Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Brown? In a Kelly Girl Quilt?


Definitely yes!  As one who has shied away from that drab brown in the past, I was pleasantly surprised when I decided to use some brown stash fabric for my hexie quilt. 







Coincidentally, brown is my Mom's favorite color...
maybe she is on to something after all.  :)

I used many of the same fabrics for this diamond, just fussy cut the fabric so it shows some diversity. 

I am off to my daughter's first basketball game this evening.  It all goes by so quickly...






Sunday, November 27, 2011

This and That

The new sewing table is officially broken in, a glorious, colorful mess adorning the top!

I'm trying to get the houses and skeleton border finished for the Dia de los Muertos quilt.

That zebra bag is filled to the rim with scraps!

Bulletin Board


And here's my Thanksgiving crew in the goofy picture, the whole gang except my husband who was the photographer.  We are having another lower key family dinner this afternoon with my lovely mother-in-law. 



Wow, that weekend sure went quickly.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Embellishments

So my husband kept saying, "too much blue"... over Thanksgiving my mom said, "you need marigolds" and yesterday my daughter told me "more flowers"...  Sew....


Flowers are sprouting up everywhere!











And a few other things are being added as well.




Thanks for all the suggestions family!

Hope your long weekend is going well.


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

HEXIE'S

To see the most recent post on the Hexie Quilt, click here!


Here's an update on the last Hexie Update...  In the prior post, I decided to go with the diamond pattern, and now have pieced together a few of the diamonds.  I have 15 diamonds made... there are 25 Hexie's in each diamond... 15 x 25 plus white hexie's... it is beyond me!   Many more to come, these Hexie's are quite the project.






I added a purple diamond last evening.

Here's the back, a labor of love for sure.




Click HERE to see more Hexie Quilt Pics!

Click HERE to see most current Kelly Girl Quilts post!

Happy Thanksgiving!


I am off to shop and begin preparing the big feast for tommorrow.  We will have all of our children in the same house for the meal tomorrow for the first time in four years.  Our 19 year old arrived home from college last night, and the rest of our children are now local... at least for the time being.  My parents will be joining us for dinner as well, and we'll get to visit with my mother-in-law over the weekend.  So all in all a big family weekend, (no pun intended), just as Thanksgiving should be.  I'm sure to throw some sewing in there at some point.  Happy holidays.




Monday, November 21, 2011

Field Trip

Nothing like a little lunch time excursion, my form of relaxation.  A
 little browsing and a little purchase.

Love the VW's.

Groovy by Julie Debson Mina



Adrift in Paradise by Hoffman Fabrics



Splish Splash by Moda

A great start to the week.


Friday, November 18, 2011

Safe, Thankful and Quilting in Reno, NV

A 4 am phone call and a quick trip up the street...our neighborhood was afire.  Here's the view last night from the other side of town, I think this photo says it all.
 
Picture from local paper RGJ, From north side of Reno looking south.
 
 
 
 We got up and drove to see it... crazy wind and fire swirling all over. 3 houses ended up burning on that canyon and 25 overall. At one point we could see 6 areas just south of us burning. Luckily the wind blew the fire east and away from us, with 40 mph gusts and higher.  We also live on a canyon so it was rather scary for awhile. Ironically, it is cold, snowing and raining now, so things are being mopped up.
We never even lost power... although there are thousands evacuated tonight and hundreds without power. A very happy and thankful evening here indeed.  Our thoughts are with all of  those who were not so lucky. 
 
 
 
In quilting news, I made three more selvage coasters for my new table this week, here they are:
 
 
 
 
 
Also quilted 5 more stars on the sevlage quilt, 15 more to go. And hoping to get some more work done on Dia de los Muertos this weekend.  My skull fabric that I ordered last Friday still has not arrived.  :(
 
Have a safe weekend.
 

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Quilting Again!

Finally, I have started to quilt my selvage quilt that I finished piecing several months ago.  I'm straight line quilting the "star" part.... not sure what to do on the "spider web" parts yet.  Something will pop into my head as I work my way through the stars.  5 stars down, 20 more to go!









Usually, I piece the back of my quilts as well, however I went with"Wild Garden" by Dan Bennett on the back and also used it for the border... with the selvage intact, of course! 



I am so looking forward to Friday!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Black and White

Additions to my fabric stash in the Black and White department!


Metro Cafe by Robert Kaufman



Floralicious by Michele d'Amore for Benartex

Night and Day by Robert Kaufman



and last but certainly not least...
June Dot by Alexander Henry


Can you ever have enough dots?  I don't think so!

Monday, November 14, 2011

More Selvages

I am making several coasters (aka mug rug) for my new table; my favorite thing every morning is to sit down at my sewing machine, drink coffee and start my morning.  Even on work days I like to get a few minutes in, so relaxing!  So I needed some coasters for the new table, here's the first one, using my favorite selvages... you may have seen them already!









I used a selvage for the binding, really simple after I figured out how to sew on from the back, instead of the front.  I cut the selvage to 1 1/4", sewed on the back and then flipped it over and topstitched on the front.  I'm going to use this on my selvage quilt as well. 

Off to stitch for a bit this evening, Good Monday to you all.


Sunday, November 13, 2011

Taa Daa

Here it is, home at last... a new sewing table, handmade by my Dad.  A couple of months ago, I moved my sewing room into our great room.  My Dad says, "Your sister has the perfect library table for your sewing machine."  So here it is, made in the style of an old library table my sister has at her house, and made by Dad.  What a gift, it's a beauty!





Also on the list for the weekend... put the binding on the Christmas Quilt... (look on the table above), finished that up today, now just need to hand sew it to the back.




and I took my Granddaughter Nadin for her first trip with me alone to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa... as her Uncle Cort says, Grandma has good toys!


Nadin on her first visit to Great Grandma's.

Looks like both Nadin and Grandma Kat were spoiled at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Thanks Dad, a new family heirloom.

Onto the week...

Friday, November 11, 2011

Veteran's Day 11-11-11

Take time today to remember those who serve and have served and appreciate all you have.






Here's what I've been working on thus far...


My selvage drawer overfloweth!

I found an entire unopened package of Whoppers at the bottom of this drawer!
(No longer unopened, wink, wink.)










18" Squares - I LOVE selvages!


Also on the list for the long weekend:

1.  Finish Christmas Quilt!  Make and sew on the the binding!

2.  Pick up my NEW sewing table at my parent's house.  My Dad made me a new sewing table fashioned after an antique library table and I'm going down to pick it up tonight, weather permitting!

3.  Selvages.

4.  A couple more Dia de los Muertos wonky houses.

Enjoy and appreciate your day, 11-11-11. 

On a side note, today is also National Corduroy Day!  I love that. 
Click here to see Julie's Corduroy Quilt. 


Thursday, November 10, 2011

Fabric

I needed more skulls.... really!  :)








Sometimes you just have to spice things up, all Alexander Henry Fabrics for Dia de los Muertos project.  Today is my "Friday," and a three day weekend. 

Happy Veteran's Day.