Sew Sweet Bee - My turn!

July is my turn to have quilt blocks made for me for the Sew Sweet Bee!  I am super excited and have obsessed about it all year!  LOL

We are making 12 1/2 in. unfinished blocks.  I picked the basket block for my blocks.  I want the handles to be rick rack because I love rick rack!

Donna from Donna's Lavender Nest was sweet enough to make the block and tutorial for me.  She is sending me the block above.  Go HERE for the tutorial.
I was looking through my favorite fabric and I want to use it in this quilt.  The big piece of pink will probably be my border if I don't change my mind after I get all of my blocks.  It's hard to tell the colors from the picture.

I love the aqua, light pink, yellow and light green.  It is hard to tell some of the colors from the picture.
When I made Heather's block from here, I loved the combination.

Strawberries, cherries, little roses and flowers, polka dots, ginghams and pretty plaids.  Just think summer and spring!  The background, I would love white on white!

I am looking forward to this quilt. I'll have 10 baskets from the bee, I'll make two more baskets.and for  in between the baskets I am going to make 12 flowers.  So far I have found four patterns for flowers I can maybe use.  All the blocks are 12 inches finished.

A simple pansy block:   http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/simple-pansy-block/50745

Another pansy block:  http://www.jeannesquilting.com/pansy.html

A Buttercup:  http://patchworksquare.com/index.php?function=DisplayCategory&showCategory=Y&links=1&id=61&link1=61

A Tulip nine patch which is similar to the buttercup:  http://www.quilterscache.com/T/TulipNinePatchBlock.html
I'm not sure about this last pattern though, I might change my mind.

I figured I could make three of each pattern.

I'm also thinking of maybe doing a border of Lori Holt's butterflies, we'll see when I get to that point what I feel like doing.

I cannot tell you how excited I am about my quilt!  I have been obsessing about it all year!  I can't wait to get all of my different blocks, I have to wait to make my two until I see what colors everyone else is using.

Thank you to everyone in the Bee!

Missy

Progress!

How many times does it take to write a label?  For me, three times a charm!  I made a four patch for the label on the prayer quilt.

 I had sewed the backing into rows last night and pinned them together ready to be sewn together.
Picture this.  This morning I sat down at my sewing machine to sew two of the rows together.  I put it in my lap, looked down at the fabric to adjust it better and saw a huge brown recluse!  In my lap!!  I screamed, threw the fabric across the table and just freaked out!  My husband heard me clear across the house and came running to see what was the matter.  I had to pick up the fabric to show my husband where it was, only for it to go down the crack in the picture below.  My husband was like "we'll it's gone now" and I informed him there was no way I was putting my legs under there until that spider was killed!  I pulled the treadle away from the cabinet and sprayed the underneath with mint oil (we couldn't see the spider) until it fell to the floor.  My husband captured it and flushed it down the toilet for me.  It was a couple of hours before I could go back in there.

 I finally got the backing sewn together.  I put the fabric panels of Psalms in the back.  I know it would have looked better if I had cut the verses apart, but I'm on a time frame.  I think my uncle will really like that.  The label is at the botom.

 The cats were in rare form today and the sisters decided to have a cat fight when I was trying to see if the backing was big enough.  It is, barely.  It is also sideways - oh well, just adds character!

 My husband had to help me spray baste the quilt.  I still cannot put direct pressure on my knee, so no crawling around on my hands and knees for me.  Just crawling around on my bottom!  LOL

My goal is to quilt it Monday, binding on Tuesday, and mailing it on Wednesday - Lord willing.
My mom called with and update on my uncle today.  He is back in the emergency room.  At first they thought he was having a heart attach, but after closer look, they think the stent from his esophagus has slipped into his stomach!  They will do a pet scan or something Monday to see exactly what it is.  Please pray for him!

I had another scare today.  See what my husband found in the driveway?  I may never go outside again!

Have a great day ya'll!

Missy

June Finishes

Good morning everyone!!!  I know it might not be morning where you are, or when you read this, but it is morning to me, soooo Good morning!
 I wrote my June Goals here.  I wrote my goals and then found out my uncle had stage four cancer, so I went back and changed my goals so that I could get a prayer quilt done for him.  Thanks to everybody who sent me blocks I was able to make an over sized throw for my uncle!  Well, right now it is just a flimsy, but today I plan on piecing the back and getting it basted so that I can start the quilting on Sunday.  My cats were great helpers this morning as I was trying to take pictures.  They kept running and sliding across the floor on the quilt top.

