Strip cutting

Boy do I miss my sewing machine! But I am cutting strips and looking at more patterns. Buggy Barn has a new book out called Positively Crazy and there is a Christmas quilt in it that I HAVE to make for sure. It is Santa hiding behind a Christmas tree. Gotta buy that book today.


I'm auditioning the 2nd color for my strip quilt. I've cut out a good pile of blues. Not so sure about the greens with it. Not much contrast.

I really like the yellows with the blues. That would make a very happy quilt.

Of course, I do have a lot of reds. Putting white down the center of each block would give it a very patriotic look.

Of course, I still have lots of blues, in lighter tones, so I could make a totally blue quilt dividing the lights from the darks. Oh, decisions, decisions, decisions!!

Happily cutting! Lynda

Procrastination (my middle name)

Yep, I procrastinated just a little too long....didn't take my sewing machine in for servicing so now he (yes its a he since he is a Viking) decided to quit on me! You know how that goes----just one more project, THEN I'll take him in and get him cleaned up and taken care of. So........now I have these 2 tractor/truck quilts half made, a quilt ready to put the binding on for Janine, a Snowball quilt in the making and who knows how many other projects in my head waiting to be started. So tomorrow I'll be taking my trusty Viking into the shop, get him cleaned, serviced, a new bobbin holder (since it lost some little important piece) and be ready hopefully in a week to continue. This will be a really good time to cut strips for a strip quilt I want to make too.

Below you can see I at least got the tires on the tractors and trucks. The truck tires were quite easy, cut out a circle and sew on. But the tractor tires were lots of ins and outs to cut for the tread. AND then I had to sew 4 stitches across, 4 stitches down, 4 across, 4 up, etc etc etc all around each tire----16 tires! But don't they look superb? I even got 1 of the filler strips done before Viking gave out. Oh I'm going to love this quilt. I know the 2 recipients will too.

Today is Mother's Day in the USA. So Happy Mothers Day to all of you. We got a wonderful CD of Church music at Church and of course a public pat on the back for all the service we give, lessons we teach, meals we take to others, kisses we give to hurts, and all the other things we do as mothers and wives.

Yesterday we spent in Logan at our son-in-laws college graduation. We had a great day celebrating with them, eating, laughing and playing games. He will now go on to get his Masters degree. Their college is all up hill (no lie, I don't think anything is down hill on campus). By the time he gets his Masters I need to be in better shape so I don't almost collapse by the time we get to the actual ceremony. Pretty funny to have my 8 month pregnant daughter trying to help push me up the hill.

Happy quilting to you all. Lynda

Dresden Plate

This is the quilt I took to Nicky's 2nd baby shower yesterday. We both really love this quilt. I like the scalloped border too. If I wouldn't have been so lazy I would have appliqued flowers and vines on the border, but. . .

These are 6 inch blocks. It was quilted by Laura Erickson in Orem.

We both took our cameras but forgot to take any pictures of all the cute things she received. The party was lots of fun. We played "guess the baby food" game. I only got 3 of 6 right! They all smelled pretty bad tho. Brought back a few memories of sprayed food all over me. The girls who gave it for Nicky had really gone all out with all the food and decorations and games. I think Patrick's favorite gift was a book called "Skippyjon Jones". He had to read it to us, laughing the whole time.

Happy Quilting. Lynda

Vroom Vroom

I've been working on the Buggy Barn trucks and tractors quilt blocks more. This is the start of the truck block. It is much easier than the tractor block because it has less pieces to cut and trim. I'm making 2 quilts at once. These are the tractor blocks for both quilts. Love the bright
colors. . . especially the blue and yellow wavy stripe.

I thought this would be the layout, however, Janine came over and innocently asked if I had planned on all the purple in the top row and all the red in the 3rd row. Of course not! But it seems the more you mix the more you have to keep mixing if you try to keep like colors away from each other. I will probably move one of the red trucks up to the top row and one of the purple ones down before I actually sew them together.

What's wrong with this next picture? You know how we are always taught, "Measure twice, cut once". Well this is an example of not watching the direction of the fabric before I cut! There is a 6 1/2 inch X 12 1/2 inch background piece added to each tractor so the shovel can be appliqued onto the front. When I got to this block I noticed that it really doesn't look right. Off to the fabric store to pick up a little more of that fabric so the direction of the stripes doesn't hurt my eyes every time I look at it.

