Birthday Spending

My birthday was around Thanksgiving last year. One of the gifts I received  was a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop (which was on my list). "What took you so long?" - you might ask. Well, I become a little paralyzed when I receive gift certificates. Part of me wants to spend it right away and part of me wants to wait a little bit to see if any new fabric comes out. Anyone else feel that way?

Anyway, I did end up spending the gift certificate two weeks ago and got this package this week. Here's what I bought:

1) 4 yards of Bella Solid in Sand, 2) two pieces of Kate Spain fabrics, 3) a charm pack and a half yard of Paris Flea Market, 4) a charm pack each of Old Glory Gatherings and French General Favorites, 5 & 6) Blue Tavern Inn by Paula Barnes, 7) Jubilee pattern.

Making a little progress

Classes began again on January 7th.  My classes were scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday and Monday night I went to check what rooms I had to go to only to discover that my afternoon class had been moved to Wednesday morning at 9am. Now, keep in mind that I live nearly 3 hours away from campus and this would mean getting up at 4:30am Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday to get to my classes in time.  Luckily, I had an understanding professor and I only have to get up that early on Tuesday and Wednesday instead.  I still have a crap-load of reading and homework each week, though. It's taken a few weeks to develop a  routine... to be honest, I'm still working on it.

I did get caught up on my Memories of Provence BOM. Of course, the next round of block kits arrived the following day. But for a night I was caught up!

And I started to work on my February wall quilt. I honestly haven't made much more progress than where I was in this picture, but I have made some by stealing a half hour here and another there.  

I may (or may not) have this done in time for Valentine's Day, but it will be close.

Finally, there are apparently big plans in progress for my mom's 60th birthday. So when I'm not reading or taking notes in class... I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do for it since I won't be able to travel for her day (her birthday falls in the middle of April which is pretty much the worst time for me to get away).  I have a few ideas, but I'm not very thrilled with the plans yet.

Two Birthday Finishes

Last Thanksgiving (2011) was my family's year to gather together.  My niece was carrying around her other aunt's purse (also my sister - there are four sisters and two brothers). I asked her mom if she would want her own bag or purse to carry around.  MB said she'd rather have a quilt for her bed.  I've never made a quilt that was bigger than a baby blanket before so I told MB I would see what I could do.  That's when I started planning.

First, I knew that I would have to make one for her brother, too.  You know, it wouldn't be fair to make one kid a quilt and not the other.  Besides, his bday was first, but her quilt was WAY easier to plan.

Did you know that it is impossible to get Syracuse University fabric? Apparently,they do not license it which makes it terribly difficult to make a quilt for a young man who LOVES Syracuse basketball!  What's an aunt to do but get creative.  Last Christmas I kept an eye out for clearance t-shirts as I was also looking for the non-existent Syracuse fabric.  I found two so I snatched them up for $5 each.  Then the hubs and I were walking through a sporting goods store this summer and found a third.  Over the course of the last year, I gradually picked up fat quarters of basketball themed fabric to fill in.  I found a great flannel online that was sports-themed and basketballs were prominent.  That still left me wondering what to do about surrounding/framing the t-shirt panels.  I went to Hobby Lobby when they had a flannel sale, but was underwhelmed by the selection and the hubs said not to force it just because the nephew's bday was coming.  I ended up finding a GORGEOUS navy check flannel to use.  The final quilt is about 57"x 60" so I patched the back together with the sporting flannel, a strip of leftover squares, and then an 8" strip of the navy flannel.

Syracuse Quilt for HB1

Front

Back

As I said, her's was way easier to plan.  I went to the local quilt shop (LQS) and found the green kitty fabric.  Did I mention that my niece LOVES cats? Seriously.  The kid is crazy about 'em! So, I picked two complimentary colors, fussy-cut the kitties for the centers of the stars and added a white-on-white daisy print for the background.  Originally, I was just going to do a white border, but then I was going to do a checkboard along the top and bottom, but had enough leftover squares that I changed my mind and went all the way around and added a 4" white border around that.  Her backing is hot pink Minkee that matches the pink on the front and I bound it will a swirly pink flannel.  It was a total pain in the tush to quilt!!! I ripped out stitches three times last night before calling it quits for the night.  The Minkee, while incredibly soft, is also incredibly slippery and kept being brought through.  I finally got the tension and procedure right this afternoon and it took me 6 hours to quilt it.

