Top is done for second memory quilt

Since I started training for my new job on Thursday, I didn't do much sewing the last few days.  I had already started on the second memory quilt and finished the top today.  I had to cut more fabric - mostly denim.  (If anyone close to me has jeans to get rid of, I'll be glad to take them off your hands instead of throwing them out.)

The middle of this is another one of Nel's sweatshirts.  I don't know if she made it herself or not, but it's one she wore often.

At first I was going to make it smaller than the one I made for Larry.  But this is how it was when I stopped:

It was too long and thin, so I added another row of denim on each side. This is the finished top:


And I added the same label to this one - I have them all made, so all I have to do is iron them on and sew around the edges:


 Tomorrow (Monday, Nov 16th) we have another quilt class at church.  This time Jean picked a table runner and we were to pick out Christmas fabric.  It took me a while yesterday, but I finally got all the fabric cut.  This is most of it:


These are the fabrics I'm using:  

The off-white will be the main background, the green will be the large inner border, the striped will be a thin border and binding, and the rest of the Christmas fabric will be the star.  The pattern is called "Shooting Stars".  Here is the blog of the designer and it shows a picture of a finished one.



I have more training all week for work, then we'll be on the telephone answering calls.  I'm excited to get back to work!

Placemats!!!!!

Since I have the tablerunner done, I decided to get a new tablecloth because I was tired of the cheap one I had on the table. I found a really pretty off-white one while I was shopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond on Saturday morning and it was the perfect size (our table has a leaf with it, so the tablecoths I usually buy are long enough to fit when the leaf is in it). This is just a few inches bigger than the table, so it fits perfect! Anyway, I decided I didn't want the tablecloth to get too dirty right away, so decided to make a couple placemats to match the tablerunner. I started Friday night and finished them Sunday afternoon. I only used the "Friendship Star" block, but I think they turned out pretty well! I did a much better job on the stars on these than I did on the tablerunner. I ran out of the dark blue fabric, so had to use pink for the binding on one, so I guess that one will be mine and Todd can have the one with the blue binding.

Just as a re-fresher, here is the tablerunner:


Todd's placemat:


My placemat:


And here they are together on the table:


I had taken a couple other pictures (at least I thought I did), but when I uploaded them, there were only three. I was going to take a couple more, but my camera is acting up and won't let me. The LCD screen on it quit working about a year ago, and now I can't take pictures at all! I'm going to have to tell Todd I need a new camera - and the one I want costs $900!!! Anyone want to break the news to him for me???????????

Not exactly sure what my next project will be. I have a new idea for a purse that will be really cool, and I still haven't worked on my laptop case much. We'll see.

It's DONE (the tablerunner)

I stayed up a little later than usual last night to finish it. It turned out OK, but I still need more practice.

Front:


Back:


I decided to use the red for the binding since I already had cut strips. I also should have used an off-white thread in the bobbin, but the problem with that is if you don't have the tension set right, you can see the colors on the opposite side. Next time I'll try that.

Now on the the next project (not sure what it is yet, maybe work on the laptop bag).

Table runner top is almost done

We had our quilt class on Monday night again. We put all the squares together and I got the boarders on mine. I'm not too happy with the stars - I made them too small so I don't have nice crisp points showing. I only have two corners to finish - I mitered them this time and it worked pretty well.



Next I have to make the sandwich, then machine quilt it. I bought some thin batting to use at Hobby Lobby this morning, along with some blue machine quilting thread that I'll use on it.

For the back I'm just going to use some off-white muslin since I have a bunch of it in my fabric stash, and will use the blue for the binding, too.

Not sure if I'll get to it this weekend, but next week I should be able to get it done.

Blocks for Tablerunner are FINALLY DONE!

After deciding to change to the dark blue fabric, and making 6 of the blocks that I later decided were WRONG, I finally finished all the blocks last night. Today I squared all of them up, so after the next class on June 1, I'll start sewing them together. After that the boarders will be added, then decide what to use for batting and then quilt it and it will be DONE!

Here are the pictures of the finished blocks:
The Nine Patch:


The Friendship Star:


This is how they will be put together:


Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to finish a few projects that are started and have been sitting around for a while. Then I want to make a laptop case for my computer. I found a leather one (American Tourist brand) at the Caring Place (Thrift Store) for $3 last weekend, so that will give me an idea of how to make mine.

I'm taking my last day of vacation on May 29 (I guess I'll celebrate my brother's birthday by myself - lol). Not sure what I'll do, but I'm sure I'll find something.

Here are the blocks for my tablerunner

It was nice to sit down and sew for a while last night. I have a bunch of my blocks done. I also have the pieces for 6 more star blocks that need to be sewn together.

My pile of pieces:


This is how they go together:


And sewn:


This is the completed 9-patch (I didn't take pictures before it was completed - I used the strip piecing method, so that went pretty quickly):


And because I couldn't resist, I put two of the rows together to see what it looks like (we're just supposed to have the blocks done for the next quilt class on June 1):


I think for borders, I'm going to do a small border of the blue, then use the red for a larger border and probably the binding. I need to see if I have enough fabric. I may have to use the off-white for the binding, I know I have plenty of that.


Todd's grandmother was put in a Nursing Home last night. She was not happy - was really looking forward to going home, but hopefully that will be an incentive for her to get well soon so she can go home.

My parents are coming NEXT FRIDAY!!! I can't wait! Still need to do a lot of cleaning, but I decided I'm taking Wednesday (my birthday) off and will be off until the next Tuesday. (I really wanted to take Tuesday off, but my boss said it would be a lot better for him if I work on Tuesday. I'm hardly ever gone and it's been a long time since I've taken that many days off in a row, so it's going to be hard for him to actually WORK on those days!) He'll still owe me one more day of vacation before June 1st, so I may take it on the 26th, the day after Labor Day and I'd have a four day weekend then.

Well, better get going for the morning. I skipped the gym the last couple days - can I use the "Swine Flu" as an excuse??????

Another new project - FINALLY!

Our quilt class at church didn't end with the quilts, we met again on Monday night and Jean has a new project for us. We're doing a table runner this time, so it won't take near as long.

This is what she made (she didn't have hand outs for us, so I took pictures w/ my cell phone so I had something to refer back to):


We need 10 blocks of the "stars"


and 11 9 patch blocks


I still had a lot of fabric left from when I made my quilt, so I'm using that for the table runner, too. Yes, it would be nice to have it out of something different, but since I have sooo much fabric there's really no use buying more. I did use ALL of the dark blue fabric on the quilt, so I just have a light blue so I'm using that for the stars, biege for the off-white parts on both blocks, and the 9 patches will have red. I'm not sure what I'll use for the boarder yet. And I may decide to do something different with the colors once I get a few put together. I worked on the half-squares for the stars last night, so I have enough of them to do the table runner. I'll try to take pictures tonight.

And no, I still don't have the quilt entirely done. Maybe after my parents visit I'll work on it more. Now that the weather is getting warmer, the last thing I want to do is sit with a huge quilt on my lap.

In other news, Todd's 97 year old grandmother is in the hospital again having problems with her heart. The report yesterday was better and they said she may be able to go home in a couple days. She had been in the hospital a couple weeks ago, too, so this time really scared us. Logic says she won't live forever, but it's still sad.