Scrappy Sampler from the Joined at the Hip Blog

So is anyone else doing the BOM Sampler from the Joined at the Hip Blog? I started it back in the winter and vowed to buy nothing to make this top. I have managed to keep my vow, so far. I have three rows done with two more to go.

The new block designs for August were posted on the 20th, but I only got around to making the blocks today and barely made it within the month of August...

I like how it is coming together, but I wish I had been more daring with my colors and gone more modern maybe for a BOM in 2014. Then, I would have probably bought more fabric.

I am also doing another country themed sampler from the BOM at Country Threads. The September block designs will post tomorrow and I should get those done this weekend. I also plan on piecing a couple of embroidered baby quilts. I also am excited to see the Schnibbles pattern for the September Another Year of Schnibbles Challenge--I am so hooked on them. Thanks for stopping in!

Sunday Football Sewing

This may not seem quilting realated, but it really is. I am a huge NFL football fan. It is actually kind of strange as I have no brothers and my father does not enjoy the sport. I attended my high school football games and learned the gist of it. Then, when I went off to college, I ended up at a university with such a small football program they only had a team my freshman year! However, my college BFF and I soon discovered that Sundays were days for college boys to nurse their hangovers and lay around watching football. We soon joined in with this tradition--we were usually the only females with at least a dozen males. The odds were very good! There was also a football pool going on that paid off quite well plus plenty of food and beverages. Needless to say, these NFL Sundays were one of my favorite parts of college.

When I met my hubby, he was not much of a football fan. Of course that changed quickly, especially with the football pool at my work. We are both competitive especially with one another, so we started a side bet. The loser, who picked the fewest number of games correct, had to clean the house and wear a special hat that we had made with "LOSER" on it. I hate to clean the house, so I have become a pretty good football fan over the years, and rarely do I get stuck cleaning house...Poor hubby! :)

Now our weekly football bets have become a family thing with our teenage daughter joining the competition too. Last season, she and I picked all 12 games (there were some teams with byes) correct one week, too bad that was not the week we ventured to Las Vegas to bet on football! I don't really have a favorite team. In college, I cheered for the Dallas Cowboys because it was the time of Troy Aikman and Emmit Smith--those amazing early 1990's. Then, hubby and I rooted for the San Diego Chargers from when we got married in the mid-90's until about 2008ish. Our daughter has been a Baltimore Ravens fan from the get go, so she was a thrilled fan of the Super Bowl champs last year. My hubby has become a Denver Bronco fan since we now live in Colorado, John Elway is running the team, and of course Payton Manning! I am still not a fan of one particular team... 

Sundays during football season have become a big, huge sewing/quilting day for me. I put on one of my comfy NFL team sweatshirts and hit the sewing room with games and analysis blaring. Our pick sheets are printed and usually my daughter highlights the winners as games finish throughout the day. And I sew, cut, quilt, bind, etc. like a crazy lady. We usually have a game day type dinner together and watch the Sunday night game and several times we have had to wait for the Monday night game to see who is cleaning house the next week.

So for the record, I was asked by one of hubby's friends who was my pick for the 2014 Super Bowl and I said either the San Francisco 49ers or the Atlanta Falcons. The way I see it, I doubt the AFC can win this year. Only one week from today, let the season begin and my sewing Sundays rock! (Yes, I am counting down!)

Work in Progress Animal Crackers

These are the embroideries for one of my favorite baby quilts. It is called "Animal Crackers" by JoAnn Mullaly of JAM Patterns. She is retiring, but you can probably get the pattern from The Country Loft in La Mesa, California.

I have made too many of these to count in so many color ways. I made one last year with the lime green embroideries for a friend who was doing the nursery in jungle theme. So I called it "Welcome to the Jungle" (I am still a huge Guns and Roses fan!). I had so much left over fabric that I will be able to get another one done from the leftovers. I never took a picture of the one last year, but it was lime green, royal blue, orange, yellow, and black and white--one of the cutest color combinations ever.The crocodile, elephant, and rhino are done.

Now, I am working on the words, the lion, the tiger, the zebra, the chimp, and the giraffe. This is mindless stitching I can do as I am unwinding from my busy days back at work. (Huge sigh!!!!)

Eventually, it will be put together really scrappy. Thanks for dropping by!

August Schnibbles Complete

It is done! My August Another Year of Schnibbles Canasta Quilt. I am such a boring machine quilter! I just quilted along the diagonals of the baskets and sashing. It reminds me of basket weave, so I thought it would work and be quick.

My LQS was out of the wavy stripe I have in the blocks, but they did have this black and white stripe that I used for the binding.

 

Striped bindings are a trend I like!

This backing I picked up for $3 a yard back in June and I am kicking myself for not buying all they had, but my mom was the smart one that bought it all! Now, I am looking forward to the September Schnibbles design!

August Schnibbles

I spent my weekend surrounded by vegetables. On Saturday, I canned pickles with my mom and daughter. Then on Sunday, I put my Canasta blocks of fruit and vegetables together. This is the August Another Year of Schnibbles challenge from Sherri at aquiltinglife.com.