Kitty Quilt for HB2

Front

Back

I just love these quilts and I'm pretty proud of them.  I feel pretty sure the kids will love them, too. And that's all that really matters. :)

Birthdays and Provence

My birthday fell during the Thanksgiving break.  Given my final paper and exam schedule, I was able to take a little time to sew.  The hubs was very worried about the gift he bought me for my birthday.  He'd spent the majority of the allotted amount on this one item and he had a hard time coming to terms with it.  He kept saying that he hoped I liked it and I could return it if I wanted.  Needless to say, he wasn't instilling the utmost confident in the gift!

Anyway, I opened my gift first thing after breakfast (which the hubs made me!).  Imagine my surprise and supreme pleasure to find he had bought me this little baby!

It is so nice! I loved using it on my projects.  Speaking of projects, I finished the project I was working on in the last post.  I really like it and I believe the young man it is for will love it!  I'm hoping to put the borders on the companion piece and get that quilted on Thursday after I hand in my first final exam of the semester (I handed in two final papers last week).  If I can get the two mailed to their owners Friday, then I will post final pictures this weekend.

The other project I worked on was the Memories of Provence Block of the Month (BOM).  I first wrote about this in October, here.  I was able to find a quilt shop willing to allow me to join so late in the game.  Karylee at Quilt Sampler was awesome and mailed block one to me right away.  So, that's what I sewed on my birthday.

Isn't it gorgeous?? I love it just as much in person as I did in the pictures.

Mary's Tea Cozy

I sent her a trivet made from the same collection as well.  I hope she likes it! 

Happy belated birthday, Mare!

Another Tea Cozy

I've been away for far too long!  Last semester ended in a rush, then Christmas left as suddenly as it appeared and I was back in the classroom again. Holy moly... boy, did that go by quickly!  

Anyway, I promised pictures of the tea cozy I gave my middle sister for her birthday.  It took her forever to get to my parents, but she finally did and now I can show the gift! 

Nina had chosen this fabric collection so long ago, she'd forgotten about it.

I was cutting the insulated interior out with a little help.

I quilted around the center square and continued to spiral around beginning at 1/4" and moving outward.

I bound the edge with the same fabric I used to enlarge the panels.

And that was that.

Secret Projects and New Arrivals

It has suddenly become that time of year when I cannot talk blatantly about the projects I'm working on.  I finished a birthday gift for one of my sisters (I can post pictures next week after she receives it) and am now beginning to work on Christmas gifts.  It took me a while to figure out what projects to make this year, but I think I've got it.

I did place a small order with Fat Quarter Shop.  I had received a coupon for 20% off my next order and I had already started looking at patterns.   

My booty (plus kitty):

First up is this selection of Farm Fresh - a new line of baby fabrics.  I liked this one because it was gender neutral.  I have a few plans for the fabric.

The other fabric I bought was this Desired Things collection. 

For this pattern:

The original used a blue for the border, but with our bedroom walls a different kind of blue, I thought I'd go with a more neutral color for the border.  I'm looking forward to making this in the spring!

 Finally, I bought these patterns:

 They are mostly quilt patterns, but there's a bag pattern in there too.  I also signed up for the Miss Rosie's Quilt Company pattern club.  I love these patterns and keep buying individual ones, but this way they will automatically ship me the new patterns as they arrive for retail. 

This is the first time that I have bought pre-cut collections beyond charm packs - pretty exciting for me!  Have you bought pre-cuts before?  What did you think of them?  Were they more or less helpful?

New Tea Cozy

We're dealing with flooding from the Missouri River so I have put my machines in storage in case we need to evacuate.  But before I did that I finished this tea cozy for my sister's birthday.

My parents visited last week and Mom and I went shopping for quilting stuff.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of our loot (what was I thinking??), but I have a couple pictures post-washing.

We've been told to expect this flooding to stay for two months.  I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back to sewing/quilting again, but hope it will be soon.