Two patterns in Quilt Pattern Magazines

I am so excited!!!!!!  I checked online and The Quilt Pattern Magazine has the June issue out.  As you all know it is one of my FAVORITE magazines and like a lot of their patterns.  I have done test patterns for them before and, as many of you know, I can't show pictures of it or talk about it until they are published in the magazine.  June has TWO patterns in it that I tested and they put pictures of my work in it.  Silly me....but I do love to see that.

Soooo, now I can talk about it.

The first is called Moonshine Serenade.  This is different from what I would normally have done but when I saw the pattern I knew I had JUST the right fabric for it.  Gasp!  I didn't have to buy much in order to do it.  Wait...could that be called...DECREASING my stash?  So that's what it feels like.

Anyway, here is the picture of it.  I put it up in my office and I think it looks pretty good there.

It's a little hard to see but the background is a black/grey star pattern.  The lake and first border is a very light grey on grey and the second border is a green.  The green border brings out the green stitching for shrubs and grass as well as the buds on the tree.  The embroidery was all hand done.  The brown area around the frozen lake reminds me of pebbles and stones.  I know...It's hard to see in the picture.

The other pattern that I tested is called Painted Hearts.  It's more like what I normally do but it was the first table runner that I ever did.  I like it.

Well that's it.  Once again you should check out The Quilt Pattern Magazine.  It costs very little for a year subscription ($14.99 US) and it's packed with great patterns and articles.

http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com/subscribe.html

Jonique has her wall hanging

I gave Jonique her NIU wall hanging today.  From her expression I think she likes it.

What have I done?  I'm in the middle of working on a wool candle mat.  This is the first time I've worked with wool.  I kind of like it.  The snowman BOM is wool on cotton squares and I wanted to try something else first to see how it would be.  I still have to put the back on it and then it (the candle mat) will be done.

I decided that I needed  to have a patriotic mug rug for the 4th so on Memorial Day I made one.  It started out different than it finished at but I can live with it.

Speaking of Patriotic things.  Rose Hall from Custom Quilts has an applique block of the month.  I've talked about it before and one of the months I received flags and stars.  For only $5 a month you get a nice assortment of precise cuts all ready with the fusibles on the back.  I dug out the one with stars and flags and fused it to some white material.  I will probably turn it into a mug rug.  A funny coincident is that the white stars are of the same material that I am using for the background. 

Have a great day.

Nice Day for a walk

I decided to start to walk a little farther today and managed to get partly to the lagoon.  I think I found the missing geese/ducks that my friend Heather from Canada says she is missing.  Forgive the quality of the pictures.  I was trying out something new and it doesn't take as nice as pictures as my camera so will go back to that.  So here is today's view on my walk.

They were hungry and didn't move much as I walked past them.

Another set of them.  There was a lot out today.  perhaps it was a field trip.  :)

Was it something I said or are you just camera shy.

This little guy wasn't shy.  He hurried right up to me and almost ran me over!

It's a lovely day for a swim....if you're a duck!

In the middle of the lagoon.  I love to watch the water fountains.

The next generation getting lessons on how to get food.

I will have to take pictures tomorrow of Jonique getting her wall hanging.  I also have to post some little mug rugs that I am working on and finished over the weekend.  That will be tomorrow so stop back.

Now it's time to figure out what *I'm* going to have for dinner.   Hmmm.  No not duck or goose.  Chicken maybe?

It's Finished!

I finished it!  Yes!!!!!  Finally.  What am I talking about?  The t-shirt quilt.  I will give it to my GA on Wednesday.

The front

The Back - the color is a little off but it is red with black paw prints.

Now what do I work on next.  So many projects so little time.  LOL.

progress!

I have almost finished the t-shirt wall hanging.  I have to do the label but couldn't finish it today since AI forgot to prewash the black fabric.  Don't trust dark colors enough to use them in larger pieces unless I prewash it first.  I wraped the back to the front for the binding.  The second picture shows the back a little better.  See what I mean by cutting off letters?  Oh well, I know she'll like it anyway and she did give me the t-shirts to use.

the back and binding.  It's more red than what this picture shows.

I went to JoAnne's also this morning.  There were three colors in one of the wool kits that I needed to match up floss with.  Finally managed it this morning.  I think I'll like this color match.  Wouldn't you know it...I found other things while I was there.  LOL.  I will show you what I am going to use the blue swirls and the white on white bubble fabric for soon.  I'm thinking some mug rugs.  The other white on white I think I will be using for the Inspired by Tradition blocks.  Then, I found the cute little cutter which I had to have.  So special reason but it's a gadget.  Then my wondering eyes located on the Dresden template.  Oops.  How did that get into my cart.  Oh well.  Might as well take it now...right?

Well this break is over with.  Time to plan on the next while the black fabric for the label is drying.

Memorial Day Weekend

It's not quite the weekend yet but I'm getting started on it by going to the credit union to get out some money.  I might try and grill out if the weather cooperates but now I have to see what I want to grill.  Grilling would take away stitching time so I'm not sure I want to do that either.  Decisions...decisions.

