Elephant Stomp

I need Katie's odometer!  I made a quilt in a day :)

Here is "Elephant Stomp"

 

Then I made the page for my quilt scrap book.  It was a milestone day- my 3" binder is full!! I have to start "volume 2". 

I won't have long to oogle over the quilt as my hubby will bring it to the baby's father (his coworker) tomorrow.  I always include washing instructions so the recipient isn't afraid to use the quilt.  I can't stand the thought of a quilt sitting untouched.

The General and the T-shirt quilt go to the quilter on Tuesday so maybe I'll do some hand quilting on Fireside Chat.  Its been a while.  Or maybe I'll work on my APQ swap blocks and save my hands for all that binding that awaits me (416" on The General and 356" on the T-shirt quilt.  Eeeek!).  I better start stretching now!

Quilt guilds and elephants

Today was the first Philly Modern Quilt Guild meeting.  It was so fun to meet some quilters in the area who are younger/young at heart and to see some great projects!  I'm really excited to see how the group comes together in the months to come :)  Liri it was great to meet you in person- your projects are gorgeous.

Earlier today I took a trip up to JoAnns to buy batting for "The General" (I fnally settled on a name), batting and backing fabric for the T-shirt quilt, and some baby fabric for my husband's coworker.  They had a baby girl and have an elephant themed nursery.  The fabrics aren't quite as girly as I'd usually go for, but I like the prints.  I'll make my standard baby quilt so I can crank it out quickly. 

Off to sew!

Sewing Snurricane Day

Thanks to the "snurricane" (yes that's a snow hurricane) I was off of work today.  Well really the weather wasn't as bad as predicted and now the roads are clear (thank goodness!) but I was still off for most of the day.

What better to do than have a sewing snurricane day!

I finally finished up my french general quilt top and back.  The top needed borders (I didn't take a picture because it is just too big to lay out anywhere) and then I pieced the back.  I LOVE the pieced back.  Its sort of hard to see here, but you can get the idea.  Again it is just too huge to lay out anywhere and I didn't feel like making the bed look blog presentable.

 

My living room was in quite the state.  Remember Fireside Chat?  Its staring at me from the corner, wanting some attention.

Well at least this quilt and the T-shirt quilt are almost done.  I just need to go get batting for both and backing fabric for the T-shirt quilt and I'll be ready to take them to the quilter.  

I really need to name the French General quilt something besides "the french general quilt".  Any suggestions??

Tomorrow is the first Philly modern quilt guild.  I can't wait! :)

Quilty Weekend

I just got back from my quilty weekend and I had such a blast!!

Abby, Julie, and I had such a great time.  This was our first sewing get together despite the fact that I've known them all of my life.

It was a one-yard wonder weekend.  First we made "Granny's closepin aprons". 

 

 (Yes Zippy Bobo slippers had to come along)

 

Here's my apron- I love this fabric! I bought two yards so I can make something else from it.  Perhaps pot holders?  Or another apron?

 
Then Abby and I made "Not Ugly Car Trash Bags".  Mine is the one out of honeycomb/bee fabric.

 

Meanwhile, Julie made the "Planner Sleeve" for her photo album:

She also started on the "Toddler Art Smock", but didn't get it completed.  She's promised to send me a pic so I'll post it later.

Of course everything was calorie free!!

 It was such a wonderful girly weekend and there is nothing like spending time with these lovely ladies who I grew up with.  I love them both like sisters. :)

Big 'Ole T-shirt Quilt

Today I finished the Tshirt quilt top.  Its really monstorously big- I was trying to size for an X-long twin bed (my cousin's a freshman in college) but I'm questioning my measurements.  Oh well- better too big than too little!  Here it is on my design wall (aka living room floor)...

...and on my guest room bed for scale.  I'm thinking I need to make a quilt for above this bed, but that's another day.

I'm hoping my machine quilter has some sort of basketball quilting design.

Tonight's dinner is Veal Saltimbocca from (yes you guessed it) Giada De Laurentiis (here's the link to the origional recipe Chicken Saltimbocca).  I haven't made this before, but her recipes are always super yummy.  I was at Target last week and was so excited to see that she has her own line of cookware.  I bought this awesome scoop strainer thingy that she uses to scoop out pasta. I can't wait to try it.  I love how the holes look like flowers.

