Quilts for Kids and a Wedding Quilt

The morning sky is so pretty. It might be spring now but it is still cold these days. I can't wait until those trees have buds on them. 

I longarmed a client quilt this week. It was a very pretty salmon color. I used a nice large swirly pantograph pattern to complement the blocks.

                               

I finished a few more 3-yard quilts for Quilts for Kids. I love the patterns so much. They are easy to follow and I like the variety of patterns available. The only knock I have is that the patterns have one and a quarter inch binding strips and I would rather do two and a quarter inch binding. So I never follow the binding instructions. 

I squeezed in some quality time with my granddaughter Avery. We went out for pedicures. It was her first time. I think she will want to do it again.

Our friends Linda and Bill got married last fall. They chose to throw a wedding reception in March. We were happy to join in their celebration and I made them a wedding quilt. Linda's favorite color is red so I incorporated the color in as well as a few motorcycle themed pieces of fabric. They belong to the American Legion Riders Motorcycle group and love to raise money for veterans. So this really seemed like an appropriate representation of the things they like.

Winter Storm and my new Cricuit Maker 3

We had quite a winter storm last week. Luckily it didn't happen until we returned from the Vintage Shop Hop. It's a good time to enjoy the warmth of home. I get the most sewing done in the winter. It's not my favorite time to be outside so it works out for me. My backyard sure is beautiful.

My husband surprised me with a Cricuit Maker 3 for my birthday. I am amazed at his generosity, this was quite a nice surprise. He got a bundle of craft supplies along with the machine so I can have lots of fun. I can't wait to see what I can do with it.

                                                 

                                                 

I took home a kit from the quilt shop that needed to be made into a sample. It's from Riley Blake, one of my favorite fabric manufacturers so I knew I would enjoy putting this together. 

                                         

My girl Peyton sure likes hanging with me. When I have my morning coffee she is right there with me. Even when I longarm she is hanging out on one of her hammocks. 

                                         

                                         

This week I started a new project at Quilts for Kids. This is as far as I got before it was time to head home. It definitely needs borders in order to make it bigger.

Vintage Shop Hop Birthday Trip

Twice a year (spring and fall) there's this thing called the Vintage Shop Hop. It's a weekend long event where flea markets, antique and resale shops, and small boutiques host a sale/open house all over Wisconsin and northern Illinois. 

Jeff and I always plan to hit the spring shop hop. It usually falls on my birthday weekend so we go out to dinner at a supper club in whatever area we end up in at the end of the day.

This year I bought another scale. I thought it would be cool to put a bowl-shaped planter in the arms of the scale and set it in one of the flower gardens. 

I saw this typewriter in one of the antique shops. It is pretty broken up and cost more than one I picked up for my granddaughter. I would say I got a better deal. But this sure would be fun to add to a flower garden.

I picked up a few little things that will be used around the yard and in projects this summer. The little bins will be used in craft fair displays.

Our favorite places are the barn sales. We like to pick up junk and repurpose it. This year we ended up around Lake Winnebago and there's a shop in New Holstein that I love. It has nothing to do with the shop hop but I couldn't resist since we were in the area. I loaded up on some artsy things there. It's called Hidden Hollow Garden Art. 

                                 

These are going to be so cute around the yard this summer!

                                                     

The Smith-Corona Typewriter

My granddaughter Chloe loved the series Wednesday on Netflix. She seems to like characters that are darker and more mysterious. This show really fit the bill for her. It was hard to explain to her about the television show The Munsters that we watched as kids and how this was a spin-off. Like something old can't be new again. 

In the series Wednesday types her stories on an old typewriter. After seeing that, Chloe was very interested in typewriters and she wanted one. Of course the one used in the series was an old antique that would be very expensive to find as well as harder to make work. But I started searching for one anyway.  After much research, I've found that it was going to be a tough find. I started combing Facebook Marketplace, Craig's List and Amazon. I found typewriters available but they were very expensive. After a few months of looking - I really wanted it for a Christmas gift - I put it in the back of my mind.

