Long Beach Quilt Festival & Finished Projects

John, Sandy & I attended the Long Beach Quilt Festival yesterday. We had a good time and I bought some fun projects to do in the next few months. I bought a quilt kit at the 'Square in a Square' booth, a purse pattern, and fabric to make 3 purses.

John, Brenda, & Sandy at the Long Beach Quilt Festival yesterday.

Sandy made this stunning quilt.
I quilted it for her using a Herky, Jerky design.

I have been working on this quilt for my friend Toni. She loves the beach. When she saw the pattern, she said she had to have one. It has taken me awhile to get it done for her but it is finally finished.

Gifts from the Sea

Pattern by Verna Mosquera

The next quilt I started with my friend Anna. She had picked out this pattern a few years ago. I said I would like to make one so a few weeks ago we finally got together and started making our quilts. I wonder if Anna has finished her quilt.

Mexican Star

Pattern by Annette Ornelas

And finally, I made another 'Letty's Bag' in black & white since that's what I usually wear.

Letty's Bag
Pattern by Robin Gallagher

Mama Made a Brand New Bag!

I found a pattern I loved at the 'Quilt Cupboard' in Garden Grove. The pattern is called "Letty's Bag" by Robin Gallagher. It took me a day to make it. Once I started working on it I couldn't stop. It has so much room in it and I love all the pockets. Think I will take it to the Long Beach Quilt Festival this coming Friday. Can't wait!

Maude

Here's Maude.... isn't she darling? The pattern is from the Holiday Redwork CD by 'The Stitch Connection'. I can't wait to do more.

Mini Sweetheart Quilt

I used the embroidery machine to make the hearts for this quilt. I think it's so sweet so I'm calling it the 'Mini Sweetheart Quilt'.

' Mini Sweetheart Quilt'

Luke's 8th Grade Graduation

Our grandson, Luke, graduated from the 8th grade today. I'm so proud of him!!

From left to right are:

Brenda, Nicole, Audrey, Richard, Luke, Elmer, Jeff, & John. Missing from the picture is Rachel who was taking the picture.

Luke & Nicole

Luke

Sandy, for you.....

I made this little pincushion for Sandy. I used my embroidery machine and a pattern from a book called 'Piece in the Hoop'. Sandy loves red, white, & blue fabric so this is perfect for her.

Carry Me Bag

I finally decided to make the 'Carry Me Bag' (pattern by Bunnyhill Designs). It was the first time I made a bag using Timtex which is a heavy duty interfacing. It gave the bag stability. The pattern called for 1 1/2" ribbon but it was too big for the look I wanted so I used a 1" satin ribbon. It took me quite a bit of time to make the bag because I'm not an experienced bag maker but it was worth it. I'm pleased with the outcome.

I should mention that my friend Barbara inspired me to get busy and make the bag. She posted hers on Facebook.

More New Projects

Good morning! I have a few new projects to share.

I made a hexagon afghan that I shared April 11, 2010. It turned out to be too heavy for me so I gave it to Toni. She likes to wrap up in a warm blanket so I figured she would love the heavier afghan and she does!

To make this afghan lighter, I put a single crochet around each hexagon instead of double crocheting another round. I also used an H hook instead of a G hook which made this afghan less dense.

Second Hexagon Afghan

The following pictures are pillows I made with my embroidery machine and a Michelle's Designs pattern. It helped me to get familiar again with my embroidery machine again. It was the first time I ever did cutwork and puffing strips. The puffing strips are gathered strips on the sides of the pillow with the butterfly embroidered on it.

I'm very pleased with the way the pillows turned out.

I took my first class last week for a 'Hoop Sisters' project at Moore's Sewing Center. It's a block of the month quilt made with the embroidery machine. The fabric I chose to use is by 'Thimbleberries' and I really like the way the first block turned out. Here is a link to see an example of the pattern: http://hoopsisters.com/catalog/block_month.php

Bunnyhill just released the next snowman block so I will be working on it soon. I still have last year's BOM to put together and quilt.

