I Need Some Help

As you saw in my last post  I finished my dad's quilt top.
 Now I am looking for some fabric for the back. 
I would love to find this fabric.

It is by Robert Kaufman.
 If anyone has some they can spare or where I can purchase some I would be so grateful.
 My dad was in the Air Force and this would be great fabric for the back, or even part of the back.

What I didn't tell you about the rest of the weekend is that I went over to my BFF's house on Friday and basted another chenille blanket for a new great nephew that is already here!
 I guess I need to get sewing on that one.
 We had not had a sewing day over at her place in quite awhile and it was great to reconnect! 
I miss her!

I also managed to get the second block finished for my Bee Vintage bee. 
There are 2 queens each month and they choose the block they want. 
I have both my May blocks done now and just need the addresses so I can send them off.
 I hope I can keep up!

 

 I like how this one came out too. 

 It's a BIG block at 15.5" x 15.5" but was easy enough to make.

 If anyone is interested in a tutorial on how to make this block let me know 

and I will put one together. 

Please remember that the Sliced Apples QAL begins tomorrow. 

You will get the fabric requirements and get to see what the finished quilt will look like.

 We will give you 2 weeks to get your fabric together and then post the cutting instructions.

 We would love it if you let us know that you are going to participate.

Don't forget to put the button on your side bar! 

There will be prizes! 

 ~XOP~ 

It Was A Dad Kind Of Weekend

I decided to go to see my dad on Saturday instead of Friday 

so my DH could install a new kitchen faucet for him. 

Dad even cleaned all the stuff from under the sink before we arrived.

Then DH managed to get the faucet installed quickly.

We also found out he was going to get some new windows.  

More specifically a bay window and 2 new windows in his family room.  

This necessitated a lot of different cleaning than what I had planned. 

 He had a HUGE file cabinet right smack in the middle of the bay window area.  

There was also a table in the center of the living room piled with stuff and 

stuff all around it on the floor. 

 By the time we left, the file cabinet, the stuff on the floor and the table were all cleaned up.

 I filled my car and mad a trip to the Salvation Army and

 there were some of my DD1's things ready to pack and bring home. 

 All in all a productive day.

There has finally been enough clutter cleared

that they are working on getting a cleaning lady to come in and keep the bathrooms clean, the kitchen floor mopped and the house vacuumed. 

 My sister is even taken to cleaning up her stuff since there is some space to sort and clean. 

 I'm happy they are finally embracing the cleaning!!

YEAH!!

We ended up getting home pretty late so not much but bed on Saturday night. 

Today was sunny but cold so I did some laundry and unpacked the car.  

I decided that I needed to work on my dad's quilt now too. 

 I have a loveseat behind my sewing machine and

there is an afghan on it that I roll down to use as my design wall. 

 I laid my dad's quilt so far on the design wall and turned around and look what I found.

 

 

 Oh Aiden!  

She just wanted to be near me.  

I worked diligently on finishing the top.

 TA-DA!

  All finished! 

BUT...

I laid it on my queen sized bed and I think it is one row too long.

I'm not fond of square quilts but my dad has a full sized bed and it is the old kind.  

This quilt measures 84 X 96. 

 I think the width is good but 96 may be too long. 

Any thoughts? 

 I can always take off a row and use it on the back. 

 Also, not sure what to do on the back.

 I was thinking about looking for some pin up girls and airplanes.  

Does anyone know of fabric like that?

I have more to share but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Two more days until the start of the Sliced Apples QAL

Are you playing?

~XOP~

Sure, You Can Pay Me In Mendocino!

Have you ever seen that commercial where some girl wants to pay for something she asks the  cashiers if she can pay with Trident's Seven Layer gum?
 They say "Sure, you can pay us with gum".
 Then the custodian says "No one ever wants to pay me with gum".
  Here it is if you haven't seen it.



I know you are asking "Why is she sharing this with us?"

I did some pattern testing for Jacquie Gering recently.
 She called me last week and one of the things we were talking about was Mendocino.
 I recently saw someone asking for a HUGE amount of money for some of Heather Ross's fabric.  Jacquie piped up and told me that she had quite a stash of it.
 I was seriously swooning!
 So I quipped, "You can pay me in Mendocino".
She laughed and this is what arrived at my house today.

I almost fell over when I opened the package!

 She had this note inside: 

I have the BEST friends! 

 Thanks Jacquie. 

 I love it and am happy to help you out whenever you need it!!

 ~XOP~ 

Kitties, Kitties Everywhere

 Some business first. 
My friend Crazy Quilt Girl (CQC) has the new Denyse Schmidt book available on her website,
and it is discounted.
  So if you have been looking for this pop on over and snap it up. 
She only has one copy left so if you want it...RUN!!

In a house full of 5 cats and a dog those kitties are always where I am.
 I don't have much in the way of quilts to show at the moment so I bring you some kitties.

 Meet quilt inspectors Aiden (or Fatty McFatty as we call her),
and her brother, also a quilt inspector, Mosen.

I shot this video of them on my sewing table.  Aiden is the orange and white
and Mosen the black and white. 
They are both big talkers!

