Little "Bits" to show for the Day

I had done the machine embroidery for these two labels the other day, and today I started out by finishing them up and sewing them on. These are on the two nine patch quilts from Crazy Mom Sew's Quiltalong. They are ready to pack up and send off as soon as I finish my niece and great niece's fleece blankets. They are going another place, but I might as well get them ready for the post office at the same time.
Ethan and Savanna are the children of my grandson's former girlfriend.














Next project, sew the small and large pillowcases for my great niece, Hayley's birthday. Now her tote bag and pillowcases are done, only the fleece blanket to go.













Then, it was on to her mom's and her bindings for their fleece blankets. Guess which is flannel and which is cotton? This flannel is very soft and cushy, hopefully Hayley will like everything.













Last project (I think) for the day (unless I get a second wind). I made the 3 pillowcases and 3 bindings for our Chinese friends little girls. I'm afraid everything may look a little more Japanese than Chinese, but all I could find specifically Chinese was things like dragons. I hope that it is ok. Since they are from a different culture and one that they are very proud of, I hope that it isn't any type of offense or anything. I already had the fabric because I liked it and probably would have used it for a granddaughters gift if I hadn't used it for this. The oriental girl embroidery is on one of the fleece blankets and will look better when washed and the stabilizer gone. Each of the three has a different oriental girl. The girls are 7, 5 and 5.
We got travel sized pillows to put in the pillowcases, and the fleece blankets are quite puffy. I hope that we can find some gift bags large enough at the dollar store.













Sorry about the mess, it's sort of a semi-organized clutter. Getting better organized is a goal I'm working toward, and every project hopefully is getting me closer. More and more "closet clutter" gone.
PS My oldest grandson stopped by today and had lunch with us and he had asked me previously to help him with mending as he has split all his pants except two. I remembered the come back "would you ask Picasso to paint your shed", but since he needs them for work and is on his own, I agreed. He's bringing them Saturday morning. Why is it even when we enjoy sewing we don't enjoy mending. Oh well, it will be my good deed for the day, lol.

Mackenzie is So excited about Grandma Wragg's Quilt

Day before yesterday, we had my daughter, my grandson Nathan and his wife Marcy, the baby, and my other grandson Micah over for lunch. We had a really nice visit and Nathan mentioned that he liked my green and purple quilt, so I gave it to them. This little video was on Marcy's facebook today with the caption "Mackenzie is So excited about Grandma Wragg's quilt". I thought that it was really cute, and wanted to share. She is such a little cutie and has a really sweet personality.

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1626113340&k=ZYGZX6TXQ5TFY1AIQA5YU5PQ2TKE46YG&oid=1375201539775

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to bring the video over from facebook, but above is a link for theose who are on facebook. The video is cute, she kicks her little legs repeatedly and then feels the quilt, and then does it all over again 4 or 5 times in the 30 second video.

Hayley's Tote Bag

I have the 5 fleece blankets cut out and embroidered, and all the pillowcases cut out, too. This was supposed to be the last thing to make, only if I had time, but what was I doing last night instead of sewing bindings, etc.
This tote bag is flannel with batting in the body and the handles, and then quilted. Only the inside is cotton, and it is very soft and cushy.
Hayley is only going to be ten, so this may be a bit big for her, but hopefully, since she goes from her Mom to her Dad's, and spends a lot of time at my brother's (her grandpa) too, she can use it in her travels. She could almost use it as a pillow in a pinch, lol.

