Sewing and surfing

I grow up at the beach. Buckroe Beach. So I love the surf. I have recently found this guy, Rob Appell. He is a surfer and a quilter. Awesome quilts!! And has a cool new book out.

Also , my favorite fabric designer, Heather Ross's design will be going on a surf board. A Walden surfboard ,So exciting. Makes me wish I could surf. Actually I really do which I could surf. :o)

Merry Christmas Eve!

Hope everyone is having a great one. I started a new cross stitch pattern. I'll show more later and show the pattern later. I did get it off of Etsy.

I finished another chickadee , this one is for my Aunt Brenda for Christmas.

And my sweet friend from Germany, Anett ( she was my stitcher's angle in 2008) sent me a wonderful pattern in the mail for Christmas. Isn't she and this the sweetest thing?!

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve today and tonight. And a Wonderful Christmas tomorrow.

sewing up stars

I've just been sewing up some "Thangles". Tiny ones, to make stars. I am working on my next row in the 'row robin' I am in.

And chain stitching. :o)

Eat, sleep, sew.... Quilt Retreat

I am back from the Quilting retreat and what fun I had. I got so much sewing done. The food was wonderful, I slept great, and 2 1/2 days of sewing and quilting. I met the sweetest ladies, ( and few not so sweet, but I just stayed away from them). Here is a picture of my groups tables. We had the best view. Just gorgeous. Cheryl and Michelle from my quilting group went with me.
I'll show you some projects and progress I made on the trip. Some things I can't show because they are Christmas gifts. Here is a needle holder which will be a Christmas gift.

This is Cheryl showing off the scarf I made for my daughter, Her robotics team are called "Blue Cheese".

Me, sewing away. Having the best time.

I finished my 'Bareroots' "camping" quilt top. I LOVE how it turned out. Now I need to figure out how to quilt it. I may just stitch in the ditch....

Here is a closer picture of the embroidery, I changed 3 of the blocks. ( Sorry Barri) , she is the Bareroots lady ). We never see bears in the woods, so I changed that one to a bus. We never camp in a cabin, so I changed that one to a bus. We only camp in the VW bus. And we don't fish , so I changed that one to a lantern with bugs around it. We do use our lantern every night and have lots of bugs. :o)

I made some progress on my "Happy Camper" quilt too. I am using the 'happy camper' linen. And wonky star blocks.

I also made 2 casserole covers, this pattern is wonderful. It's by 'Among Brenda's Quilts'. And has the pattern for 2 different sizes in there. 8 X 8 and 9 X 13.

teacher appreciation week.

This week is teacher appreciation week at school. Today Jonah picked a beautiful daisy flower out of our yard to give Miss Ward, his wonderful teacher.
Here is a sneak peak of my row robin. (sorry , my brain is just kaput) I don't know if I have mentioned my row robin yet or not. The quilt group I am in is having a row robin. We are starting this month.
So I need "my" row done my the end of May. Actually the last Monday in May. Does it look like grass and sky? I am going to go with a camping theme. Go figure, hahaha.

I finished my cute little stitchery from Bareroots. I put batting and a backing on it so it's a little quilt. I am going to hang it on my sewing room wall. And it says "SEWING". Although that 'W' really doesn't look like a 'W'.

Park City Girl , is having a Blogger's quilt festival. Hope over to her blog and read about it. It sounds really fun. It will be April 17 - 24th.

I'll be sending off my siggy blocks this week. Working on finishing up my tiny trailer quilt. And starting a new quilt top for a work challenge. The work challenge quilt top needs to be done by June. So I have to get my tail in gear. Oh I also need to start my son's school teacher's end of the year quilt and start my row for a row robin I am in. goodness, goodness I need to get sewing. :o)

Busy as a Beaver.

Here is how far I have come along on my "sewing" stitchery.

Today... Cheryl and I got together and sewed. She is working on a quilt . I was working on PJ pants and my kitchen curtains finally. Here are my son's new PJ pants.
And one curtain in my kitchen. Please ignore the backyard, that is my husbands area and it looks like a junk car yard. I haven't hung the other curtain up yet because hubby has to hang the rod for me first.
Here is something new I am working on. They look like baseballs but they aren't. I am not going to tell you what they are yet. They are much brighter in person, the photo is dulling them out.
Joyce, if you read this.... This one isn't the shop sample unless you want it to be.

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.

portabellopixie bag

Just wanted to show you my new bag. I finished it Saturday. I used the ' Portabellopixie' market bags pattern. Don't you just love my owl fabric. I fell in love with it when I first saw it. The was my first time doing piping too, and it wasn't too bad.

UFO's

Sewing Log: January 18, 2009: So many unfinished projects going on . It is driving me a little crazy. There are so many things I want to make and I hate to start new projects if I don't have the ones I have already started finished.