Runs in the family!

Then I managed to get this cute pic of Aiden in the sunlight.  She was rolling around trying to get my attention. 

I was working on a little something on my design wall when the Princess of the house,
 quilt inspector numero uno, Autumn,
thought she would have to check it out.
 Just to make sure I was doing it right.
Whew!
She sure looks content, right?

 

AND, *ahem* you just might have seen a sneak peek at part of 

something special coming your way 

May 1st.

 Just sayin'... 

Any kitty lovers out there? 

Give me some kitty lovin!

~XOP~

 

Sliced Apples Quilt-A-Long (QAL)

I finally did it. 

 I got together with my friend Cori (Crazyquiltgirl) and we came up with 

a QAL (Quilt-A-Long) that we think you will love!  

It's super easy and the quilt is stunning when finished. 

 Intrigued? 

 Well, here's the button you can copy and put on your blog if you are participating.
The code to copy and paste into your blog is in the right side bar.

 I have also made a Flickr group so you can post pictures of your progress. 

And I know you are wondering, so yes

there will be a prize.

It's a Crazyquiltgirl Fabric Shop $25 gift certificate!

You just need to post your progress in the Flickr group to be eligible.

Stop back over on May 1st for fabric requirements and a photo of the completed top!

Excited? 

I know I am!

Can't wait to have you guys participate.

May 1st Fabric Requirements and Quilt top photo can be found here. 

Cutting directions can be found here.

Sewing directions for center of quilt can be found here.



~XOP~

Bee Vintage

I  finally did it.
 I joined an online "bee". 
It's called "Bee Vintage". 
There are 12 queens,  2 each month.
 We use our vintage sheet (VS) collection to make the blocks.
 Each queen decides what type of block they want and
 the others make those blocks and mail them off to the queen.
 We are also including five 5" VS charm squares too.
 I found out our first block, geese in a ring. 
Oh boy!
 I just made a bunch of those for a swap recently so at least I know how to make the block.

I came home from work and finished sewing all the blocks for my dad's quilt and
 decided I needed to work on the VS block.
 Here's what I ended up making.
 I hope Sheetal likes it.

What do you think?

 

~XOP~ 

Pairing Up Curious Nature

I know this is going to be brief but some of you were asking about what color I was going to pair up my Curious Nature prints with to make my quilt. 
I went over to Cori's house last night to lay it out on her fabric (Crazyquiltgirl's fabric shop).

To say that we were surprised with the final choice would be an understatement!
 I tried many, many colors. 
The gray in the line has a green undertone that is
not apparent until you try to put it with taupe/stone/cream fabrics.
 Not a single one of those worked.  Kona Ash, Medium gray, charcoal?
 Nope, nope and nope.
Oh dear. 
Kona Pepper?

PERFECT!!!

I posted a photo of it with the charcoal and in the photo it doesn't look much different than the pepper but trust me when I say the pepper is 100% a better choice.
We liked it on Charcoal but when we put it on Pepper it just popped.
Maybe Free Spirit should have had a couple of solids that would go with this line.

Crazy Quilt Girl has Kona Pepper in stock here,
if you are looking and want to pair it up with your Curious Nature fabric.
 Her prices are the best and her customer service is unbelievable!!

Cori is also going to be my partner in crime for my upcoming "event".
 I love surprises, don't you?

~XOP~

A New Quilt?

I know I know, I need to finish the ones I have right?
 I'm working on it!
 I am almost ready to finish all the blocks for my dad's quilt.
 I am also preparing another little surprise for all of you which will be revealed next week!
 I can't show you what it is yet, but I hope you will join in with me when I do show it to you.

I have been sitting on the fence about this particular line for quite awhile now. 
A Curious Nature. 
Have you seen it? 
It is so incredibly masculine and I love it! 
I love many of the prints in the line.
 I finally broke down and ordered these prints.

I'm not sure why this line attracts me so but I just couldn't put off getting these prints from the line. 

 I am thinking about making a Greek Cross quilt like the one made here or here.

I can't decide between the two. 

 I will use a medium background one way or the other.

Do you like the more plain one or the one with the secondary design?

 I think this will be for my son. 

 Or maybe for another man in the family 

(perhaps one of my girls boyfriends?)

 Time will tell!

~XOP~

Blogging Friends and More Cleaning At My Dad's

Blogging friends are so wonderful aren't they?  

I have a friend, Faith, that lives in the UK. 

 She sends me the most thoughtful and fantastic gifts! 

 Here is the latest gift send to me from Faith.

I have not eaten the chocolate yet but those little coconut babies on the left? 

Freaking AWESOME!!

I went to my dad's on Friday instead of going to work. 

 This is my life every other Friday. 

 I took him and my sister to see my other sister because he has not seen her in awhile. 

 She lives in a group home and has a lot of mental problems 

(born mentally retarded, cataracts on both eyes, schizophrenic and bipolar).

 I have not seen her in a very long time either. 

 Unfortunately, she did not really know any of us and did not talk to us.

 We stayed and visited as best we could and then I took them home. 

