WIPs With Friends

I was busy, busy BUSY over the weekend!  I have loads to share with you all.

I got 2 count them 2 quilts back from my fabulous long arm quilter, Kathy, at Thread Bear Quilting.  The first one is the baby Big Foot quilt.  

I had to put away the fishies to work on binding this one.  T

he baby is due any minute now so I need to have it trimmed and bound.

I chose an aqua and white stripe binding for this one.  

The aqua matched the chest and face on the Yeti that is on the back.  

I did get it all sewn on and turned and glue basted in place. 

 I even managed to stitch about 1/4 of the way by hand too.  

I will take a photo of the whole quilt once I get the binding finished.

The other quilt that I got back is the Hallowedding quilt!!!  

As you can see Hallie (short for Halloween) claimed it for her own!  

This while I was trying to sew on the binding.

I will show some close ups once I can gift it.

The groom is working out of state for awhile so not sure when that will be.

Maybe a few sneak peeks though!

I had a friend ask me about what did I mean "glue basted" the binding. 

 I use Elmer's School glue 

(it's washable)

 and put a thin line between the stitch line and the raw edge of the quilt.  

Then I carefully turn the binding until the fold is just over the stitching line 

and using my iron, press it into place.  

This allows me to take the quilt anywhere and bind and not have to worry about pins. 

 It is also MUCH easier on my hands not to have to hold it in place while it stitch 

(or have pins or clips in my way)

The quilting detail is amazing on this (Thank you Kathy!)  Again, Hal thought this was hers!

I managed to get my 4 bee blocks done too.  

I did work on another chenille blanket and some burp cloths but since the baby shower is this upcoming Saturday, I won't show these until after the shower.

I will link up with Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social

Now it's your turn. 

 Show me what you are working on! 

 Please link up using the blue Inlinkz button.

Don't forget to share on social media using #WIPsWithFriends and link back to this post!

~XOP~

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WIPs With Friends Hallowedding Progress

I am continuing progress on the Hallowedding quilt top.  

I lost one of the spider webs and finally found it this weekend.  

Then I thought I had lost the 2 witch's hats and the 2 candy corn blocks but 

they were actually hiding under the other spider web block.  

(Of course I discovered this after I made new ones, LOL.)

I had made a few extra coffin blocks and was lamenting this when another friend suggested that I use them in my filler block locations.  

BRILLIANT (this is why she is by BFF).  

I hand appliqued 4 individual coffin blocks and trimmed them to fit in the places that I needed the filler blocks. 

 Remember that since the ring was 6" larger, I had to find a way to enlarge the quilt top to make it fit.  I dug out the graph paper and started working. 

 As it turns out there was only one partial seam in the quilt top piecing. 

 How lucky was that?  

The first section I worked on was this one.  See the four filler blocks? 

 I was happy to use that skeleton hand fabric forming hearts. 

 It came from my friend.

I think this one with the cat, fish and boy (holding up the peacock) is my favorite.  

I was totally going for this look too.  So cool!

I wanted to find a way to use Sebastian in the quilt wherever I could and this large pink cat was purrrrfect!

A different friend also send a Ghastly peacock so I had to use him.  

See that pumpkin fabric?  I was dying to find a way to include that in this quilt.

I was under the mistaken idea that I needed to make more candy corns so made this one with the cat.

Turns out the others were hiding under that blue web!  

(They will be on the back)

Another "must use" fabric was this haunted forest.

Last adorable filler I will share is Sebastian on the picture frame.  

These were all so perfect for my quilt.

So this is my progress after the weekend.
Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

~XOP~

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes here. 

 Remember that if you do post in the link up here

 you should post a link back to this post on your own blog too.

So now it's your turn to share what you are working on.  

Please use the linky to link up and share that you linked up to WIPs With Friends on your blog too.  If using Instagram please use the hashtag

#wipswithfriends.  

We can't wait to see what you are working on!

Use the blue Inllinkz button to link up and spread the word by linking back to this post!

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WIPs With Friends

Happy New Year to all my friends out in blogland! 

 I am looking forward to a new year and new challenges.  How about you? 

 I am planning on starting the Ocean Waves QAL very soon.  

I hope to talk about supplies and such in my next post.  

For today though we will be concentrating on our WIPs.

Over the holiday break I finally got brave enough to tackle the Ring of Coffins block.  

It is the last block for the Hallowedding quilt.  

It involves EPP, which I have not really done much of.  

I understand the concept but have not jumped on the craze yet.  

It also involves some paper piecing which I really do enjoy.  

I got all my coffins paper pieced and here are a few of my favorites.

