Make-A-List Monday - New Year, New Start!

Hi, all!

Welcome to my first Make-A-List Monday of 2018!  I missed last week, sick with a cold (which is all better now, hooray!) so I'm starting fresh this week!  I love a new year - it always feels like there's so many opportunities.  So let's see what I'm going to use all those opportunities for this week...

1.  Take some donated blocks and turn them into a toddler quilt for the ministry.

2.  Quilt at least one quilt for the quilt ministry.

3.  Make a couple of memory pillows for a friend.

4.  Examine a vintage top to see what repair work needs to be done before quilting.

5.  Start cutting pieces for a t-shirt quilt.

6.  Cut up scraps as I finish working on projects this week (this is my Scrap Attack goal for this month!)

7.  Plan this year's pre-H2H quilt-along.

8.  Set up the schedule for H2H 2018 (can you believe it's time already?)

9.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

A lot to do this week, but it feels SO good to be back in the studio again!  I may not get to all of this, but oh, the possibilities!

And because I hate to publish a post without a picture, I think I'll share one of my Christmas presents with you...

This lovely lady, named Jade, has been sitting on my shelf for two years now, unusable because she had no base and basically sat on her crankshaft.  My husband made this awesome base for her, which includes a covered section store the foot pedal all nice and neat!!  Such a lovely Christmas present - now she is usable!!

And now the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Whole Lotta Quilting Going On...

Hi, all!

Welcome to Friday!!  It's time for us to get our whoop whoop on again - I hope you're ready!  Remember, as always, it doesn't have to be a finish (good thing, because I haven't finished much this week!) but just something you are doing a little happy dance about!  Let's get started...

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It's been a busy week for me - a lot of this has been going on...

...resulting in this stack of five quilts ready for binding.  They will be part of my big secret project (more on that to come soon!)

Tomorrow's task? A whole lotta binding...

I also finished this pretty orange peel top this week - I wish I'd had time to quilt it, but I guess that will have to wait a little longer!  

And when I was in Paducah last week, I went to a fabulous antique store and found this beauty...

 Isn't she gorgeous?  I was trying to talk myself out of buying her, and then my daughter texted me "But it's Mommom green!"  You see, my grandmother (Mommom) loved that particular shade of green - she painted almost everything in her house that color, including her refrigerator!  Well, that was the kick in the seat of the pants I needed - and so she came home with me.  I think I'll call her Jade!

She's a model 185J, made in St. John's, Quebec, Canada in 1954 - I wonder if that means I'll get the urge for a double double when I'm working on her?

And in honor of her pretty color, I decided to celebrate spring and sandal weather and paint my toenails jade green too!  

 So - - - can I get a whoop whoop??

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share - because we want to dance right along with you -

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight -

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Nice Neat Workspace!!

Hi, all!

It's finally Friday - and you know what that means!  It's time to get our whoop whoop on!!  Are you ready?  I am!  So let's get started....

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With the coming of the new year, I always get the urge to clean and organize my sewing studio.  For the past several years, I haven't been able to do that, so it just kept getting worse and worse - but this year I did!  And since I finished it earlier this week, I'm really doing some happy dancing on that nice clean floor.....

So now I'll take you on a virtual tour of my nice clean sewing studio...

As you come into the studio, to the right is a bookcase my husband installed that holds my antique sewing machines and quilting magazines.

 

My sewing table, made of a hollow-core door stretched across two stock cabinets from Home Depot, has a cutting board on one side and my sewing machine on the other.  There's seating on each side, too!  Great for when Lilli wants to sew with me...  The storage tubs on the shelf at the end hold pieces cut to standard sizes.

This is the space behind my sewing machine chair.  The top of the bookcases has been converted into an ironing station.  The tubs below contain UFOs, kits, patterns, and groups of fabric that go together.   I will be turning those fabric groupings into kits soon.  

 

 

Here's the space under the cutting table.  You can see the templates hanging on the back of the closet door.  Very convenient and easy to reach when needed!

And here's my fabric wall!  Cubicles storage shelves are a perfect fit for two stacks of fabric folded around a 5" ruler.  

And now for the last side of the room - in and around Jolene, my long arm Artistic 26 quilter...

 

Here you can see the tubs of scraps neatly organized by color underneath the front side...

...and the IKEA storage shelves tucked under the back side.  

