An end to 'ME'!

Back in June, I announced that this summer was a 'ME' summer!  Well, all good things must come to an end.  It is time to get back to my charity quilt making once again.  I am looking forward to a busy season.  In order to sew my lemons into lemonade, I must have cut projects.  So....I have been having a cutting marathon for the past 4 days!

As some of you know, I have several closets with donated fabric.  In those closets are plastic bins and bags full of bundles waiting to be cut out.  I just grabbed a bin, and decided that it was as good a place to start as any!

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Two tops from the "Another Bit of Schnibbles" book.



I use a lot of patterns cut from quilting magazines.

I even have a UFO that was donated!  I had to square up the HST, and now they are ready to be put into a top.

I usually try to get more then just 6 tops cut at a time, but things are a tad bit hectic around here right now.  These 6 will have to do!

Also, I did manage to get the dust ruffle done for our little princess' crib!  Still have to work on the bumper pad.

Super easy to make.  I deliberately made it smaller then the springs frame.  With the slats so wide and close together, it is hard to really tell what it looks like.

Have you ever gone over to Better Off Thread for Lee's Sew Cute Tuesday?  Well, you should!!  It is a great place for inspiration and seeing what others are up to.

Can anyone have to many totes?

Well, that is really a rhetorical question!  I love them, and found a new pattern the other day at JoAnn for 70c!  I just couldn't pass it up....McCall M6532.

I have come to the conclusion that I'd rather make my own patterns!  This was rather complicated to follow.  I used tote B as my pattern choice.

It always starts with a stack of cut pieces....a LOT of them in this case!

Putting together the front and back was easy.  I have decided that I don't care for iron on Pellon craft weight stabilizer.  I always end up with puckers that show!

I really liked the way they suggest you make the handles. Attaching them was easy.

 Boxing the corners.

Sewing the sides, bottom and boxing the corners was no problem.  In this picture, you can see the zippered outside pocket.



Ironing on the fusible fleece to the zipper flange.

Thank you Cindy from Live A Colorful Life, for telling us all about the Clover Clips!

And she's done!  Lots of inside pockets too.

And finally.....the family portrait!  My daughter snatched up the largest of the pouches before I could blink!  All of those smiling kitties are priceless.

Please, click on over to Can I get a Whoop Whoop with Sarah over at Confessions Of A Fabric Addict!  She is such a great host.  Thank you Sarah!!!  Also, Pippa's Patch forTGIFF!!

Link on over to Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation!  Kelly is the best host EVER!  There is so much inspiration on her site.

I'd love to hear about what your newest summer tool discovery is!  Thank you so much for stopping by.

And so it goes!

Still working on my 2WENTY-THR3E quilt.  Started quilting today!  Stay tuned......

My Tuesday Bee friends and I went on a short field trip today.  Three of the 4 of us had never been to a Hobby Lobby store!  This particular store is in Visalia, CA.  What a fantastic place.  Yes.....fabric was purchased!

Like I need more fabric and more projects to work on.  But look at these bargains!

This is going to be a shopping cart cover for our little Princess!

This is going to be a new tote.  Can one ever have to many totes?

I have no idea what this fantastic sewing notions fabric will be, but I could not pass it up!

Please, join the linky party at Freshly Pieced!!!  Lee's WIP Wednesday is so very inspiring and exciting.  You can click on the button to the right, or the link above.

Let me know what you are working on this week!  I love hearing from all of you.  Comments make me happy!!!

Top's down!!

No, I don't have a convertible....but my 2WENTY-THR3E top is done!!!

 It all started on Tuesday with the marking of the 5 in squares.  Corner to corner.  I am making HST.

 Chain piecing the HST together.  I used 3 charm packs, that's a total of 126 squares.

 Cutting each square in half.  That makes 252 HST total!

 Pressing all those seams open took forever!

 Trimming each square took forever, again!  Each square ended up at 4 inches.

 After sewing each square together to make 14 squares in each row, I once again pressed all the seams open.

 Sewing 18 rows together, making sure to match each intersection.

 Piecing the inside border pieces together.

 Sewing the 6 inch outside border on and.....done!  All is pressed and waiting for the quilting.  I thought I had a big enough piece of batting for this quilt, but....

even with piecing smaller pieces together, this piece just wasn't big enough.  I will purchase batting this week and get to work on the quilting.

I am linking to Sew Cute Tuesday over at Better Off Thread!!  A great place to see what is going on with other quilters, and to share what you are up to.

What do you have planned for this week?  Are you starting a new project, or trying to finish an existing one?  I'd love to hear all about it!!

