Train quilt

I know a little two year old who is all about trains these days, so I have started a train quilt for him.

This is what I have so far...

The engine...

Some people...

Not sure what this one is...i guess one of those carriers that have liquid in them.

Looks like the coal car....

A load of dirt? .... haha

And, a load of lumber...

They are all done on the embroidery machine, with some applique.

There are 6 more cars, and some track and trees and a railroad crossing sign. Each block takes about an hour, so it will be a few days before the blocks are all finished. I like that they have the connections on each block, so each one can be connected to the one before it.

I recently bought myself a 'back up' embroidery machine, since mine is in the shop once again for repair. I got a Baby Lock Flourish II. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that my main machine has, but it gets the job done while I wait for the other machine to be repaired. It's kind of sad to have 2 machines, but, i didn't want to be without one for several weeks. I'm an embroidery junkie. haha

All boxed up and ready to mail

OK....the embroidery food phase is over. haha   i didn't count how many pieces i made, but they filled a box larger than a shoe box. 

I am sending them in a box with a handle in the lid so they can haul them around. 

I sent them a letter, too. they are 2 1/2, so it might amuse them. 

Now I am working on a train quilt for Jasper, since he is all about trains these days.

The last of the embroidered play food

I have finally made all the play food designs that I have. i wish i could get ketchup, mustard, mayo but i don't find them anywhere.

Do you like your pancakes...

with syrup...

or, with jelly..

And i finished a few more pieces of pizza and now have a whole pie. you can tell i did it on different days, since i didn't check back and things are different....like cheese.  haha

Now i need to box them all up and send them on to Chicago. I hope they keep the kids amused for a while.

"made" fabric to a made quilt top

For 2 days now, I have been ignoring the embroidery machine....the longarm....and anything else I SHOULD be doing. haha

It started yesterday morning....I was looking through a Victoria Wolfe book, 15 minutes of play...improvisational quilts. well, I saw this....

Well, I make crumb blocks, so that is nothing new.....but she had several different quilt designs that i liked. And she talked of 'made' fabric. i think my crumb blocks count as made fabric. 

I had a pile of crumb blocks.... these are my leaders and enders projects. 

And in looking through my pile of leftovers and bits and pieces of this and that....i found these.  12 of the flower rectangles and several of the triangles. hhmmmmm...... i figured i should use those up.

So, I sewed and cut and measured and sewed some more....and came up with this yesterday. it was about 62x70

It was ok but nothing to write home about....so I slept on it. and, today, went back and played some more. I added some borders to make it larger and more rectangular.

And then I added a black trim around those flower rectangles. that would have been much easier had i thought of it BEFORE piecing it all together. I just cut 1 1/2" strips, folded it like binding, sewed it around the edges, and turned it over and sewed it down. 

I didn't worry too much if it didn't get straight...it was a bear to wrestle around. but they do stand out a bit more now and i like it better. 

While digging through that pile of bits and pieces, i decided to use some of them in this quilt. when i take my embroidery machine in for repair, they usually make this cat design to show that the machine is working. i have several of them.

I did use up a lot of 6" crumb blocks....and some of them got cut in half to fit against the corner flower blocks.

Here's another cute piece from the repair people....i love this frog.

Now it is 75x82....and i am done playing. It's time to get back to that embroidery food and get that long project finished up.

Yellow and black selvage HSTs

In using up some black and yellow selvages, I went on pinterest to find some ideas to set the HSTs together. There were several cool ideas....for this time I chose this one.

It is 72x82 and I think it doesn't need a border

There are stars in the corners and the middle

And then rows around them.

It takes a lot of concentration .... and a well marked graph sheet....to get them all going in the right direction. there was a bit of un-sewing. haha

But it is another top together and i like it. it will go marinate in the to-be-quilted cabinet for a while.

Shirt Tags

When I cut up shirts, I use everything I can. I saw a quilt on Quilted Twins that used shirt tags and that gave me the block idea and inspiration to make this.

It is 66x70"

Who knew there were so many different brands of shirts

I used a TriRecs ruler to cut the pieces for the blocks. There were a few glitches figuring out which way to lay the ruler and if the fabric should be face up and/or right sides together. i finally got it. 

I used all reds that i had enough of a piece to cut a few triangles.

It's a good use of scraps. I cut the label parts 6 1/2" long and however wide i could get. after adding the edges, i trimmed the blocks to 5 x 8 1/2". Used another red that worked and added columns between...then a brown border....then a red and tan border. I hope to quilt it up pretty quickly....in February some time.

Play food coming to an end

I am just about finished with my play food designs. Today I made more breakfast items...

Waffles...

Donuts....chocolate icing..

Vanilla icing

And, I finished up the peanut bag.

The only things left to make are toast and pancakes....and a few more pizza slices.  Then I can ship the package off to the twins.

Working on breakfast

I just broke down and bought a back up embroidery machine....so I can continue to play and not have to wait 2-3 weeks for the main machine to be repaired. I use it so much that it is in the shop every few months....I wear out the bushings.

So, today I played with the new machine and made bacon and eggs.

I also made some peanuts

The peanut bag is what I was working on when the other machine quit, so I will finish up the bag on another machine. Luckily, it was at a point that didn't need embroidery...just putting the back together with the front and I can do that on a regular machine.

At least I can keep on working now.

A few more packages of food

What will I do when I am finished embroidering play food? haha  it is so addicting. This is what I did today...

Mac and cheese...  I like that she has little bags for all the small pieces.

Peas and Carrots..

Cheese sticks...yellow and white...

Now, it is going to be awhile before I have more. my embroidery machine died a horrid death today and has to go to the hospital. it will be a couple weeks before it comes back.  sigh!!   i hate that...i was having so much fun.

Still playing with my food

My head was a bit fuzzy today .... from lack of sleep....so, I didn't quilt. but i did play with food more.

I now have 2 slices of white bread...

2 slices of wheat bread....

Some avocado halves...

A bag of popcorn...

And, a couple sweet potatoes

I also made the bag for peas and carrots, but didn't get the veggies finished yet...so, that pic is for another day.

They seem to be going quicker, so I think I have the system down now. I haven't made any major boo-boos that I had to throw away in a while. haha

I made some carbs today

Today was pizza day...

The slices are about 5"...pepperoni, mushrooms and olives.  there was no choice of toppings. haha

Here is the back of one piece....2 of them are this color.  i am using scraps to create.

So far, I have made 4 pieces. i need 3 more for a full circle of pizza.

I will make more pizza, but for now I switched....

And made a slice of bread. The back looks the same as the front. It is about 4"

I will probably make 4 slices. and maybe make some wheat bread, too.

Who knew this could be so much fun.

More Play Food

I went back to embroidering some play food today.  I made...

A dozen eggs...

And a crate to put them in. I used the milk crate and just sewed 'eggs' on it. she did not make a container for the eggs.

A bag of chips.... the designer has no consistency in her sizes. there are 6 chips in a smallish bag.

And, a bag of goldfish crackers. and this bag is much larger. her design had 4 fish crackers, but i made 6.

I still have to make sweet potatoes and the breakfast stuff. but i am going online to get some cheese sticks, peanuts, maybe popcorn, and pizza. and who knows what else I might find. 

And, I found a box that i made some times ago and was keeping patterns in it....but i am sending it along to keep the food in. 

And, I quilted on the Beach Walk top for an hour. it's slow going.