WIPs With Friends

Ever have weak moment when you agree to do something and then regret it?  

Well that was me recently.  

A woman at my church asked me if I would put a quilt kit top together for her.  

You see she is soooooo busy and just doesn't have the time.  

She wanted to donate it to the church to raffle to raise money to 

support the young man from our parish in the seminary.  

Apparently they have no income other than what gets donated to the fund to provide for them. 

 So, dang it, that is a good cause.  

Give it to me and I will try my best to get to it.  

This past Sunday she remembered the kit and now I have it.  T

hankfully it is not too big and I am really hoping that I can get it put together by Saturday night 

so I can give it back to her on Sunday.  

My fear is that if I manage to do that it may encourage her to give me more.  

Honestly, it has not been difficult and is small.  

The cutting was tedious but it is going together quickly.  

I just don't need more of someone else's work to do.  Not sure how I am going to say that nicely.  

She did say to me that since I didn't work it would be easier for me to do it.  

Say what???  

I told her I work...full time.  So maybe that will help.

The pattern calls for many pieces and they are all labeled, 

hence the little blue tags you can see on my pile.  

Got these sewn together on Monday night.  

Last night I sewed the upper and lower border blocks and laid it out on my design wall,

aka the hallway!

There is a border that goes between the center and the top and bottom pieced borders too.

This is the pattern so you can see what it is going to look like when it's finished.

I have sewing the binding on my mermaid quilt as a February goal.  

I did get it all sewn on to the quilt and now am working on the hand sewing part. 

 That is my least favorite part.  

It hurts my left hand and shoulder to do it.  

It is easier when I glue the binding down and then I don't have to hold it as I do the hand stitching.  That seems to help. 

 I LOVE that the binding is metallic!  

The sister mermaids are gold and silver.  I had to add faces too.  I just drew them on.

I have the binding about 3/4 hand stitched down. 

 I am pretty excited to gift this one. 

 I have the exact same fabric on the back only it is minky. 

 It is so soft.  

These are the things I have been working on.  I will link up with Sew Fresh Quilts.

What are you working on?  

Please use the blue linky button to share your projects!

~XOP~

An InLinkz Link-up

Chubby Chicks Pillow Cover

I mentioned previously that I wanted to use the 2 chubby chicks to make a pillow cover. 

 I got the top of the pillow cover quilted and trimmed up this past weekend.

My helper made it so much more difficult to do the quilting part!

I trimmed off the vintage sheet from the quilt back and was able to have enough of it 

to use for the back of the pillow cover.  

It will match the backing for the Chubby Chicks quilt which makes me happy!

I have more to share of what I worked on this weekend but am saving it for the 

WIPs With Friends post tomorrow.  

~XOP~

WIPs With Friends

I did an amazing amount of sewing this past weekend!

 YAY for lazy weekends.  

Am I right?

As I may have stated previously, I set up a spread sheet with

 monthly goals between myself and some of my friends.  

I have finished most of my February goals!  

Woo Hoo!  

Here we go.

One of the goals was to make 2 of the blocks from the Year of Scrappy Triangles. 

 I decided to make them starting with the first pattern.  

I have an old WIP that needs borders so these will turn into the borders for that quilt.

I managed to finish the Chubby Chicks quilt top!!!  

That has been in a box for a very long time!

When I opened the box and started on it again, 

everything was cut out and only the chicks were fused.

This is such a darling quilt.  

Couldn't you see this using Bonnie and Camille fabrics??

Since I am *trying* to sew from my stash I found this beautiful vintage sheet to use for the back.

I had one chick and one pinwheel left over, so I made another of each.  

I decided to make a pillow out of these left overs. 

 I wanted to add rick rack.  

I tired yellow, green and orange (it's the colors I had) and I was so not sure. 

 I ended up taking a picture of each and ended up liking the orange so much better!  

This is the project I was trying to quilt that Cole was "helping" me with.  

In case you are wondering, I used some Grabaroos gloves to do both the outlining and the quilting.  They make BOTH of these things so much easier! 

 You can find them here.  

They are amazing!

I need to trim it and make the envelope back next. 

 I will measure the quilt backing and hope to be able to use the same fabric for the back of the pillow.  I will follow Amanda Jean's directions for making the envelope back.

I will be linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts.

Now it is your turn. 

 PLEASE link up what you are working on, or something you have finished.  

