One flower Wednesday and my miniature dresden plates

I had some unexpected hand sewing time so I thought I'd work on my miniature dredens plates for awhile. I am only using Jo Morton scraps as I plan on using these in one of her quilts someday. lol I have a few different size blocks but I think I am going to settle on the 4 1/2 inch since most of her projects are small.

Today was One Flower Wednesday and I managed to complete four since last week. I was looking for a book in my personal library when I came across this one! Woo Hoo! I remember I had purchased it to make the project on the cover so I think that will be my plan for my hexies. The problem, tho, is I keep changing my mind as to what to make with them. One of the ladies in the group made a really cool looking bag with hers. No matter what I decide I still need to make lots so off I go:)

Birthday Party

Please meet Isabelle, my third youngest granddaughter. We helped her celebrate her birthday Saturday evening. She is such a sweetie! I love spending time with the grandchildren. We kidnapped the 3 girls at the end of the party to go for a little drive and what do you think they wanted? Yes, more food with sugar in it. So we had snowballs, ice cream cones and donuts! Then we took them back to their parents! Like I said, I love being a granny:)

I am now working on a satchel type bag for the shop. I forgot to take a picture of it but I will post that tomorrow. Ooops, probably on Wednesday since tomorrow is hubby's birthday and we may go out to dinner. Unfortunately he has the tummy germs now so I am not sure if he will want food tomorrow. We will see. Happy sewing!

Friday Night Sew In Results

Wednesday my friend and I went to Lancaster, PA in search of fabrics for two quilts she wants to make. One was all black and whites and one was a lot of different pastels and dark pastels as well. Apparently while she was picking up fabrics I was picking up germs because I woke up Thursday morning with a very sick stomach. The only thing that made me feel better was the big stack of quilt books that I needed to review that were donated by guild members for our guild library. I did tell you that I am the librarian, right? And I absolutely love it:) Anyway, so there I was, laying on the sofa, moaning and paging through books for a couple days. My tummy was feeling calmer by Saturday so I went up to the ole sewing room and made these next two blocks of my The Queen and Her Court quilt. I love these fabrics and I really love this BOM. It is a real pleasure making these. The instructions are clear and everything just goes so smoothly. I believe these are blocks 3 and 4. I have many more to go:)

Tuesday Guild Meeting

The second Tuesday of the month is when the Baltimore Heritage Quilter's Guild meet. My quilt guild. I love them. We have the best ladies, so talented! Here is a sampling of our Show N Tell from last week.

This quilt was made by my friend Rita C. She is a hand appliquer and hand quilter. I have learned so much from her:)

Isn't this Baltimore Album quilt a beauty? Debbie R. made this quilt. She entered it in the state fair and I can't even tell you how many awards and ribbons it won. I have watched her work on this quilt at retreats so it is nice to see it finished and I am so happy for her with all her ribbons!

Unfortunately I can't remember this lady's name and the circumstances in which she made this quilt but it is a hoot!! Be sure to zoom in so you can see the faces!!

We always have a summer challenge and this summer we did something new. You purchased two FQ"S for $5.00 and you had a choice of oriental fabrics, batiks, or reproductions. If you had a top finished by the Sept mtg you would get your $5.00 returned and you would be eligible for a prize. Well, if you know me you know I love reproduction fabrics so that was my choice. Here are the projects displayed. Mine is the pineapple square underneath Rita's Dear Jane blocks. She won third place in our category. I didn't win anything. The log cabin piece and the raw edge flower piece won first and second. It was fun and I loved working with those fabrics.

Original Sewing and Quilt Expo

It's that time of year again for the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Chantilly, VA, from September 30th till October 2, 2010. The Maryland Chapter of The American Sewing Guild, of which I am a member, has put together a bus trip for this event. The trip will be on Saturday, October 1. We will arrive at 9 AM and depart at 5:30 PM. So we will be there for the entire day. The cost is $40.00, which includes admission, one class session, a tote bag and a pin. Why drive alone, in your car, dealing with traffic, when you can ride, carefree, with your sewing buddies on the bus with your new tote bag and attend a class? You know we are going to have a good time:) So, give me a buzz or shoot me an email and let me know it you would like to attend. The deadline is this Wednesday, the 15th. So hurry, hurry, hurry! Don't get left behind!

Happy 50th Anniversary

On Saturday, the 11th, my friend Rita and her hubby celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. I wanted to make something that they would both like so I thought of this banner. I printed a picture of them on printable fabric. I then embroidered their wedding date on the left side of the pic and the 50 year date on right side. I embroidered Happy 5oth Anniversary on the top of the signature part of the banner. Their favorite colors are blue, purple and cream so I incorporated those. Then I had to get some gold in there so I used that for the lettering. Both of them are interested in the Civil War so the backing fabric has scenes on it from the 1800's which are printed in purple. I had two pigma pens attached with ribbons for the guests to use to sign the banner. They both seemed to like it so I am happy:)

I forgot to take a picture of it before we left so I had my hubby take a picture of me holding it with Rita. Rita has a great sense of humor and just as my hubby is about to take the photo she decides to tell a joke which breaks me up. We had great fun that day. Congratulations Rita and John!

