Wedding quilt

This is the quilt that I made for my niece, Olivia, and her husband. They had a very small informal wedding and I wasn't able to make anything as a wedding gift, so I made this for their first anniversary  I used fat quarters out of my stash (yay!) and quilted it on a long-arm at Quilt Your Own, which unfortunately has since closed. I was pleased with how it turned out, and she was thrilled with it. Up next: baby quilt for my newest grandchild.

One fewer W-I-P

I finished piecing this top from the Cabbage Rose mystery block of the month (ca. 2009) a while ago, but wasn't really motivated to have it quilted as it didn't have any place to go. I recently learned about a place here in Houston that lets you use rents you time on a long arm quilting machine. I have been intrigued by these machines at the quilt festival, so I decided to give it a try. There was a 3 hour orientation class, which I took last month, and then I used this as my guinea pig. It actually turned out fairly well. I did a kind of straight line spiral design. I had decided to give this to our son, Donesh, as a housewarming gift for the condo he just purchased in Milpitas, CA and I wanted to give it a more masculine feel. I must be a very linear thinker, but maybe next time I will try something with curved lines, or maybe will try a pantograph. I have another top done that I will be quilting on October 4, so stay tuned!

A couple of things...

I never think to blog about my sewing projects any more. I usually post them on Instagram, and forget that I even have a blog. But here are a couple of things I made recently...

This is a little (22" x 26") wallquilt/tablemat I made with a Sandy Gervais Giddy charm pack and the Cherry Season pattern. It was a birthday present for my dear friend, Nancy.

 

My niece has been hinting that she would like some sunsuits for her daughter (the one I made the Shy Little Kitten quilt for). I downloaded a PDF pattern and used some fabric I had in my stash, some left over from the Hungry Animal Alphabet quilts I made for the boys' first birthday and some I'm not sure where it came from. The downloaded pattern was kind of a pain to assemble, and the directions were a bit different than one would find in a purchased pattern, but I muddled through and must say it turned out very cute! It is fun having a little girl sew for again...

 

Still here

I can't believe I haven't posted anything here for over 1 1/2 years! It's not like I haven't been on the internet...just haven't been in the blogosphere, mine or any one else's. Seems like Facebook and especially Instagram have taken over as quicker and easier ways to share. I will try to update things here more often and maybe even give it a facelift.

Here is my most recent quilt, Yellow Brick Road done in The Shy Little Kitten fabric out of my stash. I must have bought it before I knew I was having grandsons, because it has a lot of pink in it. I made it for my grand-niece Heidi's first birthday and sent along a copy of the book.  I just backed and bound it with pink Kona from my local Hancock Fabrics and did some parallel lines of stitch in the ditch. One of these days I am going to learn to do something fancier than that!

 

My next project is to assemble some Kaffe Fassett blocks of the month I made several years ago and recently found while cleaning out a closet...stay tuned!

Thrift Thursday

Lord knows I don't need anymore STUFF, but visiting thrift shops is one of my favorite pastimes. Such a thrill to find a treasure for a little money.  My favorite shop is only a few blocks from here, and I go most Wednesdays, when their clothing is 50% off. Mike finds this very humorous.  Several years ago I joined a Flickr group called Thrift Thursday where we share our finds.  I thought some of you might enjoy seeing my finds as well, and maybe even join the group.  Here is what I found yesterday...

A gorgeous Laura Ashley dress in pristine condition for $5! Perhaps a bit dated, but I'm hoping the birth of Prince George will renew the love of all things British.

Vintage barkcloth curtain panel (folded in half for this picture) for $3!!! Hardly ever see these anymore. There is a sizable yellowish stain on the other side, but I am thinking maybe tea-dying it would make it less noticeable. Not sure what I will do with it, perhaps just add it to my stash and admire it.

Fabric giveaway!

Although I certainly could (and probably should) give some fabric away, what I'm referring to is the giveaway at everyday beautiful...check it out!

Everybody loves a giveaway...

...especially when fabric is involved! Check out the fabric giveaway at Everyday Beautiful...maybe one of us will win :-)