On the way to the credit union, I found my feathered friends were also enjoying the beautiful weather.

Looks like I scared one of them off

Back to work everybody.  I'll take more pictures throughout the weekend on any progress I make.  :)  Enjoy the holiday, enjoy the weather, and enjoy life.  Stay safe.

New Project in mind...

I met up with my friend Connie for lunch today and, as usual, we talked about quilts.  It turns out that we both have Inspired by Tradition by Kay Mackenzie.  Connie decided that she would do a wall hanging based off of some of the blocks in that book and it sounded like a good idea.  My Baltimore Album BOM that I was working on got nixed when the person in charge of it got flooded out and lost her information and computer.  This will replace that but I might, eventually, get back to doing them.  Perhaps I should put it on an official UFO list and work on it.

At lunch I picked out my blocks and figured out how I think I will like them.  The book comes with a bonus CD which has the 50 applique blocks in 5 different sizes so I don't have to wrack my brain trying to figure out how to enlarge or decrease a pattern.  Here is what I thought I'd do.

I'm not sure if I'll do sashings or not but have time to figure it out.  These are the colors shown in the book.  I'm not sure yet what fabrics I will be using.  More on that later.

I also bought a couple more mug rug patterns.  These are from Klee2Strongs on Craftsy.  I love her mug rugs.  They are reasonably priced for around $2.  What's not to love? 

That's it for now.  I'll chat with you all another day.

Quilts for OK

As many of you have heard, Oklahoma was hit hard with tornadoes.  As always, the quilting community has come together to see what they can do.  My Facebook quilting group as made arrangements for donations to be sent and then in my morning emails from my  Yahoo Quilting Group (CyberQuilters) there was another announcement.  For those of you interested, here is the link:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/05/quilts-for-oklahoma.html

That is all for now.  I have to get back to work...and dream about doing some quilting or embroidery.

Late Mother's Day present

Breakfast with mom again this morning.  She was in a great mood and I like to think I was partly the cause.  I had forgotten to bring the mini wall hanging that I was going to give her for Mothers Day ON Mother's Day.  I remembered this time.

I think that it looks pretty good under the pink flower on the wall and the two embroidered mini's that I had done last year for her.  This was one of the test patterns that I had done for The Quilt Pattern Magazine.  The designer is Nancy Richoux and it's approximately 17 x 19 inches.  It was totally fun to work on.

Attraction - Shadow Theatre Group

Some of you might not be able to see youtube or might have seen this group perform on Britain's Got Talent but I loved their routine and thought I'd share the link with you.

http://youtu.be/UvvkJrKKYF8

It's a great example of what a Shadow Theatre can do.

It's a beautiful Day at NIU

It's a beautiful day here at Northern Illinois University (NIU).  The sun is shining and it was around 75F for my walk to the credit union at break time.   Of course I decided to take some pictures as I took my stroll.

Enjoy the pictures.

I wasn't the only one out for a stroll and stopping to get something to eat.  In my case it was a side salad from McD's and a small coke zero which was almost gone (the soda not the salad) by the time I got back to the office.

I love seeing the different colors in the summer!

I also love to see ivy growing on the buildings although it isn't good for them.  This building even has it labelled "science building" from earlier times.  I would have hoped that the students would know which building it was and it wasn't necessary to "label it".  :)

I liked this picture too much to throw it away even if it has a smudge on one corner of it.  The fountains are always nice to sit around in the summertime and they have tables and benches also there.

This is a nice view for people to see when they walk from the visitors parking lot and head towards Zulauf Hall (where a lot of Liberal Arts and Sciences Offices are located).

That's it for this trip.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Happy Mother's Day 2013

I'm not sure how much crafting I'll get in today but I do want to wish everybody a Happy Mother's Day and, of course, post new pictures of mom.  Since she is 93, I try to get up to date pictures as often as I can.

I took pictures in mom's room this morning.  It was just my brother Kerm, mom, and I.  That's all that's left of our family now.  Of course she would say it is sad but you always save the best til last.  Must be why she is still around.  So, without further ado.....here is mom and my family.

These first two pictures aren't very good (never claimed to be a photographer) but it will give you an idea of what I gave her for Mother's Day as well as what she does with everything.  LOL.  If you look on the window sills, both top and bottom, you'll see little flower pots.  These flower pots have a flower and one or two bugs on them.  In the ones which have two bugs (butterflies, ladybugs, and bumble bees) the bugs move up and down when the sun strikes them.  They run on solar power.  The single bug ones run the same.  She looks at them quite often and smiles thinking that the leaves are waving to her all the time.  Plus the staff always make sure to comment on it so that too makes her happy.  She was so happy that I managed to find four more of them for her upper window sills that we had to open up the packages right away and put them in the window.  Even the biscuits and gravy had to take a back seat to them.

Kerm gave mom some money which made her very happy and a little small balloon which she is holding in this picture.

