March UFO

It's me again!  I'm so proud of this finished UFO.  I posted a little about this project last year.  The quilt is Sylvia's Bridal Quilt from the Elm Creek Quilter's series.  We made this in my quilt club.  I showed a few completed blocks.  My goal was to complete all 140 blocks in the book but I ran out of dark fabrics.  I could not get the fabric anywhere and had to be content with 120 blocks.  Here's my quilt!

This is a big quilt!  It's hard to capture all of it in one picture.  Here are some sections of this fabulous piece.

I think this will be our summer bed quilt.  I love these on our bed.  It's fun to study each block and remember what it was like to make it.  Now, some of these were big challenges and took 2-3 hours to make.

March Craft Night

We had a great time this month at my sister's house.  We made a simple craft, although it took some time.  The supplies were simple -- an old hardcover book, glue gun and glue sticks and lots of coffee filters.  The idea came from this magazine.

I mentioned this magazine in an earlier post.  I think I'll make my way down to Barnes and Noble to buy a copy for myself.  Here is the project article.

And here are our finished projects.

I think they are lovely.  Mine will find a special spot in my new sitting room -- whenever that gets finished!

Burlap Apron

My mom has a subscription to the magazine, Mary Jane Farm.  It is a fabulous little magazine with lots of fun projects, most very practical and easy.  My sister saw a picture of a clothespin apron and said, "this sure would be cute in burlap with a little lace on the pocket.  So I whipped one up for her belated birthday present.  She forgot she wanted it at first.  So it really was a surprise for her -- the best kind of gift.  Here are a few pictures.

Here it is packaged according to the article's directions, the clothespins are tucked inside.

Here she is modeling the apron.  It can be worn or tied up and hung on your clothesline with the clothespins handy for hanging laundry.  The burlap did get difficult to sew through and I broke a few needles!  The lace is some old stuff I've had for many years.  I used muslin for the ties.  Cute, huh?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We aren't Irish so there isn't a lot of celebrating here.  We do wear some green but none of that Irish cooking or green bear.  We will use our coasters for our Diet Coke though!  Celebrate safely.

February UFO

I continue on my quest to finish a UFO each month.

This quilt was started at my group's annual Lake Tahoe sew in -- or we sometimes call it a sweat shop!  We traded our scraps to make this 91" X 91" quilt -- I think it is pretty cool looking.

 That's my tiny label in the corner.  I helped my group make a little Lake Tahoe patch for their quilt -- but alas, where is mine?  Who knows!  My good friend Loretta gave me a special friendship panel to add to mine and it is back there.

This quilt will be used to keep us warm in the family room when we sit around, relax and watch TV in the evenings.

Beloved Pillows

Our home used to have a cottage look, filled with bright colors and lots of vintage items.  We are changing our look and moving to a range of neutrals with a more elegant/sophisticated style.  Those photos will be coming soon.  This is a work in progress that will be ongoing through the summer.  These are some of the beloved pillows I've had in our living room for years. 

A few will stay forever like the red and white yo yo pillow.  My mom made that for me.  I love the scottie pilow, the lovebirds and the southern belle.  I know my sister has her eye on a few and they will be hers when the next changes take place.

Book Club selection

This was one of Oprah's Book Club selections -- in fact a fairly recent selection.  We will be reading it in our book club this summer.  We like to have the option of buying in paperback to decrease our investment.   I just bought it for my Ipad but had checked it out from the library.  I will never get it read in three weeks so it's going back.  There is a long waiting list for it.

Jonathen Franzen is an amazing author.  I also started his book, The Corrections, but did not have time to finish it before the due date.  This is about some yuppie parents who hit a midlife crisis and their personnas change from environmental lawyer and organic everything mom to something else -- haven't gotten there yet!

Fabric Helpers

This was a bit of home repair/remodeling we had not counted on.  A few days before Christmas our 20+ year old washing machine decided to give up and flood our laundry room (just a minor flood but enough to damage some wood flooring).  So we set out to replace our old pair with something new and updated, especially with the energy efficiency.  I've had a couple months to get used to the new machines and LOVE them.  These clothes come out of the washer with such minimal water our drying times are cut in half.

Of course, since everything had to come out, my dear husband had to paint the room.  It sure made sense to me!  Now, I have a new extra special tool for washing my beloved fabric and my creations.