 She is on a lot of medication to keep her psychosis under control. 

 She also has to have ect (electro convulsive therapy) 

every other week, so I understand her not knowing us.

 I'm glad I could take my dad to see her though. 

 Then we came home and started cleaning his dining room table.

 See that clean half? 

That took  3 hours to do with both of us working!!

I also cleaned some of the front closet out, still more to do there but it's a start!

Lest you think I didn't do anything quilt related, I did. 

 I got the binding sewn on the Halloween Quilt. 

 Aiden approves!

I also worked on my dad's quilt some this weekend. 

 I got half of it sewn together. 

 I only have 1 more snowball to rip apart and re-sew then I can begin putting the last 4 rows together.

I hope you had a productive weekend too!

~XOP~

At The Farm

I went with my DD1 yesterday to our friend's farm.  

They have a new baby miniature donkey that is the cutest thing EVER.  

She looks like she has a fro on top of her head and her fur is all curly.  

ADORABLE!!

Here is a video of her romping around the pen (this is the first time she has run, she is 4 days old here).

Along with this adorable donkey baby there were many, many "Kids" born too. 

 The cutest were the Pygmy goat babies (kids). 

 My DD1 and 2 of her friends were at the farm holding the kids.  

They were the size of a small cat.

Here is Electra with her mom, Pearl.

All in all a great few hours at the farm!!

~XOP~

Brought to you by Quilt Inspector Autumn

I came home last night determined to sew the binding on my Halloween tumbler quilt when one of my quilt inspectors made a surprise appearance.
 Autumn needed to see if she could bathe on it and if it would be pass inspection.

"Not so sure it's ok mam" said the inspector.

"Oh never mind, it really is kind of yummy"

"Keep calm and carry on"

~XOP~

Relaxing Weekend

I hope all my friends that celebrate Easter and Passover had a nice celebration with their families. 
We didn't have anyone coming over to celebrate so my day was completely different from the usual run around cleaning and cooking kind of day.
 I went to the grocery store as we finally decided we needed some kind of Easter dinner,
but mostly I worked in the yard on Saturday and I sewed on Sunday.
I also finished reading the first book of the Hunger Games.
I can't wait for book 2!!

I had to trim a quilt so I could put the binding on.
 Look at who wanted to help!
Oh Jack!
He *has* to be wherever I am.

I did get it trimmed and the binding made but not attached. 

 I used the same creepy cat fabric you see on the back for the binding. 

 I am going to have some left over if anyone is in need of some creepy cat, flannel binding! 

 Just LMK!

I did get the binding attached to the water quilt so now I can begin the hand stitching of that one. 

 I need to have that done by the time I go to Raleigh to visit DD2 since it is for her

 and it would be a great summer quilt.

As I was looking for the binding I came across some 6" squares I had cut and thought, 

"oh why not?" 

So I sewed them into a cute little baby quilt.

 I even found some Nemo fabric to use for the back!

I will probably put it up in my ETSY when it is all finished. 

It was nice to have something done and ready to hand off to Liz today.

I will leave you with a few pics of Autumn.

 She loves to go where it is warm and I will frequently find her curled up under my Ott light. 

 I didn't think it gave off much heat but apparently it must!

This one is my favorite.

Have a wonderful Monday!

~XOP~

PS. I have decided the big reveal for what I am working on will come the last week in April.

 I hope you will all play along with me! 

 Curious yet?

Today Was A Good Day

Today was a great day here.
 The sun was shining and I spent a great day outside, or at least for a few hours.
 I did a little weeding and garden cleaning out too.
I have a LOT more to do but we made a nice start.
 Look who joined me on this beautiful day.

There were 3 of these flying around each other today.

 It's funny how the outside of their wings look so drab.

Like the bark on a tree.

Then both the dog

And the cat

Joined me too!

I did manage to get a little sewing and cutting done today. 

I also received these beautiful fabrics in the mail.

Aren't those hedgies adorable? 

 They sent those 4 little ones as samples. 

Oh it was a beautiful day!!

Happy Easter to all my Christian friends!!

~XOP~

Swapping Surprise

I had done a little swap with my friend Lisa who lives in Tasmania.
 I sent her some vintage buttons and she sent me some great fabric.
Apparently she thought she didn't send enough so I received this little package from her yesterday, complete with another Porn for Women card!
 LOL

Three Denyse Schmidt (Available in Australia only) 

 Some adorable Heather Ross dogs and rabbits and race cars fabric 

as well as that incredibly cute spider bookmark. 

 Now how did she know I love Halloween??

Blogging friends are the BEST!! 

I'm not sure I mentioned it yet but

 I am going to meet up with another blogging friend when I go to Raleigh in May. 

Freda over at

The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe 

and I will go quilt shop hopping one Saturday when I am in town. 

 If there are any other bloggers reading this that are in the area over Memorial weekend 

let me know and we will see if we can all meet up!

I am working on something very exciting for all of you.  

The announcement will be coming near the end of April.

I *promise* you it is something FUN!!

I am working furiously to have it ready soon.

~XOP~