It may be any project not just restricted to quilts.

~XOP~

An InLinkz Link-up

Winter At the Farm

As most of you already know, my oldest daughter owns a farm. 

She has chickens and pea fowl.  

During this past week when we got crushed with snow it was quite the adventure for the birds too.

I thought I would share some photos from the farm.

Apparently Eclipse decided that she needed to go out in the pen. 

 Instead of following the already made path she thought she would venture out on her own.  

She got stuck and started screaming until my daughter went out, 

picked her up and carried her back to the coop.  

Orion flew out to his "screaming stump" and the was really upset that it was covered in snow.  

He was giving my daughter the "I'm seriously offended by this" face until she went over and made him go back into the coop as well.  

My daughter said, "see those other walking paths?  

That is where the other girls walked out and went wading through the snow.  

I had to step over Orion's train to hear them back into the coop as he refused to move!"

What sent all the birds out of their coop you ask?  

She was trying to fix the rope lights that they had pulled down from the pegs in the coop. 

That meant she had to walk on "their" side of the coop and they did not like that, not one little bit!  LOL  Silly birds!

This shows the depth of the snow on the path her hubby cleared out inside the pen so she could get to the coop to feed and check on the birds.

This was the woodpile covered in snow too.  To say we have had a snowy week is in understatement!

She took some snow into the barn birds and they thought that was just GRAND!

I just thought I would share with you all the latest with the birds.

All of the photos are my daughter's, 

(thank you for sharing!)

~XOP~

Crazy Weekend!

This was the first weekend in a LONG time that we didn't have some commitment. 

 It was HEAVEN!

Unfortunately, we got totally DUMPED on with snow!  

This is my deck. 

My hubby had some bins out on the deck and you can see how much snow we actually got. 

 It was over 12"!

The pile after blowing the driveway!

Our front yard.

Hubby was continually shoveling or snow blowing all weekend. 

 He did the neighbors houses that don't have a snowblower as there was such a large snow fall.  

At one point he called me out to see this gorgeous hawk in the trees behind our house.  

We back up to a woods and this one and her mate have been visiting a lot lately.  

I LOVE hawks. 

 They are my good luck animal, so I was happy to see her.  

He said the other bird was smaller which means this one was the female.

I woke up on Saturday with really bad vertigo.  

I stood up, took a step and literally crashed into the wall. 

 Everything was leaning left!  

Back to bed I went and laid on my other side to see if I could equalize out the fluid that must have been out of balance in my head.  

Eventually it got good enough I could be up and about.  

We were feeling so cooped up that we ended up going out to the store and to the thrift shop 

(my idea). 

 I LOVE thrift shopping.  

Always something I *need* to buy. 

 Like this Dragonware.  Isn't it beautiful?  

It is very delicate and the dragons are dimensional, not just flat painted on the cups and saucers. 

 I bought this for my dragon loving daughter.  

I also found this GREAT pair of leather, BOC boots.  

Now they were WAY more than I usually pay but I had a 35% off card so I got them pretty cheap.  Especially when you consider how much they would have been brand new.  

I love them.  

They are the softest leather.  I am totally smitten with these.  

There was a pair of BOC shoes too but I left them there since I have 2 very similar pair.  

I really wanted them though.  

On Sunday, Finn decided he needed a nap on my bed.  

He just passed right out, LOL.  

I covered him up with a quilt.  

My husband has to lay on his left side so Finn can lay in the crook of that arm and

 he must be covered up or he bites my husband until he complies!  

As I type this I realize that his left arm is the same one he insists on sleeping on 

when my hubby is sitting in his chair too.  

Funny Finny!

I spent a lot of time in my sewing room this weekend too.  

Cole was there helping.  

Because trying to quilt a white background quilt is so much easier with a black cat laying on it, right? 

 I moved him several times so I could work. 

 It is nice to have a cat back in my room though. 

 Hal comes in sometimes but I don't think she is feeling very well right now. 

 I am considering taking her to the vet soon if she doesn't turn things around. 

 She is just not acting herself.

I am giving her one more day and will re-evaluate.

How was your weekend?

Did you get snow too?

~XOP~

Chubby Chick Quilt Progress

I have been working very hard to get all the blocks made for this quilt.  

I had everything all cut out from MANY years ago 

when I made one with the church group I was a part of.  

Theirs got finished, D'oh!

I had this entire quilt all cut out and the chicks were fused.  

