Some of My Life

I wanted to ask you, 

have you ever been to an antique tractor show?  

Well I went to one last weekend with my hubby. 

 It was interesting but I would rather have been home sewing.  

Sheesh the things we do for our men, am I right?  

Although I suppose it is payback for the long hours he has spent outside waiting at quilt shops, LOL.  

Here is my hubby near one of the tractors he liked.

There was a small flea market there too and we got a really nice wrought iron

 table and chair set as well as a bench and an arm chair.  

Good thing we took the truck! 

 It is pretty neat and the chairs fold up! 

 It needs to be repainted but that shouldn't be that bad.  

One thing I saw, and had to take a photo of was a booth that was selling enormous panties 

(and thongs). 

 I was pretty sure no one would believe me if I didn't have a photo.  

These lined the back wall of the double booth!!  

Who knew?

I also celebrated a birthday with a friend.  

We went out for our yearly birthday dinner.  

This is the plate my birthday brownie bite was on. 

 So cute!!

On a somewhat sad note one of the bunnies I have had for the past 10 years had to join the big bunny ranch in the sky last Friday. 

 Rowan has been my friend for the past 10 years and I will miss her a lot!

RIP my sweet bunnito.  

You were a good bunny and you will be missed!!

~XOP~

Ima Bee Block

I managed to eek out a little sewing time this weekend.  

Most of what I worked on I can't share, darn it.

I did get a bee block finished.  

We have been making 2 for everyone but this block is so huge 

we were able to make just one and send it along. 

 She wanted a single black cross on a white background.  

Blocks had to be 20.5"  

I used some of the amazing cat fabric my friend Yuki sent to me from Japan.  

Aren't they adorable?

It was funny to be making a cross block and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the same time!

Hope your weekend was productive.

~XOP~

I Must Have Done Something Right

It has been a busy week here at my house.  

Sorry for so little posting. 

 Once again I am working on some things I am not able to share at the moment 

so there seems to be very little to show you!

I was in Grand Rapids yesterday to take my dad for a driving test. 

 He did not make it past the written part of the test and now has no driver's license. 

 Moving into this part of life is not fun, for either of us.  

I have really mixed feelings about this, but we are trying to come up with some alternatives.  

Earlier in the week my DD1 texted me and told me to go to the vet tech office at work because she had left something there for me.

  Hmmmmm what could that be? 

 Eggs? 

 No, she told me there were no eggs this week. 

 Then what?

I'll show you what!  These beautiful Stargazer Lillies!!!

OMGosh they smell so good!!!

She picked them out of her garden.

Isn't it sweet when your children do things like this to surprise you?

I also managed to finish a few bee blocks for July.  

Now just 2 more to go.

I hope she likes them!!  

They were fun to make, but I am happy to send them out too.

Hope you are having a good week too.

~XOP~

Between Friends

I only have a minute but wanted to let everyone that has been asking about my quilt "Wedded Bliss."

I am totally in love with this pattern.  

It was originally designed by Darlene of Quilting Daze, as Between Friends. 

 She had the original pattern published as a free one on her blog.  

I don't think the link is working any longer.  

I have my downloaded copy of the pattern and I changed it up a bit with how I did my borders though.  I suspect she would send you her pattern if you ask or

 if she gives you permission I am happy to share it with you too.  

I used it as a heads and tails project and had all the pieced blocks made pretty quickly.  

Do you know about heads and tails?  

Here is what I did. 

 I had a lot of these 2.5" squares of blue and green and would sew a pair every time I was finished sewing on my "main" quilt project.  

So at the "tail" of my main project I would sew a pair, clip the thread and 

take the main project to the ironing board.  

When I was ready to begin the next step in my main project my "tail" pair 

would become the "head" pair.  

When I finished the next step in my main project I would grab another set of squares and use them as the tail end of the strip.

This accomplishes two things.  

It finishes a second project with very little effort on your part and it also saves on thread!.  

Some people use a thread bunny but again you are wasting thread that 

you could be using to sew two tails together and get a second project done, kind of for free!!

You can use anything as a heads and tails project.  

