On the road again...

My husband and I got home yesterday after a week in Colorado with his sister who just lost her husband. We had a good visit and hopefully helped her as she adjusts to her new life alone. One of our outings was to several of the many great flea market/antique shops in her town. This quilt was one of my finds. I don't know the age of it but the blocks were hand pieced and then put together and bordered by machine. It is completely hand quilted. Yellow always makes me happy! We got a few other items that you can see here, here and here.

I delivered the two bags I finished last week to my husband's step-sister while we were in Colorado and she loves them. My SIL liked the bags so I am making her one also. We picked up the fabrics while we were there so I will need to get on that soon.

But first I need to get busy and finish some quilts, if possible, as I am heading up a quilt show next Saturday at our church which will be raising funds for Relay for Life.

Two Tops Today

Today I got two quilt tops put together. The first was made from 12 blocks I received in the past year from the Quilt Block Exchange. I added the brown sashing since I had it and then added the pink border to make it a bit more girlie.

For this one I pulled out some 'boyish' squares that I had in my stash and added a few more. Added the blue alternate squares so now I have a boy quilt on hand also.
My hubby and I are heading down to Colorado for a memorial service for our brother-in-law who died suddenly last week and when I get home I am going to be busy in the sewing room getting as many quilts finished as possible for the quilt show for our Relay for Life team at church on May 8. Hopefully we get a good turnout and raise a lot of money to help fight cancer! If you are interested in helping me reach my goal for fund raising you can do so online here.

Two More Bags

Here are two more bags using the Professional Tote pattern.There were made to order for my husband's step-sister. The one on the left is for her crocheting projects so it doesn't have the center dividing zip pocket. The other is for her laptop. She purchased the fabric and sent it to me and I received it just last week. I pushed to finish them this week as we will be heading down to her area on Friday so I can deliver them in person. I hope she likes them. I think they look great! Her fabric choices are great!

Two in One Day

Nothing for 12 days and suddenly two posts in a day!

This morning I finished up the last of 6 blocks for the April Quilt Block Exchange over on flickr. The first block is a 12.5" Blooming Rose for honeybit64, second is a 10.5" high house block for wendyscreations and the third is a 15.5" block for namawsbuzyquiltn to make into a preemie quilt.



This last one is actually 3 blocks that are the same: 12.5" red/white/blue stars for raesha, greeneyedsilversmith and westychic76. I was only required to make 4 blocks this month but I figured making 3 star blocks was as easy as one, the preemie quilt is for a good cause and the other two just sounded like they would be fun to make so I made 6 instead.

I received an order for 2 more of the tote bags and have all the materials so that gives me three to make and I am planning on that being my next project. I am hoping to get three bags done this week. I was going to start today but I suckered my husband into helping me hang things on the walls after we rearranged the living room almost 2 weeks ago. It is looking much better now.

Sporadic

My posts here seem to be fewer and further between all the time! Partly because my sewing has been in spits and spurts and partly due to company, travel and other commitments.

Since my last post I did make a decision and finished the quilting and binding on the Lady of the Lake quilt:I ended up just quilting down the middle of the flying geese and it turned out great. I also got a label on it right away (something that doesn't always happen with quilts I keep)At the same time I got the label on Ludvina's Legacy which included a picture of my Aunt Lou (Ludvina) from the 60's. She was heading to work at the diner on or around Mother's Day wearing her first orchid corsage.I finished getting the labels on the quilts as I was out galavanting. Last weekend was Mom's Weekend at WSU where my son is a sophomore so I spent a good bit of time with him and since my daughter, SIL and grandkids live only about 20 miles away I slept at their house and got a pretty good visit with them.

Then, since I was only a couple of hours away I headed up to my sister's to help her celebrate her birthday on Monday. Unfortunately, it took about 5 hours to get from WSU to my sister's due to a flat tire on my husband's Suburban. Now, I can change a tire but this tire didn't want to come off the car so it took a little extra time! While the tire was fixed on Monday my sister and I hung out at the local antique mall and I bought her a wrought iron plant stand for her African Violets (my husband gets to sandblast and paint it for her) and I found a cute little glass lamp to use in our newly rearranged living room. Then we had a nice lunch and she headed back to work and I got the newly repaired tire put on the car.

When I was finally back home we got word that hubby's sister's husband passed away suddenly so we will be heading down to Colorado later this coming week for the service and to spend some time with my SIL.

Quilting dilemma

I have a bit of a dilemma for the quilting of the Lady of the Lake quilt. I got lots of the quilting done on Friday and Saturday and got the binding on but I am not sure what else to do over the flying geese. Here are some pictures of the quilting so far which I really like but those little flying geese are very little - the HSTs are only 7/8" finished!






Please help me!!! I want to finish this one!

March Tally

Here is the tally of everything I accomplished in March. This makes me feel so much better, seeing it all written down. Otherwise, I feel like I am getting nowhere!

March Finishes

Doll/Wall Quilts - 1 (Snowflake)
Quilt Block Exchange Blocks - 6
Quilt Block Round Robin Blocks - 5
Tops - 3 (2 Double 9-patch, Lady of the Lake)
Quilts - 1 (Ludvina's Legacy)
Totes - 1 (sold it)

Child's Smock and Tote from Panel

Window Seat Cushions - 2

Today I went to a local store and picked up some thread for quilting Lady of the Lake (I really need to come up with a better name for that one). I got the back put together and got it sandwiched and ready for quilting so I might get that done tomorrow.

Speaking of thread - I bought King Tut thread and I was wondering what you all use for your machine quilting.

Last night while we watched some tv I did some hand sewing on the "What's Grandma Growing" (WGG). There is lots more to do before it is ready for quilting.