Birthday Fat Quarters and finished tablerunner

I am a member of Kaye Wood Yahoo Group and every year we have a Fat Quarter Birthday Swap. I thought I would share with you my 18 wonderful fq's I received for my birthday. I have also posted two photos, front and back, of the batik table runner I made for Seminole Sampler Quilt Shop. I had fun quilting this one on my Viking Designer 1, after my Brother Quilt Club decided to go on strike! I will be putting it in the repair shop this week. For the quilting I just did a rough outline of the flowers and since the background fabric had little geometric squares I thought I would do wonky squares! I quilted a diamond pattern on the sashing strips and little diamonds on the joining squares. Hope you like it!

Celebrate Dawn's Birthday Give A Way Winner

Woo Hoo!!Congratulations to Dawn over at Quilting By Dawn on winning these beautiful handmade pot holders in the Celebrate Dawn's Birthday Give A Way!!! They will be on their way as soon as I get your mailing information!

My Birthday Celebration

On Saturday, the 19th, my daughter, granddaughter, hubby and I went to my favorite chinese buffet to have a mini birthday celebration since my daughter and granddaughter would not be available for the big family party on the 26th. At the buffet they present you with this cute flower that opens up with the lit candles while playing a mechanical version of Happy Birthday!!! I have seen them do this for other customers this past year and decided that I wanted one of those , too!!! I knew my granddaughter would love it as much as me......and she did! She picked out the cupcake balloon that I am holding. I hope you enjoy my mini birthday party video and pictures!

Scrapbooking

My dear sewing friends, this coming Saturday, the 26th, is my birthday. Every year all my family members give me this wonderful gift of 3 beautiful days in Chantilly, VA, where I attend the Great American Scrapbook Convention. So, while you are stitching away for the next few days, I will be creating, gluing, and embellishing a fabulous scrapbook! I also have some cards I want to make as well! "Sew" I will see you in a few days!
PS. My friend, Rita, made two wonderful pot holders for my give a way that unfortunately I don't have time to photo right now. But, if you would like to wish me a happy birthday in the comment section, I will have a Celebrate Dawn's Birthday Give A Way on Sunday, the 27th. You may also send an email if you have trouble leaving a comment! So Happy Birthday to me and Good Luck to you!!!

Friday Night Sew In Results!!!!

This is what happens when a five year old occupies herself with your thread while you try to sew!

This is my almost quilted tablerunner that I worked on for Friday Night Sew In! I tried to finish it this morning but the top photo shows what I was up against! I love that little girl! Today we are taking her to the movies to see Toy Story 3. I hope I can stay awake! I am looking forward to seeing all the other FNSI projects!!!!

Friday Night Sew In!!!

It's that time again to join Heidi, Bobbi, me, and over 100 quilters for a fun filled Sew In!!! Just click here or on the button on the right of this post and that will take you to the page with all the info! Remember in May I won the give away from Heidi and it was my very first time participating! So be sure to read all the rules (not that many), decide on your project and get sewing!! Check back tomorrow to see what project I decided on! Have fun!

June Taylor Shape Cut, clever way to make HST

I needed to make 135 Friendship or Siggie blocks for my Jo Morton internet group swap. I was able to cut out 270 two and a half inch squares and 135 three and a half inch squares in just minutes using my June Taylor Shape Cut! (link will take you to video)It took me longer to iron the fabric than it did to cut 405 squares! And what do 405 squares look like? See photo number 3 and look at those stacks of squares!!! In the 4th and 5th photos I wanted to share a piecing technique I picked up from Dawn S over at SpringWater Designs. (see her June 14 post) Stitch your smaller square diagonally on your larger square. But before you trim off the corner, stitch again about a half inch away from your first stitching line. Then cut between the two rows of stitching. As the last picture shows, you will have a completed block and two HST's already stitched and ready to be sized and used! Pretty clever, eh? So I will have 270 HST's when I have completed these 135 blocks. Now my friend, Wenche over at Wenche's Pieces of Time, was a bit more clever and designed a way to use these 270 HSTs in her Jo Morton swap quilt she has been working on! Don't ya just love it when things come together like this???? Quilt bliss!!
PS I am afraid I have to add a post script here. I forgot to put the second HST in the photo which is supposed to be showing you the TWO HST you will get from each block! Sorry:(

Fair time and Jo Morton patriotic panels

Well, it is that time of year when the counties start sending out their fair catalogs and I received mine for the Howard County Fair! Woo Hoo! I live in the "big city", as my granddaughter calls Baltimore, and we stopped having the City Fair a long time ago. While visiting the Howard County Fair one year I asked one the the volunteers if I could enter some of my projects. She said since the city does not have a fair, I was welcome!!!! Yippee! So I have been entering ever since! In fact, the apron that I am wearing in my header photo won a Blue Ribbon, a Champion Ribbon and the President's Choice Ribbon, all at the Howard County Fair, two years ago!!!! So I will be very busy for the next two months finishing up projects, keeping lots of secrets from my sewing buddies (lol) and using the crock pot ALOT!!!!! Hubby is used to it, though, and is very supportive of me!
The other two photos are my newest Jo Morton panels that I picked up in Lancaster, PA, in The Old Country Store. I may use them for backs, or fronts and backs!
PS I would like to thank my friend,Missy, for showing me how to attach links to words! It's working Missy!!!!!

