Ahhhhhh Florida

I just returned from a week long trip with my hubby to Florida. 

 We drove from Michigan and we took 2 days to do it.  

We stopped at a couple of quilt stores on the way down and that was nice! 

 I thought I would share the shops with you and let you take a shop hop (so to speak) with me.

The first shop that we stopped at was in East Bernstadt, Kentucky. 

 It was called Paula's Quilting Pantry.  It was in an old farm house in the middle of nowhere.

When I walked in the front door this is what greeted me.

Along with this beautiful antique quilt.

There was a big classroom area and this beauty was hanging in there.  

I thought this log cabin tile on the floor was pretty awesome also.  It gave me some ideas.

Here is the haul from this shop.  Some OOP Lizzy House and some neat black and white fabrics. 

 Just a peek of green solid for the next wedding quilt on the docket too.

  I loved that she gave me a calendar with that adorable cow on it too.

We stopped in Lake City, Florida, at this very purple shop.

This shop was huge and had quite a nice selection of some of the more modern fabrics.  

I found a couple of oldies but goodies to stock up on!

Then we had to get serious about arriving at our destination.  

Hubby wanted to do some fishing! 

 We arrived in Sarasota at my inlaws just in time to go to church.  

After that we went back to their place and had dinner with them and my SIL and BIL. 

 I was so tired, I ended up in bed at 7!!

More adventures coming soon. 

Did anyone miss me??

~XOP~

Taking a Siesta

I will be leaving for the sunny shores of Florida with my hubby for some much needed r and r.  

Off to visit the in-laws in Sarasota.

Siesta Key Beach here we come!!!

~XOP~

Post Wedding Let Down

Do you too feel a let down after a big event?  

My daughter's best friend got married on Saturday.  She was gorgeous and he was handsome.  

All my photos are crappy as the lighting was pretty low. 

 On Saturday morning I managed to get two bee blocks made.

I used the cut off itty bitty triangles to arrange on some charm squares. 

 I got the idea from Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.  

I think I will make a few "blocks" then sew them together and quilt up a mini.  

Or maybe I will make them into coasters?  Who knows.  

I put a dab of glue on the underside of each triangle to hold them in place until I can quilt them.

Here is the quilt all "wrapped" up and ready to gift.

The wedding was supposed to be at 4 so we had no hurry but I got a call from my daughter.  

In quite a panic, "mom, can you please bring a sewing kit?  Annie's zipper broke and the safety pins look horrible.  Bring it and sew her into her dress before the wedding!"  

It is certainly not perfect but it did hold up for the entire evening festivities!

It's so difficult to take moving photos with your phone.  This was my daughter and the best man.

I did get this one of my daughter and my husband.  I think this was the best photo of the night!

Kelsey and Nick (and some one photo bombing)

Me and Kelsey.

(I hate photos of myself)

This was the only photo I could find (posted on Jess's FB) of all the bridesmaids and the bride.

It was a lovely evening and we were so happy to be able to celebrate with them!

Congratulations Amy and Matt!

~XOP~

Amy and Matt's Wedding Quilt

I finished it!!!!!!  The wedding is tomorrow and the quilt is finished! 

 I could not be more excited.  

I am hoping that Amy doesn't look at this post until after she sees the quilt in real life. 

 The photos do not do it justice!  

I may try to get some additional pictures in the snow later today.  

My friend was so kind to take these with her amazing camera.  

We can hang the quilts in a great place at work, but then we walk around to the other side of the walkway and it is a long distance to shoot from.

The pattern is called Round and Round and it is by Thimble Blossoms.  

I used my beloved Pearl Bracelets for the background AND for the back.  

This caused me a lot of anxiety because it used so much! 

 My friend at Crazy Quilt Girl Fabric Shop assures me she has more,

If you need it too.

Deep Breaths.  I must really love this girl!

The quilting was done by Kathy Koch of Thread Bear Quilting and I love it!

I embroidered the label and found the perfect fabric for framing it in.  

See that gray fabric? 

 It says

Made with (heart) love

In this photo you can see that we are quite far away from the actual quilt.  

This is before I cropped the photo.

I can not wait to celebrate the marriage of Amy and Matt tomorrow. 

 It will be bittersweet for Amy as she lost her mom in October to Ovarian cancer.  

Please pray for a beautiful day for these two great people as they begin their life together.

We love you both and wish you every happiness!!!

Linking up to the Finish along here
See my original list here

Have a wonderful weekend.

~XOP~

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Friday

Scrap Strings Request

I saw an amazing quilt made by my friend, Carin, and would love to make one myself. 

I first met Carin and her mom at a retreat for Margaret's Hope Chest.  

If you want to see some folks making a difference, please check out their site. 

 Maybe you are looking for a charity to become involved with?  This one is fantastic.  

Check out their website and read about their mission.

So PSA over, and back to Carin's lovely quilt and what I need from you, my gentle readers.

 The quilt is made up of pieces that are 1.5" wide by up to 4.5" tall.  

So the pieces could be as small as 1.5" x 1.5" up to 1.5" x 4.5" and any size in-between.  

Once you have 1.5" wide pieces you just keep sewing them into one l-o-n-g string. 

 Think ball of yarn type of  long, or roll of binding long.  