One day while on Facebook, I see an ad on FB Marketplace for a Smith-Corona typewriter from the 70's. It wasn't as old as the antique one Chloe saw on tv, but it was exactly like one I had when I was in high school. I contacted the seller and picked it up for cheap that same day. What a streak of luck.

I couldn't wait for her to get home from school so I could surprise her. She was tickled pink. We got out some copy paper and she started typing away. It's funny what you know that younger generations don't know. Like using the return carriage on a typewriter! I had to show her how to pull the lever from right to left to start a new row. She could not figure it out. I wonder if there's a YouTube video for that - haha!

                                         

Chloe typed and typed.

Chloe shows her sister Avery how it works.

Even Peyton had to see how it worked, I think she likes the sound of the clicking.

Chloe was generous enough to let Avery give it a try.

Her first letter was to her grandpa.

After making a bunch of 3-yard quilts for Quilts for Kids, I had a bunch of leftover scraps. I decided to turn the scraps into project bags and zipper pouches. It never hurts to get ahead before the next craft fair.

I dug through my giant collection of zippers and did my best to match them to the fabrics.

I used military themed fabrics to make some larger zipper pouches and lots of smaller scraps for 4" little pouches. It was a lot of fun matching zippers to lining and outer fabrics.

My Kitty Peyton

My granddaughter is part of her school's art docent program. Once a month she gets to take a trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum and learn about art. I am lucky enough to be a chaperone and I love it. It's an amazing opportunity to get to experience the art with a guide who is an expert. We all learn so much. These are all of the 4th graders who get to participate in the program from her school. 

While we were there we had some fun taking photos among the art. She is such a pleasure to be around. 

I was lucky enough to score some scrap batting from the quilt shop this week. We have so many samples made and there's always a little batting leftover from each project. If the batting scraps are big enough we use them for table runners. If they're too narrow for table runners I take them to my church sewing group. We sew the scraps together to make batting pieces big enough for our charity quilts. It looks like I have a lot of sewing ahead of me!

                                

My kitty loves to help me quilt. When I'm sewing she sits on the sewing table and when I'm planning quilt tops, she's right there to make sure she sees what's happening. When she rests in the sewing room, it's usually on a quilt loaded on the longarmer.

                      

                                         

I love hanging with her. She is absolutely delightful. She's just 9 months old and so much fun. Her energy level is through the roof. One of the funniest thing she does is she chases the ball on the television screen. Whether it's a Bucks game or in this case, the Super Bowl, she loves to go after them. Footballs, basketballs, and even baseballs are fair game for her - haha!

 

Since she's an athletic girl who was born in Denver, her name is Peyton Meowning. 

 

Peyton helps me iron table toppers.

 

Peyton takes a break in her hammock.

Peyton wishes she was outside.

On a fun note, my boss has a hot dog steamer and I borrowed it to use while watching my granddaughters. I couldn't wait to try it out and surprisingly the hot dogs tasted so much better cooked this way. I don't know if it was the steaming process itself or just the fun of thinking that it made a difference. 

 

Valentines Fabric Envelopes

I love sewing on winter days. When there's lots of snow on the ground there's no better place than my sewing room. My grandkids do like winter fun though so grandpa obliged. I bought Jeff a stabilizer bar for Christmas for his ATV. I don't totally understand the physics behind it but apparently it makes the sled move better when attached to the back of the ATV. So he decided to test it out with the grandkids in tow.

                                           

In the meantime I whipped up a few fabric envelopes. I used the tutorial found here. It took a bit of planning because I didn't have a snap tool. I thought about ordering one online then I remembered that my daughter had one. I borrowed hers and luckily she had tons and tons of snaps in many colors. The only problem I had is that it looked so foreign I had to find a YouTube vide to teach me how to install them. Don't you just love the internet? 

               

The next hurdle was the edge foot. The instructions said to use an edge foot to sew all the layers together in the final step. I went to the quilt shop and picked one up and I was ready to go.  What a great foot to have in my tool box. I think I will be using this for more projects than just this one.