 |
| I got advice from Joanna of Applique Today on how to make her Initial pictures, and here are mine. The D is for Dominic, big brother (4 years) to Everlee, about to be born in October. We will use these for shower decorations and then give them to Mom and Dad as part of their shower gift. She is a lover of gray, her wedding colors were gray and yellow and her shower colors are gray and pink. Hope she likes these. I also made a baby quilt in pink and gray here. |
 |
| All the steps together, in no particular order. Just the cocoa mugs left, and then it is on to borders and finishing. Hopefully on the back of my couch for Christmas. |
 |
| And the wreaths by themselves. My middle bow doesn't show up very much, especially in the picture, but I'll live with it. |
 |
| While making block 5 of Nabby's Dowry and wading through a ton of little HSTs with light pink polka dots, I decided that I had enough for at least 2 little quilts, so I picked out enough for another 5 blocks to make a doll quilt for my great-granddaughter who is visiting from Germany in October. Not perfect, but she and her new dollie (Cracker Barrel has really cute soft dolls with red hair and brown eyes, like her) won't care. Only 5 more weeks to the sew along and hopefully, I'll have a cute quilt for my wall, and an equally cute quilt for a special gift. |
 |
| Nabby's Dowry Sew Along Block 5. Good advice would be to turn on the lights when pinning, especially when pressing seam open. Bad center. |
 |
| I started it Monday and I finished today, Friday. It's an easy quilt, but still not too bad. Sorry, it's upside down. It's big, almost twin size. I tried some new batting that I got half price at Joanns, plus 25% off. $30.00 batting for a little over $11.00, not bad. It is Pellon brand cotton batting and I really liked it. It's very flat, and very uniform and sturdy. I'm wondering if it will fluff a bit when it's washed. |
 |
| I used the leftover fabric on the back, so it's almost reversible. |
 |
| Four blocks down, and probably a fifth one done tomorrow. These go quick, since I'm using leftover bonus HSTs. |
 |
| Not too much sewing going on the past few days. Went to Camp Blanding (a military camp where there is a beautiful lake) and had a family day with my brothers, nieces, nephews, etc. It was beautiful, but some kind of little bugs had hatched over night, and they were thick. I brought about 100 home in my car, but I think they are all dead now. These fabrics are for initial pictures (hopefully, like the ones Joanna did, below) to be gifts and decoration at the baby shower for my new great-grandbaby Everlee. The blue and robots are for her big brother almost 4 year old Dominic. |
.jpeg) |
| Here are two from Joanna's blog Applique Today, and another one here. And so I can remember where to find it later, a delicious looking recipe that she shared, Bacon and Egg Pie. I think these are so cute, hope mine turn out half as cute. |
.jpeg)
 |
| One of my nieces requested a Gator Quilt (University of Florida) for her husband, so my brother bought the fabrics and I'll be making the quilt. I'll use the same pattern "Just Can't Cut It", that I have already made several Gator quilts from. Here are the ones I made for my brothers. |
 |
| It's finished, my quilting was rusty, so my mediocre meandering is even more mediocre, but all in all, it turned out cute. |
 |
| You can't see the back too well here, but it is really cute kittens. |
 |
| I've knitted these (1 is crocheted) plus 5 more in the past few weeks, I think I need to either get back to quilting, or expand my pattern choices. It's so easy to just sit down and knit a square though, and they feel very soft and cushy at the gym. |
 |
| I'm pretty sure I'll be able to have this done for the shower. I even may be able to finish it in the next day or two. Hope It's a hit with the mom, she is doing everything in pink and gray. |
 |
| Looks like a mess, but it's my baby quilt all cut out, except for the border. The mama wants pink and gray, so pink and gray it is. I decided to forget the baby blocks and just do bow ties, hope it's cute. |
 |
| It's about time to start the baby quilt, I think that I'm caught up for now. |
 |
| My niece and her children arrived yesterday, it was very good to see them, and we are going to Ikea today, so not much sewing will be going on for the next couple of days, but I did get my Sugar Block club for July done with a couple of days to spare. |
 |
| This morning I got up early, as I do most mornings, and I did block 3 of the Nabby's Dowry quilt along. Here are blocks 1, 2, and 3 all in a row. I feel so virtuous when I am using up my bonus HSTs. |
 |
| Just one more BOM and July will be finished. Still have the Sugar Block Club block to do. |
 |
| Another version of the Dresden. Looks like I'm circle challenged. |
 |
| Good thing I'm almost done, I have a baby quilt that hasn't been started yet, and the shower is the middle of August. |
 |
| This was the hard one (in comparison to the other one), that's my excuse for the not so good points. I like it though, it reminds me of envelopes. |
 |
| And the easy one, just 3 pieces in a 12 inch block, and I got a really big bonus triangle. The block is supposed to be a letter "J". |
 |
| The sewing front has picked up a little. This is the July Craftsy 2013 BOM. It's a big block, 17 1/2 by 18 1/2 inches. I think that this may be the center pattern for a baby quilt for my newest great-grandbaby due in October. It would be cute in little girly baby fabrics, I think. Maybe some bow ties around it as a start. |
 |
| The year is over half finished, and projects are starting to come together. Hope this one turns out well, some of my color choices are a bit odd, but I wanted quilts that looked different from each other colorwise, too. |
 |
| I have the initial cutting done for 5 or 6 blocks, and then July BOM's will be pretty much finished. I'd like to do a dresser top cover for the other dresser in our room as part of the RSC for July, but don't know if I'll get time. We have out of state company due and even though at this point they aren't staying with us, I hope to get to be included in some of the festivities. It's my niece and her 8 children. They range from almost 2 to going into the second year of college. Quite a family. |
 |
| Really not much on the sewing front. I've thought a lot about it, but all I've actually done was this block 2 for the Nabby's Dowry sew along from Heartspun Quilts. I'm really looking forward to this little quilt (wall-hanging), as I am excited to use up some of my little bonus HSTs. |
 | |
| I have done a few dishcloths, or as I call them "Sweat Sweaters", as my daughter and I use them as feminine glisten gleaners at the gym we've joined. A friend told me that her mother told her "horses sweat, men perspire, and ladies glisten". I'm not much of a knitter, but I've enjoyed doing them while my husband watches his Red Sox. It's kind of nice to switch between watching with him, going on my ipad and knitting. I should add a fourth category, dozing off. |
 |
| One of my grandsons passed his real estate test this week, so a few of the family went to a sushi restaurant for lunch. Three of my grandsons are in the picture, but it's not a very good angle. My husband wore the hat to protect his head, the bandage is also protecting his recent skin cancer bout and keeping the bandage on. No offense to you Yankee fans, but he was given the Yankee hat as a joke from a Yankee fan and he has been wearing it during his healing process so that if he messes up a hat, it won't be a Red Sox one. The restaurant was so empty when we went that we felt like we had a private room. |
 |
| My dinner before digging in. It was pretty tasty, but not as good as the company. As you can see, I'm not authentic, I can't seem to master chopsticks, but I do think that they are handy sewing tools. |
 |
| It's nice to have the flowers finished, now on to frames and borders. Not too far away from having a quilt top. |
