Jelly Stars Top and Class

After a month of dry spell, it felt good to have this Jelly Stars top done last week as planned. All it needed was simple 4" dusty rose border.... easy peasy! The quilting won't be that easy though. My plan is to do some feather wreaths in those light blank spaces, so quilting this top will have to wait until I get more practices under my belt.

I had placed the top on the longarm machine for a photo shoot and look... the furry kids found a new place to play. *U*

On Saturday, I taught another Cathedral Window class... this time I didn't forget to bring the camera. ... left (closer) to right.... Lynda, Lyn, and Denise.

(photo above left to right.... Karen, Audrey, Bethany, Cathy, and Sarah)

There were 8 students in this class. Three of them are mom(Cathy) and daughters(Bethany, Sarah) team, and Sarah is the one who came all the way from Massachusetts! We scheduled this class specifically for them. They are so sweet! Cathy and Bethany started quilting about 3 months ago and are hooked onto quilting!

Lyn and Karen are also beginners. Actually, Lyn mentioned that it's been a long while since she's sewn and had to reacquainted with her sewing machine at first. After that, she and her machine were humming along. Then, Karen admitted to me at the end of class that she'd never made a quilt before. I was blown away! She did great keeping up with the class. They all did a wonderful job... I was so proud!


Here's Lynda with her Cathedral Window. She used Pumpkin Gone Wild by Moda in Layer Cake. It turned out so cute!

I hope that she likes it 'cause I was the one who talked her into using this collection. lol

And here are the sisters.... Bethany used Twiggy collection; Sarah used two colors. Don't their CW look great?!

New Projects

OK.... so the month of May flew by before I knew it! There weren't a whole lot of sewing or computer time happenings, but I am determined to get back on my schedule... especially back to posting and visiting the blog community again.

Oh how I missed visiting everyone's blog for my daily quilty inspirations. What have y'all been up to? Once I get caught up with some more posts, I will visit yall again. For now, tell me what project or projects you've been working on in the comment.


Do you remember this photo of goodies that I posted back in December in this post?

See those 2-1/2" strip rolls and the Jelly Stars pattern by Fig Tree Quilts?

Whatever free time I had in May, I worked on this Jelly Stars quilt.




.... got the 4 blocks done a couple of weeks ago....

.... and this morning... got the sashings in. The plan is to cut the borders for this before heading out to work. Then sew those borders on tomorrow morning before work again. So that's the plan.... we'll see how I'll do. LOL

Another project I'm working on is using this layer cake.... you will have to wait and see what I had in mind. ;-)

I picked this up in the sale bin at the shop a couple weeks ago when I had another Cathedral Window class. Wouldn't you know it.... I forgot to bring my camera that day. :(

Well... I'm off to cutting those borders and then to work. Have a great day... er... afternoon/evening! :)

Mother's Day Weekend

Well, here it is.... the first day of June ... and according to the title of this post, I am wayyyy behind with my postings. I thought I should make a post of our trip to the river before I forget all about it.

We had another fun-filled Mother's Day weekend at the Colorado River. The weather was about 10 degrees warmer (about 107degrees) this year than last year, so we spent a lot of time on the water. Hence, not a whole lot of pics were taken. Some of the photos I got from my friend.

This year, Buddy's friend, Drew, came along. The boys had lots of fun jet skiing all day long.....

... then hung out at camp in the evening....
.... boating with our friends....

It was especially HOT at mid-day that all the dogs wanted to swim too. These are our friends' dogs. See that black and white Corgi? His name is Panda... omg... what a perfect name for this dog. He's absolutely adorable!

We brought two cameras this time, and somehow I didn't get shots of my little ones in this batch of photos. :(

I did got one of my adventurous girls....
On Sunday, Mother's Day, I woke up early and had a quiet stroll along the beach and were greeted by this group of morning ducks out looking for their breakfast.

Then all the moms got ready for the annual ride up to the dam. Here we are in our life vests....
... and all set to go....
While we were out, all the guys prepared breakfast for us. They even had mimosa ready for us when we arrived back at the camp. It was simply wonderful!

Dressed up and field trip

Is it Halloween already??

