I Must Be Crazy!

The last project I bought on my Anniversary trip was a kit for a Snake River Log Cabin.  This quilt has THOUSANDS of pieces.  For 2 months now, I have been thinking - "What was I thinking?"  Only to remind myself that I saw this the year before and have loved it each and every time I have seen it.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can,...

So I started by figuring out how to organize my pieces.  Since I am frugal, I didn't want to spend money on silverware organizers or anything else.  I finally decided to take some empty cereal boxes from the cupboard and create my own organizers.

These are the organizers with the pieces that I cut out while trying to get ready for our Washington D.C. vacation.

Please notice the smallest pieces in the b compartment, they are only 3/4" by 1 1/2".  Again, what was I thinking? 

Yesterday my little girls spent the night with my mother-in-law.  Perfect time to dive into this project so that I would know what I was doing when everyone was around!  Thank you Meemaw.

Here is the one block that I finished yesterday.  It took about an hour and a half to put together.  Each block has 52 pieces and there are 64 of them. 

I also put these partially together.  Maybe I can finish these today. 

I can't wait to finish the quilt, but need to remember to enjoy the whole thing.  This is the kind of project that will make me a better and more confident quilter.  There will definitely be some smaller projects thrown in so that I don't loose interest in this quilt. 

I think I can, I think I can,...

Well I better get back to sewing.

Heather

Vacationing

It has been a few weeks since I posted, mainly because we were getting ready for our family vacation to Washington D.C.  The trip was fabulous and I found quilt inspiration all around me.

This is on the ceiling of the Lincoln Memorial.  I think it could be a simple quilt with some complicated quilting in the sashing.

This would be way beyond my quilting skill, but maybe something similar.

The fabulous floors in the Library of Congress also had many quilt worthy patterns.  This was my favorite. 

I must make some of these dresses that my little girls played with at Mount Vernon!  They were adorable and lucky for me, did not have a zipper in the back, just ties.

Our vacation was wonderful and much needed family bonding time.  There is so much to see there that even though we walked our legs off, we still had so much more to see.

Yesterday was spent cutting out the many pieces for a Snake River Log Cabin quilt, which I am sure I will be working on for many years.  There are finally enough pieces cut out that I can begin to sew it together.  I am so excited to turn my sewing machine on and finally get to sew something together again!

Time to get to it!

Heather

It's Fair Time

Last week was my local county fair.  My children are very involved in 4H and had many projects to get ready and take to the fair.  They raise goats and pigs for their animal projects.  They also take several static projects including decorated cakes and photography. 

This is my 8 year old walking in the parade.  She came home with half of her candy bucket so that she could have some of the candy.  I had to laugh at her logic, since I had already kept a stash in the camper.

This is my oldest daughter showing her market goat. 

My 16 year old showing her pig.

My youngest after a very long and exhausting day of fair!

Finally, these are the projects that I took to fair.  Some of them I have already shown, but some of them were made before I started talking about my sewing adventures.  There are three 1st, three 2nd and one 3rd place ribbons.  My children are always so nervous about getting their projects judged.  I never quite understood this until a few days before the projects were due. 

One thing I discovered when taking this picture is that I must really like orange and brown together.  Taking my projects to the fair to be judged has given me confidence in the quality of my workmanship. 

Heather



Grids and Grommets Bag

I have been drooling over all the bag patterns that use grommets for quite a while now.  Finally on my Anniversary trip, I bought a pattern and the fabric to make one of these wonderful bags.  When I saw the sample at Miller's Dry Goods in Charm, Ohio, I knew that I had to make this one.  The bag is gigantic!

This is the finished bag on the outside. 

The inside has 2 pockets on each side.  I put my cell phone in one of the pockets to show the size, but it wasn't even visible.

This bag was alot of fun to work on.  There were a few products that I used in this project for the first time.  One of which was an iron on grid called Quilt Mate.  This made the 2" squares a breeze to quilt and have straight.  I must admit that the grommets were very frustrating.  This is probably because the pattern called for two layers of batting, which gives the bag great body, but doesn't let the grommets easily lock together.  I have spent the last two days trying to get all 8 of them in and locked.  With lots of finesse and maybe a little muttering, they are in and I am very happy with the results!

I think I will try another bag with grommets that only uses one layer of batting.  The pattern that I used for this bag is Grids and Grommets by Indygo Junction. 

This was the last of the small projects I bought on our trip, so maybe now I will have to tackle the mountain of a project I bought. 

Happy Sewing,

Heather

Lil' Twister Table Runner

I have been able to sew up a storm these last few days even though I have been busy as usual.  The Lil' Twister table runner is a really nifty project.  While in Berlin, Ohio at one of the many quilt shops I visited, I bought a kit to make the Double Twist Table Runner in the Let's Twist patten book found at CS designs.  This small table runner is made by sewing a charm pack of squares together and then using the Lil' Twister tool to cut out smaller squares, then twisting them slightly before putting them back together to make pinwheel blocks.  There are very few seams to match up and the runner is quick to put together.

Here is the Lil' Twister in action.

This is after I cut the square out.

The pinwheels look great and it was super easy!

Here is the finished top.  Now I just have to find a backing material so I can finish it up.  I love the color combination in the Chrysalis Charm pack that was included in the kit. 

Also in the last few days I have finished another Christmas present and caught up on my block of the month blocks.

This is the block for last month. 

Happy Sewing!

Heather





Mosey Tote

My husband and I went to Berlin, Ohio for our Eleventh Anniversary last weekend.  Berlin is like paradise for a quilter.  There are so many quilt shops that you could only make it to all of them if you had a whole week.  By the end of the weekend, I felt a little bad for my husband since I had dragged him to at least half a dozen quilt shops.  I allowed myself to buy a project at each of the shops because I have been working so hard this year to finish up projects that were collecting dust in the dresser I keep them in. 

Right before we left for our trip, I began working on one of these dusty projects.  Last fall I was at my LQS, The Quilt Patch, for something to finish a project and saw a Mosey Tote sample that I instantly fell in love with.  Amazingly, I bought all of the supplies necessary on that trip, so when I dug it out of the drawer it came together pretty quickly. 

I used a Gobble charm pack by Moda and some yardage for the flap and lining.

I began by sewing most of the charm squares into half square triangles.

Then I played with the arrangement for several hours.

This is after the quilting.

Fully assembled!  The flower is machine appliqued.  I have only done machine applique once before with o.k. results, but this flower is amazing!

The Mosey Tote is a pattern by This & That created for 5" charm packs. 

One more dusty project finished and ready for use.  I also finished a Christmas gift for my sister, but I will keep that to myself until after Christmas. 

I have been sewing everyday since I have been home from my travels and can't wait to get started with my next project.

Heather

Giant Snap Bag

The first evening of my summer I sat down and made a gift for my daughter's second grade teacher.  She just had a baby and I thought that one of the snap bags that I made would be handy to keep diapers and wipes easy to find in the diaper bag.  The only problem with that was that the largest bag in the pattern was not nearly big enough, so I had a little math to do before I could sew.  Luckily, I enjoy math.  I think it turned out great and believe that it may be the perfect size to fit my Kindle in so that it doesn't collect all the dirt and gunk from my purse.

I used two fat quarters I bought with good intentions when I was pregnant with my 7 year old. 

Here is the inside stuffed with diapers and a package of wet wipes!

Now I need to go finish the last two block of the month blocks that I have yet to tear the paper off of.

Heather