Reorganization

I have a closet in the gym where I store some of my sewing/craft supplies. It has been very unorganized for a very long time. Finally I did something about it.

I pulled out all my quilt kits and laid them on the treadmill. Yes. I have alot. The prices were good so I bought. (I know...I know...that's a poor excuse...sort of embarrassing seeing all of these laid out and knowing I probably won't make all of them!)

 

While on my trip last week to Boise, I found these baskets at TJ Maxx (LOVE THAT STORE!). It was like a lightbulb went off and I got the idea to reorganize the closet and put my kits in these cute things.

 

Here's what the "neat" side of the closet looks like now. I, and the closet, feel so much better!

 

Jelly Roll Sampler Quiltalong almost done!

Have been working on my last blocks for the Sampler Quilt that you make from a jelly roll. It has been a fun online quilt-a-long! If you didn't play along, all the blocks and instructions are on Konda's blog. Just click the highlighted words above. I used Summer's Basket of Flowers by Moda to make all the blocks. Now to even up all the blocks and put it together! So nice to be able to use up an old jelly roll!

 

 

 

Apron BOM

Finished my July BOM today and decided to put them all on the design wall to see what they looked like. This is the LQS's block of the month. We could chose to make either an appliqued Apron quilt, an appliqued Western quilt or a regular pieced BOM in 2 different colorways. As you can see, I choose the Apron BOM. It will be interesting to see how it all comes together at the end of the year. You might be able to notice that there are 4 different sizes of blocks so far.

 

Nothing quilt related today

but wanted to post some pics of our lil' travels these past few days. The honey had a business meeting in Jackson so we headed up through our ol' stomping grounds.

Use to live here. Son had to jump the barb wire fence so he could get a picture standing by "the sign". Big Piney has this claim to fame. It really does get cold there.

 

Love the Tetons!

 

After the Honey's meeting, we headed to the cabin and everyone pitched in to finish this puzzle! Notice the extra piece.....ummmmm yeah.....

 

The Honey surprised me by buying a couple of flags to wave at the cabin. Not too sure about that one on the bottom. :) Honey loves him some BYU football. We have been season ticket holders for several years now but this year might not be a good one for his beloved cougars.

 

Almost ran into a moose and her baby (what are baby moose called? calf?) on Saturday night by our cabin. Sure glad the mama scrambled out of the way in time! We had heard they were around so it was fun to be able to see them before we headed home.

Wonder Weights

Have you ever seen these lil' guys before? My mom used them a few times when she cut out patterns for clothes many years ago. If I remember correctly though she didn't like them very much because they tore the pattern while she cut around them because they are heavy. I refound them this past weekend in my mom's old sewing machine cabinet. Middle daughter wanted to take the cabinet home with her so I cleaned out the drawers and found them. I think they are going to come in handy with my quilting.

 

Here's what I am going to use them for....keeping my quilt steady on my cutting table while I cut. They are heavy enough that I don't have to worry about the quilt falling off the table.

 

Sew days at the cabin

Middle child and I went to the cabin this past week to do some sewing. It's always fun to have a gorgeous lake to look at while you sit at your sewing machine and sew! We took our "Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin Quilt" project with us to work on.

Here was where we started on Thursday:

 

It was fun to see each star progress.

 

Love Middle Child's color selections, especially the coral...it just pops the whole quilt.

 

Here she is all tuckered out......we had to go to the lake after naptime so we could relax some more! :)

 

By Saturday afternoon, I was able to get almost the whole quilt finished. Need to add my strips on each side so it will be square and then it will be ready to take to the quilter. Was a fun quilt to make. The book says you can't only make just one. They may be right!

 

Oh My Gosh! Mary Lou's in the House!

If you haven't heard of Mary Lou Weidman, please check her out! She has a blog and a website plus an active yahoo group. She was the reason I decided to attend Quilt Wyoming this year. Usually when you attend the State Quilt Retreat you have to make at least 3 selections of classes you want to attend and number them in order of preference. I told my daughter that we would only put down 1 class each day and if we didn't get in, we just wouldn't attend this year. I was lucky that each class I wanted to take were on different days. While I was picking up my missionary son from Tennessee, my daughter called to tell me that we had gotten in both classes. I was estactic! My next thought was those poor ladies that were having to fill the classes....how dare us 2 only choose 2 classes.....oh well. I'm glad it worked out like it did for us.

The class was called Flower Power and was based upon the book of the same name and this quilt.

 

Don't you love the funkiness of it?! I do! Love the bright colors and the craziness of the flowers! Mary Lou uses a "hoochie" method to making her blocks. It's basically where you start out with a certain size of fabric and then keep adding to it to make whatever shape you want to make. Reminds me a teeny tiny bit of a Buggy Barn pattern. You have to think outside the box for these kinds of quilts but once your head can wrap around the fact that nothing is ever a mistake, you enjoy the concept.

 

 

Here is our design wall with several of the student's blocks on it. My block is the center red flower. Daughter's is the blue bird. She caught on quick enough to make the bird on her own without a pattern.

 

Here are some of Mary Lou's blocks. If you study them, you can see the concept a bit better of how to make each block. She says that she will keep adding if she has to so they all fit into a quilt by using her "hoochie" method.

 

How to make the flower pots and also the large flowers. We cut a 12" block of fabric and then cut it off center then using the hoochie method, turned it into a flower. So fun!

 

Look at all the crazy fabrics being used to make these flowers. I have got to get out of my comfort zone and expand my way of looking at fabric now.

 

In this picture, you can see how the different fabrics are added onto the blocks.

 

Loved LOVED this fabric! It's Kaffe Fassett. The girl who was working with it had already taken Mary Lou's "Hoochy Mama" class in Jackson a few months ago. That class teaches you how to make your regular quilt blocks become wonky. She took this class on Saturday and learned how to make wonky flowers and bugs so now will put them all together. It's going to be a spectacular quilt with the oranges in that fabric.

 

Mary Lou uses lots of buttons on her quilts so I had to get some pics of them.

 

 

Here's our class. What a fun bunch of women! They were all talkers and funny. Did you know that we can all quit dieting because once you hit 70 you automatically become skinny?! Yup. That's what one lady told us. She said you just don't see that many fat women in their 70's so she was happy that she would have the body she wanted in about 10 years. Daughter is going to remember that one for a very long time! LOL!

 

And here's a pic of me, daughter and Mary Lou together. Thanks Mary Lou for a very special class! We had a fun time and are eager to finish more blocks to get them into quilts!