Going on 23!!

No, I am far from 23, but I am working on my 2WENTY-THR3E by Eric & Julie Comstock of Cosmo Cricket for moda quilt!  My wonderful friend Deborah from Simply Miss Luella gave me a 2TWENTY-THR3E charm pack, and I have finally decided how I want to make my quilt.

I am making HST with Kona bone as the contrast,  arranging them into a chevron pattern.

I will be using the kodachrome in clementine (cameras in orange) for a 1 in. first border.  The flash bulb in pavement (dots in gray) for the 6 in. outside border, and the modern girl in clementine (ovals in orange and pink) for the binding.

I am so excited about this one!  Thanks Deborah!!!

My "ME" summer has gone by way to quickly!  I still have a ton to do and make.  Thankfully, I have retreat coming up next month, and will be taking several of the "ME" quilts with me.  I can't wait!

I went to my friend Miss O's for out weekly 'bee' day yesterday.  I had to take a pic of her thread catcher.  It is a beautiful crystal vase!  Have you ever seen such a fancy thread catcher?  I love it!!

Have you ever seen a neat 'bee' day sewing surface?  So much to work on....so little time!

Linking over to Whoop! Whoop! Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict!

Please, head on over to My Quilt Infatuation's Needle and Thread Thursday linky party, with the wonderful Kelly as the hostess with the mostess!!  While you are there....check out her new (blog) look.  Quite fancy I'd say!!

I am linking over to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Lee is such a gracious host.  I appreciate her hosting every week.  I just love seeing what everyone is working on.

Happy sewing!

Show me...

I am linking over to Sarah Quilts' Show me yours...I'll show you mine linky party!  She is giving us all an opportunity to look into what and how others control their stash.  How fun is this?

As a lot of you know, I deal almost exclusively with donated fabrics, so I have a very LARGE stash.  I have a hard time finding enough room for it all.  It is scattered in 3 closets and 3 rooms!  Control is an issue for me.  Here is a little peek into my stash world.

 We (NFQuilters) get donations all year long!  I love seeing what fabrics come in.  It comes to us in bags....

 ...big and small.  It comes in boxes, big and small...plastic and cardboard.

 It is fun to see what UFOs come in. 







We get BOMs and antique blocks.  We get the projects that others just don't want to finish or even start.  We really do love it all!



This is one of my closets.  My wonderful husband put this great Ikea wardrobe into our laundry room.  When I get bundles ready to be cut, they go onto my bottom shelf.  At present, I have about 25 quilts that are ready to be cut and sewn.  The top shelf has my larger cuts.  I use my 6x12 in. ruler, fold the fabric in half (selveges to fold) and wind it around into neat folded lengths.  It keeps everything the same size and they take up less room!

It is so much fun to get to show all of you my stash!  I hope that this little taste of what I do inspires you to donate to a worthy charity.  You can read more about my charity work on my 'about me' page and my 'who are MCC and MDS' page.

Thanks Sarah for such a fun party!  If you have more questions for me,  just ask!!  I do love hearing from all of you!

Tiny bubbles....and bigger ones too!!

I have just finished up the last of the quilts for my new grand daughter to be!  (well, at least for now)

 I made circles with everything from a drinking glass to a large 13 1/2" Tupperware bowl!  I used Pellon paper backed fusible web to trace them onto, then fused them to my fabric and cut them out.

 It took a while to get the layout just right.  I then peeled the paper off and...

 ...fused them into place.  That took a while!  I found the perfect backing and binding fabrics.

 I used the blanket stitch on my machine to applique the circles to the Kona white.  This was my first time appliqueing.  Another first for this summer filled with firsts!  You can see that the quilting lines are already marked on the background.

 Basting time!  Why did it take me so long to buy a 'Kwik Klip'?  What a lifesaver...

 Diagonal lines for the background and spirals in the 'bubbles'.  The spirals got a little tricky.

 I repeated the circle theme for the label.  I will add the date after she is born.

 Every quilt deserves a glamor shot! 

 This quilt measures 41x51.  All of the prints are from Hancock Fabrics.

I just love a stripped binding!  I machine stitched the binding.  A great skill that I learned this summer.

My next project is the bumper pad and bed skirt for her crib!  I am having the time of my life.  Thank you my precious DIL, for entrusting me with all of these wonderful projects!! 

I am linking to Whoop Whoop! Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict andFinish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!!  Thank you to both Sarah and Amandajean for hosting such great Friday linky parties!  Val's Quilting Studio.