Market Bag

I found a new pattern at the shop yesterday.  I forgot that I had asked to get the QuiltSmart Market Bag.  It comes with interfacing for two bags.  I brought the fabric and pattern home last night and decided to make one this morning.

Here is the pattern cover -

The bag on the left is made from some Dick and Jane fabric that we still have.  I brought home a yard and it turned into this.

I like how it turned out but the pattern wasn’t the easiest that I ever made.  The next one will be easy but I did have a problem understanding the directions on the first one.  It isn’t as large as I thought either but is a nice little bag.

The pattern has two pockets but also has an extra small one.  I couldn’t see anywhere where it said to put the small one on so I put it on the side.  It is the size for a cell phone.  I read the pattern several times but couldn’t figure it out.

Anyway the pattern pack has enough interfacing to make two bags so I am going to make another one for me.  The first one is in the shop as a sample.

Melinda

Another Mystery Quilt

Jeanne brought her sister’s mystery quilt into the shop today to show it off.  We are having a customer quilt show and the mystery quilts are going to be displayed the last two weeks of June.  She came in to pick up entry forms.

This is another bright cheerful quilt.  Dave did such a great job designing the mystery and the quilt and it is so much fun to see each one as they are finished.

Melinda

Moda Bag from Market

Here is a great new bag that Maetha brought back from Market.  I love fabric with words on it and this bag is covered with very cool words and it is black and white.  What more could you want?

Even better, the pocket is lime green.  It has two handles on each side so it can be carried by the short handles or you can use the shoulder handles – very clever.  After I admired it, Maetha gave it to me – lucky me!

We had a very busy day at the shop today so just a quick post tonight.  Hopefully more tomorrow.

Melinda

Time for Weight Watchers

I have been thinking and talking about going to Weight Watchers again and today I finally made it there.  I went to the 12:30 meeting and really like the leader.  I am not sure that Friday will work for me every week but think I can manage most Friday’s and can always go Thursday night.

Unfortunately when I checked in I had gained about 4 pounds from the last time I started trying and 10 pounds from the last time I weighed in.  I really wasn’t surprised but disappointed that I had gained.

I went to the grocery store and restocked on some healthy food – fresh vegetables and fruit.

On the quilting topic – I got the inner border on the Kiwi Quilt and hope to get the outer border on tonight.  Hopefully there will be pictures tomorrow.

Melinda

Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler

I am posting some of my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler blocks.  My QuiltingSisters Yahoo group has decided to start making the quilt together and I am selecting 6 blocks a month for us to work on.  Since I have been assigning blocks for the group at the shop since the beginning of 2008, I will just repeat those that were already selected.

The first 6 include 2 that I have not yet made but here are my first 4.

As you can see, we are starting with some of the easier ones.  There are 140 in total so it will take 2 years at 6 blocks a month.

I need to get going and make the next two so I can keep up with the group.

Melinda

Beginners are not beginners anymore

We had the last class of the Beginning Machine Piecing Class today.  Although three people signed up for the class and attended the first couple of sessions, one dropped out and hasn’t finished the class or project.

The two that finished the class did a great job on their first quilt top.  Today we worked on putting the blocks together and both of them got the first borders on.  They still have one more border to add but I am confident that they can do that on their own.

Don’t they both look proud?  In these photos the first borders had not been sewn on but they were so excited to have the blocks sewn together that I just had to get a picture of them at that time.

By the way, the sample quilt that I made for the class is in the background on the left of each piece and the one on the right is a masterpiece by Barb.  It is really wonderful.

Melinda

Pillowcase Class

I had to work at the shop all day today because Nancy was sick and called me yesterday to ask me to fill in for her.  On top of that, I had to teach a pillowcase class tonight and I have the last beginner’s class tomorrow.  Busy, busy, busy!

I only had one student signed up for class but a customer came in today and asked when the next class was scheduled and got really excited when I said tonight.  She immediately signed up and was there tonight.

When teaching this class, I always make a pillowcase.  I had taught it to Piecemakers last week and made one Delilah pillowcase so tonight made the second one.  These will go with the Turning Twenty quilt I made out of the Delilah fabric a couple of months ago – I love these fabrics.

One of the ladies made two Georgia pillowcases for her grandson.  She was so excited and I am sure will be making many more.

The other student made two pillowcases for her bedroom, using Kona Cotton and a homespun strip as the flange.

