Pillow fun

Hello hello!  21 days until Christmas!  3 weeks.  THREE weeks. I'm not ready. Still shopping, still sewing.  Still need to decorate.  I'm planning on putting away Fall and getting my Christmas/Winter wallhangings up this weekend. Sunday is supposed to be cold here.  Perfect day to clean and sew.

I was asked to make 2 more personalized pillows for a friend of mine in October.  I'm going to be seeing her on Saturday and I had to get on the task.  I love making these pillows and at the same time, I hate it.  Too much babysitting and too much stress on something going wrong at the last minute and whole project goes down the tubes. Not this time though and for that, I am grateful.

2 girly pillows coming right up.  I was asked to do pink and butterflies.  I think the girls are cousins.  One pillow is headed to Poland.  :)  Bet you can't guess which one.  LOL.

The butterfly border was also used on the back.  Happy to have these done.

And a pillow for me.  I need to get more Sweetwater labels to use in decorating my house.  I just love this snowman.  Don't know if I'm going to leave it on my bed, give it to Punkie to use, or use it in the living room.  Decisions, decisions.

I will have more to show soon. I'm working pretty hard over here.  :)

Enjoy your day!  Remember.  3 more weeks!
Jen  :)

I went with the lime

I apologize for being gone for a little over a month.  Lots going on here.  I have been busy sewing and working on getting my swap items done.  I joined 3 swaps on Instagram; 2 group and 1 personal and they are all due at the same time!  What was I thinking?!  I am in good shape but I had a little lack of sewing for about 9 days or so.  Playing catch up now.  And I was asked to make two more personalized pillows and I need those both done by next week too.  UGH.

I had some surgery at the beginning of November so I spent some time in the hospital.  Never had surgery before.  My c-section doesn't count.  I had no choice in the c-section.  Before surgery, my mind was elsewhere and once I got home, I was so wiped out. I had no desire to sew for about 9 days.  I have never been under anesthesia before.  Instead of being wake after an hour in recovery, it took me 2.5 hours to come awake.  My husband was a bit concerned for sure.  The pain meds they gave me in the hospital knocked me out too so once I was home, I slept for days and had no energy.  Surgery is behind me and I'm all recovered and feeling great.

I did finish my navy dresden and I went with the lime accent.  I love it!

I did a simple echo straight stitch for quilting in all the negative space.  I am going to make one for myself.  Either turn it into a pillow or mini wall hanging.

I hate to give it away.  I hope my swap partner loves it as much as I do!

To those here in the U.S. - Happy Thanksgiving this week!  Eat lots and lots of turkey!  Gobble!  Gobble!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Need a little help

I am participating in a couple of swaps over on Instagram (IG) and one of the is a Christmas Stocking swap.  I have plans to make my partner a stocking but I'm working on her "little extra" first.

I've been on a dresden kick lately and wanted to make a mini wall-hanging for my partner.  She expressed interest in having something she could keep out all year round in her sewing room.  Her room colors are navy, cream, orange, with a hint of lime.

I've been messing around with an idea in my head and have since started making my dresden blades.  My thought is to go mainly go with navy and every 3rd or 4th blade would be either orange or lime green.  Just to give it a little pop.

I thought the orange would be the one I would like but now I'm not sure.  I made a couple of lime blades to compare and I'm liking that much more.

What do you think?

Navy with a pop of Orange

Navy with pop of Lime

here they are all three.  Final project won't be all three though

So?  What do you think?  Navy with a pop or orange or pop of lime?  The center of dresden will be the navy fabric. I thought I would do a pop of opposite color; orange or lime depending on which color I went with as an accent but I think that will be too much.  I will most likely bind in the accent color.

I have a little more to share with you soon.  I've been busy over here, sewing away.  Just haven't snapped any pictures.

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Yellow Brick Road Quilt

A few years ago, I went on a road trip to Baltimore and found a nice quilt shop.  While visiting, I found a quilt kit that would work for my Punk.  Fast forward to now - quilt kit still all packaged up, not touched at all. 

It used a simple pattern that I already have, Yellow Brick Road, and decided it was time.  My intention was to have Punk help me with the making of the blocks.  She helped some but quickly got bored with the process.  So I picked up the slack and got the top done.

Bright and fun.  Perfect for a little girl.  I have some fabric that I've been holding on to for a backing for another quilt... which I never finished.... so I'm going to use it with this one.  

