit Virginia

with temperatures in the high 80's and 90,

so it's appropriate that my 

Blooming Nine Patch is finished this week.

I look at this quilt and I think about the bright,

vibrant colors of summer

and the flowers that just burst forth after the cold winter months.

These are all Kaffe prints... my favorites!

The most difficult part of making these quilts

is picking the fabrics.

 

This started as a kit, but I changed it up a bit.

 

I'm trying not to let the unevenness of the ends get me down,

but you can see the wave a bit here.

When it was quilted,

I think the biased ends were pulled too much and there is an

obvious difference in the width of the quilt at both ends.

Lesson learned....

stay stitch each and every quilt before taking it to the LAQ!

 

The edges don't show here...

just the beautiful fabrics and quilting design shine through.

This quilt will get washed and dried and I'll see if I can't

make the wave less obvious doing this.

Anyway,

it's finished and I'm happy.

Happy Quilting!