Construction Site baby quilt

I spent today putting this baby quilt together.  I had someone ask me to make a baby quilt with a construction theme.  I had about 3/4 of a yard of this fabric in my stash.  Not enough for a backing or anything so I figured I could make blocks by fussy cutting the equipment.  I pulled out fabric I thought matched pretty good and started sewing.  I have it pinned and ready for quilting tomorrow.  It is about 45 inches square.  I kinda like the polkadots on the back.  Do you think it is too bright for a baby quilt?  I did not have anyone to hold it up for a picture so I hope these show what it looks like.

Another baby quilt completed. first attempt at feathers.....

I finished this baby quilt.  I finished the quilting this afternoon.  I did my first "feathers".  Can you see them?  I put one on each corner.  Not perfect but not bad for the first time.

here are a few pictures, I hope you can see the quilting.

Ready to make a braided rug!

I would like to try making a rag rug by braiding fabric.  I had some old t-shirts that I cut into 1 1/2 - 2 inch wide strips.  Each shirt gave me a pretty long piece to braid with.  I am just not sure where to start.

here are the t-shirt balls I made.....

I have this basket filled with about a dozen balls.  I cut the t-shirts into a continuous strip so they are pretty long.

I will check back later to show you what I do with these if I can figure out how to make the rug.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know

Sweet and soft flannel baby quilt

I have been working on loads of baby items made with flannel.  I can not bring myself to throw away a scrap that is bigger than 2 inches square so I had lots of flannel scraps.   I decided to use them up instead of saving yet another container of scraps and this is what I ended up with.
 I hope to get it quilted soon.  Not sure what to put on the back yet.

Blankets, Bibs, Burp cloths and Baby washcloths!

I have been able to spend some serious time in front of my sewing machine and I am loving it!

 I made receiving blankets, bibs, burp cloths and baby wash cloths.

Here are some pictures of most of the items I completed.
It feels pretty good to be productive!

Gift for baby

I found a tutorial on how to make a simple receiving blanket and decided to give it a try.  Once I had that made I decided to make a bib and burp cloth to match.
Such a cute set and perfect for a baby shower.
I listed it in my Etsy store!

Wedding pillow and satin purse

I have a "niece" ( The bride is one of my dear friend's twins and the girls have always called me Aunt Barbara...a very endearing thing to me.  Still can not believe how fast they grew up!)  getting married this weekend and she asked me to make the ring barer's pillow and a little purse for her to use during the "money" dance at the wedding reception.

I never know where to begin these types of things so I just sat with the fabric and let it begin to speak to me.  I found a big platter that we use to eat boiled seafood with and used it as a pattern.  I needed a big circle.  For some reason I felt the purse should just be a simple draw string bag.  I will try to  put together a tutorial on how I made it.

Here is what I came up with for the bag...

For the pillow I had some satin fabric and some lace.  Not sure what to make...think- think -think-  she wanted something simple..Hmmmmm  Here are the two ideas I ended up making...

The bride picked them all up on Monday.  She is not yet sure which pillow she will use.  I think I like the one that shows a little of the satin on each side.   

These were simple to make and it was a quick project.  

The wedding is this Saturday evening..I will try to post a picture or two next week.

I would love some opinions of what you think of these items.

A few completed quilts!

I have been working on finishing quilts.  I am determined to get these UFOs out of my sewing studio.
here are a few of the quilts I finished..

piecing and quilting and binding oh my.....

this Care Bear, shades of purple, log cabin quilt needed binding.

this Wee Folks quilt needed quilting and binding.  I did stitch in the ditch and added additional lines

this black and white lap quilt with light and dark wonky stars
needed quilting and binding

this lap quilt needed binding

this lap quilt needed quilting and binding

 this tumbling block quilt needed quilting and binding

All of these quilts have been added to my Etsy store.  Check it out. I have a button for my store on the side of my blog.

Hurricane Isaac hits home

Hurricane Isaac has been blowing here at our house for about 24 hours.  Still getting some strong wind.  Thank you God for protecting us.  We did not have any damage or flooding here.  We lost power last night around 9pm and it just came back on at 7:30pm.  Ahhhh, air conditioner is back on.

here is a radar picture

we live where the circles overlap....

I sure hope this is the only hurricane this year.  One is more than enough!

Blast from the past quilt

I made this butterfly quilt for my BFF who lives in Colorado.  I had the butterflies all flying up and only one is flying down.  We grew up together here in south Louisiana and the one butterfly flying down was meant to remind her that she should fly down here and maybe even move back.    Great friends are precious to have.  
I made it about 20 years ago and she finally sent me a photo of it on her bed..LOL...she uses it as their summer quilt. It is one of my first quilts.  I embroidered the whiskers on each butterfly. It is on a queen sized bed.

Another quilt completed

I have been working on several quilt tops.  I am trying to catch up with the quilting and the binding.
Here is one I did yesterday!

                                                 Front

Back

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When I got to the end of quilting this top, I discovered that I did not have the right length of the backing material.  I had to add a strip along the side.  Looks like I had that planned all along.  No one will know it was an OOPS...

I have several more to complete...I will be posting them as I finish each one.

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Got a manicure today!

I went to get a manicure this afternoon. Instead of nail polish she uses a shellac.  It is thicker than regular polish, helps to protect the nail and it lasts a couple of weeks.  I had her cut down my nails because they were getting too long.  I can not believe I can grow my nails. I bit them for 50 years.  I quit  biting them when I retired.  My job must have been more stressful than I am willing to admit.
Aren't they pretty?    

I did not realize my fingers were so swollen.  They are like this pretty much all the time. oh well, such is life!

Here is something a little less boring.....

