Birds of a Feather

This is the cutest little baby quilt. I saw it in a magazine and had to make it.

Here is my top.  They had cut individual blocks but I saw no sense in that....just to sew them together again, so i just cut rows. That way I could play with spacing and placement a bit.

I used flannel for the background

And I turned a couple birds the other direction in the row. 

I had plenty of bright colored fabrics in the stash to use.

This little guy is trying out his wings. haha  why walk when you can fly.

It was lots of fun cutting and matching wings to birds.

Not as much fun was cutting out all those little feet and beaks.

Not sure what I will do for eyes. buttons would not be safe for babies. i'll worry about that later. it still needs to be quilted.

Flowers and Four Patches

I saw a top similar to this somewhere....and decided i could make one pretty easily. the original has hearts....but i didn't have a heart die, so i used my flower die. works for me.

I had plenty of black and white prints. I used two different yellow prints for the flowers since I didn't have enough of either of them to make them all. the flowers are fused on. The gold and white border came from the stash.

The top is 70x88....good couch size.

Now it has to marinade for a while before quilting....although I do know how i want to quilt it. i think i will quilt it with yellow thread, too.

Empty Thread Spools

I filled up my bowl that I toss empty thread spools in....so it was time to count them. so far, this year, I have emptied 50 spools....

.. i am on track to meet or surpass last years total of 100.

in 2016 I only used 79. so, i guess i am sewing more. gotta sew faster and see if i can pass that 100 mark. hahaha

Wool Applique Flower Baskets

I worked on these blocks off and on for the past year when i visited my sister. the pattern only had 6 baskets, so i made 2 of each, changing the colors of the flowers in the second set. it is 31x43". 

The striped background is a flannel. the binding is something i had in the stash.

All hand stitched with wool.

I was just meandering large feathers around, but sometimes had to go in with a curl to fill in a space.

I was using up bits of batting that was kind of fat, so this is a pretty puffy wall hanging. 

The back was a pink floral from the stash. 

Threads were Glide Celery and Highlights Beige for the bobbin.

Shop Hop Fantasy

OK....get your quilting buddies together....we are going on a Shop Hop.   This one has been marinating for a year....almost to the day. blocks are machine applique and embroidery. and i had the perfect sewing border. 

It is 47" square  After we get through these 3 shops, we can sit on a bench and rest for a bit.

A couple more shops and we can watch the birds play in the fountain and maybe buy some flowers to take home.

I used a cheater crazy quilt fabric for the sashing pieces. Be sure to bring your scissors if they need sharpening, as we will pass the scissor shop.

So many shops, so little time. We can buy a newspaper and catch up on other sewing news, too. I LOVE the sewing machine building with the porch swing. wouldn't that be too neat to live in?

Whew....are your legs getting tired yet? we can catch a quick coffee and sit for a bit.

We're about half way through our adventure.

I don't know which is cuter....the thimble house or the spool house.

And, on the corner, the embroidery shoppe....a favorite of mine. haha

The sewing print border just seemed right. of course, the binding is bits and pieces of leftover red bindings. 

The back is a red and white print from the stash.

This was my quilting UFO challenge for the month of June, so i am caught up with that.

Crazy Flowers

Here are more fabrics that I got from my sister. she seems to be cleaning out her stash.... and giving it to me. The orange and pink border fabrics came from her, along with the flower blocks. the sashing strips were from my stash.

The pink border is a flannel....those are little colored carrots. haha

I love those crazy flowers. that is going to be some fun quilting.

It is 64 x 74".   maybe twin size? 

This was also my UFO piecing challenge for Judy's challenge for June.

Finger Puppets

I just spent a few days at my sisters....and got goodies.  she gave me a bag of her quilting scraps..... and a bag of little felt items that were finger puppets.  they were from an alphabet learning tool that she had as a teacher, many years ago. she said she figured i could do something with them....and I did.... i turned them into a quilt.

This quilt was pieced with the scraps that she gave me.

It is 39 x 46"   i was only going to put one thing in each square, but some of them were kind of small. after looking at all of them, i determined there were 2 for each letter. but, it took some thinking to 'get' some of them. for instance....that is an acorn...not just a nut.

I had taken one of my spare sewing machines with me, so i pieced this in a couple days while i was there. It took me a while to figure out this was a goat....i finally saw the beard and figured it out.

The pink and white checked fabric was some napkins that she gave me. The note was also a challenge for me. and was that an orange...or a peach.  i had to lay them all out to see what was what. 

Kids probably wouldn't have a problem with them at all....and i would feel like a dunce. haha

I wonder if kids figure these things out quicker than adults do. the yo-yo was a thinker, too.

I got the violin, although i think it could have been done better. it was only by the process of elimination that i got the vacuum. .....  and the zero.  sheesh!!

Although i didn't work on the project that i took down there to work on much....i only did 2 rows.... this little alphabet top was more fun.