Happy News!

This makes 3 new grandsons this year! Yeah!!

Kelly

Vintage and New

I have had little time to sew in the past 2 weeks. It does make me feel a little anxious when I have to go for a long time without a needle in my hand!
Yesterday I whipped up this little doll quilt in just a few hours. It felt good to sew, accomplish something and break every rule I impose on myself. The rules I broke were to stitch in the ditch. I don't like the way it looks but I felt this would be ruined with quilting all over it. I did free motion around the center motif. I could not find a fabric that I liked for the binding so I did it pillowcase style, another technique I don't like but for this it worked. The pink fabric with the diamond shapes is driving me crazy because it looks off kilter. Most of the fabrics are by Tula Pink.

This quilt was the inspiration for my quilt. While I love it, I want to make quilts using fabrics that are current today. Many years from now I want someone to say "oh this was made during this time period, you can tell by the fabrics".

If you are even remotely interested in quilting, you know there is a little mini quilt revolution going on, they are everywhere! I can see the appeal, something quick and fast and easy to hang in a small space.

I was happy to remember that I had some vintage/antique doll quilts in my pile of quilts.

So I dug them out to see if they would inspire me.

I think this one is the oldest of the 4 I own. It is all hand pieced with no quilting or batting. When I bought it years ago is was filthy, I did wash it even though it is in a very fragile state.

I am wondering if a child repaired this, I hope so I find it charming!

I have a huge library and never, ever feel guilty about buying a book. Even though I bought some of these 20+ years ago, I still find inspiration in them, even though my taste in fabrics have changed.

Did you hear?

Finally Pyrex got the message that we love vintage Pyrex and maybe they could make something cuter than a plain glass bowl! Lynne L I had you in mind when I was buying these! They are celebrating 100 years of Pyrex.
To keep up with the vintage vibe today, did you know fifty years ago today Stop In The Name Of Love came out?  Man do I feel old, but LOVE that song.

Hopefully now that things have calmed down around here I will be back to posting more regularly.
Have a great weekend!

Kelly

The Good and the Bad

First the good......baby Finn is shaping up to be a very good baby! I have been busy going over to my daughter's house to give her a hand and keep them fed, driving her to Dr appts and in general making sure she gets some rest during the day!

LOVE this!

The bad is I have not had a minute to sew or do anything creative. In a few days or weeks that will come back, right now I am just enjoying our newest family member.

One of my must do things was to bake these spool cookies for our quilt show. We have sewing themed cookies for sale that are just darling. I hope if you are local you are planning to come. The dates are May 1 and 2, 2015 and you can get more information HERE. It will be held the same place as 2 years ago at the Ludwig's Fire Hall right near Ludwig's Corner. Hope to see you there!

Kelly

Silent Friday

Happy 1st day of Spring, we have 5" of snow!

Kelly

Pink and Purple

Thank you for all the congratulations and well wishes on my new grandson, Finn! So far he is such a good baby, let's hope it lasts!
Yesterday I went over to help my daughter and brought a dinner for them. Maddy asked me to make her a new pouch for her markers.

When I got home she texted me and asked me to send her some pictures of pink and purple fabric so she could choose which ones she wanted. Many texts later, this is what she came up with.

She specifically asked for a pocket inside and a blue zipper. I added the tag so she will remember who made it (-:

I added the purple sparkly ribbon tag and a little butterfly charm to help open the zipper.

I was surprised to find this at JoAnne's today. Lotta Jansdotter fabric. It seems like a lot of the designers are going to the chain stores. It wasn't a bargain at $12.00+ a yard!

I thought I would give you an update on the auction I told you about here. They raised over $12,000 and my Sew Together Bag took in a bid for $170.00! There was a bid for $180.00 but she was too late. Needless to say I was very happy it did so well. So a nice lady in Belgium will be enjoying the fruits of my labor for a good cause. Congratulations Martine!

Kelly

Baby Finn!

