A Successful FNSI

Yesterday, I finished sewing down the binding on a throw quilt for my niece...

...not a Christmas present but a belated college graduation gift...  that I want to give her over the holidays.

I also did some more knitting on the crimson scarf for my grandson.

This is one skein... not sure how long I want to make it yet...

 

...but I need to factor in the fringe... no... the tassels!   *lol*   I would like the scarf to be more an adult size... and hope it lasts for a while...

FNSI: Four More Stars

I decided to finish up the second batch of star blocks for John'aLee of The Scrappy Appleyard for this month's FNSI project.

In addition to the weekly Civil War blocks, I will be quilting and binding quilts for the remainder of this year.

I'm not much at straightening up until I finish a project so....  if I finished the stars, then I could put away those fabric scraps and make my cutting table a bit less cluttered.

I'm still intrigued about how different a block can look just by changing the colors and values around...

...so much so, that I see a star quilt happening next year.

In the meantime, these four star blocks, along with the previously blogged about star...

...will be sent out to John'aLee in Monday's mail.


Thanks, Bobbi and Heidi for hosting another successful Friday Night Sew In!

Tonight's the Night!

The Friday Night Sew In (FNSI), a modern sewing circle, is this evening!

Bobbi of Crafty Vegas Mom is hosting this month and there are already 162 folks signed up and raring to go. Heidi of Handmade by Heidi will be working on three projects, one using Circa 1934 fabrics!

I love sewing circles, even though this one is a virtual sewing circle... it's so much fun sharing what we're working on the next day.

By the way, did I mention that I found a photo of the first sewing circle I belonged to?

Friday Night Sew In

Bobby and Heidi's monthly Friday Night Sew In will be October 21st, 2011...

...and you can sign up here!

I know I have plenty of things to work on... especially since the holidays are rapidly approaching!

...and I always enjoy blog-hopping and visiting the FNSI Flicker page the next couple of days to see what other are working on!

Friday Night Sew In Report

A long week of long days doesn't make for a lot of "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" come Friday evening... but I did get some sewing done before I was just too tired...

I got one 4-block unit and four 2-block units sewn together.  The blocks are on a double bed so you can get some idea just how big this quilt is going to be.  

It's going to be a fun day... a couple of friends and I are going to do a little local shop hopping...

...and have lunch out... then return here for an afternoon of sewing!  

Good company, good food, and fabric therapy!   What could be better?

Progress & FNSI

Afternoon meetings are draining and certainly eat into one's daily sewing time.  

Artwork courtesy of Hungrella

I have finished five more blocks... so... only two more to do after surviving yet another 2-hour after-school meeting today.

Bobbi and Heidi's Friday Night Sew-In is on Friday night....

No meeting Friday afternoon... so I plan to start assembling the quilt top as soon as get home!

If you'd like to join us, you can sign up HERE....  not only do you get to sew with hundreds of others, you get to see what they were working on by visiting their blogs the next day.... AND also be eligible for a give-away!

 Let the fun begin!

Friday Night Sew In - June Results

I decided at the last minute to finish up the Fish Camp Trout Pond quilt top yesterday... the half done top was bothering me.

If you remember, I cut off 10" on one side because the quilt was practically square and wanted a more rectangular quilt.   Why 10" and not 12"?  Because I subcut that 10" into four 2.5" strips to make a pieced border!

After the pieced border was on, I added the plaid homespun border... and I'm done!  Quilt sandwiching will be happening this weekend!

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The next Civil War block has been posted:  #25 Calico Puzzle. 

I will work on that this morning and also see if I can put together several more blocks as well. 

After my post yesterday about a blog that was breaking down the CW blocks for us newbies to traditional piecing, Jen of The Quilty Home shared that Ellen of American Homestead is also doing a step-by-step tutorial for each CW block!

Ellen is currently in Thailand on "The Last Hurrah Tour" but still keeps up with each new block posted!

Thanks for the info, Jen... I need all the help I can get with these CW blocks!!!

Jelly Roll 1600 Update

Yesterday was a lazy day....  I deserved it!

I decided to leave the trout pond intact as a "design element"...  *lol*   ...and added the first border.

 

My apologies for the fuzzy photo... but you can get the general idea, I think.

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This coming Friday, June 17th is the monthly Friday Night Sew In with Bobby and Heidi.   I've signed up and plan to work on hand sewing down some quilt binding.  That way I can camp out on the sofa and watch movies while I sew...

Currently, there are 60 folks signed up and I hope you'll join us!

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Sometime over the weekend, this blog went over 10K views and I decided it was time for a little give away.

I have quite a few 1800s repro fabrics left from the tumbler quilt and I thought I would start making Barbara Brackman's Civil War Reunion blocks.

I started with #24: Ladies Aid Album...  I made one and boy, do I need practice!  So, I made a second block and it was a bit better.

I decided to give away the second (better) block to celebrate over 10K views and I will leave it up those interested in signing up whether they would like the block "as is"... or would you like me to make the block into a mug rug.

To enter, simply post a comment telling me whether you'd like the block or a mug rug.  

If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave an email address as a way to contact you if you win.   If I am unable to contact the winner, I'll draw another name.

A winner will be chosen on Wednesday, June 15th when I get home from work.

Good luck!

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Psst...  guess who is the guest blogger at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure?  Madame Samm has a cool give-away so check it out!

