Grandson's Birthday at Krispy Kreme

This was a first for me and lots of fun-----------youngest Grandson, Nathan held his 4th birthday party at Krispy Kreme Donut Shop. We had fun eating donuts and watching them being made---wow---- they make a lot of donuts at one time! Even the adults were impressed! Nathan even had a donut cake which was enjoyed by everyone. Everyone especially liked the ones with orange and black sprinkles.

Then, since it was my birthday, too I chose to eat at my favorite Mexican place, Chuy's----we had a great time there, too. The boys are troopers and acted like gentlemen.

Also, here's a picture of my latest barn block-----------this is a 6" one, so that tells you how little the blue and yellow quilt block is. In fact, Eleanor Burns' pattern was written so that you made two at one time and then told you to pick out the best one---------I thought that was such a great idea!!!!

Hope you are having great days where ever you are!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Quilt Barn Block One

Quilt In A Day Block Number One shown here from the book by Eleanor Burns called Quilt Blocks On American Barns. Her directions are so clear and nice. If you really follow step by step, you can turn out a nice block. Which I still ended up making a couple of mistakes, which tells you I overlooked a couple of steps--------oh, woe is me! But the block still turned out nice, I think!

Our weather has continued to be very nice, but every day they forecast rain and storms, and we don't get them, so I think our Indian Summer will be coming to an end soon! I will miss it! Even though I don't do much outside because of severe allergies, I still like to see the sun streaming in the windows and cheering everything up!

Hope things are sunny where you are!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Project Linus Foursome

"I get by with a little help from my friends" is my song today!!! Two people contributed quilt tops to the total of Project Linus quilts today. I quilted and bound them and they are now ready to go!

Sally made the first two and I named them "Sally's Striped Alphabet." Thanks Sally! They are great and nice and bright and cheery!!!

The next one called "Circus Peanuts" was made by my friend Jackie from the Tuesday Sit and Sew group. She didn't want PL to miss out on any quilts while I was laid up from my surgery, so she made this wonderful quilt!!! Thank you Jackie, you are a true blue friend!!!

The last one is one I made with a little kit from the LQS. I called it Candy Land because it reminded me a bit of the game of the same name!

With the help of my friends, that brings the total of quilts to 86 for the year. This might be another year that we break 100!!!! Wouldn't that be great?!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Two New Flimsys

The first quilt is called "Barbed Wire" and is from the book "Scrap Basket Surprise." That is the best book---I have made a lot of the quilts in there! This was made with all scraps from my stash. That made me feel good!!!! I liked the secondary pattern of the little pinwheels!

More fun with the AccuQuilt GO! I used the 8 1/2" Tumbler die and made a Tumbler quilt. It made the cutting of the blocks so precise and the corners were rounded off, too. This is the first Tumbler that I have made and I found that I liked it! I evened off the sides and put a border on.

This was all from scraps in my stash, too. You'd think my stash would be going down, but it's the same old story--it's fluffed up and looks like more!!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

AccuQuilt GO cuts a Rag Quilt

Cut strips of fabric 9 1/2" wide. This shows fabric ready to run through the AccuQuilt GO! Cutter. I placed 2 fabrics wrong sides together so that they would be ready to sew after they were cut.
Block cut out and ready to use (Two blocks wrong sides together) You can see the fringe.
Sewing an "X" on each square (2 squares wrong sides together)
Sewing a seam together. Seams are to the front and are 1". The fringe doesn't get in the way.

Three blocks sewn together. I made this quilt with 8 1/2" blocks and made it 6x7 blocks. It is about 37" x 44".

All fluffy after washing and ready to go to a child at Project Linus! The pattern for this quilt can be found here.

Again I want to thank Debi for giving me the AccuQuilt GO! machine that she won in the contest and so many dies-------------I'm having a ball with it. Next I plan to do a tumblers quilt. I have 120 tumblers cut out---I wonder how big that quilt will be??

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Quilt Barns With Quilt Blocks

I finished the Quilt Barns with Quilt Blocks that is a free BOM that is available until the 1st of November. Some of the quilt blocks were too much paper piecing for me, so I substituted my own ideas for blocks! It was a fun one to do! Barns have always interested me and I love to see them when driving in the country. The one square is so dark because I made that barn to look like a barn after dark----the sky material has a dark sky and stars and a crescent moon in it. It doesn't show up as well as the others.

I've been playing with my Accuquilt GO machine and have cut out quite a few different kinds of blocks. The rag quilt one is especially interesting because it cuts the fringe for you!!! How great is that! I took some pictures and when I get it all around and get the little quilt finished, I will post my first tutorial!!!

We had rain this morning and more expected this afternoon, so this is a great day to stay in and sew. Just have to be careful how long I stay on my mending foot!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Tiny Tote Bags

These are some tiny tote bags that I made for my grandkids just in time for Halloween. they weren't made with trick or treating in mind, but rather just for a little something from Grandma and Grandpa. They were lots of fun to make and you can find the directions here. You can make 4 small bags from 2 fat quarters. They are tiny, but oh, so cute! They are easy to make, too. I had a lot of fun with them!

I'm out of the boot now and walking carefully on my own! Feels so good! Have been back to Sit and Sew twice now and that feels wonderful! So much fun to see what everyone else is doing! I feel at loose ends here though---don't know what to start on next. Doing some odds and ends now. Will probably start on the Quilt Barns quilt by Eleanor Burns. I have all the fabric, so it's just a matter of starting in with the cutting.

I'm so excited about this truly wonderful thing that my BFF is doing for me----------------------she is giving me the AccuCut GO that she won in the contest that she entered on JulieK's blog----she says that I will use it more that she will----I'm getting it tomorrow. I am truly blessed to have a friend like that! For I know that I will really use it and I have wanted one for a long time. I am doing a truly happy, happy dance to say the least! Thank you, Debi!

She had it at the retreat and I used it to cut stars and hearts and tumblers and it was awesome! I had the most fun with it! It is a remarkable machine!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Wonderful Quilting Retreat!

What a great quilting retreat the DFW Gang had this last week-end! Even the weather was beautiful----fall has arrived and it couldn't be nicer outside! Five of us packed up and went to Quiltin' Gals retreat in Azle, Texas. The pictures show some of the quilts we made----we got a lot done and were very tired when we got home on Sunday night, But what a great time we had: lots of sewing and laughing and visiting and laughing and show and tell, and laughing. We even had time to go to a quilt store near there, Cabbage Rose-----that was having a sale-----made a serious dent in their sale that's for sure!!!! What fun that was! Went for lunch at Olive Garden, which was such a treat for all of us! All in all just a perfect week-end!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan