Sister's First (and probably only) Quilt

This story starts twenty years ago. My sister, Rhunell, who doesn't quilt, but does sew,  started this t-shirt quilt for my BIL...twenty years ago. The quilt consist of t-shirts he received for races he had run. She hand quilted the squares (kudos to her) and is the first quilt she has ever done. Years ago she put the half completed quilt up and eventually forgot about it. She found it again this summer and decided to finish it and gift it to her husband this Christmas. Rhunell did a great job on the quilt, especially on the hand quilting.

The moral of the story is..no matter how old your UFO is, there will always be a right time to finish it. 

My New Year's Quilting resolution is to finish at least one UFO project each month as listed on my side menu (Gotta update that tomorrow). 

What is your quilting New Year's resolution?

Thanks for visiting and Happy New Year

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

A Visit to Mama's Quilt Shop

 Saturday, after my sister (Sew Much and More) and I converged at my mother's home in Hammond, La. for the Christmas holidays, we made a trip to Mama's Quilt Shop in Independence, La., a country drive 30 minutes east of Baton Rouge, and 45 minutes north of New Orleans.  

Its a quaint little shop nestled behind live oak trees and sits in front of a large peaceful pond. Entering the quilt shop is like coming home. You are greeted with warm welcomes and an array of bolts in current trends of fabric design.

Ms. Martha from Living Life was working on finishing up these cute "twister" wreaths. These were made using the medium size twister ruler. These beautiful projects measured about 14 or 16 in square from my "eyeing" estimation... correct me if I'm wrong Ms. Martha. I have the twister ruler but I've never used it...I think I should use it. 

Ms. Martha was also working on this faux red-work rag quilt. You had to touch the fabric to feel that it was actually stamped on the panel. 

Here are two quilts that were hanging in the shop classroom. The camera does not do them justice. They were very eye-catching hanging in the store.

I love the star border on this one. The contrasting colors really gave the quilt depth.

Patty was working on this cute applique' for her 4-year old grandson. She was doing an excellent job. Applique' is a technique that I've not tried yet...another technique that is on my "To Do" list.

I thought that her choice of colors were great!

There is so much detail in applique'.

My sister, mother, and I had a nice time at the quilt shop. Visit my sister at Sew Much and More and check out all the fabric goodness the store has to offer!

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

Travel Sewing Pouch

Merry Christmas to all!. 

I'm sure you all have been as busy as I have in getting your Christmas sewing projects completed. It has been a wild and busy month. Why can't I start on my projects in January and not be so stressed out during this joyful time of year. Who else does that?

My niece requested a travel sewing pouch for Christmas and I came up with this. I sewed it together on my serger and used my embroidery machine to make the pretty front pocket and back design. It was a fun and quick project.

The pouch was too small to hold a pin cushion so I stuffed batting between the outside canvas and the lining and made a pin cushion next to the outside pocket.

My niece likes blue and I found this pretty blue and brown fabric in my stash for the lining.

And the back... I love this jacobean design and have been wanting to use it on something. It is an Anita Goodesign from their Jacobean collection.

Here are the items I bought to put into the pouch. It's more then what can fit but I figured she could pick and choose from these items and it would give her a good start. 

I collect chicken figurines and some roost on my mantle. I was voicing to my husband that I was not looking forward to removing all my chickens and finding a temporary place for them so that I could put out my mantle Christmas decorations. He came up with the idea for me to make Christmas hats for the chickens and at the end of the season all I needed to do was take the hats off the chickens and store them for next year.  How ingenious is that? I then went around the house looking for other items that could use hats...but that will have to be a project for next Christmas that I guess I need to start in January. 

I hope everyone has a Joyful and Merry Christmas and treasure this special time spent with loved ones. 

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

A Giveaway!

Friends at Mama Quilt Shop is giving away a copy of Turning Twenty Slapplique!  And...enough fabric to make a sample block. I've seen the book and it's a great!

Visit Bits and Pieces and leave a comment for a chance to win!

Good Luck and thanks for visiting. Happy Living! Happy Quilting!

Nurse shoulder tote/supply bag.

Good Morning! What a beautiful day it is here in north central Georgia. Not a cloud in this great big blue sky. The temps are in the 60s with a light breeze. What a day! Okay...now that we've had the weather report this is what I've been working on. 

As many of you know I'm a nurse, and a nurse needs to carry around supplies such as alcohol wipes, syringes, tape, pens, etc. I generally carry these items in my pockets and have to fumble through my pockets to find the items I need...not to mention my body feels loaded down with stuff. 

