Flight of the Butterfly

Way, way back in January I sent this beauty to my Husband's newest Goddaughter.

Forgive the pictures, I realized that I only took cellphone pictures. =/

Her Mama loves butterflies so this soft yellow and purple chevron quilt with butterflies and hearts seamed like a perfect fit.

I used Crazy Mom Quilts zig zag pattern that has NO, I repeat NO triangles in it. It's done with strip piecing and squares. Easy, peasy!!
This quilt is assembled from the top right corner to the bottom left hand corner.
I quilted this just in the yellow stripes with a loopy heart stipple pattern. It just reminded me of butterflies flying in the sky. 

Having technical problems, I couldn't get the photo to turn right side up. It shows up right side up in my pictures but when I transfer it, it looks like this. It's turning into that kind of day.

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews

Cornhole anyone?

This past weekend was my husband's 15 year class reunion. We were on the committee for this go around.  I was commissioned to make a last place "prize" for the reunion cornhole tournament. I don't know if cornhole is as popular everywhere as it is around here, but it's the go to game for a casual get together in my neck of the woods.

They were well received and one of our close friends ended up with the last place prize. It was a great night of chatting with people that we only see once in awhile, basically at the last class reunion. Ha!

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews

Sock Inspiration?

Yup, my daughter's socks are my latest inspiration for color combos in a quilt. The things you think of while doing laundry. I can't wait to go find fabrics in two weeks at a shop hop for that quilt. If I buy the fabric, the quilt will come right? lol

Okay, this is a horrible picture, but trust me, in person the colors are great together. Aqua, lime green, pink, purple and yellow.

Where have you found strange inspiration for a sewing project?

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews (and does laundry)

Butterfly treats

This has nothing to do with sewing, but it is crafty! My oldest crazy thing had a birthday recently and wanted to bring in a treat for the class. Okay, now what to bring....hmmm. I wanted something semi-healthy, she wanted something that tasted good and looked cute. Pinterest, my favorite time suck, I love you!

Twenty sets of clothes pins plus wiggly eyes; hot glued on (by Mommy, of course), pipe cleaners, grapes, fish snacks and baggies and we were set. I made her count out 10 grapes into each bag, the rest of us set up an assembly line to finish filling, closing and putting on the finishing steps. Many hands make big work go quickly.

Here is the finished project. Cute, right?

Twenty class treats, ready to go!

 

 Thanks for reading!

Just a Mom who Sews

Craftsy Class

I am a sucker for a sale and have had my eye on a couple of Craftsy classes that sound interesting. I signed up for one class, Start Free-Motion Quilting with Elizabeth Dackson.

I LOVED the class! She is a great teacher! The classes were broken up into bite size pieces, about 20 minutes apiece, with 9 classes total. I was able to watch several in one sitting, once the crazythings went to bed. You can ask questions, read others' questions as the videos plays. Start and stop at any point in any of the videos. The videos have this great 30 second replay button for when you just need to watch a part over a couple of times to get the technique down pat.

I can't wait for another sale so I can take Quilting BIG Projects on a small machine with Ann Peterson.

This was not in any way shape or form sponsored by Craftsy. Sometimes it's scary to pay for classes, especially online classes and you never know what you are going to get. So this is my way to give someone extra confidence in purchasing this class.

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews

Fall Sewing Retreat 2014

The second to last weekend in August was my stitchers club sleep in your own bed retreat. It was also the last weekend before school started and my town's annual festival. Busy, Busy, Busy to say the lest. 
I packed and packed Thursday night since I had taken the day off of work Friday to go to the three day retreat. I think I packed everything in my sewing room but the kitchen  sink! Three trips worth to and from the car Friday morning. Good thing I could park close to the door at the retreat. Friday morning I started on a friend's order for nurses' scrub caps. She let me pick the fabric and Loved my choices. I finished all four by noon. That was productive sewing! (Sorry for the low quality pictures, I only had my ipod camera on me at the retreat. And both of these projects were sent out/home to their owners that weekend.)

Side view of the caps. The are the kind with hair catchers.

 Front view of the caps

 



Then I switch to working on a gymnastics bag for my niece, who was watching my crazy things while I was sewing at retreat. It was a good thing I took it to the retreat, because I don't know if I would have gotten it done without the push from fellow retreaters. This bag looks great, but is not one I want to make again anytime soon. It took me the rest of Friday and most of Saturday. Now that being said, I had to take a time out to run some errands Saturday morning, because this is what happens when you stay near home for a retreat. :/

Three zippered pockets and four open pockets inside

 



After finally finishing up the bag, I started working on a attic window wall hanging. If it turns out great it will be somewhere in the main part of the house, not so great, it's home will be upstairs in the sewing room. I cut out all the "windows" and trim for around the windows. Sewed those pieces to together, then I realized my plan in my head was not going to work out. So I got to a stopping point and haven't gotten more fabric to fix my original idea. I'll post a picture once I get it done, but not in it's half of an idea state.

I also purchased a serger from another retreat participant. This purchased started from a conversation and ended with me buying her not used anymore serger. Win, win for everyone. Me, a serger in my price range and for her, freed space in her closet and money in her pocket. And my husband thought sewing retreats were just for sewing. lol Unfortunately, I haven't had time to play with it, since the retreat, but I finally did buy thread for it. That is a step in the right direction.

After attic window quilt set back and supper I made the hard decision to not come back for Sunday. It was parade day at the festival and my family acted like I might need to spend sometime with them over the weekend. I didn't want to start any big projects, so I decided to start cutting the quilt for my bed. I didn't get very far before it was time to pack everything up and head home.
I loved the camaraderie from my fellow sewers! Sharing ideas, projects, even mistakes! I can't wait for the one in February or show and tell at next (this) month's club meeting.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday!

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who sews

My 10 Quilty Little Secrets

I have seen many 10 Quilty Secret lists on the blogs that I follow. The original post started over at 13 Spools.

I thought that they sounded fun, so here are my ten Quilty Secrets in no particulate order:

I usually go off pattern at least once while following a pattern.

Poorly written directions is a huge pet peeve. Pictures are worth a thousand words!

I have a hard time imagining different fabrics with a quilt pattern. My upcoming quilt for my bed has a totally different fabric theme then the picture on the pattern. I would have never picked up the pattern without this fabric pairing.

The words, I'll take the rest of the bolt slips out of my mouth more then my checkbook would like.

I am not a huge fan of mini quilts or mug rugs.

I prefer to machine quilt my bindings to the top of the quilt and then hand stitch them to the back. It saves me a little time and I really like the look of the bindings this way.

Binding clips are my favorite tool of the moment. I have 10. This number will be increasing shorty. :)

I got my sewing room by kicking my husband out of his office area. It was a slow takeover, but I must say it's great having a whole room to be creative in.

Speaking of sewing room, it's a disaster! I am not kidding, not even a little.  :-/

I can't wrap my brain around how people are able to complete a quilt in a week. Week after week.

Well, that's my list. What's your Quilty Little Secrets?

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews