My Weekend

My weekend was full.  

Full of happy mail and time spent with an old friend. 

 Full of laundry and cleaning cat boxes.  

Full of spending time with my hubby and hanging out in my sewing room. 

 How about you?  Was your weekend full?

First up happy mail.  I have the BEST friends!  

My friend, Vicky sent me this adorable stationary and post it note package.

My friend Judy in Michigan sent me one long strip of the 1.5" wide pieces that I plan on using for my gigantic strip quilt.  

You can see what she did and if anyone else is interested in helping me out, I would be thrilled!  

It introduces variety into my quilt that I don't get from using just my own pieces.

Thanks Judy!!!

I also won a giveaway on Instagram and got some Aurifil thread.  SWEET!!!

I am in a Kitten mini quilt swap and 

I had to work furiously on getting my mini quilt put together and quilted. 

 I am not sure my partner reads my blog but just in case, I can't show it here.

  I was pretty proud of the adorable cat face I quilted into the negative space though.

I have picked up a few things for "extras" and one of my favorite things is this orange kitty cookie.

I also had some help with all the quilting. 

 This is the view from me looking over the top of my machine.

And my view as I was trying to sew.  I keep having to push her out the backside!

Apparently I forgot to mention my weekend was also full of a CAT!

I did manage to get my entire swap quilt all quilted.  

Next up is to trim and bind it.  

Then on to making an extra to send with it (a requirement). 

 I am trying to decide between a pincushion or a pouch.

  I finally found a pouch pattern that looks like I could make it so I may have to go for it. 

Stay tuned to see if I attempt it!  

~XOP~

Embroidery with Aurifloss

As I said before I had the opportunity to do some hand stitching for a quilt going to market. 

 I was given some Aurifloss to use and I have to say I LOVE working with this floss. 

 At first I was not sure how it would be any different from any other good quality floss but it is. 

 It is very smooth to use even with longer strands.  

It did not seem to tangle as much and the glide in the fabric was so nice. 

 I managed to finish my embroidery and even got it pressed!  

I wish I had better lighting to show you how vibrant the color of the floss is.  

Aren't they the cutest??

I went to the DAMQG meeting last night to check it out. 

 I was thinking that I might want to be a DAM girl.

  Now I am pretty sure of this!  

The meeting was a lot of fun and they have so many nice projects in the works. 

 Their hearts are BIG and they are making a difference. 

 Everyone was so welcoming too. 

 Their charity hashtag on IG is #thatDAMcharitybee.  LOL  

How could you not want to join a group like that??

Since this little stitchery is part of a larger project I am linking up to Lee's blog and WIP Wednesday.

Have a great day and happy sewing!

~XOP~

Pie Making Day

Not *actual* pie silly!  

Brenda Ratliff, owner of Pink Castle Fabrics is coming out with her first fabric line and it is called Pie Making Day!  

The fabric is from RJR and will be available to everyone in July. 

 Ask your favorite quilt shops to carry it!! 

 It is gorgeous! 

 The rich jewel tones of this line do NOT disappoint.

I got my hands on a F8th bundle to make something for Brenda's booth for spring quilt market. 

  I guess if I can't go at least something I make will be there right?  

Here is a peek at this amazing line.

I'm pretty sure the raspberry and the teal are my favorites but 

I actually really love this entire color palate!!

I have a small quilt in progress and here you can see as I was building the blocks for part of the quilt.  Since I am using white as the background for these blocks 

I decided to use gray as the other "neutral". 

 I also have to say that the Optical White RJR solid (also designed by Brenda) is my all time, hands down, favorite white!

This is the layout of the yellow basket.

And the green basket

I only had enough time to get them all cut out and 2 of them sewn.  Here is the orange one.

And the teal one.  I can't wait to add the handles!  

You will be surprised about what I do for that! 

 I have a few more things to do that I have not cut out yet that will complete the top. 

 I will share those when I actually have time to cut and sew them, hopefully this week sometime!

I am embroidering the center of the quilt using a free pattern I found online. 

 I am using the Aurifloss that matches the teal for the embroidery. 

 I had not worked with this previously and I have to say it stitches like a dream!

  I also totally LOVE the color of this floss. 

 It is so vibrant!  

Here is a progress shot.  

I am almost finished with this part of the project, just a few flowers and it will be done.

I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peek into my little project.  

I will have to see if I can post the finished project before market or not. 

 Would anyone be interested in a tutorial or QAL of this project?  

You can substitute any center embroidery that you like and 

we can talk about that if there is interest in this project.

I hope all my Christian friends had a nice Easter.  

We had my eldest daughter and her SO over as well as my youngest son. 

 Just missed the middle daughter.  

It was a nice, low key, no stress kind of a day. I leave you with a pic of my family. 

 Daughter, son and SO in that order. 

Happy sewing!

~XOP~

Sewing For A Special Little Someone

I was in JAF minding my own business and WHAM, 

I see the cutest, most adorable receiving blanket made out of 2 pieces of flannel.  

Well, that looks easy. 

 How fun would that be with a cute print flannel on one side and solid flannel on the other. 

 Into the cart it went.  

This was super easy to make too. 

 I took my yard of fabric and folded it in half once then again. 

 I did the same with the second yard then stacked them one on top of the other 

and lined up the folded edges. 

 I then trimmed off the selveges and along the cut line so both pieces would be the same size. 

 I unfolded them pinned them right sides together and sewed all the way around with a 1/4" seam, leaving an opening for turning. 

 Then I topstitched twice all the way around (this closed the opening too!) and Voila!  

One super adorbs receiving blanket.

You already saw the quilt, or part of it.  

I don't want to show the whole thing as I would like it to be a surprise as to the finished quilt,

 but here is a sneak peek.  

I did a two color binding on this one too.

Lastly I had one chenille blanket made for her but while at JAF the super adorable mermaid fabric somehow found it's way into my basket!  

So I just had to pick up the flannel to make a more girlie version for this new little sweetie. 

 I have not washed it yet but here is what it looks like pre-fuzz.

OMG this is so sweet IRL!  

And that Art Gallery Oval Elements made the cutest binding.  

It reminded me of little life saver floaties, like you would use on a boat.  

I had the perfect Aurifil thread color to machine stitch the binding down with too.  

I have a binding tip to share with you tomorrow.  

It made putting this binding a snap!

Trying to decide if I want to do some appliqued Onsies too.  

What do you think?

~XOP~