I was at my LQS recently and they had this oh so cute nurse fabric panels...of course I had to have some but at the time didn't know what I wanted to do with it. I was studying the fabric while sitting at my sewing machine and a light bulb went off...a pouch to carry all my nurse items in! This is what I came up with and it was a hit when I brought it to work.

This is one side of the pouch. It's as big as what the panel is.

This is the other side. I did some deco stitching around 

   picture which made it look like a separate panel from the background panel fabric. Then I added a long black webbing shoulder strap that could be worn around my neck and arm and hung to about my waist.

I attached both sides with a one inch strip of black fabric.

Oh..of course I lined it too.

Findings after testing it at work:

1. It needs some small inside pockets to hold my alcohol wipes and smaller items. I found I was fumbling through the bag to get my small items which of course went to the bottom under the tape.
2. It can be slightly wider. My black side strip needs to be about another inch wider.
3. Strap needs to be adjustable. I just need to find out where to get the plastic adjustable thingie to run the webbing though.

It was a hit at work. I had lots of compliments on it. Then I realized..wait a minute..it doesn't just have to be a nurse on it...I can embroider anything on fabric cut to width and make my own panels! More to come on that idea!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your day is as beautiful as mine is. Happy Living! Happy Quilting!

DeAnna S.

Some Recent Embroidery Projects

I made these cute bookmarks for our nursing techs as a "Thank You". I love the lace look of these bookmarks and love embroidering anything lace.

I also did this one for one of our male nursing techs who just got back from the beach. The In-the-Hoop projects are the best. I love watching them come to life in front of my eyes.

Here is a block that I'm working on. I'm calling the quilt "Gate to My Garden". The block consists of 4 embroidered squares that are then sewn together to make a block. One good thing about this block is that as it's embroidering it's also quilting. All I have to do is sew all the blocks together, back it, then just stitch in the ditch between blocks...uh...sounds easy.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Living! Happy Embroidering!

DeAnna

Look what Santa has brought me in October!

Santa came early to my house this year...he wanted to beat the crowd, traffic, and hustle and bustle. My items were delivered to my LQS. This is four of the seven boxes that were delivered.  Can you guess what they contain? 

And the fun begins....

My DH...who loves me so much...began unpacking the boxes for me...after coming home late from an out of town business trip. But alas, this was as far as he got. Bright and early the next morning we began again with the unpacking and putting together. Have you guessed what it is yet??!! Surely you know by now.

Here is another hint...it's about 12 feet long....

and has legs...

and takes up a lot of space in my studio...

My DH is such a great guy...he worked hard on putting it together. If I had to do it, it would probably still be in boxes.

TA DA!! 

It's my Crown Jewel Longarm by Baby Lock. 

 I'm so intimidated by it. 

And now the empty boxes on the staircase landing to deal with...Oh so many empty boxes.

And now...the fun begins...practice, practice, practice. I did these leaves using the Crown Jewel's laser light and following a motif.  It is fatter then the original motif.

I also did these feathers using the same method...it's fatter too! Practice, practice, practice!!

I decided to try some freehand work...it's hearts but I guess it can also be leaves...and it's fatter than what I wanted!! Practice, practice, practice.

I'm quilting on some old sheets that I had...I couldn't bring myself to practice on good fabric...or even good cheap fabric. Maybe I will make a quilt out of my practice bed sheets.

I will keep you all posted with my progress. Thanks for stopping by. Happy Living! Happy Quilting!...

...and remember...practice, practice, practice.

A Prayer Quilt for Dad

 

I've not posted for a while due to my Dad's illness. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May and God took him in his arms in late August. Above is the prayer quilt that my family made for dad which comforted him and now comforts us. Please visit my sister's blog to read the touching story behind the quilt and a family's love for each other.

 



Love you Dad...you always thought of your family in everything that you did.

I will always miss you and you will forever be in our hearts.

 

 

Thanks to all for stopping by. Happy Living! Happy Quilting!

 

DeAnna S.

Hope that everyone is having a blessed Memorial Day. 

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE MADE THIS DAY POSSIBLE AND IN SPECIAL MEMORY OF LOVED ONES THAT NO LONGER ARE WITH US WHO HAVE MOVED ON TO THEIR NEXT JOURNEY.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Living! Happy Quilting!

A visit to Mama's Quilt Shop

Mama's Quilt Shop is a cute shop in Independence La. You drive down a one lane road and come to a peaceful place with beautiful Live Oak trees in the front and an old fish pond in the back. The shop has a great assortment of up-to-date quality fabrics, a great sale room, and a really nice size classroom. The owner was absolutely wonderful and guided us with our fabric choices.

