Sttich that Stash - June Bee Block

Hi Ladies,

Happy June!! {tomorrow} I am SO ready for some pool time, bbq & just the laid back, slow pace summertime brings!

I have had the hardest time choosing a block for my month. Back in April I was at a quilting retreat and fell in love with Amber's (oneshabbychickhawaii) quilt she made while there. So, after much deliberation, I have chose the Low volume charm plus quilt block. You can find the tutorial here on Rachel's flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wooden_spoon/8584301543/in/set-72157633912755236

Here are my two blocks.

 I'd like both of them to have a mix of the low volume, tone on tone, text, cream or white for the  background. For the PLUS, I'd like one block in a solid color and the other in some sort of print.

The block measures 11 3/4" unfinished. It's super quick to cut out and comes together fast.

I look forward to seeing your blocks!

Nomad

Meg's quilt is DONE!

I have named this one "Nomad."

Meg is a wanderer at heart, she loves to travel and see the world. I don't see her settling down in one place, ever! But, wherever she goes she will have this quilt and a piece of her momma's heart and love to keep her warm!

She had bought the map fabric a few years ago because she liked it. She never knew what she was going to do with it. She gave it to me to include in a quilt for her. This is the pattern I drew up. I am super happy with how my pattern came out! The flying geese (triangles) represent her flying around the world, and the row of three strips represent the roads she will travel on.

This is the center of the quilt.

back of quilt is a cool hexagon pattern that ties well with the front colors. Meg's nickname is Bear, so I made her label with a bear applique.

I am in love with this quilt....ha, I say that with everyone, huh?!

Bird Nest Quilt

Both my girls are now out of the house for good (again) and living on their own. I decided to make each of them a quilt for snuggling on the couch. I finished Tori's first.

I took them both shopping for fabric and had them pick out several colors that they wanted in a quilt. I then (tried to) decided on a pattern. I made this one up as I went along. Tori picked out these amazing colors and prints and I think they all flow beautifully together.
Hubby named it Bird's Nest, appropriate name since we call Tori, Bird.

I made twelve 12" disappearing 9 patch blocks and twelve 12" solid blocks with 2 1/2" strip pieces for the sashing and border. I am IN LOVE with how it came out!


Back of quilt with my label on it.

Here is Bird with her Bird's Nest quilt :)

*find me on facebook....TheMadQuilter

What I'm currently working on

Another busy weekend for me.


I'm adding the binding to the "Punctuation" quilt and then it's in the
washer & dryer before it goes to it's new home.

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I cut up 180 squares, and then sewed them together to make 90, and then cut them to make 180 triangles, and then I pressed them all open to have a total of 180 squares. (does that makes sense?) That took about 4 hours and my back is now hurting from being bent over the cutting table, sewing machine and standing up to iron/press.

I've decided on 2 different quilts with this material.

The Zig Zag

The Pinwheel

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I'm making a Sock Monkey story book quilt as well. This one is going to be fun to make. Who doesn't love Sock Monkeys?!! My girls would giggle when I sang them this song when they were little.

Mother's Day

Tori took one of her prints and made me a card with it. She put together this cute bundle of fabric...there is a vintage bed sheet, a pillow case, and some other fabrics. I plan on making myself a herringbone quilt. It melted my heart how well she knows me.

I made my mother-in-law this hourglass quilt. The fabric is from the same roll I used to make the quilt I gave her and my father-in-law in March.


I made my Mom this Giddy quilt. I am in love with this fabric line. She put it over her chair in the living room. It matches her colors perfect.

Snowpocalypse

It started snowing on Wednesday, February, 9th at 7:58 am. By 10:00 am we already had 2 inches on the ground.

It snowed SO HARD at times we couldn't see the house across the street. You can tell how hard it was coming down by the picture of my house below. It makes the picture look blurry.
The boys weren't sure about all the white stuff....it almost buried them in places. John shoveled the sidewalk several times just so they could walk.
Within an hour and a half it was covered again.
Dinosaur seemed to like it much more than Reeses did.

Ready to go in the house where it is warm.....they would run in and sit by the heater for at least 30 minutes thawing out.
The backyard.....still snowing at this point.

My backyard the next morning at sunrise....

We ended up with 7.8 inches officially....I measured 8.3. You can see the path John made for the dogs...it goes from the front door to the mailbox.

Being snowed in for the past 3 days I got tons of sewing done! I finished my Postage Stamp Quilt!
I was going to sell this, but John fell in love with it, so it now resides in my living room.
I made a coffee table runner to match it.
It's been a very productive few days! Being snowed in made me realize how much I love my job. I loved getting tons of sewing done, but I have missed my co-workers and kiddos!

I plan on getting out of the house tomorrow. I need to go to the fabric store....I ran out of purple thread. I also need to go to the gym....I've eaten so much I feel like I've gained 10 pounds!

