Finally A Finish I Can Talk About

As you may remember, I was in California for the past week.  

I went for a quilt retreat, Sew Beachy, 

(more about the retreat later) 

and stayed with a friend that I used to work with

 (until she moved to California).  

Many years ago, I made a quilt for the U of M quilt raffle. 

 Proceeds went to in need families that were patients at the university hospital.  

One of my first big quilts was won by my friend.  

She called me up 6 months or so ago and told me that her quilt had been loved to death and 

would I consider making her a new quilt?  

I asked my two friends at work that I quilt with if they would consider helping.  

As it turned out one was in the hospital at the time we needed to get this done, but upon her release made a few blocks for the quilt.  

My other friend did most of the stars.  

I made some stars, the squares, put the top together and then bound it when we got it back. 

 I carried it on the plane when I flew out to Cali & was able to present it in person to our friend Ana.  

First of all let me say that her reaction was priceless!  

Anyone reading this that I have given an quilt to or if you receive one in the future, 

please take note that THIS is how you should respond to receiving a quilt from me, LOL.

This is how I presented it to her, all rolled up.

We used Tula Pink's Free Fall 108" wide for the back.

Reading the label

THIS, this is how everyone should react!  

Thanks, Ana you made my day!

It's a bit embarrassing but this is the well loved quilt

 (which for the record she would NOT let me throw away as she loves it still).  

It reminded me of my daughter's "si-si" 

(well loved blanket).

Here are a few photos of the entire quilt so you can see what it looks like.  

Fabric is Canyon by Kate Spain and the pattern is Sara's Star by Sweet Jane's Quilting & Design. (Just in case you need to make one too!)  

Note, we did make ours larger than the pattern.

Oh dear friend, you made me so happy to gift this to you!

Thank you again for hosting me during my stay, but don't expect a new quilt every time, LOL

I am linking this finish up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

More about Sew Beachy soon!

~XOP~

Progress

I hope you all enjoyed your time away over the long weekend.  

I was able to get a quilt top finished YAY!  

I loved working with the Canyon fabric line by Kate Spain but 

was SUPER happy to finally finish this top. 

My friend Robin did the bulk of the stars and I sewed all the squares and put it all together.  

OMG was there a LOT of seam matching!!! 

 I was soooooo over it by the time I finished!!!  

It was quite a big quilt so I could only get a photo of it on my front lawn.  

(Notice Hallie photo bombing in the top!)

I started making another Chenille blanket for an upcoming baby shower.  

As you can see I had loads of help!

Got all the lines sewn

Cole

Such a handsome helper!

PHEW all those channels are cut, the blanket is squared up and bound and ready for the washer.

Cole was exhausted from all his hard work!

I also did some hand quilting on the small snake wall hanging.  Ready for that one to be finished too.

Next up is making another baby quilt for another niece that is expecting.  

I'll probably make a chenille blanket for her too, but I need to find just the right fabric.

What did you do over the long weekend?

~XOP~

Some Quilty Progress and Thrifting Scores

I said yesterday that I would take photos of my progress, 

but by the time I got home yesterday it was not great light.  

I went to JAF and got almost 13 yards of batting 

(that's all they had of the kind I wanted) and used my 70% off coupon.  

It made it so much cheaper!  

Anyhoo, here is the back of what I have put together so far.  This is 4 rows of 9. 

 I have two more sewn together and then a single row sewn. 

 As I said each row takes me about an hour and attaching each row takes me another 45minutes or so.  

 These are the stars I have left, so 2 more rows to sew.  

I need to attach the squares to 2 sides of these and they will be ready to sew together into one row.  There is so much matching.  

The fabric is Canyon, by Kate Spain. 

 I'm already tired of working on it and I have HOURS left to do. 

 My goal is to finish it before the end of the weekend so I can take it to the quilter next week.

Then I went to the Sally Ann to see what they had.  

Hubby and I usually go on Wednesdays as there is a senior discount.  

Yesterday it was a super senior discount so 33% off!!!  Here are the things I picked up.

Two super adorable Lefton figurines.  They are about 2" tall and very delicate.

OK, Lord help me I could not walk away from this silly vinyl stuffed cat.  Clearly a child's toy.  

A little creep but oh so me.  

I'm sure my children will appreciate these finds 

(Bwahahahaha)

I'm also a sucker for church related things.  

When I saw this sweet little angel with a (I'm not sure if it is a place to hold Holy water? a Rosary?) she jumped into my cart too.

I am always on the look out for dish towels.  

Do you know how expensive good towels are??

I don't like the terry cloth ones.  I scored 3 of them. 

 Plus this adorable black cat soap holder 

(Hello, now I need all the black cat things) 

and that cute spatula.

 Ahhhh, but the BEST find of the day?  This Salad Shooter!!!!!!  I have one and I LOVE it.  

I brought it to the camper and then left it there and was so sad.  

I have been meaning to buy another one but just kept putting it off.  

They were ~$30 on Amazon.  This one was $2!!!

I also could not resist this vintage Batman and Robin pattern 

if for nothing other than that picture on the front of the pattern.  

It was my very favorite show as a kid.  

The snowmen pattern is for a friend.

On top of all of that I got 2 sets of brand new queen sized sheets and 

1 set of vintage sheets for the camper pull out bed. 

(They are in the wash so no pictures).

Want to guess how much I spent?  Less then $32 for everything!!!  

It was a good night at the Sally Ann.

As I said, I did sew one more row last night.  

I am meeting my daughter for dinner tonight but hope to get home in time to sew another row tonight or maybe sew the rows I have finished together.  

Not sure which.

Enjoy your evening and tomorrow is Fri-yay!!!

~XOP~

WIPs With Friends

I worked like a fiend over the weekend and some this week to 

get some of those stars and squares I was working on put together.  

I didn't take any photos of the assembled rows yet, 

but I do have some of my "helpers" that I can share. 

 Each row took me an hour or so to put together.  There is a CRAP TON of matching. 

 I'll get some photos tonight and share tomorrow.

Here is Mr Finny inspecting my fabric choices.  

You can also see all the squares for the pattern are sewn 

(but not yet pressed in this picture).  

It actually took me several hours to press all those seams open!

All that "helping" was exhausting!  

Of course he chose the crap valley to sleep in!  See that aqua box?  All 72 star blocks are in that.  

Oh and don't think Cole wasn't in on the "helping".  He took over inspector Autumn's spot.  

Oh Finny, you are so dramatic!

I did get my September bee blocks made too .  Yes, that's right, I said September!  

Trying to get ahead of the game here.

And they were so cute I made one for me too! 

 I am thinking that I will try to make an extra block each time and then make them into a sampler.  We will see how that goes though.  

I am linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts.

Now it's your turn to share what YOU are working on.

Use the Linky tool to link up or the #WIPSwithfriends on IG.

Can't wait to see what everyone else is working on.

~XOP~

An InLinkz Link-up