They both finished two pillowcases and were pleased with what they learned.  Have I said recently how much I enjoy teaching.

Melinda

Show and Tell

I am finally getting around to posting a few pictures of last week’s show and tell.  The Allatoona guild has wonderful show and tell every month and this one was no exception.

I really love this table topper.  The colors are wonderful and the design is great!  I would like to find this pattern and make one for myself.

This is Phyllis’ version of last years BOM.  We did a row quilt and while she didn’t make every row, I love what she did.  I especially like the gnome taking a nap on the bottom.

 

This one is what Carol did with a bunch of swap blocks.  They really look good set like this.

Here is Jan with her Blooming Nine Patch.  She took a class from me a couple of years ago and just got around to finishing it.  She plans to put it in the customer quilt show at Tiny Stitches.

Here is another finished quilt from the March Retreat.  Love this one!

This last one was made at last year’s quilt retreat.  It is extra large to fit a king sized bed.  Turned out really lovely.

Melinda

Kiwi Quilt Progress

I worked on the Kiwi Snapshot quilt this morning and finished all the blocks.  I then took the blocks to the shop and used the tables to lay out the quilt.  It was fun since I asked each customer to help move blocks around and most seemed to enjoy helping.

It was a rainy day here in Georgia and the shop was quite busy – probably because people couldn’t be out in their gardens.  According to our rain gauge, we have had over 1 1/2 inches since yesterday.

Anyway, the blocks are finally arranged to my satisfaction and are rolled up in a flannel backed tablecloth.  Hopefully tomorrow I can sew the top together.  Tonight we are watching the conclusion of Survivor so no sewing.

Melinda

Basket Swap

I joined a May basket swap and my partner was Sandy.  She sent a great selection of goodies in my box.  I did thank her right away but somehow didn’t get around to posting photos so here I go.

I especially love the pillow.  It is wonderfully quilted and looks great on my sofa.

She also sent a roll of fabrics but either I didn’t take a photo of them or I put it somewhere on my computer that I can’t find it.  Be assured that it is a good collection of fabrics to use in my scrap quilts.

The turtle is a soap dish I think but it is currently being repurposed as a jewelry holder.  I always take off my watch and earrings as soon as I come in so this is a great place to hold them.

Also the little hanging plaque is really nice and is hanging on the door to the kitchen right now.

I love swaps like this.

Melinda

Road Trip

We made our road trip to Mary Jo’s on Wednesday and had a wonderful time.  The guild had planned a bus trip for this day but we had to cancel because we did not get enough people to sign up.  We didn’t get close enough to the cost of the bus to pay for it. 

Teresa has a nephew who drives a limo and she suggested that 7 of us go anyway.  So we decided to go.  When we got there we met another group of 4 that came together.  They actually had lunch at the same place – small world.

We started early by meeting at the local mall at 6:15 in the morning.  The limo showed up right after that – a long white limo!  Lewis was our driver and he did a great job.

There were 6 of us at that time and we got on the road.  Thankfully we didn’t run into much traffic.  After getting to the other side of Atlanta, we stopped to pick up Dave.  He got in the car with champagne.  We broke out the glasses and mixed Mimosas.  We also had croissants and fresh fruit. 

We got to North Carolina about 10:30 and stopped at Longcreek Mills and did some shopping for thread.  I bought a couple of cones to use on the longarm and a large cone of kitchen cotton to use to knit more dishcloths. 

We then went to the shopping center where Mary Jo’s is and had lunch at Longhorn.  There were a few margaritas involved but I managed with a diet coke.

After lunch we went to Mary Jo’s and a lot of shopping went on.  If you haven’t been there, it takes a lot of time to see everything.  They have notions, fashion fabric and a lot of quilting cotton.

Since I work in a quilt shop, I don’t buy fabric very often from other places but I did find a few things that we don’t carry.  I am always looking for black and whites so picked up these.

Also, the Saturday Sampler for this past year was black and white with another color added.  Each person chose their own color and I had decided on yellow.  I found these great fabrics for the border, backing and binding.

One of the other types of fabric that I am attracted to is Day of the Dead.  First I found these skeletons on lime green. 

Then I found this fabric that had the look of Day of the Dead without screaming it.  When I looked at the end of the bolt I loved the name of the fabric – Wake the Dead.

We had a great time and somehow discovered a couple of bottles of wine and hard lemonade that were consumed on the trip home, along with chips and salsa.  Teresa then brought out a big platter of cookies and brownies.

