Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? An Unusual Week....

 

Hi, all!

Well, Friday has finally arrived at the end of what seems like a very long week, and we all know what that means - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?  Let's go!

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Tuesday of this week was primary election day in Tennessee, and I was fortunate enough to get to work the polls for the day!  It's a lot of fun, but really hard work, starting at 5:45 am and running through about 8:30 pm by the time things are all packed up and delivered where necessary.  So Monday is my usual day for housekeeping tasks like paying bills, laundry and grocery shopping, and Tuesday I was at the polling place all day.  

But Wednesday - Wednesday was the day I had to finally bite the bullet and take up a special task.  On the previous Sunday, my husband asked me if I could take up the sleeves on his sports coat.  Of course, I said, "Oh no, let's take it to the alterations shop" because I'm a quilter! But it turns out he wanted it for this coming Sunday, and no alterations shop would do it that quickly.  

Let me say here that while I used to make all my clothes (way back when), and have even made a man's suit (NEVER AGAIN!), altering the sleeves of a sports coat is something I've never done before, and I will admit to being quite intimidated.  I watched YouTube videos and looked at WikiHow pages, then finally bit the bullet and jumped in.

The first order of the day, after taking off the buttons, was removing these fake buttonholes.  Did you know that if you find just the right thread on the back and tug on it, they will pull right out in a chain reaction?  I found that out after I picked out the first one the hard way.

Then I opened up the stitching between the lining and the outside fabric of the jacket.  Ugh!  It looks really complicated in there, but it's too late to stop now!

Am I the only person here that takes lots and lots of pictures when doing something new, so I can remember how to put it back together later?  I have about ten pics and a couple of videos on my phone that helped get me through this.

At one point in the process, my husband, who had been providing me with the YouTube links, said, "This seems to have been much more of a process than I thought it would be!"  At least now he knows why I was so hesitant to do it myself!

But here's the finished product - beautifully shortened sleeves with buttons!  No buttonholes - there's no way you could make me do that! But it still looks good on the outside....

...and on the inside!  And when my husband tried it on, both sleeves were the same length AND the right length, so win/win!!

He actually had the bravery to show me how it looked, then say, "You know, I've got a suit and another sports coat with sleeves that need shortening..." but when he saw the look on my face, he backed up and decided to take that up in a few days!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's making you whoop it up this week?

What's got you doing a little 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 Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?

 

Hi, all!

What do you know - - - it's Friday again!  And we all know what that means - it's time for us to all get our whoop whoop on.  Are you ready?  Let's go!

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It's been a busy week around my studio this week, and my quilt math brain has been stretched to its limit - but I have a finished t-shirt quilt top to show off!

It's been a while since I made one of these, and because I made some adjustments to block sizes as I went to fill in empty spots, I ended up needing to do some quilt math at the end to make sure everything fit.  Hopefully the second one this season will go a little easier now that I remember all the little tricks!  Quilting will come sometime next week, as I've got a busy weekend coming up.

Once I finished the top, I decided to take a little break and clean off my cutting table.  It feels so nice to have at least one little corner that is calm and peaceful and neat!

Then I decided to play around with an idea I had at church last week - a jelly roll quilt made with ombre fabric.  I had this piece of ombre, about a yard and a half, sitting in my stash, so I ironed it well and cut it into 1.75" width of fabric strips - the widest I could cut the strips and get 42.  I sewed them together, matching the yellow ends and the blue ends, then proceeded with a typical jelly roll quilt, and here's what I ended up with!  Isn't it pretty?

My friend Piper at church is working on the same thing, with a more traditional light-to-dark-to-light ombre, and I'm interested to see what hers ends up looking like!

And here's my final whoop whoop for the week - my daughter (the one on the left) celebrated her tenth birthday this week!  It's always so much fun when it's a leap year and we get to celebrate her "real"  birthday.  Her party will be on Saturday, because Lilli is away at DECA State Competition this week, but we went out to dinner with them Thursday and had a great time.  Where do the years go?

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! 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? Lots of Finishing Going On....

