Swoon block #2

I am having so much fun with these swoon blocks, it's been awhile since I have been so excited about quilting.

My blocks are definitely not perfect, but they are good enough for me.  If I was too picky I would not enjoy the process. 

My birthday was earlier this week, we went to dinner with Casey's family to a favorite local Chinese restaurant.  The owner is this funny old Chinese man that talked to us for quite some time, then he played me happy birthday with a leaf, I was super impressed and wished that I had recorded it.  And then they brought out this little plate with this Chinese fruit on it, I can't remember what he said it was called, but it was delish, almost like a peach or a pear. 

Have I told you my friends that I keep finding grey hairs?   I never would have thought that I would be finding grey hair at age 32, oh well.  I guess I never thought I would have a 12 year old when I was 32 either.  Kinsley is going to be turning 12 in a couple weeks, holy crap!  I'm not sure if I am quite ready for the emotions of an almost teenager, they are already beginning to start :)

My first swoon block

I made my first swoon block yesterday, I love it and can't wait to make more, but man these things are big and take some time.  Maybe one a week is a good goal.
Are you swooning?  It has been fun to check out the flickr group periodically, there are some really beautiful swoon blocks.

Hi there!

 The girls started school on Monday, so far they love it.

 I've been doing tons of sewing, here are some skirts I finished a few weeks ago, these were some of my favorites.

And just because I needed to add another quilt to my list of quilts in progress, I started another quilt last night.  Using Denyse Schmidt's fabric from JoAnn's.  I found some of the new Sugar Creek yesterday and had to play with it along with my collection of Picnic and Fairgrounds.

 

photo belongs to Diary of a Quilter

 The idea for the quilt came from Diary of a Quilter, when I saw this vintage lattice quilt, I knew I had to recreate it.  I love the slight wonkiness of it, and I am trying to make mine slightly wonky by varying the width of the strips in the string blocks.

I'm using a mustardy yellow color for my lattice, I had a bunch of it and it looked good with my other fabrics.  I think it would be fun to make a red lattice one with some of my vintage fabrics.

 

Weekend

 I have been working on a quilt for Jade, over the weekend I finished cutting all the pieces out.  They are now organized so that I can quickly piece them together.   It will still probably take me awhile to get the whole thing made though, I have too many other projects to work on too.

A local quilt shop has awesome deals on their clearance fabric section every fifth Saturday, so I went to see what they had and I ended up purchasing 8 yards of fabric all at 60% off!  Not that I needed fabric :)

Casey and I went on a double date with one of his work friends, we ate at Joe's Crab Shack and went to see Crazy, Stupid, Love, which gave us a good laugh.

It is rainy here today, I like summertime rain, it smells delish.

How was your weekend?  Anything fun happen?

A finished quilt top!

 Casey and I had fun today trying to get a good pic, it was a little windy :)

 Hey wait, why aren't you holding it up?

That's better.  

I am in love with this quilt already.  It has taken me forever to get around to finishing it up, I am hoping to get the back put together tonight so that I can get it sent to be quilted.  It is queen sized for our bed, yay!

Most of the blocks I received from members of A Notion or Two last year when it was my turn.  I pieced them all together with scrappy sashing, I love, love, love it!  I also won long arm quilting for it from The Back Porch Quilters back in December and I have been bad and taken forever to get around to it.

In other news:  

Casey and I purchased a new furnace today, so now all my shows this summer will get to pay for it :(

It will make our gas bill go down in the winter and will heat our house better, and we payed a bit extra to get a better filter, so it will filter the air in our house even better.  The guy that came today said that our furnace would be condemned, it was super old and falling apart, I figured it wouldn't be able to be fixed, I think it was about 30 years old.

That nicely weeded patch of dirt in the picture, is at this moment being tilled up and we will finally get a garden planted.  It has been super rainy and wet this year again, so I hope we can still get some yummy things from the garden.

This is the last week of school for the girls, they are excited for summertime :)

It will be fun to have them home, but maybe not so fun to hear some of their bickering sometimes :)

I think that's it for today, I am going to go figure out what plants we need to go purchase for the garden :)

playing catch up

I have been super behind for A Notion or Two. I got almost caught up today. Now I only have one more block left, yay!
The first block is for Meridith.

The second block is for Allyn.

I don't know why it took me so long to sit down and get these done, but it feels good to almost be all caught up! I decided that this year I wouldn't participate in any bees or swaps, I just have too much going on and I needed to cut something out, they have been super fun though!