The snow was beautiful...fun...but I've had enough of winter....it can leave now!

accomplished!

I had a very productive Saturday!

I accomplished ALL my goals and some!

The house is clean top to bottom.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous out.
75° - so me & the boys went on a walk.
We soaked up some good ole Vitamin D from mr. sun.

My Postage Stamp Quilt Top is complete!
1,200 2" squares!!!
(photo taken by: Tori)


Punctuation Quilt is sandwiched and basted!
This is a gift for a teacher friend.

And....Curly Girl is COMPLETE!!!
Once I started quilting her I knew I had to finish this beauty. My back was killing me from all the work I did all day, but I was determined to finish her! All I had left was to make the binding and sew it on. I absolutely adore her. She is a combination of the quilts I made Meg & Tori for Christmas 2009.

I made a pieced back. I think it's as pretty as the front.

Alice approves!

Progress

Well, I am feeling 100% myself again! Woo-Hoo! It is SO nice to finally feel normal again. I do have a slight cough, but the tussionex takes care of that. Tori made an appointment for Friday (finally) she still has a pretty nasty cough, so I am glad she made this appointment. I worry about that girl.

I have made huge progress on my postage stamp quilt. All 48 blocks are sewn and pressed!! All I have to do is sew them together to make my quilt top and I am in the running for the free fabric! I should have it done by Saturday early afternoon. They aren't perfect....but hey...that's what gives it character, right?!

I can never stick to one project at a time....I don't even clean like that...I'm always going room to room never finishing the room completely. I'm weird, I know. Anyway, with all my UFOs you would think I wouldn't start another project... but I did!!! I started a birdhouse quilt....this is my first quilt making pinwheels. I made this one tonight and realized I hate the tan & rust borders. I text Tori a picture and asked for her artist advice. She agreed with me that I need to go with a cream and maybe a pastel peach color. So, I am putting this project on the back burner until I can go to the fabric store.

My goals for this weekend:
1. to finish postage stamp quilt top!
2. sandwich & baste punctuation quilt
3. quilt curly girl quilt

That's on top of sheet washing Saturday...cleaning house, laundry etc. etc.....AH- can I get it done? We shall see....

Sick, sick go away

Sickness has been in my home for over a month now. I am so ready for it to GO AWAY! It started before Christmas when Tori came down with a nasty cold. We thought it was because she had mid-terms, was moving home & it was the holidays, so her body was weak from little sleep. Well, it has lingered longer then it should...it turned into a nasty stomach virus & she is still couging her pretty little head off a month later. One thing about both my girls...they don't like western medicine. They rather heal themselves with herbal teas and home remedies. Now don't get me wrong...I will do the same...I try all the herbal therapies as well. But, there comes a time when you must go see a Doctor!!! She has not seen Doc yet! But hey, she's 21, I can't make the call anymore.

This is where I come in....I have been sick for 2 weeks now. It started out with a runny nose...so runny I had to keep tissues up my nose all day.
Then I started coughing and coughing and coughing....So much and SO hard that I had to sleep in my sewing room because I was keeping John awake at night. I woke up Friday morning and felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks...literally, square in the face. My nose feels broken! It's weird, I've never had this symptom before. I can barely touch it and it's super painful. My throat feels like it's on fire...it hurts to swallow water! Strep, maybe? Sinus infection? So I made an appointment and I go see my Doctor on Monday morning. I'm hoping he'll shoot my arse with some heavy duty antibiotics to make me feel better FAST!!!! And as if things couldn't get worse....I woke up this morning with my right eye crusted completely shut! I held a hot rag on it for 5 minutes and it's been oozing all morning. (Gross, I know) So I'm pretty sure I have Pink Eye on top of everything else! JEEZ-can it get any worse...don't answer that!


With me being sick I am so far behind on the Postage Stamp Quilt Along.

I chose Remembrance by Brannock and Patek for Moda fabrics and a cream solid.

Here are my strips all sewn together and waiting to be cut up! Yep, you know quilting...cut fabric, sew fabric, cut it up, sew it again.

There are 4 blocks on table that are waiting to be pressed. I only have 42 more to do by tomorrow afternoon. HA! I doubt that's gonna happen. I really wanted to have the top finished so I could be in the drawing to win $100 worth of fabric. Who knows, maybe I can do it. I have to have it finished by February 1st. We shall see. You can see my UFO's in the background
(ufo = un-finished objects)

So, I am hoping to come back and tell you all tomorrow that I am feeling 100% better and I got a burst of energy and finished all my blocks and UFo's!!! Hahaha Yeah, right.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

into the woods

We had our first major snow storm of 2011 last night. We received about 6 inches, that's a lot for central Arkansas. So we are snowed in today and I couldn't be happier....well, yes I could, if I didn't have this horrible, nagging cough I'd be happier!

