Quick Update

Hi all!  

I have been sewing but not ready to share just yet.  

I did manage to finish the label on this baby quilt.

I got all the hand work done on the binding this past weekend too.

I will be able to share the whole quit very soon.

Another thing I worked on was one of the March (yes I am a little bit behind) blocks from the CDTC.

I LOVE how this block came out!

I am furiously working to get my portion of the traveling quilt done so I can send that along.  

I have the entire top portion pieced and attached to the quilt. 

 YAY!  

Yesterday hubby had a medical procedure done so after I was done with that I had time to sew.

 I went to my sewing room around 2pm and after awhile, 

my hubby came upstairs to tell me it was 7pm! 

 WHATTTTTT?  

I completely lost 5 whole hours! 

 It was great. 

 I managed to get 2 of the 5 paper pieced blocks sewn.  

I need to add more background to one as I want to change the orientation of the critter.  

I'll show you when I get it all done.

I am hoping to have some time to sew tonight. 

 Tomorrow night and Saturday will be busy with non sewing related life.  

Have you had time to sew lately?  

I seem to be struggling to find time.

~XOP~

Traveling Quilt Update

I have been hard at work on the pieced parts of the current traveling quilt that I have.  

I have the Sea themed one.  

I thought I would show you the pieces I have done so far.  

The pieces for the top part are almost complete.  

I have to take a break to sew a binding on a baby quilt then I will resume.  

First up is Nessie.  It is an Elizabeth Hartman pattern.  I may have shown this previously.

Then I finished a mermaid.  She is a pattern by Quiet Play.

I made some low volume Friendship Stars and realized I needed a few more of these.

I have the additional stars sewn into their rows, just need to put the rows together to form the stars.

I paper pieced a gigantic word too.

THALASSOPHILE

It means lover of the sea.

It was too large to get a good pic of so I took a video!

Once I finish the binding of the baby quilt I will be back at this again.

I hope to have time this weekend to do the math to put all these pieces together for the top.

Then on to making something for the bottom of the quilt!

What are your goals for the weekend?

~XOP~

SCRAPS!

Not sure how you deal with scraps but I have been struggling to deal with mine lately.

One night it hit me.

Hubby likes us to "spend time together" at night.

This usually consists of him on the computer, the TV on and me bored.

So, I brought my scrap bin, mat, cutter and ruler downstairs a few nights ago.

I decided that I needed to cut my scraps into usable size squares or pieces.

I cut 2.5" and 3" squares, 1.5" wide strips and 5" charms.

If the pieces were larger I kept them.

If there were precious fabrics I just kept the small bits.

If I thought a small bit would work for paper piecing I kept it and put those in a bag.

Of course someone decided he needed to help me.

One of the other things I do with my scraps that are too small to use for anything 

is to make a pillow like this one.  

I buy half a yard (or so) of fleece and cut it in half. 

Sometimes it is just what I can find in the remnant section.

 Sew it like a pillow case and throw all the too small to use bits of fabric in there.  I

 also add scraps of batting that are too small to be useful. 

 Once the pillow is about 3/4 full I fold the edges under and stitch the opening closed.  

Voila! 

A floor pillow or pet bed or whatever you want!

 So far I have made three of these!

What do you do with your scraps?  

~XOP~

Vacation Purchases

I know this is what you all are really waiting for right?  

You want to see what I bought so I will share now.

I totally fell for this lined fabric (at the Cotton Patch) and bought a FQB of all the colors.  

GREAT blenders.  

 I have been anxiously awaiting Cheeky so picked up what they had in the store. 

 That blue print goes perfectly with the Neverland fabric I have left over and need to use.  

The fish?  

With a Fisheries biologist in the family and two avid fishermen fish fabric is always a score!

Then I saw the mice from Trixie and the Cotton and Steel mice so picked up a little bit of those.

I have a project that will use these as soon as I get the current "have to" quilts done.  

These are just small bits as they will be sweaters for some cute dogs. 

 These were on sale flannels.

Not normally a panel person but I loved this geometric animal alphabet.  

Scored the Hello Darling on sale. 

 The aqua sparkly linen was...well...sparkly!  

Good for a background and the waves may be used in the current traveling quilt.

 I could NOT resist this dragon line. 

 After making 2 dragon baby quilts I thought this would make a cute couple more. 

If I use the same pattern they go quickly and turn out adorable!

So there you have it.  Most of what I bought while on our trip.  