After dropping Dave off at his condo, we headed back to the mall and arrived there around 8 in the evening.  The cost of the trip was the same as the bus would have been but was a lot more fun – although I really like the bus trip also and hope we get enough people to do it again.  Maybe next year.

Melinda

Update on Beginning Machine Piecing Class

Just wanted to post a couple of photos of the latest blocks by my beginners in the class.  We learned to make flying geese blocks this week.

They stressed over the points and getting the blocks the right size but they turned out great in the end.  We are taking a break next week as my guild had a trip to Mary Jo’s in North Carolina scheduled.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get enough people to sign up so we had to cancel.

Last week, Tina approached me and asked if I wanted to go in a limo on the same day.  We will spend the same amount of money for the transportation but there will only be a few of us going.  We are planning on starting early and having Mimosa’s on the way there.  I can’t wait.

Melinda

 

New Quilt to Start

I am so excited about the new quilt I am going to make for the shop.  Look at this great fabric.

I can’t believe how much I love this line.  It is by Timeless Treasures and is called Kiwi by Alice Kennedy.  It has my favorite colors in it.  I love my black and whites and to have them with my favorite neutral lime green (or kiwi as it is called in this line).

The prints will be the blocks, the black is the inner border with the larger piece of lime green in the back as the outer border.  The plain lime green will be the binding and the black print in the back will be the backing. 

I started cutting it tonight but have to finish up the polka dot quilt first.  I got all those blocks finished today and hope to piece the top tomorrow.

Melinda

 

Booty Swap Received

I received my little quilt from the Booty Swap yesterday and really love it.  It uses the same colors as the one I made for Liz.  Since I love the colors and wanted to keep that one for myself, I am glad I got this one.  Thank you to Anjea for this wonderful little quilt.  It will go so nicely in my kitchen.

Here is the back of it.

Look what else she made for me – a wonderful red and white dish cloth. 

I really love dish cloths and mine are getting pretty terrible looking.  This one is so nice that I hate to actually use it but I will.

Melinda

I am a Winner

I entered a few giveaways recently and was lucky enough to win not just one but two of them.

First this wonderful tote bag came from Nancy. It is made from Charisma which is one of my favorite lines from Moda.  I made a tote from this fabric but gave it away at Christmas so am delighted to have one of my own – especially one that I did not make myself.

The other one I won was a BIG bag of scraps from Minick and Simpson.  I love their fabrics and they even sent a couple of patterns.

I love both of the packages.  The scraps even include selvages!

Melinda

Booty Swap

I sent out two swaps last week and just received word that the second one was received.  Liz wrote a very nice thank you note and seems to like everything I sent.

This is a photo of what I sent to her along with a better photo of the mini quilt.

Liz said she would like a small quilt to hang in her kitchen.  She also said that her kitchen is Campbell’s soup colors – so is mine so it was easy to decide what to make.  We were also to send a tea towel so I appliquéd a flower on the towel from the same fabric I used on the border.

Melinda

Friendship Stars – Beginning Machine Quilting Class

We had another great week at the Beginning Machine Quilting class last week.  They worked on half square triangles for the first time and did some friendship blocks.

We tried different ways of making half square triangles.  First we cut squares that were 7/8 inch larger than the finished square.  We then cut them in half diagonally and sewed the triangles together.  One student liked this method because she doesn’t have a 1/4 inch foot and measures her seam using a piece of tape we put on her machine.

Next we tried the same sized squares but drew a line diagonally and sewed 1/4 inch on each side of the line.  We then cut them and some of them measured correctly and some didn’t.

Next we added 1 inch instead of 7/8 and did the same thing.  They then learned how to use their 6 1/2 inch ruler to square up the blocks.  This seemed to work out best for one of them.  I like this method myself but really do hate all the squaring up.  I guess it is worth it to have them the right size though.

 

Above are the blocks the girls made.  How do you make half square triangles?

Melinda

Basket Swap

I join in a May Basket Swap with Susan on her blog.  I did the Halloween one also and had a great time.  Sandy and I were partners and she received my package over the weekend.  I forgot to take a photo before I sent it out but she included one with her thank you note.

As you can probably see, I sent her one of the baskets that I made from a Moda Bake Shop pattern.  I included a few other things that I hope she enjoys.

If you get a chance to join one of Susan’s swaps I recommend it.

Melinda