UPS is supposed to be delivering my fabric for the quilt along today. I'm not sure he'll make it out here in the country to deliver it with the roads being so bad. Oh well, I can work on my "punctuation" quilt.


I finished the "into the woods" baby quilt. I made this quilt for my friend Becky's grand-baby, Mason. Her daughter, Sydney, is due on March 16th. The shower is this Saturday. I was going to wait and post pictures then, but they don't read my blog so I decided to post today. (at least I don't think they read it)
I took these pictures this morning. I wondered what my neighbors think of me sometimes. That crazy Betty is out there again taking pictures of quilts....this time she has one draped over a tree. hahaha

I love the color combination in this quilt. The deer, birds, bunnies and other animals are so precious.

Here is the back of the quilt. John loved the back as much as the front. I hope baby Mason is going to love this quilt.

Those who sleep under a quilt, sleep under a blanket of love.

Postage Stamp Quilt Along

I have decided to join Rachel over at P.S. i Quilt for her postage stamp quilt along. I have never participated in a quilt along before, so I am super excited about doing this. I am in the middle of making several quilts at this time, so why not start another, right?! I never can work on one project at a time. I haven't decided on what fabric to use just yet. I have 3 jelly rolls in my stash, but not sure I want to use any of them, and I have to buy the yardage still. When I decide on fabric I'll post photos. Oh, and there's a drawing for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place winners for a gift certificate to my FAVORITE fabric store, Fat Quarter Shop! If you're interested click on P.S. i quilt above for more info.

Weekend Plans

John is headed to deer camp, it finally turned cold outside and it's the weekend....so what are my weekend plans? I'm going to finish the "IN LIKE FLYNN" quilt. It's going to be me, my sewing machine & lifetime television all weekend! (I love to listen to lifetime movies while I sew) Oh and my petting zoo of course!


Back in September my nephew, Flynn, who is 8 years old, asked me to make him a quilt for Christmas. How could I resist?! How many 8 year old boy's ask for a quilt for Christmas?!! They usually want video games, bicycles, and guns. He requested that it be red, white, & black. I headed to the fabric store to buy the material. While there I found some baseball fabric that I thought was darling. Flynn plays baseball so I thought I would incorporate it into the quilt...after all it is red, white, & black!



I'm not a quilter who goes by any certain pattern...I buy the magazines and look on line at all kinds of quilt blogs, but I usually just decide on the "look" of the quilt that I like and then draw up my own version and pattern. So with this one I decided to do big 14" square blocks with the baseball, red, & black and then sash & border it with the white.

Here is the quilt top pieced together.

All basted and ready to be quilted!

I can't wait to give it to him.
I hope I can wait for Christmas.
It's going to be a wonderful weekend!

Here I is...

So yeah, I lied, I said I would be keeping up with my blog more often....it's just ridiculously hard sometimes to get on here and write. My life isn't that interesting anymore....it's just me & John and our petting zoo. I work, he works, we clean, he hunts, I sew, I quilt....that's about as exciting as our life is now. But hey, I LOVE our life, boring as it may be. No really, it's not always boring....I think.....

I committed to this picture a day on Facebook. It is extremely hard sometimes to try to figure out what to capture & post. The other day I posted this cute fabric I ordered from
Fat Quarter Shop whenever they have their 50% off Moda fabrics I get all excited!! I'm making a quilt for my sister's kids who live in New Hampshire with this "wee woodland" fabric.



Meg has been in Spain for a month and a half now and her room is exactly as she left it....a mess! HAH! It's really not that messy. The bed needs to be washed and made and the bathroom needs to be cleaned and a little dusting is in need. Easy peasy....it's just been easier to keep the door shut! It's on my "to do list" for this weekend.

Reeses got neutered on Tuesday. Bless his little balls....I mean Heart....he was so groggy and walked all funny when John brought him home. He looked so pissed at us. Here he is passed out in his bed.
So I started quilting my "curly girl" quilt a few weeks ago. Here it is on the machine with Meg's crazy cat, Alice, who thinks she has to be right by my machine every. time. I. sew!
So I was just happily stippling along (actually the stitch is called meandering...but anyway) and my thread kept breaking....I would get frustrated and re-thread the machine. Finally after the umpteenth time, I took the quilt off the machine and realized the bobbin had been birdnesting for quite awhile. I took a deep breath, folded up the quilt, and laid it on the bed. I haven't touched it since. It's going to take me about 2 hours to rip out all the stitches.

:( Not Fun!

So I picked up my material for my "Stacked Coin" quilt that I was planning on selling. Here is the front of the quilt and that's Tick Tock looking at me.

Here is the backside. Well, I didn't sell it....John & I both fell in love with it, and it gets loved every night when we sit down to watch TV. This one I stippled and it is the best stippling job I've done thus far.

So there ya go. Not as interesting a life as some, but it's my life and I'm enjoying every single minute of it!

The Mad Quilter