Visiting Raleigh and My DD2

I am *finally* home from my trip.
(I'll just save that story for another day)
 It was great to visit with my daughter and also great to be home again!
 I have a million photos
 (most I won't bore you with, they will be on flickr if you want to see them). 
I am going to go in order of the things we did so I can hope to keep it all straight.

I arrived Tuesday night and that was uneventful. 
We re-packed and got ready for our drive into the mountains and the Nantahala river rafting trip. 
The drive was a little over 4 hours from Raleigh to the Nantahala Outdoor Center
(thank you Jeannette).
 We stopped at an outlet mall before continuing on to our destination. 
I managed to snap this pic of her in a gorgeous dress, even though we didn't buy this one,
 she looked so beautiful in it I couldn't resist a picture!

As we left the outlet mall it began to rain.
 Not storm, just dreary, steady rain.
It looked something like this for the entire drive.

We finally reached the Nantahala Inn.  We had to park below and climb up this

to get to our room. The front porch was so cool! 

 Our room was quite comfortable 

 We settled in and then drove back down the mountain to the River's End for some dinner. 

 We sat out on the back porch and watched the river flow by while we ate.

  

We had to get fortified for out big river trip on Thursday morning! 

That's all for now kiddos. 

 Rafting trip will be tomorrow so stay tuned!! 

 ~XOP~ 

Quickly Checking In

I'm still in NC visiting my DD2 but have a quick minute to say a couple of things. 

 I have a quilt over at the Blogger's Quilt Festival (#348). 

 Voting has begun so please go over here and vote for my quilt for Viewer's Choice,

 or if the categories are up now it might be in another one of those.

  I really appreciate it!

I am getting ready to head off to some quilt shops in NC with some blogging friends (that I am meeting for the first time IRL). 

 Freda (Empress of the Universe) is picking me up and we are meeting 

Sara (Growing Stitches)and her son at the first shop. 

I have a list.  Do you think I can stick to the list?  

I have so much to tell you all about my fabulous trip so far but no more time!

~XOP~

Sliced Apples Sewing Center Directions

Cori and I talked and we decided to post today so those of you in the US that have a long weekend
could use it for sewing!!

This is the fun part. 

The sewing begins.  I used 1/4" seams for the entire project.  

An accurate 1/4" seam is important in this quilt.

Match up one white charm with one colored charm. 

 If you are using your Clearly Perfect it will look like this:

 If you don't use the CP or the Angler,
you can draw a line corner to corner and sew 1/4" away from either side of the line.

 

Your squares should look like this when you are finished sewing.

Use your ruler to cut the HST units apart like this

This will yield 2 HST units.  Press to the colored side.

You will need to trim the blocks to 4.5" square.
I use a 4.5" square ruler because that makes it easy.

Line the diagonal line on the ruler up with your sewing line and trim all 4 sides.
This is where having the turning mat makes your life a lot easier!

Wee lots of trimming!!

You will need to make 130 HST units!

Lay out your quilt center so that you are happy with the color placement.
You will need to lay it out 10 X 13 blocks.

Sewing the rows together can be a little tricky to keep track of them.
My method is as follows:

Starting on the left side stack up the HST blocks left to right,
with the left always going on top of the right.
I pin the entire row together, then stack the rows top to bottom.
 Now when you go to the sewing machine take the top pile.
 This will be the top row.
 Unpin one stack, and put that pin in the first square on the top, remove from the pile and
 pair it up with the square directly under it.
Sew these 2 together on the right side.

 Go back to your stack and put a pin in the top  HST block.
Repeat as you did with the first 2 until all 5 pairs are sewn.
You can chain piece this way and your row is all together!
Cut your first 2 pairs apart keeping your pins always aligned to the left.
This way you know how to sew them together.

It should be pin:no pin {sew together} pin:no pin.

Sew like that until you have the entire row sewn together.
Press seams in one direction for the even rows and the other direction for the odd rows.

 I like to lay my rows out as I go along to make sure I have sewn correctly.
My fancy design wall is an afghan over the couch behind my sewing machine!  

Since you have pressed your seams opposite as you went along
it will be much easier to sew your rows together as you go.
 Your seams should "nest" and you will be able to carefully position your pin point to point
as seen in this photo.
 This should help you to not cut off any of the points as you go along. 

