This week I spent some time with my family slinging, straining and jarring honey.  We started keeping bees 3 years ago.  It hasn't been an easy journey, but finally we were able to get some honey.  Actually we got 2 1/2 gallons off one small super.  It looks like we will probably get more this summer.  In a week since we took the frames with the honey and replaced them with empty frames they have already drawn them out.  These are some hard working bees.  We had Russian bees and Italian bees and they didn't work out.  These bees are local Virginia bees. 

The bees seem to have worked some tulip poplars, that is one thing known to make the honey darker and it is in our area.

On the sewing front I am now machine quilting my sister's quilt.  I found this gorgeous batik 106 inches wide and am using it for the backing.  I was going to frame the front in it, but decided not to.  I am going to use it as the binding also.

Of course I have lots of other projects waiting on the sideline.  I am finishing sewing the binding on the green quilt and it is about 3/4 of the way done.  When it is finished I will get a picture to share.

Sew Long for Now

I did the Color Me Happy block for May.  I love working with these batiks.  A friend who is also doing this one said that they are hard to quilt through, but I love the look of them so much I hope it makes it worth it.

 

 I finished piecing the quilt for my sister for her birthday.  She bought a coffee shop in her town and I thought something with a coffee theme would be nice.

I have to tell you a story, I was trying to stand on a chair to take a picture of the quilt looking down so I could get a nice view of the pattern.  I didn't use a pattern I made up how to piece it and I wanted to get a good look to see how I felt about the placement.  I fell off the chair, I landed on my feet, but the chair tipped over into my calf and I ended up falling against my dresser.  I have pain in my back and hip still today and a nice bruise on my leg.  I am so glad I didn't break anything.  The things we do without thinking....I bought a nice teal quilting thread and I am going to get a matching backing and binding to give a little color or maybe use a teal for a border and then use the rest of the coffee bean fabric for the binding.  I will have to decide in the next day or two because her birthday is the 5th of June.

I am hoping to get a binding on my green quilt over the next week and get the batting and backing for my sister's quilt.  I have a long list of things to get caught up on.  Yesterday I went to BOM meeting for the Memory Lane quilt and they had this new line of fabric I just loved!  It was all I could do not to buy any, I really need to finish up some things before I start others.

Sew Long for Now!

I have the best children in the world.  They spoil me when they can.  For Mother's Day they surprised me with new quilting rulers and thread, what more could I ask for. 

I finally finised the Memory Lane row for April. 

Since the first picture is a little hard to see I tried to get a closer picture.  The blocks were relatively easy, but meeting those points when joining the blocks was a bit harder.  Let's just say my seam ripper had a work out on this one.

Yesterday I went on a road trip with two quilting friends.  We went to Patchwork Plus in Dayton, Va.  I had purchased the first two fabrics in the above photo at a local quilt shop and I was looking for something to go with them to make a quilt for my sister.  I found the last two in Dayton.  I love them, especially the last one.  It's called Marblehead by Ro Gregg for Paintbrush Studio.  I haven't seen anything like it in our local shops and it blends great with the original purchase.  I also bought a piece with fish on it to start thinking about a quilt for my Daddy.  We went to Rachel's Quilt Shop in Staunton, Va and I purchased a book called Adoration Quilts by Rachel W.N. Brown.  She is the shop owner and she personalized the book with a note and autograph.  It has lovely applique for Christmas.  The last place we stopped was The Quiltery in Fairfield, Va.  This little shop was a gem.  We got there 20 minutes before they closed so I was so overwhelmed with all they had and their great prices that I just couldn't chose.  I decided since it is only an hour from my house I will be returning there in the future when I have more time to spend.

I am feeling a little crazy right now as I look around at all the projects I have started and all the ideas I suddenly have.  I am almost finished the May block for the Color Me Happy project.  I still have April's blogger BOM to do and soon the May block will be posted.  I have my mother-in-law's quilt to finish the borders on.  I have many more pieces to cut for the next cross quilt.  Now, I have added a quilt for my sister and I am beginning to think of doing one for my Daddy.  Wow, I really need to get organized and finish some of these projects.

Sew Long for Now

The table topper was finished and delivered.  I want to do another one in reds, whites, and blues now that I have learned some things.

I have been working on piecing the next row of the Memory Lane quilt.  The flying geese were fun to make.  I would like to trim them up and get these six blocks pieced and then the row put together by next week. 