Tomorrow I'm off to Logan (about 1 hour 45 minutes away) to another baby shower for Nicky. I finished another quilt for her baby. I'll take pictures of it. I started it about 9 years ago with a Bee that I belonged to at the time. I wanted to add appliqued flowers and vines around the border but never got around to doing it. Nicky loves the quilt so I scalloped the border and added the binding and it is now ready for her.

Happy Quilting. Lynda

Full Day

This morning my sister-in-law, Diane, called to see if I wanted to help dip chocolates. Of course! We spent about 2 1/2 hours dipping cherries, orange, raspberry, pina colada creams, coconut, snickers, caramels and mint truffles. I brought home a few plates to share with friends and saved a few for myself. They are delicious! Then down to my sewing room to work on the snowball quilt.

Pictures are out of order again even after I numbered them so I would have them in the right order. Oh well. The top picture is some of the cream snowballs made and the bottom picture is all the red ones finished and the cream ones ready to go. I will have 118 of each which will make a good sized quilt when finished.

How do you like my new ironing board cover and iron? My old cover was so spotted and torn that I had to break down and buy a new one. The iron was a gift from my friend, Janine. She always thinks she has to give me something in payment for helping her with quilts. I think we both will always be in debt to each other!

I've also started another Buggy Barn quilt. There will be 4 tractor blocks and 6 truck blocks. Above is string piecing part of a block. I like to string piece but I have to be careful to keep them all in the right order. I don't cut them apart until they are ironed and I have the next piece ready to add.

This is part A which has 5 pieces. Hard to tell that it is the cab of the tractor with the window. You can see part B to the right which has 4 pieces. They are sewn together and then added to part A. Then I added C and D in the below picture. You can see I still have to do parts E and F.

In this picture you can see how much smaller the finished product is than the original cut pieces. The white section you can see on the outside right and bottom yellow pieces is the size of the original pattern before sewn together. Between each section I had to trim the edges to make a nice straight edge to sew each section to.....the trimmings are in a pile. I stack the cut pieces on the original pattern and then onto a piece of cardboard in case I have to move them while working on something else.

The tractors are in blue, yellow, green and a wavy stripe. The trucks are in purple, gold, blue, green, black and red. It will be a very bright quilt. Can't wait to see it!

My husband and I decided to go out for dinner tonight. Bad idea. . . . prom night. Every nice restaurant was full. We ended up getting a hamburger.

Lynda

Baby Shower

I know there is a way to move these pictures into the right order but I can't figure it out!Friends and family enjoying the food. I know you can see the treadmill in the background. I have it right in the family room so it can get used a lot. Only problem....it doesn't get used much at all! However, I do look at it every day......does that count as exercise???

Saturday we had an open house baby shower for Nicky. Here is the 1st picture with the first gift.

Here is at the end of the party with all the gifts, shoes off, resting on the couch.

We couldn't believe how many people came. She had invited about 30 and I think we had about 26 come. For awhile the house was packed and there was a lot of noise and laughter.

Family and friends.

Aunts and cousins.


More Friends and neighbors.

The first friends to arrive were either pregnant or just had a baby themselves. We had lots of fun and Nicky got to see some of her friends from high school that she hasn't seen for awhile but they all have blogs and keep in touch.

All my company will be gone tomorrow so it will be quiet around here again. I already miss the laughter and fun. But I will get back to my sewing room and see what I can accomplish.

The future "lost" quilt

This quilt was made by my friend, Janine. I hand stitched the binding on this week. Isn't this a gorgeous quilt! I love the turquoise and brown combination. I have warned her that this one might get "lost" in my house.

Last week my sister, Jeanie, called and said she had seen a "Cute Babies" quilt on my blog. She asked if it was hard to make, how long it would take etc. I thought she might want the pattern and make one herself. After I assured her that it wasn't hard at all she asked if I would make one for her great grandson that will be born in June. My sister is almost 5 years older than me so growing up I was kind of her tag along and probably in her way more than anything. But over these past few years we have spent a lot of time together and she has done so much for me and we have grown so close.....how could I ever say no. I assured her I had plenty of fabric (what quilter doesn't have plenty of fabric???) to make it without having to buy a thing. So here it is ready for the quilter. I love this quilt and may have to make a pink one next.

I have all the cream squares cut out and ready to sew on my red and cream snowball quilt. It seems to get put on the back burner all the time if I find something else I want to do more. It isn't one of my favorite projects so it is easy to find something else I want to do before I work on it again. But the pile of finished red snowballs keep looking at me like they are anxious to be sewn into a quilt top. Maybe later today. . . . .