Happy to have the kit done and into top form.  Now, to get it quilted.

enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Patchwork Pumpkins

I am pleased as punch that my idea actually worked out.  Over the summer, I made a cupcake wallhanging that I just adore but it doesn't scream "Fall".  I mentioned in my cupcake post that I wanted to make a few more of this style of wallhanging and mentioned pumpkins; my follow through is pretty lacking though.

Not this time!  I am crazy about my Patchwork Pumpkin wallhanging!  I admit that it still needs to be quilted and I plan to do the same to the pumpkins as I did with the cupcakes.  I'm going to stitch and flip with tabs to hang it with.  I plan on getting this chore done this weekend and get it hung on the wall by Sunday night.  I'm going to back it in orange polka dots.

I wanted this wallhanging to be more "Fall" than "Halloween" so I searched for the right pumpkin border.  That was tough.  Everything was either too realistic for my wallhanging or Jack o Lanterns.  I wanted a whimsical pumpkin.  I couldn't find what I had in my mind so I settled on mini pumpkins.

It will do.  

I was going to applique a pumpkin, similiar to the cupcake but I ended up taking the patchwork pumpkin that Lori used in her quilty barns and made it a bit larger to fit my idea.  I'm thrilled it all worked out like it was in my head.

Enjoy your day!!

Jen :)

Some Frosting

Schibbles, wall hangings.  I like working on those.  They are quick and easy and I tend to actually finish them.  HA!

Before we left for Disney, I sent Mary a couple of wall hanging sized quilts for some of her quilting magic; frosting as she calls it.

McGuffey Schnibbles out of Sweetwater's Lucy's Crab Shack line.  

Mary quilted it with a swirly, crabby design.  Truly!  There are little crabs quilted in this one.  It is too cute!  

And my scrappy crossroads

That one was done in just a swirly design that I just love.  I can't wait to get binding on both of these.  They will be put away until next Spring/Summer.

Thank you so much Mary!  I love how your version of frosting is very low calorie.  :)

Enjoy your day!

Jen  :)

More Minis

I've been working on bulking up my "mini" wall.  I made a "J" for Jen, of course.  I need to now make an "A" for Amelia.

This one I whipped up the day after we got back from Disney.  Just to ease back into everything.  I need to quilt it.

Cute?  I think so.  I have been focusing on getting some backings ordered and created to get some quilts quilted.  Mary quilted some wall hangings for me but I need to get some bigger lap quilts done.  My banister is pretty full of everything.  Some things just need to get addressed.  So I have yardage coming for backings and 1 that I need to sew up and I will be getting them out there to get done.

I also joined a mini quilt swap out on Instagram and I'm doing a private mini quilt swap with Ellyn.  Both of those need to be completed by early December.  I have an idea for both of them.  I need to dig in the stash or do some real shopping.

My Nested Churn Dash too.  Blocks are done.  I'm working on getting it into rows.  Who am I kidding?  I have one more row (there are only 3 in the darn thing) to sew and the top will be done and I'm ignoring it all.  LOL.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Charming Stars Sew Along

Charming Stars.  It's been on my invisible to-do list for quite some time.  Terry is hosting another sew along and she picked Charming Stars (free on the Moda Bake Shop).  Since I've been waiting to make this quilt as a whole; I made a few blocks and made myself a table runner - I thought I would join in.  Plus, I have a very healthy collection of charm packs that I need to start using instead of hoarding.

I'm using Odds and Ends by Cosmo Cricket.  Eh.  I'm not loving the fabric line but for whatever reason, I have 3 charm packs so they won the coin toss.  In another "twist", I'm using a minty-aqua as my solid instead of cream.

The quilt has 16 blocks and our September "goal" for the sew along was to get 4 blocks done.  I got 6 done.  My own monthly goal is to get 2 more blocks done so that I'm halfway through those and making pinwheels with my trimmings.  I'm going to use them somewhere in the quilt.

Once this one is done, it will make a good couch quilt.  I will then make this quilt again, using charm packs that I really like. :)

Enjoy your day! - I owe you some Disney trip photos.  Coming up soon.  I was a bit lax this trip in taking pictures but I do have some to share.

Jen

Learning my ABCs

Hello!  I know it.  It's been a while.  My summer "theme".  Our summer has been moving steadily ahead.  In fact, it's almost over!

In 3 days, we're headed here:

Going to party it up.  Celebrating Punk's 9th birthday and our 10th wedding anniversary.  This year she will be turning 9 AT Disney World.  She is soooo excited for that.  The day after we get back, my 4th grader heads back to school.  She's excited to start 4th grade and I'm happy she is excited.

I have been doing some sewing.  I started and finishd my ABCs in 2 weeks.

