Friday

Client Project on the Machine

I quilted this pretty navy blue and white quilt for a client today. The fabrics are beautiful and it actually made me want to work with blues.

I am normally not a fan of blues. This quilt will encourage me to try these colors.

Tuesday

Antique Quilt - Completed

Yesterday I finished Nancy's father-in-law's mother's quilt. Phew! That was a lot to follow. I finished sewing the binding last night and let her know it was ready for a quilt label. She is thinking about what she wants on a label and I told her to take her time. It doesn't take long to sew on, so there's no need for a lot of advanced notice.

I look forward to delivering this challenging quilt. It was a little tough to work with since the old, delicate fabric is pretty aged. I sure hope she likes the final result.

Monday

Strawberry Picking Time

Yesterday was the perfect day for strawberry picking. Even though it had rained the night before and we knew it might be a little wet and sloppy, the weather in the morning was perfect. My daughter and I decided to leave her girls home and just the two of us go. That way we would get it done a lot quicker. In less than an hour, she picked 9 pounds and I picked 12 pounds. It sure was quicker but not as much fun.

After I cleaned and packaged up all the berries, made a strawberry pie. It's my husband's favorite - except for lemon meringue. I think of the lemon pie as a winter thing and the strawberry pie as a summer thing. It just makes sense since the berries are so very fresh right now. They were nice and large and perfectly ripe. We chose the perfect day to go.

The pie was so very easy to make. I baked a pie crust, let it cool, filled the shell with a bunch of fresh berries, then poured some cooked berries over the top. A few hours in the fridge and viola! a beautiful summer pie. What could be easier.



Sunday

Baby Robins

The robins have been building a nest in the bush on the south side of my house every year for a very long time. This year I got a glimpse of the babies up close as soon as the mother went off to dig up some worms. I couldn't wait to seize the opportunity to get this shot of the babies. I just wish I could have shot the photo from a little higher angle, there's a third baby in the nest hiding behind these two.

Thursday

Box Bag - Peppa Pig Tote

Peppa Pig Tote
I used this box bag tutorial to make a cute little Peppa Pig bag. The instructions were easy to follow however I did change how the lining is attached.

The instructions state to hand-sew the lining near the zipper but I chose to leave an opening between the contrasting fabrics and hand-stitch that opening.

I will make another bag like this and remember to take photos of how I did the lining for a clearer description.
Peppa Pig Tote

Tuesday

City Sampler 100 Quilt WIP

I'm making progress on my City Sampler quilt top. I still need to add the borders to the sides but all-in-all, there's not much left to do to finish the top.

I had mapped the placement of all the blocks in a notebook just to make sure I had them all. As it turned out there were 101 blocks. As I tried to located the double, I discovered that I had 2 doubles. That meant I missed making one of the blocks so I checked off each one and found the missing block. I had to go back and make that last block. I really needed to accomplish all 100. So now I have 102 blocks in this quilt top. And that's ok, I just added the extra 2 right in.

I placed the blocks in uneven rows in order to get the look of a city skyline. I like the look of the intermingled colors of the blocks better than separating them out by colorway. It took a little while to sew up the rows, ensuring all the blocks line up nicely.

Now I just have to buy some backing fabric and I will be ready to quilt.

Thursday

What's on the design board?

I won this cute little Frivols kit last year at a quilt show. I've decided to finally start making the quilt top. All I need to add is some background fabric and I will be all set to go!

The fabrics in the kit are very pretty and I look forward to getting started. So this covers my monthly 'What's on the design board?' post. So the answer to that question is nothing.

Nothing.

My sewing room sure looks neat and clean.

That seems weird to me, but it is getting near summer and gardening has taken a priority over sewing. And Mother Nature waits for no one. So the garden is in and the little seeds are popping up all over. The warm weather has sure made things grow quickly and I am thrilled. This year I am adding pickles to my garden because my girlfriend gave me a crock. I look forward to making pickles in the fall and will have to post my results here.