Bug quilt completed! I practiced sewing feathers over and over again!

I spent some time last night quilting feathers on this bug quilt.

I am determined to get good at making feathers.

Each one gets a little easier to do.

Here are some close up pictures of the quilt....

"Bee" blocks from around the world! and a special Mug rug..

I received some more lovely blocks from my online bee project.
I got these from Texas...

I got these from New Zealand.

These blocks came in from Texas a couple of weeks ago.

A beautiful scrappy look!  

I will post the final quilt once I get all of my blocks.  It will be so much fun to see how all these scrappy blocks will come together.  This online "quiliting bee"  is so much fun to do.

I am also taking part in a "Pay it forward" project.

I got this sweet little mug rug last week.

I am looking for 3 people who want to take part in this Pay it Forward  project.  See details at this post...  http://beebeesquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/2013/03/lets-pay-it-forward.html

Another paper pieced quilt!

My friend Jan did it again.  She is getting so good at paper piecing.  Check out these photos of her latest creation.

Let's Pay it Forward!

Pay it Forward - I need three participants

I signed up for a "pay it forward" giveaway.  I got my pay it forward "prize" and as part of that I have to pay it forward to three people.   If you want to be one of the three you MUST promise to pay it forward to three more people within a year to keep this going. I am limiting this to participants in the USA as I have limited funds for shipping.

I will take the first three who ask.  I would like to make something just for you that you will enjoy.
That said, it may take me a little while to get these made -it may take me some time.
So:
I have a quick questionnaire.  You can answer them here OR wait for my reply email.  Which reminds me, you can NOT be a no-reply blogger and participate.  Why?  because I won't be able to contact you.


So my questions are:

1.Do you read physical books? (would you like a bookmark?)

2.What are your favorite colors OR color combinations?

3.What colors are in your kitchen? (or maybe you would like a potholder?)

4.What are your hobbies? (never know what I will use this answer for!)

5. Would you like a mug rug? (now that is a straight up question!)

I am grateful that I have more than I need and can share things I make.

3 new bags

I have been busy this week trying to get these bags completed by this weekend.
This one is for my DIL  This owl print was perfect for a diaper bag/purse

This one is for a friend.  She brought me the fabric and I made thhis bag for her.  She loves butterflies!

Then, I decided to make a bag for Me!  I love the big flowers on this fabric. I made a little coin purse with some of the scraps.

Here they are all together!

Another "village" quilt...

I showed my friend Jan how to paper piece.  Several weeks ago I posted a quilt she made of little houses.that she paper pieced.    She has been working on another "village" quilt.  This time she paper pieced some interesting characters to put with some little houses.  She still has to add a border but I just had to share her progress with you!
I think she is doing a wonderful job.  What do you think?
 I need to do a little paper piecing and make a village quilt too!

Report on February Goals/ New list for March

Here is a report on my February goals...

Today is February 28th.


1.  quilt the Eye Spy Quilt
top I made this past weekend
(completed)



2.  quilt the postage stamp quilt and bind it.
( not completed)

3.  put binding on Eye Spy Quilt
(not completed)

4.  finish putting together the Sunbonnet Sue top I started.
(completed)

5.  quilt the Bug Quilt top I made last week.
(partially completed)

6.  make a diaper bag for my DIL
( cut out but now put together)

Oh well, 2 out of 6 is not so bad.  I am going to move the incomplete  February goals to  March.

Additional March Goals

1. Make bag for Susie.
2. Complete bag I started for me!
3. Make 10 additional around the world blocks for my new twin bed quilts.
4. Follow WW daily points plan 100%  5 days each week.

Favorite cruise picture..

I took this one afternoon while on the cruise we went on in December.  I would love to be in that chair again just looking out over the Gulf of Mexico.

It was a wonderful trip.

Scrappy Around the World Quilt

I started work on my Scrappy Around the world quilts for my bedroom.  I want to  make two of them for my new twin beds.

I pulled out all of my fat quarters that I have been collecting and cut a 2 1/2 inch strip from 6 of them..  I sewed the strips together

                

and then cut them into 2 1/2 inch multicolor strips 

 then I sewed them together again to make this block.

Not quite sure how many more I need to make....Lots and lots and lots more!

