Silent Sunday ~ New Project

Meet Me At The Fair

We have one day left of the county fair, but all of our judged events were completed by this morning.  We were conservative with the number of entries we competed in since this is our first year and we had no idea what to expect.  It was a great learning experience, and we found that the best bet is to enter a lot of categories and show, show show!  You see, when you are doing any animals along with whatever your other entries are, you have to be there every day, and often a couple of times a day.  Best advice, enter lots and make the most out of each trip. 

Both kids have expressed that the fair days have been the best of their summer so far and each time we go, they don't want to leave.  A friend let us in on a tip before fair started that one of the community banks offers a mega wristband with a ticket purchase for a special price.  The kids wear them all week and have unlimited access to all of the rides.  The perfect thing for kids who have to be there multiple times a day for taking care of animals, showing, volunteering, barn duties, etc.  With one day left we are all exhausted and the house is suffering from neglect, but everyone is contented.

This weeks take:

Sidney:  2nd place, watercolor

rooster crowing~nada, performance anxiety :)

2nd place, poultry showmanship

1st place, high honor best Silkie rooster

Charles:  1st place, carrots

Me:  3rd place quilt, first time entry

Finito!

It is all done!  I finished my Geese in the Park quilt pattern from Moda Bakeshop!  I have to say that this was one of my most challenging patterns yet, lots of cutting and piecing, but I love this modified flying geese pattern. 

I made it with my niece, Katie, in mind.  When I first began quilting last year I made her little sister Madeline a Birthday Cake quilt for her birthday.  Now it is Katie's turn as she is reaching the big six next month and I wanted her to have something special.  I thought that the fact that the fabrics are from the Central Park Collection was very timely as my brother and his family are being transferred from California to New Jersey this summer and will be living a very short ride from the real thing.  I backed it in a soft warm flannel so that she can snuggle up as she sees the colors change for the first time and watches her first heavy snow fall.


I must say it was ironic that our first really warm days was when I was quilting it and I can attest to the fact that it is quite toasty ! :)   Happy to report~ Finito!! What projects have you been finishing up lately?

Done Baby!

 All it took was a snowy afternoon and my first quilt of 2011 is complete!  I went with the fleece back and a wider binding and am happy with the results.  I have a little fine tuning to do the next time I work with fleece, but overall I'm happy with it!  Now....what to do next?

1st Quilt Top of 2011!

The top is done!

I learned the art of chain stitching with this project and oh how I love that little tip!  It certainly made the piecing a breeze and it came together super quick (which is a huge bonus for my need for instant gratification :)

Next task, to pick out a backing...I think I'm going to have to try the snugly fleece.  That sound so good on this bitterly cold day!

I came across Ella's blog Dandelion, after she made a comment on one of my posts last week.  She asked if she could use my dandelion photo and poem from last year.  Thank you for asking Ella!  Please go over and check out her beautiful blog.  She is Swedish and writing all of her posts for this blog in English!  The post I linked talks about how she got started, enjoy!

All Cut!

Earlier this week I found a great strippy pattern at Moda Bakeshop that I wanted to try.   I have long admired the French General prints for Moda.   I sooo love this group of fabrics, it has a homey farm feel to me.  The store did not have what I needed, and since I was too impatient to order it and I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket I grabbed the also striking Maison de Garance .   I have been itching to get my hands busy.  So the other fabric will have to wait for a future project.  I promise not to get too caught in a French rut, I'll alternate with bold and crazy too :)

So after a few short cutting sessions today I managed to get my first quilt top of the 2011 all cut, now on to the sewing!

A Quiet Afternoon

It isn't often that I find myself at home in the afternoon on a work day. Sid and Puck (our almost 14 year old dog) had a slight collision last night. As they were both exuberantly at play, Puck, who is quite spry for her age, couldn't stop in her tracks quick enough and it sent Sid backwards onto the drive way where she hit her head. All is well, with the exception of a raging headache and a sore neck. So a little quiet time was in order today.

Over the last week or so the quilting blogosphere has been lit up with mug rugs like the one seen here at Stash Manicure. It's really interesting to see how many rug related posts there have been. They have multiplied, much like summer zucchini, and I am feeling a need to jump on the band wagon so I can leave a few on friend's door steps. So on this quiet afternoon I spent a couple of hours making my own. It was a bit of a challenge because I saw ton's of examples of completed rugs, what the finished size should measure and how to add the pocket but no step by step on the cutting/piecing. So I started playing, took my notes down so I can do it again, and managed to make one with only the completed size as my guide! This was very exciting for this quilter of 5 months!

Thankful that the injury is not serious, I think I'll use the next hour to snuggle my little girl in the quiet before we reintroduce the bundle of energy that is her brother, soon to be home from school. Then I'll fill the house with the warm smells of home and pot roast with garden veggies. Happy Monday!

Gifts

 Yesterday was such a beautiful day and the start to a wonderful weekend to go slowly and enjoy.  

We accomplished masses of canning yesterday, well at least put up masses of tomatoes. As the smells of garlic and spice wafted through the open windows, I filled the house once again with the smell of baking bread.  B planted the fall lettuces and we ordered the shallots and garlic that will be planted late next month to over-winter in the garden.  They will be our spring jewels.

I had a great excitement when the lovely Christina posted that she had a surprise for me!  I won a photography e-course on her blog presented by Shelagh, I can hardly wait...thank you, thank you!  A beautiful gift.

I've basted my second quilt top and am eager to quilt today between soccer games and birthday party drop offs.  I was introduced to this new batting product and jumped at the chance to use it.  It is made completely from recycled plastic bottles.  There's something so warming, thinking about this being incorporated into a quilt that I hope will last generations on it's own. Sigh...little gifts.

Speaking of gifts, today is Enkutatash, the Ithiopian new year and the date of Se'lah's gift of jewels project.  I am eagerly waiting for my little jewel and can't wait to see who it's from ;)  It seems so fitting that participants from all over the world are exchanging little cards of love and friendship, especially when it coincides with this day of remembrance. 

Wishing all a wonderful, slow weekend full of life's little gifts!

Quilt Top!--QAL

 Well, this is it!  Amy gave us the sashing instructions this week and lookie what we have here!  I would say it was a cinch, but I had a little trouble with the top row.  Once all laid out, I had to put on the final strips.  Somehow I reversed the direction and put the final corner piece on the wrong side.  My visualization failed me this time, I guess I was just a little too tired when I was doing that part last night.  It finally came to me in the light of day this morning and I fixed it.  Not to shabby hugh??  ;)

A funny aside,  I had to re-sash the top four blocks to fix my mistake.  Now, I began sewing about 7 months ago.  I made it through the 1st grade musical costumes, had to do a few re-do's involving lots of thread pulling and I began to pull threads on the sashes.  Then while painstakingly pulling individual stitches, I figured out I could run the seam ripper along the whole thing and it comes right apart!  Sheesh!  I guess that's why they call it a seam ripper and not a seam puller!  Yes,  you may laugh now.  I'll tell you though, this self-taught sewer was pretty thrilled at this time saving tip!

august break