Show and Tell

I can't believe it has been over a week since the gathering of Breakfast Club in March. 

We had a full classroom so lots of great show and tell!

In December and January we did a mystery quilt from Debbie Caffrey. Tops were completed by three more ladies and one brought in her quilt completely finished!  

I think this was a pattern from October's Breakfast Club, "Strip Lash." Two of the ladies brought in their completed quilts.

And February's project was the apron!!!

 One of my favorite projects. Two more ladies finished theirs.

The pattern for March...Hunter's Star. Here's the class sample.

Fun unrelated quilt projects! A baby quilt with 3D ears on the elephants.

The backside of the elephant quilt.

A stunning quilt...the maker didn't know the pattern source right off hand so we are hoping to get that info at April's Breakfast Club.

A fun mini quilt.

A work in progess. The maker was tossing around border ideas.

Too many projects to work on...no more chatting!

Just Off the Quilting Frame

I've been busy on my quilting machine. My goal is to get one top quilted every month. This looks a lot like what I did last month. I had a layer cake of Tidepool from Hoffman and made it into this pattern called Paris Cafe.

I am always working on a Christmas felt kit. Finally finished this stocking that I started in Paris right before I left last April. Christmas Puppet Show.

And a stocking that needed repair, Holiday Hill. I used to line these stocking fronts with an adhesive backed felt. Very bad idea! I have 13 stockings that were affected by that bad idea and I have been working to get that bad felt removed and replaced.

And of course, I must always be starting a new kit. This is a kit that I get lots of questions about so I decided it was a good one to make. I have so many adorable kits that it is hard for me to pick one.

Not much time for computer activities. Spring cleaning has commenced along with all my quilting and embroidery projects.

An update on my quilt show entry to Paducah...didn't make it this year but I am going to keep trying. 

Organizing....

After I finished that adorable apron last week...I was able to take the scraps and make this sewing station caddy. The Breakfast Club crowd made these in a class not so long ago...but I wasn't ready to commit. Now I know I was just waiting for the right fabric to inspire me.

 

The pattern is from a 2015 Better Homes and Garden special issue, "Christmas Gifts and More." The pattern calls for pockets on both sides...I didn't have enough scraps of the fabrics to make that happen. No worries...it is the side my sewing machine can sit on anyway when I take it to class.

Perfect little pockets and a bigger pouch for my 6 1/2 x 12 1/2" long ruler that is one of my favorites for taking to classes.

Yes...now it all makes sense. The lime green coordinates with my sewing machine tote and my matching class supply bag.

I'm marking another quilt top...simple but tedious. If my hopping foot was centered accurately I wouldn't have to do so much marking. I have spent hours trying to fix that problem but never get anywhere...so marking straight lines when I need them reasonably even will be a necessary evil with these kinds of designs. I must go with some free-form designs on the next project. Feathers are so much easier...probably part of the reason we quilters love to quilt them so often!

I really need to get back to this project. Two hours of cutting...eight blocks.

I have lots of fun activities to attend starting this weekend...Alaskan unique!

Show and Tell

Lots of fun quilty pictures ahead.

Here are several versions of the mystery quilt tackled

 in our December and January Breakfast Club meetings.

 

Two, smaller quilts were made in this instance...both with a Dr. Seuss theme.

And my version. My border triangles face differently. I accidentally did the first border wrong and decided I liked it better this way...sometimes those mistakes work out.

The mystery was by Debbie Caffrey, "Quilting Season." It took 18 fat quarters and yardage of a single background fabric.  I used Moda's fat quarter set, "Los Cabos Batiks." This is going to be a fun one to quilt.

This next photo does not do this quilt justice...all these blocks are beautiful embroidered Hummel images

Here's a close up of one of the blocks...so much detail! Impressive even if the embroidery is done my machine!!!

Our class project yesterday was this adorable apron...here is mine. I finished it in class...under four hours. That includes the time I spent shopping for the fabric because I didn't bring any to class.