Making a pocketbook Part 2

Welcome back to Making a pocketbook Part 2. What I wanted to share with you this time is how I made the inside bottom of the bag. I didn't have this special plastic Nancy mentions in the DVD so I hunted down some of my plastic canvas sheets from my crafting days. I didn't think one layer was firm enough so I wanted to use two. However, I knew they would slip and slide all over the place while I was trying to attach them to the bottom. So.......

I cut a piece of my outer fabric and stitched it on top of the two layers of plastic canvas. I selected a 3.0 basting stitch and stitched very slowly. Sometimes the needle hit the plastic, but I just raised the needle, scooted the plastic canvas forward, and continued on.

Here is my nice pocketbook bottom insert, waiting to be attached. And I did attach it, but it was a bit hard trying to stitch through all those layers. I looked at the instructions for the next step and that is when I noticed ......I had cut the plastic canvas an inch too long!!!!! No wonder it was so hard to stitch. It was not supposed to extend into the seam allowance, which Nancy did mention on the DVD!!! Oh well:) As of this writing I only have to add my straps and it will be finished. So, you guessed it. Stayed tuned for Part 3, The Finale!

Making a pocketbook Part 1

So, here we go. This was supposed to be an easy bag that you can sew in an evening....according to Nancy Zieman. And I suppose you could make one in a long evening, after you have made one that took 3 long evenings! I love the bag, but the instructions were a bit confusing. This is a Nancy Zieman project, as I mentioned earlier. The package came with a DVD, a booklet, an instruction sheet and a template. The DVD only tells you how to make 12 variations of two different style pocketbooks. The instruction sheet only tells you how to make the basic shape of the first six variations.The template is only for the first 6 pocketbooks. The DVD says you will use outer fabric, cotton duck cloth for support, polyester fleece for support, and a lining. The instruction sheet only mentions the outer fabric, lining and support fabric. Three, not four. For the purse I wanted to make you must remember to look through the entire instruction sheet to see where the strap instructions are, as the DVD tells you to add them before you sew the sides of bag together and the written instruction sheet has you add them after you sew the sides together which means you have to take the sides apart. Now, that was a bit confusing for me. But as you will see, I had to make things even tougher for myself. First, tho, let's look at the nice purse!

My purse is falling apart and that is why I wanted to make a new one. And I wanted to use parts of my old purse for the new purse. See those metal rings? They were 6 of those on my old purse, but this new purse needed 10. Why didn't I count them before I went to JoAnn's to pick out the outer fabric? The pattern called for a magnetic closure. I missed that on the list of supplies as well. So on the first trip to JoAnn's I bought the fabric and duck cloth. I thought I could find a nice cotton fabric to use as lining in my stash. But when I got home and looked....nope. Nothing matched the nice upholstery fabric I had purchased. However, I came across this cool looking denim and then found the perfect lining to match:) I then proceeded to cut out the fabrics, and fused as directed.

After a few more steps it is time to make a pocket. Well, I wanted a zippered pocket and hers called for a flat inside pocket that was stitched against the lining. So I get this bright idea that I will just cut a slit in the lining, and attach the zipper and have my pocket! Good idea, right?

Wrong:( If you look closely at the picture, you will see that I cut the pocket the pattern size, folded over all the edges and attached zipper to top. Good so far. Then I cut a slit on the pocket line to insert and attach the top half of the zipper. And this would have almost worked but I forgot to allow for the folded over edges so I cut the slit too long. Plus, (and get ready for the big laugh) since I cut the slit I only had a loose inside piece of lining instead of an enclosed pocket!!!! What should I do now???

I cut a piece of the outer fabric and sew it to the back on the lining so that I now have a pocket.

Now in this picture you can see that white fabric flapping around.

I turned the pocket inside out and cut off the flap!!! Whew! I never do things the easy way.

Now I have what looks like a normal pocket except I do have two nasty looking ends on that zipper. I apoligize for the blurry photo. I also wanted to mention, why in the world did I do all my stitching on the right side of the lining so that all my markings would show??? This is what happens when you are in a hurry:)
Stay tune for Part Two:)

Maryland State Fair

These are some projects that you haven't seen yet. This picture frame, with one of my DGD's picture in it, won Third Place at the Howard County Fair. It is machine embroidered. It did not win a ribbon at the state fair.

This is the first garment I have ever knitted. It won Third Place.It was supposed to be for youngest DGD but I had to keep ripping it out and starting over. And now she is five!!!!! I will probably offer it for sale at my guild show in March.

This apron won a Blue Ribbon at the Howard County Fair, but nothing at the state fair. There were a lot of entries. The critique was that they (judges) loved everything, but the gathers weren't perfectly spaced.

