Kinda back in the saddle

Happy Halloween!



My Halloween string quilt made long ago.

So I've been battling the crud since last Friday and it has had me wiped for the last week.  I managed yesterday to put up some decorations and do some needed shopping.  I am feeling a whole lot better today, but all my sewing has been derailed.  I am now behind on some of my swaps, so I got back in the saddle this afternoon. 

My DS Quilts Doll quilt flickr swap  has to be mailed by Friday. 

I have had the center of the top done for a month.  I had planned to complete it last weekend.  I kind of battled with this quilt.  I felt pushed by the comments of others to change what I had planned to do.  When I had finished the above I hated it and put it aside for a while.  A couple of weeks ago I came up with a solution.  So today I got out the wax paper and pencil and paper pieced my favorite stars.

I really like it now! 

I will back it with another DS Quilts print, machine quilt it (any ideas?) and bind it in the tiny dark blue and red print.  I hope to finish it tomorrow. 

BTW I will mail another swap package tomorrow I managed to finish last Sunday.  This is for a partner very far away and I included some goodies. 

Keep dreaming...Colleen

Im ready for the trcik or treaters!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Today is the first day of the Blogger's Quilt Festival put together by Amy's Creative side!  I hope you go over and visit all of the wonderful quilts! 

Here is my contribution.

I called this quilt "Little Houses".

  It was inspired by a Triangle MQG member's full sized quilt.  I made this doll quilt for a swap our guild did this past June.  I had a very hard time giving it up. 

This was the first quilt I quilted on my new sewing machine Babylock Sofia.  I love the effects of the pebble quilting. 

I used some of my special scraps for the houses, my favorite Ashe gray for the bacground and border,  and an Amy Butler dots fabrics. 

I love the straight line quilting in the borders and the happy dot border. 

I paper pieced the houses from a pattern I drew on the computer.

I especially loved the back Kaffe print.

Well thanks for stopping by. 

 Dont forget to visit Amy's Creatvie Side to see the other entries!

Keep dreaming...Colleen



BTW here is the quilt I got in the swap from the same person who inspired Little Houses.
I love all the DS QUilts lovliness!  It hangs on the door of my office where I can look at it every day.



Pretty Little Pouch Swap

I am participating in the flickr Pretty Little Pouch Swap.  I have been thinking and planning for the pouch I would make for my secret partner for the last couple of weeks.  I decided to use some DS Quilts fabric and some linen.  I love the linen as it is just the right light oatmeal color.  I found it in the remnants at Joann's and it is has a nice texture.  Why can't I ever find yardage like this? 

So here is the front of the pouch.  I played with some blue DS Quilts scraps and came up with this pattern using Noodleheads tutorial as a guide, though I did not follow her pattern.  I used my pearl cottons to stitch the detail of the lines and the bird, with a tiny bead for the eye. 

On the back I added another bird detail.

This bird fabric by Valorie Wells inspired the bird on the front.  I machine appliqued the hexagon and then machine quilted around it. 

I used two blue Ds Quilts fabric for the inside as well.  And fused my Lucky Duck Dreams label inside.  I also put some goodies inside and will try to send it tomorrow.  Ive been sick since Friday and was up all night coughing.  Despite resting yesterday I was off work today sleeping mostly and luckily not coughing so much. 

Keep dreaming...Colleen

I really love this pouch and it was easier then I thought.
 I might have to make some for Christmas.  Anyone interested?

oops! I forgot!

to pick a winner for my FQ giveaway! 

This is a twin set to the fabrics I picked for the Fat Quarter Star quilt along.

Here is my first star.

Boy are there a lot of great BOM and quilt alongs out there.

So the random number genertor picked #52,

Tiffany said...

52 I'm in 2 bees, and a block swap. Makes for some fun adventures every month!

Congrats Tiffany!  When I get your snail mail I will send it on its way!

 

Keep Dreaming...Colleen



Quilt I want to make!



Busy little sewer

So Flaunt! is Friday night and Saturday.  Come join in the fun!

I'm going to set up Thursday.  Here are some Owl and Deer Owwie bags. 

 They can be heated in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or put in the freezer to use as a cold pack.  I made these kid size.  I have other larger styles.  Mom loves to use hers for heat.  She has worn out three covers and one inner bag.  I make separate inner bags of rice so you can easily wash the outer bag.



Sorry for the blurry picture.

Here is the beginning of my potholder for the Triad MQG first swap.

 I'm thinking of some DS Quilts red dots for the binding and a hanging tab in the middle of the top.  Not sure what will go on the back.  I may break into the stash of red and white fabric I'm hoarding for the Forsyth Piecers and Quilters challenge.  Im also thinking some pearl cotton stitching in red.

This is the AWESOME Scrappy Halloween Mug Rug I received from Andrcarl on flickr.  She even included some of the  middle tree fabric which I love!

Keep dreaming...Colleen



Kalli sleeping in my studio comfy chair among my various pillows.
What's funny is I have to move her from this chair to my sewing chair.
 Some times repeatedly.  Yes the sewing chair is padded too.



Musings on a day out...

Saturday is the one day of the week I can sleep in and do what I like.  I don't like to have anything regularly scheduled as I often like to take day trips.  Especially with my family.  This past Saturday Mom, Dad, and I went to Shelton Vineyards for the Fall Festival.   It was a wonderful day! 