 

Hi, all!

Here we are, another week gone and Friday is here!  And we all know what that means - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?  Let's go!

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It's been a busy week of finishes around my studio this week - I had a customer quilting job, plus a wedding gift quilt to make and a t-shirt quilt to begin working on.  Whew!  A lot on my plate, but I'm happy to say things went well.  First thing was taking care of the customer quilt, and although I don't have pictures of it, it is quilted, binding on, and washed and dried, waiting for my customer to pick it up tomorrow.  She made herself a beautiful winter-themed quilt, and I wanted to get it back to her as quickly as possible so she can enjoy it for a while!

Then I got to work on the wedding quilt.  The shower is next weekend, so I really had to get hopping!  I found a kit that had been in my stash since 2015 (oh the shame!) and whipped out this pretty top....

Didn't that turn out nice?  The fabric is Good Neighbor by Amanda Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts.  I bought this quilt on a fabulous sale years ago and then avoided making it because of the flying geese - but the technique it used to make them was so simple and quick, I don't know why I ever feared making them!  

Once the top was finished, I went to my stash to see if I had a piece that would work for the back.  I thought I was going to have to go shopping (oh the horror!) but then I spotted a bolt of fabric my friend Piper picked up for me when she was shopping for fabric for the quilt ministry.  She was worried that the fabric wouldn't be appropriate for the ministry - it has girls in bathing suits on beach blankets on it - but I loved the colors and told her I would take it.  Well, I took one look at it, and another one at the quilt, and knew I had found my back!

Wednesday morning, this quilt went on the frame, and about an hour later, it was ready for binding!  A little trimming, a little sewing. and voila!  It's finished!

See what I mean about that backing fabric?  It is so perfect it could have been printed with he same dyes.  Every color in the fabric on the front is present in the backing fabric!  And the recipient loves the beach, so win/win!!

Thursday saw some real progress on the t-shirt blocks.  I had done a few of the trickier blocks previously....

...but Thursday I got to work on the "easy" blocks - the ones that just have to be carefully measured, backed and trimmed.  I got a bunch of them ready to go, but there's still a lot to do!  You can see my clips on each one in this picture, with it's number so I can lay it out in the proper spot when I get ready to assemble this puzzle style quilt.

So lots of finishes this week, and a good start on the next big project!  But the very biggest whoop whoop came Thursday afternoon, when I opened up my email and found a message from someone who wants to donate her long arm machine to our quilt ministry!  God is good, and we are excited to be able to make even more quilts - but it's going to be exciting times making space for our new girl!

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!  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 Bit of This and That!

 

Hi, all!

Welcome to the (almost) weekend!  It's finally Friday, and we all know what that means - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  If you're new here, you should know that this doesn't have to be a finish - just something you're happy about.  We all need to celebrate the little things, don't we?  So let's go!

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It's been a busy week around my place, starting with a re-visit of the bargello process...

As I made my first version, I realized there were some things I could do differently that would make the process easier.  So I decided to give it another whirl!  I tried to work more with the size of my vertical cuts, and while I made some mistakes - this one doesn't have an easy flow to it - I learned a lot that will help me the next time I try a bargello!

But once I finished that top, it was time to put away the sewing machine and start some serious t-shirt quilt planning.  I spent most of the day Thursday putting together the to-scale paper plan for a customer quilt - whew!

And one more thing I did this week - I made my first Tres Leches cake from scratch, and it was delicious!  My husband said it was a lovely thing to eat after a bowl of spicy chicken tortilla soup - creamy and sweet, and it has to be good for you with all that milk, right??

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!  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 Short Week, But Productive!

 

Hi, all!

Wow! This has been a short, fast week (we went to Phoenix for my husband's work Sunday to Tuesday) but it's finally Friday, and we all know what that means - - - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?  Let's go!

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I wasn't sure how much I would have to share this week, but when I looked back at where things stood last Friday, I saw this picture...

...and realized that I had a finished top to share with you!   I love the way this one turned out....