It is called Criss Cross Pocket Apron by Vanilla House. You can add pocket sections to make the apron larger. It is really a fun and easy design....pretty unique construction techniques. It will be my new longarm apron. It's the only time I wear an apron. I made the medium sized, four pocket apron.

And here is my big project to show off...

This pattern is Beachside Bungalow from Kim Brackett's book, "Scrap-Basket Beauties." I used the bali pop, "Tidepool."

I adore this pattern...it has that double wedding ring feel in a much easier construction format.

The backside....I think I finally found my quilting mojo.

It took 20 hours to quilt this...with a few hours going to a ripping out session. It was worth it to get it right. I wanted a masculine feel to the quilting. I have a very girlie version of this pattern to quilt. I'll probably do a lot of feathers on that version and it will take half the time to quilt!

Happenings

Someone is ready for playtime. As soon as I post this we are heading out for a walk...an icy one.

We just got back from a long weekend in...Las Vegas!

 Here we are at Guy Fieri's restaurant, Vegas Kitchen and Bar with their signature Bloody Marys. A nice little salad in each one! My husband and I are on the right. Our friends are from Houston and we decided we might have to make this an annual event. A pretty easy place for us to meet up for a weekend.

We saw two shows, Penn and Teller's magic show and the stand up routines of Ray Romano and David Spade. Both shows were excellent...highly recommend. I finished my gambling $20 ahead.

My son, Zack, watched the puppy. When we got home last night he had this little machine waiting for me. The machine belonged to an airplane mechanic my son worked with who recently died. I'm so glad he checked with me before he took it to the dump. Needs a bit of TLC. No sign of the metal case. Since my friend. Christelle, has two of these "grasshoppers," I knew just what it was!

A lot going on this week. My car is finally fixed. I'm picking it up this afternoon and driving straight to the tire shop to purchase studded tires. We got even more ice while we were away in Vegas. 

I am so close to finishing this quilt. I had to rip out a little bit...which of course took several hours. I need a camera on the underside of my quilt so I can simultaneously look at my tension...I just get going and don't notice the little signs from the front side that mean bad stuff is happening underneath. I'm thrilled with the design I came up with and want it to be right!!!

And I really want to finish the mystery top from last month's Breakfast Club because this Thursday is the February meeting. I like having a deadline.

Warming Up

I've got my Fun Quilter, "Marta" warming up for about 20 minutes...enough time to write a post.

Wish me luck on my quilting...may the tension Goddess be watching over me!

I got the directions to the mystery quilt from Breakfast Club. 

Not a mystery to me anymore! Love how this one is coming together.

I am trying to get back on task with my Bucilla kit projects. Just finished all the little candies that decorate this house. I'm doing some quilting around all the windows and house features.

And I pulled out this stocking kit a few days ago that I was working on in Paris before our move home. I finished up the girl and now have to turn the boy and girl into puppets. Adorable.

I'm so excited to get quilting on "Marta."

Design Wall Thursday

Fine tuning a new design...I'm liking it.

Finally....I have figured out a quilting design for a top I've been wanting to quilt for several months. Now the tedious process of marking the design with a blue water soluble marker and chalk pencil. This photo shows what I marked on my plexiglass board.

Kinley is home! She is painfully thin...had almost stopped eating at the trainer's kennel so it was time to get her home and just continue her training with visits. She has been eating wonderfully since getting home. She got right back into her little routine.  

Picked up a rental car on Tuesday. My sweet car is going to be in the shop for at least two more weeks. We woke up to rain...grrrrrrr. That means all the roads will be nice and icy again. I stayed home. Plenty of quilting projects to keep me busy and I finally have Kinley to talk to all day. I stocked up on groceries a few days ago when I saw the forecast so I'm a happy to stay home. I put ice cleats on my boots to take Kinley for her walk this morning...she has built in four-wheel drive so no problem for her on the ice.