Sunday

Time to Plant

Our visitors are back again this year.  We've had a pair of sandhill cranes hang out with us all through the summer last year. They did disappear for a little while though and when they returned there were three. Let's see if that happens again this year.

The weather was cooperative enough to put in my vegetable garden. Ha! Actually it was a record high of 95 degrees for Milwaukee today. It felt good to get everything planted even though the sun was so very hot. I can't wait to snap another photo in a month to see the garden's progress. 

Tuesday

Table Runner Frenzy

I made this table runner using my small 5-inch tumbler ruler. I really like how this turned out. It is a bit smaller than most that I have been making lately but it would look nice on an end table or a coffee table.

This was made without a pattern, I just used a sampler pack from a designer collection of fabrics.

I have a few more table runners to make but for now I think I need to take a break from these before I get sick of looking at them - ha!

Friday

Table Runners

In an effort to make some everyday table runners, I whipped these up today. They are basically made with two coordinating fabrics and then I added a third fabric to tie things together to make the binding. I like how quick and easy these were to make and I think they would make a good addition to my craft fair items. They measure 44" x 15" which is a nice size. 




Tuesday

Wedge Table Runner

My friend's sister likes my table runners so whenever she goes to visit her sister she asks me for more table runners. This time the request was for every-day table runners. I really didn't have any that weren't holiday-themed so I decided to make some.

I found a pattern online that used a template that looked a little like my 10-degree ruler. So I took the online pattern and modified it a bit to get to my version. It was fun to make this sample, however I'm not sure I like the directional text fabric that ties it together. I just wasn't sure which direction to place the fabric while cutting. In the end I made it all face the same direction.

It was fun to choose coordinating fabrics from my stash to make this happen. I used the leftover text fabric to make the backing. It now looks quite reversible.

Friday

New Fabrics

It's a crappy, rainy day today which makes me feel like cleaning my sewing room. Earlier in the week, the weather was fabulous. I started cleaning out my garden and looked forward to keeping on going. Since I can't be outside today, the sewing room is a perfect place to be. I just finished making some cute quilted bags that contained teacher appreciation gifts for my granddaughters' teachers. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a photo of them before they got delivered to school.

Before cleaning off my sewing table, I took a photo of my purchases from last weekend.
 

Last Friday I went to a sale called FabricPalooza at a local quilt shop. It's a great sale where selected fabrics are $5.99 per yard. That's a really good deal for some high quality fabrics. And the selection is amazing. My friend, Sue and I got there a few minutes before the shop opened and we left there almost 2 hours later. It's a very popular sale so there were lots of people there enjoying the deals. I went there with the intention of buying fabrics for quilt backs. I have 3 finished quilt tops and now I have some pretty fabrics to make backs for them.

Sue and I also attended the It's a Stitch Quilt Guild quilt show at Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School in Jackson, Wisconsin on Sunday. There were so many quilts on display that we spent more than a few hours there. It was a nice, relaxing event so shopping the fabric vendors was easy. I must admit, I spent way more $$ than I had planned. But it's always nice to touch the fabrics and get the opportunity to shop with vendors that come from further away from home.

Wednesday

Plaid Camping Quilt

I've had this nice, patchwork quilt top finished for a very long time. I just never found a backing fabric that I liked for it. Then I received a generous fabric donation from two ladies who lost their mother. From their mother's stash, I found this cute, camping-related fabric and I instantly knew it would go together well with my patchwork quilt top.

The amazing thing was that there was just enough fabric to make the back. I quilted it on my home machine and I was lucky to find some matching fabric to make the binding from the stash too.


Monday

Ikea Visit

I live in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, the newest home to an Ikea store. In fact, the new Ikea store is so close to me, I can literally walk there from my house. Although why would I want to? I wouldn't be able to purchase much if I did that. Ha!

On Saturday I had to opportunity to attend a by invitation only shopping event at our new Ikea store even though it doesn't officially open until May 16th. My family and I were pretty excited to go and check it out. We are familiar with the 3-story Schaumburg store and the 2-story Minneapolis store but this one is one level. It was a maze of a store where the aisles zigged and zagged in a way that we weren't sure which direction we were going. Thank goodness for the little guide arrows to tell us which direction to go. After 3 hours in the store, we took home a few good purchases.

I got this 79-cent trash can for my sewing room.

I also purchased 3 of these toy boxes with wheels. I thought they would make perfect fabric storage bins. Since they have wheels, I could easily move them around if they got heavy from too much fabric. They also have a slot in the cover so the fabrics can breathe since it's not a good idea to keep fabrics in sealed containers. I like that I can see what's inside too. And in the end if they don't work out, I can actually use them to store my granddaughters' toys too.


Thursday

I-Spy Quilt

I put together this quilt from my larger scrap pieces and once I finished the quilt top, I totally forgot about it. I don’t know why I just let it sit there unfinished. The poor thing didn’t deserve to be left behind. So, I dug through my stash and found a nice simple print to use for the backing and quilted it. I liked how the backing looked next to the top so much that I also used the same fabric for the binding.


The pattern for this quilt is called Ashley's Journey and it is from a layer cake friendly book called Piece of Pie. I think I would like to make another quilt using this pattern with fabrics that have a much more cohesive look. Since I used leftovers with no real plan I decided that it looks much more like an I-Spy quilt than anything else. It’s cheery look makes me think it would be a good donation to a charity group.

Wednesday

Tag-A-Long Quilt WIP

I'm working on this pretty quilt and I think I have the layout down. I am going to a big fabric sale this weekend where I hope to find some fabric for the backing.

I love the nice spring colors. And the weather is finally warming up here so it feels right.

This is one of the kits I prepared for my quilt retreat last month. I made 7 quilt kits to take along but I didn't get to this one. I didn't get to half of them - ha!

Tuesday

What's on the design board?

Currently there is nothing on my design board. I know that I've tried to track my quilting progress from month to month by whether or not the same stuff is on the design board on the first day of the month but since I've attended a quilt retreat, there's so many quilt tops completed and not quilted that I really have to concentrate on that. 

Here's my progress over the last week:


I also purchased a pretty bundle recently and look forward to using it in an upcoming project.

It's from Patched Works quilt shop in Elm Grove, Wisconsin. They are having their Fabricpalooza big sale this Friday and I plan to attend in order to buy backing for 3 quilts. Any chance to get a deal on fabrics is a good idea - especially since I need very large pieces.