Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, I can't believe so much time has flown by!  Life has been extremely busy at my house.  Almost no time for sewing, but boy have I been busy collecting license plates for the Row by Row Experience http://www.rowbyrowexperience.com/ . I've collected a lot from Kansas and a few from Missouri and Colorado.

Hubby and I just returned from a quick vacation out to Colorado to visit his brother. On the way we stopped at as many quilt shops as we could.  He was such a sweetie to do that for me!  Anyway at one of the shops in Western Kansas I came across this!

Does anyone remember this?  I was so excited to see it. I hadn't seen one in years.  I remember going to the Ben Franklin store near my hometown and watching the clerks use it when my mom bought fabric.  The quilt shop was Smoky River Quilt Shoppe in Oakley, Kansas http://www.smokyriverquiltshoppe.com/Pages/default.aspx.  They said they do still use it!  I met a couple of very nice ladies there, I'm not sure if one was the owner or not, but they were friendly and helpful. 

 I've found that at the majority of the quilt shops I've visited the people are friendly and happy to chat.  There have been a few shops that when they find out I'm there for the row by row and only want the free pattern and to buy the license plate, they have gotten somewhat short with me.  It's too bad, because they were nice shops and I may have returned there again when I wasn't pressed for time. Oh, who am I kidding, I'll probably still go back when I have time or am in the area again!  I found a lot of nice shops that have unique things to offer.

I've added several projects to my ever growing to do list, but have completed almost none:(.  Hopefully in the next few weeks and I get my sewing room set back up (long story for another day) and get back sewing again.

Happy Sewing,

Lori

Time Flies

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since I last posted.  I've gotten a lot done, but haven't taken many pictures.  I've finished my first baby quilt, made another towel set, almost finished a jelly roll race 2 quilt top, helped DD3 with her first quilt top (also a jelly roll race 2) and whipped up this cute burp cloth.

My daughter and son in law just found out they are having a boy in December!  As of right now they are planning on doing his nursery in a fishing theme.  I thought this would be a good start. I used fabric I had laying around the house.  Hopefully I'll be able to find something more along the fishing theme.

Tomorrow is a 10 hour work day but I have Thursday and Friday off work!  Yay me!  So my plan is tomorrow evening after work I'm going to run to Joann's to pick up batting and get some of the fine terry cloth. Then bright and early DD3 and I can start sewing.  I'll help her sandwich her quilt so she can start quilting.  I'll finish up my quilt top and hopefully start sewing the I spy quilt I'm making for DGS for Christmas.   If I have time ill make a hooded towel or two out of the fine terry cloth.

I'll try to remember to take pics of our sewing marathon!  

Happy sewing,

Lori

Happy Independence Day!

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but thankfully things have slowed down a bit.  Hubby is working nights all weekend so we have no holiday plans.  But I get the sweetheart of a granddaughter most of the weekend!  My little cutie is 17 months old and of course the cutest baby ever!   My daughter brought her over yesterday afternoon and I get her till Sunday.  We're going to visit my MIL later this afternoon, but other than that we have no plans. We may go outside in the evening and watch a few fireworks, hopefully she will like them.

Last Wednesday I took a twilling class at Quilting Bits and Pieces  and I loved it!  I had never been there before and it's a very nice quilt shop.  It's much bigger than I expected and the people are extremely helpful and friendly.  I will definitely be going back. Here's a pic at my first attempt at twilling

It's by no means perfect, but it's not hard and I know it won't take long to get the hang of it.  My long term goal is to make a tone on tone cream or off white quilt for our king size bed.  For now I got this pattern and variegated thread and am going to practice with a baby quilt.

I have one more set of towels I'm working on for a wedding next weekend. I have one towel done and three more to go.   After I'm done with these, I think I'm done with towels for a while!  They are great wedding presents and everyone seems to love them, but I'm about toweled out for a while!

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Happy Sewing,

Lori

List of projects

 I'm making a list of projects either started or still in my head that I want to do.  I'll try to come back and mark when each project is completed.

Projects with a deadline:

1. Afghan for my youngest daughter-currently about 3/4 done.  Hoping to get it done for a birthday present (Aug) or more likely a Christmas present.

2. Practice baby quilt-just a simple charm pack quilt-currently pieced and quilted. Binding is about half done.  Hoping to finish it up this weekend.

3. An I-spy quilt for my grandson. I'm currently looking for more fabric I can fussy cut.  I have quite a few 4 inch blocks already cut.  I need to decide if I'm going to use sashing in between the blocks or alternate plain blocks in between the fussy cut blocks.  That will really determine how many blocks I need. I hope to get this done by Christmas, if not his birthday is in January so I could have a couple more weeks if needed.

4. Favors for the quilting retreat I'm going to in the Fall.  I'll need about 40.  I'm not sure yet what I'm making, but I have a few ideas.

5.  Big bag for my youngest daughter, I made one for my granddaughter, DD3 (darling daughter 3) loved it so much she wants one for Christmas.

6.  DD1 is pregnant and expecting in early December-lots of baby items but can't start till we know if it's a boy or girl.

Long term projects:

1.  Periwinkle quilt-pattern from MSQC Periwinkle Quilt Tutorial  I've gotten most of the fabric cut and am piecing it when I have time.

2.  Baby quilt with machine embroidered nursery rhymes.  I've embroidered a couple of blocks.  I usually work on this when my machine has been messing up, to make sure I have it fixed!