I went with a friend of mine to our local quilt guild meeting this past week.  Show and tell was very inspirational!  My friend loaned me a lot, and I mean a lot of quilt magazines to browse though.  So much to see and get ideas from.  I am also excited because we are going on a road trip next week to a quilt shop.  It will be so fun. 

Today is my wonderful husband and I's 26th anniversary.  I got a sweet txt from him this morning telling me he looks forward to 26 more years.  He is a special guy and I love him dearly.  He has encouraged me in my sewing all our married life and I feel truely blessed to be his wife.

Sew Long for Now

 I finished piecing the table topper for my Momma for her birthday, only have to quilt it and it will be ready to give her next week.  I made a few mistakes, but learned quite alot and I love the look of the little pinwheels!

 I started the next row in the Memory Lane quilt.  It has these cute blocks with adorable reproduction fabric!

It has been busy with end of the year activities for the children's outside activities so that's about all I have accomplished this past week.

I have the April blogger's BOM to do, the rest of the Memory Lane row, cutting out the rest of 2nd cross quilt, and sashing my mother-in-laws quilt. 

I was also trying to find a quick project to do for my sister's birthday in June.  She has been so good to me this year and I can never repay her for all she has done.  I think she likes a more modern style.  I will have to be looking around.

Sew Long for Now

 Here is the finised Scotty Dog row for the Memory Lane Quilt.  I added the yoyo's as the final step.  I made all the squares for my mother-in-law's quilt and bought some material to use as sashing.  I hope to work on that this coming week. 

I finally finished March's blogger BOM.  I need to go looking for the pattern for April now!  A quilting friend and I are getting together next week to sew.  I am putting together blocks from a charm pack and she is going to show me how to make a twist and turn quilt from them.  I am so excited to learn this, I saw this adorable quilt made from using that template.  Oh, exciting I started to cut out the material for the next cross quilt.  I have 500 pieces cut out so far.  Over a thousand more to go...

Sew Long for Now

I have been working on putting together these blocks for my mother-in-law's quilt.
I am always looking for easy streamline methods when I am doing a lot of blocks. After putting these two blocks together this week I realized that I can easily do certain piecing for the next 5 blocks all at the same time. Why does it take me so long to realize these things? So hopefully by next week I will have all of the blocks pieced. Then I can find a border fabric. I haven't decided if I want to do sashing of the blocks.

I went to class for the Color Me Happy quilt, here is block 4. I love the colors. I am enjoying putting these blocks together each month.

I am still behind on some of my sewing plans. I will eventually catch up. I am so glad for anything I get accomplished. My dream life would involve hours a day available to quilt. Oh, it is so nice we can dream.

Sew Long for Now

I have been working on my Memory Lane Quilt. I don't have a lot of experience with applique and so it is taking me longer. I am enjoying it and love the look of these scotty dogs.
I haven't done much more sewing this week though. We went to see the program at church Saturday evening and it was very good. We had a quiet Easter at home with just our immediate family. My Dad is still feeling poorly so my Mom wanted to keep him quiet and let him rest and didn't want many visitors. Monday I went with our daughter for a college visit. I can't believe it's time for that. It's all coming too fast for me.
On my work table is the March blogger BOM, finishing up the Memory Lane row, more blocks to make for my mil's quilt, and material to cut out for the next cross quilt.
Sew Long for Now

What a week. I got most of the two costumes finished. The picture is of the hat made for the high priest. It is deceiving in it's looks, it took me 6 hours to complete. I did everything except hem and put some trim on the robes. I got interrupted by several family events. First, our oldest son was deployed to Afghanistan. A few hours before he left some one stole their only car with all his gear he had packed to be dropped off. His wife is 7 months pregnant and they are stationed on the other side of the United States from us. I so wish I was able to be there physically to help. We have been purchasing stuff he lost to ship to him and so many wonderful family members and friends, even people we don't know have offered to help. In the middle of all this my Dad was admitted to the hospital. He is doing better so I am so thankful for that.

On my sewing table is the quilt for my mother-in-law, the block a month for the bloggers BOM from March, the row from the holiday quilt club, and the material to cut out the next cross quilt.

Sew Long For Now

The blue cross quilt is together.
I am going to hold off quilting it until I get the other two completed. There is a huge mistake in this quilt. The blocks in the corner between the crosses are suppose to form stars. Since I was doing this from scraps and just trying to figure out the pattern I goofed this up. It's going to be for our youngest son and he thinks it's a cool geometric pattern. Thank goodness for boys and how they see things different. For the next one I took graph paper and colored in the squares to coordinate with the fabric I am using that way I will get that design right.

