Happy Tuesday!

I had planned on posting yesterday, but was too busy and too wonderfully exhausted from the previous quilt night and a great Valentine's Day the day before. The rest of my week will be busy as well, so today's the day!




Let's see...oh yes, the new pattern is doing well and I've added to new locations where it can be purchased...Over The Rainbow and Fat Quarter Shop. I just love both of these stores! And on Saturday, in the middle of lunch, I came up with the idea for the next pattern and jotted it down on a paper bag while I ate. I'm going for a softer, sweeter look this time around so I'm using Aviary by 3 Sisters for Moda. The last two I've designed were a bit more work than the first three, which is what was requested. However, so many love the simple and quick patterns that I hope this one will find itself in that category. It requires 1 layer cake and 1 honey bun, which I have already ordered. But it may take awhile before I get to it, as I have to do Hailey's birthday quilt (which I still don't have the rest of the fabric)!




Valentine's Day was wonderful! The kids made me feel so loved and I hope I did the same for them. Hubby got me the usual card and lots of candy, but he also got me furniture for my quilt studio! He got the oak colored set which is a perfect match to the oak shelves I have in there! He is such a sweetheart! Sadly, I ordered his gift near the beginning of the month and it still hasn't arrived. Good thing he isn't as sentimental about things as I am. I'm hoping it will be here by tomorrow! As you can see though, the banquette is perfect for the kids to do their homework and stuff while Mommy is at the machine. It will also be great for pizza and/or dessert breaks during the quilt nights!





In honor of Valentine's Day, I did manage to turn over and photograph the topper on the credenza. While I prefer the dark blue, this is a nice change.

Sunday night the Advent PUPs ladies came over for another quilt night and we all had a great time. Earlier in the weekend I had finished making some placemats for the upcoming Farm & Gin show, the tops were already done, I just had to birth and quilt them.




I also made the guild's BOM, which I have to confess I had not made one in a couple of months...shame on me!

While the ladies were here, I was able to finish up the Thomas in Paris top. Now, I'm in the middle of cutting pieces for another coffee related quilt/wallhanging. I'm going to stack up the pieces and sew it together as leaders and enders while I do Hailey's quilt.






The kids were off from school yesterday and also today. Yesterday, was a whirlwind of a day. My dear friend brought over her granddaughter and my kids loved that! They played while my friend and I were in the quilt room...fun for all. Then my daughter comes inside in tears complaining that someone threw a brick at her and it hit her face. Well, there was definitely a horrible mark there, but I couldn't imagine either of the other kids throwing a brick at her. Well, after numerous questions the true story finally came out...Hailey and the other girl put bricks up in a tree (I mean seriously...where was her brain?!?), which she proceeded to stand under (again...brain completely absent?!?) and my son had tugged on a limb which of course made the brick fall. God was so looking out for her as it landed on her cheekbone...could have been so very much worse! She is completely fine and, I pray to God, a bit wiser. After the whole fiasco though, she decided she wanted to work on making a quilt...how cute is she!



Okay, that's enough babbling for today. I have to finish reading for the bookclub on Thursday and I won't have any time tomorrow as I'll be at church nearly all day.



I hope everyone is having a truly blessed week!

Making Progress

The top for the next pattern is done and basted. So, today I will be quilting and quilting and quilting. This one is larger than the others. We hardly had enough room to baste it. I don't even want to think what it will be like getting it in and out of my little machine. I do have another distorted image here of what the center of the quilt looks like. I still think it gives you a pretty good idea of what it really looks like.
I also have at least 95% of the actual pattern completed. I still keep reading it over and over though, looking for things to correct. As long as my machine doesn't give me any trouble and no major incidents occur in my life, I should be able to meet my deadline.



I received a package in the mail yesterday with the focus fabric for Hailey's birthday quilt. I'm using it as the border and then hopefully pulling all the other fabrics for the top from my stash. I just have to remember where I put the pattern...I'm so unorganized right now!






I also received these images from an online friend. She saw another ad from Country Dawn in a magazine. It is slightly different from the previous one and the magazine is a different one also. Thanks, Tasha, for sharing these with me.



Well, the countdown for the next quilt night has already started and is less than 2 weeks away. I can't wait! I wonder if I'll still be working on that Christmas Braid quilt. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course, I will! At least the company will keep me occupied.

So much fun!!!

The quilt night was so great! We all had a wonderful, and productive, time. My only regret is that my room is not larger to accomodate even more friends. I can really only fit 4 friends and myself comfortably...quilters do like to have lots of space to spread and work on things. I hate to leave anyone out, so I guess I'll need to have many more quilt nights, inviting different ladies each time. These are ladies (and very dear friends) from my church that also attend my guild.

I thought I'd work on fun things, but decided it would be best to work on things I didn't want to work on since I had good company to distract me. I pieced the binding and added it to the front of Judy's Stormy Stained-Glass quilt.

I also did quite a bit more on the Christmas Braids quilt, but still have a great deal more to do.

Yesterday, I worked a lot on my next pattern. Mostly in making graphics for the pattern. I tend to think good graphics are really important, so I try to do my best.

Today I'm going to work some more on binding the SSG quilt and doing another test block for the pattern. If I accomplish those goals...I'm definitely going to start doing some cutting for the Valentine's quilt. However, Wednesday Night Alive starts again today and that means I won't have much free time. In addition, CTS is making it hard to do the hand work on the binding. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

Quilting All-nighter...almost here!

I'm thrilled with anticipation! Less than two hours from now, several friends and family will be here for a wonderful night long quilt fest. I have tables and chairs set up and all that is left is to set out refreshments. I was hoping to sleep late today to give me a bit more stamina for tonight, but it didn't work out that way. So, I'll be having lots of caffeine I'm sure. I have something to bind, something to quilt, something to piece by machine and something to piece by hand. If I could find my fusible web, I'd even have something to applique. So, there should be no problem finding something to work on regardless of my mood.
I finished the credenza topper. Not a great picture. I really like how well the topper turned out...and it is reversible. So, perhaps when it is closer to Valentine's Day I'll flip it over and show you a picture of the other side.

The cold is coming...

...and I love to work on quilting when it gets cold! I have my step-mother's quilt basted, which I'm calling the "Stormy Stained-Glass" quilt. I have 1/9 of it quilted.

I did finish the Autumn Sassy Sixteen #2 quilt. I hope to get it basted tonight. It took me forever to find the backing fabric. We moved several months ago and we are still sorting through boxes.

In the search, I found the backing fabric for my Sampler of Psalms quilt, pieced the back and did manage to get that one basted. I have no idea when I'll actually quilt it or how long it will take, but I definitely plan on taking my time with it and maybe trying some new things.

I am also planning on working on a few smaller projects to help my "instant gratification" need. The first is a Baby Button kit from Joined at the Hip, that a dear friend gave me two years. The second is a custom top for a hall table I have in my foyer. It is actually more of a small credenza, with a very odd shaped top. It desperately needs to be refinished on top, but I doubt I'll be taking that project up anytime soon, so I thought a nice quilted topper would suffice. I don't think I'll even be piecing it, probably just one fabric for the top and one for the bottom...maybe reversible.

I want to have several projects ready for this weekend, when I will probably be hosting my first quilting all-nighter. Not knowing what my mood will be, it would be nice if I had something that I could quilt, or piece, or baste, or bind. I might do a little of each. ;)