Another UFO

How many UFO's do you have in your sewing room? Be honest now!

I'm afraid to count them. My sewing room has a large closet and I have some of my WIP's hanging in there. Skirt hangers with the little clips are just perfect to hold sets of blocks together. But among 8 partial sets of blocks was this little quilt top, draped over a hanger and waiting patiently for batting, a back, and some quilting.

This top is the Buggy Barn "Hearts & Stars" pattern. It's one of my favorite pattern. Six blocks like this one can be done using 6 fat quarters plus whatever you need for sashing or borders. This quilt is lap sized.

Right now I have 3 finished tops, plus backing, and binding - all stacked up and ready to quilt. Make that 4 once I decide on a back for this one. I need a couple of days off to get some of these UFO's changed into finished projects!

Leave a comment and tell me how many UFO's that you have lurking around?

Just a couple of things

Just got home from a fun supper date with our older daughter, her fiance, and 2 other couples who've been our friends for over 20 years. We celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. It's so good to spend time with friends and family!


It has been a pretty good week, with my birthday on Wednesday and our anniversary on Thursday. The downside was that I spent neither with my husband as we were both out of town for work. Oh well . . .


I had to work on Saturday, but when I got home after a long 10 hour day - there was something really fun in my mailbox. It was this beautiful fabric postcard from Anya, thanking me for picking her name in my Loralie fabric giveaway awhile ago. I love this postcard. I'm glad I picked Anya's name too.


I did the handstitching on the binding for a table runner while sitting in my hotel room this week. What a nice relaxing way to spend the evening when you have to be away from home for work. This one is handquilted.


This table runner was a bonus project made with leftover cuts from my Day and Night quilt. When you cut the pieces for the original quilt out of the strip sets, you are left with sections that end up forming 2 different block patterns. I bought a little extra fabric and added the setting triangles to make this different than the book showed.

This was my first bonus project. I hope to finish the other one later in the week. Or - since I'm a little tired of sewing on yellow and red, I might have to start a new project.

Happy Birthday to ME!

It is my birthday today - turned 56. I'm in Valentine Nebraska tonight and last night with a co-worker (and good friend Sylvia) doing some staff development work at a school just across the border in SD. So - I had to work on my birthday, didn't get to sew at all - but I did get to celebrate my birthday.

When we finished work today, we stopped in a couple of local Valentine shops. I bought myself a birthday present - a skirt and sleeveless top that may be a possible wedding outfit. Sylvia mentioned my birthday and the shop owner brought out a couple of pieces of homemade banana cake she had in the back. Yum!!

Then we out to eat. These small town local restaurants often have the BEST food. We ate in a local bar, complete with big screen TV's on every wall and full of people relaxing, but not rowdy. I had the best walleye and 2 glasses of wine!! I love walleye. Whoohooo!!

I have been finishing the binding on a small project while staying here. It's nice to have some handwork to bring along on a road trip. Picture will be posted when I get home again.

It was a pretty good birthday. Both of my girls called, and so did my husband. Voicemail is better than no call at all, right? And I got the prettiest fabric as a gift from Sylvia (also a quilter - http://happierdocsly.blogspot.com/ ) so I'll have a new project to start soon. Happy birthday to me!

Spring is here - at least temporarily

In this part of the country it is much too early to assume that winter is gone for good. But it was spring today, with mild temps in the mid 50's and some sunshine.

Yesterday was cold, but sunny and I was inspired to bring out my Easter and spring decor. The darling little green bordered quilt was the swap quilt I received in last spring's mini quilt swap. And the concrete block with silk tulips, greenery and butterflies looks good sitting next to it. My cat spent at least a half hour sitting next to it, tasting each of the silk elements to see if anything was good enough to eat.

2009 Saturday Sampler

I finally put together my blocks from the 2009 Saturday Sampler. The title of the series was "My Favorite Things", but I will admit this wasn't my favorite Saturday Sampler.

Every block was done with 2 1/2 inch strips, and I chose the "dippin dots" colorway. The blocks are kind of whimsical, so I decided it would make a good kids' quilt.

The sashing is dots too. Then I found a remnant of a large dot fabric. There was only 1 yard, which was not quite enough. So I used the extra pieces that I cut for the sashing and pieced the back.

I think it was be pretty cute once it's quilted. I hope to find a weekend when I can get over to Sylvia's to use her Q Bot to quilt a couple of tops I've finished lately. Probably won't happen until after the April wedding, but that's OK too.

It's finally on it's way

Here is my Winter Time Mini Quilt for my partner in Seattle. She should receive it today or tomorrow. Hope she likes it as much as I do.

It is 24 x 24 inches, made from the extra blocks left over from my frosty winter quilt. I absolutely love this frosty blue fabric and still have some scraps and few more half square triangle blocks left. Maybe enough left to make myself a table runner.

I hand quilted this mini quilt, which is my usual process for small pieces. Hand quilting is very relaxing for me.

And the Loralie panel WINNER is . . .

The winner of my Loralie panel is Anya! Click on my profile for my email address, and email me your mailing address - and I'll drop it in the mail tomorrow morning. Enjoy! Thank you to the 30 lovely ladies who left comments on my blog. It was fun to read about your latest projects.

Yesterday was a long day, full of fun "social" events instead of work. It started with attending Saturday Sampler then going to coffee with several quilting friends - where we celebrated Tina's birthday. These are my sampler blocks for this month. The pink and brown is the actual sampler block, and the green one is a bonus block. That is an option each month - to bring a bonus block and have a chance to win them all.

Then I met my oldest daughter for lunch in Sioux Falls, went with her for the final wedding dress fitting, and stopped at one dress shop to look for a dress for me. She looked beautiful in her dress. As for me - I did try on 3 dresses, but didn't like any of them.

Next stop was to pick up my other daughter (the December newlywed) and we attended a bridal shower for her sister hosted by her friends. I had the shower guests all sign a quilt block for her (see below). Then all of the girls went out for an evening of fun, including a limo and a comedy club. Hope someone took pictures of the bride-to-be in her green boa with flashing lights and a crown!

Flip flops - the perfect block choice for a destination wedding on the beach, right? The block is the same flip flop block that I've made before. I have a wall hanging made of 4 of them in my beach-themed bathroom. And I used the same pattern to make a summer swap quilt. I'll also bring a couple of blocks to the wedding for guests to sign.

It was a fun day, but I was definitely wore out when I got home last night.

102nd Post GIVEAWAY

Here it is . . . a giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 posts to my blog.

The PRIZE is a complete panel of the Loralie Quilting Treasures. There are 18 individual blocks featuring quilters shopping and sewing, created by Loralie Harris.

To enter my drawing and possibly win this fabric, leave a comment and tell me about your most recent finished project.

I will draw the winner on Sunday, March 14.

Today's mail . . .

My mailbox had a surprise in it today. Isn't this cute? Denise from Madison Wisconsin was my partner in the Quilting Gallery's winter mini quilt swap.

I absolutely love bright colors and I love applique, so Denise really hit the jackpot with this mini quilt. The applique is so neatly done with almost invisible tiny stitches.

Thank you, Denise! This is going to be enjoyed every winter!!!

On another note . . . watch my blog tomorrow because I plan to post my Blog-iversary GIVEAWAY.

Ready to quilt

My lap sized quilt top from the Day and Night class is done and ready to quilt. I have all of the spider web blocks put together as well, but still need to finish the mini star blocks. Maybe tomorrow . . .

I think the quilting needs to be done in yellow thread. And that will have to wait until I finish a couple of other projects that I've neglected lately.