I am thinking this will be the perfect leader/ender project.  

Don't know what a leader ender is?  Check out Bonnie Hunter's post about it here.

So I suppose you would like to see this quilt eh?

From the photo you can see what I mean about the 1.5" pieces.  

Here is where you come in.  

I would LOVE it if you would begin your own string of these pieces for me.  

Don't throw out those itty bitty pieces, sew them end to end and when you get a really, really long string fold it up and mail it to me.  

That's it.  

I will then cut the long strings into 15.5" strips and sew them together to make 15.5" blocks.  

In this photo, if I remember correctly, Carin made the blocks 18", 

but I want to try for a little smaller but not too small.  

Do you think you can help me? 

 For some odd reason my scrap bin is full of purple and gray right now, LOL. 

 I just need some diversity of colors.  Please don't just send the scraps unsewn into a string.  

I am drowning in my own scraps!  

After I get home from Florida, I plan on cutting from my scrap bin many of these 1.5" pieces so I will have them ready for making them into leader/ender pieces.  

No rush, I have no time line for this.  

If I get more than I can use I will just keep making blocks and donate the quilts

.  Like to help me out?  

Email me and I will give you my address.  

My email is 

mamaspark@gmail.com

I will be posting about the latest wedding quilt tomorrow so I hope you will come back!

~XOP~

WIP Wednesday Time

I have a laundry list of things that I am working on. 

 I am frantically trying to get some things finished up before we go on vacation.  

We have the first of the three weddings this weekend.  

My middle daughter's best friend is getting married.  I am still stitching on the binding for her quilt.  

I am down to my last 18 inches or so.

Someone, was a little put out that I was trying to sew while she was trying to nap!  

To show how put out she was she turned her back on me.  

Silly kitty.

I had to get some bee blocks finished and ready to put into the mail.  I eeked those out last night.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social 

and 

WIP Wednesday 

I have a couple of blocks to sew for a secret project but still need to pick up the instructions and fabric for that.  

Hopefully this week as they are due while we are on vacation, 

so they need to be done before we leave.

I also want to make another Infinity scarf for my daughter that will be coming home this weekend.  She is a huge fan of Sloths.  

I found some really cute Sloth fabric and thought I would make her a scarf. 

 Those don't take too long though.  

Ash Wednesday is today, so church tonight and then I need to put the finishing touches on the house.

Getting ready for company is so stressful.  

DD is bringing her boyfriend with her so the house needs to look nice.  

This is the first time he will be at our home and I want to make a good impression!

(Just close the sewing room door and step away from that room, LOL)

What are you working on??

~XOP~

Friday Finish

I had this finished a few weeks ago but, apparently, I didn't blog about it. 

 I did manage to finish my chenille blanket.

  I found this fox fabric at JAF last year and could not resist purchasing some. 

 It made the cutest blanket!  This is what it looked like after I washed and bound it.  

In this photo you are seeing it after the wash and before the dryer.

One of my friends on IG asked what the lint trap looked like during the drying process so this is my lint trap about 15 minutes into the drying cycle. 

 Not as bad as some of the ones I have done though.  

Always make sure to check about every 15 minutes.  

This is what it looks like before going into the washer. 

 All the rows are cut, the blanket has been squared up and bound.

If you are interested in how to make one you can check out my tutorial page.

Apparently these are not just for babies.  Cats love them also!

I will link this up with Crazy Mom Quilts for her Finish it Friday.  

I will be working on the hand stitching down the binding for the first wedding quilt this weekend along with cleaning up the house for house guests next weekend.  

Of course we will also be making some great snacks for Super Bowl Sunday too.  

What are you up to this weekend??

Linking up to the Finish along here
See my original list here

~XOP~

Friends Are The BEST!

My friend Vicky, made me this adorable pouch to thank me for gifting her some vintage greeting card cut outs from my grandma.  

She found the cutest Vintage greeting card fabric to make it out of too.

She lined it with a vintage sheet

She attached the sweetest kitty zipper pull.

Vicky in turn shared the cut outs with Cynthia Frenette, an amazing fabric designer.  

Cynthia sent Vicky some of her amazing fabric which Vicky shared with me!  

It is fantastic that what comes around goes around!!  

Thank you Vicky and Cynthia!!

I am blessed by my friends!

~XOP~

All People Quilt UFO Challenge February Edition

I joined the All People Quilt UFO Challenge 2016.  

The number that was drawn for February was number 5. 

 For me that is my Fox Face baby quilt.  I

 have the top finished and need to baste it and quilt it.  Then on to the binding. 

 I am not exactly sure when I will have time to do that this month but time will tell.  

I may end up combining it with next month's, HA!

I finished the January UFO, as you can see from my previous post.  YAY!

I got Amy and Matt's wedding quilt back and need to get the binding hand sewn down.  

I did get the binding attached (with some help of course).  I also got it glued in place.

Apparently it is quite comfy.  I'm sure the happy couple will be happy to know this!

Kathy at Thread Bear Quilting did a fantastic job with the quilting.  I could not love it any more!

I look at the world this way sometimes too.

This...this is what I have to endure while I work.

I have a lot of fantastic news pending but not quite ready to share. 

Stay tuned!

~XOP~