 When I had laid all of the blocks out, the browns and whites were pretty evenly spaced, but I must have gotten something turned around when I sewed it together.  See the upper left corner and all that brown?  Oh well, it will do.  I doubt my uncle will notice.

 My goals for this month was to finish 10 blocks of my scrappy trip around the world quilt I started in January 2013.
 Like I said, the fur babies were a lot of help!

 I met that goal!

The goal I changed was refinishing the rocking chair, it got stripped of the old fabric and stuffing, but it is now waiting to be recovered.  Maybe I'll get to it in July.

Did you meet your goals this month?  You still have the weekend to finish them!

Missy
                                                       

Dutch Pinwheel Block

I finished my block for this month's Sew Sweet Bee.  Kerri @ Lovely Little Handmades picked this month's block, the Dutch pinwheel block.  When I first looked at it and the directions, I thought it was going to be very hard and confusing.  Then I realized that all it is, is a bunch of half square triangles!  She wanted a low volume background and her colors are aqua, pink, navy, red and yellow.  I hope she likes the colors I picked!  Here is the tutorial for the block.

 I bought a small catnip plant a couple of months ago and have been growing it in the backyard.  I thought I would put it on the porch for the cats, they were destroying it!  I guess they will just have to settle for a few leaves instead!  LOL

Have a great weekend!

Missy

Row, Row, Row Your Quilt!

I got all of the blocks sewed into rows.

Cupcake

I forgot to take a picture of them all laying out, I got side tracked taking cute cat pictures!

Her sister Custard

I did get two more blocks on Saturday from Sarah at Sarah Did It!  She hosts a Feline Friday Linky party every Friday, so if you have any posts with your cats it, be sure to link it up!  I'll be linking up this one!  LOL  She really likes Hexies and has a hexie party on the 17th of each month also.

I only had to make two more blocks to finish up the quilt!  I had to clean up some stuff in my sewing room so I could lay it out in there and sew the rows together on my treadle.  That is my goal today.  Tomorrow I hope to get the back pieced together and the quilt basted tomorrow evening.  My husband will have to help me baste the quilt because I still can't get on my knees after hurting mey knee a month ago.

If you want to see the rows all set out, my husband thought it would be fun to play fetch with Cupcake on the quilt blocks and video it!  LOL  She is so cute with her sparkly pom pom ball in her mouth!



What are you up to this week?

Missy

Winners and new blocks!

I got three packages in the mail yesterday and today!  They were blocks for my prayer quilt!

The first set of four were from Cheryl in Illinois.

 Then next four were from Lea Anne at Podunk Pretties.  Be sure to check out her blog, I love her quilts and she has a lot of free quilt tutorials.

 She also sent me two great fabric panels that have scripture on them!

 The next four came from my friend Valerie in TX.

 She sent me two extra blocks of an England print!  She is from England and I am so excited about these!

 The last four came from my friend Allison in TX.  She is a machine quilter and deals with vintage machines, so if you have need of either in the metroplex area let me know and I will get you in touch with her!

 She also sent me some blue batik to use as either a border or binding.  She also sent me some extra squares to make more blocks with!

I think I got everyone's blocks.  If you have some on the way let me know, otherwise I am going to start putting the quilt together on Monday!  Thank you to everyone who sent me blocks and for sending them to me in groups of four or ten!  That helps me with having the same number of blocks that start with blue and start with cream.  Right now, I have a total of 38 blocks!  That will give me a nice size quilt.  I'll lay it out Monday and see if any blocks need to be made to finish off a row.

I drew the winners of the spool pin doilies.
The first winner is Kathy.  She said she is fixing to get her mom's redeye 66 treadle and is excited about having a spool pin doilie to put on it.  She has shared some of her stuff here:  http://quiltwithus.connectingthreads.com/profile/KathleenKingsbury

The second winner is my vintage machine friend Joann from AZ.  She emailed me and asked to be in the giveaway, she does not have a blogger account so I replaced her name with Dora who has plenty of doilies for her machines so asked not to be in the giveaway.

There was quite an interest in spool pin doilies so I'll get my husband busy in making them.  He has been super busy with work, so I'll let you know when they are ready.

Missy

How to make a skirt fit

 Colette from What About Rheema sent me ten blocks for my uncle's prayer quilt.  I love all of the fabrics in the blocks.

 She also sent me some cute kitty fabric and buttons that I forgot to take a picture of, thank you very much!