And here was my surprise!!! My wool saltbox table mat won a Blue Ribbon and Viewer's Choice!!! This is the first time I have ever won a Viewer's Choice Award! I would like to thank everyone who voted for me:)

My other items you have already seen pictures of in previous posts. So here are my stats for this year: Howard County Fair: 6 items, 5 ribbons, $18.50.

Maryland State Fair: 8 items, 5 ribbons, $32.00.

I have already selected my wool project for next year, plus I have some quilts to finish for next year as well! Please share your fair experiences with me as I love to hear them. Have a great day!

Trip to the mountains

We went to Paw Paw, West Virginia on Monday. We took the long way, all through the mountains in western Maryland. We tried to take the smaller roads to get there and got caught in a loop called Mountain Road. According to the map, it went south and straight to Paw Paw. However, when WE came to the end of it, we were back where we had started! lol It was okay, tho, as it goes right through a Wildlife Management Area and I have never been to or through one of those. Now, don't laugh, but I was expecting to see wildlife everywhere...herds of deer, maybe a bear or two....you know, wildlife. What I did finally see was a huge hawk perched in a tree. I tried to get a picture but the sound of the truck backing up scared it away. One thing you need to know about Mountain Road if you ever plan on going there, it is truly a mountain road. Just ruts in the dirt. Sometimes deep ruts. A couple of times we were shaken so bad our heads hit the roof of the truck. It was quite an adventure! Now, finally, we found the C& O Canal in Paw Paw. There was this huge dead tree. I asked my hubby to stand next to it so I could take a pic. Well, typical of hubby, he has to climb ON the dead tree. All I could picture was it breaking and him falling in the dirty water:)

On the way to the canal we stopped at a fast food place. It was around lunch time. I looked up and saw all these pigeons. Ya think they were waiting for lunch?

I asked humorous hubby to take a picture of the birds while I was in the shop. See who he took a picture of first?

We stopped at this overlook called Town Hill. Isn't it beautiful!!

This is a view of Sidling Hill from the lookout!

It was a beautiful day and I am so glad we went. Hardly any walking, just driving. I am still not able to walk for very long. Sigh......some day. Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!

One Flower Wednesday

Yes, today in One Flower Wednesday and look what is with my flowers? My Viewer's Choice Award from the Maryland State Fair! It just keeps popping up everywhere!

State Fair Info

I was finally able to attend the MD State Fair on Thursday! How exciting! I knew I had won some ribbons as some of my friends sort of let it slip. LOL But I didn't know which items won what. So...here we go. First of all, see the picture of my wool project? They don't have it open all the way but it still looks good:) My DGD's nightgown won Second Place, pink knitted baby sweater won Third and my table runner won Third. So that wasn't too bad, entered 8 items, won 4 ribbons. My friend Missy who usually enters the wool category and she is the friend I was referring to in my earlier post, didn't enter under wool this year so we didn't get to compete against each other. She did, however, enter two quilts which won Blue Ribbons. I have posted the pictures of her quilts as I thought she did a fantastic job! Yea Missy!

Missy's quilts:)

This last picture is a bust of Elvis made from cardboard. Can you believe it? Of course it looks much better in person! Megan Clark entered this and as you can see, it won several awards! Congratulations Megan!!

That is it for me for now. Today is Civil War Sunday at And Sew It Goes in Savage, MD and I am looking forward to attending. Have a great Sunday:)

One Flower Wednesday, DGD project and sunflowers

Today was another One Flower Wednesday! I actually have three flowers to show as I have had a couple meetings these past few nights and took my little hexies with me. I hope you like them. I have found it is easier making them with the paper templates than with the plastic ones. Also, the more I make the faster I am getting. I have been thinking about how to connect them. Do you usually make bunch of single hexagons and then lay everything out when you have made all the flowers and background? Or do you connect as you go along? I am sort of anxious to start connecting since I am getting a little collection now. But then I wonder if I will be sorry later as I have no specific plan as of right now. (Sigh) I guess for now I will just have fun laying them out:)

My DGD started Kindergarten Monday and needed some bath towels with her name of them for nap time. So I decided to applique the letters. They are four inches tall and three inches wide. I used Steam A Seam II for the fusing. Of course, they didn't fuse very well because of the terry cloth but it was enough to hold them in place while I appliqued by machine.

I just had to share this photo I took of one of the sunflower fields near my daughter's home. They are between four and five feet high. I love how they are all facing one direction! I planted some in my backyard and they are now between seven and nine feet tall. I had to choose the tallest ones! LOL Unfortunately, the flower bud broke or was chewed off my best one. All of them have buds now so I guess in a few weeks I will have my huge flowers! Woo Hoo!

What are you doing this Labor Day weekend? We are planning a day trip to the mountains on Monday. I can't wait! Have a great holiday weekend!