I did a little sewing.  I finished quilting this quilt top.  I made this using a layer cake.  I used the disappearing 9 patch for the layout.   Here is a picture of the front.  (still need to finish the binding)   

Here is the back...I just did a simple fish scale pattern.

Over the next week or so I am going to be quilting several quilt tops I have had for a while.  I have about 10 more to do.  I am determined to finish all of them before I begin anything new.... LOL...not sure I will be able to do that! but I will try...

I hope to post them once they get done.....I hope you come by again to see them.   

And now we are watching Big Bang Theory....gotta love that Sheldon!  and Leonard and Howard and Raj and Penny.

Bazinga!!!

Memory quilt completed

I just finished making a memory quilt.  I had a very sweet young lady ask me to make her memory quilt using sorority  t-shirts she collected while attending LSU.   I just had to share it with my blogging friends.

It came out to be 85 inches square!  I am very pleased with the way it came out.  Let me know what you think of it.

Grandchildren

Who knew that grandchildren would be so wonderful to have?   We have 3 boys, I have posted their photos before but this picture has all three of them together!  Just had to share it.
I love these boys more than I could ever express!

First cousins having fun at Mamae and Papae's house!

Left to right...
Alden, 4 1/2, Ephraim 8 months  and Reed, 3yrs 10 months...
Alden and Ephraim are for our older son and Reed is for our younger son.  We have been blessed with two sons, two sweet daughters in law and these three precious baby boys. Thank you God for all of your gifts!  Our cup surely overflows......

Life is good!

Two more quilts completed!

Here is the quilt I made from two online bees last year.  I asked for the same thing from each group and ended up with the perfect amount of blocks to complete this quilt.  I quilted it yesterday and I finished the binding this morning.
The girls in these bees are sweethearts and I love these hearts......

just thought I would share it with you.....

Last summer I put together this little lap quilt.  I found a sweet tutorial for the blocks and just had to try it.  Today I quilted it and finished putting the binding on it.   

another one to share with you......

I have Quilt POX do you?

I took this picture of a wall hanging my aunt has in her sewing room.   She said she did not know who made it. She bought it at a flea market in Texas.   I have this illness for sure! I finally know what to call it!   LOL!

Working on a Quilting bee quilt

 I participated in an online quilting bee this year.  Each person designed a block, posted a tutorial for it and then everyone made a block and sent it to you.
These are the blocks I got this year.  There were 11 in this bee.  I did not use the block I made for my quilt. I made a wall hanging out of it.  One of the blocks I got will be made into a zippered bag.  I used the other 9 blocks to make this!
 I decided not to sash the blocks and I think I like the way it turned out.

Each of the blocks are so pretty.  Everyone did a great job on them.  I like it just like this.  I am going to try to quilt it soon.

This was a fun project.  

Outer Space quilts

I finally finished making and quilting these Outer Space quilts for my grandbabies.  They will share a room so my DIL wanted matching quilts.  I still have to put on the binding but that won't take too long.  I  need to  make a couple of pillow shams.
These quilts were a challenge to make but I am glad I went with  my original plan to make the fabric for the background.

My girlfriend and SIL were so nice to hold them up for me to take pictures.

I put one of them on my queen bed to show the size.  They are made for a regular double bed.

Loads of work but so worth it now that it is finished.

Grandbabies are the best!

We have been blessed with 3 precious grandsons.  We are able to have them over for fun visits every week.  I can not explain how much I love these boys.  I just felt the need to share them with you.

Alden is 4 years old

Reed is 3 1/2 years old

Ephraim is 8 months old

Aren't they cute?

2013 bee update

I have 11 for the bee....yea.....and I have someone who may fill the final slot if we need her.

short post today
hugs
beebee

Online bee for 2013

I am going to give this a try.
I want to host an online quilting bee.
If you are interested please visit The Bee Balm at http://thebeebalm.blogspot.com/ and leave a message.
I will contact everyone as soon as we have enough to get one started. 

I have 7 names so far....looking for 5 more! 

My plans are to wait until January to get things started.
I have to learn a little more about adjusting the site and how to allow others to post on the site.

 I am not sure of the specifics of the bee yet but we will have some time to discuss ideas of what we want to do.

Hug from South Louisiana,
beebee

Quilt blocks everywhere!

In May my DH and I went on a cruise.  Everywhere I looked I saw quilt block ideas.  I only took a few pictures.

Do you see potential quilt blocks?

This was the floor in the dining room of the ship.

There were lots of these lamp shades every where.

This was on the floor on the main deck.  

A two day "get away"

My SIL and I decided we needed a little R and R so we took off for a little vacation away from everything. A fun short 'girl' trip.  We did not travel far.  Our original idea was to go to the Gulf coast in Mississippi but we ended up in New Orleans instead.  It was a beautiful day.  We had coffee and beignets and then a nice walk around the quarter,  It was sunny and there was a cool breeze.  Very cool considering it was June in Louisiana.  We had a great lunch at my favorite place on Decatur Street just up from Jackson Square.  Mespairos (probably not spelled right)   is one of the best places to eat if you are in the area.  Great New Orleans eats with large portions and very reasonable....Cash only place...I love it.

here is a photo I took of Jackson Square...my iphone takes great pics!

We took off to the North Shore to find the "Bra Geini', a place where they really know how to fit you with the right bra. LOL we laughed so much while there!  Very nice people and a great selection of all kinds of neat underware.....(I told you it was a girl trip!)

We then went shopping in Metairie.  We found a nice inexpensive motel in Kenner.

here is a photo of the motel pool at dusk...... very quiet and relaxing place.....

If you ever need a nice place to go to relax and/or to experience loads of history, the French Quarter is the place to go to.

We had a nice two day rest and came home refreshed!
We just might have to do that again really soon!