I think I'll call it Woven!  And it did turn out just like I hoped it would.  I'd be interested to see what it looks like in three shades of the same color!

For the last couple of days, since returning from Phoenix, I've been working with these pretty fabrics....

...making my first attempt at a bargello quilt!  I'm learning as I go, but I like where it's going so far.

I'm hoping to finish the flimsy tomorrow, if I get some uninterrupted sewing time.  I'm thinking about taking a second go at this pattern to see if some ideas I had while working on this version would work!

And with any luck, I'm hoping to start this year's tutorial series this coming Sunday!  I hope you'll join me as we work with fat quarters this year - it's been loads of fun making the prototypes, and I've worked through a ton of fat quarters so far!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

Let's hope he doesn't see his shadow today!

What's making you do a little 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 Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? We May Need A Bigger Boat...

 

Hi, all!

Another week has come and gone - a very different week, as the snow has all melted away and we are currently awash with rain!  Poor Bree has been cooped up inside the house for so long, so today when it was warmer, we let her romp outside, even though it was rainy and the yard was flooded.  And here's what we ended up with...

...one extremely wet and excessively muddy (but very happy) Australian Shepherd!  So now the house smells like wet dog, but there are much worse things, right?

And since it's Friday, we know what time it is - - - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  So let's go!

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I've been sharing the prototype quilts I've been making for this year's tutorial series, and this week I managed to finish another one!  

I think I'll call this one Psychedelic Wedges!  Lots of bright colors, and I got to drag out my wedge rulers.  I've got lots of tips for using those that I'll include with the upcoming tutorial.

And then yesterday I came up with another design, pulled these beautiful colors to make it with, and started cutting it out.  I hope it works as well in real life as I see in my head!  We shall see....

And I'll leave you with a funny meme I found somewhere on the internet - it was just too true to pass up!

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!  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? Making Headway!

 

Hi, all!

Well, I don't know what it looks like in your part of the country, but this is DEFINITELY not normal for us!

This has been the view from my window since Monday morning - about 6 or 7 inches of snow that isn't going away!

And today when I ventured outside, I saw this hanging from the Christmas decorations that are still up on my railing (oh the shame!) and that is DEFINITELY not acceptable!  We don't do icicles!

But all of that aside, this long long week of forced seclusion has come to an end, and it's finally Friday!  And that means that it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on - so let's get started!

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Last week I shared the first of the prototype quilts for this year's tutorial series, Fat Quarter Frenzy, and a peek at the block I was working on for the second one.  Well, I finished the second top!

Bree was acting as quilt inspector, and I do believe she approves!  The design kind of took on a life of its own, and went a different direction from where I thought it would, but I like it.

And then the spirit moved me and I got to work on the next prototype....

...and yet an other version of the Supernova quilt has come to life.  As my husband said, this one has a totally different vibe!  I was a little nervous about using all prints, but I think it works.

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

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!  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? Fun Stuff To Welcome The New Year!

 

Hi, all!

It's hard to believe, but another week has come and gone, and it's finally Friday!  And we all know what that means - - - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on.  Let's go!

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It's been a busy week of sewing at my house, and I have a few things to show for it!  First of all, I managed to finish this pretty sampler quilt - my first finished UFO of the year!

Technically, it wasn't my UFO - it was given to me by a friend who was getting rid of all her quilting stuff.  But it's been sitting at my house for a couple of years now, so I guess it's time to own it!  

Once that quilt was finished, it was time to get to work on the prototype quilts for this year's tutorial series.  Always an exciting time, as I try to come up with designs to fit a theme.  This year, I asked Lilli if she had any suggestions.  She said, "You've sure got a butt-load of fat quarters, Nana - maybe you should make fat quarter quilts!"  So I took her suggestion and started thinking about quilts that use up fat quarters.  And I finished the first top this week.....

...and started on a second one!   

I had some troubles with this block at first (learned a few lessons to pass along in the tutorial) but I think it's going to make a nice quilt in the end.  

I've still got four more to come up with, but I think this is a good start!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

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!  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