Nickel Fabric Swap

This years nickel fabric swap in our guild is a different theme for each month rather than just colors. I spent a couple hours yesterday cutting up my nickels for several months....over 7 yards of fabric. Some months have 2 sets because I bought fabric and then realized that I already had some for that month. This afternoon we will be sorting the January snow nickels and there are some lovely snow fabrics in the bag.
January – Snow
February – Hearts
March – Pastel
April - Polka Dots
May - 1930's
June – Batiks
July – Patriotic
August - Flower Power
September – Asian
October - Fall Leaves
November – Thimbleberries
December – Christmas

A Baby Shower Memory Pillow

I attended a baby shower for a friend a few weeks ago and took along fabric squares with freezer paper on them for the guests to sign. I usually make a wall hanging with these, but thought I would try something different.

I made this little pillow, well, it's not so little.....about 5" x 24"
Rolled up some batting scraps and stuffed the roll in and hand stitched that last seam. The fabrics are all leftover from the quilt I made for the shower.

And, It's done and Picked Up!

Alice picked up her quilt today and was pleased. Here's the front and you certainly can't see the quilting on this shot.



So, here's a close up:



Now, I think the back is just as pretty, if not prettier, than the front.

It's off the floor!

My goal tonight was to get enough quilting done on Alice's quilt so that it was not resting on the floor anymore. Well, it is quite a ways off the floor and I just ran out of bobbin thread so I thought this would be a great place to stop for the night. I'm probably 2/3 of the way done.



On another note....so far, the big snowstorm we are supposed to be having has missed us, going more to the North. We did get some snow and it is blowing quite a bit, but nothing like they have in Washington DC.

Some Freehand Quilting! and a Stashbusting Report for Week #6

I'm working on a quilt for Alice and it's pretty slow-going. At least it's slow for a quick and easy panto quilter like me. It is turning out very nice though.



Stashbusting:

Fabric Added This Week - 4 yards (2 yards of paper doll fabric in NC and 2 yards of a nice background in the Clearance Rom at Always In Sitches.)
Fabric Added Year to Date - 5 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 1 yard
Fabric Used Year to Date - 14.5 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 9.5 yards (Yep, it seems like I'm going backwards, but I haven't had much time to sew lately)

More Retreat Stuff...

You are gonna get so sick of hearing me talk about this retreat.

For the past several years we have had a massage therapist come and he always says, "My wife askes me where the quilt is when I get home." So, last year we decided that we would make him a quilt instead of paying for the massages this year. He met Laurie and I at Cheryl's Quilt Shop a couple weeks ago and he picked out the quilt and fabrics that he wanted. I did the figuring cause he wanted a queen and the pattern was for a lap quilt, and Laurie took it home and cut it up and put the blocks in zip-lock bags. We paid $5 for a set of 2 blocks and will make the blocks and give them to Laurie at guild this month. The top will be assembled and hopefully we will have a quilt for him at the retreat.

Here are my blocks:



More Door Prizes
This week I received packages from Olfa, Calico Point Quilt Shop, Walmart, Rossville Quilts, Marvy Markers, Nancy's Notions, and Janet. Thank you so much for your generousity.



OK, can you stand one more photo of the Cobblestones quilt. Here's Jeni with her new quilt. Matches her hair pretty well, don't you think. She loves it and her daughter loves it too.

A Little Pre-Retreat Sewing...

I tried out a couple of items that we may use at our upcoming guild retreat, "Spring Break In Hawaii." Of course, it's not really in Hawaii, but that's the theme and it will be fun to pretend...in Indiana...in March! I bought a roll of pet screen at Lowe's this weekend and thought I'd try to make a small beach bag. It ended up being 14" wide x 9" high x 3" deep.

I didn't buy a pattern for the bag, just figured how big I wanted it and started sewing. The next one will be larger and have straps that go all the way around the bag.



FYI - if you have plans to make more than one of these bags, it is much more afordable to buy the stuff at a hardware store and not a quilt shop. My 36" x 84" roll was $12. I've seen this same stuff online for $5-$7 for a 18" x 36" piece. They also had a 48" wide roll for $17 or $18 that I may buy next time.

Then I got out a pattern that I may use for name badge holders. I think the instructions for these is off somewhat.



They say to stitch the velcro 1" below the top stitching on the inside pocket. Well, that means you sew the other velcro about 3" from the lower edge of the flap. It's not where I would have put it. Oh well, I still think both projects turned out well, and it was fun to just sit and create after dinner.



On another note....I just love how crinkly this quilt looked when it came out of the dryer: