Wonderful Weekend in Hamilton

Just a few more days of summer vacation left for me, ugghh!  I have gotten a lot of quilting done in the last couple of months and that has been wonderful.  I haven't given school much thought other than, "not thinking about it right now." However, it's almost time to start thinking about it.  Thinking about what I want to do differently, how I want to change up some things that went well, but could be improved upon. Things like that.  I love my Facebook group of FCS (Family Consumer Science) Teachers and reading everything they are doing in their classrooms, but man oh man, there are a lot of beginner and second year teachers on there!!  Plus, they come from all over the United States so their curriculum is a bit different from ours here in Texas.  Still, it's a great source to pull things from.  I guess since it's almost time to go back, I need to get on there and start downloading files of things I want to do and plugging them into my plans.  (not that I always write down plans, but I do have a file in my head.  Things would probably get done better if I actually wrote down the plans from my head, LOL) 


Got back a few days ago from a quilt retreat up in Hamilton, MO with my mom's quilt group from Northwest Arkansas.  My mom and I had a great time up there with 35 other women.  We sewed and shopped all day, played games mid evening before everyone gave up and went to bed and then for us late nighters, we stayed up and sewed into the wee hours of the morning most nights.  Fun, fun, fun!!  If you ever get the chance to go up to Hamilton, do it.  It is something every quilter should have the chance to experience at least once in his/her lifetime.  13 stores full of fabrics, notions and fun fills up the entire town.  It's wonderful.  Plus, if you are lucky enough to schedule a retreat there, it's even more fun to watch and experience the town life.  (Friday nights the farmers and Amish have a small farmers market - don't miss out on the hand pies, fresh breads, fresh fruits and veggies and homemade noodles.  (last year they even had two kids for sale, baby goats)  Now, I haven't tried the noodles yet, but we got some this year on the word of one of the ladies that purchased some last year that raved over them and then proceeded to purchase all they had except for the one bag we happened to get.  Now I have to decide how I want to use them. 


This is the only one I have access to.  I had to download it from a Facebook page, but you will be able to see something that I worked on over the weekend.

She wanted to make sure she could see me, but left off one entire column of blocks.  Oh, well, it still needs a couple of borders which I hope to get on this weekend.  (if I can ever unload my machine from my car) 

Kaffe Blocks and Angry Birds Pillow cases

I received two more blocks in the mail this weekend and now there are 8 total.  Since my sewing machine is in front of my design wall, it makes it a little hard to put up the blocks so please excuse the wonkiness. 

 

They are looking really good together.  I think I will sash them - at least a small sashing to break them up a bit since there is such a variety of fabrics going on there.  I worked on a couple of things in the studio today.  I couldn't really settle down and get busy in there. The only thing I got finished were these super cute Angry Birds pillow cases.  A friend of mine had to go to Carlsbad to pick up a package she had won in a recent shop hop so another friend and I tagged along.  This cute Angry Birds fabric was calling my name and just had to go home with me.  I pulled fabric from my stash to finish the cuff and flange and I think I may have to put these on my bed tonight.  OR I could save them and give them as a Christmas present for someone special.  (I have no idea right now who that special someone might be, so more than likely they will be making an appearance on my bed in the near future.)  

 

I did get the blocks all sewn from another project I started at our last quilt in and purchased some more fabric in Carlsbad to make a border and back for an almost finished top, so those hopefully will be making an appearance on the blog soon.  Now it's time to get in bed since I have to be up early for school.  Having Labor Day so soon after we start school, really messes with my head and system.  It would be so nice to be able to sleep in tomorrow, also, but alas, that is not to be. 

Weekend Works in the Wasteland

I know the plan was to work on the various items to catch me up in the Stocking Swap.  That was the plan and I intended to stick with it, but when I got in the studio Friday night, I saw the little zip bag of KFC scraps leftover from the last blocks I made for the KF block exchange and I just started playing and making fabric.  (KFC = Kaffe Fassett Collective - fabrics from Kaffe, Brandon Mobley and Phillip Jacobs; KF = Kaffe Fassett)  I continued on Saturday and then remembered a pillow of little houses I had seen on a blog.  "Ah Ha!!!"  I can make this fabric into little houses and turn it into a pillow cover for the swap.  Excellent idea!  I did the math and figured out what size to cut everything, found fabric for the roof, chimney, door and sky and cut everything out.  Sewed the chimney sections (that took a couple of tries to get right) and made one house.  Yep, I think this is what I want to do. So, I made one more just to be sure and then a third just because.  I finished up the roof tops and went to bed.  Today, I finished all the rest of the houses (9 total) and started putting it together for my pillow cover.   Below are a couple of the houses.  They all have the same lime green doors and striped roofs.  The houses are made from my made fabric.  I love how they turned out. 

 

 

Then, I sashed them with white Kona and measured.  Hmm, it's too big for the pillow cover.  Do I take it apart and do something different?  Do I make a larger pillow cover?  Or, do I just add my border and make a small quilt?  All great questions and it only took me about 2 seconds after measuring to give my answer.  Of course, I add a wonderful border (Phillip Jacobs) and hang it on the design wall for a quick picture.  

 

 

It is such a bright happy little neighborhood, I just couldn't take it apart and re-do it.  But now, I don't have a pillow cover made or anything else for the swap.  So, a quick cutting of the made fabric, a little sewing, stuffing and button and voila!  A brand new pin cushion for the swap.  

 

 

Okay, one down and 5 more to go.  Actually, I made a mug rug way back in December or early January and can use that one if I want, so, two down and three to go.  I am making some progress.  Are you? Are you participating in the swap?  I know there are at least 4 of us from here and two or three of you out there.  Let me know - if you can get my response/comment thing to work - I know Kathy was having some trouble earlier this week, but finally got a comment to post.  Let me know if you are participating in the swap.  We would love to have about 10 people this year.