Remember those paper dolls?  

I totally cut up a bunch and have used them as heads and tails.  

Want to make a scrap vomit quilt?  A GREAT Heads and Tails project.  

(I'm a Ginger Monkey quilt photo)

How about an X and + quilt?  Totally could do this as a Heads and Tails.   

(My friend Robin's Owl and Pussycat quilt)

Anything you can cut up ahead of time you can use.  

I hope you will send off a note to Darlene if you are interested in a copy of her pattern.  

Please let me know if you make one of these wonderful quilts too.

Have a happy day!!

~XOP~

A Wedding Quilt

As you know I have been working on a wedding quilt for my nephew, James and his wife Liz.  There was a Michigan reception for them on Saturday.  I was finally able to gift the quilt!

This was the back.

The quilting really shows up here.

Label all sewn on.

This is how I "wrapped" it to gift it.  

I tucked the pillow cases into the roll so they would stay in place.

Here is the happy couple with their quilt.

Congratulations James and Liz and many happy returns!

Life is good!

~XOP~

What's In A Label?

Do you remember this quilt? 

 I made it for my nephew James' wedding.  

It is now quilted and bound.  

Love that stripe binding cut on the bias! 

 I have found that using silk thread to do the hand sewing of the binding works so well.  

I also press the binding toward the hand sewing side before beginning and

 it seems to help with hand fatigue.

The last thing it needs is a label.  

I usually write on my quilts but a good friend always hand embroiders her labels.  

I thought this was a good idea so thought I would give it a try. 

 I don't know about you but my writing is far from legible and I can't keep my words on a straight line.  So I came up with this great idea.  

I wrote what I wanted on the label using my computer and a font I liked. 

 I sized it to work for the label (ie not too small to stitch) and printed it.  

I then cut out a piece of white fabric to size and using a light box, transferred the words to my fabric. 

 I chose my floss colors and did the embroidery and TA-DA perfect!

I laid it face down on some scrap batting to press it so the lettering sticks up, 

you can see the batting near the top of the photo.  

I am thinking about putting some of the blue and green squares around the outside and 

then stitching, RST, to another piece of white.  

I will leave an opening to turn and once I do that there are no raw edges.  

Last will be to hand sew it to the back of the quilt.  

I am going to gift this on Saturday and I can't wait!

Here is the happy couple after they were married on June 1st!!

~XOP~

Bee Vintage Blocks

I managed to get some of my Bee Vintage blocks finished recently too.

I think that this is the last of the Bee Vintage blocks. 

 I now need to get going on the other blocks for the IMA bee group! 

 Four blocks more for that group in July.

The wedding quilt should be available for me to pick up today. 

 Means I will have loads of binding to look forward to this weekend!!

I may have put a down payment on this machine to be my traveling machine.

~XOP~

Happy Birthday to ...

ME

(photo from heyaaryn.com)

This is kind of how I feel about birthdays.

Yes I am another year older but I am another year older, LOL. 

I am happy that I have more time with my family and friends.

I am looking forward to another year with everyone too!

One of my good friends in the lab made homemade cinnamon rolls (this morning)

and brought them in for me.

Another lab friend brought me a HUGE pastry and a flower cookie

My hubby took me out for lunch and then to his eye doctor appointment.

Yes he knows what I like!

He gave me some yellow mums and a cupcake too when he picked me up.

I am going to look for a birthday present for myself after work tonight.

I am thinking about this

Kinda fits with the cat theme right?

I hope you are having a great day too!

~XOP~

We Have a Winner

I used the random number gererator and lucky number 7 was chosen as the winner of the fabric.  

This just happens to be my friend Sara who said: 

 I like the Happy Go Lucky for sure!!

Maybe some Free Spirit lines. 30's repro;) 

Email me your mailing address and I will forward it to Trina so she can get your fabric in the mail!

Thank you so much for all your wonderful ideas. 

 I am sure they will give Trina LOTS of things to think about and stock in her shop.

Speaking of lucky, last night our dog came running on to our deck barking and barking.

This was what she was running away from in the neighbors yard!

Have a wonderful day!

~XOP~