Friday, August 6, 2010

Sew&Tell Friday - Another One For The Quilt Ministry....

Hi, all!

It's Friday again, and time to link up to Amy's Sew & Tell Friday and Andrea's Lush Friday!  I am so grateful for both these blogs and their link-ups - they keep me on track and make me finish my projects.  As any of my family members can tell you, I am seriously finish-challenged - but I'm getting better thanks to Amy and Andrea!

So what have I finished this week?


This is "Caribbean Reflections" - a scrappy version of Karrie Lyne's wonderful Moda Bake Shop recipe, "Random Reflections".


I had the beautiful blue Kona on hand, left over from an earlier project, and the remainder of the fabric is all pieces gleaned from my stash.

The back!

 Karrie's recipe is very well written, and a joy to make, even using stash fabric that had to be cut instead of the jelly rolls she wrote it for!


I am especially pleased with the bright, cheery aspect of this quilt - it will soon be going to help cheer up a 17-year old girl just diagnosed with cancer.  She will be going through chemo soon and we hope that this will brighten up her days in a dark time.

For those of you interested, we had a great week with the potty-training - only one accident!  The Lillibug is growing up fast!  We spent the week eating "picnics" on the living room rug - she loves to get pieces of my fabric and spread them out for picnic blankets and creating pretend "food" from anything she can find - balls, empty bowls and spoons, you name it!  Then after the picnic she gets out more fabric to make nap mats, blankets and pillows.  I asked her the other day just how many pieces of fabric she needed, and you know what she said?  


"All of them, Nana!"

Out of the mouths of babes........

"Whoever has the most fabric in the end, wins!"

Later!

Sarah

PS - Be sure to check out all the wonderful finishes on Sew & Tell Friday and Lush Friday!  And have a great week!!

PPS - And check out the great giveaway at Sewlmate Sister!  It's my first time checking out her blog, but it looks great!!!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Make-A-List Monday #6!

Hi, all!


It's Monday again!  Where did the week go?  I was so busy last week with my nieces that I didn't have a whole lot of time to sew, at least on my stuff!  Let's see how I did on last week's list......


1.  Finish the striped quilt flimsy.  I'm going to call this one Stripes On Point - at least for a working title!  I think another hour of work will see this finished....  I finished the flimsy and I've renamed it Sail On.  My husband thinks it looks like boating signal flags!  




2.  Assemble fabric for another Jacob's Ladder quilt for the quilt ministry.  I found out today another person needs a quilt!  I ended up assembling a scrappy version of Karrie Lyne's Random Reflections, and I've finished the flimsy and a backing.  


3.  Make my Simple Sampler blocks for this week!  I didn't get to this one - I kind of lost Amy's blog for a while, and just never got to these!


4.  Continue with the Giant Pincushion Sew Along!  I've actually finished piecing my pincushion (I got antsy waiting for directions and decided to try to figure it out for myself!) and now I need to go to the store to get crushed walnut shells to stuff it with.  I want to make more of these - they're great for working on at night while watching TV!


5.  Take my nieces fabric hunting!  I need to make a quilt for my younger niece, and I want her to ooh and aah over fabric for me so I know what she'd really like!  Done!  She gave me some great direction on fabric, and some little bits of direction on the style of quilt - she's not real fond of modern quilts, so I'll need to do some looking around!   And be sure to take a look at what my niece worked on (I helped, so it took up time I should have been doing something else.....  that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)


Okay, I need to do better this week!  So here's what I want to get done....


1.  Quilt and bind the scrappy Random Reflections quilt for the quilt ministry.


2.  Do two weeks of blocks for the Simple Sampler Quilt Along.


3.  Piece Mary's Drunken Love blocks for Bee Splendid.


4.  Wave my magic wand over the boxes of fabric donations I received last week in the hope that they will shelve themselves!  (Or get to work on shelving/sorting those lovely fabrics!)


5.  Piece a back for my Sail On quilt.


That's enough for the week - because in the midst of all this, we are having a no-holds-barred, all out frontal assault on potty training this week!  I have to give props to the lady who potty-trained my daughter, Miss Martha.  I don't even remember her last name, but I do know and admit that I know absolutely nothing about potty training now, because she did such an excellent job with my daughter 25 years ago!   But Lilli starts "school" in two weeks, and we are going all out to try to get her out of diapers by then.   She understands the concept, she's just "too busy" to be bothered right now!  But she made it through the day today without an accident, so there's hope.....  Wish us luck!


Later!


Sarah

Friday, July 30, 2010

Sew&Tell Friday - Not quite finished, but fun!

Hi, all!

Sew & Tell Friday has rolled around once again!  I've had company this week - my nieces have been here to visit - so not much finishing has gone on around here....  I've started working on a scrappy version of Karrie Lyne's Random Reflections quilt, but it's not far enough along for any pics.  But I do have a flimsy to show off, plus my niece has started a quilt!  I'm excited for her - it's her first, and she's already planning her second!  So without further ado, here are some pictures....

First, the flimsy...


This quilt is the end result of Beth's Striped Challenge, which challenged her fellow quilters to make something with stripes this summer.  Luckily, I won her lovely giveaway fabric, so I had some great stripes to work with.  I fully intended to make some intricate blocks, but there never seemed to be the time to create more than one block.  I finally decided to do just a simple patchwork with the stripes, alternating the direction of the stripes.  Then it occurred to me to put it on point, for more visual interest.  I just love this quilt!  My hubby says it looks like boating signal flags, so I'm calling it "Sail On".  I'm working on two quilts for our quilt ministry right now, but as soon as I finish them I hope to get this quilted....

Now on to my niece Heather - here she is, with her quilt blocks in all their glory.....


Her first quilt is made in a disappearing nine-patch pattern, using scrappy fabrics from my stash.  It's going to be so bright and cheerful!  She is also finish-challenged (she takes after her aunt!) so I told her that I would quilt it for her once she finished piecing the top.  She leaves Saturday morning - will she get it pieced before she leaves?????

Now I have some new pictures of the Lillibug!  She decided she needed some new shoes this week - take a look at her terrific choice!


And the funniest thing is that both my nieces and I all grabbed our cell phones to take a picture!


And here's the Bug enjoying time with her (grand)Poppa!  She had a very good day, getting to see her Poppa both first thing in the morning and again at dinnertime - lots of time to play with a new and unsuspecting play buddy!

And last, but certainly not least, one of my quilts is being featured on QuiltStory today!  Stop by their blog and check it out!!  It's a wonderful place to be reminded of why we quilt.......










Be sure to check out all the fabulous finishes on Amy's Sew&Tell Friday and Andrea's Lush Friday!  Thanks for stopping by!  Come again!!

Sarah

BY THE WAY:  Be sure to check out Stash Manicure's August giveaway - it's a goodie!!!