Grad gift

This bag is part of a graduation gift that I was able to mail off yesterday.

I thought I'd share a quick picture of it with you.

I know I make lots of these Lollipop Bags, but they are just so cute, fun to make, and they're great gifts too!

The pattern is a Terry Atkinson Design.

I love the pink and purple batik fabrics in this one!

May Madness

I can't believe how far we are into May already!  Time is flying by! 

Only a few more weeks left of school here, then summer truly begins!

In the past few weeks I've been doing some quilting on the frame, trying out some new things.

I've found that the wooden sticks that you get to stir your paint with, work well to keep the edges of my quilt straight when it's on the frame.

I've also discovered that using painter's tape to mark the area of the quilt that I can reach while quilting a section, works better for me than using a disappearing marker.

The tape can be reused on the next row and there are no marks to remove later.   

I'm putting the binding on this one now and soon I can call it a finish!

I'm also in the process of working on this month's Schnibble's project and making a graduation gift too. 

With any luck, I'll be able to put some time into all of these today before we put some spiced cheese stuffed burgers on the grill this evening.  It is a beautiful day with highs in the 70's!  Pretty low temperatures for this time of year here in Florida.

This is kind of random but I've been meaning to ask......Did anyone else notice the commercial for tax help last month that said something like, "You accomplished a lot last year,"  and had someone holding out a flying geese quilt top?  I thought that was pretty neat!  I think they were saying that making a quilt top was accomplishing a lot! I just thought that was interesting to see in a commercial!

In other random happenings, some of the comments that have been left on my blog are not making it to my email and I have no idea why.  From what I understand, I'm not the only one that this has happened to recently.  So if you've left a comment and I haven't responded, I do apologize.  I've also had lots of comments I've left on other blogs get kicked back to me.  Hopefully, this issue has been resolved.

In the next few days I plan to put an entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side. I hope you do too! So I'll be back soon with my entry post.

Enjoy your weekend!     

Mini Swoon

My first Swoon quilt is mostly finished!

True Confession- The binding is not actually sewn on the back of the quilt in these pictures, it's just pinned.  You see, it was supposed to rain lots tonight, so I knew even if I had a chance to sew the binding on today, I wouldn't be able to get a good picture.

And between college son coming home from school for the summer, and just the usual craziness going on, I figured the time was right this morning to get a good picture.

This is as close as I've ever been to being totally done on a quilt before the Schnibble Parade so I'm happy about that.  Usually, I've just got the top done!     

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I was able to quilt it so quickly, because I was inspired by Debbie from A Quilter's Table. 

I read her post a few weeks ago when she explained how she did the quilting on her Mini Swoon.  At the time I didn't know I would be making a Mini Swoon, so the quilt pattern she had used didn't stick with me, but the quilting sure did.

I kept going back to it in my mind when I was thinking about how I would quilt my Mini Swoon.

Finally, when I went back to her post to reread it, I noticed she had done her cool straight line quilting on a Mini Swoon!

Since she was kind enough to share how she came up with her quilting design in her post that you can read here, I figured she wouldn't mind if I tried the same type of design. I used a thin metal yardstick to make my rectangles and my placement is not quite the same as Debbie's, but the look is the same.

I love the chevron - like pattern it creates!

I'd love to try this again and throw a few more zig zags in there!

And yes, I did say that this is my first Swoon project.  I just don't know why I didn't make one before!

Camille's Mini Swoon pattern is now one of my favorite blocks!  Soooo fun to make!

I went a little crazy and used some text fabric for the background, I believe it's from Sweetwater, and I used a few fat quarters that my sister gave me from the Atomic fabric line by Michael Miller.  I threw in the black solid from my stash.   

 On the back, I used the leftover fabrics from my blocks to create a pieced backing.  I used the remaining fabric to make the binding too.  I love it when things work out like that!

The parade on Sinta's blog and on Sherri's blog too, features Camille's patterns this month so be sure to stop by and visit Sinta and Sherri and see what everyone chose!  I hope you'll join us!

Label love

I love labels!

I don't consider a quilt done until it has a label.

That's not to say that they're aren't any quilts around here without labels......I'm not that good...... I just don't consider those quilts done yet. 

I label my quilts so I can remember when I made them........because sometimes I forget.

Well, maybe I label them so my friends and relatives will have information about my quilts many years down the road to preserve their history. 

That sounds better.  I'll go with that reason. 

Knowing that I'm always on the search for labels, my friend JoAnne from the The Patriotic Quilter was sweet enough to send me this amazing package of labels that she collected while attending a quilt show.

I was so thrilled to receive them!  Thank you so much JoAnne!!!

Then on top of that, she was sweet enough to text me recently and ask if I had any of the new Sweetwater labels in my collection, as she was in a quilt shop looking at a panel of them.

How sweet is that? So thoughtful of her!

It certainly brightened my day to know she thought of me.

Thanks again JoAnne!

Blog friends are amazing!

After I'm done writing this, I'm going to get finish up my mini Swoon for the parade next week.

What pattern are you making for the parade, if you're joining in this month? 

The month of April certainly got away from me. I can't believe this is my first April post. "Yikes!"

Next thing we know it'll be summer!

A hungry giraffe and my sewing machine

I have never been this close to a giraffe!

We just returned from a quick Spring Break trip.

This week began with a soccer game in Jekyll Island Georgia, where I was fortunate enough to see a dolphin in the water right behind the soccer field. 

Luckily, the bugs weren't too bad this time.  They only got us a few times.

I don't have any pictures of that. 

It's so nice to visit that area of Georgia, but bug spray is a must.  I'm not kidding.

