In the Pipeline

First of all, I’d like to announce the winner of the Stars & Stripes Forever chart: jlk - Confessions of a Cross Stitch Drama Queen Congratulations!

I finished another little quilt yesterday, this one used up quite a bit of my pink and green stash. I love how it turned out, and how all of the fabrics are so different, but go together nicely.

On the back I used more stash, some yardage I have had forever. Same with the binding, it is the leftover of the backing I cut off :D Love it! I stipple quilted it with white thread and it has been washed and dried, all snuggly now.

Mark and I have been talking about planning out what the heck we want to get accomplished, like anyone else it is 3 miles long. However, there are a few things that must get done. #1: Our Backyard. We took out our swimming pool last fall. There is a huge gaping crater back there, someday I’ll show you all photos… we’ve already moved 2 huge dumptruck loads of gravel into the hole, and I figure we need at least two more loads to fill it up. Who knew a hole would require so much to fill it in? Then, we plan on putting in a new deck and of course re-landscaping the whole thing. I have a feeling this will be the only thing that we get done, it’s a huge undertaking. That is our “family” goal right?

How about my own personal goals? I’ve already started! I decluttered like crazy again this weekend. It all began with Curren’s room. He was in the mood to get rid of a lot of things. There was a lot of toys and a workbench thing that took up a lot of room, it filled up my car! We lifted up his bed, vacuumed under it, dusted, washed windows and made everything look wonderful in there. We worked on Jessie’s room a lot too, but I am so not done in there yet. My personal goal, to keep decluttering and get the house organized. We don’t have a very big house, so the space I do have I need to maximize.

I have some sewing goals this summer, mostly getting quilts done. I have 4 quilt tops that need quilted and bound. Winter Stars Quilt top, Summer Porch Quilt top, Cowboy Quilt top (this is my friend’s I’m quilting for her), State Fair Schnibbles.

The Mermaid quilt is coming along fine, it will be slow going, but that is okay. I love these fabrics, they are super soft.

You think I can do all of this? In between canoeing, hiking, camping and traveling of course. I like to set my goals too high to reach haha!

Stars & Stripes Forever

When Vonna and I decided on a 4th of July exchange, I started digging through my stash. I found a chart from Bent Creek, called Stars & Stripes Forever. I knew this was it! So, looking at the linen I had I didn't find a piece of 32 count big enough. I didn't want to go to the needleshop store to get anything, I have so much at home! Then I realized that the 28 count laguna was really big, and what if I stitched it over one??

I used Needle Necessities & Weekes Dye Works threads, they weren't the "recommended thread" on the chart, but who says I do anything recommended? This was a fun chart to stitch, I really enjoyed the challenge of stitching over one, and was so glad to hear Vonna loves it!

Project bags are useful, so that is what I made it into. I have one and love it!

I now have this chart, ready for a new home. Leave a comment telling me if you are interested and I'll draw a name next Monday! Thanks for stopping by :)

State Fair Quilt Top

Today is Tuesday, that means only two more days until school gets out for the kids. Yes, we go until the middle of June… it seems to drag on forever. I was one of those kids who got out at the end of May, to get out of school in mid-June is just plain crazy! My brain has kind of shut down when school is talked about, I am ready for a break.

Last night we went to see The Karate Kid, this new version was pretty good, but way too long, it was almost 3 hours! The kids all got somewhat bored too, the end was good and all, but sheesh. Have any of you seen it yet?
On Sunday I was able to finish the June Schnibbles quilt top, State Fair. No, it is not quilted yet, but I’ll get there eventually. I have ADD right now and can’t focus on anything, and I am all over the place. This pattern is adorable isn’t it? Do you notice the white pinwheel in the pattern? I didn’t until I finished the top, duh! Super cute :D Well my friends, let’s see if I can’t put my shirt on the right way and remember to change out of my pajamas in the morning… I am like a chicken with its head cut off right now. I hope you all have a good day!

Happy June?

Oregon is having some crazy weather, I think we share that with other states around the country who have been getting snow?! It’s been raining hard off and on, with some sunny days inbetween (thank goodness). It’s driving me batty, can we just have some constant sun now? Please?

Okay I am done complaining now :P

Back in February I emailed Vonna at The Twisted Stitcher about doing a 4th of July Exchange. She was so on top of things she already mailed my exchange! I was so excited when I opened it, she always and I mean always makes the most beautiful things.

I now own a beautiful punch needle wall hanging!! I am in love with it, it is beautiful, and matches my house well I might add. In addition she also made me a floss tag. It’s so adorable. Thank you Vonna, you are amazing! I love ya girlfriend :D I finished her exchange last night and will be mailing it off soon. Thanks again for doing this exchange with me. It has kept me stitching.
There is some quilting news. I have been digging through my stash lately and come out of it totally overwhelmed. I have a lot of it, I know I always say that, but it’s true. I’ve been making quilts out of my stash a lot lately, so there is some progress on making my stash smaller. This little coin quilt is from scraps. I found a piece of polyester low loft batting. I am trying to just use it all up, polyester is no longer my preferred choice of batting, but I am not going to just sit on it forever, it works fine for baby quilts. I think I have one more piece big enough for a baby quilt and then it’ll be all gone anyway. For the backing I had a couple yards left of the big dots (same thing I used on the backing for the above quilt). It feels good to use up the stash, and I must say I do love my stash.

Quilt Story Blog!

I was contacted by Heather at Quilt Story to feature one of my quilts, please go and check out their blog, it's really fantastic! Thank you again for allowing me to be a guest there, you are awesome!

Things are moving right along over at my house. My sister asked me to quilt her top that she left here back in March. I finally got it quilted for her and mailed it back. She made the same quilt that I had taught at church class. The pattern is from CrazyMomQuilts, Amanda Jeans blog. Nikki likes thematic quilts we've discovered, this quilt is all fruit and veggie fabrics, with black sashing.

I quilted it using a variegated rainbow thread, cool effect right? I like it.

Also, the June Schnibbles quilt is called State Fair. I didn't have charm packs in my stash I liked, so I picked out some of my cute and fun fabric yardage to use for it.

I've got it all cut out, now it's time to piece :D Be sure and check out Sinta and Sherri's blogs to see May's Schnibbles parade, there are some really cool quilts!

New Wave Quilt Pattern

I assume you all have visited Elizabeth's blog called Oh Fransson! She is a really inspirational quilter, I love her blog! She designed a pattern called New Wave, and it worked out great because I've been hoarding this mermaid fabric forever now, and this pattern is perfect.

She posted last week about a ruler she found that worked for cutting out the wedge shaped blocks for this quilt. I went to Joann's and found it, and it did work out great. I've got all of my wedges cut out, and next it'll be the white strips inbetween.

What I thought was cool is what a small world it is. Reading another blog Sonnet of the Moon yesterday, I came across a post that she is making this same pattern, using the same fabrics, and calling it Mermaid School, how cute is that??

The Memorial Day weekend here in Portland was rainy, really rainy. We did luck out on Monday though. We took our canoe for a maiden voyage, and the clouds went away for the day! We were in heaven catching little fish and eating ham sandwiches on the bank. Talk about a perfect day.