A Little Birdie Told Me

I realize, looking back at some photos that I have not posted some of the 

things I have finished working on! 

 Remember when I was going over to work on the Improv quilt top with my two friends?

 I made a little pin cushion for my friend that hosted the get together.

Her name is Robin, so when I saw this sweet pattern I could not resist making it for her.

  It was called something else but all I could think of when I saw the pattern was a robin.

See that fat little Robin fabric?  

That's what I put on the back of the pin cushion. 

 I want to make some coasters for her in the near future using this pattern also.

  Isn't it so adorable? 

 It came as part of the Block of the Day program. 

 If you subscribe to the Quilt Pro Block of the Day program (free)

 they send you a different block every day.  

I think you have 3 days to save it and then it is gone. 

 If you are interested, you can check it out here.  

I have received several really great block patterns!

Have a wonderful day!

~XOP~

Productive Weekend

I had quite the weekend. 

 I was craving pizza so on Friday, instead of ordering out, we made pizza and it was glorious!  

I am doing Weight Watchers and I wanted to keep it low in points. 

 Not sure how successful (6 points/slice)but good enough and I was so happy!  

BBQ chicken pizza.  

YUM!

Then I cut out some more quilt kits for the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild charity quilts. 

 I will bring these to the meeting on Wednesday and share with the group.  

I think this brings me up to 6 or 7 now.

Then Hallie and I were Pooped so we decided to hit the hay.  

Or perhaps she thought my embroidery supplies needed to be secured, whatever.

I got up on Saturday and ran a ton of errands. 

 UGH, but that was good. 

 Got home just in time for lunch.  

Hubby told me to go upstairs and sew so I took him up on his offer.  

I had a pincushion to make for the A2MQG swap on Wednesday. 

 I tried making EPP hexies for the first time! 

 These are 5/8" hexies! 

 Pretty teeny tiny, but oh so adorable!  

I hand appliqued them then used this vintage planter to make the most adorable pin cushion.  

This little chubster kitty is so cute!

You can see the hexies better here.

I decided that I needed to get cracking on the quilt label for the BIG purple and gray wedding quilt.  

I like to design the quilt label on the computer and then trace the words onto my fabric.  

The font is called Chalkboard.  

You could print on to the fabric and then do the embroidery but it's just as easy to copy it by hand. 

 I began the stitching too but not picture yet.  

I probably won't show it until it is finished or maybe after the quilt is gifted.

Then I made the binding for the wedding quilt using the purple Pearl Bracelets fabric (love this line)

At this point Autumn and I were exhausted!  

Well, no rest for the wicked!

Only she got to "cat nap", I still had stuff to do!!

I am in a Polaroid Swap so needed to get my swap "photos" ready.  

They still need to be trimmed but S-Z are finished and ready to trim!

Sunday came and I determined that I needed to get the back made for my Pie Making Day quilt top.  This took longer than expected as I had to lay it all out on the top and 

make sure each strip was long enough to cover the front.  

I did manage to get it sewn together and now will be able to baste and quilt it.  

I even decided how to do the binding so have that ready to make too.

Sunday afternoon found me making soup and banana bread after which time I fell into an exhausted pile and just did some pressing while waiting for Game of Thrones to come on. 

 I did some hand stitching while watching GOT and am making progress on the label!

WHEW, thank goodness it is time to go back to work!!!
Linking up with WIP Wednesday too.

How was your weekend??

~XOP~

PS My yard is still a mess!  UGH

AAMQG Meeting And Pin Cushion Swap

We had our monthly meeting last night and our pin cushion swap. 

 If you remember I made a circle of geese as my swap pin cushion.

I loved this so much that I am making another one to keep for myself!

Then you all saw the bra block that I made for my friend at the DAMQG in my last post. 

 I decided to see if I could make a teeny, tiny one into a pin cushion for her.  

I think it came out pretty cute too. 

 It took me about 2 hours from start to finish.  

Not too bad!

We did our pin cushion Yankee swap style so there was stealing! 

There were so many beautiful ones it was difficult not to want them all!!

Of course the "Marie" cat one was my absolute favorite.  

You all know how nuts I am about my cats!

We have five of our own!!  

That mouse was pretty darned cute as well!

My friend Vicky made this amazing doggie one. 

 If you remember, she made me a similar one but with a little cat figurine on top of it.

Apparently I was not the only one that thought "Marie" was stunning.

  She was stolen 2 times before it was my turn.  

If I stole her she would stay with me as 3 steals are all that were allowed. 

 She was with another avid cat lover but I just could not resist her!!  

(Sorry Emily) 

 So now Marie (made by Marie) is now living with me!!!

Seriously could she be any cuter???

This is one super talented group of women. 

 I am so happy to be a part of all this positive, creative energy!!!

When I got home I was babbling on and on to hubby about her.  

He has been gone most of the week and he was like "whatever" but I felt like I won gold!!

Of course you know it was not long before the "inspector" was over to check her out.

 "It's ok, mom.  She can stay."  

Thanks for the approval Aiden!

I so look forward to these monthly meetings!  