This is the actual Atlantis Shuttle that was in space.  If you zoom in, you can see quilting on the shuttle.

Later in the week, we took a fun trip to the Kennedy Space Center and the Brevard Zoo.

We spent a few days in the Merritt Island, Florida area, seeing the sights and eating some great food.  

At the Brevard Zoo, we were able to feed the giraffes!

It was unbelievable.

They come right up to you and eat, what we think was a sweet potato, right out of your hand.

It was amazing to see these sweet and gentle creatures so close up!

You can see my pink jacket and my pink iphone in this picture.

The other hand is my son's, who fed the giraffe too.

We had been thinking about going to the zoo on our second day there, then we saw the posts by my friend Lois about her recent trip to the Brevard Zoo and we decided we had to go.

I took a picture of the same Giant Anteater that Lois wrote about.

My teenaged son loved the Anteater and he also enjoyed kayaking through the zoo!

We all got in kayaks and took a trip through the zoo!

That was pretty cool!

 The Kennedy Space Center was probably the highlight of the trip for my "math - science boys" and I enjoyed it too.

The new Atlantis Space Shuttle Exhibit was really interesting and also we took an extra tour out to Launch Complex 39A.

It was originally built for the Apollo program and later it was used for Space Shuttle launches.

Ours was one of the last tours to Launch Complex 39A, as it will soon be leased out for commercial use.

There is so much going on at the Kennedy Space Center!

What does my sewing machine have to do with any of this?

Well, I dropped one of mine off for a cleaning on our way to Merritt Island.

 When I picked it, up they told me that some of the issues I had been having with the case for a few years, light hanging down slightly and the buttons sticking, were warranty issues that were easily fixed with a new front cover. WooHoo!

 That's not what I had been told at a different shop a few years ago.  I was told that those things were going to be pricy fixes and I was better off waiting for the light to burn out before I got it fixed.

I'm so glad I took it to this sewing machine dealer for a cleaning this time.  It is usually out of the way for me, but I decided to take it there since were passing by on our trip.

Because of the change in the front cover, this issue leads to a new slide on table under warranty if I bring in my old one.

While looking for my old slide on table in my closet last night, I noticed it smelled a little musty in there.

......insert big sigh here......

So, on this rainy day you will find me cleaning out my closet and getting rid of some things.  I'm thinking I've just got too much in there, most of which I don't even wear anymore, and just not enough air circulation in that closet.

Cleaning out closets is not my favorite thing to do, but I'll be making a run to Goodwill later in the week to give some of those things away.

Maybe I'll take a break later and look at some quilt books that I've been meaning to read!

Not a bad thing to be doing with a sewing machine at the shop!

This one is mine

While I'm waiting for this pizza to bake, I'll fill you in on my latest project.

I've made a few of these Lollipop Bags by Atkinson Designs as thank yous for friends and for swaps and that kind of thing, but as much as I like them I've never made one of my own.

They've been on my list for a few years.


 There's even a pile of fabrics here, some of them cut and ready to go, that I've been meaning to use for a few of these bags for myself.

I'm happy to tell you that in between multiple track meets, soccer games, and the laundry that follows I've gotten one done!

This bag expands at the bottom which is one of the reasons I like this pattern so much.

The swivel clip is fun too.

I love making quilts, but a quick bag project is a wonderful thing!

Also, next week is our Spring Break!  Who knows what kind of sewing trouble I'll get into!

We've got a few things planned. I'll keep you updated.

By the way, wasn't it just Christmas?  Now it's Spring Break?  What happened?

Totally finished Tuesday

I'm so happy about this one!

The pattern was created by Carrie Nelson and it's called Gentle Art.

You can see it before quilting HERE.

It took me awhile to get from to start to finish, but now it's totally done.

I used a mix of at least three Bonnie and Camille fabric lines and it made this quilt so bright and cheerful I just didn't want to finish it.

It's one of my favorite quilts ever.  

I wouldn't have thought that when I got started.  Don't I say that a lot?

When I found this binding fabric at my LQS I knew it had to be on this quilt. 

Of course, once I got home I did have my doubts.

I started wondering if a busy quilt like this could handle the stripes, but I went with it anyway and I'm so glad I did!

Did you notice that the stripes aren't really stripes?  You can see them HERE.

They are kind of ovalish.  Is that even a word?

I spent lots of time.......way too much time in fact........trying to cut the fabric so that you could only see stripes with no evidence of ovals, and it didn't work.

It freaked me out a bit.

The stripes on my binding were uneven.  The horror!

I put it down for a bit.......okay, maybe longer than a bit........and then went back to it.

Lo and behold I decided I like the stripes, or ovals I guess, uneven all the way around the quilt.

I certainly didn't plan it that way, in fact I took great pains so it wouldn't happen, but it did and now I'm glad.

That's something else I've been saying a lot lately.  I need to remember that when things are going "wrong".

For the quilting I used that wavy stitch that you've been seeing around.

I think it was perfect for this quilt.  You can read more about it HERE if you're interested.

That wavy stitch is fun to do and there isn't a whole lot of thinking involved when you are quilting with it.

I kind of like that. 

This quilt is bright, fun and cheerful! 

Just what I needed for the beginning of Spring.

Oh, last, but not least the label!

I label every quilt and this one is no exception.  

A sweet blog friend of mine just sent me tons of labels she found while attending a quilt show!

I was thrilled!

Labels can be difficult to find.

 On this quilt I went with an extra block that didn't make it on the front, but it made the perfect label.

Now it's is totally finished just in time for Spring!

WooHoo!