Quilting FUN

This winter I have been able to make a little progress in my quilting studio. This is a baby boy quilt I gave it to a girlfriend who just had a bundle of joy.

 All I used is a little charm pack. I love the blue and brown together.

 I went to a quilting retreat in January and I ended up working on this project. Great big 25" star blocks, both of which I LOVE. The colors are yellow, brown, oranges, with a white background. I still have some work to do on the blocks, along with adding some sashing as well. When it's all finished it will be a queen size, and have a new home on my bed in the fall seasons.

 Miss Julia has always been interested in my quilting, but lately she has really been struck with the bug of wanting to make things herself. She also has a complete LOVE for fabric. After brainstorming with her we have decided that we will make some baby doll quilts to sell. With that money she wants to buy her own sewing machine (with protective guards) for her to sew along side me.

 She has been sitting on my lap doing the actual sewing herself while I control the speed and foot pedal. She giggles a lot, she asks me how she's doing, and then admires her work.

 We are having a lot of FUN and enjoying our time together.

 After several hours of sewing (yes she actually will sew with me for hours), this is what we came up with for our second quilt. We used some 5" squares to make this bright baby doll quilt. Now we need to sew the rows together!

 Julia and I also attended a quilt club meeting this week and scored some really great (free) fabric! This is just what I collected.....she had her own stash she collected. She came home flying high and ready to go back again next month.

When we finish a few more baby doll quilts we will be sure to post them here in case any of you are interested in supporting her sewing machine fund, and fabric accumulation habit.

Homestead Happenings...Projects Completed!

Amid running the kids to different camps, I have had the opportunity to finish up a few projects in June. Here is a little run down of the "Mama Happenings" and what I've been up to.

In our dinning room I was in need of new curtains to keep the HOT summer sun out. For the first year we lived here I had hung some burlap up and then tied it back with some binder twine. Although cute, it wasn't efficient and keeping any hot sun out of your eyes while eating supper. I sent Hubby in search of a curtain rod that would match the one we already had in the room....no luck! I persuaded him to let me try an "out of the box" idea I saw on Pinterest (LOVE PINTERST)! 

 Yep, it's pipe you pick up in he plumbing dept! I went with the black finish. This "rod" and all it's parts was HALF the price as an actual rod of this size. We are so happy with the look and the sturdy rod that I think we are changing out our other one in the room! I was having trouble finding a curtain that was simple with a little primitive feel. So I bought some fabric at a local quilt store and went to work. Then I edged with some fabric I got a garage sale earlier in the summer.

At the beginning of the spring I made a list of things I'd like to find at garage sales this year. One of the things on my list was a chair that I could use in the corner of our dinning room. I was more than trilled when I found this little gem for $5! I had a friend fix a couple things and that cost me $20. I am more than thrilled with my $25 investment!

 I got a call from Aunt Cindy who had some currants she wasn't going to use, and she was generous to let me take them off her hands. Aren't they such a gorgeous shade of red?

 Julia thought is was important to snap a picture of mommy while I was picking.

 I had never made jelly before (only freezer jam) so I was not to sure how this adventure would turn out. You never know till you try it though.....I was excited when we gave it a taste test! AWESOME! Not to mention that it looks just lovely in the jelly jars........ahhhhhhhhhh

 I also completed a t-shirt quilt from the boys' old soccer shirts. I have had the top done for a while but hadn't finished it. So I took the plunge...machine quilted it myself, then bound it! I'm happy with how it turned out. and I backed it with camo...in true BOY style. I've also been collecting vacation bible school shirts for a few years as well.....I plan to make a quilt from those as well.

 I think it's great I even found this soccer fabric on clearance at a quilt store this winter!

That's the fun I've been up to this past month. Now we are gearing up for the 4-H fair! So hang on to your hats it about to get CRAZY for the next two weeks! (Did I mention our sweet corn is also ready.....ahem....ya CRAZY! Not sure where we will fit that in!)

I'm linking to The Homestead Revival Barn Hop...check it out here!

Julia's FIRST QUILT & Her FIFTH B-DAY!

On Monday, Julia celebrated her 5th Birthday.....I can't believe my little baby girl is FIVE already!

 She loves to kick back with a good book, loves the outdoors,  and help mommy in the garden.

 He loves to create things: We bought her a little bead kit on clearance the other day and she went to town. She made a couple of bracelets, and a necklace...she was in a creativity zone!

 She made one bracelet with her name on it, one that said "CAT" and her necklace was "Hello Kitty".

 Julia shares her birthday week with two other members of our family. We enjoyed some strawberry angel food cake

 Though there may be a large range in ages...we all have fun celebrating together.

Julia, Grandpa Cormany, Aunt Janelle

 Speaking of being creative, Julia designed her first quilt this past winter! She picked out the print fabric and I had a package of pastel fabric squares. She laid out the whole design all by herself. Then she would with sit on my lap, then put her hands on top of my hands and help me sew it together. If she wasn't sewing with me she was handing me the next row of squares to sew together. She is very proud of her first quilt....not to mention her mommy is so happy to have her enjoy quilting!

