Busy Busy

Just a couple of quick picks - H2H strings

quilt one needs a couple borders

same with quilt two

Love the them all together.

On the design wall more left overs from the Moon glow quilt - I must have left something out...

Simple nine patch and snow ball blocks, made with 2.5 in strips

Oh, what's this??  A new family member, the Easter Bunny dropped this at my door  - love.

More words next time, crazy busy here.  For those that are counting (ok maybe that's just me) less than 3 weeks before the twins get here, super excited!!!

Only one block for Splendid sampler.  Will get caught up before the next one comes out

Check out the linky parties, lost a fabulous fun with fabric out there.

Bucket of Fun

Another fun sew day for Hands 2 Help (see the button on the side bar).  We had six of us on Saturday, for national quilting day,  with my bucket of fun strings.  For some it was the first time they created string blocks, for others it was their first time sewing.  Bob can and helped up, what a surprise that was when he showed up with his wife. Bob and I met when we were in college at Purdue.  I was a brides maid in Bob's wedding and that's were I met my wonderful husband.  Funny how things turn out.  And all these years later, we're still having fun together. But I can honestly say, I never imagined the say when we would be sewing together, definitely a wonderful twist to the day!

Bob, who would have every thought after all these years we'd be sewing together.  He did a great job

Liane, Bob's wonderful wife.  She was in a pastel mood, see if you can spot her blocks.

Veronika manned the ironing board, that was a whole lot of ironing, strings and blocks

Laurie and Ellen had strings flying on this side of the studio

Here's a look at the bucket of fun before, during and after

Bucket of fun before

strings everywhere in the sewing studio

more strings

Oh, look here they are, all in the nice neat 10 in blocks.  Love some strings

Bucket of fun after.  We have almost enough blocks completed for 1.5 quilts.  These are both going for Hands 2Help

I also have a few more Splendid Sampler blocks.

Block 10

Block 9 - I swear I did this one 3 or 4 times, this is just good enough!!

Block 11

I may redo block 11, not too happy with the right column of blocks. But then I may just say - eh, it's good.  I wish I would have been a bit more careful to not get the big green leaves in the white half of the HST.  We'll see if I get motivated enough to get it another whirl.  I do like this mystery so far, and 10% done and still keeping up.

Don't forget to check out the linky parties, go get inspired!!

Sunday funday

Lots of fun this weekend!! it the kick off the hands 2 help 2016! Four of us got together and have one quilt top completed along with the blocks for a second. This year I am doing it a little differently. For each quilt made for happy chemo, I'll make two for the Sage Cancer Center here in McHenry. With quite a few of us quilting we should have plenty to go around for all! What a great start,  this is the Hi quilt from Quilty magazine (Nov - Dec 2013 issue)  pattern to show off those big beautiful prints.  And it's good for those just starting out quilting.  Tally so far - 1 Happy Chemo, 2 Sage Cancer Center

Love these ladies - making the world a better place one quilt at a time

Hi Quilt #2

Hi Quilt #1 - Amy Butler meets Riley Blake

And I have this little sweetie on the frame. Using two layers of Hobbs Polydown  so this will be flat as a board when completed.  You know I love my panels.  This one is from Flirt I think.

A little panel fun

One more block from The Splendid Sampler, I'm only one block behind.

The Splendid Sampler Block 8

On Sunday we spent a wet day in the City.  They have a wonderful Van Gogh exhibit at the Art Institute.

Van Gogh at Chicago Art Institute

Then Sunday I helped this guy paint, we were inspired by Van Gogh but not nearly as creative.  Don't we look like little minions?

And here's a picture of the Chicago River Walk under construction. Where the gravel is, was all river before. It just amazes me how they add "land" to the river front for this project. You can see the skyscrapers going up in the background as well.  Those are right out side the window where I work so we've watched them go from a hole in the ground to full grown skyscrapers.  It really is fascinating to watch.  Last summer the little guy came down to the city to have lunch with me. He was just in heaven watching all the big machinery on the river.

Chicago Riverwalk expansion

Stop by the linky parties and go check out Hand2Help 2016.  There's a quilt kit as a sign up giveaway - yes that's right a full quilt kit that is super sweet.  Three great charities to choose from, great fun with a great bunch of folks making the world a better place  one quilt at a time!

The things I get done when I'm suppose to be painting.

Well I took two days off work to paint.  I had three rooms as a stretch goal, two were my goal, one got done.  It was the biggest one, my long arm room.  It's now sporting a fresh coat of paint. Gone are the wild and crazy jewel tones from my youngest daughter, replaced with a more mature Vintage Linen.  I'm going through some color withdrawal so I added a sleeve to the jewel tone tumbler and hung that on the wall!

Vintage Linen  - see that empty space at the end

This cute little thing will fill that spot once I get it quilted. 

I did this room first and then was all ready to paint Daughter #3's bathroom.  But the shower bar had some issues and the hubs is replacing and fixing the wall anchors.  And of course they *have* to be painted in a certain order, long arm room, bath room, guest bedroom. So, what's a girl to do?  Sew that's what she does. I *FINALLY* finished the swoon quilt.  It's been folded for years now.  I used just about every little bit of fabric I had on this one. But it's the size it needs to be for a king size bed now.  Just need to get this baby quilted.  And I had some scraps from a quilt that was from H2H last year (yes they sat on my shelf for almost a year) and FINALLY I did something with them, isn't this 16 patch quilt adorable? When I saw the yellow, I just knew it should go with this bits of leftovers.  This one actually got quilted in the toned down long arm room.  Hobbs Poly down batting, glide thread on top, free hand feathers in the the small border and the QSTs, double continuous curve in the 16 patch and piano keys on the last border.  It feels like it's been over a week since I've had something on the frame.  Next up is that cute little wall hanging.  Its a panel, you know I like my panels with a couple of quick borders.  Just a little pop of color.

This has been folded for years!  Now it's the right size, backing ordered and almost ready to quilt like crazy

16 patch (I'm brilliant with the names right?)

Hobbs Poly Down Batting, Glide thread, feathers and double cc in 16 patch - nothing but pure fun

Love this quilt ladder

There's also a couple more Splendid Sampler blocks.  I actually pressed the seams open on block #6 and it really helped, the block is very flat and I was actually able to pin fairly well with the seams pressed open.  Block #7 was intended to be hand embroidery, but that wasn't going to happen so I digitized it since I had the embroidery machine out anyway.  Once it was stitched out I tried a couple of those fancy machine stitches that you never get to use enough of, and it was good enough for me. I do have a bit of trouble with those fancy stitches, but I like it none the less.

Splendid Sampler Block 7

All seven, keeping up so far 

Block 6 - love this one - pressing seams open made a huge difference

So why did I have the embroidery machine out? Cuz I was putting names on these little hats!!  Just can't wait for those twins.  I personalized the car seat carriers from last week but didn't get a picture.  By the time H2H ends this year, these little fellas' will be here!!

getting closer!

Oh and one other big thing, check this out - I won the Feb giveaway at She Can Quilt from Scraptastic Tuesday!!  Here's what I got with my gift certificate from Green Fairy Quilts, thanks Leanne and Green Fairy Quilts!!

Check out all the link parties on the isidebar. And you know what time of year it is right? It's Hands 2 Help time of year!!!  Sunday is the sign up, lots of prizes and three great charities, please help if you can, it's always a great time.

Wow I should try to paint more often, I get a lot done when I'm suppose to paint ;)