Sewing Sisters and Friday Finishes

Well, it's our annual Sisters' Weekend and even though it's our first year without Mom, we're having a wonderful time. Do you think that maybe this has something to do with it?

 

As we've done for the past couple of years, we meet up in Nelsonville, OH and hit the Nelsonville Quilt Company.

 

 

Just look what you see as soon as you walk in the door! Ahhhhh. I think this may be what Heaven is like.

 

 



 

So, a few of the sisters have made a trip or two back to the shop and it's only Friday (I just looked at the clock and it's actually Saturday, but it still feels like Friday), but why not when there are so many friendly people who work there?

 

 

So what have we been doing here since our arrival on Wednesday? Well, since the weather hasn't really been wonderful, we've just been enjoying each others' company, fondling fabric and giving the sewing machines a workout.

 

 

Check out some of the projects that have been finished so far. Paula made a bag for Nick to carry a couple of guns and ammo. She's making another one but I don't have any pictures of it yet.

 

 

 

Barb has been busy making some vinyl mesh bags. She's also made an apron and is working on another bag, not vinyl mesh though. I'll get some pictures and post them later.

 

 

Kathy made a special bag and it is adorable!

 

 

 

Terri made this wonderful I-Pad holder and is working on another. Makes me wish I owned an I-Pad.

 

 

Ann and Pat have been busy as well, but for some reason I don't have any pictures of their projects. I'll have to fix that tomorrow.  I've sewn the binding on to a large quilt (about 102" square) and have just the hand-stitching to do on a pretty small one (about 40" x 60'). I quilted about 25 of the blocks that I'll be using in the quilt for the library and I just completed a wall hanging (38" x 47") called Cool Waters by Kate Mitchell Quilts. I bought the kit for this Wednesday afternoon at Nelsonville Quilt Company because I just loved how it looked hanging on their wall and the kit was priced nicely and included ALL the fabric needed, including the backing and binding. This was so easy and only took a few hours. I may have some batting the right size to be able to quilt this in the next day or so. Wouldn't that be cool. Completely finish a project here?

 

 

I'll be sure to take pictures of the projects that I forgot as well as the ones being worked on as I type. I'm having a wonderful time and love my sewing sisters!!

 

I've linked up to Crazy Mom Quilts Friday Finishes. Check out what other quilters are accomplishing.



Forgotten Picture

I can't believe I forgot to add this picture to my last post. I really like this picture but might have offended Lynn when I asked if I could cut off her head while cropping the photo. I just wanted a picture of the grandkids.  :-)  Do you like the big ??

Berry Picking

We went berry picking at Ellen's yesterday and the berries were GREAT! If you live close by, check out Troy Mills Strawberry Farm outside Willard, OH. It is definitely worth the trip. The bonus for the day was that the kids had a blast.

Oh and my shameless plug here is that there are still cookbooks available. (You'll understand why I say it's a shameless plug if you look at the names at the bottom of the cover.)  :-) 

Contact the farm or me if you want one. They make great gifts and are a a great at $10 each.

 

Ok, back to the berry picking adventure. Look at this crew, all ready to work. Zach and Ty were with us, but Zach was watching Ronan and I don't know where Ty was when this picture was taken. He was probably already picking berries. 

 

 

Sadie didn't really wait for instructions, she just started picking. Don't you love the boots?

 





Quinn listened closely to Nikki from instructions on how to pick the best berries.

 

And then she got to work and did a really good job. I see a summer job in her near future! I didn't see it, but I was told that she has the making for a good supervisor. She was doing a bit of quality control out in the field.

 



Here's the yield from the first trip out. The youngsters (and pregnant one) needed a break. (Nikki stayed in the field and picked a bunch more. I think the total was 37 quarts.)

 

Speaking of breaks. Look what Quinn and Sadie did on their break. I think it looks like they had fun. Quinn is getting set on the horse and boy did she swing high. (There's Zach and Ty. I knew I had a picture of them somewhere.)

 

 

I don't think Sadie quit smiling the whole time she was on the horse.

 

 

And of course Ronan woke up and had to try a berry or two. He really likes them!

 

 

Sadie was so proud of her work!

 

 

And then of course she wanted to share. She takes a bite and then wants you to take a bite . Ummmmm, no thanks. You can eat it all Sadie. (While cleaning the berries last night, we found more than one stem that definitely had half a berry on it. You could see the bite marks.)