This is on the entrance wall, to the left as you walk in the door.  It holds extra storage pieces, my long arm supplies, and extra pieces of batting.  The storage bins at the back hold my Glide thread, all my precuts, and some quilt kits.

Here's a little better shot so you can see the storage unit better.

Behind the door, there is a shoe storage piece that holds my serger spools, sorted by color, and my quilting apron.

Behind the door is also a great place to hide an ironing board and a bolt of batting!

On the far wall, behind Jolene's frame, is this shelf, which holds some pieces that I have made.  It's a pretty colorful spot and makes me happy to see!

And then there's my inspiration wall behind the quilt frame!  I've got a whiteboard on this wall with a calendar.  I can list any projects with deadlines on it for easy viewing.  This is also a great space to hang up inspirational sayings and things I love!

Now that it's all cleaned up, it's so pleasant to create in here!  It was a lot of work, but so worth it.  

Can I get a whoop whoop??

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you dance a happy dance?

Share - we want to dance right along with you...

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until midnight Sunday.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - and a Giveaway Winner!

Hi, all!

Wow, did last week fly by for you?  Mine was a blur of child care - fixing lunches, monitoring homework, giving baths, driving EVERYWHERE - I put over 100 miles a day on my car! - followed up by a whirlwind trip to the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah!  

There was a lot of sleeping in the car after school... 

(Emmy, not me - the screaming kept waking me up!)

...a lost tooth necessitating a visit from the tooth fairy 

(who needed to be re-educated on the current value of teeth...)

...and new pictures of Nathanael to be admired!  When Emmy saw this one, she said, "Aw, 'Thanael - he cute!"

When I got home Saturday afternoon late I wasn't sure which end was up - but I knew where I wanted to be - in my studio!!  I managed to do just enough to get the happy endorphin level up before the girls arrived back for the week Sunday afternoon - but oh, do I miss my studio time!!

Well, now that I've made that intricately crafted excuse for whatever I didn't get done last week, let's look at last week's to-do list...

1.  Start repairs on the antique crazy quilt.

Started!  As you can see in this pictures, I am hand-stitching bridal illusion (really fine tulle) over the damaged blocks, then trimming it close to my stitching with my tiny curved-blade scissors.  I've got cream tulle for the light pieces and black tulle for the dark ones.  As my friend isn't planning to use this as a working quilt - it will be a photography prop - this will protect the damaged spots without changing the antique integrity of the quilt top.

2.  Cut out 400 signature blocks.

I'm close - yesterday I think I got up to 375 - so I'm going to call this one a win!!

3.  Write a tutorial for the pennant quilt.

It's started - and that's a good thing!  It will take another day of sitting for a couple of hours to finish it off, so maybe tomorrow or Wednesday I can finish it.

4.  Work on a quilting design for the black stained glass quilt.

In progress!  I think I know what I want to do in general - an inklingo/zentangle type of design in the negative space, sort of like the picture below. What I'm still trying to work out is what to do immediately around the blocks.  Any ideas would be welcome!  You can see the quilt here.

5.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

Done!  We gave away three quilts this week...

This quilt went to a woman living in Louisiana, just diagnosed with leukemia...

And this one went to another woman in Louisiana dealing with cancer.

This quilt went to a gentleman who worked in our local school system for many years.  He has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and has returned to Arkansas to live with his extended family and receive treatment there.

 We had a blast at Paducah - I got to see my friend Shannon of Fabrics N Quilts!  

Don't forget that she's done a complete makeover on her shop's website and there are blog hops going on to promote the new site!  I'll be sharing about it this Friday, but there are other blogs that are already hosting giveaways - check out the list below and enter all the giveaways!  

Quilt Shop Gal: http://quiltshopgal.com/

Quilting Gallery: http://quiltinggallery.com/blog-posts/

Mary Mack Made Mine: http://teachpany.blogspot.com/

Weekend of 5/1: 

Confessions of a Fabric Addict: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

Life in the Scrapatch: http://scrapatches.blogspot.com/

I also got to take a class with the fabulous Judi Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts fame!  

I've always admired her quilting style and mad skills, and it was fun to get a little hands-on time learning how she does it.  I'll never be that good, but at least now I can aspire!

And after spending a medium-sized bucket of money, I received one of these bags for my trouble...

We took some of our budget money for this year and purchased a BlockRockit mid-arm quilting machine for use at the church!  If you've never seen one of these little gems, check one out somewhere - it's small but mighty!!  We have to wait a little while to get ours, but in about a month she'll be ready to go!