I found this black and white in the sale room for $5/yd. I'm currently doing a black and white quilt and needed to replenish my stash. I just bought what was left on the bolts... I believe there's about 6 yards total here.

They also had this Faux Leather and a tote on display that I fell in love with... so of course I had to get me some to make the tote.

  The Tote.

They had many of their kits on sale and I thought they were reasonably priced to begin with. This blue and white fabric was put together for a Snail's Trial quilt design. Blue and White is so crisp looking to me.

The pattern.

Then I found this pink and green for a Card Trick quilt. These are not really my colors, but I'm trying to come out of my box some and explore more.

The Pattern.

So if you're ever near Baton Rouge or New Orleans...take a nice country drive and visit this shop. Southern hospitality is plentiful.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

I think I love Paper Piecing

Man-oh-man...where have these days gone...they are just flying by. It will soon be Christmas in July before I know it. But until then, it's one quick day at a time. I went to my very first paper-piecing class today. Confusing at first, but after I made my first few mistakes I was catching on to the technique. All these years of quilting and sewing I've always wanted to try paper-piecing and finally did. My pattern was fairly easy and was provided by our instructor. It's a stained glass pattern and was a great pattern to start off with. I was surprised that I could sew as straight as I did...even with following lines.

I found some fabric in my stash that I thought would look nice. The quilt will be as big as how much fabric I have. I probably have enough to make a nice size lap quilt. I like the stained glass look and I've always wanted to do a stained glass quilt. (Kinda looks like an eyeball to me. Hopefully when I have the saching in place and the blocks are turned it won't look so much like an eye!)

 I was really surprised at how well all my seams laid together. I've never been so precise and accurate with my seams...and these are tiny seams. I made the usual errors..forgot to trim, sewed on wrong line, fabric caught underneath, etc, but all in all I enjoyed the class. Now I'm on the look-out for more paper-piecing projects.

Thanks for stopping by. I plan on working on more of this tonight. Since it's a new technique I need to get it ingrained into my brain.

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

Atlanta Shop Hop - 2012

8 shops in one day! I only had two days to get to all 10 shops...did it!

The first shop was Stitch'n Quilt. The employees where very nice and helped us out. They had wonderful fabric and projects.

Second shop was Red Hen. They just moved back into their previous building! How they got ready for Shop Hop in time was amazing. Lots of work by many. She always has great fabric. Of course I bought some.

 

 Little Quilts always decorates to the theme. This year was "Meet Me at the Fair. Everyone was dressed out in western style with boots and cowboy hats. Of course they had a great display of quilts.

The next store on our Shop Hop was Tiny Stitches. They had a great selection of fabrics and we visited a while with them.  The below Snails Tail is a raffle quilt. I just love this block but have never made it. Maybe I will win! I don't know why I like the block so much but I do.

Next on our list was Intown Quilters. They had this nice bargello on display. One of these is also on my mental To Do list.

Georgia Sewing and Quilt Center was next. They just moved into this nice building. It was fun seeing what all they had...I was so interested I forgot to take pictures of the inside and of all their beautiful quilts.

 Our second to last stop was at Patricks. It's a country store/plant store/feed store/quilt store. They have such a welcome home atmosphere. I always love going there. I definitely bought fabric from here. In their clearance section they had fabric for $5 and $3/yd. Needless to say I racked up and increased my stash by about 20 yards.

They also have all this speciality candy...any kind. I love the toffee and the peanut butter and the turtles and the chocolate covered nuts and fruits and the fresh honey. Needless to say I bought some of those items too. Oh...and below are some of their quilts. They had them hanging all over.

Our last stop of the day was at Sweet Home Quilts.  It was almost 5:30pm and we began our adventure around 9am. My friend and I were both getting quite tired. My odometer was at 180 miles for the day and we still had to get home! Sweet Home is a nice store too. Alas I was so interest in what they had inside I forgot to take pictures...or I was just getting really tired!

 The second day was left with only two shops to visit. The first was Quilt and Fixins. They always support the local Humane Society by raffling off their quilts.


The last store was my LQS. They did an excellent job and the store was a happy place to be.

They had a lot of customers but I was the first to turn in a completed passport with all stores stamped! Maybe that will bring me luck and I will win the grand prize of this year's Shop Hop...$100 gift card from each shop...Wow, I could spend $1000 easily and my stash would welcome new company.

Another Shop Hop come and gone. We had loads of fun and I was inspired by what all I saw.

Can't wait to start sewing and creating!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting. Have a great week. Happy Quilting! Happy Living!