I also got to talk with my friend Kathy that is long arming my next Color Inspirations Quilt.  

Can't wait to see it! 

 I actually gave some suggestions for the quilting on this and she totally expanded on them.  

It should be incredible!!

How was your night?

~XOP~

Teeny Tiny Paper Piecing

***UNFORTUNATELY, THIS PATTERN IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE***

Jeli Quilts is no longer selling her patterns and since they are not my patterns, I can't share with anyone.

***********************************************************************

Have you ever seen something online and thought, oh my.  I need to try to make that. 

 Well, that was me with this pattern I saw on Instagram.  

The pattern was by Jeli Quilts. 

 I bought it on Craftsy. 

 I saw that Jeli had shrunk her pattern to 33% and made the cutest pin cushion I had ever seen. 

 I love the ring of geese anyway. 

 So with her permission, I too shrunk her pattern and started paper piecing.  

Here is one of my quarters.  See those blue seeds in there??

Pretty small huh?

This shows all 4 quarters finished.

All sewn together.

Choosing the back of the pin cushion.

I sewed an inch of white all the way around this.

Next step was to spray baste the "top" to the batting and quilt it.  I went with straight line quilting

Now for the quilting.

You can see I have not trimmed it yet. 

 I have since trimmed it to just over 4.5" square and have sewn the back to this. 

 Now to stuff it, using crushed walnut shells and sew the opening closed. 

 Then it will be ready for our guild exchange!

Here we go.

It's all stuffed and the opening sewn shut!

I hope it's new owner will love it as much as I do!!

I learned that I loved to do teeny, tiny paper piecing. 

 I really enjoyed making this and will make more in the future. 

 I was a little imtimidated but it really was easy and I really did enjoy the process! 

 If you purchase the pattern, tell Jeli I sent you!!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday too.  

~XOP~

A New Friend

And a wonderful day!  I had another opportunity to meet a new friend Pat from Bell Creek Quilts.  She lives in Wisconsin and was in Michigan visiting her and her husband's families.  Her mother lives in South Lyon and since that is not very far from me we met up at the Lake Street Mercantile there.  It is a lovely shop and we had a great time shopping there.  Laurie Simpson from Minick and Simpson stops in there quite often but we didn't get to meet her.  I did however, buy a kit with her Winter fabrics.  Here you see me and Pat with our bags!

This is the kit of the Winter fabrics.  I also bought these 2 patterns.  Isn't that owl one adorable??
This is what the Winter quilt will look like when finished.  It is really much prettier in person.
Pat, that wiley girl, brought me a wonderful birthday present (or maybe I should say presents!)  She made that cute little Spartan bag and it is insulated!  In addition (I think she felt sorry for me) she made me two pin cushions.  They were made out of Michigan fabric, but she had put green and white pins in them so I can "Stick it to Michigan"!!  ROFLOL!!!  Thanks, Pat!!
She also included 6 fat quarters, 3 blue and 3 yellow to  replace the ones I used in the M string quilt.  Great, now I have to make another blue and yellow quilt, lol!  Aren't these pin cushions great??
We had a wonderful time together.  I felt like I had known her for years and we were re-connecting rather than meeting for the first time.  I hope we will be able to continue to meet up from time to time (or that when she begins her LAQ business she will remember to take me to quilt market with her!!, LOL)

The other great thing that happened to me today is that Liz quilted this very vintage wall hanging for me.  I say very vintage as it was hanging out in the basement waiting for me to quilt it from almost since I began quilting!!  Many, many moons ago.  I actually put on all the binding last night and it is now hanging on the wall in my bathroom (where I change the wall hangings by month, or want to once I get enough to do this!) 
Liz put flowers in the basket.  I think they are so beautiful!
This is a close up of the detail of the quilting in the borders.  She was trying out a new ruler in the red part.  I really like it. 
For some reason, one of my favorite elements of the quilting is the little half circles in these triangles.  I just love them!  This is the first time she has done these on a quilt for me.

I had better go and get some work done at my actual job.  You know you are spending a lot of time on blogging at work when you talk about a new computer and someone says, "Why, will the blogs show up better on a new computer?, ROFLOL!!  There's  a smart alec in every group, right?

I am going out to lunch with my friend Yuki and our friends Karen and Fabiani (from Brazil) today to celebrate my birthday.  What a great birthday week I am having.  Oh, I almost forgot, my friend Charlotte, a CL, made a wonderful chocolate bundt cake for my birthday and brought it to quilting last night too.  Birthday weeks rule!!!

Pin Cushion Swap

I didn't have a very exciting evening, lots of running around though. I found a pin cushion swap over at All Stitched Up and thought you might like to go and sign up too! I am trying to decide if I am up to it but I thought some of you might at least like to know about it. Let me know if you decide to join in. I don't even own a single pincushion! How sad is that? So maybe I should join in just so I can own one, what do you think? Anyone got any great patterns for a pincushion?

Apparently you are all very interested in what exactly I do keep my pins in. I will post the picture of them tomorrow. I keep them in the little plastic box they came in. Although I have to admit a pin cushion would probably be more handy! Inquiring minds wanted to know so now you know...the rest of the story!