Productive Weekend

I had quite the weekend. 

 I was craving pizza so on Friday, instead of ordering out, we made pizza and it was glorious!  

I am doing Weight Watchers and I wanted to keep it low in points. 

 Not sure how successful (6 points/slice)but good enough and I was so happy!  

BBQ chicken pizza.  

YUM!

Then I cut out some more quilt kits for the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild charity quilts. 

 I will bring these to the meeting on Wednesday and share with the group.  

I think this brings me up to 6 or 7 now.

Then Hallie and I were Pooped so we decided to hit the hay.  

Or perhaps she thought my embroidery supplies needed to be secured, whatever.

I got up on Saturday and ran a ton of errands. 

 UGH, but that was good. 

 Got home just in time for lunch.  

Hubby told me to go upstairs and sew so I took him up on his offer.  

I had a pincushion to make for the A2MQG swap on Wednesday. 

 I tried making EPP hexies for the first time! 

 These are 5/8" hexies! 

 Pretty teeny tiny, but oh so adorable!  

I hand appliqued them then used this vintage planter to make the most adorable pin cushion.  

This little chubster kitty is so cute!

You can see the hexies better here.

I decided that I needed to get cracking on the quilt label for the BIG purple and gray wedding quilt.  

I like to design the quilt label on the computer and then trace the words onto my fabric.  

The font is called Chalkboard.  

You could print on to the fabric and then do the embroidery but it's just as easy to copy it by hand. 

 I began the stitching too but not picture yet.  

I probably won't show it until it is finished or maybe after the quilt is gifted.

Then I made the binding for the wedding quilt using the purple Pearl Bracelets fabric (love this line)

At this point Autumn and I were exhausted!  

Well, no rest for the wicked!

Only she got to "cat nap", I still had stuff to do!!

I am in a Polaroid Swap so needed to get my swap "photos" ready.  

They still need to be trimmed but S-Z are finished and ready to trim!

Sunday came and I determined that I needed to get the back made for my Pie Making Day quilt top.  This took longer than expected as I had to lay it all out on the top and 

make sure each strip was long enough to cover the front.  

I did manage to get it sewn together and now will be able to baste and quilt it.  

I even decided how to do the binding so have that ready to make too.

Sunday afternoon found me making soup and banana bread after which time I fell into an exhausted pile and just did some pressing while waiting for Game of Thrones to come on. 

 I did some hand stitching while watching GOT and am making progress on the label!

WHEW, thank goodness it is time to go back to work!!!
Linking up with WIP Wednesday too.

How was your weekend??

~XOP~

PS My yard is still a mess!  UGH

Weekend Doings

We had a crazy weekend!  It began on Friday when our daughter came in to town from NC.  

We drove her to Gross Pointe to go to a bachelorette party.  

We dropped her off and drove home.  

LOTS of cleaning up from the work the contractor did while at my house.  

Good news is that I got a ceiling light/fan for in my sewing room now!!  

Bad news?  

I can't put my closet back together again until the ceiling light/fan is done in the other bedroom.  Access is through my closet ceiling.  Here is my new light!

Saturday found us at the farm.  We were going to help dig post holes for the bird pen expansion.  

And by we I mean my daughter, SIL and husband, LOL. 

 I was relegated to the basement to go through boxes left there from my dad's house. 

 It was so cold in the basement though that I came up periodically to get warm. 

 I would wander outside and play with the birds, take a few pictures and then back into the basement.  I was paying with Jocelyn and thought you might like to hear her voice.  

We hatched her from an egg when my DD lived at our house.

We rented a post hole digger 

(thank goodness, as hubby is not getting any younger!)

Now you see it...

Now you don't!!  Every time they fired it up the two male peacocks would start calling.

I managed to get a video of Blu when he was calling.  

The slight "echo" you hear is actually Octavain II who would begin slightly after Blu.

These are the posts we got planted (maybe with enough attention they will grow into a bird pen!)

Sunday we had to drive back to Detroit and pick up our other daughter after her partying weekend and drive her to the airport.  

We stopped off for lunch with her and then took her to the airport. 

 We got home and I fled upstairs to my sewing room.  

I really had no business working on anything but the "have to" list but of course I did something new.  I did work on the have to  list too though.  

I am hoping to finish up the market quilt soon and then we can have a QAL if you like.

Being around the birds inspired me to try this little paper pieced pattern I found online. 

 I have a friend that is a little down and so thought she might like this as a pin cushion.  

I have printed out enough to make 3 more that I think I will make a little mini quilt for her. 

 Just not right now.  

The block is about 4" square.

How was your weekend?

~XOP~

Do. Good Stitches

You may have seen this button on my side bar.

I requested to join in this group when they had an opening. 

 It is pretty slick how it works. 

 There are several different hives, if you will, all doing the same type of thing.  

One person is in charge. 

 There are several quilters that choose the blocks made each month to make the finished quilt.  

You make the blocks (2 each month) and mail them to the quilter and 

she/he puts it together and quilts and binds it.  

Then they go off to the charity that has been chosen for the group.  

I am very excited to be participating in this charity work!  

I know I have not had a lot to post about recently. 

We are having work done on our house and my sewing room is out of commission right now.  

I hope to get it all put back together this weekend and get some sewing done!

 I am working on a small quilt with Brenda Ratliff's new fabric line called Pie Making Day.  

I am planning on doing a little tutorial about that quilt in the near future.  

I will try to get some fabric requirements ready for early next week so be on the look out! 

 If you are interested in making this neat little quilt you may want to look for 

an embroidery that will fit into a 12" x 12" format.  

I have used 2 different images (free) that I found online.  

There is a really nice group on Flickr 

(Hoop Love Vintage Transfers)

that posts great images or feel free to use one you already have.  