Hope you have enjoyed our travels.  I know I have!

~XOP~

Finishing Up Vacation

One more fabric shop I visited (twice) was the Cotton Patch in University Park, Florida. 

 It is the closest to my in-laws and a really nice shop. 

I bought a few things from them too.

Best part of the visits here are the Bassett Hounds.  

This is Stanley.  

So adorable!

After we left Florida we drove the long drive back to Michigan.  

We stopped at a quilt shop called the Birdhouse Quilt shop, in Byron Georgia.  

It was a HUGE warehouse type shop and had some good things too.

The next stop was in Ohio at Jungle Jims International Market.  

I can not even begin to describe this place.

Check out their website here.

Then to the Fabric Shack, in Waynesville Ohio.

I LOVE this place!

I forgot to take a picture of the shop but have done so previously.

I bought some really nice things here.

So next up will be photos of my purchases.

Does anyone want to see what I bought?

Stop back tomorrow for that update!

~XOP~

Vacation Continues

We decided one day to go and check out the new modern quilt shop in Sarasota. 

 It is called the Modern Sewist.  

As you can see this is a beautiful shop!  They has so many of the beautiful fabrics I only see online.

Before the Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary we stopped for lunch at Stottlemeyers.

OMGosh, the BEST BBQ nacho plate EVER!

We went to the Big Cat Rescue in Sarasota this trip.  We have not gone there before. 

 It was pretty interesting.  All the cats are rescue animals and so are all the other animals there.  

These cats eat between 20-50 pounds of meat per day!!!  

They sure are beautiful animals though. 

 Sad to see them in cages, but they make great ambassador animals.

They would otherwise have had to be euthanized, which is even sadder.

The white tiger is called Barry White!  LOL

This Liger (Lion Tiger cross) was called Mia.

She was gorgeous!

They has some Serval cats too.  They are a smaller cat (think Labrador size)

They were so cute!

The last day we were there we went for a ride on my BIL's boat.

Here you see my BIL, hubby and his father.

My BIL and SIL live on Bird Key so we left from their place.

 Out in Sarasota bay just a short way from the bridge we saw a Manatee and her baby.  

There was a single Manatee too but I didn't get a photo of that one.  

It's difficult to get good photos with a cell phone too.

Leonardo DeCaprio is building a home here too and we went past it.

It reminded me of an office building.

We went down the canal to the left of the house and some dolphins followed us.

View from my BIL/SIL house.

Don't you just love the pool??

We had a beautiful sunset and thank them for hosting us!

It is always fun to get together.

 I leave you with a video of the dolphins in the bay.

 A few more quilt shops to share and also the spoils.

I think that needs to hold off for another post though.

~XOP~

I Think I Left Off With Vacation

When you stop blogging regularly it seems like it takes time to get back in the swing. 

I was out on vacation then got a nasty cold so that's why I have been MIA. 

 I have been posting in Instagram though as it is much faster and I don't need my computer to do it.

We stopped at 2 quilt shops on the way to NC.  The first one was in Nelsonville, OH.  

The Nelsonville Quilt Company

What a cool little town!  Very nice quilt shop too.

I thought this train was so colorful!

The second shop, The Fabric Shop, was in Pomeroy, OH.  

This shop used to be a general store and had crazy ladders they used to access the high shelves. 

 I made my husband model one of them, LOL.

We went to NC to visit our daughter and to be part of the celebration of my daughter's soon to be nana-in-law's 80 birthday. 

 It was nice to get to spend some time with her and with her future in-laws.

Me and my daughter.

Me with her future MIL.

On our way to Florida we had an unexpected stop to meet a long time Instagram friend of mine. 

 We met up for lunch and it was so nice to *finally* be able to meet her in person! 

 Please excuse my appearance.  I throw my hair into a ponytail when we travel.

  Makes me look bald, HAHA. Jenny sure looks cute though!

Then it was on to Florida!  We stay with my in-laws in Sarasota.  

They have a pool right across from their house too.

One of the days we went to Mote Marine Aquarium.  

It is not only an aquarium, but a research facility and rescue center.  

I think one of my favorite parts is petting the ray tank.

I was impressed by the Megaladon too.  Made hubby stand by it for size.

Then we stood by just it's teeth!  

YIKES!!!

I'm going to leave this here as this post is pretty photo heavy already.

I will post more tomorrow.

Including some more quilt shops!

~XOP~