I made a quilt for project Linus. My daughter tells me her friend ask her if she is going to bring her two project Linus quilts Tuesday night to their meeting. She was very upset because she thought they were due in April at an event they are having. I ask her had she looked at the calendar because the event is this Saturday. Panic ensued. Since she had class and this meeting I told her I would help her. We picked out some fabric from my stash. I cut it out, these are simple quilts with two yards of fabric; one for the front and one for the back. Then I go looking for some batting. I thought I had some, but I only had craft size. I finished one quilt and sent it with her last night and will do the other to send with her Saturday.

I have been working on the costume. I serged all the edges after cutting out the robe and then began on putting it together. I found out I may have to alter it again. While waiting on measurements for the other robe I have to cut out I began working on the hat.

Besides those things I have gotten very little of any other sewing done. I have been knitting a few rows here and there on my daughter's afghan. I have done a little hand quilting on the old green quilt, but not as steady as I was because of the time involved with the costume. I have to get them done hopeful long before the 7th of April for the first performance.

Sew Long for Now

I have been working on putting the cross quilt into strips, I have one more row to sew together and then I will sew the strips together. It's coming together. The interesting thing is I started this as just a trial and error to find easier and quicker way to do some of the piecing for this pattern with so many pieces. After I had put so much effort into that first block I just had to make a whole quilt out of it. It has over 1800 pieces in the quilt and I have been working on it six months. I am hoping the next two will go faster with some of the piecing methods I have discovered.
I put together a couple of more blocks for my mother-in-law's quilt. I thought if I could just do a block every once in a while it would take no time to complete it.

I don't sew for other people since going back to work full-time, well at least I try my best not to. It's too stressful and I never know from one day to the next if I will even have time to sew that day. Back in January the new music minister at our church ask me to make costumes for the Easter play. I told him if he got them to me by the beginning of February I could help him, I thought given my schedule with enough time I could work them in. I never heard from him and I forgot about it. Two week into March and I got an email asking me about the costumes. Now, changing from 7 down to 3. Costumes are a bit more complicated than quilt pieces, especially costumes that have to have the patterns re-drafted because they don't make them for the size they need. I told them I couldn't do 3 in 2 weeks. Then they ask me to do one and I said I would do that one. Now they are asking for two. Sigh...it took me 7 hours so far this week to re-draft the pattern for this one person and cut out the parts. I will not get it done in two weeks. It will be more like up to the last minute. I feel so much stress over this whole situation. People do not have any idea what sewing garments involve. I could really use some prayer right now for this whole situation. There is more than I care to write about the whole thing, just prayer I can do the right thing and not stress myself out over it so much that I make myself sick.
Sew Long for Now

Happy National Quilting Day

Head over the AQS and get a free pattern to celebrate

http://nqaquilts.org/natqday/

I finally got the blogger BOM for February done. I like to stay on top of things. Lately, that has been a bit of a struggle. So many things to do and so little time!
I have been knitting three rows a day since January to finish up this afghan. Now my daughter, who started one at the same time, wants me to finish her's. She is so busy with college classes, her part-time job, and outside activities I said I would.

This was the week for my Color Me Happy BOM club meeting. I was able to make the block that afternoon when I got home. I am loving the fabric she has been selecting for these.

I have also been working on the hand quilting on the green quilt. Maybe I will finish it by May. I still have not put together the cross quilt blocks and I have more blocks to do for my mil's quilt. I did pick up some white for the next cross quilt. So, here's to being productive this coming week.

Sew Long for Now

I finished these seven blocks and put them together, they are the next row in the "Memory Lane" quilt I am doing. It is a row-by-row quilt. We meet once a month at a local quilt shop to pick up the fabric and go over the design. I have two rows done. This is really nice way to do a quilt. It gives you a feeling of accomplishment because you see your quilt coming together.

I also have all 36 blocks of the blue cross quilt made, next step is to put it together! I was hoping to have that done, maybe now that I have this row done I will accomplish it.

Of course I have been working on hand quilting the green quilt, but that's all the sewing related activities I accomplished last week. I always hope to accomplish so much more than my time actually allows.

Sew Long for Now

Here is a picture of how to sew the seam for the intersections to meet better that I tried to explain last week. Hope the picture explains better than my words.
I began working on my mother-in-law's quilt.

