What's new with you?

Where has this week gone? Here it is Friday already. My kids have the day off from school for a teacher work day. We are taking it easy. DD spent the night at a friend's house and will be home in a little while.

I ordered some new quilting thread last week. Donita Reeve's Love to Quilt store is no longer going to carry Aurifil thread so they have been having an amazing sale on their remaining stock. They are down to just a very few colors. The red spool is a little more orangey than I would have liked but I am sure it will get used!

These 4 heart blocks are part of a UFO that a friend wants me to finish for her (for pay). It was supposed to be a 12 block baby quilt. Ginger and one of her friends were going to learn how to quilt together. Anyway, her friend started to make Ginger this baby quilt about 4 years ago and never got it finished. The hearts all need to appliqued down. I told her I could add some sashing and a good sized border and make it into a lap sized quilt. She loved the idea. I am going to machine applique the hearts.

My parents were supposed to come visit us a couple of weeks ago but my dad threw out his back and they had to stay home. My mom went ahead and mailed Maddie's birthday gifts. My sister sent along this little present for me! There was no candy in the tin - just fabric! My middle name is Reeser - my great grandma's maiden name and my grandfather's middle name. So Reese's peanut butter cups have always been a favorite. They are DH and DS's favorite candy. Abby, my four and a half year old niece, helped my sister pick out the fabrics. Abby seems to have inherited Nina's amazing sense of color!

Have they lost their memory?

I sat down this morning to check my email and my daily blog reads and decided to turn on "Simply Quilts" to see what Alex Anderson was doing today. During her little intro she said that today's guest was Ann Fahl and she was going to show free-form patchwork.

Guess what this lady's new technique is! String quilts! At no time during the entire show does Alex or Ann say the word "STRING". Ann claims to have come up with this new idea about 15 years ago. Hhhmmmm....what about all those antique string quilts like the ones Bonnie talked about over on Quiltville ?

Ann Fahl even offers a one-day class on how to make her free-form patchwork. How could you need an entire day to learn how to make a string block?

Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but this seemed a little ridiculous to me!

WOW! Twice in one day!

DH just called and his flight has been delayed - so that means my delayed house cleaning is OK! I finished up Ian's train pillow case. It is such a quick project! Instant gratification!

Isn't this train fabric great? It is perfect for an older boy that still loves trains. Very realistic.


The french seams made this whole project so nice and neat. Here is my quick little tutorial on french seams. First off, you lines the raw edges up - RIGHT SIDES OUT - WRONG SIDES TOGETHER !!! This goes against our training as quilters, but you can do it! Sew a seam, about 1/8 of an inch from the raw edges. Press the seam just like you sewed it. Then press the seam allowance to one side. Then flip the fabrics so the right sides are together and the raw edges of the seam are hidden inside. Press.


Now you can sew another seam (right sides together) about a quarter inch away from the edge.

Open the fabric and you will have a beautiful seam with all the raw edges enclosed. After I pressed this finished seam to one side (the striped fabric) , I did some top stitching to hold the seam allowance in that direction.

Finished seam, all nice and neat!


Now that the pillowcase is done, it must mean that it is time for a nap!

Spring green

DH has been out of town for a couple of days and the house is a pigsty (according to DD who is sitting next to me reading as I type). Thursday was spent passing out fundraising products (cookie dough) to parents. Yes, all day. I was at the school from 8:30 until 4:30. Not my idea of fun. But I survived. Yesterday morning I got to spend time trying to round up volunteers for the upcoming book fair. Can you tell that I am in PTA? Next year I am going to be a vice president. I am hoping that means a lot less of the actual labor and a lot more supervising! Haha!

So housework has not been happening. Yesterday I did manage to load the dishwasher and do a couple loads of laundry. DH will be home around dinner time so today will be spent picking up the house. It is amazing what a mess the place can become if I don't make the kids pick up their stuff on a daily (if not hourly) basis.

Last night I did manage to sew the binding onto this quilt. The reason it got done so quickly after the one pictured in the last post was because I used the same fabric for both bindings. I had about two yards of binding left over from the first quilt. It is the same fabric that I used for the backing on the lime green quilt. So after trimming the green quilt, I took the leftovers and used it to make up the rest of the binding. Once again, I put the whole thing on by machine.

I also started on a pillow case for DS. I bought some train fabric about two years ago, meaning to make him a pillowcase, and never got around to it. Since I don't have a serger ( and I hate seams that unravel), I am doing french seams. It takes some time but it looks so nice and polished when you are done. I will post some pictures when I get it done.

In the January/February issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting they gave directions for making a quillow. It looks so easy and cute. It would be a great way to use up some stash! I think I am going to make a pink one as a birthday present for a little girl from church. She will be going to kindergarten in the fall and they have to bring a blanket or a towel for nap time. In case you don't know what a quillow is, it is a blanket (quilt) that folds up into it's own pillow case that is attached to the back, making it into a little pillow. I will show you my progress when I make it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

More unsolicited advertising

Remember the beautiful quilt top made out of Denyse Schmidt fabrics that Susan sent me when I mentioned how wonderful the customer service is at her quilt store. I quilted it a while ago but it has been hanging out in my sewing room, hoping to be magically bound! Today I finally trimmed it and made the binding. Took me about two hours to make the binding and sew it on front and back (both by machine). I can't wait to cuddle up under it and read!

Thank you again, Susan! I LOVE this quilt!

San Antonio, anyone?

Does anyone out there in blogland have any suggestions for must-see things in San Antonio Texas? It looks like I will be able to go with DH in May when he attends an AIA conference there. We will be staying in the Riverwalk Marriott and probably will not have a car. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Look, Judy, I used it!

Remember back in the first part of February when Judy challenged us to go ahead and use some treasured piece of fabric? I decided it was time to use my hand dyed fabrics that I had been treasuring since last summer. This afternoon I got the last border put on this project. I like it! What do you think? What did you do with your treasured fabric?