And.... I finally got started on quilting the 'Gifts from the Sea' quilt for Toni. It will take me some time to do because I'm quilting it on my regular sewing machine. The twisting and turning is hard for me to do so I have to do alittle at a time.

WOW, I'm a busy gal. Guess I better get the day started sewing again!

One Million Pillowcase Challenge

I was given a stash of fabric last year and wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it. I finally made good use of it. I made 49 pillowcases with John's help. He buried all the thread ends and turned the pillowcases to the right side!

I donated 30 pillowcases to the Quilt Cupboard in Garden Grove for the One Million Pillowcase Challenge. You can read about the challenge here: http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/millionpillowcases/index.html

The rest of the pillowcases were shared with Nicole, Toni, and myself.

It was really fun to make the pillowcases and a pleasure to donate them for comforting others.

Janet's Quilt

Jack & Janet Downey came to visit us a couple of months ago and I showed Janet how to do an outline stitch to embroider the 'A Tisket - A Tasket' quilt, a free pattern at Bunny Hill Designs.

Janet completed the blocks "in record time", her words!

I completed the quilt, just finished it this morning.

Janet, I hope you like the quilt. Will be sending it to you as soon as I share it with my friend Sandy.

I just finished the label this morning.

My favorite block

Dave & Barbara's Visit

I love it when Barb & Dave come to visit. Dave is a 'natural' when it comes to cooking. This visit, he made seafood soup, chicken tetrazzini, chicken tenders, and chicken enchiladas with Mexican rice. All of it was fantastic.

We played cards every night and I whipped 'em all. Not to brag, but I won all but 2 or 3 games. (hee hee!!)

Went to the farmer's market at the Huntington Beach Pier on Friday. That's where the picture of Barb & Dave was taken.

John, Barbara, & I went to swap meet on Saturday.

On Monday, we went to Pechanga. Wish I could have had the luck with me that I had in cards. I didn't win a thing. John hit $400 and Barb won a few times. They both played Keno. Dave did okay at the tables but didn't come out ahead.

We also visited Mom's niche at the Crystal Cathedral. It is so peaceful there.

I think we all had a great time. Barb & Dave got the rest and relaxation they needed.

Barb & Dave at the Huntington Beach Pier

Project Updates

Luke's finished quilt and here's what I've been doing with all that yarn.......

I have Janet's quilt on the frame and will be trying some of the new functions on my Q-BOT to quilt it.

Since today was so gloomy, I just had to have some comfy food. I made chipped beef gravy with biscuits. OMG.... it hit the spot!

Think I will go out to the frame and start quilting.

Bye for now!

Crocheting Mood

I'm in the mood to make an afghan like this:

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/hexagon-howto.html

It's bright and cheerful. Humm...may have to make a quilt to go with it.

Latest Projects

I'm finally posting some of my latest projects.

I made this quilt for Nicki's guest room.

This quilt is for my niece, Jackie.

Below is a picture of the back of the quilt.

I just started this quilt for Luke's bedroom.

January Came & Gone!

I had a busy & fun month.

Barbara, Bonnie, & Ryann came to visit. We had a good time as always. We cooked, shopped, went to the crepe restaurant, saw the movie 'It's Complicated', some played Yatzee & worked on John's puzzle. Barb & John went to Pechanga and both came home winners.

Bonnie made the best cabbage rolls using an 'Emeril' recipe. They were so good.

Nicki & Ryann put charm squares together for placemats for Ryann. I started sewing them but there wasn't enough time to get them done for her to take home.

Here's a few pictures taken during our visit.

This was taken at Nicki's house.

Nicki made Aunt Jo's spagetti and the 'Macaroni Grill' bread.

It was so good!

We went to the pier after having lunch at the crepe restaurant. It took longer to figure out the parking meter than the time we spent on the pier because it was so cold that day.

This was taken in the crepe restaurant at Belmont Shores.

I will post pictures of the projects I have been working on very soon.