Some quilty progress

Hello Everyone,

I hope your Summer (winter) is going well. It's been beautiful here. Highs haven't gotten out of the 80s! Which is just soooo nice, as usually we are roasting by now. I see that our temps are going to go up this week though, so I guess our hot summer has begun.

I've been working on getting my Phires Compass top quilted up. I tell myself every year "this is the year to get lots of quilting done" and it just doesn't happen. This is my second quilt this year that I am quilting, but I have 3 more in progress of being made, and I have added at least 2 more tops to my 'to quilt' pile. I'll never see the end of that pile at this rate ;)  

Looking at the link for this quilt, I realized I never showed you a finished top...hmm, I'll make sure to take pictures once the top is quilted :) But here you can see the progress I am making on quilting it.

I'm doing lots of flowers, leaves, swirls and loops. I have done a few new-to-me loopy designs that I got from Lori Kennedy. I have her first book, and I really like it. I follower her blog too and have learned many different quilting motifs. I'm practicing lots on this quilt, which is the best way to practice for me. on a quilt top ;)

I have these two lovely piles of scrappy goodness, waiting to be put into a  quilt top. These are the Irish stars and chain blocks.

I'll be putting these together soon.

Have a great day! Stay cool... or warm...

Spider web mug rug

Hello Everyone,

I've been busy in my sewing room lately. After putting the first border and part of the second border on Phires Compass, I set that aside to play with some Halloween fabric.

My BFF online quilty buddy, Pat at Life in the Scrapatch, made this fun spider web mat a few years ago.

She has all the instructions here for you, and there is still plenty of time to make it this year.

I have been wanting to make it, but I don't do a lot of decorating for Halloween. This year though, I thought it would make a fun mug rug for a friend. So I mini-ized it! It finishes at about 11" from point to point.

Mine is not nearly as good looking as Pat's. But I think it still turned out pretty cute.

I embroidered the little spider in the middle.

I've also been making Bear Paw blocks. Twenty of them for a swap and a few for me to keep.

These are about done, then I can get back to Phire's Compass.

I've been enjoying the lovely Fall weather we were having.  The temps have gone back up again for a bit, I  can't wait for the first rain!

Phire's Compass

Hello All,

Friday was one of those days that I just needed to grab a pattern, some pretty fabrics and start cutting. One of those times where I didn't want to think, just to cut and sew.... Unfortantley I could not do anything about it until Sat.

So on Sat I pulled out my Phires Compass pattern. That I was so thrilled to test!! It is a pattern that Jessica J.E. Smith designed for Northcott fabrics back in 2010. I looked on the Northcott site and found it in the archived patterns. I don't know if you can still buy it anywhere. This is the one I made back then.

BUT, Jess changed it a bit and made it into a mystery quilt. You CAN find that pattern, here under Phires Radiance. It has the same middle, but different borders.

SO, anyways, I pulled fabrics... I have enough of the red and green for the middle, but will have to buy similar fabics to do the border.

I love to play with pretty fabrics :) 

     You have to be very careful when you play with diamond shapes, as like triangles, they are very  stretchy and can easily be taken out of shape. You PRESS, never iron, the sawing motion will distort   them.

I'll show you more soon! I'm excited about using these fabrics in this pattern. It's such a cool pattern!

A slow week in the sewing room

Hello Everyone,

It's been a gorgeous week weather wise here. Mostly in the 70s or low 80s during the day, and a bit chilly at night. We get a nice wind most nights, and I've had to shut the window a few nights in a row, as it was just a bit too chilly. That means Fall is almost upon us, yah! I love the crisp, cool Fall days and chilly nights. I'm totally ready for some heavier foods too...soups and stews, beans and roasts.... mmmm!

But about that sewing room...

My little guy has lots of ouchy gums where teeth are trying to come in. Which means sleepless nights and clingy days. I'm not complaining, just explaining ;) He's also deciding that he only needs ONE nap a day... come on Mom, why do I need two?? LOL. Geesh.

I realized that I didn't show you the finished red/black/white mystery top I was working on a few weeks ago. Here it is. The Someday Pattern by Jessica JE Smith.

Sooo, I am still working on the mystery quilt from last weekend. I had some problems with a few of the blocks. Totally MY error, not the patterns. If you are interested in seeing what the quilt top looks like, you can go to Jess's face book page here. But if you don't want to see what it looks like yet...then don't go look ;) lol

Have a great night ya'all.

ALYOF....August goals

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the HO, Ho, Ho blog hop over at Sew We Quilt. There is lots of cute, lovely projects.

I can't believe it's August already! Just 4 short months till Christmas and a new year. WOW!

This month I want to finish this pattern, it's called Someday and you can find in Jess's store.

It was a mystery pattern last year and I never got it finished. Here are my pieces, mostly ready to sew together.

I think it will look great in these colors.

Linking up with Shanna and Melissa again, thank you Girls!

Have a great day!