When the mood strikes

I cleaned my house on Saturday.  On Sunday I lost my mind in the dining room.

I didn't even bother to take the tablecloth or runner off the dining room table.  I had to sew.  Right then, right there.  I had been thinking about something for a couple of days and could not get it out of my head.  Sure, I could have done every bit of this in my studio but there was something "on demand" that I wanted to watch so I destroyed the dining room.  (Not pictured are the ironing board and extra yardage of fabric!)

I now have a lot of these.

I already have a name for the quilt.  I am calling it "Spring on SW 185th Street".  The colors remind me of my front yard in Seattle.  In the spring, the first thing I saw when I opened the front door was green grass, vibrant yellow 6 foot tall forsythia bushes and (nearly every morning) grey skies.

Hope your weekend included less cleaning and more sewing!

Now what?

Our local Joann's closed and opened in a new location.  It is very snazzy with lots more craft items, offers all kinds of classes and now sells Viking/Husqvarna sewing machines and accessories.  I have a bunch of 50% discount coupons so I am using them to pick up things like Kona cotton, buttons and home dec fabric.

Burlap seems to be all the rage.  I saw a half yard piece in the remnant section.  It was discounted 50% so I thought I would grab it.

So, now what do I do with it?  A table runner seems the most logical idea just because of the way it is cut.  I am thinking maybe simple appliques on it and then ruffles at either end.  I don't want to get too elaborate - it's just burlap for heaven's sake!  I think I will lay it out on the dining room table and see if it "speaks" to me.

Has anyone ever washed this stuff?

Easter table runners

The Easter table runners are finished!  What?  Easter was more than 2 weeks ago?

Isn't the bunny toile sweet?  I quilted one with free motion flowers and then did a flip back so that it was self-binding.  The other is a quilt as you go with a regular binding.

I could choose to think that I was late in finishing these.  I prefer to think of myself as ahead of the game for NEXT Easter!

Mug Rug!

Here's the mug rug Nancy made me.  Isn't it adorable?

See the shapely little blonde figure in the center of the mug rug?  I just want to know how Nancy knew what  I looked like back in the day?!!

Back from retreat!

Well, I said I would have some quilty content next blog post so here I am!  I just got back from retreat this afternoon.  I had a wonderful time and got so many things finished.  And so...

I started on this quilt top nearly two years ago.  The arcs are cut free form.

I finished making all the blocks and put them together.  (I liked it better in my mind but that's the way it goes!)

Several months ago I picked up a couple of charm packs of Grace by 3 Sisters for Moda.  I also picked up some yardage.  I did a simple stacked coins block and used bone Kona cotton as the background fabric.

(Should have ironed it!)

I didn't have enough yardage for the outer border and until I know for sure which color I can find I won't make the borders.  With the outer borders it will be a nice sized lap throw.  I have enough fabric to make matching pillow covers.  This will be my Christmas quilt.

I also cut the fabric and made all the green blocks for a girl baby quilt.

I need to go shopping for 3 pink fabrics to make up the pink blocks.  It's a very simple block but it looks cool put together so I am fairly excited about this quilt.

Last (but never least!) we had the opportunity to do a little fabric shopping.  My intention was to take advantage of the sale price on some fabric at Log Cabin in Intercourse.  I only shopped a little bit outside those perimeters.

The multi colored floral, pale green floral and the black/red fabric were all sale priced.  I already started cutting up the black and red fabrics to make purses.  The pale green will be a quilt back.  See the purply brown fabric with the blue snowflakes?  It's a piece of "Figgy Pudding".  The colors are kind of unusual so I was happy to acquire this piece.  It will go with a piece I have in my stash from several years ago.  The two pieces that are peach colored are very, very old pieces of Moda.  I have been looking for them for YEARS. Finally, success.  I think the piece on the bottom will be a summer bag.  I have to see what I have in stash to use with it.

The other women on retreat had some incredible projects.  They are all very talented quilters and I am honored to be able to spend time with them.  Hope your next retreat is as successful and as much fun!
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Not to worry

I know it has been a while since I posted but you know how that goes, right?

So, here's the latest:

I finished two pillowcases and a toddler backpack for Easter gifts.  (And not one picture of anything!)
Oldest son, DIL and grandchildren were here for Easter.  It was noisy and fun.
The Joann's near my office last Wednesday.  I was there for the 75% and 90% (everything in the store) sales. I now own a ridiculous number of quilting books and Gutermann thread in every imaginable color.
I made three book bags.  (Again, not one picture!)
I sorted through all of my scraps and have a large bin to give away when I go on retreat (whoopee!) this weekend.

As I do not like posts without photos, here are three of my darling grandchildren.

Next post will have some actual sewing/quilting content!