39 Years

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband Bob! The 39 years have flown by!

Kelly

Babies!

I have been bursting with some very exciting news for a couple of months now! My son Colin and his wife Jenny are expecting twins this summer! Our whole family is so excited and looking forward to the blessed event.

 Baby A

Baby B

Isn't amazing what an ultrasound can show you? I love their little legs and teensy tiny feet.

My daughter Caitlin is due in 3 weeks, and with the twins coming in the summer we will have 3 new grandchildren this year! Life is good!

On cloud 9,
Kelly

Quilt Retreat

Mix It Up by Lori Holt

Our Penn Oaks Quilt Retreat was last week. We were at a new place this year and it was a hit! Everyone loved it and they were very accomodating. If you are in the Lancaster County area and want to find a nice place to stay, check out the Amish View Inn. It's between Intercourse and Bird In Hand PA.
This block is going to be a mini quilt for the auction, all I have left to do is quilt it.

These are the leftovers that I showed last week, all quilted and it just needs a binding.

Yes another Sew Together Bag! I helped a couple of ladies with the instructions...

My nine patch swap blocks got a start. This is not what I had planned but I am not unsewing them!

All of my maple leaves are sewn but not together.
So I worked on 5 of the 6 projects I brought but did not finish any of them. Next year I need to focus on my packing, I forgot a lot of things and sewed things wrong, every day. We even had more room than we usually do!

Kelly

Bright Scraps

Remember these scraps from yesterday?

These were the blocks I made, I am not sure why the bottom left looks so much smaller...... While I enjoy these blocks, they immediately became tedious. I just don't think I have it in me to make many more. I may be able to squeeze out 5 for a small wallhanging.

So last night I started sewing those scraps together, it started out pretty good. Then I got all "artsy" and added that black, ummmm, no not working. Once again it was at night, when will I learn?

This is much better to my eye. I am going to try and quilt it differently than just straight lines, maybe some curves, stay tuned.

If you have never been in a Quilt Along, you may want to give this easy block called Flower Box  a try. Go over to Lori Holt's blog Bee In My Bonnet She will have all the information you need to make the block. Super easy and fun.

Kelly

SparklyTuesday

I know that no one in New England wants to hear this, but the snow that fell last night {4"} was all beautiful and sparkly this morning. I love the shadows of the trees and how blue the snow looked.

I cut some strips from my hand dyes, why oh why am I hoarding saving them?

Drafted a paper pieced pattern.....sewed a few blocks.....

Then found my self strangely drawn to the scraps....

Kelly

Weekend Sewing

I totally forgot to post this vintage pin cushion on Saturday. Isn't it sweet? Does it get any better than pink velvet?

I even love the beads, sequins and GOLD ric rac! I am guessing the person that made this loved to sew.

My husband was away this weekend to visit his mom so I sewed late into the night. I found these Work In Progress Bags by Crazy Mom Quilts and thought they would be a nice simple project. The vinyl takes some getting used to but it is a fun project and useful. The above bag is 14" x 18", I have my next Sew Together Bag in there with everything I need ready to sew.

This one did not turn out as well, truth be told, but I was tired and should not have been sewing. It was supposed to be 9" x 12" and I cut it wrong so it is 9" x 9". It still works for my Posey bocks.

Just to keep it real, this is a very badly installed zipper, again I plead tiredness. It is functional though... There are tips in the pattern for sewing with vinyl, save the tissue that comes with the vinyl, it helps! I also used a zipper foot and a walking foot which she does not. I on the other hand need all the help I can get.

Kelly

Hexie Friday

I couldn't help myself, the hexagons were just sitting on my table, begging me to put them into a quilt!
This is going for the Penn Oaks Quilt Guild mini quilt auction in May. If you are interested in coming to the show you can get the details HERE.
Everyone is working real hard heading down the homestretch. For a small guild we put on a great show!

I love the VW micro mini bus, it adds some fun.