The Wiener Dog quilt!

I am so excited that I finally get to share this quilt!
This is my favorite quilt I have made yet.
It is now presiding with my sister waiting for my nephew Preston to arrive.

I originally had started making my sister a different quilt.
But then I saw Dare to be square quilting by Boo Davis, and when I saw the wiener dog quilt I had to make it.

I used gingham for the back, so cute!

And I used Kona solids and some prints from my stash.
I was a little scared to attempt this initially, I was worried I wouldn't be able to match everything up right, but it was pretty simple and fun to make.
And so stinkin cute!

Quilt progress

I've made a bit of progress on this quilt.
I am hoping to finish the top today, we'll see how that goes, I get easily distracted by other projects and cleaning the house :)
I just have to finish that last strip on the right hand side, yay!

fabric, a sneak peek, and a confession

I couldn't help but to purchase some Ruby Star Rising, I absolutely love this fabric. I mean seriously, view masters, transistor radios, and tea pots? Here's where I purchased mine.

It's killing me not to be able to show you this quilt I have been working on. I think it is my favorite quilt I have made so far. I just have the binding left to finish on it. But I can't show you it until after I give it to my sister who is having a baby boy who will be named Preston.
I guess I am just going to have to be patient and wait until after the shower, it's going to be a few weeks. It's the cutest thing ever though, I promise, my girls even want to keep it for themselves.

Here's the confession part of the post:
I spent my entire evening (cough cough, like 4 or so hours cough cough) last night looking online for anything to do with American Girl dolls. You see, Santa brought Kinsley an American Girl doll for Christmas and now for her Birthday she wants more outfits for it. The thing is, that Santa had a really hard time forking over the $100 for the doll and $28 for one extra outfit, Santa doesn't even want to mention how much it cost to get it shipped.
Now maybe you are thinking hey, that Vintage Fern girl knows how to sew, why doesn't she just make clothes? Well, I will make some, but the thought of sewing little tiny clothes from a pattern makes me want to pull my hair out and say bad words. I told Kinsley I will make a pillowcase dress and some skirts and a tutu, and maybe a few other simple things, but that is as far as I go. Enter spending my entire night online searching through tons of listings on Etsy, googling 18" doll clothes and tutorials, and searching local KSL ads. I was also looking into crochet patterns, I have an aunt that has awesome crochet skills and I think I may ask her to crochet some things. In the end, I ordered a couple outfits that Kinsley had picked out because Nana (my mom) wanted her to find something for her Birthday that is coming up next month.
And then, through my searches on KSL, I found this cute shop online Daydream Doll Boutique.
They have well priced cute things, and I spent forever deciding what few things to get to go with what I will be making for her. I feel like kindof a dork, but I am super excited now about making a few things and getting everything put together for her Birthday.
I may feel like even more of a dork in April, my Mom is taking my 3 sisters and I to the Mall of America, and guess what store is there? The American Girl Store, I will probably get just as excited to go look in there :)

Quilty stuff

I've been working on getting a quilt top put together with the blocks from A Notion or Two.
A couple weeks ago, I won Long arm quilting from The Back Porch Quilters from a giveaway that Dana held in the Old Red Barn Co. quilt along flickr group. I can't tell you how excited I am for this! Plus, it's a push for me to get this quilt done. It is going to be for my bed and I am loving it so far. Everyone did such a great job on the blocks, and I decided to piece them together in a improvisational/ Gee's Bend sort of way.

Moda Oz baby quilt

I finished the baby quilt yesterday and washed it so it was crinkly and yummy.

I used a charm pack of Moda Oz along with some gray and tan Kona solids for the front.
The back I used a fun rick rack print I found at Hancock Fabrics a bit ago. I quilted it with a light gray thread, and the binding fabric I used I think is from Riley Blake, it is something that has been in my stash awhile.

Baby quilts are so fun to make, they are so quick!

Quilts, quilts, and more quilts!

I finished piecing this quilt top last night. This was a mystery quilt from the Patchwork Posse group I am a member of. As I was working on this quilt I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I am glad I finished it, it challenged me to do something I wouldn't normally choose to do, and I am absolutely in love with it, like big time in love! Plus look, it matches the outside of my house :)

I won a charm pack of Moda Oz from the same Patchwork Posse group and I immediately sewed them into a baby quilt. Which is now ready to be quilted, I think I am going to tackle that today. Why can't all quilts be as easy as baby quilts?