Blocks for a "bee"

I am so excited about our 2013 bee!  I made this month's block today and I love the fabric Lizzie chose.
This is a fun new way to 'do' 9 patch.

It will be my turn next month.  I'll post a picture of the block I want us to make on a future post.

Mardi Gras T-Shirts

My DIL asked me it I could make a Mardi Gras T-Shirt for A to wear at his school parade so I decided I needed to make one for each of them.   I keep a supply of blank T-shirts so I can make fun shirts or night shirts or whatever for the boys.  I had this neat Mardi Gras fabric that was supposed to be used to make throw pillows.  I liked the pictures so I decided to fussy cut  out the pictures and iron them on to the shirts.  Here is what I ended up with.  I will try to get pics of the boys wearing them and post them at a later date.

Two quilts ready for quilting!

I put this Sun Bonnet Sue quilt on the rack this morning.  I plan to work on that tonight.  It is only about 48 inches square so it should not take too long to get quilted.

 I worked on quilting my bug quilt.  I did the stitch in the ditch rows and now I want to do some shadow quilting within each bug square.

If anyone ever figures out how to use two machines like these at the same time please let me know..  LOL

Placemat tutorial

My DH and I like to use placemats at the kitchen table and the ones I have are getting pretty worn out.  I found some I liked at Wal Mart but I did not want to pay about $4 each so I decided to try making them.

Here is a quick tutorial of what I did.

I used scraps of warm and natural batting.

With right sides together cut out 2 14"X18" pieces of fabric

Line up batting to fit the fabric and spray baste batting pieces in place.

pin to hold in place

Stitch about 1/4 in all around leaving a 4' - 5" opening on one side

                        Trim off excess batting all around. 

          Clip the corners and then turn it right side out.

find the opening

press to close the opening and then press the whole thing so it lays flat for sewing.

sew to close the opening and then stitch a top stitch all around the placemat

to quilt it, I start at one end about an inch from the side.  I sew until I get to about 1 inch from the other side then I turn the corner and sew down to the other side.   I continue to sew round and round keeping about 1 inch apart and it spirals into the center.

You can free motion quilt it or do lines, whatever you like will look nice and hold it together.

I made four of them in about an hour.

 I completed one of my February goals.  I sewed together a Sun Bonnet Sue quilt top.

I will take a full picture and post it later.

Setting my February goals for UF projects.

I find it very difficult to write out a list of goals I have in mind for February but I am going to give it a go.  I am not usually a "list" person but I have been told many times that writing a list helps keep you on track and focused on what needs to be done.
We will see how this month goes.

Here they are:

1.  put binding on Eye Spy Quilt ( already quilted)

2.  quilt the postage stamp quilt and bind it.

3.  quilt the Eye Spy Quilt top I made this past weekend

4.  finish putting together the Sunbonnet Sue top I started.

5.  quilt the Bug Quilt top I made last week.

6.  make a diaper bag for my DIL

I will post progress as I go along.

Pat's lap quilt top!

This was a great weekend.  My cousin, Pat, who lives about 250  miles away, came to spend the weekend with me.  Even though we lived far away from each other all our lives, we have managed to stay close friends.  As kids, I would go spend a week in the summer at our grandparents home and we would be able to play together.  She would come spend some time at my house.  My mom used to make us a dress or skirt or something whenever she would come for a visit.  I guess sewing has always been a big part of our lives.  I love that she was able to come for a few days.  We  had a wonderful time visiting with each other and sewing together.  She was able to finish putting her quilt top together.  She brought a couple of projects to work on while we talk and visit.  It is always fun to have someone to sew with.   I like the blocks in this one.

Bug quilt top complete!

I worked on this yesterday and last night.

I found these cute bugs in one of my many quilting books and I just had to try making them.  I do not usually do applique but these were easy and fun to do.

I am going to work on quilting this one tonight.

NOTE:  I am on 40 miligrams of steroids a day right now so I can not sleep very much.  They make me hungry so I have found that if I stay sitting at my machine I don't think about eating.  Sewing has really been a life saver in that respect.  I had gained 8 pounds over the last 6 weeks but I have managed to loose 4 of them and sewing has helped with that.