I am enjoying my amaryllis a little late but it's perfect for Valentine's day. I got them at Target in January for $6 complete with a turquoise vase! Those colors are perfect for me.
Enjoy your day with your sweetheart tomorrow!

Kelly

Applique Circle Tutorial and Challenge Quilts

These are the the challenge quilts from our guild meeting yesterday. Aren't they great? They will be going to veterans to hang in their homes. Lots of creativity!
While I was at guild a lot of members asked me, along with some emails to do a tutorial on my appliqued circles. So here you go.

First get some office dots. They come in different sizes and I have made some using them as small as 1/4", Find a size that works for your project.

Place the dot, sticky side down on your fabric (it does not matter which side). Cut out a small seam allowance all the way around. You don't want it too big or too small. I would say less than 1/4" but larger than 1/8".

Take the dot off your fabric and place the un-sticky side down on the wrong side of the fabric. The fabric I am using is a hand dye.

This may feel awkward and you may have to try it a few times......place it on a magazine or some kind of padding so you don't ruin your table. Hold down the center with a large quilting pin and grab a toothpick.

Sorry about the pictures, my husband was helping.....Take your toothpick and start sweeping the edges onto the sticky part of the dot.

Try to keep the pleats  as even as possible so you don't get any dents. If you do they are easy to fix. After you are completely finished, use your fingers to spread them out.

As you work your way around, the circle will twirl on the pin.

See how I have those even pleats? That will happen after you try it a few times.

When you are finished it will looks something like this. The sticky part will not hold it indefinitely so you want to make these as you need them, not ahead of time.

Not only does it make it easy to place them but the sticky holds it down nicely so you don't need pins. Just hold your thumb on top of it. I would start stitch at the bottom by the stem.
After you stitch it down, you will want to trim the fabric from the back and take the dot out. It comes out very easy.

There you go, perfect circles!
If you have any questions be sure to leave a comment or email me.

Kelly

Gloom But No Doom

Yet another gloomy wintery Monday.  Our guild meeting was canceled tonight and was also canceled last month. March is going to have some awesome Show & Tell!
I have been pecking away on the long lost UFO. I will be honest this took forever because I need to stitch at night and I don't feel like it.

So now there are 3, the last one is not sewn to the blue one. I am thinking of doing a tutorial on the circles as I have gotten a lot of emails about them. Want to see? I will need to get my husband to help with the pictures.

Does your sewing room EVER look like this? I went in with every intention of trying to decide how to set my house swap blocks together. I dumped out a mostly low volume basket, made one block and decided to clean out my scraps, the basket was over flowing.

I got the reds down to about a half container, not bad. Can you guess which container had the most scraps? No not pink.

I have them all tidied up to sell at our quilt show, May 1 & 2 in Ludwig's Corner. I have them sorted by color and have at least one that is all Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I am thinking of doing a novelty fabric one too. People seem to like buying scraps and I will say I packed them up good!

Believe it or not this is an improvement! I still have a ways to go....

Kelly

Our House Is A Very, Very,Very Fine House

House block from Quilty Fun by Lori Holt

A few months ago Barb from Fun With Barb asked me if I wanted to do a house swap. We had 2 months to make them  so I said yes. I had a fun time making my houses but boy oh boy did the rest of the group knock it out of the park.

This is the same as the first house I just put an addition on to the top!

For this one I wonder undered the windows to keep the window pane effect.

The blocks could be any size and any technique but they had to be modern type fabrics and colors.

These are from Robin, I love the added ric rac, it adds a fun touch. I like how she mixed those fabrics too  The even funnier part is that a lot of those fabrics are mine! She got them at an auction at our guild.

These are Barb's blocks. I love that vintage gal holding the cake and the Halloween block!

Here is a close up of one of Barb's blocks, how fun!

These are Susan's blocks and I love the whimsical nature of her houses. I wish now I would have done mine more wonky, but I can always add some to the bunch.

This was a fun swap and if you have never tried one, do it with a few friends to see how it works so it is not overwhelming. I am so excited to see how these turn into a quilt, thank you ladies!

Kelly