OK, so much for last week.  Here's what I think I might be able to get done this week...

1.  Finalize a design for the stained glass quilt and start quilting.

2.  Keep working on the antique quilt repair.

3.  Sew the label on Nathanael's quilt before Friday night.

4.  Write Friday's blogpost promoting Shannon's new site.

5.   Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

 Since I have the girls until midnight or so on Friday, I don't anticipate having much sewing or quilting time this week.  Fortunately, I can do most of the things on my list from my comfortable table at the McDonalds near Emmy's school!!

But wait - there's more! Emmy tells me I almost forgot the giveaway winner!!  I asked Little Miss Random to choose a winner...

And she chose number 133!  (aren't you proud of me - I finally figured out how to get a picture of the Random Number Generator in my blogpost!!)  Number 133 is Barb N...

...who wanted to know how we roll our toilet paper - over, or under!  I tell you, inquiring minds want to know!  Congratulations, Barb!  I'll be emailing you and Christina so you can hook up and get your copy of the pattern!

By the way, I absolutely loved reading the random questions you guys came up with!  I think my favorite, though, was the person who asked, "Fabric, or chocolate?"  Totally unfair!!!

So now that all the business is taken care of, inquiring minds also want to know - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Oh, and here's your "awwww" moment for Monday...

Nathanael holding his new mom's hand!
Love those little sneakers!!

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Useful Tip Worked Out!

Hi, all!

It’s Friday again - are you ready to get your whoop whoop on?  It’s been a busy week here, but I’ve got something fun to share with you!

A few weeks ago, my friend Michele took a class with Kimmy Brunner at the MQX East Quilt Show, and shared some of the tips she learned there on her blog. One of them was how to create channel locks for your long arm machine using rubber bands.  Well, I’ve been trying all kinds of ways to fashion a channel lock for Jolene, so I thought today that I would give the rubber bands a try!

I had this cute little quilt top ready to put on the frame - actually I had it sandwiched up for straight line quilting on my table top machine, but I pinned it to the frame and off we went!  

A small learning curve as I experimented with the best way to advance the rows, but eventually I worked it all out.  It took about 40 minutes to quilt this up, but I have a feeling it will go a bit faster next time. 

I’m thinking about using this technique to quilt Nathanael’s Ladder - what do you think?  I love the texture it gives the quilt!  Even though the lines are fairly close together, it’s still a soft and pliable quilt.

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it’s your turn!

What are you dancing the happy dance about this week?

What’s got you whooping?

Share with us - we want to whoop along with you!

The party will remain open until Sunday midnight - 

and remember, it doesn’t have to be a finish!

Just whatever’s making you happy!

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Very Good Week!!

Hi, all!

It's Friday again - and time to get your whoop whoop on!  It's also the start of Blogger's Quilt Festival - are you entering a quilt?  You can see my entry on the post just before this one.  It's a good story, but you'll need a hanky, I think…

But now let me show you all the things I'm whooping about this week!  First off, there's this…

Yes, FINALLY, those are new needle plates for Jolene!  I cornered the Tin Lizzie rep at the quilt show in Paducah and asked her why I was having to wait so long to get a replacement part for a machine her company manufactures - and she told me she could have one to me in a week!  Well, actually, it took about two weeks, but at least I have them!  WHOOP WHOOP!!

And look - Kate Spain bedding for my bed!  Kate posted about the new bedding that Macy's was carrying with her designs last week, and I went to check it out.  I got a super deal on it - I'm so excited! Such pretty summer colors - it's a print from Sunnyside...

And then there's Marie's whoop whoop - she made this beautiful Carpenter's Star quilt for a young woman who had been in a very bad car accident.  Marie did a great job!

And now my final whoop for the week - remember Karrie's great design that she shared with us on her guest post last Sunday?  Well, I just couldn't wait to try it, so when I found out I needed a quilt for an 11-year old boy, 

I decided to give it a whirl!

Didn't it turn out pretty?  It was very easy - Karrie wrote a great pattern.  I did alter it a bit, making the blocks bigger to bring it up to 60" square instead of 40" square. 

Can I get a whoop whoop??

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And now it's your turn!

What's making you dance the happy dance this week?

Share with us - we want to dance along with you!!

The party will remain open until Sunday at midnight.

Hope to see you there!!

Hugs!

Sarah