Finally a Friday Finish to talk about!

I have a finish!  Hooray!!  And it's complete except for the label before the baby comes.in August!

 It's a small quilt, only 40 X 40. But it's for Tummy Time.  It's from a free pattern I found on All People Quilt. It's called Playing Tag.

Here is a close up of the  taggies of ribbon and rick rack that are sporadically used on the quilt. The fabric is Lil' Red by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda Fabrics and Coral Queen by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda. The colors are just yummy. I bought backing fabric from our local JoAnn's and also a fabric for the binding. In the end I used the dark rose floral for an added border, just to make it a bit bigger. 

Here is the backing fabric. Some modern chevron in the perfect shade of peachy coral and red to coordinate with the front.  I ended up making a scrappy binding from left overs. There are lots of seams, but I carefully positioned it around the perimeter to make sure no seams landed at the corners. Success.  I love it when you are stitching the binding down and each corner miters perfectly!  It was quilted by a friend who has a longarm. Not sure of the design, but it is loops and then a three petaled flower and more loops. Very feminine.

Earlier on FB I posted a picture of my "porch stitching". In this photo, the binding is the aqua with tiny bubbles . Too cute!!

Ummm!  I also used lots of wonder clips and enjoyed my porch time with a glass of Pomegranate Riesling wine.  I know, I know, not a wine glass, but I was worried about spilling it and breaking a stemmed glass. I have stemless wine glasses, unbreakable even, in our camper. But it was not available for me to raid the cupboards there.

 Do you notice the little white canister with the black strip?  It is a chewing gum "car cup" emptied, decoupaged with pieces of scrap fabric. and a label that says "itty bitty trash can".  We made them at a retreat. The perfect place for bits of thread and clippings. The black strip on the lid is a magnetic business card, cut to size and stuck down with double sided tape. The perfect place to park a needle while you sip your wine!

If I am lucky I will have just enough of the perfect coral thread to attach the label. I have it mostly ready to print from my computer, but will wait until she is born to add her name, date of birth and other pertinent information.  The quilt is for our 2nd great granddaughter  and our 5th great grandchild. Her family lives in Arizona, she won't need the quilt to snuggle, but it will be a good one to lay her on. 

That is my Friday Finish. I will be linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts today. And also, Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt. 

And now I am off to finish a scrappy table runner that is for a challenge and then maybe, just maybe, to straighten my sewing room. It needs a vacuum and a neatening up at the very least!

Until next time, 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Saturday Snapshots - Strawberry Moon

I  missed getting this posted on Saturday. I was waiting on permission to post a picture of the moon taken Friday night in our area. The full moon is June is traditionally called the Strawberry Moon. Not because it's pink, although it might appear so sometimes. The Algonquins  named it, They thought it was the best time to pick strawberries.  A link to the Farmers Almanac page about moon names is here. 

The moon was beautiful. My friend Susan posted this photo to Facebook. She takes great pictures and has an artists eye. She and her husband live outside of our town, so there are no city lights to detract. 

 I live on  the north edge of our small city and this was my view at bit later. And from my cell phone camera, not Susan's "real " one. 

I experimented a bit with my cell phone in the dark. Here is a picture of my small strawberry patch. As you can see, nothing to harvest. 😄   

This was taken write before the next picture was taken. My flash works pretty well. 

And then the clouds moved in and obscured the moon. This photo from my front porch.

It's been warm here in NE Wyoming, but today, Sunday it is forcast to be cooler and cloudy. We could use the rain. Our famous Wyoming wind drys grasses, veggies and flower very quickly. 

I have been sewing, hand embroidering and taking littles to the park. More pictures about those activities in a future Saturday Snapshots.   I'm off to breakfast with friends, then back here to check out others' snapshots and get some more sewing done. 

Have a great week!

Judy

June is Here

Saturday Snapshots hosted by Melinda at West Metro Mommy Reads. Join us. There are just a few understandable rules. You can read them at Melinda's blog and then go back an share a photo or 2 or 6. We don't care.

I'm sort of playing Throwback Thursday this week. My brother's 65th birthday was Thursday, so I dug up some old photos and found some of him as a kid. I am the oldest, he is the third. He was probably 5 here.

 This was taken on his birthday, by my SIL.

Then Friday was our anniversary. So I found this old photo from our wedding 1964. We were so young.

I need a photo of us that is more current.......maybe I'll take one today. We are going to a 50th wedding anniversary party for friends. This is one of a portion of family when we gathered to celebrate two of our granddaughter's birthdays, 2 weeks ago.

