Civil War Log Cabin

Sooo, I went sewing again on Saturday.  I went to my friend Susan's house for a little sew-in, sleepover.  Yes, I am making the most of my time with my hubby gone and her hubby was out of town so what else would two sewing fools do?

Susan is the friend who was also working on the Civil War log cabin blocks with me last weekend at our little retreat.  I think I had about 14 made at the end of last weekend and I got 10 more made on Saturday.  It was a pretty little stack!

I got the rows laid out on the design wall and tried to decide what setting to do.  There are so many choices with a log cabin.  Maybe that's why it's a favorite of so many.  I tried the Fields and Furrows but had already made one of those. 

 

I put them in the Barn Door setting and decided that would be the one to do.  BUT....instead of the center being the dark fabrics, I used the light side for a 'shirting' center.  Man, I just love those shirting fabrics!!!

 

 

That gave me full dark diamond in the middle of the quilt.  For some reason this looked better to me.  I stitched all the rows together and love the scrappiness of this one.  I'm out of batting so it will have to wait for my order to come in.  I'm not sure if I'll grid quilt it or do some feathers.  I have a pretty stencil that just might work but we'll see.

 

 

 

My Little Retreat

Left for Lake Arrowhead on Friday for my little quilting retreat with my girlfriends, Susan, Neena and Sherrie.  The weather was beautiful and the skies were clear.  It's so nice to go up there and leave the smog behind! 



 

My first project I started was not out for very long.  This is an old BOM from Quilt Ventura.  It's a New York Beauty and I still had to paper piece the borders.  After having it out for a little bit, I realized why I put it away!!  I needed to tape the strips together to keep the triangles going and I did it wrong.  For this mess, I need the help of my big sister.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to start over.  I was able to do a few strips but after that, this project went back in the baggie!!

 

The next thing I worked on was this old swap project called Glory Be because that was the name of the line of fabric.  I had to make the HST's and the QST's to put this together.  I can't take the credit for this setting.  It was another swapper who had put hers together like this.  Luckily, I printed the (two year old) email directions and kept it with this project.  I love how it turned out.  I have to check for a backing for it as it measures about 70" square.  So much for a wall hanging!!!  lol

 

 

My sister Isabel gave me a bag of Civil War reproduction fabrics.  She really doesn't like them and has been trying to clean out her stash.  I shared them with Susan and we cut them into 1 1/2" strips to make some log cabin blocks.

 

Here's a picture of our blocks.  They have 5 light and dark logs with a 2 1/2" center square.  I LOVE THEM!!!!  I especially love the shirtings/creams.  We decided we needed to make 24 for this layout.  There will be more sewing this weekend to finish this one up.  :o)

 

To keep our energy up, there were some yummy meals.  One night we had Sopes  (a thick corn tortilla kind of) topped with beans, chicken, guacamole and Spanish rice.  Delish to say the least!

My friend Susan finished this Yellow Brick Road as a gift for a couple who took them to Hawaii earlier this year.  She didn't care for it because it was so orange but it really is pretty.  The friend it's for LOVES orange so we told Susan it doesn't matter if she likes it or not.  lol

And my stamping buddy Neena spent the entire weekend sewing Thangles and cutting squares for this gorgeous project.  It was a lot of preparation (and a little boo boo of sewing the wrong fabrics together) to get these five blocks done but now that all the hst's are put together, I'm sure she'll kick but getting the blocks together.  Don't you love her choice of fabrics? 

 

I think I am going to go see my hubby in Turkey already.  Those talks are in the works.  Gotta get my sewing fix in while I can in case I go to the other side of the planet!

Fabric Box

It was my middle daughters birthday yesterday.  We are going to dinner to celebrate tonight and she just wanted $$ for her present this year.  I found this little fabric box/basket tutorial last week and wanted to try making some.  This was the perfect opportunity.  I will tuck her card inside and some money and it will be a two-fer gifty.

The blog that the pattern is from is Seaside Stitches and it's a great tutorial with lots of pictures.  It's very easy and cute as can be with just two 10" squares of fabrics, a piece of batting and 4 buttons.  You can see I have a printed copy of the tutorial.  I am a visual person and need to refer to patterns quite often.  The printed directions are better for me to have in my sewing room as my computer is in another room.

Look!  It looks just like the picture!!  Shocking.  lol

And here it is all done with the buttons on.  Soooo cute!!

I suppose I ought to take my things out of it and put the birthday card inside.  :o(  I guess this means back to the sewing machine for me!  hehe

Another Baby Shower....check!

Finished this baby quilt earlier this week.  The daddy-to-be is a policeman so when I found this adorable fabric, I had to get it.  Yes, the fabric for this quilt were new purchases but the backing was from my stash!  That almost makes it okay, right?  :o)

 

The back was not this washed out but a bright yellow with little confetti dots.  For the quilting, I stitched over the wavy road that was on the blue car print.  I kind of followed that same wave for the green check.  Every row was stitched in the ditch also.

Here you can see it a little closer.

Here is the label I made.

 

Here is the card I made. I found it on Pinterest and changed it up a little bit.

 

Cutie Carrots

I found this adorable printable today for little carrots from theredthreadblog.com. I had candy and didn't know how I would pack it up this Easter. This was the perfect solution. I did have to get green tissue paper but I was out shopping anyway. :-)

Happy Easter to you all!

Little Cheater!

Finally finished this little cheater panel.  I was trying to hold out for my new sewing table insert but the baby won't wait until that happens so I figured I better get on it.  Besides I have another quick baby quilt to do ASAP!

 

I'm on the fence about adding a simple quilt design to the border.  It's only 4" and doesn't really need it but I don't know.  It might hold up better to lots of washings if it's quilted somehow.  I'll look at it tonight and decide.

 





 

I did a serpentine stitch in the mock sashing.



 

The blocks were poofy so the sashing quilting wasn't enough.  I added a grid stitch over the blocks.  Because it's a printed panel and not perfectly printed, it's not perfect but I can live with that.

 

 
This is a close up of the cute fabric that was included with the kit for the borders and binding.  Love the dots and stripes!

 

 

The kit was a new purchase so obviously I didn't use up any fabric for it but I did piece the back from stash fabric.  For the kit, you just cut off one strip off the side of the panel.  That strip makes the back the perfect width if pieced down the middle.

 

 



Just gotta get that label done!

Springtime and chocolate!

I have been trying to be better about walking consistently.  Some days I am more motivated than others.  Sigh...  But yesterday, a house in the neighborhood had these gorgeous ranunculas planted in the front walkway.  Oh my, they were so bright and beautiful, they looked like tissue paper.

And in my backyard, our fruit tree has got blooms galore on it.  I would call it a plum tree or nectarine tree but I can't remember what I planted.  LOL  I guess we'll know soon enough when the flowers turn into fruit.  :o)

Saturday two of my daughters did a 5k walk for the Ronald McDonald House charity.  This was at about 5:30 in the morning so we aren't lookin' too pretty but at the end of the walk you got a cup of chocolate milk and goodies so that's why we're smiling.  lol  From L-R, Ashley, Missy (Ashley's MIL), Stephanie and me.

Mmmmm.  There was a rice krispy treat, a cookie, some pretzels, a banana and a marshmallow.  And the chocolate was sooo delicious!

And how the heck did Easter arrive SO fast?!!!  Since it's this weekend and we'll have a small family gathering, I decided to put out some decorations but not too many.  It'll be here and gone before you know it.