These blocks really did not take much fabric and were fun to make. I think I will use this design for a baby quilt in the future.

It is small enough that I feel like I should not bother putting it on the long arm. Any ideas for quilting it? I was thinking of a black and white for the back and seeing if I can get some more of the black and white squiggly stripes for the binding. Please give me your input! Thanks for stopping in!

End of Summer Finish

This was a part of my fabric inheritance from my sister. It was a BOM from the Country Loft at least 5 years ago.  Instead of making one big quilt with all the seasons together, I set each season as its' own wall hanging. This is the fall one.

My sister is in the middle of moving, so I will send it once they are in their new house as a house warming present. I made these quilts for myself a few years ago.

I quilted it with DMC ecru perle cotton #8. I am quilting the winter season quilts right now maybe I will surprise her and send them both at once. Thanks for sharing an end of the summer finish!

Works In Progress Wednesday

The month is nearly half over and I have finished piecing my blocks for this month's Another Year of Schnibbles. The pattern is a brand new one called "Canasta" meaning baskets. I used some left over vegetable fabrics from making my mom her place mats for Mother's Day.  I also bought some cute little fruit prints to give it more variety. Kind of a "Summer's Bounty Baskets," I will have to name it that on a label. (Not that I am good at labeling my quilts, but Kelly over at My Quilt Infatuation is inspiring me to get in that good labeling habit. She even made a cool tutorial about making labels.)

Aren't the baskets adorable? I hope to get this top pieced this week, but I had to return to work today for meetings the rest of this week. I usually am pretty tired when we head back to work for the first couple of weeks, so there is no guarantee I will get it done!

Going back to work/school (I am a teacher) is pretty stressful at first. Establishing routines, getting up early, having to put my brain back to work, etc. takes their toll. In order to relax, after long, stressful days, I like to do mindless handwork while sipping an adult beverage in front of the TV. I am heading right into my sewing room to pin this embroidered wall hanging, so it will be ready for my form of therapy--mindless quilting with perle cotton. Thanks for stopping by! 

Fabric Stash

Ok so I have totally struggled with organizing my fabric stash for years. Prior to moving into my sewing room last fall, I kept my fabric in plastic bins in my garage. It was a pain to trek out to the garage, but it was the only place I had until I got my very own sewing room last fall. Here is a link for my sewing room tour and it is still a work in progress (I am trying to incorporate some more color in there!) http://tanyaquiltsinco.blogspot.com/2013/06/sewing-room-tour.html.

My sewing room has a small walk-in closet with a sliding pocket door that does not work  I moved the fabric bins out of the garage and into closet, so my stash is constantly beckoning me.

My bins are organized by color for the most part with some exceptions for bins of batiks, 30's fabrics, brushed cotton, wool, flannel, etc. The cute tags were designed and made by my teenager when she was bored on some hot summer days.

I have not counted my bins, but there are lots!

I make lots of scrap quilts and struggled with how to make my scraps easy to access. I used to have the scraps in Ziplock bags within my fabric tubs, but it was not very functional. I broke down and bought these three drawer carts and put them under my cutting table. Each drawer is a color and they are easy to remove and dig through. I don't love how they look, but it is so much easier to find that little bit of fabric I need.

My stash is enormous, but it is not all my fault. My sister gave up quilting and I inherited her stash in April and it included 15 garbage bags of fabric. Her is a post about those treasures http://tanyaquiltsinco.blogspot.com/2013/06/fabric-inheritance.html Plus, I truly use the fabric in my stash and I tend to buy fabric as I find it even without knowing how I will eventually use it. I hope this makes you feel like your stash is not out of control because looking at these pictures makes me think I don't need to buy any more fabric for a very long time, but sadly I have a pretty hefty list of fabric I need to buy to finish up some UFOs...Thanks for stopping by! There are many stash links from the the link below.

http://sarahquilts.com/2013/08/01/theory-thursday-you-show-me-yours-ill-show-you-mine-linky-party/

Coloring Quilts

Ok, so I talked about my love of enbroidering with perle cotton in my last blog and I got lots of inquiries and questions. Another trick I like for embroidering is coloring. All you need is a plain old box of Crayola Crayons. I embroider first because it helps me stay within the lines when I color.

These blocks are part of the Row Along quilt going on over at thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/. Kaaren shows the quilt done in redwork style with red embroidery floss, but I thought it would be super cute to embroider it in spring time colors and then I thought adding the coloring would be another colorful dimension.

After coloring, I heat set the coloring with a paper towel placed over it and a dry, hot iron on top. Do not move the iron just set it on top and the excess crayon will go onto the paper towel. I have had coloring quilts for over ten years that have been washed and have held up great.

This is a coloring quilt that was a BOM at the Country Loft last year. The kits were a birthday present from my mom and dad and I just love how it turned out.  It is called "Alphabet Tags." Thanks for stopping by and please let me know if you have any questions about coloring quilts.