Moda did a blog hop back in February and all their fabric designers (and others) created the letters and Moda offered the letter patterns for free.  I followed along and downloaded all of them.  I have since found out that Moda took down their links to the free letters because they put all the letters into one PDF file and some online shops are selling the PDF for $8.00.  I'm not sure how I feel about that practice.  A bit shady to me.  But I have them all printed out and saved so I'm good.

I do love this quilt.  I was hoping to hang it on my bedroom wall but it's too wide for the rod hanging there already.  I hate to use it because while I love the black background and how it makes all the colors pop but the lint and cat hair it collects.... UGH.  I have lint brushed this thing numerous times while sewing it.

I got another quilt done and off my bannister.  Morning Joe is on my bedroom wall and I just love it!

Not sure what I"m going to work on now.  I have been creating some appliqued owls for a quilt but they take forever.  I work on them when the need strikes.  I think what I'm going to do it work on getting fabrics cut for the free pattern that the Fat Quarter Shop launched a few days ago, Fat Quarter Fizz.  Quick and easy and again, using up that stash!

Enjoy your day!!
Jen  :)

Scrappy Crossroads

Lori Holt did a quick tutorial on Instagram on a scrappy crossroads block.  Since I had nothing else to do (haha), I joined in the fun and TRIED to do a bit of scrap stash busting.  I didn't even make a dent BUT I have a very cute wall hanging for my efforts.

I only made four blocks since a big quilt is just not in the cards for me right now.  I have enough larger quilts in various stages of finishing.  The four blocks only took me a week to do; I worked on them a little bit each night.  Things went much faster once I found my box of 2.5" squares that I had already cut a while back.

I also added a 2.5" outer border to finish it all off.

I can't wait to get this one quilted!

Hmmmm.  Now I wonder what I should work on next?

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Cupcakes done

Cupcakes done and hung on the wall.  I'm really happy with it.  Seeing this on the wall is making me want to make a few more for the more major holidays.  I think I'm going to make pumpkins next.  :)

Instead of adding a binding, I layered and stitched and turned it out.  I made hanging tabs too for a change of pace.  You know?  I have a Halloween panel (plus backing and binding for it) that I have been hanging on to for oh - 6 years.  I think I'm going to do the same for it and hang it here.  I did some top stitching and that is the extent of the quilting on this piece.  If I were to do anything else to it, it would still be in the pile waiting its turn.

I've started sashing my nested churn dash blocks too.  Punk and I have been working on her quilt blocks too.  I've been doing most of the work though.  Her enthusiasm for this quilt isn't there.  I've been piecing most of the blocks and leaving a few for her to work on.  Maybe with the layout, she'll help some.

35 more days until Disney.  :)

Enjoy your day!

Jen 

Contractor must have been a bit tipsy

Finished my first mini.  Dwell is what I worked on.  Looking at it, I have a couple crooked houses.  I must have had a bit too much beer when I was sewing.  ;)

Eh.  It is what it is and it's done.  I added another round of borders because I'm trying to use my stash.  Backing is from my stash too as well as my binding.  I had just enough binding leftover from another project.  That made me happy.

My lone mini:

I need to make some more.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Hey Cupcake!

I've been waiting 2 years to find time to make this wallhanging.  It was on the cover of the Spring, 2012 McCall's Quilting magazine.  I found the time.  Got it done in a day.  Just need to quilt it.

Isn't it sweet?  Here are some close ups of the cupcakes.

My goal is to now get it quilted and hung on the wall for Punk's birthday in August.  :)

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Still Churning

I am churning along over here.  I'm almost done with the blocks.  Layout and sashing next.  I'm running low on my solid so the sashing will have to wait until I can get to the store in the next week or so.  I'm currently working on my last block for my quilt top.  Here's what I came up with since my last post.

Red and yellow.

 
Lime green and orange.

This one is a bit bright.  I mean really BRIGHT.  But look who's peeking out of the center.

Sheepies!  I thought it was a cute addition to the block.

Last - gray and aqua.

Last block is almost done.  I'll show them all together soon!

I was on a roll with these blocks, I decided to make new decorative pillows for my couch.

Love it!  It's HUGE!  It looks great on my couch but this was taken on my bed.  The second one is almost done.  I think that's the hidden theme of this post: "Almost done".  LOL.

I've been plotting along over here and hope to keep the sewing momentum going.  I'm also prepping blocks for a sew along with my Punk.  It's supposed to rain here Friday, July 4th which means a day in the house.  I thought we would do some chores in the morning but spend the afternoon sewing.  I'm prepping blocks (the boring part) and she can do the sewing.  I'm looking forward to it.