I just realized last night that everything had to be cut down though.  

So after I sewed my HST it was time to trim them up.  The size they needed to be was 3.5".

I got out my trusty Bloc-Loc 3.5" ruler and had a trimming fest!  

That set of rulers was the BEST thing I ever invested in!  

Also, the turning mat.  

Such a help when trimming HST.

Of course the other indispensable helper thing is Hallie!  

She doesn't come in the sewing room as much now that the boys are around.  

Cole, especially, likes to tease her and she does NOT appreciate his efforts!  

Just like a boy, right? (or just like MY son, I guess). 

 So I carried her upstairs, put her on my table and closed the door.  

She settled in quite nicely!

After trimming all my HST units I decided that my chicks needed to have eyes.  

I Googled how to make a Colonial knot and decided to give it a try.  

I loved the eye placement on this chick.

I couldn't resist laying out a few with some of the pinwheels I finished.  This is going to be so darned cute!  The chicks can be made using charm squares.  Wouldn't this be darling made with a Bonnie and Camille charm pack and either aqua or red pinwheels?  I think little cat faces would be cute too.  Might need to design that!

So my WIPs are continuing to progress.  

I think having the goal chart with my friends is definitely helping motivate me.

Have a great weekend.

We are getting dumped on by a HUGE winter storm, so maybe I can stay in and sew?

That's my plan anyway, LOL.

~XOP~

WIPs With Friends

As I look back over the past month, not one person has linked up with what they are working on.  

Is anyone even interested in doing this or should I just forget posting this each week?  

I decided to start working on one of my February goals. 

 I pulled out the Chubby Chicks stuff I had started. 

 It seems I was not as far along as I had hoped. 

 I had all the chicks fused and everything cut out, but nothing sewn.

  So last night I outlined over half of the chick blocks.  

As I was working on them I remembered how much I like them.  

Currently, they are blind.

I need to decide how I want to make eyes.

I could satin stitch the eyes, but that's not very likely.

I could use buttons, but also unlikely since this quilt would be for a child.

So that leaves making French knots.

Which I might do using some Perle cotton.

Someone else suggested a Colonial knot which I had no idea the difference.  

So I looked it up on You Tube.

  THIS is a great tutorial on how to make a Colonial knot. 

 Which, if I use Perle cotton, will probably be a good choice. 

 I just need to get some black Perle cotton.

I will link this up with Sew Fresh Quilts.

Please link up what you are working on here using the linky button.

Also, let me know if any of you want me to continue to do this as a link up.

Happy Stitching

~XOP~

An InLinkz Link-up

Quilty Goals For The Year and Month

I work with some wonderful women that I also sew with. 

 There are 3 of them.  

Usually, once a year we actually gather at one of the houses and sew together.  

Mostly we just talk about sewing and fabric throughout each day. 

 It's a nice perk of my work.  

We seem to often be talking about how we have so much we *want* to do and never seem to *actually* get all of those things done. 

 So THIS year I decided to make a google doc and have each of us put our yearly goals in it.  

Then I got to thinking that it would be even better to break it down by month.  

Plus the added bonus of getting to achieve smaller, more attainable things.  

So I put in February.  

We all had to list the things we want to try to do this month.  

We change the color on the font when we finish something on the list. 

 I will be linking this post up with the One Monthly Goal post over at Elm Street Quilts too.

Here is my list:

Put top together for one of these

JR QAL, strip quilt or Chubby Chicks

Bind and label Mermaid, Unicorn and T baby quilts

Sew 2 scrappy Triangle blocks

Bee Blocks for February

Sew 1 OW block

As you can see, I was able to finish my bee blocks for February and 

sew one more Ocean Waves block.  

We had to make flowers for our bee blocks.

This is block 19/36 of my Ocean Waves blocks.

So as you can also see I have put these in blue to denote that they are finished.

For my One Monthly Goal I am going to use the put the 

Jelly Roll/Strip/Chubby Chick quilt top together.  

Not all three, just one of the three.  

It kind of depends on which one I can put my hands on first, LOL. 

I am thinking that Chubby Chicks would be fun, since 

there seem to be so many babies around as of late.

I think the chicks are all finished.  I need to find the box and check.

So on to getting stuff done!

I am pretty competitive so this should be fun.

I did tell them there would be prizes, so one of them needs to win this month!

How do you handle being productive?

~XOP~