Current Projects

 I am in a slight panic mode about sewing.

I have been in a slump since my return from NC.

I finally went into my room yesterday and did some cleanup.

I wanted to make some new burp cloths for Little Miss.

Here is what I came up with.

I actually made 5 of each Cats, rainbows and unicorns.

I did use different backs on some of them.

I figured out that I can get 5 fronts or backs out of 1/2 yard of fabric.

My son asked me to make a Spartan quilt for a friend of his that was expecting a first baby.

His friend and wife attended MSU and are now living in Ann Arbor.

So my son said that baby needs to have to proper alliance.

He needs to be a Spartan, not root for the "other" team.

I found a pattern I thought would make a great baby quilt.

It is called BQ2.

The blocks finish at 9"

This was a very quick make.

I cut it out and sewed it all in one day!!

I happened to have some Spartan flannel in my stash for the back.

Winner winner chicken dinner!!

My quilter is dropping off LOTS of quilts tomorrow.

I will give her this one when she drops off.

What have you all been working on??

~XOP~

Our Time In NC

 The month we spent in NC was a good one.

We will miss our daughter's family, and the good weather, but it will be good to be home.

Some highlights from the trip (since my last post)

We saw deer a lot in our campground.

This one and his friend were behind our camper!

We helped with the gardening

Stopped at 2 quilt shops

Went to the science center butterfly exhibit.

Made my hair wilt, LOL

Walked all around the outside exhibits

Ate some Superman ice cream (someone's first time)

Went to the antique festival in Liberty.

Lots of great sewing stuff.

Broke out my machine and had LOTS of help

I finished all 24 of my Sparrows for the Sparrows quilt.

Stopped in Mebane

Chris took his kayak out on the Haw river and went fishing!

Helping Papa water the plants

Playing with the "Dump DA"

Lots of playing in the new whale sprinkler!

It's important to drink enough water, LOL.

Dinner followed with ice cream

Saying "Cheese" 

We leave with our hearts full and excited to be back home with our family here.

~XOP~

And The Gender Is...

We are visiting in NC for awhile.
One of the reasons we came was for the gender reveal of the new baby.
This video shows both sets of grandparents popping the cannons that will tell us the gender.

Avery said he wanted a sister.

He is one happy boy!

We had a little party and then popped the cannons.

I was a little slower than the other grandma, HA!

We are certainly enjoying our time here.

It has been fantastic spending time with Avery.

We have spent time blowing and chasing bubbles.

Playing Thomas trains.

(his absolute FAVORITE)

Making and eating popsicles.

Gigi used a basic smoothie and made it into a popsicle.

His mama gave me the directions as follows

A banana, some strawberries, a scoop of PB, one or 2 scoops of yogurt and a drizzle of honey.

I used her immersion (stick) blender to blend then poured into molds.

It's been one of the most fun times this trip!

Looking forward to spending more time with this little guy.

Can't wait to welcome baby girl into the family in August.

~XOP~

Prismata is Bejeweled and FINISHED!!

 I realize you all saw Prismata after I finished coloring him in with the pencils.

I wanted to mimic the bubbles from the original drawing using crystals.

I finally got brave enough to give it a try a few days ago.

HE  IS  AWESOME!!!

I have him pinned on my design wall.

It is covering some pictures so that's why he looks a little wavy.

You can see how I placed the crystals.

I put a few in the outer white waves.

These are Aurora crystals.

Then I decided to put one in the center of his eye too!

You can see the white crystals here a bit better.

I am so thrilled to finally have this one really finished!!

I have shown my daughter in photos and she is super excited to finally have it also.

I have not told her yet but I would like to try to enter him into an AQS quilt show.

It's probably not good enough to win anything but it would be neat to be accepted into a show.

Sorry I have been MIA.

We have been busy getting ready to go see Avery for a month.

I'll be bringing my computer and I'll try to remember to post.

If not be prepared for a photo dump upon my return!!

~XOP~

Paper Pieced Ballerina Blocks

I have 4 great nieces, three of which do ballet.

There nana and I decided to make ballet bags for them.

(including the one that can't join up yet, too young)

JoejuneandMae is the designer of these adorable blocks.

The ballet bag pattern is a free one on their website.

I spent the day with "nana" and we worked on making the blocks.

We were each going to make 2 

We each made a brunette and a blonde.

I am so smitten with how they came out!

 You can find the tutorial for the free ballet bag here.

Stay tuned for bag progress.

Nana and I won't be getting together for awhile though.

She has the fabric to make the bags so they will wait until we have another sew day.

I would love to make more of these adorable little dancers.

Aren't they so cute??

~XOP~

Using Inktense Pencils

 Remember Prismata?

The adorable dragon quilt I made from a drawing my daughter did when she was in high school.

In the original drawing the dragon had rainbows coming through the water.

I wasn't sure how to mimic that on the quilt.

I decided to try using Inktense colored pencils.

I had read about a technique where someone used these pencils and then used water to blend the colors.

Once they are dry they are supposed to be colorfast.

Here is what I tried on the dragon quilt.

My daughter said she loves it!

Next up is using some heat fix crystals to mimic the bubbles on the original drawing too.

That will have to wait for a bit though.

What do you think about using these colored pencils?

Would you try it on a quilt?

~XOP~