(this group looked like they were festivaled out)

A lot of vendors were set up outside. 

The light was beautiful.

 They had bands playing a variety of music. 

Dog was enjoying the music.

 Wine tasting was free.  Wine was flowing.  Especially at our chairs.  I had the Riesling and Mom and Dad their basic white. 

Dad like this last band.

Wonder what event he keeps collecting cards for?

 The weather was perfect. 



Mom was super relaxed and loving it.

Friends of ours called the Wood and Potter had a tent.  I finally bought a scarf pin from Mr Wood for my new two sided voile scarf I had sewn that morning.

  I always love everything Mrs Potter does too.  On the way home Mom insisted we stop for ice cream at Alex's in Lewisville.  We couldn't persuade her not to.  Dad and I had root beer floats.  They let us have extra root beer!  Mom had a hot fudge Sunday!  It was a really wonderful day!

Wouldn't this picture make a great pictorial quilt wall hanging.

Or this one in a more abstract way?

This little girl twirling around kind of summed up the day and how the music felt in the wonderfully fresh air.

Keep dreaming...Colleen



More stuff to sell at Flaunt!  Pocket tissue covers.  Flaunt! is Saturday!



180, 291, giveaway, destash

This is my 180th post. 

Wow!  I kind of missed the 100th and 150th etc...but 180th..that is almost 200! 

291 is the number of followers I have. 

That is almost 300! 

(I am an elementary teacher and can round up!)

I may have to do another giveaway if I reach one of those rounded numbers.

* * * * * *

BTW my current giveaway is for a 16 fq bundle of the fabrics that I'm using for the Fat Quarter Stars quilt along.  Giveaway ends Tuesday October 11th go here.

* * * * * *

I'm still destashing. 

If you are interested in any of these fabrics or books below please email me and include your paypal email so I can invoice you.  
Shipping is $2 an item with $1 for each additional item.

************

#1  A random selection of 10 fabrics some just under to over a 1/4 yard in total.

$6

*************************
#2  A random selection of 11 blue fabrics some just under to over a 1/4 yard in total.

$6

*********************

#3 A wonderful resource for any quilter.  Like new.

$8
***********************
#4 - 5 yards of this batik

$16

***********************

#5- 1 yard of this sewing print.

Selvage reads "Antique Etching" Hoffman international fabrics. 
Background is yellow.  Border is a double measuring tape.

$4

****************

#5 - 1 yard of this blue and tan buttons print.

Selvage reads classic cottons FCI 1996 Ted Bear.

$4

*******************

#6 - 2 yards of the border print. 1 yard of the coordinating print.

Selvages read "Sew Cozy Notion" Daisy Kingdom 1997 printed with pride in

the USA.

$12

**********

#7 Wonderful resource for any sewer.  Like new.

$5

*********

#8 - Brand new

$25

Keep dreaming...Colleen



My edit in Pioneer woman photo contest.



Foto Finish-old

Schloss Blutenburg is a castle outside Munich, Germany.  I spent a month living in Munich the summer of 2009 for a Library Science study abroad.  Every weekday we would ride 2 buses and walk to get here .  It was the 14th century hunting lodge of the Duke of Bavaria.  The oldest part is an 8th century chapel.  It was the coolest place ever to work !  From the coble stone court yard, to the 3 foot thick walls, and the arrow sight windows.  It is representative of the really old buildings all over Europe.  Believe it or not after a month of touring around and working in this place I got very tired of 'old buildings' .  I think the weight of the history of civilization was over whelming.

To see more or participate in Foto Finish-old visit Cat Patches blog.

Keep dreaming...Colleen

At the NC School Library Media Conference yesterday we got to experience Melville Dewey.

 He created this rap and video as a class project in library school. 

He now has a cd and does shows all over.  He is awesome!

The Great Binding Battle

Have you ever done battle with your machine?  You know when you think come heck or high water you are going to finish that block or quilting or that top or that binding no matter what tension-thread-bobbin-needle grief your machine puts you through.  Well I had a real dust up with my Sofia on Sunday.  My goal was to put together and finish my Halloween Scrappy Mug Rug.  And I was going to do it on Sofia, my new fancy computerized sewing machine.  Usually I use my featherweight for piecing and binding and mug rug quilting.  I have only used Sofia for some large FM quilting and embroidery.  No problem.  Then this happened

Can you see the horrible binding on the back of the mug rug...and white thread! 

 I kept wrestling and wrestling and at some point it was me or her.  I didn't even realize I didn't even realize I hadn't changed the bobbin thread!  I was determined to win.  Well the binding got finished but I think Sofia actually won.  Yes I had to take out the binding and redo it by hand and it now looks like this.

The worst part is that in my highly emotional state after the battle I posted the bad binding picture to my flickr group.  Opps!  So I get a little flickr mail very nicely asking me to fix a binding that was not up to standards.  Luckily I had already made the decision to do so .  So I took the bad pic down. 

Moral:  Don't post anything after doing battle with your sewing machine.  

 I am now proudly able to mail this wonderful package to some far away place.  And don't think I'm overly generous in my goodies, just blessed with a 50% sale at Joann's and a 15% teacher discount on top.

Keep dreaming...Colleen