3.  King sized quilt made with twilled blocks-very long term project because not only is it big, I'm just learning to twill.  I haven't started it yet, but hope to soon.

I'm sure there will be other projects pop up here and there, but these are what's on my plate as of now.

Happy Sewing!

Lori

Back From the Quilt Festival

Oh my!  I learned one thing from going to the quilt festival today...I have a long way to go to really consider myself a quilter!  Oh I know I'm new at it and I've made a couple basic quilts, so I get the concept.  But wow!  The quilts I saw today were amazing!  I wish I took pictures but my phone was out of memory so I couldn't take any.  But take my word for it...they were amazing.  It was overwhelming, the number of quilts, the colors, the designs.  Go to their facebook page to look at some of the quilts:  KCRQF 

I got to play with the long arms they had set up and boy were they fun!  I'm hooked and want one...the price will hold me back, but a girl can always dream, right?  My friend Sara and I talked about buying one together and starting a little business when we retire in a few years.  Oh it's fun to have dreams!

I came away feeling overwhelmed and in awe.  But I also came away inspired.  I am so pumped to finish the quilts I have started and can't wait to try new things. Sara and I are already talking about going back next year.  We've also decided to take a twilling class from one of our local quilt shops.

But for tonight I have to finish up four more table runners and make an ITH makeup bag for my best friend's daughter's wedding next weekend.

Happy Sewing,
Lori

Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival

The Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival is this weekend!  It's June 19-21, 2015 and will be held at the Overland Park Convention Center, 6000 College Boulevard in Overland Park, Kansas.  Several months ago I looked through the website Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival and found a bunch of classes I wanted to take.  But of course I didn't take the time to register and by the time I remembered most of the classes were filled and the online registration time had passed.  Oh well, I've wrangled a friend into going with me on Saturday.  We'll look at all the beautiful quilts being displayed and browse the vendors.  I'll try to remember to take pics and post them later.  Maybe I'll get inspired from some of the quilts being displayed!

In the meantime, I'm a very new quilter, but I'm already hooked.  It's kind of a funny story how this came about...I wanted to make something for my granddaughter for Christmas so I started looking through patterns.

 I came across Simplicity pattern # 2493

Her room is done in turtles so I thought this would be perfect!

What I didn't realize when I bought the pattern was that it was actually a quilting pattern in disguise!

Yes there were pattern pieces, lots of them and yes I had to pin them on the fabric and cut them out, but it's still a quilt! I don't know how many times during the making of this turtle, I told my hubby that I was never doing this again, it was just too much...there were over 30 pieces!   They were all quilted individually before being sewn all together.  I guess I was actually doing a quilt as you go (QAYG) quilt.  I didn't know there was such a thing.  Anyway, I was determined to finish it and a funny thing happened as I got closer to the end.  I found I was enjoying myself, this was actually fun, watching it come together.   So here's the finished quilt:

It's not the greatest picture, but I'm very happy with the way it turned out.  My granddaughter loves it and it looks great in her room.

So that's what got me started quilting again. I jumped in with both feet once I found out about Missouri Star Quilting Company MSQC  Jenny does great tutorials and makes it so even a beginner can understand.   I have 3 quilts in varying stages of completion.  And lots more on my to do list!

That's all for now:)

Lori

Pics of past projects

Ok, I'm going try to add pictures of several past projects I've done.

This is a hooded towel I made for my granddaughter.  I made several for her and my grandson, but I forgot to get pictures before I gave them for Christmas. I made a Ninja Turtle, Olaf, a giraffe and a couple others I can't remember.

I love embroidering towels for gifts  They make wonderful wedding gifts.  I think I'm probably going to become known as the Towel Lady because I give them to every couple I know that gets married! I've done several styles, I'll try to see if I can find pictures of other ones I've done.

This is a handkerchief I did for a wedding this past weekend.  I was so nervous because it was her grandfather's and the bride was giving it to her mother.  I practiced several times before I got confident enough to embroider on the real thing.  I was so relieved when it came out fine.  This picture is before I finished trimming, so it does look better! 

A little about me!

I decided to start a blog, more for me than anything else.   I wanted a place I could post my creations so I can remember what all I've made!  Over the next few weeks I will be adding pictures of things I've made.  Hopefully I will continue to post new items and keep this blog going.

Now to introduce myself.  I'm a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend. I have a wonderful hubby who has put up with me for over 25 years.  I have great kids, family and friends.

Since my kids are all grown and starting to have families of their own, I have rediscovered time for me.  I had forgotten how much I like to sew.  I learned how to sew when I was in 4H, then only sewed once or twice a year once we started a family.  While the kids were little sewing happened once a year...for Halloween!  I loved making those costumes.  I made everything from princesses and dinosaurs to puppies and tigers.

Now I sew all sorts of things, including Halloween costumes (made a pink monster for my first granddaughter last year).  I purchased an embroidery machine a couple years ago and last year I got a serger.  Plus of course I have my handy sewing machine that I inherited from my mom.

My great grandmother quilted.  I remember visiting her and being fascinated by all her fabrics and her huge quilting frame in her small living room.  I still have several of the quilts she made and they are truly treasured.  I think she passed on her love of quilting to me.  I made one quilt when I was younger and boy has quilting changed since then!  More on that in my next post.