No.... it's Biography Day for the 5th and 6th graders. :)

For Social Studies this month, the kids have to pick someone in history to do their research, write a report, and give an oral presentation in character.

So last Thursday was the day for their presentations, and they had to dress in character for the whole day. Sweetie Pie was Jane Addams, one of the first women to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pam's (my friend) kids were Laura Ingalls Wilder and Lawrence of Arabia. Technically, Lawrence of Arabia is a movie in 1960s, but it's based on the life of T.E. Lawrence.

Don't they look so cute in characters?

Then on Thursday this week was field trip day to Riley's Farm in Oak Glen. It's a working apple orchard and living history farm where visitors get to experience 18th century America History. This trip was the best educational field trip that I've attended as a chaperone. Take a look....

When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by this British soldier or "Red Coat". The groups were organized into townships. Sweetie Pie's class was the "Concord".

Then they marched onto the Heritage Homestead and were given instructions by the Red Coats.

I didn't get a picture of Master Riley (the owner of the farm), but Master Riley himself welcomed the groups, told them about the rules, where to find the restrooms, and entertained us with his flute.

While the students were still gathered on the field, a demonstration of how loud the muskets sounded.












... and what will happen should any one misbehave... they will be put into stockade for punishment.

Throughout the day, they were shown what life was like during the colonial days....

...... type of games that children played with....

..... weaving....











.... were shown how to march, load, fire, re-load a musket quickly....

of course, the muskets were just only sticks...













... black-smith....

... a mock trial to show how unfair the court system was under the British ruling ....




Unfortunately, my camera battery died after this. :(

Also, hands-on demonstrations of butter churning, writing with ink and quill, biscuit making.

For lunch, we were given the "ration" of dried beef, corn bread, cheese, apple, and lemonade. However, the adults were able to place their lunch at the "homestead". I ordered their chicken pot pie.... yummy!

The best part of the day was at the end. The groups were divided into Brits and Americans. They did a re-enactment of the battle of the colonials defending their homestead with muskets. Overall, the whole thing was well organized and well done. Every character we encountered stay in characters, spoke the Queens' English, and the costumes dead on.




Of course, I couldn't leave there without their 5lbs. apple pie! YUMMMMMYYY!!

Swaps received!

Hello,

Sorry for my MIA since last week. We had a lot of fun over Mother's Day weekend at the Colorado river (more on that later) and arrived home last Monday night as planned. However, it's busy busy and has been difficult for me to get back into routines here on the home front.... guessed my brain and body still on vacation modes. lol


There were two packages waiting for me when we arrived home. The first one came from Indiana. My Doll Quilt Swap partner, Solidia, made this wonderful quilt. I had listed this quilt as a favorite, and Solidia used it as an inspiration to make this little quilt for me. Isn't it awesome? I love it! It's so me... scrappy, bright, and happy quilt. Thank you, Solidia!

And look what else she sent.... dots and Dachshunds fabrics! How cute is that doxies in sweaters fabric?!! I envisioned it will be a bag some day.....Thank you, Solidia, I love my goodies and doll quilt!





This is what I made and sent to my secret partner, Karen. Click here to see her post.


It was extremely fun to be involved in this swap, and I would do it again in a heart beat.... though I'm a bit late with posting this time.... sorry.



The other package came from Tammy, my partner for the Annie Swap. Here is Annie all the way from Florida.....CUTE!! Thank you, Tammy, for the lovely scented candles also.

I ended up with two finished Annies... the one on the right went to Tammy....

...the one on the left went to my DQS partner's mom.

Yep, the Annies enjoyed being out in the sunshine and liked climbing tree.
Well, that's it for tonight.... lots more to come. Have a good night!

Links and Happy Mother's Day!

The doxies woke me up so early this morning to go outside, and now I can't go back to sleep.... thought I pop in and write a quick post while I have a quiet moment.

Thank you for all the lovely compliments on the Hunter's Star doll quilt. Here's the link to show you how to draft the pattern. There are actually 3 parts to this Simply Quilts episode.... be sure to watch part 2 , and part 3 also as there are other methods to making this pattern. I had fun "watching" Simply Quilts again.