 Once all your seams are pinned you can begin to sew your rows together.
Make sure you are using 1/4" seams!
 I sew right up to but not over my pins.

 

Once your rows are sewn they should look like this.

I like to turn my rows over and press on the back first.
It doesn't matter which direction you press these seams.
Then flip the rows over and press on the front.  

Continue to sew until you have all your rows sewn into a center for your quilt.
If you are lucky you may have your quilt inspector helping you too!

This is the most labor intensive part of the quilt.
The sewing directions for the borders will be posted on May 28th so please stop back for those.

Remember we would love you to post your progress in our Sliced Apples Flickr group.

 There will be prizes but you have to post photos of your progress to be eligible for them!

What Do You Do When You Should Be Packing?

How about do a blog post?
  Well, that's what I am doing instead of packing!
 I'm always a little nervous before I leave home. 
Do any of you feel like that?

I told you I would show you some photos of the chenille blanket that I finished.
 I really love how this one turned out
(I think I say that about every one though)

Isn't the chenille so pretty? It reminds me of fire.

 Here is the back. Love those rocket ships!!

 Close up of the back

 And finally, my "Mama Spark" label. 

 

 If you would like to make one too please find the tutorial over here. 

So if you want to make one now you can too!! 

If you do please consider putting it in my Flickr group here.

 OK, I'm off to finish the packing and general getting ready to leave for NC in the morning! 

 ~XOP~ 

Have You Seen Me?

My DD1, the own that raises peafowl found some incredible dishes at Home Goods where we live.  Unfortunately, she was not able to score a complete 12 place settings.
 I am hoping that if I post a photo of the plate maybe you guys can look at Home Goods near you
 and let me know if you can find any.
 We are happy to pay you, or call the store and see if they will ship to us.

With that being said, here is what the lunch plate looks like:

Isn't it pretty? 

 OK, I am now officially in panic mode. 

 I leave for NC in 2 days and I have a LOT to do here before I go.

 As if I had a brain in my head I sewed a chenille blanket last night and put the binding on it today.

 I still need to turn it but I need to go and get thread.

 I have a new great nephew that I really want to get this made for. It might happen before I leave. Need to go to the bank, clean the house, finish laundry oh and pack of course.

 To top it all off I am suffering from allergies (which I have never had before), but I am miserable! Alright off to get my things done.

 Have a wonderful day.

 I will show you photos of the chenille tomorrow

 ~XOP~ 

Blogger's Quilt Festival

It's time again for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. 

You can find all the info you need right over here.  

Basically you choose one of your favorite quilts and share it with everyone. 

 Did I say there are prizes involved?

I called this one the Water Quilt. 

 I used a lot of wateresque fabrics in it and the quilting is done with mermaids, as is the back.

  OK enough chatter, here is some eye candy.

 

I am choosing to share a quilt that was a LONG time in the making.  

I made one for a friend of my daughter's and then decided I liked it so much I needed to make one for my own daughter too. 

 If you know me at all you know how much I love all things aqua, or turquoise or teal, and when you combine that with lime greens and white, it positively makes me swoon!

This is the back with all of it's mermaidy goodness

 

There are lots of bubbles in the borders 

 

You can see the mermaid quilting in the photo above this. 

 For some reason Blogger (or maybe my computer) is not letting me load my photos the way I want them, but at least you do get to see them!

This is how I chose to do the label.

Now the quilt is all rolled up and ready to gift! 

 I will be taking it to North Carolina on Tuesday to give to my DD2!  

I hope she loves it as much as I do!!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to go and visit the other quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

~XOP~

It's The Little Things

I came home from work to find 2 of my cats sleeping in odd places. 

 Mosen was on this box and he looked so content.  

Cats have a knack for making even the most uncomfortable places look divine!

I didn't happen to be able to find Aiden and then saw this

 

 She is sleeping on top of a bag full of fabric with her whole face smashed right down in the bag 

as if she is smelling the fabric. 

 It was so cute!

Also, arriving at home yesterday was a HUGE box from Pro Flowers.  

These beauties were inside.  

From my DD2 that lives in NC for Mother's Day.

Can you see the brightly colored dishes next to the vase?  

There are peacocks on them and DD1 is scouring all the Home Goods stores for more of the dinner plates and any accessories that might go with them.  

If anyone has seen them at a Home Goods near you please let me know.  

Maybe they will ship?  

Have a wonderful day!

~XOP~