FSNI Report

Do you remember this quilt?  It's my version of Bonnie Hunter's Smoky Mountain Stars.

One of Bonnie's tips is to double sew the corner squares so you have little HSTs instead of a bunch of triangles.  I decided to give it a whirl...

Since then, these HSTs have been sitting in a basket... waiting patiently.  Took over a year before I decided it was time....

First, came a lot of pressing open of the HSTs...  then sewing two together...

....and more pressing...

...and some more sewing...

...more pressing followed by more sewing!

 A tube of lip balm for comparison

Still have a way to go... but I'm getting there!

To see what other FNSI-ers got accomplished last night, be sure to stop by Handmade for Heidi and check out all the links!

Non-squishy in the Mail

Hosted by Heidi and Bobbi, the April Friday Night Sew In where participants made pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer with two prizes donated by Arrow Sewing Cabinets...   guess who won one of the prizes?   Yes!  Me!

A giant box arrived yesterday and inside I found lots of goodies...

...unfortunately, I did not receive preassembled hourglass blocks.    *awwww*

In addition to the two thread racks, the handy traveling cutting board is backed by a padded ironing pad!

The round canister is a Button Bank!   I've never seen one before but I'm sure I'll find it useful!

A big "Thank you!" goes to the Arrow Sewing Cabinet Company and to Heidi and Bobbi for hosting another fun FNSI!

Pillowcases for FNSI

As part of the April Friday Night Sew In with Heidi and Bobbi, participants will be making pillowcases to donate to ConKerr Cancer through the Arrow Cabinet folks, who are generously providing this month's door prizes!   

Because I'm organized that way, I have my pillowcases already made...

and will be shipping them today...

...along with a note identifying the pillowcases as part of April's FNSI!

If you're interested in participating in this great project, read all about it at Handmade by Heidi....   we'd love to have you join us!

A Trip to JoAnn's and a New Friend!

As part of my on-going efforts to interest my granddaughters in sewing and fabrics, on our shopping trip Saturday morning, Emma and I went to JoAnn's to select fabrics to make pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer as part of the FNSI project for April.

After explaining the parameters (fabric must be soft and the prints need to be something children would like), Emma did a great job picking out fabrics... I gave her options on the border fabrics and she made wonderful choices!

 

(Gutterman thread was 40% off so I picked up a couple of spools)

After seeing my LAQ using these the other day, I picked up a pair of thread snippers as well!

While we were having our fabrics cut and Emma was playing with her purple Peeps bunny, a lady started talking to us.  We had a pleasant chat and then.... the lady asked if I had a JoAnn's coupon.   I didn't... had left them on the kitchen table that morning.   The lady then pulled out her coupons and offered me the one for "a friend," asking, with a smile, if I would like to be her friend.

The 25% off included everything... regular priced items as well as sale and clearance items!

Afterward, Emma and I talked about "luck" and "being nice to people."  Yes... it was a very good day!

Flimsy Finish

Last night, I finished up the pink strip quilt top...

I hope to get the back sewn together tonight after work and start the quilt sandwich/pin basting process.  My goal is to be ready to do some quilting Friday night....

.....which is the monthly Friday Night Sew In!   Have you signed up yet?

As of last night, there were 114 lovely ladies signed up to participate in the FNSI, hosted by the wonderful duo of Heidi and Bobbi!

If you are not able to join in, do visit the participants' blogs and the FNSI Flickr group and see what everyone was up to.

January Friday Night Sew In

It's FNSI time, folks... hurry on over to Bobbi's site:  Crafty Vegas Mom to sign up!

Of course, AFTER I signed up I remembered....

...so I suppose will be....

...or...

Hey!   Lookit this cool amigurumi moose!

Yup... even without a sewing machine, I can get into lots o' mischief!

The Christmas Clock is Ticking!

While not a Christmas gift, this quilt needs to be finished by New Year's Day so I can present it to my nephew at the extended family get together.    I need to mark the outside border so I can quilt a diamond pattern.

I plan to finish the quilting and get the binding sewn on so I can hand stitch the binding down this coming Friday evening, which is part 2 of this month's FNSI!

Hopefully by Saturday morning, I'll have another project crossed off my "to finish up this year" list.

Third Round of Auditions

All that pondering and all the great suggestions and we have a third round of auditions.

I like the dark blue with the lighter blocks and prefer the shirting stripe with the darker blocks.  So... a compromise...

All the pondering left me too tired to sew so I popped in a movie, held down the sofa, and knitted for a while...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Have you signed up for the FNSI yet?   Plenty of time and remember... there will be TWO FNSIs this month!   Are you done with your Christmas sewing yet?

A Successful FNSI

Yesterday, I finished sewing down the binding on a throw quilt for my niece...

...not a Christmas present but a belated college graduation gift...  that I want to give her over the holidays.

I also did some more knitting on the crimson scarf for my grandson.

This is one skein... not sure how long I want to make it yet...

 

...but I need to factor in the fringe... no... the tassels!   *lol*   I would like the scarf to be more an adult size... and hope it lasts for a while...

FNSI: Four More Stars

I decided to finish up the second batch of star blocks for John'aLee of The Scrappy Appleyard for this month's FNSI project.

In addition to the weekly Civil War blocks, I will be quilting and binding quilts for the remainder of this year.

I'm not much at straightening up until I finish a project so....  if I finished the stars, then I could put away those fabric scraps and make my cutting table a bit less cluttered.

I'm still intrigued about how different a block can look just by changing the colors and values around...

...so much so, that I see a star quilt happening next year.

In the meantime, these four star blocks, along with the previously blogged about star...

...will be sent out to John'aLee in Monday's mail.


Thanks, Bobbi and Heidi for hosting another successful Friday Night Sew In!

Tonight's the Night!

The Friday Night Sew In (FNSI), a modern sewing circle, is this evening!

Bobbi of Crafty Vegas Mom is hosting this month and there are already 162 folks signed up and raring to go. Heidi of Handmade by Heidi will be working on three projects, one using Circa 1934 fabrics!

I love sewing circles, even though this one is a virtual sewing circle... it's so much fun sharing what we're working on the next day.

By the way, did I mention that I found a photo of the first sewing circle I belonged to?

Friday Night Sew In

Bobby and Heidi's monthly Friday Night Sew In will be October 21st, 2011...

...and you can sign up here!

I know I have plenty of things to work on... especially since the holidays are rapidly approaching!

...and I always enjoy blog-hopping and visiting the FNSI Flicker page the next couple of days to see what other are working on!

Another Star Block

I used Barbara Brackman's instructions to make a North Star block to send to John'aLee of The Scrappy Appleyard...

I plan to get these blocks in the mail on Monday.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I enjoy the monthly Friday Night Sew In with Heidi and Bobbi and this month... I won the give-away!  The cool book and neat note cards arrived in yesterday's mail...

I am so excited!   

I'd be even more excited if I could learn to take less fuzzy photos...