We are heading out this weekend for our annual trip to the river for a little bit of R&R.... will be back next week.

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

WOO HOO!!

I am done with both of my swap projects! I was a bit stressed on Wednesday that I might not make the deadlines.... well, I missed the Annie Swap by one day, but I did notified my partner that her Annie will be heading out first thing this morning. Here's a peek....

It was fun making Annie! So much fun that I finished two Annies! I will show both Annies once I know that my partner has received hers.

The other swap that's due today is the Doll Quilt Swap. Here's my completed quilt.... labeled, washed, and pressed!

The quilt measured approx. 17 1/2" X 17 1/2". The block pattern is called Hunter's Star or Indian Star. I couldn't find a pattern so I drafted the block at 3" and paper pieced the blocks. I learned how to draft this pattern on Simply Quilts from way back when the show was still on. If you want to know how to do this, do a search on HGTV..... Or drop me a comment, and I'll try to look it up for you.

For fun, I thought I give rounded corners a trial, and you know what... I really like it.

Right now, this is my favorite little quilt so far. Maybe that is because it has my favorite color combination, or maybe it's the stars, or maybe I've been wanting to do this pattern ever since I saw it on Simply Quilts. I want to make a full size quilt of this pattern for myself someday.

Anyway, I hope my partner will like this quilt. On the questionaire, she listed orange as not one of her favorite color, but I love orange! .... especially... orange and blue! I did tried my best to use very little orange, but somehow, a lot more snuck in than planned. ;>

Quick Post

Just want to make a quick post.... I'm still here and still busy! Things are picking up at work, so I've been putting in lots more hours there.

Last week, my brother and SIL, Susan, were in town for a couple of days. It was a quick visit, but we did lots of cooking (I learned a few new recipes...) and did some sewing. :>

If you've been following my blog, you may remember that Susan wanted to learn how to quilt and started blogging also. She wanted to learn how to make the Cathedral Window while she was here, so I taught her that. I'm hoping that Susan will start blogging again and show us her progresses on her quilt.

Like I said, it was a quick visit for all of us.... I totally forgot to bring out the camera for some snapshots. :(

While Susan worked on her project, I sewed the blocks together for the Doll Quilt Swap. Here's a peek of the finished top..... I have today off, so the plan is to turn off the phone.... don't want to get a call from work.... and finish up my swap obligations. The doll quilt is quilted.... the binding is on.... just need to stitch it down and add the label.

Another swap I'm in is the Annie Doll swap... see link on the right. I started the doll a couple of weeks ago, and she's been sitting there naked on my desk. lol Poor Annie! I think it's time I start on that dress for her.

Both of there swaps are due tomorrow! I have my works cut out for me!

Have a wonderful day!

DQS6 Progress

Well, April is flying by real fast... so I really need to get going with my Doll Quilt Swap commitment. Here are the blocks for this swap so far.... .... 3 1/2" unfinished.... I'm off to sew these together into a quilt top. :-)

Busy!

Wow, another week flew by in a blink! It's been a busy week here for me with family life.... haven't had a chance to sit down at the computer at all!


Thank you for your interest in the Easter Tablerunner Tutorial. I won't be able to get the tutorial up for another week, so please be patience.

It was Open House on Wednesday at Sweetie Pie's school. The Basket Auction also took place that night. Sweetie Pie's class chose horses as their theme, and I donated a horse quillow for their basket.

My friend, Pam, did a great job of putting together the basket. She used a horse head for the front and added some yarn for the tail (the photo doesn't show it very well). There were some great themes and creative baskets this year. We placed a few bids on several baskets but didn't win any. :(

This is one of my favorite basket.... Crochet and knitting basket... lots of goodies in there.

Overall, the fundraiser brought in almost $3000... not as much as previous years, but a good turn out.... and the horse basket has the most earnings of $200... and has earned Sweetie Pie's class a pizza party.

Then on Friday, I taught one more Cathedral Window class. There were four students in this class, so it was easy for me to remember everyone's name: Barbara, Judy, Caroline, and Judy P. As usual, I love teaching this class. I get so inspired seeing all the different colors and fabrics combination that I wanted to rush home to make a few more CW..... so many projects so little time. *s*