My month

I finally got all my fabric cut to send out to my fellow bee members from A Notion or Two.

Phew! that was alot of cutting and sorting.

This quilt is going to be so much fun, I can't wait!

Now I just need to get to them to the post office.

Rock'n Mom

Yesterday Jade and Sage made me this awesome bracelet. They even wrapped it up for me, so cute. It put a big smile on my face when I opened it, I'm wearing it now, I want the world to know that I'm a rock'n Mom :)

Last night I made this quilt block. It is for my month for A Notion or Two. Originally my month was going to be December, but I traded for July. I'm running a bit behind but that's okay. I needed to make a block up so that I could get an idea of how much fabric to send.
I decided for my month that I want blocks inspired by Denyse Schmidt's Drunk love in a Log cabin. All the fabrics I have chosen are vintage, reproductions, or they look vintagey, along with some solids and I am going to make a queen sized quilt with them. I am super excited! I am loving how this block turned out and it is going to be fun to see what everyone comes up with. Now I just have to get the fabrics cut up and sent out.

A Finish!!

I finally got Sage's quilt finished!

It is twin sized, the biggest quilt I have finished so far.

Sage picked all the fabrics out herself from my stash probably a year ago :)
I love how it turned out, it is just so happy to me.

Here's a peak at the back, I used a vintage sheet which by chance matched the pillowcase that Sage uses :)

It feels so good to finally finish it, and Sage is so happy that I did.

Now I need to get working on Kinsley and Jade's quilts, and I won't mention the other 8 or so quilts in the works :)

P.S. I used the tutorial here from Cluck cluck Sew for Sage's quilt.

Simple Sampler Quilt Along

So, I don't know what is wrong with me other than I guess I feel like I need to have one million projects going on at the same time, but I am joining the simple sampler quilt along hosted by Amy. Look how cute though!

Here is the fabric I chose to make mine with. I am dying over that one on the top of the stack that looks like pattern directions, I found it at Hancock Fabrics the other day, I love it!

Today

We are FINALLY going to plant our garden today, I will head to the garden store and buy fertilizer and plants so everything is ready when Casey gets home from work. Hopefully I can still get what I need.

I will be working on my mystery quilt for my Patchwork Posse group.

And I will be admiring these flowers that sit along the north side of our home, so pretty!

By the way, that is our neighbors driveway and it is made of tiny rocks and it hurts really bad to walk on it with bare feet, the rocks stick to your feet, ouch!

And I wish these were mine, they are our neighbors.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2010

Amy's blogger's quilt festival starts today! How fun!

So, here is my entry, my pinwheel quilt that I finished earlier this year. I love it! Quilts for me are like therapy. I am always sewing things, usually in big batches and assembly line style, which can really wear on me at times. So when I work on a quilt, it is a change of pace for me.

I am especially drawn to the colors in this quilt, and I love, love, love the big huge pinwheels!

Here's Sage using it this morning while watching cartoons, she wouldn't even look at me :)

Playing catch up

I got a little behind in my quilting bee blocks and played catch up yesterday and today.

This Dresden plate is for Amber for a A Notion or Two.

It was my first time doing a Dresden plate and it was so much fun that I already bought myself a Dresden template so I can make some more! It did make me a little nervous to make my first one with someone Else's fabric, so I am very happy it worked out!

These two blocks are for The Stash busting bee, Debbie, sent the black and white fabric and wanted bright colored blocks that were gender neutral.

Now I am all caught up for April! Yay!

Some news and weekend projects

Have you guys been following So You Think Your Crafty? It's in Session 2 right now, but today is the start of audition week for round 3. Guess what? I am one of the audition crafters! Fun huh? So I guess I will find out if I am crafty :) Anyways, head over there and check out all the audition crafts and vote!

I finished up a few things this weekend. This is the block I did for The Stash Busting Bee for March for Jessica. She sent the green fabric with the flowers and wanted any size block up to 12 1/2 inches. I had fun with this one, I just went for it.

I worked on these suitcases this weekend too, I love these. They are alot of fun to make.

These will be making an appearance at the rest of my spring shows.

I also got our taxes figured out and let's just say we are getting the biggest refund in the history of my life and I couldn't be more relieved. It's been a tough year for us and it's only March! So our refund will help out a TON! YAY!

My show also went well and I traded for some fun things, maybe I'll take pictures and share tomorrow.

So what were you up to this weekend? Anything fun and exciting?