Clementine Quilt Along Month 5

 Happy May 25th--these are the Clementine Blocks for month 5. You can find the pattern here:

https://blog.fatquartershop.com/clementine-quilt-along.html

Don't forget this quilt along benefits St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

This week I received these fabulous fabrics for some more secret sewing for the Fat Quarter Shop--stay tuned to see what they will turn into...

Royal Wedding 2018

So I make a big deal out of royal weddings--I think it stems back to my own childhood when I watched Princess Diana marry Prince Charles. When Kate and William got married back in 2011. it was during the week, so my daughter and I took the day off school to watch it live. We made scones, drank tea, wore crowns, and celebrated a real fairy tale. We did the same thing yesterday for Meghan and Harry's wedding. Although, I am not really a morning person, I had no problem jumping out of bed at 4:30am to witness their nuptials live!

 We cheated a little using this mix from Walmart for our chocolate chip scones. I am going to keep this on hand at all times--because it was so easy and delicious!

They came out perfectly and were AMAZING!

We loved her dress and the ceremony was quite charming and less formal which we really enjoyed! I worked on binding this baby quilt for my friend, Rachel, while we watched. I got it half finished and should finish it today for Slow Sunday Stitching:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/05/slow-sunday-stitching_20.html

After the ceremony and running some errands, I worked on my Clementine Blocks for month 5. They are done and will be posted here on the 25th when I am allowed to reveal them. #clementinequiltalong #stjude

This week I also got to order some fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop for a secret sewing project for them--another fabulous quilt along. It should arrive tomorrow--it will be a fun and adorable project to start for the beginning of my summer vacation because my last day of work is Thursday!

Mother's Day 2018

 I got the best Mother's Day present--my daughter made it home for a visit from college before she starts her summer research position! We have had a great day--breakfast burritos at our favorite taco shop, a Target run, a stop by my mom's, and we are going to the drive in tonight to see "I Feel Pretty" in her convertible Mustang. We also spent some time in my sewing room watching trash TV while I made these punctuation blocks for my Spelling Bee Quilt.

I made these picture blocks yesterday and used the magenta color in honor of my new Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2.

 I also made this throw pillow for a retiring friend out of some of his mother's old shirts.

I used the stretchy shirts for the envelope backing. I also whipped up three more pencil pouches for a few new fifth graders. We are starting our last full week of school tomorrow and I am definitely ready for summer and of course the royal wedding on Saturday!

Happy Mother's Day and have a great week!

May is Underway

I have had a pretty productive sewing week! I finished piecing 55 of these blocks--I only need 49 of them for the quilt, but I may end up using some of the extra blocks on the backing...I finished binding the queen sized quilt I was commissioned to bind--it helped having Friday off!

 I made the Home Block for Spelling Bee Sew Along today--I am all caught up with those blocks! I am looking forward to putting this on all together soon. #summersewing

We have a bus driver that is retiring at the end of this school year--he is 85! He is "Bob the Bus Driver" and I think he needs a school bus quilt. I pieced together a large school bus block using Lori Holt's pattern and I think I am going to use her Spelling Bee book to make letters that say "Bob the Bus Driver." I think I will have his kids sign the quilt--stay tuned to see what I come up with! Our last day of school is May 23, so I need to put a rush on this one. This will be my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for May

http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/05/one-monthly-goal-may-goal-setting-link.html

I also need to make a pillow with some shirts from my friend's mom who passed away. I think I will embroider a quote and use the shirts to frame it and for the back.

What are you up to this week?

April DrEAMi & OMG

Despite my machine dying this month, I still managed to have a Drop Everything and Make It (DrEAMi) project. My School of Fish Baby Quilt was started in April and delivered to the proud grandma before the month was over--definitely obsessed with it!

The School of Fish Baby Quilt is about 55 inches square and is a free tutorial you can find here:

http://theobjectsofdesign.blogspot.com/2015/11/snowball-fish-tutorial.html

Check out other DrEAMi projects here:

http://www.mmmquilts.com/2018/04/dreami-15.html

 My April One Monthly Goal (OMG) was to make these pencil zip pouches for all of my fifth graders as end of the year gifts.
http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/04/one-monthly-goal-april-finish-link-up.html

 I spent all day Saturday cranking them out! It was a good chance to get used to my new sewing machine--the automatic presser foot lift and thread cutter made it so much easier. Those are definitely luxury features I am thrilled my new machine has!

Today for Slow Sunday Stitching, I need to finish embroidering this label.
https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/04/slow-sunday-stitching_29.html
I also picked up the queen sized quilt to bind, so I need to attach that and get it started. I want to spend some time piecing on the new machine, so I am off to my sewing room to play!

Clementine Month 4

This month has kind of been shot for me as far as sewing with my main machine in for repair the first part of April and the pronounced dead on arrival in mid-April. I did not want to get behind on the Fat Quarter Shop's  Clementine Quilt Along, so I sewed the month four blocks on my Singer Featherweight. You can find this month's pattern here:

https://blog.fatquartershop.com/clementine-quilt-along.html
Don't forget this is an amazing way to raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital!

Back in Business!

This week was hectic! I met my daughter in Denver for a day. Her university sent her out to recruit at an accepted students reception, but she needed to be back in time for her sorority's formal last night. She is in the pink dress--which we found shopping on Friday. She was going for the Barbie look which she definitely nailed! It was a delight to see her in action at the reception and spend time with her--she will be home in three weeks for a few weeks before she goes back to school for a paid research position the rest of the summer. Then, she is off to London for her semester abroad in the fall...she is living the life!

I used the time before she arrived in Denver to go look at sewing machines. I decided to replace my worn out machine with a Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2. It has some new features my other Pfaff did not including:

a built in thread cutter

10 inches of throat space--it is much larger

more speed

large foot pedal

9 mm wide stitches

automatic tie off

automatic presser foot lift

electronic knee lift

automatic thread tension

As I explained to my daughter, I went from a VW to a BMW. It is a $2600 machine, but they were offering a special this week, so it was $1950. I can upgrade it within a year for the Janome if I decide to. That decision will probably hinge on the local service availability--there is a new Pfaff dealer in Grand Junction, but I am not sure it will last.

 I quilted my School of Fish today on my new machine. I have to say, I used so much less thread because of the thread cutter and there will not be thread tails all over the house anymore!

The wavy stitch is fabulous and the dual feed made this a breeze. This quilt is almost 55 inches square, but with all that throat space there wasn't any rolling or wrestling it through the machine.

I just put the binding on and plan on working on that this evening. 

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/04/happy-earth-day.html

As most of you know, I love to bind and I bind for both my local quilt shop and a friend--we are trading long arm quilting and a 20% shop discount. A lady was referred to me for my binding services, she has a queen sized quilt she needs bound by June. I don't have any idea how much to charge. I did a little internet research and it sounds like $80 is the going rate to attach by machine and hand sew the binding down. That seems pretty steep to me--I was thinking of telling her $50. What do you all think? The money I make can go toward my machine purchase...I spent so much in Denver my credit card company contacted me to see if it had been stolen! OMG!

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