Mailbox Goodies and Other Things

This is what was in the box on my doorstep when we arrived home Friday afternoon.  This is from my friend who I was supposed to quilt with all of those years ago before the US Navy started moving us.  And not just scraps, but unwanted yardage, a very cool Halloween t-shirt, a few Halloween baubles for BabyBird, and L's name badge and pin from her days with the Tidewater Quilters Guild.  Thank you.

Look real close, right there in the center of the picture.  See it?!!  Yes!  None other than the hard-to-find Heather Ross Goldfish in Bags!!!  Awesome.  

Where has the time gone?  Oh, I know, sewing all of those lined drawstring Trick-or-Eek! bags.  This doesn't include the ones I made and dropped off at the post office.

Realized yesterday, I hadn't made any more blocks for the QAL.  Oops!  After a day of school activities with BigP and BabyBird, I pulled out the scraps and made these last night.

I've decided I'm going to sew my rows together as I make the blocks.  It's one less step.  And, to qualify for the prizes in this QAL, I need to have at least 30 blocks for a lap size quilt, 40" x 48".

Off to sew I go.  

Production Day

No sewing today.  Just fabric selection and cutting for the latest batch of Trick-or-Eek! lined drawstring bags.  MANY of the Halloween fabrics in my stash didn't make it into this pull.  Is there such a thing as too many Halloween fabrics?  Maybe.  Some people in my family would say so. I don't think I belong to that line of thinking though.

These are the fabric sets for the 14 bags that need to be sewn.  I think my favorite is the 3rd row down, 3rd set on the right - medium black spiders and webs on an apple green background.  I coordinated it with the large white ovals on chartreuse from Robert Kaufman's Celebrate Seuss! collection.  They remind me of GIANT spider eggs!!  How scary is that?  With that thought, off to sew I go.  

Monste-Madnes Mini

This is definitely a first - 2 posts in one day.

I am heading out to a social function tonight and made a hostess gift for Jean.  What I had originally planned morphed into something else entirely, of course.  Here is a mini quilt which I've named Monste-Madnes because of that adorable green monster in the upper right corner and because that's the only part of the text that's visible.   

Some of my scrappy Halloween stars, the monster madness strip was from a bandanna I found after Halloween last year.  The gray and purple strips with the flying bats and the owls sitting in the tree are actually fussy cut from something I purchased this year.  Can't think of which line it's from right now.    

The back is pieced - more of the graveyard fence line.  The light gray cross-hatch shows off the quilting lines rather well.  These are free motion stars stitched in charcoal and orange  This little mini finished up at 13 x 14 inches. 

I think she'll like it.  Oh, I do SO love Halloween!   

Fright Night Mini

Fright Night Mini for my longtime best friend who has no idea it's headed her way.  Actually, never even mentioned I was making anything special for her.  For years, I would receive the BEST little gifts from her - quilted bags, little play shorts for my kiddos, little bags, etc.  However, she's stopped sewing for reasons too numerous to delve into.  I, on the other hand, have turned the dining room into my quilting room.  Luckily, I have an understanding family - thank you.  I am so excited to be able to send her something.  Love you L.  Wish we lived closer than 877 miles apart.  

Catching Up - First Week of Summer Break

Yesterday, at the end of the first week of summer break, we, BabyBird and I, finally caught up with my good friend, fabric-shopping-partner-in-crime, Bobbi and her daughter.  Seems like it's been forever.  Circumtances.  Un-schooling on their end; a carpool opportunity for me.  But we had so much fun today!  First stop was Jo-Ann's where we both found fabric that was coupon eligible.  Sometimes, that's pretty difficult to do.

A selection of fabrics for a quilt for BabyBird's room redesign.  After 6 years, I will take down the icky wallpaper the previous owners chose.  We will paint her walls the colors of the sea.

 Lunch was in order, so being on that side of town and close to Taco Rock, we knew where we were headed.  While Pensacola has many Mexican restaurants, this is still our favorite.   

If you happen to be on Hwy 29, in "car city" as the ads say, stop!  The food is fresh, well prepared, tasty, and satisfying.

Finally, we ended our day at A&E Pharmacy which is truly a frabic-a-holics dream shop.  We can ALWAYS find something without even trying. 

I picked up these to compliment the stack from Jo-Ann's.

 

Here they are together.  I know a quilter or two in our guild, ECMQG, that might like these.

BabyBird is a bag girl.  She found an Amy Butler pattern for our summer sewing project, the Beautiful Belle Handbag.  Luckily for me, the fabrics she chose were part of the 50% off sale.  4 3/8 yards of fabric for a bag is a lot of fabric.

And these, were in the flat-fold sale bin at $4.98/yd.  Oldies but goodies that I couldn't pass up.


All in all, a relaxing way to end the first week of summer break.  

Busy, Busy, Busy

Stayed up way too late last night.  Pouring over the giveaways on SewMamaSew and finally subscribing to quilting blogs.  

I mean, I read some of them regularly, but I hadn't subscribed to most before.  Now I have.

What a week this has been. 

Lots of cleaning, organizing and clearing out; lots of cooking; a fair amount of sewing.  

After last weeks teaser with acrylic paints for cultural projects, I truly felt the need to sew, which means, play with color and fabrics!  That and the fact I'm missing our monthly meeting of the Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild because of my appointment with the orthopedic doc.  The ONLY available appointment until mid-June I might add.  Had to take it. 

This is Peace, Love & Happyness baby quilt, which, when I started it, was for a yet-to-be-born girl known as BabyBenson3, or B3.

The pale aqua center block that doesn't show so well :( is a scrap of fabric from a bag I made BabyBird that says "friend" "love" "hug" and has tiny, tiny hearts.  I wanted B3 to be surrounded by love and peace. 

  

Of course, the offset square-in-square layout I intended just wasn't working, so I rearranged, kept pieces up on my design wall, and let it be until ...  Well, until Wednesday.  And now this quilt has a 'heart line' leading to and right next to that most important block.

And these are raggedy square-in-square blocks for Margaret's Hope Chest.

All from my piles.  I NEVER, in a million years, would've thought red, yellow, and purple would look good together.  

But, here's the proof.  These are just random blocks for the good ladies in MI to assemble later this summer.

I like that they're big - 9.5".  I can easily see making more of these with BabyBird and BigP as our summer sewing project.    

Only 5 days left of school!!  Less time in the car means more time for sewing!

Cultural Projects - Research or Art?

Cultural projects are due.  Actually past due.  Sigh.  But they are really getting into their chosen research topics.  BabyBird = Coral Reefs; BigP = Jellyfish.  I purchased their tri-fold boards from Target yesterday afternoon.  They wanted blue since their topics were water related.  Target had white.  Solution?  Paint!  

They (we) had a painting session last night.  Good thing I've been stockpiling acrylic paints.  :)  Messy.  Fun.  Creative.  Invigorating.  All of us want to do more!  I can't decide which part of this project they've enjoyed more - the research or the art?  But it doesn't really matter, does it?


 

Jellyfish background.

Coral Reefs background.

Bella and Khaki checking out the "water".