FaceBook Fun

The best thing about FaceBook is the ability to keep up with folks you don't see often.  For example, my youngest nephew Drew just started college this past week.   One of his first FB posts was...

There were a lot of smart aleck comments made by friends and family; however....  someone had an idea....

 

 ...and sent off a care package full of snacks and a special peanut butter & jelly knife!    Here's what Drew posted on FB earlier this evening...

Yup, FB is fun....

Playing Around

A friend at work brought a quilted "something" a relative had made to show me and I was intrigued!  Can you guess what it is?

Yes!  It is a casserole carrier!   How does it work, you ask?   First, you put the casserole in the center of the carrier, underneath the diagonal strap.

Next, you thread the strap through the two D-rings, forming a loop.

Then, you pull on the loop part of the strap....   et voila!

You have your casserole ready to carry... and with only one hand!   Cool!    When my daughter saw it, her eyes got big and I could almost see the light bulb go on over her head.... so I offered to make her one.  (She attends a lot of covered dish dinners since her husband is a minister at two small churches.)

Committed to using only stash, I rummaged around and selected two fabrics.   I pulled batting scraps from the bin and pieced enough to make two layers of batting in the sandwich.

I decided to do a bit more quilting than the original because it used poly batting.

I'm making the casserole carrier a big differently than the original and I need to pick up some D-rings to be able to finish it up.   I'll report back on my success (or lack thereof) when I'm finished.

QAL Progress

Lesson 9 (link) was posted this past Thursday but it was the weekend before I could get to it.  

I've given up on the mock up and have the blocks on my design wall now... helps more with looking at what colors need to go where...

It's a good thing that the rest of the blocks have small pieces because even though I'm cutting carefully and saving every scrap, the contents of the FQ basket holding the batiks are getting smaller every week!

A Bright and Happy Block

I've been lurking on Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 15 minutes play blog for a while now, enjoying all the fun and out-of-the-box stuff they create.   This past Thursday's blog asked for donations of 12" (finished) anvil blocks with blue backgrounds.   Ms Findlay Wolfe uses these blocks to make quilts for folks who have cancer.  

So I pulled fabric remnants and made a bright and happy block as requested.

Ms Findlay Wolfe has a LINK to the tutorial to make the anvil blocks as well as a LINK to the mailing address.

Photo blatantly swiped from 15 minutes play

It's a fun block... might even make another one.... ya never know!

Thought on a Saturday morning....

Quilting Update

I've started sewing pinwheel blocks together and trying to decide on how to quilt this puppy.  

 

I'm sure photos of the blocks in my sewing machine would be mega exciting so....  how about this illustration of a sewing machine with all the parts labeled clearly?

QAL Block A3

It's harder to select fabrics now that we're down to the last few blocks... and one doesn't want to duplicate fabrics in adjacent blocks.

However, I think these fabrics work well...

Wouldn't it be nice...

Fashion Show

My little girls came to see me yesterday afternoon and were excited about the new doll clothing.  We had to have a fashion show right away!

Sundresses were modeled...

...as well as shorts sets.

And, after dinner out, there was a little cake blindness...

Doll Couture

Not a lot of quilting-related sewing going on around here; however, miniature dressmaking has...     First up, halter tops and coordinating shorts!

 

Next, sun dresses...

...and matching reversible headbands!    Are we coordinated or what?

I've also made denim skirts... one A-line and the other a wrap skirt.

All clothing for the granddaughters' dolls...

QAL Block C2 (7th block)

It was a super busy week so it was good that instructions for the seventh block were late posting.  I jumped right on it and was glad it was a simple block...

With this type quilt, it's hard to visualize what it's going to look like so I'm glad Michelle Foster included a grid we can plug blocks into...

With the sage green sashing/borders, I think this is going to work out nicely.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In other news, tomorrow (8-12-13) is the first day back for the school system's 10-month employees and the beginning of regular hours, five days a week.  I'm going to miss having Fridays off but I won't miss the 10-hour work days.   Students start back a week from tomorrow....

Midi Bag #3: Is It Loud Enough?

At least, no one will have a tote bag just like me!

With the help of my sister, I pulled a charm pack of Benartex's Spirographix ("...third time's the charm..." - JoAnne of The Patriotic Quilter)...

I got the charm pack at Missouri Star Quilt Co. on one of their Daily Deals for like... next to nothing!  However, there was only 22 charm squares in the pack, just one of each print.   (I wish there had been a few more of the top fabric!)   22 charm squares cut into 2.5" squares = 88, which is not sufficient to cover the sides.  

So, Carol dug into my scrap bins and pulled fabrics that coordinated with this wild assortment of colors and prints.

It was nice to be able to work on a tote for me that was a team effort...  and the third tote shows how much I've learned about assembling this bag.   Not that you can see it from the photo but I can tell!  

I used two FQs for the lining and another piece from the scrap bins for the pocket.

This scrappy look was what I had in mind when I purchased the pattern; however, with the fabrics I used for the sisters' totes, I had enough to play with.  

I'm going to enjoy this tote... don't think I'll be able to misplace it!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Happy Birthday to the US Coast Guard!

Aiming for Accuracy Block of the Week

The sixth block of the QAL was posted on my first day back to work for the 2013-2014 school year so...  it was not made the day it was posted.    However, it's not a race...

I'm not a big fan of trimming all the HSTs and QSTs but it does make lining stuff up a lot easier.   Here's how all the blocks look together so far...

It's going to be a very close call with batik fabrics on hand....  I am thinking of "making" fabric from pieces that are too small for some of these.   Will have to wait/see how it goes...


I was curious so Carol sent me a photo of her new ironing board cover....   

I like both the print and the colors!   If we have to iron, we might as well have something pretty to look at, yes?