I'm in the middle in the red shirt. My DH is the guy behind at left. Bald, white goatee and green shirt.
Our daughter, her daughters, her SIL and her grandkids are the others in the photo We are blessed.

I think I am going to try to continue the Before and Now theme for family celebrations for the rest of the year. I need to organize my photos. I have boxes and boxes of actual prints. Lots on my computer, and now of course on my phone and DH's iPad.  Yikes!!!


Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

A few small projects finished

I'm linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday, Busy Hands Quilts is taking a week of so no Linky Party there today.

These two little organizers were started at a retreat in May and finished this week. On the left is called a Button Boat and was taught at a project by a member. No pattern here but you can buy one or see another picture at Lazy Girl Designs. I am a fan of Lazy Girl patterns.

The little scrappy string zippered pouch was made from a pattern I received from a friend for my birthday a few years ago. I made the large one and now the smaller one. Here is a pic of the larger one, I use it in my gym bag for toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and lipstick and cologne.

Needless to say , I didn't use up as many string as I had hoped. It was fun and pretty darn easy. You can't read it here, but the pattern is from V and Co. "String Block Zipper Pouch"


Also this week I worked on a Challenge Project for May for The Sewing Center's UFO Challenge.. I got it in just under the wire.

The prompt for May was to make some thing for a guy. Well this is for my oldest Great Grandson. I bought the panel when our only LQS was closing. I added the star fabric to make it reversible to give it some substance and to avoid all those 1/4 inch hems!  All the other pieces were printed on the panel and finished with double fabric, stitched and turned or a raw edge finish, stitched and pinked around the edges.

 All seven year olds need a super hero according to the book I am currently reading.

At least he can have his own cape and mask and wristbands.  He can be a superhero himself. He is going to be a new big brother in August, so he will be a superhero to her I am sure. 

Have a great weekend and a good start to summer if your in the US and northern hemisphere. and a mild fall if you in the southern hemisphere. 

Today is our anniversary, so probably not much sewing will be done. Although maybe we will both just spend time in our respective hobby rooms and celebrate for dinner. It's 53 years for us and I look forward to hopefully at least a few more! 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 5/29/17

It's Memorial Day here in the US and although my heart aches for our country, I must remember those that served so we have the freedoms we enjoy. I pray that our freedoms continue and that we the people have a voice.

On my FB page I shared these:  This is my dad, probably about summer 1946 judging from the other photos that were will this one in my mom's belongings. I lost him too young. I was 23, by sister and brothers still in school. He was 49, killed in a car accident.

This is our son. He served in the Air Force in 1987-1990. Luckily for him and for us, not during wartime. I am proud of the man he has become. He would cringe at this photo, but it is the only one I have of him in his uniform, except for his wedding to his first wife and I can't publish that. 


I am finally back to reading more. My book club is taking a break during the summer, but we have selected 3 of the titles by Fredrik Backman for our summer reading choices.

I had already read A Man Called Ove and liked it a lot. 

This one was one that our friend and member, Helen wanted to read. She was 84 and at our March meeting was having trouble with her hip. Easter weekend she fell and though she had had a hip replacement, she broke the surrounding bone. Her heart problem complicated further surgery, so she was admitted to  rehab in a town 2 hours away.  She missed our April meeting.  We staying in touch with her through emails and because one of our members is a friend of one of her daughters. She raised 10 children on a ranch in NE Wyoming. We met the third Tuesday in May, discussed our books and decided to chose these because Helen was interested and we knew she was recuperating now in a hospital a bit closer to home. By the next morning Wednesday, we got word that she had passed away, due to heart issues. We will miss this lovely woman of God, strong spirited, lover of literature and her fellow man.   

I am looking forward to the discussion of all three of these. I am currently reading my grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry. 

Last week I finished, though not in Audio format.  I read a regular sized paperback from the library. It looked and felt liked it had been read many times. I enjoyed it too. I especially like the main character Eve Dallas. If you like detective stories, with a bit of romance ( or just plain lust) and you don't mind setting in the future, try this series. It is set in 2058 in NYC.  Still gritty and "happening". 

