Thanks Phoebe

So, I finished embroidering my flower quilt and I have put it together and started quilting it. Phoebe helped my pick out the thread for the quilting. I probably would have never picked it out if she hadn't suggested it. And it is turning out GREAT. I love it.
Here is the thread, it is a King Tut. It matches all the flowers.
And my brother's quilt is done, I am going to give it to him Sunday on my way to the Hampton Quilt Show. This is a photo of the back side, the one with the cute little girls all over it. :o)

crazy week.

This is always a crazy week. My son's birthday and my birthday fall in the same week. Plus my hubby decided to take us to the circus last week. So from parties, to the circus I did get a little sewing in. I am so close to finishing up my brother's quilt. It just needs binding.



And I only have about 2 more blocks to embroider on my flower quilt till I can sandwich is together and quilt it. :o)
If I get these two projects done , then I can justify starting another project. Yeah.

color catchers

I am starting early and getting my fabric ready for my 'sew connected 3' group. I usually don't wash my fabric unless I am going to be wearing it after I've made something out of it. But since my sew connected 3 quilt is going to be a "picnic" quilt it will probably get washed a lot. I decided to pre wash my fabric.
And I am so happy I did. I don't know if you 've used "color catchers" before. ( I use them for all loads of laundry). They are great. They catch the color that comes out of the fabric so it doesn't go onto other fabrics. This photo is the color catchers after I washed them with my fabric. The white one there is to show you how white it was before I put them in the wash. :o)

scrappy

Here are the siggy blocks I have put together so far, only about 18 signed so far. And I think I have 39 or 40 blocks made. I need 60, so not to many more.

And I am loving the spider web scrappy quilt. It is very fun to work on. You don't have to pay attention to measurements. Very freeing.

I finished a block, a barn , and a skirt.

I started a new quilt. It's a scrappy spider web quilt. Funny because I really don't have many scraps, but I did scrounge up a few to make a whole block. So I plan on this quilt taking years, I'll just add to it and add to it as the years go by. Ignore the writing under the white star...it's my cable bill recycled. :o)

Here is my North Pole Reindeer Barn finished. I will be starting on Mr and Mrs. Clause house next.
And in my SWAP class ( sewing with a plan) I finished my wrap skirt. I just love it and it reminds me of spring.

Embroidered ants

I have been working on my embroidered ants for my picnic quilt. The fabric for my quilt will be going to I think 16 different people in the SEW CONNECTED 3 swap. My fabric is due to everyone by the 1st of April.

My daughter had drawn a few of the little ants for me, like the two above.

My picnic quilt will be mostly black / red and / white. But I may throw in a touch of green.

Chihuahuas and children

No sewing going on yesterday or today. I just didn't feel like it. But I received my chihuahua pictures in the mail. ( if you didn't know.... I LOVE chihuahuas ). I bought these from a guy off ETSY. If you love art and dogs, check out his etsy site. His name is Ron Krajewski.

Aren't these the cutest things? ! They are now hanging on the wall opposite of my Chubby Chicks.
My Children... Shelby is filling out her classes for her first year in high school.
And Jonah is counting cereal for the 100th day of school which is tomorrow. He gets to take the 100 pieces of cereal to school tomorrow and eat it there.

quick step quilt WIP

I had my first class on the "quick step quilt". It is pretty neat. A lot of you have asked me to try and explain the process, but I can't. I am doing good just to sew / make it myself. The good news is that there is a pattern for it called " Quick step Quilt". By Carol Britt. Quilting Adventures, in Richmond, Va offers the class every once in awhile, that's where I am taking mine.

Here is a photo of the "in stage" process. I made tubes...


This is the front up on the design wall. I just love it. Nothing is sewn together here except the strips.
Here are some of the strips sewn together with the batting and backing on.
And here is a little photo of what the back looks like so far...
Remember this is a quilt for my 37 year old brother. :o)

6 more weeks of Winter

I hope that ground hog is not correct..



but we did get a dusting of snow last night.

I will be starting my brother's quilt tomorrow.

Tomorrow evening I am taking the Quick Step Quilt class at the shop. It is the quilt that you quilt as you go and both side end up looking good and done at the same time. :o) Here is the fabric for the front.....



And here is the fabric for the back..... this is for my brother now. Really , this side will be for him and the other side ( above ) will be for his wife.
I'll show you progress on it in a few days. I haven't sewn anything lately because I have been sick in the bed. But I am feeling better today.