Ups and Downs

Oh, the ups and downs of sewing. I went to my sewing room tonight at about 7PM. Told my hubby that I wanted to get some sewing in while he worked on the front porch. I had some trouble quilting that last baby quilt so I took Linda's suggestion and took my Brother Quilt Club machine apart and cleaned it. I removed the plate, front one and back, then removed the bobbin case. There was a bit of fuzz down there so I took my time and gave it a real good cleaning. Then I thought I would put in a new needle since I am starting a new project. Well, I would love to hear from any Brother owners out there if you have this problem. This happens to me all the time. I put the bobbin case back in, then the front and back plates. Then I stitch a sample. The top thread is not picking up the bobbin thread. Take it all apart again, adjust the bobbin case, put it all back together, try again. Same problem. After a few tries I realize I put in a Klasse brand needle and some of my machines don't like these needles. So I replace it with a needle that actually came with the machine. Still won't sew. My hubby popped in to say goodnight and that's when I realized I had lost 4 hours fooling with this machine. Usually I can get it going again. But not this time. And the thing is, I have a little portable Brother and I have the exact same problem. So it must be a Brother thing. I am going to contact them in the morning and see what they have to say. That was the down part of this post.

Now for the up side!!!! I switched over to my Viking Designer 1 machine because I wanted to get SOME sewing accomplished. I was really excited to work on this new tablerunner. I had already cut out all the pieces, just needed to assemble. So I did get in some sewing......and the above are my results! I have two rows stitched together so far, but I was so excited with the project that I just had to lay it out to see how it looks so far. Do you ever do that? I wish my table was a little wider but you get the idea of how it's is turning out. Now I am taking some snack and blog time, then off to dreamland! See ya soon!!!

Oh, and did you hear the news? Pat from A Little of This and A Little of Pat won an Accuquilt Go! Woo Hoo for Pat ! A link to her blog is on my list of blogs on the right sidebar. You may want to pop over and congratulate her!!

Tablerunners

The top tablerunner is the sample for Seminole Sampler. Linda selected all batiks! Tonight I cut out all the pieces so tomorrow I can begin assembly!

The bottom tablerunner will be for me. I selected Moda's Frolic collection. When I made the first runner I discovered I liked working with charms so when I saw these at Good's in Lancaster, I couldn't resist! This will be the second time for this pattern as the first one was for the shop. Do you recognize the pattern????What???(you say) You are making it again after all the problems you had with the first one??? Yes, say I. I figured everything that could go wrong did, so this time should be a breeze! I will let you know!

New fabrics for new projects!!!

Okay, let's see how this turns out!
The two photos of dark blue are half yard cuts of Jo Morton's Indigo Berries! If you know me you know that this is a combination of all my favorite things: love blue, love indigos, love Jo Morton fabrics! The bottom two photoes are also Jo Morton fabrics. They are for my Siggie block swap. I zoomed in on the Sisters fabric so you could see the ladies heads on the fabric.
Isn't it cool!!!

Sunday afternoon at Granny's house

First we got in the pool, then we watched Pop Pop through the living room window while he worked on the front porch, then we finished up the afternoon helping Granny put the binding on her quilt! The perfect Sunday!

Barb's projects, Me and Granddaughter in Lancaster, PA

The quilt photos are projects by my friend, Barb. The hunter star blocks are made by a special ruler. I should have written down the name because now I have forgotten. I will have to email her or, Barb, if you read this, maybe you could tell us the name in the Comment section! During Memorial Day weekend, hubby, granddaughter and I went to Lancaster, PA on a fabric hunt. I needed a specific fabric for my Jo Morton Siggie Block Swap and I found it in the second place I looked, which was Zook's! Yards and yards of it! I only needed 2 (I think) but I bought 4! You know how it is! Some kind Amish folk let us take a picture in their buggy! We have such fun up there! Thank goodness my granddaughter loves the trip as much as we do! They have an old steam locomotive up there is Strasburg and we took a ride on that, too! It was a beautiful day and we made lots of memories!

Farmer's Market Day

On Saturday mornings we try to go to the local Farmer's Market.... me, my hubby and my youngest granddaughter, who is 5. We love the excitement, all the different smells, and right now the vendors have all sorts of flowers. This morning we purchased a variety of squash, snow peas, tiny red potatoes, multi grain bread, apples, and one loaf of foccacia. Yummy! My granddaughter wanted to have a cookout so for dinner I marinated the snow peas, potatoes, squash and onions in olive oil, garlic and rosemary. We then skewered all but the snow peas, tossed a few hot dogs on the grill, made a pitcher of iced tea, and what a scrumptious dinner! I have been reading the blogs of some friends from Australia and they are going into their cooler season and posting pics of all these great soup veggies, so I thought I would share my Farmer's Market dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a pick until food was almost done on the grill, but I am sure you will see how delicious everything was!!! And, as usual, my granddaughter is "helping" her PopPop!

Go Cutter Give A Way

http://bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com/2010/05/accuquilt-go-giveaway-time-is-nowthe.html

Barb, over at Bejeweled Quilts, is having a Go! Cutter Give A Way! Please click on the above link to find out how to have a chance at this fabulous cutter! Please be sure to tell Barb that you heard it from me so that I get an additional chance...hehehe! Good Luck!!

Sunflowers,Civil War wallhanging

A week ago Saturday my granddaughter and I planted these sunflower seeds. I was hanging some laundry out last Friday and happened to look down and saw these huge seedlings. But the interesting part is that there was this large piece of dirt sitting a couple inches above the rest of the dirt. I thought the neighbor's cat had vandalized my garden yet again. But upon closer inspection the seedlings had lifted up the dirt!!! Oh my goodness!! I had never seen such a thing and could barely wait for my granddaughter to come over and look at this amazing site! So cool!!

My other photo is of my Civil War wallhanging. I still need to put on the binding and do my little extras on the solid squares. I am playing around with several different ideas! Stay tuned!