 After making the top, we sent if off to our long arm quilter. She used to this rainbow like design to help soften all the squares. She also used lime green thread to quilt it (I would have never thought of using that color, but I love it! So i decided to bind it with lime green fabric I already had on hand.

 I really love this bright, but not overwhelmingly bright fabric Julia picked out.

 On her special "party day" she wanted chocolate cake, chocolate icing with sprinkles on top, served chocolate ice cream!

 Guess how thrilled she was when she got pink glitter fingernail polish? Yep, she is girly!

 Dont' let all the girly-ness fool you, she loves to be dirty and exploring with her brothers!

My FIRST Quilting Retreat!

Last Friday morning, my mother-in-law Jody & I hit the road and headed to Shipshewana for my first quilting retreat experience. Two days of NO cooking, NO cleaning, NO responsibility for anyone except myself.....no you understand why anyone would be crazy not to sign up :) The retreat was held at the beautiful Farmstead INN. With the gorgeous snow falling outside we set up shop and went to sewing.

In case you've never heard of not been to a retreat this is how is goes down. You pack up what seems like your entire sewing room, including all your tools, sewing machine, fabric, patterns, books. Yes it will look like your entire family is coming along with you because you have at the very least THREE large bags, along with your machine and other stuff! 

Then you arrive to your own 8ft table....and it looks a little something like this.

 There were 44 women who attended the retreat this year. I was the youngest who attended by about 20-25 years, but I certainly was the last one to care about that. There is so much advice and wisdom to soak up from these women, it was a complete joy to be there with them all!
Our first day we began around 3pm and called it a night around 10:30ish. This is what I accomplished!

 Cloth Napkins 

Baby Boy Quilt 

 This is one of my new books...and a total favorite. My napkins, and baby quilt patterns came from this book. Also the fabric line I used for the baby quilt was "Pure" also made by the authors of this beautiful book! I'm in LOVE with everything these girls do...they rock! Be sure to check out their blog here! Then you can hop over to their Esty shop and buy the book or any other their other goodies. All weekend long women were picking up this book and gasping at all the cute stuff in it...then declaring they needed to get it :)

Saturday morning I awoke at 5am...to excited to get sewing again, and my mind swirling with what I was going to make. I didn't waste any time as was back at my machine around 730ish. I started off using the scraps that I had from my first quilt (above) I showed you and whipping up this lovely little boys quilt as well! I LOVED that "Pure" fabric so much I hated to waste any of it. I do have to add one more dark boarder to the outside of this yet, but I'm thrilled!

The scraps make up the middle part then I had some more charms (5" squares) around the outside.

I was able to share with all the ladies my OBSESSION, LOVE, NEED for pre-cuts. Many of them had never used them....Ohhhhhhh girls! I think I convinced many of them to get on board when you want some instant gratification (or you want to save your arms and back from all that cutting) pre-cuts are the way to go. They keep teasing me about getting so much work done and they were still on their first project....but with pre-cuts it just makes things go so much faster!

As lunch time approached we took a field trip to the local quilt store....because that would just be crazy not to! We stopped for a quick lunch and the cafe nearby and this wonderful lady offered me a FREE pretzel. She has a buy one get one FREE button. I graciously accepted and shared it with my mother-in-law......YUM! Then like any responsible blogger would do...we took a picture together!

Next stop...the quilt shop!!

 FABRIC!!

 BUTTONS!!!

 PRE-CUTS!!

 BOOKS!!! What more could you ask for? 

I walked out with nothing...now that is self control at it's finest :)

Looky what we found in the parking lot? A twin to my van...

My partners in crime for the weekend...I'm also in sewing bee with these lovely ladies plus a few others.

 My precious mother in law...love her! She's the one who got me started with my love of fabric, quilting, and beautiful patterns.....

 Cheryl...we teased her all weekend about her OCD and need to organize constantly. She was suppose to be doing a "random" scrappy pattern......hahaha

Cindy...ohhhh how we all LOVE her! She not only is super fun, but she is my long arm quilter! She does the most creative, wonderful, and gorgeous work on the long arm. She was also kind enough to show me a few things on my machine (again) to help me do some small machine quilting of my own.

The rest of my Saturday I worked on this stack of fabric...

I didn't get the quilt finished but did get 16 blocks sewn together and the top sewn together. I want to add more block plus a fun piano key boarder to it. So you'll have to wait to see the results in the weeks...or months to come.  

On Sunday morning we had "Show & Tell" with all the ladies! Here are few I captured....

 

 

 Wool Penny Rug (below)...just gorgeous!

 

 

 

 Isn't this darling! It was for her granddaughter Stella!

 Hand applique!

 This one was all flannel! Sooooo soft!

 

 

 These were hand towels my mother-in-law made!

 This is the twin bed quilt my mil also made this weekend!

Great weekend...Thanks to my sweet Hubby who was excited for me to go, watched all the kids the whole time I was gone, and gave me a fabulous back/neck massage when I got home!

I can't hardly wait till next year!!