I used mostly fabric from the Ghastlies line for the residents of the coffins. 

 I love Sebastian, which you would probably already know since he is their cat.

I thought this cute little owl needed to be in the quilt.  I love that he looks like he is sitting in a tree.

This fabric was sent to my by my friend Jennifer and I was so pleased to be able to use it in the quilt.

I had some help while doing the paper piecing, LOL.

 I love that she wants to be near to me but this makes me so nervous.

I was taking a break and when I cam back this was waiting for me.  I, of course, had to relocate her.

I got my ring all sewn together and it was awesome! 

 I didn't use the whip stitch as I don't like that no matter how small my stitches are they show. 

 Instead I used the ladder stitch.  

MUCH happier with this one.  

Only one small (or maybe I should say BIG )problem with this now.  

The block was supposed to be 15" x 15".  Mine will be 21" x 21".  

WAHHHHH, how did this happen? 

 I followed the directions and decreased the size and still it was wrong.  

I even emailed the person that put the pattern out there and asked the info and it is still wrong!  

I wish when someone uses a pattern and they change the size from the original that they either publish the correct one or 

at least put a one inch line and tell the new length of that line so you can get it right!  

GAH!!!  (deep breath over here,)

 I WILL make this work!

So once I recovered from my mistake and realized what I had done, 

I had to choose a different background.  

The original was only half a yard and now would not be large enough.  

I had two contenders for the final ring.

This first one has my favorite CATS!

I really like the stripe too, it is such an unexpected choice.

In the end, I asked the person that the quilt is going to to choose, and she chose the cats.

Here it is all hand appliqued onto the background.  

I still need to trim it to the correct size.  

Overall I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  

The paper piecing took me over 10 hours!!!  Good thing I love her so much!!

This is not the best photo, but you can see all the blocks up on my design wall. 

 I have not put in the filler blocks yet.  

Good thing too since now I need to move some things around and will likely need to make a few more blocks to accommodate this new block!  

I have a few blocks that need to be put up too but they are all finished. 

(hmmm, I guess I need to find those!)

So that takes care of me.  What are you up to?

~XOP~

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes here. 

 Remember that if you do post in the link up here

 you should post a link back to this post on your own blog too.

So now it's your turn to share what you are working on.  

Please use the linky to link up and share that you linked up to WIPs With Friends on your blog too.  If using Instagram please use the hashtag

#wipswithfriends.  

We can't wait to see what you are working on!

Use the blue Inllinkz button to link up and spread the word by linking back to this post!

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WIPs With Friends

I did manage to force myself to sew over the holiday though.  

I am being very serious.  

Sewing seems like a chore at the moment. 

 I want this Hallowedding quilt finished, but have been DREADING the rest of the blocks. 

 Weird, huh?  

So I finally decided that I needed to see what the placement of the original blocks were

 and see how mine was really progressing. 

 That is the only way I could assess what I have left to make.

  Nothing like a little visualization to get me moving forward!

I wrote down the blocks I still needed to make and realized that some of the additional blocks that I had made fit in in place of some that the original quilt had!  

WOO HOO! 

 I still needed to make one more set of eyes.

And one bat

One set of 2 short potion bottles

One set of tall potion bottles

And holy cheese whiz Batman, this is what my background fabric for my first (of 2) spider webs looked like as I was cutting it out.

I laid it out to make sure everything went in the same direction.

Then I made my first spider web block!  

Sewing the curves was not difficult at all.

  Parts of the original pattern left a few things out that I had to figure out, 

but three hours later it was finished.

I have one more spider web left to make and then the Ring of Coffins.  

THAT'S IT FOR PIECED BLOCKS!!!!  

There are a few filler blocks that are just cuts of fabric. 

 I also need to measure everything and size up or down to make sure it will all fit together but otherwise I am good. 

 I have checked the size on about half of the blocks so far.  

Linking to Let's Bee Social

Now what are you working on??  Share with us!

~XOP~

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes here. 

 Remember that if you do post in the link up here

 you should post a link back to this post on your own blog too.

So now it's your turn to share what you are working on.  

Please use the linky to link up and share that you linked up to WIPs With Friends on your blog too.  If using Instagram please use the hashtag

#wipswithfriends.  

We can't wait to see what you are working on!

Use the blue Inllinkz button to link up and spread the word by linking back to this post!

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My Weekend

I had a fantastic weekend.  

I still don't have much desire to sew, which is unfortunate as I have a LOT to get done.  

I am hoping if I just choose a block and start on that maybe it will come back.

I did a lot of cleaning and errands on Saturday.  

