County Fair Coming Soon!

Just finished putting the label on another "Olivia" baby quilt.  Free motion quilting in what I call "piggy tails" & threw in some words too.  Using red thread was so much fun.  Sometimes a quilter just has to do something a little different.

Tomorrow is a County Fair committee meeting - lots to learn & I am looking forward to helping out again this year.  Visit our county fair site at http://www.seviercountyfair.net/ to see what will be happening this year.

Quilting tip of the day - I am often asked how to choose colors.  I always say to choose colors that YOU love.  When you buy a piece of print fabric there are color ways printed right on the edge of the fabric to help you choose your colors.  Also, take a look at prepackaged items - companies have already paid someone to come up with colors that are appealing.  Trust yourself in your choices.  There are no ugly quilts!

IAFE Mention

Paula Martin who heads up our Sevier County Fair told me this morning that my blog was mentioned in the IAFE (International Association of Fairs & Expositions) newsletter.  How exciting!  I hope it brings county fairs to the attention of people everywhere.  There is so much hard work that goes into organizing a county fair and it is appreciated when we support it. 

I decided to start blogging a quilting tip or two so here is my first one:

For great tutorials visit The Missouri Star Quilt website - www.missouriquiltco.com - and have a fun time watching the shortcuts to making seemingly complex quilt blocks.  Jenny Doan is a fun teacher and I have tried several of her quick tips.

As always, enjoy the journey.

Sunday Afternoon

Finished my little "Adalyn's" reveiving blanket, burp cloth & carrier cover today.  Made Tom applesauce cake (his Mom's recipe), enchilada sauce made for cheese enchiladas, tri-tip roast is marinatiing in readiness for the BBQ.  Beautiful cloudy day.  A little bit of rain (something we have been praying for).  Trying to decide what quilt pattern to do next.........good Sunday afternoon.

I purchased stuffed bears after Mother's Day - they were on clearance.  I cut the flowers off of the bears and used them on the carrier handle tabs.  My daughter in law, Trista, has been so creative in utilizing parts of stuffed toys to decorate carrier covers and I wanted to give it a try!  I love it.  Had to use the John Deere fabric somewhere in honor of Alisha's grandfathers who are both farmers.

Busy July! & July Blocks of the Month

Summertime is always busy.  Garden, yard, out of town trips, sewing, etc.  This past week I finished machine quilting 2 baby quilts from the "Olivia" line.  Still have to put the binding on one of them.  Sold the other one.  Finished a receiving blanket & burp cloth - sold that one too.  Just finishing up one for my soon to be here granddaughter & have the carrier cover cut out.  Visited a cute little quilt shop in Payson, Utah - Stitch & SewForth.  They design quilt patterns & sell wonderful completed quilts.  They have a website too.  Finished 4 T-shirt dresses for the Humanitarian projects that our Ward is involved in. 

 Added a ruffle to the Olivia baby quilt.  Don't know why I haven't used my machine ruffler for years!  Great tool to use with your sewing machine.

July blocks of the month - on the left is the dresden plate pattern & on the right is the modern plate design.

County Fair is Coming!

Decided to make a fair themed wall hanging for our County Fair this year.  The theme of the fair is "Hog Diggity Dog it's Fair Time".  Decided to use some of my brown fat quarters for the 36 patch squares.  It makes me think of the fields from an aerial view.  Had to get the piggy in there too and his friends of course.  Just finished it this afternoon.  I am still squeezing quilting in between work, yard work, gardening, and other commitments.  I hope you all get out and enjoy your county fair.  I can tell you that the people behind the scenes who work so hard to make the fair happen would appreciate your support.  So, have fun this summer.  I will continue to blog in between other things.

Wallhanging is hanging out in one of my lilac bushes.

Used some henp for the cow's tail.

So where's the beef?

Craftsy June Blocks of the Month

With lawn & garden season upon us I find myself with less time to sew.  I have been sewing clothing this past month but did start my fair wall hanging.  I also finished my Craftsy June blocks of the month.  So many quilts, so little time (during these months).  Still using only fabric that I have in my stash for the Block of the Month course.  However, I did recently buy some fabric at the Cotton Shop in Provo.  Had a coupon and they had clearance fabric.  What can I say?  Anyway, these are the current blocks from Craftsy.  Have a great June everyone.  I may be slow at blogging for the summer months, but you know how that goes.

The block on the left is called the Greek Cross and the one on the right is the Octagon.  You may find these block patterns under other names in the quilt block pattern books.

Wall Hanging

Our Relief Society (the woman's organization in my church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) is working on humanitarian projects.  Someone had created the embroidered blocks & my job was to design a wall hanging.  Using the basic guidelines on the LDS Humanitarian Services website I came up with this little wall hanging.  The directions also requested that 1" nails be included for hanging purposes.  I made a pocket and sewed it to the back of the wall hanging and placed the nails in the pocket.  I had just purchased the jungle themed fabric on a clearance sale about a month ago and it was just the ticket for this little wall hanging.  I would like to challenge all the Mothers out there (new moms, to be moms, want to be moms, grandmoms) to do an act of service this week.  You will be amazed how good you will feel.

ldsphilanthropies humanitarian-services pattern

Mystery Quilt

Finished my Mystery Quilt this afternoon!  The pattern is from McCall's Quiling issues Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr & May/June 2012.  The pattern is an easy one and uses only 4 fabrics for the quilt top.  I made the queen sized one as that is how much motorcylcle fabric I had.  Hubby had picked the fabric out a few months ago.  I had the blue, gray & coal fabrics and they seemed like the perfect match.  The quilt is machine quilted with varigated thread in an overall pattern.  I called the quilt "Mystery Ride" because it is a mystery pattern & the ride, well that seemed fairly obvious to me.  This may be a pattern a few of you would like to try.  Happy quilting.

A New Door Opens

This morning took my hubby & I to Gunnison for the last day sale of a small quilt store that was closing its' doors.  Found some fun things.  Also ventured into a store 2 doors down called Quilt S'more run by a fun woman named Yvonne Willden.  The store is located in the old ZCMI store in Gunnison Utah.  Yvonne has fabric, sells Husqvarna Viking sewing machines, does machine quilting & tends to her other businesses too.  It was really fun to visit with her and talk quilting.  She does machine quilting on her A-1 longarm machine & has quilted for people in the USA, Canada, Australia and other countries.  She also has a machine that she rents hourly for quilters to do their own machine quiltiing.  Yvonne holds beginning sewing classes & machine embroidery classes.  I can't wait to visit her again!  The store is located at 98 South Main, Gunnison, Utah  84634.  Telephone number is 435.528.5393 & her email is quiltsmo@gtelco.net.  If you get to Gunnison I recommend visiting her store.  Hope you are all enjoying the spring weather and being creative in any way that makes you smile.

May Blocks of the Month

Still machine quilting the McCall's Mystery Quilt so no photos yet.  However, the Craftsy May blocks of the month arrived!  Downloaded the patterns Monday evening (after a very eventful day I might add).  Poor little Pooh kitty is sick and my crown came off of my tooth.  *sigh*  But having the BOM downloaded, printed and on my mind I stayed up late last night to make them.  The first patterm is called a Modern Log Cabin.  Used my focus fabric as the center on this one.  The second pattern is Wonky 5 Sided Log Cabin.  This block was totally improvisansional.  No real pattern.  Just start out with a wonky center and build off of that.  I enjoyed making it up as I went along.  Hope you all are having fun with your BOM's too.  Have a great day.