Next Up

Next project is to make this stack go away. The two rolls of fleece have been in my closet for a couple of years, another portion since July 11 of this year, and the light blue and patterned fleece on the bottom since about an hour ago. We just got back from Joann's and I got those, a spool of Coats and Clark's machine quilting thread to try, and some dye catchers (boy was it hard to find those, and at the end there they were the first place I looked and where I thought they would be, I just missed them). The blue in the middle is for my great niece on my Jacksonville brother's side, the last 4 quilts I sent off were for my Brunswick brother's grandchildren, my great niece's and nephews. I plan to make her a fleece blanket, flannel pillowcase and flannel tote, the print on the bottom is for her mama, my niece, their birthdays are 1 day apart. Horses are what my niece loves, and the only fleece I found with horses is more western with horses, cattle, spurs, etc. I hope she likes it. My brother bought the fabrics and I'm supplying the labor.
We have become friends with the owner of the Chinese restaurant where we eat lunch sometimes, and I am making her 2 daughters 7 and 5, and her niece 5, fleece blankets and cotton pillowcases. I have some cute fabric with Oriental girls (see on the left of the picture) and will machine embroidery their names and some cute Oriental girls on the fleece. all of the fleece blankets will be bound just like quilts with the double fold binding. Now I just need to get cracking and make them, lol.

A Stack of Quilts

I like pictures of stacks of quilts, and so I stacked the last 7 finishes up and carried them to the back porch hoping for better light. Unfortunately, it was overcast, but it is still nice not to have the yellow tinge to everything.
My house really is yellow.

Three Finishes

The pictures are pretty poor, but I finished these yesterday.
















Above is my Carolina (Crossroads) Straightaway from Bonnie Hunter's first mystery. I started it with everyone else, only made one of the two blocks and finished the top on October 11, 2008. It's been a long time, lol.


















My Burger Queen mystery from Stashbuster forum took even longer to get to, the top was finished August 15, 2008















This little Strip Twist, also from Bonnie Hunter, not quite so bad, July 6, 2009. My fuse box is going to be looking good, lol.

A Little Progress

Three basted and ready to be quilted.
The top little quilt is backed with my Ikea fabric. I used it on all five big boy quilts, I must have bought a ton of it, lol. The stripe has also been used several times. I got clearance oxford cloth sheets on sale at Lands End, wish they'd have more on clearance. The dark blue is flannel and should be cozy and warm. I'm anxious to get them quilted and done, a little less closet clutter.

Getting Ready for the Next Three

The next three finished tops didn't have backs or bindings ready yet, so today I got that done.
I have my version of Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Crossroads, I call it Carolina Straightaway since I only made one of the two blocks. Then there is a very small Strip Twist, also Bonnie Hunter's pattern, for over the fuse box in my family room, and last the Burger Queen mystery from Stashbuster forum, I apologize, I don't recall whose it was. I couldn't decide if I liked the top picture with flash better, or the bottom picture with no flash. Someone else posed that question on their blog, and I couldn't decide on theirs either. I can't remember who, I seem to have a lot of the can't remembers today.
Now it's back to basting and hopefully in a week or so I'll have three more finishes.













The only other top that I have made is my huge Iowa (Carolina) Christmas, and it is finished except for the border blocks sewn together and sewn on. I was going to send it out, but since money is a bit scarce am thinking I need to do it myself. Since it is already ginormous, I'm thinking of skipping the border and using those blocks to make another quilt. I have a Juki that is a bit bigger than a normal DSM, but it seems like leaving off the extra border might make it a little more doable. Anyone done a huge quilt on such a machine and have any opinions.
Hope you're having a nice weekend.

Just Us Quilters - New Blog List

Niki from Just Us Quilters and Butternut Street has started a new blog list. You can sign up and be one of the first, looks like fun.

Four Finishes (Makes 11 for 2010)

They say done is better than perfect, and I'm not real proud, but I am happy. I always knew that I didn't have artistic talent, but after doing several meandered quilts, I'm starting to think that I'm not even a good scribbler, lol. It's ok though, the recipients of these quilts won't care. The top quilt is the "last" of the big boy quilts, and is for Caleb, who loves music, thus the music border. He plays in a rock band, both guitar and drums.





























The pink and blue nine patch quilts are from Crazy Mom Quilts quiltalong, now 2 out of 3 are done, better late than never, at least that's what I tell myself.















This is my "Unstrip Road" front and back, and it is for DH and I, probably. I hope to finish my Iowa "Carolina" Christmas before the holidays also, but if I don't I'll at least have one Christmas quilt.



























PS. They aren't washed yet, so they will improve after they are, and the soft crinkles will hide a multitude of sins. That's what my MIL used to say about curls, and I think it's true for my quilts, too.