I've sort of fallen away from my sewing room in the last couple of weeks. I attended a retreat  and started several projects there, finished 2 but that is all. I did not complete my challenges for May at all. One I did not even start, although I did locate it in the stack of project boxes and bags! The weather is improving here, I got some pot planted for in front of our house and on the back deck. I need one more for the front porch. I put the flag out this morning when I got up, I think I would like a patriotic themed planter this year. I will go looking for an appropriate pot and selection of flowers today. 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Shasta Daisy Backpack

Last week I shared  the backpack layout that I started at the retreat I attended. This week I finished it. I was using a pattern that I downloaded from a blog. I was sort of confused by some of the directions, so I grabbed my laptop and searched for  YouTube videos about backpacks with  drawstring casing. Luckily I found a great one on Shabby Fabrics YouTube channel. Thanks, Jennifer Bosworth of Shabby Fabrics. My directions called for grommets,and I already had them ready so I used them. . They're cute, but if I do this pattern again, I will use the loops in the Shabby Fabrics pattern.

I really like the way this turned out. It was made from some of the scraps from the graduation quilt I made for my youngest granddaughter, Shasta.  This will be her birthday gift this weekend. I was shopping in SD at a Mall last weekend and went to Bath and Body Works. I found these.... the perfect addition to the backpack for a girl with the chrysanthemum name. 

Oh, and I'll add a Starbucks gift card too!  

Off to get ready for a double birthday party. Both my daughter's daughters have birthdays in May, so we celebrate when we are able to get together. Ice cream cake, Gluten Free frosted brownies, sorbet and my requested potato salad are on the menu. Older granddaughter's husband will do brats and ribs on the grill. Looking forward to a wonderful weekend. 

I am linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished Or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Til next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

THERE REALLY IS A FINISH HERE!

Last week I told you about the retreat I was attending. I am home now and maybe rested. We had lots of fun, the weather was amazing, and there were lots of tops finished and some other projects completed as well. 

Our theme was Let's Go Glamping!  There were several variations on the theme in the decorations and in the menus. We had a lace table covering and flowers in a mason jar for our Early Morning offerings. 

The snack table had cookies, pretzels, chips, popcorn, and "first aid kits" in prescription bottles. First aid kits were titled Happy Pills to bring joy. Bottles held M&Ms, Skittles, Red Hots, or Jelly Beans. I wish I had taken pictures of the food. There was everything from Oven German Pancakes to Brats and Burgers. Lemon Ice Cream cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Pizzelles to Oreos in the newest flavors. 

Each table had welcome gifts of a bottle of water, a pocket sized pack of tissues and a Smores Kit. ( 2 graham crackers, a square of chocolate bar and 4 marshmallows) and a sewing themed band aid. 

My projects were a Taggie quilt for an expected great granddaughter, due date is August 11th. A tool roll made from scraps and a pattern from A Spoonful of Sugar,  a quilted knapsack from a pattern from Pleasant Home (Jodi's blog is not current at the present time, but here is a link to her Instagram)and a zippered pouch from a box of strings and a pattern gifted from a friend. 

I took my big Bernina to the nearest Bernina dealer( 2 hours from my home but only an hour from the retreat location) for it's bi-annual cleaning and maintenance checkup. While there I purchased some fabric for a fellow quilter who needed some "different gray", 2 yards of fabric for a future 5 yard quilt and I was supposed to purchase a zipper foot for my travel machine ( a Janome Gem) so I could complete my projects. I got all the way back to the retreat and remembered I forgot to buy the zipper foot. So, I completed the baby quilt. It's only 36" square, but just the right size for tummy time or a light stroller cover. 

See all the little loops of ribbon, and rickrack?  Babies love tactile taggies and mom can hang a toy or binky there too. 

I made the tool roll from all scraps. This is the outside. HST finished at 1.5".

This is the inside with several pockets for small tools to take along with a project. The pattern is no longer on their blog, but here is a link to the site. There are lots of other yummy projects. 

I pieced the main patch work for the knapsack, up to the part where I needed to insert the zipper. Stopped!!! Actually this is a picture in progress...I lay the 2.5" squares in a pleasing design, then started to sew. I decided to take a picture with my phone so I could remember what went where. I tried the  "web" technique and worked quite well. 

Then I foundation pieced the strings front and back for the zippered pouch, attached the tabs on the zipper and "stopped", no zipper foot. No pictures, but I will share when the pouch is complete. 

So I worked on a hand quilting project....as yet to be revealed. Oh my, not my best 4 days of sewing but I did get started on some things and I rested too. That was my goal...to not be so exhausted when I got home. Goal Accomplished. 

I will link this to Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday and Finished Or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Til next time,

Judy