A Great Summer Finish

I've got a great summer finish!!

I'm so excited to finally have this one done.

I started working on those stars about 10 years ago.  That was back when I first started quilting.

I guess this was one of my first big, solo projects.

 I just worked on it a little at a time... and 10 years later...

Taa Daa!  Here she is!!

I really like the black for the sashing and borders.  It gives it a bright, starry night look.

Maybe a little hint of Amish too... 

 The back is pretty basic.  I  just put three big black stars there.  They look pretty sweet though.

 It was quilted by a local long-arm quilter.  She did a great job.  I held the border up to the sun so you can see the star pattern around the edges.

 Look!  It glows!

 The first quilting technique I ever learned was paper piecing and it came pretty easily to me.  At that time, I didn't know how to make a square with any sort of design on it except by paper piecing so that's how I made each of these stars.

I designed the pattern and traced each one and then sewed them all.  They are 8 in. squares and there are 72 of those little gems.

Here are some of my favorites:

 It looks great on my bed, doesn't it!

(I built my bed too.)

Someday, I'll get some pillow covers made to go with it.  Any suggestions on pillow cover designs??

Anyway, I'm loving my new quilt. 

I give so many quilts away, it's nice to have something for me.

Here I am

Since my last post - remember... busy! busy! busy!... - well, life has only added to it.  Now I could add a few more BUSY's to the list...

I turn to my sewing machine whenever I need just a touch of solace, peace, respite, mental regrouping, me-time... whatever I wish to call it at the time.

Soooo...

I made some journal covers again this year for the kids to give to their teachers at the end of the school year.  They really have had wonderful teachers.  I couldn't thank them enough.

I used gray linen on them and I really liked the way it looks.

I used the tutorial for these on Bloom.  (Love her blog.)

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Also, this is the blocks swapped in the Block Swap Adventure in May:

This is the one I received from Debra in Australia.

 She wanted a wonky house or tree.  I decided to put them together into one block.  I've never done wonky before and it was a challenge.  I'm used to following a pattern and having nice, straight lines... whoo wee.. it made me sweat!  I think it turned out cute though.  I hope she liked it.

Happy Stitching!

More Mosaics and Some Springtime Birds

With Spring and the end of the school year colliding right now, I'm finding myself running in circles.

Busy -- Busy -- Busy!!

We're trying to get our yard and garden growing and looking good.

We've got kiddo activities left and right.

And then there's sewing... I try to squeeze some in whenever I can but it has only been a little bit lately. 

So this post is just to catch up on a few small finishes lately:

These are Mosaic Color Play squares from an IFQ swap.

This one came to me from Ann...

I this is the one I sent her.

 The next one came from Shirley...

 And this one I sent to her.

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I've also dabbled a bit more in fabric post cards.

These cute little birds were inspired by a little note card that came with one of my swap blocks.

I had some fun with it

 I made some more bookmarks to match.

Most of them I shared with the great ladies in my reading group.

They're so cute!  

Maybe I ought to use one myself to mark my books instead of that silly scrap of paper I picked up off of my desk.

Flowers and I Spy Swap

 I was so excited when I got a nice chubby envelope in the mail the other day.

It was from Sandra who hosted the I Spy Swap.

Yippee!!

140 unique squares, all with pictures on them for making an I Spy quilt.  They are all 5" squares so it should be a nice sized quilt.  I think the kiddos will love it.

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Now for some hexagon flowers...

I love the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap!  We get to make fun flowers to share and we receive even better ones from others.

These are the ones I've made for Anne-Mette in Denmark.

 And these are the ones I just received from her.

Aren't they perfect for my Black-Eyed Susan garden.

There is also lots more hexagon flower work to be seen at One Flower Wednesday.

Another Flower Wednesday...

I'm trying to be better at getting one hexi-flower done each week.  Here's my newest:

There's many more for you to see at One Flower Wednesday.
And here is an update on my growing flower garden.  Not too big yet but I think it's pretty exciting.

Loving it!!

