Baby Shower and Life

 I went to a baby shower today for my son's best friend and his wife.

I had a long time friend ride with me and we met up with one more friend at the party.

I have not seen these ladies in such a long time!

It was such a joy to catch up with these ladies.

Here are the mama and papa to be with me.

Doesn't she look amazing?

They are the sweetest kids and are going to be fabulous parents!

I got all the binding made for the three unicorn quilts earlier in this week.

I love them all.

Cole often attends me in my sewing room.

I have a quilt that he lays on, just like Autumn used to do.

It's so difficult to get a good photo of a black cat.

The light was good and I put my phone on portrait mode.

I managed to get some really nice shots of him.

I must say, I think I missed the mark with his name.

I should have named him Shadow, as he is always near me!

~XOP~

Tweet Tweet Is Finished!

 I got this quilt back from my long armer and I could NOT wait to get it all finished!

I asked her to use a wind pantograph on it.

I wanted the pinwheels to look like they were blowing.

She got it so right!

Pattern is Tweet Tweet by Meags and Me.

I used this gorgeous hot pink Minky on the back.

The quilting is so gorgeous!!!

I bound it in a lime green.

I matched it to one of the fabrics in the top.

I used the Summersault line (an oldie but a favorite of mine)

It is by Erin McMorris

I've used this same line in 2 other quilts (still in progress)

All from one FQB I had!  

I did buy the fabric for the binding, and used it all!

I also bought the backing but it was on sale for $9/yard.  

I used it all on the back of this quilt too.

So no addition to the stash that I am trying to pare down.

I got to use one of my labels on this too.  

I love Ever Emblem labels.

I got the fusible ones but I sew around them too.

Now I need someone to have a baby girl!

If not, it will go into my ETSY shop.

Love to hear what you think about this one.

~XOP~

Unicorn Garden Quilt Tops

 I needed to make 4 of the Unicorn Garden quilts. 

 I have one completely finished. 

 I finished 2 tops at the last quilt retreat. 

 Well, I just finished the 4th top! 

 I had to gather up the backings and get them ready to send to the quilter.  

Thought I would show them all together here.

Each one is slightly different, not just the colors either.

Can you post the differences?

This was the first top.

  I have since gotten it quilted and it is bound! I don't have a photo of it yet.

Here are the next 2 that I finished at the retreat.

The last one.

Probably my favorite one too.

I loved each one the best as I was making them, though.

Here are a few facial close ups.

I added eyelashes to these.

The first one did not have eyelashes.

The backing I used on the first one was a hot pink with medium sized white polka dots.

I chose a sparkly unicorn backing for this one.

For the peach unicorn I chose this adorable flannel.

For the fourth and final one I chose this silky, soft sateen for the backing.

My little herd of unicorns went to the quilter today!

I'm not in any hurry to get them finished.

I did make all the bindings today too.

Which is your favorite unicorn?

1, 2, 3, or 4?

It's so difficult to choose!!

~XOP~

Meags and Me New Patterns

 I had the opportunity to work on 2 of the new patterns coming our for Meags and Me.

 I love pattern testing for these guys!  

Patterns I did were Tweet Tweet and Bird Brain.  

Tweet Tweet is at the quilter's and I just finished Bird Brain last night.

Here are pics from Bird Brain.

I did a machine free motion straight stitch around the applique.

I used the same for the legs, beak and ( ) on the birds.

I hand embroidered the eyes using a satin stitch.

I did the same free motion straight stitch around each of the flower petals.

I find this to go MUCH faster than doing a traditional blanket stitch.

I love using black thread to stitch around the applique as it really makes it stand out.

I made this entire project using fabrics from my stash!

I even found an aqua minky for the back that I had in my stash.

I used "frankenbatting" to sew batting pieces together for the batting too.

I just love how that Alison Glass fabric fit in that green block!

I decided to make bindings yesterday too.

I now have binding for both of the bird quilts as well as 2 others that used the same fabrics

that I used in the Tweet Tweet quilt.

I like to make my binding before I send the quilt away as I'm not a fan of making it at all.

That way when the quilt comes back I am ready to trim and bind.

Sometimes I forget which binding I made for which quilt.

This time I cut a post-it note into thirds and folded it into a U and stuck it in each of the bindings.

Hoping this will help me remember what goes together with what.

What do you use to keep track of your batting?

Do you like to make it before you send your quilt for quilting or after you get it back?

I have to do some house cleaning today.

Also hoping to get some more fabric listed for sale.

Then, I get to work on a new quilt for a baby that will be arriving soon.

(not my new grand baby)

What are you up to on this glorious Caturday?

~XOP~

Exciting Visit

 We got to our daughter and SIL's place on Thursday. 

 As we walked up to the house Avery squealed when he saw us.  

I opened the door and he flung himself into my arms!! 

 LOL  

We were just as thrilled to see him.

We brought our son, Thadd's old Thomas the Tank Engine set with us.

A is OBSESSED with "Thomas choo choo train".

As you can imagine he was in train heaven!

Saturday morning we went to the Durham farmer's market.

A and Papa shared a bagel.

We only had a few tracks and A was wanting to make a larger set up.

We told him he needed more tracks.

So until our Amazon order of tracks came later in the day, every time he would come to the end of the track he would say "needs more tracks".

We did one set up on the front porch outside.

On Sunday morning we went to the baby goat farm.

This included a ride on the "train" (carts pulled by a tractor).

He enjoyed the goats.

We went out to dinner and A and I played a large connect game.

I taught him how to jump off the sidewalk too.

We wondered about making the trip just to babysit.

I told a friend I thought I knew why we were asked to go.

A had a shirt on that said Big Trucks for big brothers.

He was running around and we couldn't see what it said.

Kelsey took him in her room and he came out with this pic.

 

Due end of August!!!

~XOP~

Quick Trip to NC

 We headed to NC for the weekend and made a few stops on our way. 

 We decided to make it into a 2 day trip so we could take our time. 

 First stop was Our Lady of Consolation. 

 So beautiful.

We stopped at an Amish grocery and I got to enjoy a cherry fry pie.

My favorite!

As we were driving we saw a fish hatchery and we decided to stop.

I'm so happy we did as we got to pet Sturgeon!

These huge fish were pretty friendly and swam right to our hands.

I got a pretty good video of Chris petting them.

Lots of baby fish

On top of Walker Mountain was Big Walker Lookout.

It was an overcast day but the view was spectacular.

Next up was the Shot Tower at Jackson's Ferry

I found this information particularly interesting.

Obligatory selfie , LOL.

Then we drove to Mount Airy, which is the home of Mayberry RFD.

Floyd's Barber shop.

Opie's candy shop.

Managed to catch Chris by the police car.

I did see this car driving some "criminals" around the city, LOL

Maybe next time I should see if I can get him a ride.

Of course we stopped at a quilt shop or 2 on the way.

This guy is the best at planning stops for me.

More tomorrow, and the real reason we visited.

~XOP~