I somehow ended up with someone's old skirt that was a size 3x.  It is super comfortable, so popped some safety pins in it and wore it around the house.  Last night I decided to cut a hole in the seam of the waist band  to make the elastic shorter to fit around my waist but the elastic was serged on to the skirt.  I did what my grandmother did with all of my skirts and added pin tucks around the waist band.  I picked out the seam, cut off part of the elastic and then resewed parts of the waistband.  Can you see what I did?

 I think it looks great and the sewing part took 5 minutes!  This can be done with any waist band.

 This is how I normally wear my my T-shirts, untucked.  This is my "I'm staying at home and want to be comfortable" attire.

I am a terrible procrastinator when it comes to mending clothes, but it is a lot cheaper then buying new clothes!

Missy

Giveaway

I have been after my husband for a few months to tat me some spool pin doilies for a giveaway.  He finally found his tatting needles so he could make some for me.  (yes, my husband tats, he tried to teach me but I could not grasp it).

If you are not familiar with spool pin doilies you put them under your spools of thread on the pin to protect your machine, and make it prettier!

My husband had lots of help making them!

Chris also needs to make sure he keeps his crochet thread put up!  Oreo is sneaky!

I also need to make I don't leave my pin cushions out, look what I found when I came home!

One of my cats pulled my straight pins and safety pins out of my pin cushion.  I am so afraid they are going to swallow one!

For the giveaway, I have two doilies to give away.  To enter, just let me know what color you want, the silver and black one or the multicolored purple one.  I'll draw two names and the first name gets first pick.  I'll announce the winner on the first day of summer, June 21!

Would anyone be interested in buying any for $3 each?  If so, what colors would you be looking for?   If there is an interest, I'll have my husband start making them!

Missy

Nine Patches Received!

I have received my first two sets of nine patches for the prayer quilt!  Thank you!
Stephanie in TX sent me four blocks.

 Pat in MA sent me two blocks.  Don't you just love all of those different prints?

For those of you who are sending me blocks, please try to get them to me by the 18th so that I can quickly get it put it together and quilted.

I have an update on my uncle.  The stent in his esophagus slipped so he can only eat pureed foods.  My mom said that he has to sit at the feeding tube from 6 pm to 6 am every day.  So far the chemo has not made him nauseous, thanks to the stomach pills he is taking.  I have found a baseball cap I am going to send him tomorrow for when his hair falls out.  It says "Relax, God is in control"  Proverbs 3:5

Thank you to everyone who is helping!

Missy

"5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 ¶  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil."

Proverbs 3:5-7

Lazy Summer Days

I was supposed to write this post last week when it was all hot and sunny here in MO, but Friday was super busy for me.  There was a city wide yard sale and sorry, but I was yard saling all day!  LOL
This week has been all rainy, it actually started Thursday last week while I was out yard sale hopping and has not stopped!
Featuring everyone's favorite "room" of the house, the screened in front porch!

Pippi

Precious

Muffin

Precious now on the bench

Squeeky on the painted bistro table, Custard underneath

Precious on the Adirondack

  chair now.

Oreo under the Adirondack

 chair

Custard under the rocking chair and Cupcake in the sunlight.  I accidently "rocked" on Custard's paw yesterday.


Oh the life of being able to sleep in the sun all day!  Well, I have my front porch all ready, the only thing left needed is an outdoor rug!  I can't do any painting since it is a rental, otherwise I might just paint that green rug!  LOL

How are you spending your summer days?

Missy

Psalm 74:17  Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

Vintage Aprons

I went yard saling and got some great deals!  My favorite was the six vintage aprons I got for $3!

The first two look like they were made from handkerchiefs or something.  The material is very light and delicate.  I love the big red flowers on this one.

 This one has a grossgrain ribbon for the tie and waist band.

 It has an unusual triangular shaped pocket.

 I like the two textures used on this one.  I love the material used!

 Of course you have the delicate hostess apron, with a beautiful lace trimmed pocket.

 That pink is very see through and Cupcake wanted to show you.

 This one has been used a lot and the material is starting to tear in the middle.

 I love the detail on the pocket.

 I'm going to use this one around the house, the pockets on the side are perfect for carrying my cell phone and stuff.  It is not delicate like the other ones so it can be used.

 This last one was a gift from a new friend.  It was her mother's which makes it extra special!

 I love the tiny blue flowers on the double edge lace.

Now I just need to find a great way to display them!  Have a great day ya'll!

Missy