Another Great Novel

I found this book at the library recently and was immediately drawn to it because I love all of Shannon Hale's books.  She is an amazingly talented author and can really tell a great story.  The Actor and The Housewife is her newest book out and she did not disappoint!
It is the story of Becky Jack, Mormon housewife and mother of four, happens to run into Felix Callahan, Hollywood's hottest hunk and favorite actor.  This chance meeting turns into an unusual friendship.  A necessary friendship that helps each of them through some of life's toughest challenges.
Don't be turned off by the "Mormon housewife" idea.  It's not too churchy.  It's really no different than reading a story about a Catholic or Baptist or any other religious background and hearing about how someone reacts to situations based on their beliefs.  I find that reading books with a bit of different religious ideas is quite interesting.
Anyway, I caught myself laughing out loud several times and then at other times I was crying a puddle into my pillow.  (My husband kept looking at me like I was crazy.)  I like a good story that gives me an emotional ride and then leaves me feeling cozy and warm.
Yes, I would recommend this book.  Go find it!

Elephants and a Flower

Here is my recent finish in my animal blocks.  Some cute elephants.

I love the way they turned out.

I used some scrap for the background and I ran out before they were all squared up. Luckily, I ran out at a good point - two are square and two are a nice rectangle.  I'll just adjust them later when I put a quilt top together.  No worries.

And my flower for One Flower Wednesday:

I know, I know.  It looks surprisingly similar to the last one... 

Well, that's the theme of this project.

Really having fun with them though.

It's already been loved...

I thought I should share this one with blog world.

 This is a string quilt I made for my second son when he was a baby.  He is 6 years old now and it still lives on  his bed.

I made this with whatever boyish scraps I could find in my limited collection at the time.  I love the bright yellow sashes.  He actually says yellow is his favorite color. 

 It's one of the first I machine quilted.

I had a bunch of colorful thread that my mother-in-law found at a yard sale and I used every decorative stitch my machine had... and had a good time with it.

 I love how it turned out!!

I keep telling myself that I need to do another one of these quilts... someday.

Spring-ish!

It's finally starting to feel like Spring around here.  

Some blossoms are beginning to pop open and I love it. 

I've made a little blossom lately.  This is my one flower for One Flower Wednesday.

 I thought I'd wait to show off the quilt top that I'm stitching with these little yellow and black flowers until it is a bit bigger.  Then you'll really be surprised and have to say, "Wow!! Look how much she's done!!"

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This the the block I made for Tiffany for the Block Swap Adventure.

She wanted something wonky and pink.  I had some fun with this string pieced block.  

I hope she likes it.

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 And finally, these ones are for Coralie for the Barn Door Swap.

She wanted hers to be scrappy with a light background.  I pulled these scraps out of my pile and I liked how they went together.  Hope she thinks so too.

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I dropped three enveloped in the mail the other day.  All going to different places with different swap goodies inside.  That stresses me a bit.  Mailing several at the same time.  Then I spend the next few days worrying that I've mixed up my mailings and someone will get the wrong block....

I worry too much sometimes.

Today, I  hope to get another animal block started and I hope to be outside doing some woodwork too. When it's cold out, I love to be inside sewing and creating with fabric, but when the weather gets nice, I like to be outside, creating with wood too.

Ticker Tape Parade and Hot Air Balloons

At our PQA meeting this month we revealed and exchanged our Mercy Border Blocks again.  It is always so much fun.  It's like Christmas.  We get to see the new borders that everyone has added to the blocks and we get so excited. There's always lots of ooh-ing and aahh-ing and some squealing too.  It's really pretty silly.

Anyway, this time I got Shannon's block to add to.  This is how I received it:

She started with a Ticker Tape center.  Rainbow colors on a white background.  She did a great job on it and then the borders that were already added were great too.

I added a Ticker Tape border!  Yeah, crazy!  I know!  A lot of work... but I really liked how it turned out and I think Shannon did too.

If you want to see the rest of our gorgeous growing quilts, you can go to the Parma Quilters Anonymous blog.  They are all amazing.

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One of my favorite blogs to visit is Quilted Delights.  Leah is quite a fabric artist and does wonderful work.  She makes some amazing fabric postcards and I have perused through her creations more than once.  I wanted to give it a try.

This is what I came up with for a first time:

I stitched along each cloud with silver thread but the picture doesn't show it.  I really like how it turned out.  I may have to try some more.  In fact,  I thought I'd do a smaller version so it would easier to share with friends.

This is what I came up with:

Book Marks

Cute, huh!

Don't you wish you were my swap partner this month.

Well, until next time...

Always look for silver linings.