If you have something you like but think it needs to be larger go ahead and 

try enlarging it and see if you still like it.  

I hope some of you will play along with me on this quilt!  

~XOP~

Anybody Looking For The Old Thimbleberries BOM?

I was cleaning out my sewing room closet to get ready for the contractor to come today.  

I had no idea how much I had origamied into that floor and the shelves on the back of the closet!  Look how nice those empty shelves and floor look.  

The workers need access to the panel in the ceiling in the closet for the attic.

Since there is work being done in all three rooms, I had no where else to put the closet "stuff" except on the floor in front of where I sew!  I even had to fold up my sewing table. 

 What a HUGE mess!!

The good news is that I found some old Thimbleblossom BOM kits and the entire set of patterns! 

 I would love to destash them to a good home.  

I also found some other books and patterns.  Shipping would be by FRE (flat rate envelope), 

for yardage and First class for patterns.  

I am willing to ship international but you have to be able to pay the postage 

(whatever that ends up being).

Please leave your paypal address and zip code, if you are interested and which item(s) you are interested in purchasing.  

I will combine shipping where I can. 

 You can fit 8-9 yards of fabric in one FRE.  

The FRE is $5.50

Here we go!  

This is for the November kit which includes the patterns and 2.5 yards of fabric.  

It is $15 plus shipping

Complete set of Thimbleberries Club patterns from the 2004 club $10 plus shipping

This is the December kit which includes ~4 yards of fabric and the pattern.  $21 plus shipping

I found some books and patterns, please leave your paypal and zipcode if interested, 

so I can figure out postage.

Adventures and Applique  I love this book but somehow ended up with 2 copies!  $5

On a Roll all jelly roll quilts  $5

Sweet Dreams Lily by Bunny Hill  $5

Jack and Jill Quilts many quilts for boys and girls $5

 Some vintage children's clothing patterns  $2 each, plus shipping

A vintage maternity pattern and one for a man's jacket and vest $2 each plus shipping

Six assorted one yard cuts of DS Quilts fabric.  Not splitting at this time $75 plus shipping

Six assorted one yard cuts of DS Quilts fabric.  Not splitting at this time $75 plus shipping

Three assorted half yard cuts of DS Quilts fabric $20 plus shipping.  Not splitting at this time.

Six inches x WOF Joel Dewberry $5 shipped.

~XOP~

Peacocks and Old Photos

Does anyone else think this weekend just zipped by?  

I did some sewing but will share that later, when I make the tutorial.  

We went out to the farm on Sunday. 

All the "stuff" we dumped in my daughter's basement now has to be dealt with, sigh. 

 I started going through photos.  

Is it just me or does everyone have a hard time throwing out old photos? 

 I know I can't keep it all 

but if there are people in the photo it is very difficult for me to ditch the photo.  

I did, but it was hard.

I ran across a few gems though and thought I would share these with you all.  Here goes:

One of my all time favorite photos of my oldest daughter when she was about 16 months old. 

 I made that kitty for her.

This one is from right after we had our son.  

My middle daughter was "feeding" her baby (named by her, EXY and Z)

 "just like you mom".

Here I am with my oldest in a raft up at Hardy Dam.  

Wow, what kind of mom takes photos instead of watching out for the safety of her kids?

This mom!  

(no children were harmed in the taking of this photo though)

Ahhh, then there were some oldies but goodies from when I was super young and look how thin!!  SIGH, and we all thought we were fat back then!!  

I was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding.  I was maybe 22ish.

And this body will never see that body again!  Here is me and my hubby.  

Man we look young here!!!

Lastly we got to see my daughter's beautiful boy, Blu. 

 We hatched him from an egg at my house and he lived in the kitchen of my house for the first few months of his life (with his sister).  

He hurt his ankle and had to have surgery and still only really uses the one leg. 

 It does not seem to deter him. 

 Those hormones that cause mating are STRONG with this one!!! 

 He was showing off his gorgeousness to any female that happened by. 

 The shake them and it makes a buzzing sound.  

I was not able to get a video but I plan on it.  

If you look closely, you can see him standing on his one good leg.

Here he is with one of the females.  

I am not sure which one this is though.  

I don't have all the girls names down just yet!

Blu is using his left toe just to keep his balance.

He hops around the pen which is kind of funny to watch.

Hope you enjoyed the old photos.  

I just took pictures of the pictures so the resolution isn't great, but you get the idea.

How was your weekend?

~XOP~

Wedding Quilt For Amy and Grant

I am posting about a quilt I finished quite a long time ago.  

It has a long convoluted story but I am not going to go into that right now.  

Instead I am going to talk about how happy I was to be able to gift this quilt to a very special, young couple that got married last January.  

Amy has been a friend of my middle daughter's since they were both 5 years old.  

They were besties for many years and when they talk it's like things pick right up where they left off.  I think most of us have friends like that right? 

She spent so much time at our house she is like another daughter to us!

 Anyway, I designed this quilt for their wedding.  Without further ado I will just share the photos.

This quilt may look like some others but I assure you it was completely designed by me using EQ7.  Kathy Koch did the amazing quilting.

This is the quilt on their bed.

I love how the colors look in this photo here on the bed.

A quick shot of the label

The quilt was fairly large so I ended up having to piece the back.  I could not be happier with how amazing the back turned out!

Of course you can see Kathy's amazing quilting on the back too. 

Here is a photo of Amy and Grant from their wedding.  

(borrowed from Amy's FB page)

This is an oldie but a goodie of Amy and my daughter up north at Hardy Dam.

They both look so young to me here!  

I hope you have enjoyed the quilt and the story too.  

I am linking up to Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Have a great weekend and happy sewing!

~XOP~