A Little Sewing Help

Last night my sister came over (from across the street) to do a little sewing.  Well, I did the sewing and cutting and she did some pinning and designing.  She's making some fun shabby chic bags for her little

shop -- the design is still top secret so no picutres yet.  She's still working out some of her ideas.

This is what she brought over to help us relax -- sewing is very stressful for her!

As you can tell, this is the AFTER picture.  I'm proud to say our seams were straight!

We actually had a glass a piece so that's not excessive at all!  And I had the best night's sleep I've had in months.  I usually struggle to sleep past 5 a.m.  You can see part of my latest quilt top finishes with calculations for backings and bindings.

Next time she comes over, she said she's bringing cheese and crackers with the wine.  This could eventually lead to dinner and dessert too.

Pillowcases

I hosted a pillowcase making workshop at my home recently. We were making them for a local children's cancer foundation. Now, most of the ladies do not sew -- we had a lot of fun telling junior high home ec stories while having dessert! My good friend and I were the teachers/coordinators of the sewing activities. We had them using a ruler, rotary cutter, folding the layers like a taco, trimming, pressing and making french seams. It really was a blast. Unfortunately, there were technical difficulties with the camera settings so my husband did a makeover with me.

These are a couple of the cute pillowcases we made! And here's another picture of some in various phases of completion. We need to have another night of sewing to finish this round of them.

Another Finished Quilt

I was busy sewing quilt binding and a hanging sleeve on this quilt while I pretended to watch the Super Bowl.  This quilt is "Back Home Again" with the pattern and fabrics designed by Kaye England. 

There are twelve blocks.  Each block is made in a finished 12" size and a 6" size with borders, a square in a square finish.  Here's an example of a block in each size:

They really look different, don't they?

I just loved this border print, the floral is so lucsious, don't you think?

And I was a good quilt finisher, adding a hanging sleeve (this will be hung in our dining room eventually)

and a quilt label (which should be on every quilt).

A Hot Ticket!

It seems we've been able to fit some fabulous shows into our schedule and budget lately.  We went to see The Lion King last week at Mandalay Bay.  They were running a locals special tickets so these tickets were half price -- a very sweet deal!

I will admit, the Lion King story was not one of my favorite Disney tales -- I'm more of a Disney

princess kind of girl. But this show is spectacular!  The costumes, sets, live music (including two incredible bongo players) and puppets make this show spellbinding.  The giraffes were all of our favorites.  My mom had an aisle seat and almost got hit by an elephant as they came down the aisle and onto the stage.  Seeing the show live made me fall in love with the story.  I know this Broadway production is playing in many cities and theaters around the country.  Go see it if you can!  I wish we did years ago.

Happy Valentines Day

I just love Valentines Day because I love receiving Valentine cards.  I love making valentines and giving them to special people.  I was lucky enough to receive flowers from my wonderful husband.  He knows I love tulips and we live in the desert, so they don't grow here.  That makes them especially fabulous to receive.  We'll have a special dinner tonight, I don't going out on Valentines Day or Mother's Day because of the crowds.  Here's a picture of some of my Valentine cards and goodies.  It was hard to fit everything in the picture.

Be Fabulous

We've always told our daughters to "be fabulous" when they had a big audition, try-out, test, interview, game, etc.  We were in a beautiful quilt shop in June in Springfield, UT and I saw a pattern that said "dare to be fabulous".  Well, I just had to buy it to make for my girls.  My friends loved it so much they made them too.  This is one of them for you to see:

I just love the little crown she is wearing.  I used some fun floss colors instead of the

pattern colors.  For my other daughter, I used her sorority colors.  I don't

have a picture of it because it's at her place.  I found the fun frame at

Joann's for a steal.  Do you think they're fabulous?

February Quilt Finish

This is my first (I'm feeling optimistic here) finish for February.  I just love

these diamonds.  My dear friend Loretta found the pattern in an

old quilt magazine.  This was our Park City project in June.  We were invited

to join a friend who was house and dog sitting so we all

packed up our fabric and sewing machines for a mini quilting

retreat.  It's so much fun to see a quilt made in such

different fabrics.  This was mine:

These are not typical colors or fabrics for me but I love the way

the quilt looks.  The brown border really does look great

and frames the quilt nicely.  I really hate it when I spend

a lot of time ensuring fabrics aren't touching, consult with my

quilitng friends and then look:  (sorry for the blurriness)

I think I get too anxious to sew all the rows together and make a mistake

like this!  It would be nice to notice it before sewing on the binding!

I think one of the best things about this quilt is the way

the diamonds intersect the border:

Doesn't it look cool!

Valentine Stitching

This is a Valentine pillow I made years ago.  It's several different

stitches you fill in by coloring with crayons!

Isn't that the best -- you get to color with

crayons.  I had to buy my own box of 64 colors

for the project, just because!  I always loved my own box

of 64 with the built in sharpener when I was growing up.

I love this pillow so much, it stays out all year.

It's February!

It's February!

This is one of my favortie months.  I LOVE Valentine's Day.  It's my

second favorite holiday.  I just love making Valentines and

giving them to friends and family.  I guess that means I'll

be making them soon and posting them here.  February is the month

of both my sisters' birthdays and it was also my dear Grandpa's.

The Presidents' Day Holiday mid-month is always a great

three day weekend.  I always loved to hear the

stories about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln --

I grew up in the Land of Lincoln!  My favorite color is red!

I hope to show you some fun and special projects this month.  

"Love is in the Air".