Mom also insisted that I take a picture of Kerm and I, separately, so she could have it.  Kerm and I both hate pictures taken of us but it IS Mother's Day and we caved in.  Behind Kerm you see the bulletin board of mom's roommate.  She was out in the hall waiting for her family to show up.  I thought I'd better clear that up since Kerm IS getting older you know (grins).

Kerm got even with me though because soon it was his turn to take a picture of me.  Of course he didn't wait for me to untie my hair so all of it is in back and I totally hate seeing my hair like this.  What's a sister to do.

Last week mom also bought a large ummmm....stuffed duck?  Chicken?  Toy?  So I had to take a picture of her with it.  She loves to touch it since it feels very soft.

She then insisted that I took a picture of Kerm holding the chicken...or was I the one who insisted.  Personally I think it is a MUCH better picture of Kerm (giggles).

Another thing that I brought mom was her beloved McDonald's Hot Picante Sauce.  Here she is putting them away.  The cup that you see is the SECOND cup full of them and she also has two quart size baggies of them stashed away.  She didn't think she had any more in her stash but I found them today.  She lit up brighter than a Christmas Tree so she says she will celebrate today and have THREE at all meals.  That is what she prefers to have with her meals.  She sometimes wonders why I tell her I think she has burned out her taste buds.

I hope everybody has a good day and if you are a Mother, may it be even more special.

Help me choose...

I am getting ready to start a couple of new projects and need your help with one of them.  I can't make up my mind on which one I want to start.  Yes, I know that it is up to me, but I would like your opinions.  Sooooo, vote for one of the 4 patterns. I narrowed it down to these four.  I don't want one that looks too crowded.  One says for wool but I"ll probably just do it in cotton.  Not sure yet.  I have signed up for a wool project but more on that later.  Where was I?  Oh yes.  My sewing machine works best with under 36".  I do have a friend who does Long Arm quilting though so could pay her to finish anything larger.  Here is some information about the patterns.

Number 1 - Savannah's Pride by Lori Smith of From my heart o your hands.    Finished Size is 34" x 34".  The finished blocks are 7" x 7".

 

Number 2 - Fit to Frame:  Pattern Thirteen by Lori Smith of From my heart o your hands.  Finished size is 18" x 24" with the finished blocks being 5" x 5".

Number 3 - Lydia's Pride by Lori Smith of From my heart o your hands..  Finished Size 29 1/2" x 29 1/2".   Applique blocks finish at 6 1/2" x 6 1/2".

Number 4 - Amelia's Garden by Lori Smith of From my heart o your hands.  Finished size 31 1/2" x 31 1/2".  Finished block is 7 1/2" x 7 1/2".

Yes they are all by Lori Smith of From my heart o your hands.  I was at Acorn Quilts and they had a sale on a lot of patterns and found myself stocking up.  These I've collected over the past couple of years (and more).

Now for the other pattern.  I just signed up for this BOM from a semi local quilt shop.  It is called Warm Winter Blessings.  It will finish around 54" x 63" (If I don't change the pattern).  :)  This one I will have to send to Shelley to quilt I think.  Did you read that Shelley?

Summer is coming!

I had to walk to the credit union this morning and I couldn't help but notice that summer is definitely coming soon.  The temperatures are up in the 70s more and more each week and they turned on the fountains.  Of course by the time I ran my errand and got back to the office, I was sweating but it sure was enjoyable while I was outside.

Sooo, to celebrate the end of winter (hopefully) I noticed a pair of scissors at Walmart that was only $3.  They have spongy handles  with a sharp point.  I'm not expecting them to be "great" scissors but I can always use another pair of scissors.

May Day Part 2

So where was I? .....

Oh yes.  I had finished the mini BOM which reminded me to go and look at my other Blocks of the Month (BOM) and see what I needed to save.  I'm not doing all of them this month/year but I'm trying to collect them so I have them on file.  I think I'm pretty much caught up on the patterns now so that is good.

Speaking of patterns.  I went onto Craftsy and downloaded about 7 mug rug patterns.  I think I will be making them.  Check out Craftsy.  These mug rugs were around $2 and one even came with a table runner that matched it.  Here are a couple of them.  These pictures don't do them justice because I was taking them from the computer. You'll get the idea though.

I love the silhouette ones.  They are a little different then the normal ones I usually see.

I think that I do the patriotic one first since Memorial Day is this month and the 4th of July is right around the corner.  I do need to catch up on some other projects including some of the bucket list from my yahoo group.  I figured out how to do the Hawaiian quilting block so picked out my pattern, my fabric and it is based.  I'm not going to needleturn it this time.  It will take long enough with just doing buttonhole.  I hope to make blocks from the bucket list and then put it all together at the end.  Wish me luck.

I got tired of my thread catching on the pins so I basted it instead.  I think it will work a lot better.

That's about it.  I received a great yearly evaluation from my boss.  I also got some lovely flowers for Administrative Day.  It's been a week now and they are still doing well.  I split up my big bouquet and gave a small one to mom and I kept another small vase for me in the office.

What I gave mom

The one that I kept for my office.

  

Time to sign off for a bit.  I hope everybody is having a great day/evening.