I can't think of a better way to celebrate St Patrick's Day than to announce the newest member of the family. Finnegan Patrick Kelly was born on Friday to the delight of all the family. His big sister Maddy was very excited to have a baby brother.

A milk induced sleep. Does it get any better than this?

It's been a crazy couple of days and I have been on mom mom duty. I am hoping to be back to the quilt world soon, but for now I will be smelling that baby smell and rejoicing!

Kelly

Fabric

How cute is this fabric? It would work perfect in a baby quilt....

I couldn't resist these either.....

or these......You can find them at The Quilt Block 610-363-0404.

Kelly

Auction For Eleni

I know, you are thinking, "haven't we already seen this?" Well yes you have and I hope you really, really, desire it too and wish to pay a lot of money for it. There is an auction this weekend called Auction For Eleni that I think is a worthwhile cause. Many people have donated items and you can too if you would like. The auctions starts on March 14 and March 15 HERE.

When you blog you connect with some people and end up being "friends". You may email back and forth, take classes from them or just feel like you know them from following along on their blogs. No matter what, it is one of the best things I have ever done. So if you would like to read more about the reason for the auction you can go HERE. 
Starting bid is $40 and I will ship anywhere at my cost.

Kelly

2015 Challenge Quilts

Our quilt challenge was last night at the Penn Oaks Quilt Guild. We had to find a cliche and make a quilt, this was mine. Here are the rest in no particular order.....oh before I forget, lots of people have asked about the glue tip to use on your bindings. I found it HERE.

Kelly

DST

A little bit of sewing that makes me think of spring. I was trying this out for a baby quilt....not sure yet.
Ok now my rant about Daylight Savings Time....why did they change it to so early in the not-yet- spring? It was finally getting light in the morning and now we are back to darkness. It is too cold (and snowy) to be outside in the evening to enjoy it. Maybe I am just cranky because I lost that hour of sleep......not to mention it has thrown off my day completely!

This is the center of the wedding quilt I made for my son Colin and his wife Jenny. The applique was coming off and I procrastinated about how to sew it back down. Obviously the silk thread did not hold up and trying to applique the pieces on an already washed quilt was not appealing either.

The veins were machine quilted by the quilter and I decided to free motion around the edges of the leaves. Looks good and I know it will not come apart. Problem solved! Now they will get it back in a reasonable time and before the babies are born!

Kelly

Beautiful Women

Caitlin at 38 1/2 weeks and Jenny at 14 1/2 weeks

My daughter Caitlin and daughter in law Jenny have been friends since college. They were roommates and shared an apartment together with some other girls. They always talked about how fun it would be to be pregnant at the same time. Their wish has been granted and I for one am so happy they will be raising the next group of grandchildren together. It will be fun to watch them be moms. Caitlin is having a boy and we will find out soon if Jenny is having boys, girls or a boy and a girl. Any guesses????

Kelly

Snowy Sew Day

Last October I was in a 9 patch swap that Barb of Fun With Barb hosted. I have  200 - 3 1/2" nine patches. I have been letting them sit until an idea of how to put them together comes to me.
I took them with me to our retreat 2 weeks ago and started sewing them together. I should have brought my sketch so I would remember how I was setting them. I sewed them all wrong and was not unsewing them.

So now I am putting them together totally different than the original plan. I even made 52 more so it would be a good size. It will measure up at 63" x 72" a perfect size to use for a nap!

The more I looked at the "new" design on my design board, the more I liked the simplicity of it.

These are all I have left to sew together into a 9" block. I will finish them up tonight, because....

it is snowing.....Right now we have a little over 8" and it hasn't stopped yet. My husband just left for the night to go out and plow so I will have the whole evening to myself.

What is it about a snowy day that makes you want to drink hot tea and eat 50 cookies? I love the name of this one.

I will finish this tonight. Not my usual genre but I did like it. Did you read it?

Kelly