To those here in the US - Happy 4th of July!  Hope you have a fun day!  If it wasn't for the rain, I would be spending the day in the pool.  :)

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Nesting

Last day of school today!  WOOHOO!!  I am ready for lazy mornings.  So ready!  So is my future 4th grader.  4th grade.  Where did the time go?!??!  Tomorrow we are off to Hershey, PA for some fun time.

I'm not a big Instagram user (jenwith01); between blogs, Facebook, Pinterest... I just forget about IG but every now and again I will pop in there and check things out.  About a week ago I popped onto Instagram and got sucked into a new project.  :P

It all started with this:

Evolved into:

I just kept going.  

#nestedchurndash is the quilt along happening on Instagram.  They are big blocks too.  24" finished so only 9 blocks with sashing will make a very nice sized quilt.  I haven't decided if I am going to keep this one for myself or give it to Amelia.  I think if I give it to her, we'll have to share it.  I'm going to have a hard time losing it.  I'm sticking with a 2 block palette for each block and I'm really loving it.  I'm just not sure what to do for the last 4 blocks.  I'm going to have to start repeating colors.  I'm thinking more a lime-y green with aqua or yellow as one combination, red and yellow as another.  After that, I'm stuck. I don't want to do another pink block since there are 2 pinks already (pink and green/pink and orange).

What I have right now is:

pink and green

aqua and red

purple and gray

navy and yellow

orange and pink

Any 2 color combo ideas?

enjoy your day!

Jen  :)

Ready for the Reveal

Hello!  My apologies for being away for a bit.  It's been a bit hectic.  Summer vacation is looming - next Tuesday is Punk's last day and she is READY.  Ready for lazy days.  I haven't told her but I'm going to keep her home once a week, if I can swing it.  She can hang at home, in the pool (once we put it up for the Summer), and I'll just do my work.  I'll see how that goes.  We are gearing up for our annual School is OVER! road trip.  We normally go to Lake George, NY for a few days but this year we are shaking it up.  This year we are hitting the road for Hershey, PA and going to Hershey Park.  Getting ourselves excited for our Disney trip in August.  We'll spend time at Hershey and then we are going to drive down to the Amish area.  I can't visit PA without going to see my Amish peeps.  LOL!  I love it there.  I will be bringing 4 quilt tops with me to get backings.  Swoon is at the top of that list.  I need to get that one quilted.

Now that you are caught up with my upcoming adventures, let's check out my updated sewing room!  Post will be picture heavy.  Sorry.  

To review - this is what I was looking at for a loooong time:

My lovely pressing station

My cutting area is under that mess somewhere

And.  My stash.

Beautiful.  Isn't it?

Looking at the chaos for many months got on my nerves.  I finally got fed up and got to work over the Memorial Day weekend a few weeks ago.  I unloaded the room to every available space upstairs.

the hallway.  Like how I store my quilt tops over the bannister?  

My bedroom.  This is 2 bins deep.

 

What I had to paint around - minus the chair

My husband is a trooper.  He had to work around the chaos in the house for 2 weeks. He's a good man.  There are still a few stragglers hanging out in my bedroom and I will deal with them this weekend.  For the most part, my room is back together again.  And ahhhhhhhh.  So.  Much.  Better.

You can't really tell but the walls were originally a sage green.  Color was nice for Amelia's nursery but the paint job was 8 years old and looking tired.  I went with an aqua color named "Sprinkle" by Valspar.   Pretty! 

The cutting area.  I can SEE it again!  LOL.  I made myself a new window valance using some Scrumptious yardage by Bonnie and Camille.

Another view

Another DIY I did was a framed chalkboard.  I found the frame at Hobby Lobby but it was black.  I was going to leave it as is but I had some fun with it.  I found some removable vinyl, punched some polka dots and had a spray paint party.  Instead of using chalkboard paint, I found chalkboard Con-Tact paper out on Amazon.  Only thing was that it wasn't wide enough for the frame.  In comes some ribbon and double stick tape.  Amelia practiced some of her cursive before it was it was hung on the wall and I kept it.  I added my Summer "to do" list to it.  I doubt I will get to it all but I'm going to try!

My cleaning pressing area.  Bags are now on hooks behind the door

Another view

My stash.  All cleaned up

New lighting.  Much needed!

There you go.  My improved sewing room. I love being in there now.

I have some project starts to show you but I'm running out of time today.  I need to earn my paycheck now.  

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)