Snow Days

We had 10" of snow here last Sunday and then on Monday and Tuesday the temperatures were way below zero. Purdue University and The National Group was closed for business, so that meant snow days for us.

 I still considered myself and Mabel on vacation, so I didn't do any customer quilting, although I could have gotten a lot done. Instead, I rearranged my sewing room so that I could see my new flat screen TV (Christmas gift from Dan. Thanks honey!)

While rearranging and sorting through things, I came across a bunch of little projects that I thought I could whip out really quick.

This I-Spy quilt just needed the small yellow borders attached. They were all cut and ready to go. I wonder why I didn't do that before?

These pillowcases were ready to stitch together too, so I got out the serger and they were finished just like that and they are ready to donate.

On Facebook, one of my friends shared this idea.

What is it you might ask? It's a room heater, made with tea light candles, a meatloaf pan and clay pots. My sewing room doesn't have a furnace vent and it gets really cold in there. After having this going for several hours, the temperature was 2 degrees warmer than the living room. Pretty amazing! Here's how to make one.

I also spent quite a bit of time playing Candy Crush, that dreaded time-sucker that I love! I posted on Facebook asking my friends how many levels they passed during the snow days. My friend Peggy said she was assembling her row-by-row quilt. Oops, I forgot about that quilt, which is to be shown at this month's guild meeting on January 15th. Yikes!!! I had barely even looked at my rows since we finished passing them months ago.

I decided on the sashing fabric and was auditioning the borders here. I'll show you the whole thing after the meeting next Wednesday.

 For those of you that might not know what a row-by-row is…
There were 7 quilters in our group and we each supplied our own fabrics, made the first row and put them into a tote. Each person selected a block to use to make their rows. So, I made the same row of blocks, just used a different quilters fabrics each month.
Here are some of the rows I made:

More Minkee

I made these two minkee quilts for Andrew and Elizbeth and finished them just in time for Elizabeth's birthday party last Saturday.

I bought the Dr Seuss minkee in Shipshewana at the Cuddle Corner in the Davis Merchantile. The black, red, blue and white are from Joann's, bought either on sale or with a coupon.

I stitched the strips together with the serger, just like Julie did and like Calise's. It is so much easier to have that mess all contained when I loaded them on the longarm.

I used the same panto, Turbulence on both and they have Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Elizabeth's has red minkee backing and red thread

And Andrew's has blue backing and blue thread. I LOVE this Dr Seuss fabric I got at Joann's for the binding.

I just rolled them up and tied with a ribbon and Liz opened hers first. We told Andrew to open his and he said, "It's going to be just like hers!" They are very similar, I must admit.
Look at the cute Nana labels I added.

Celtic Solstice, The Reveal

At midnight on New Year's Eve, Bonnie posted the reveal to the mystery quilt. It's very pretty!
I'm happy with my color choices and looking forward assembling the blocks.

Here are the pieces that will fit on my design wall.

Here's a closer look at my fabrics.

We are having a major winter storm and I didn't have to go to work today. I must admit that I sent way too long playing candy crush. I did rearrange and clean my sewing room this weekend.

Kathy's Memory Quilts

A former co-worker and good friend lost her mother in a tragic accident last summer. I offered to make her a memory quilt from her mothers clothing. She thought that would be a wonderful idea and so did two of her sisters.

I started working on them late summer by cutting the clothes apart and then fusing interfacing to the knit shirts. My plan was to have them finished by Christmas and that was fine with her. Until she found out that the sentencing of the young woman that ran over her mother was going to be December 16th. She asked if I could have them done by then. I worked some long hours to get these two queen and one king size quilts ready for her to pick up on the 16th.

Kathy has fond memories of attending the Purdue Christmas show with her mom so she asked for a Christmas themed queen size quilt.

One sister wanted blue and the other had no preference. Their mom love flowers and always had a perfectly manicured yard complete with flowers all around it. So, I chose floral prints for both of these.

 Meander quilting in a cream thread and flannel backing on all three.

My hope is that these quilts provide comfort to them for a long time.

Christmas Gift Quilts

I made 2 queen size quilts for Christmas and had to make a decision on which one to give to Tony and Kendra and which one for Dane and Jeff. Thanks for your help with the decision, Julie!

I chose this one for Tony. The pattern is called The Cut Up by Pieced tree Designs. I mixed up my pieces after each step, for a more random look.

 A cozy cream flannel for the backing on both:

This one for Dane and Jeff. The pattern is Patchwork Chevron from Moda Bake Shop and I blogged about it here. (Wouldn't recommend it!) The fabrics are Little Black Dress and Kona cream.

Both are quilted with Feather Me Panto, Hobbs 80/20 batting and Omni lite tan thread.

Live, Laugh, Love

My step-son Kale asked me to make this for one of his friends, David. Actually, David already has one that I made for Kale to give to him as a house-warming gift. Now, David wants to give one to his dad, so in the midst of getting all the quilts done before Christmas, I put this together and got it shipped out.

It's about 30" x 36" and has a hanging sleeve.

A little tight meandering around the words and beadboard quilting in the border.

I hope he likes it!

Christmas with Calise

While in Shipshewana in October, I saw this minkee at the Cuddle corner.

My son is in the Army and deployed to Afghanistan right now. We thought this pink camo minkee would make a cute strippie quilt for his daughter, Calise.

I bought some pink and brown minkee at Joann's when they were on sale and sewed the strips together with my serger, loaded it on the longarm and got it quilted in time to give it to her last weekend.

Calise is two and she has a stuffed doll that has his picture on it, called a Daddy Doll. Julie saw this cute already-made-up little blanket while I was getting my fabric cut, and so I bought it for her Daddy Doll. Here's the very sleepy little girl with her daddy doll and cozy minkee blankets.

We also got her a Melissa & Doug dollhouse for Christmas and I think she likes it!

Virginia's Nine Patches

Virginia made this big quilt for a friend, I think. Her stash must be incredible and she has such a great eye for putting fabrics together. There are a lot of calicos in this one, but some modern fabrics too, and they all play well together.

I chose a small meander in the sashing and Continuous Curves in the blocks. These designs work well with the quilt and I was able to go from one edge of the quilt to the other in one pass.

White Omni thread and Poly batting.

Blue Star Mothers

We held a packing party along with the AMVETS and sent 71 boxes overseas to our soldiers.

I presented this Quilt of Valor to one of the AMVETS, Bob Aldrich, and he was quite touched.

Here's a photo of just the quilt:

The center is a panel I purchased in Shipshewana and I added a small border, Quilt In A Day Flying Geese and then 2 more borders. The backing is US Navy fabric as that is the branch that Bob served in.
Stars and Loops panto, Hobbs 80/20 batting and Lite Chambray PermaCore thread.