Tomorrow I'm off to Rochester, NY for my quilty one-yard wonder weekend.  I can't wait!!!  My mom gave me this mega bag from Lands End a few Christmases ago and it can hold my sewing machine, notions, rulers AND my One-Yard Wonders book.  I feel a bit like Mary Poppins. 

Happy Quilting!

Mr Februrary

Here is Mr Februrary.  I'm not so sure how I feel about how his face turned out...

I'm so happy it turned out I didn't have to work today!  Hooray!!  So I'm going to spend the day working on my cousin's T-shirt quilt.  Here's the progress so far.

 

Layout done, row one done.  Of course Hank had to inspect it all.  

Happy Quilting!

February Fury

Its starting to snow again!  The weather man is calling for another 1-2 FEET!  Its sort of hilarious that they are calling it "February Fury". I feel like I'll need a T-shirt or something that says "I survived February Fury 2010" hahah!  All my patients have been rescheduled and tomorrow will be a snow day :)  Yippie!!! So tomorrow (in between shoveling/snow blowing) I get to SEW!!

I've been really busy cutting, sewing and shopping up a storm the past few days. 

Sunday was my local quilt shop's "Super Bolt" Sunday sale.   Aren't these fabrics fun!?!

I went straight to work on the Joel Dewberry fabric and made this fun bag from the One-Yard Wonders book.  I modified it a bit from the pattern and used two fabrics (instead of one), added interfacing to the handle/top pieces, and I added a zipper.  I'm trying to make friends with making bags.  Bags are NOT usually my friends (for the APQers- remember the "Amy Butler is ridiculous" bag?!) and this bag was better. It still took some fiddling but that was because I added the zipper.

I've made a dent in my cousin's T-shirt quilt.  I put on all the interfacing and cut out the 35 blocks.  I bought the sashing/border/binding fabric (a navy/black blender) at the sale on Sunday.

Oh and look what came in the mail today!  I received my first giveaway from Jenn @ Purpleheart Ori"jenn"als.  Nigel is checking everything out and has officially given his approval.  I love the beautiful scarf and the cute fabric pack!  She had it all wrapped up with a pretty fabric bow, but I was too excited to rip it all open to take a picture of it.  Thank you so much Jenn!! The scarf is just in time for Feb Fury!

The rest of my French General Rouenneries fabric arrived in the mail today too.  So now I can finish that up.

Thanks February Fury for giving me a WIP day.  Hooray! Stay warm everyone :)

Truly Snowbound

It is snowing and snowing and snowing!!!  Silly groundhog and his silly shadow!

Here is Mr. January from Anne's Snowbound BOM over at Bunny Hill Designs.  He is just loving this weather.

Since I'm not going anywhere today and since my fusible interfacing came in the mail yesterday, today is a good day to start my cousin's T-shirt quilt.  Until I have to go out and shovel anyways!  I was having a hard time finding the interfacing in the quantity/thickness I wanted until I found the website of Goose Tracks quilts.  Cathy custom makes T-shirt quilts but also sells the fusible sheerweight interfacing in varying yardage.

For all of you on the east coast- stay warm and safe!

What I'm..

What I'm reading:
One-Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins

I had seen a lot about this book.  Today I was at Barnes and Noble and after paging through it I couldn't resist!   It is stuffed with 106 projects (5 extra bonus projects in the Barnes and Noble special edition) ranging from aprons to a firefighter hat to a drawer organizer all from 1 yard of fabric.  In a few weeks I'm going to visit my best friend for a girly quilty weekend and this book will be going with me.

What I need to finish:
Remember my french general quilt?  I still need to order just ordered the backing, border and binding fabrics.  I'm planning to piece the back with the leftover blocks.

Hank is very interested of course.

What I'm going to start:
Anne Sutton's Snowbound BOM.  I finally went out and bought some background fabric to get going.  I love the gray and the swirly pattern.  Plus I love that it was 50% off!  Maybe I'll just be a month behind...

What I'm ordering:
15 yards of interfacing to finally start on my cousin's T-shirt quilt!

What I'm eating:
Everyone gave such a good response to my soup recipe I thought I'd share another.  Tonight I made fusilli with spinach and asiago cheese.  Its a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and I think her food is fabulous.  The only modification I make is I add a package of precooked chicken.  Delicious!  

Last but not least,
What I'm excited about:
I won my first giveaway!! I won Jenn's giveaway of a beautiful scarf and some fat quarters at her blog Purpleheart Ori"jenn"als.  Thank you Jenn!!  :)

Happy Quilting!