I am using Warm Memories from Moda.

Each block will be different, but all from the same line.

I also am finally putting together the last 16 blocks of the cross quilt.

Today is the last day of February...they even gave me an exta day this year, but alas I did not make a clothing item. I did a lot of hand quilting, made many blocks, bought some fabric for quilts, and even some knitting. I will try again next month for the 2 denim skirts I need.

On my sewing table I have 12 more of the cross quilt blocks to put together. There are 9 more blocks to piece for my mother-in-law's quilt. The blogger BOM for February. Also, 8 blocks from my holiday club meeting I went to yesterday and material for another cross quilt. In my head I have more ideas than one person deserves. I have been inspired lately, must be the thought of spring in the air.

Sew Long for Now

Another week has flown by. We had company over the weekend and then a snow storm. It was like the perfect type of snow, here one day gone the next. I have been working alot on the hand quilting I am doing on a quilt I made years ago. I hope to finish it up soon. I also have been putting together parts of the last 16 blocks to the cross quilt. I was trying to think how to describe this quilt...it's a scrappy blue quilt. I have used different blues from my stash, except for the 1/4 yard I bought about a month ago. I did learn something new recently that came in real handy. I saw on a sewing show (sorry don't remember which one) if you are piecing to put the seam going the opposite way you are sewing on top and then your joints will match better. It worked well, so well that the 256 seams I did this week all met without a lot of sweating on my part. I will try to take pictures when I do more to show what I mean. It's these little tricks that make life so much easier.

Sew Long for Now

My second block in the Color Me Happy BOM. I need to square up those sides. I finished squaring up the 128 half square triangles. I also cut the 16 center pieces for the rest of the blocks for the blue cross quilt. I have a quilt that is more than 5 years old that I have been hand quilting on and off and I pulled it out and am trying to work on it.

On my work table is material to cut out the rest of the pieces for the remainder of blocks on the blue cross quilt, the material to start my mil's quilt, and the material for another cross quilt. My daughter ask if I would get her cross quilt done by August, at the rate the first one is taking me I will be lucky to get it done by Christmas!

I didn't get as much done the last week as I wanted, we celebrated our daughter's 17th birthday and Valentine's Day with several outings. This weekend my sister-in-law is coming so we can celebrate her birthday. February is a birthday intense month around here. Hopefully, though I will fit in some sewing time each day.

Sew Long for Now

I have another 128 half square triangles to make. When you make that many they take a bit of time. I only have an hour or so most days to work on sewing, so I am still working on those. I am almost done. I still have my mil's quilt to start and the second cross quilt. I also haven't looked for an article of clothing pattern to make this month. Hmmm...I need to make several more skirts. If all else fails I may buy a couple of yards of denim and make me some new denim skirts. I made the two I have several years ago and I have about wore them out.

Sew Long for Now

I finished my skirt and before January was out. It was a real simple skirt so not really a big deal. I need to look through my patterns now at the beginning of the month and find a shirt pattern and start to work on it early this month.
I was very productive this last week. I finished the new bloggers block of the month block, up to date on that one.

I also finished the eight blocks for the Holiday club and put the strip together. It was so long I took two pictures to show the whole strip.

Exciting news the grandbaby is going to be a granddaughter. Pink. Oh, the ideas, the sewing.

I still have my mother-in-law's quilt to start, my 16 more blocks for the cross quilt to do, a new piece to make for my wardrobe (which is in sad sad shape), and another cross quilt to start. I need to get working before the 13th when I have another BOM club meeting.
Sew Long for Now

I finished the 20 blocks of the crosses. It's the only sewing I got accomplished in the last week, but I should be thankful I got that done. It's been so busy with work and outside activities. I could say I did more if you count going to my second block of the month club and buying fabric as sewing. (The block of the month is actually a row of the month and I have 8 blocks to do for it..oh my) I bought a really cute charm pack to use to make my mother-in-law a quilt for Christmas next year. I figure if I start now I might actually get it done. I also had a gift certificate I received for helping do our ASG program this month and I redeemed that for some material to use in finishing this cross quilt and for the next one. On the work table: two pairs of pants to hem for some one, 8 blocks for the newest quilt, 1 blogger BOM, 16 more blocks for the blue cross quilt, charms to begin a quilt for my mil, material to start another cross quilt, and wool plus lining to make me a new skirt. No pressure here...hahaha.

Sew Long For Now!