 

 

We all had a good time and I even got some work in helping customers - just like old times.

 

Of course we had strawberry shortcake today and there are two pies chilling in the fridge.  YUMMY!!

 

Design Wall Monday

I've been piecing some backings so they are ready at a moment's notice when I have the opportunity to quilt something. Here's the backing in stages for my Disappearing Nine Patch.

I had four quarter blocks left over from piecing the front so I decided to make them into a block and put it on the back. Above it where I sewed the block in the middle of a strip and added a bigger strip on top. Below is where I'm ready to sew the bottom portion of the back together. The block is purposely NOT in the middle of the quilt backing.

 

Here's the front of the quilt.

 

 

I'm kind of scaring myself because the binding is already made for this quilt, as well as three others.

 

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.



Guest Chefs at the House

We had a couple of guest chefs at the house last night and they sure did make a great meal! The girls each made a small pizza for themselves and while they were baking, Nikki made a big one for the adults.

They're concentrating on their work and really didn't want to be bothered with having their picture taken. I think Quinn is saying something like, "Don't bother the master when she's working."

 

Don't their creations look scrumptious? Quinn mad a smiley face with pepperoni and I think Sadie's could be called a cheese lovers special.  :-)

 

 

They were so proud of their pizzas and even shared with us. What fun!!!

 

Maybe I can get them to cook one more time before they have to go home.

Friday Finishes

I haven't really been posting any "Finish It Friday" things lately, but I have some free time and I remembered to do it.  :-)

Note: I had this post ready to go almost 3 hours ago but we lost power during a thunderstorm and that put an end to the post. The power has finally come back on and I decided I better do this now or I may just forget about it again. 

I've been playing around with the borders to my Stepping Stones quilt (a Judy Niemeyer pattern) for quite a while because I just didn't like MY fabrics and placement of them in the original pattern. (I love the original quilt, just not my border fabric choices.) I toyed with the idea of just not adding any borders, but I liked that even less. Here's what I finally decided to do. The borders look much more purple than in reality. I'll try to get a better picture, but in the mean time, you get the idea.

 

What have you accomplished today? Check out what other quilters have been doing today by going to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  

Quilting with Friends

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure to sew with some wonderful people - family and friends. As I was viewing some pictures on my camera, I realized that I never posted the pictures of their progress here. DUHHHHH

Better late than never. Right?

Here's Mary and the jacket she worked on while here. Can you say CUTE!?!

 

Here's Karen's batik quilt. She had the fabric cut but totally pieced it while with the group. Wow! It's pretty big too. I can't wait to see this quilted. I think we should all wear shirts to match out projects.  :-)

 

 

Paula was busy, as she made a bunch of purses. I really like the fabric combinations! The small clutch is Ann's and it is adorable. 

 

 

 

I had a picture of Janet's quilt but I took it with my phone and now I can't find the adapter to transfer it to the computer. Sorry Janet! If you had left the quilt here for me like I suggested, I could have taken a picture.  :-)

 

Becky spent the day cutting out the pieces for a Mitten Tree Skirt by Button Stitch Designs, which is simply adorable but has lots of little pieces.

 

 

We had a bunch of fun and I can't wait until we can do it again!

 

While looking at pictures, I saw the picture of Darla's quilt before she's added the borders. I think it is beautiful and soon after I took this picture, she had begun adding the borders and it looks even better. She's probably done with it by now and I can't wait to see it.

 

 

This has been Darla's "learning quilt" and it was really a mystery to her. When she first started it, I gave her a bag of scraps and we worked on increasing her rotary cutting skills. I gave her a list of pieces to cut of all different sizes and didn't tell her why. She didn't know she was going to make a quilt from these scraps. She thought she was just cutting to learn. (I didn't want her to cut her own fabric and feel bad if and when she made mistakes. I have a tub of fabric set aside for testing block construction, demonstrations, etc. so this was what I used and I knew she could make something pretty with it.) 

 

Soon after she was done cutting, we began working on machine piecing. She started by making a bunch of four patch units and then made the half square triangles. After she had those all pieced, I finally showed her the block she was going to make. She hadn't seen the quilt layout yet, though because there are lots of layout options and I wanted her to make that decision without my influence. I was happy she chose the sashed layout because that provided another learning experience.

 

Although she's made quilts before, this one has a lot more small pieces than she's every used before. She's learned every stop of the way and I think it shows. I think she's done a wonderful job! Stay tuned for the completed top.  :-)