Hubby printed out a pumpkin cake recipe that he wanted me to make so I decided that while I was watching me Spartans WIN for a change I would bake the cake.  

The recipe is from the Taste of Home website and you can find it here. 

 It was easy to do and the cake was fabulous.  

I substituted 1 cup of homemade applesauce for the 1 cup of oil. I think it was a great substitute.  

I did not miss the oil at all.  

Next time I would cut down on the amount of sugar.  It called for 2 1/2 cups of sugar!!!  

Trying to make it more WW friendly, if cake can be that! 

 I let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan then turned it out.

This is before I glazed it.  I used powdered sugar with some pumpkin pie spices in it for the glaze.

My best friend was never far away from me all weekend.  She has decided that she loves this quilt.  With the fuzzy back it is very soft.  

She laid near me while I did lessons 3 and 4 in my EQ7 class online 

(Craft University).

In addition, I made one more block for the Hallowedding quilt.

These eyes were from a Block Lotto post.

Aren't they so scary??

It was a little tricky to make and this pair took me about 2 hours!  

They do not give measurements but rather it is a tutorial on how to make them.  T

he thing that saved me was she had them laid out on the cutting mat 

so I could figure out the sizes she used to make this set. 

 I have another set of different eyes to make but I ran out of time.  

I hope everyone else had an enjoyable weekend too!

~XOP~

WIPs With Friends

I am back with my regularly scheduled posts now that the wedding is over. 

 I, in all honesty, have not really had a lot of time to do very much. 

Actually that's not accurate.

I have not felt like doing much since the wedding.

Post wedding let down, I think.

 I did put all the Hallowedding blocks up on my design wall but not in the order they will go in.  THAT is my big WIP for the moment. 

 I managed to purchase some freezer paper yesterday so I am hoping to be able to sew a few more of the Buggy Barn Basket blocks but that will be after today.  

This is what I have so far.

Sorry for the crappy photo but it was night and it is difficult to take a photo in my hallway!  

I can tell that I need more dark blocks .  

That was one good thing about putting all the blocks up on the wall.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

I did print out the next few blocks so that's also a start right?

~XOP~

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes here. 

 Remember that if you do post in the link up here

 you should post a link back to this post on your own blog too.

So now it's your turn to share what you are working on.  

Please use the linky to link up and share that you linked up to WIPs With Friends on your blog too.  If using Instagram please use the hashtag

#wipswithfriends.  

We can't wait to see what you are working on!

Use the blue Inllinkz button to link up and spread the word by linking back to this post!

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WIPs With Friends

I have a very brief minute to make this post.  

I will be out for the rest of the week and part of next week for my daughter's wedding.

I stopped out to her farm to visit her last weekend because her oldest peacock, Blu hurt his leg. 

 He had an ankle issue and had surgery when he was young.  

It never really healed well and he pretty much stands on one foot all the time.  

It was bound to happen that something would happen to his other foot/leg.  

She has to take him to the vet today and hopefully we will know more soon.  

He is the very first peacock that she hatched out from an egg.  I

t was while she was living in our home.  Both he and his sister and the turkey Jocelyn. 

 Osirius has passed away but Blu and Jo are still alive and kicking.  

Hopefully it is just a strain and not a slipped tendon, but we should know later today.  

He is such a pretty boy! 

 I am sure you have seen lots of photos of him thoughout the years, 

but just in case these are his last few days I wanted a few more.

Daughter was happy that he has fathered so many babies and that she still has some.  

She will keep one or two if something is seriously wrong with him. 

 She said one had Osirius's face and took me into the barn to see.  

This is what I saw. 

 It was quite dark and I thought it was three peafowl but no, it was a peafowl sandwich with a peafowl wanna be in the middle!  

As soon as I saw the three of them I knew immediately it was the bird on the far right.  

His face looks just like Osirius's did.

So now on to my WIP.  Still the Hallowedding quilt.  Now it will have a haunted house!

I am loving how this came out!

As I said, I will be on a short break until after the wedding, but please do link up.

Link up here and 

tell us all what YOU have been working on too!  

You should know the drill by now.  

Click on the blue "inlinkz" button to add your link.  

If you are only on Instagram use the #wipswithfriends.

~XOP~

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes here. 

 Remember that if you do post in the link up here

 you should post a link back to this post on your own blog too.

So now it's your turn to share what you are working on.  

Please use the linky to link up and share that you linked up to WIPs With Friends on your blog too.  If using Instagram please use the hashtag

#wipswithfriends.  

We can't wait to see what you are working on!

Use the blue Inllinkz button to link up and spread the word by linking back to this post!

An InLinkz Link-up