Friday Night Sew In

Last night was Heidi and Bobbie's monthly FNSI and I had planned to work on sewing down binding..

 

A friend always says, "Man plans... God laughs!"   ...and my FNSI plans took a definite detour when my son called and asked if he and two of my grandsons... and my grandpuppy Gussie... could spend the night.  Love seeing them... and my daughter and my granddaughters came over and joined us for dinner.  After we ate, we started putting together a 4'x4' raised bed box thing that will be finished tomorrow.... my Mothers Day gift!

After we got the boys in the bed, my son asked if I could sew on a couple of patches... one on my grandson's Boy Scout uniform and three on his.   By the time I finished, it was 10pm and definitely time to start thinking about bed since we KNEW the boys would be up at the crack o' dawn.

Not the sewing I had planned on... but sewing nonetheless!

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Yesterday was also the birthday of Linda of Stray Stitches...   who, in celebration of this happy event, is having a give-away of some beautiful fabric!

Eight half-yard cuts of a fabric line called Jasmine by Pamela Mostek for Clothworks... gorgeous!  

If you'd like to enter the giveaway... hurry on over and sign up!  The giveaway ends on Monday, May 30th!

New Quilt Update

I amazed myself Saturday...   I made the quilt sandwich, pinned, and quilted the throw-size quilt all in one day.  Must have eaten my Wheaties or something...

Nothing fancy on the quilting... though I think this quilt pattern would make a nice one for FMQ.  I see vines in the white areas and flowers in all the print blocks...

I first stitched in the ditch on the 4-pc block lines... then did  cross-hatch/diagonal quilting across the center of the 4-pc blocks.

Today, I trimmed the quilt and made the binding...  then sewed it on.

Even clipped down the binding...

...so the binding is ready to sew down for this coming Friday's FRIDAY NIGHT SEW-IN with Heidi and Bobbi!

Not signed up yet?  It's not too late... just mosey on over and add your name to the list, sew Friday night, post about it on Saturday... and be eligible for a cool drawing on Sunday!

Complete: Lilac Hill Quilt Top

Between quilts, I forget just how long it takes to sew on borders... and so, I was up later last night than I had planned finishing the quilt top.  I waited til this morning to take a couple of photos hoping that the morning light would result in more "true to life" colors.

Started during the January FNSI and finished last night, the quilt top turned out as I hoped.

 

I'll make the backing today and then pack everything up for a trip to my LAQ over Spring Break (only a week away now!).

Another great FNSI....  looking forward to blog hopping and seeing what everyone accomplished last night!

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Just found out about a great GIVE-AWAY and wanted to share.... Sunshower Quilts has an AccuQuilt GO! Baby up for grabs along with three dies of your choice!

...and there are FOUR chances for you to win!

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Friday Night Sew In

It's the end of a long week and I am looking forward to spending the late afternoon and evening sewing along with 165 fun people.... and looking forward to blog hopping Saturday and Sunday to see what everyone accomplished.

I'll be working on the Lilac Hill quilt, started at the January FNSI...

...blocks need to be sewn together, then the borders go on.  Everything is planned out so all I have to do is sew, cut, and sew some more.  I may not get finished this evening... but I definitely will finish this weekend!

Hmmm... looking at the photo, I can see a few blocks I want to move around....


Happy sewing!

 

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There is a cool give away on the Such a Sew and Sew blog in honor of National Quilting Day, which is tomorrow!

The give-away ends tonight so be sure to hurry over there and sign up... look at all those GORGEOUS fabrics AND a book too!

Yesterday was a good day...

...made better because, when I got home, there were TWO packages with fabric waiting for me!  The first was the fabric to finish the Lilac Hill quilt... the dark lilac purple for the inner border (then the pieced border) and the lovely green print for the outer border.  Sorry for the poor color in the photo... the fabrics are much lovelier in real life.

...and the fabric for the backing.  Deciding on the backing took much longer than the borders... but I think this one will work best.

The second package was from a new blogging friend Chris of Weekend Wisdom who was kind enough to share some of her scappy strips.   All the fabrics are gorgeous but look at these black ones... the tree fabric has SILVER on it!

There are fabrics I know will make it into one or other of the Bottled Rainbow blocks....

 

...and others that will turn into mug rugs or a string quilt.

Yup, I'm a scrappy kinda girl... so many possibilities!   Thanks, Chris!

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The next Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) is scheduled for March 18th.  I plan to put the borders on the Lilac Hill quilt top (started at the January FNSI.)  It's fun to sew when you know a lot of others are sewing at the same time... but the best part is blog hopping the next day to see what everyone worked on!

FSNI: The Morning After

Thanks to a very watchable BBC series to watch, I was able to finish binding a queen-size Turning Twenty quilt using Deb Strain's "Cherish Nature" line.   Yes, it's 3:00 am... I can't believe I'm still awake...  *lol*

This quilt was a PIGS... or actually a PIT (project in tote) and wanted to finish it this weekend.  So, the plan was: get the binding sewn to the quilt...

...get settled on the sofa to sew and watch Cranford (the entire series on DVD)...

...and see how much of the binding I could sew down before I nodded off.  

Surprised myself and got it all done!  I need to finish drawing the decoration on the label (didn't want to do the lower corner b/c I wanted to make sure I had enough room once the binding was sewn down)... then run it thru the washer and dryer.  My first finish of this year and one Christmas present completed! 

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Now that the quilt label is finished, thought you'd like to see what it looks like..