Here is the 'Flower' Quilt top. WIP. I still have lots of stitching to do on it. This is what I will probably be working on at Sit and Stitch Tuesday evening.

This is another BOM, but I am not sure if I am doing the whole thing. I just really liked this stitchery so I decided to do this one and just see what the next few months looked like. This block in not yet done, can ya tell? Another WIP.
Another Swap in progress. This black/ white / and red triangles are for my siggy swap. But they are no where near done.
I've got lots of sewing to do.

PS. check you the cool new logo in my sidebar: "Blogging Amy's". It is a list of Amy s that blog. :o)

Making of a Pencil Roll

So, I have this book called 'Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts'. It's wonderful. This pencil roll pattern came out of it. I have made it a couple of times , actually I think this is the 4th one I've made. I keep giving them away, but I think I will sell this one in my 'Esty' shop. The author of the book credits Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio for the pattern. I visit her blog all the time.


Is it very easy to make, the hardest part is picking out all the colors.



Here it is all rolled up. It fits 24 pencils. :o)


PS. my 'esty' shop name is sewamy.

back from camping

It only rained part of the day Saturday. It wasn't too bad and we still had a great time camping. Here is a picture of the girls. ( the big girls ).

This a shop sample I just finished. I did not make the the stocking it self. Just embroidered it and added the cute white balls to it.
Here is a close up.....
And my new toy. I LOVE these things.....
Progress on my North Pole block. Lets see... I still have 2 marbles to applique , a little sign over the door and maybe the shutters. Haven't figured out if I am going to add the shutter's or not, I don't want it to look too busy.

strips n' curves finished.

I finally finished my "strips n' curves" quilt. Yeah. It turned out to be 44 in X 44 in.


And here is another Christmas gift I finished, but can't really show you. :o)

starting on Christmas gifts.

I picked up this book about a month ago. It has the cutest projects in it. A lot of them I am going to be making into Christmas gifts. The book is by "Betty Oppenheimer" and published by Storey Publishing.

So , Here is the first one I am making. I will probably end up making 2 of these. I am not going to say who they will be for just in case they read my blog.... but I doubt they do. It is called the Lumberjack Tote.
The fabric I am using is the Home Dec weight, so It is really thick and strong. This fabric came from the shop..."Quilting Adventures". They are carrying more and more of the Home Dec weight fabric.
Here are the handles being sewn on. This is where I had to stop. My little boy has another fever and ear/throat ache. So off to the Dr. we go again.
ps. I got my pattern cut out of my pj pants. Now I just need to cut out the fabric for them. I think I need more time in the day.

SWAP and swap

I started a new class called SWAP. ( sewing with a plan.) It is wonderful. Monica, the teacher, teaches you how to sew garments that will fit YOU. I am so excited about the class. It is an on going class so you can join anytime.

This is my first garment I am making. PJ's pants. I need to start out very easy , and I love PJ pants. I live in them. And my husband's big T-shirts.


Here is our new Amy Butler fabric I pick for my PJ's. I will be showing you progress, we can laugh together as I try to make garments. LOL We also have a blog so you can keep up with the whole class. : http://www.qaswap.blogspot.com/.

And... I get home from work today and I found this WONDERFUL postcard in the mail from my swap angel partner ( the one I am swap to) She lives in Germany , so my postcard came all the way from Germany. This is so cool. I've gotten a postcard from my swap angel in Australia and a postcard from my partner in Germany. I am going to hang them on my sewing room wall.

sewing and a wonderful husband.

I have been making the cute little pockets on the advent calendar. It's the "bareroots" pattern called, " Christmas time is coming". I am hoping all the green and red fabric isn't making it to busy looking.
I also made some PJ's for my son using this awesome snake fabric. I love when I find cool boy fabric because there doesn't seem to be a lot out there. And my son is ALL boy. I bought this cool fabric at "quilting adventures". :o)

I finished up the binding on my "what is the color of Spring" wall quilt. It still needs a label and sleeve. I am going to be putting it in the Richmond Guild quilt show in Oct.

And look what my husband surprised me with. He just rocks. He is the best man in the world. I came home one day after he was already home from work and he had gone out and bought me my very own lightbox. I had been wanting one, but could bring myself to pay that much for one. He knew I had been wanting one, because I kept borrowing "the shops" light box. When I got home, I walked into the bedroom and there it was on the bed!! I was so excited. It's not even my birthday, he just did it because he was thinking of me and loves me. :o)

1st day of school

My baby started kindergarten today. He and I both did good. I cried a little as the bus pulled away. But it was nice to clean the house today without a 5 year old running around destroying it.
My baby girl in the "big guy" on campus this year, it's her last year in middle school. So far she likes all her teachers. yeah.
And this armchair caddy will be heading to Germany tomorrow. I will be sending it out to my stitch angel partner. I so hope she likes it. I won't show the whole thing because I am suppose to be keeping it a secret. But I got a picture of the whole thing to show off later.