I Spy a Penelope Rose

I do love an I Spy quilt.  There are so many fun novelty prints out there. Penelope Rose would be here soon, and her quilting Gramma already had a bunch of quilts awaiting her arrival, so I decided a toddler sized I Spy quilt would be the perfect gift.  I dug into my bag of scrappy novelty prints and my Biscotti jars of strips, and made a plan.







  






























Even the simplest block works with interesting fabrics and bright colors.

















I had everything from kites and cows to ice cream cones, silly hippos, baby chicks, and lobsters. 

Even platform shoes!

A little meander quilting .....

..... a fun backing and a special customized label from Gramma.

Don't tell any of my 'Bama friends, but I threw in a few Auburn blocks for Mom and Dad.

I made it big enough so Penelope can use it for a long time.  

Gramma loves it.  Big sister Dallas isn't sure.

I think Penelope will love it.  As soon as she wakes up.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
Linking up with Tish's Adventures in Wonderland  
Linking up with So Scrappy    

Scrap Attack!

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict has put forth a Scrap Attack challenge for 2018.  Here's how it works.  I have chosen twelve scrap projects for the coming year, written them on slips of paper, and put the  strips in a little gift bag in my sewing room. At the beginning of each month I'll pull a slip from the bag and that will be my scrap goal for the month along with whatever else I'm working on at the time.

Here are my twelve.

1.  Make something using some of these 2.5" batik strips.

2.  Make a string quilt from my strings basket.

3.  Use up all the strings in these large containers, then recycle the containers. 

4.  Make at least one baby quilt from these Tom and Jerry prints.  (I cut out pajamas for my grandsons about 9 or 10 years ago and never made them!)

5.  Make at least one quilt from my overflowing supply of novelty prints.  (Yes, there are stacks behind the stacks!)

6.  Use these leftovers from Savannah and Sahara's baby quilts in a project.  (You can see their quilts HERE.)

7.  Use strips to make a quilt like this one on Carmen Geddes Quilts Facebook page.

8.  Make something with these fat quarters given to me by a friend.

9.  Cut up green scraps into squares.

10.  Cut up blue scraps into squares.

11.  Cut up pink scraps into squares.

12.  Cut up yellow scraps into squares.

All this is in addition to my plan to finish Josh's T-shirt quilt, finish Debbie's batik quilt, make Aaron a rag quilt, and make A.J. a black quilt.

Whew!  I think I should probably ask you to wish me luck. Looks like I'm going to need it!

I'm linking up with Sarah's Scrap Attack 2018.

Retreat Report

In spite of the issues I had prepping my projects for retreat, I got a lot of sewing done while I was there.  The I-Spy quilt went together well, and turned out so much better with the black corners than it would have the way I originally planned it when I cut it out.

 

Just look at some of these fun prints!

 

 

Half the fun of making an I-Spy quilt is working with such cute fabrics.  I have so many from a swap I was in a while back that I think I can make at least two more.    

Almost forgot the pigs on surfboards!

I was able to finish two other tops that week.  One is a kids' quilt for charity.  Someone else had made the blocks and I just put them together.  I think it's a pattern I might use again sometime. 

It's a basic block that looks really easy, but creates an interesting pattern. You could lay out the blocks several other ways to get different looks.    

I worked on two other projects.  One was a quilt I need to finish for a birthday coming up so I can only give you a peek for now.

The other one I'll write more about as soon as I gift it, but I'll give you a peek of that one too.

This was probably one of the most productive retreats I've ever been to, even with all the talking, laughing, and shopping.  I'm so glad I have such good quilty friends to spend time with at retreats.  I come home motivated and inspired.  I think I might get some sewing done this month!

Sew My Stash 2015

Not only is this going to be the year of finishing UFO's it is also going to be the year of using my stash.  I am joining the fun at Project: Leasa and planning to Sew My Stash this year.   (I think I need to start getting up earlier in the morning if I'm going to get all this sewing done.

First things first.  I have to show you my stash.  Gulp!  These are the cabinets in my sewing room in which I keep my stash.  Looks are deceiving, though, not every one of those cabinets has fabric in it.

I have quite a few batiks.

Actually, looks ARE deceiving.  There are two stacks on that shelf, the stack in the front and the stack in the back.

These are batiks too, just larger pieces.

The Black & Whites are normally in nice neat stacks but I have been digging through them lately, so they are just in a pile now.

I have an awful lot of novelty prints and brights.  Yes, stacks in front of stacks again.

Christmas prints and other holiday prints don't take up too much space.

Five shelves are organized by color and then there is a shelf for Asian prints, floral prints, and patriotic fabrics.

This shelf is just stacks and bundles I bought not knowing what I wanted to do with, so they just sit there ......... waiting.  I see a stack of backings I bought for baby quilts there, too.

This shelf is just ..... well ..... I'm not sure what.  Odds and ends, I guess.  There are some Loony Tunes fabrics, a few things I ordered from the Fat Quarter Shop and, Valentines fabric, super-hero stuff, and fabric from Uganda.  Yes, that's odds and ends, for sure.

These fabrics are sitting on my cutting table, pillowcase fabrics and solids.  I guess I ran out of space in the cabinets.

Now that I've taken all these photos, I realize I have a lot more stash than I thought.  Even if I pull a project once a month I won't make a dent in it. Maybe instead of getting up earlier I should figure out how to get by with no sleep at all.

Pillowcases

I have set a goal to make a pillowcase a week for charity, and since I decided to do that I am on track!  I showed you the stack of pillowcases that my fellow retreaters and I made for St. Louis Children's Hospital when I blogged about retreat in this post.   Today I was in a sewing mood so I made these --

You can see that I have a fun stash of novelty prints and brights, can't you? 

This evening I decided that I needed to clean up the mess I had made in the sewing room, but I got distracted and made these --

I use what is called "the sausage method" to make them which my friend Rilla taught me.  It's a very easy way to make pillowcases in a short amount of time, but it doesn't diminish their cuteness in any way!  

I Spy a Cute Quilt for Someone!

My great-nephews Phenyx and Kingston recently got new beds.  Big boy beds!  I noticed that one of them has been sleeping with his Gramma's Hubba Hubba Quilt, so I decided they need their own quilts and set out to make them this week.  I have lots of novelty prints left over from other kid quilts.  This is what's on the design wall so far...

This Over and Under Pattern by Paula Hughes looks complicated but it's really simple.  The prints are cut in 4.5" x 6.5" blocks.  Then a green 1.5" x 6.5" strip is sewn onto each side.  

Alternating the blocks results in a woven pattern.  Black sashing gives a really distinct look as seen in this Halloween quilt.  


I'm making one quilt in green and one in blue.

I can't wait to get these done so the boys can have their own quilts.  AND so their Gramma can have her Hubba Hubba quilt back!