Something Old, Something New

I used to love taking Art at school!

When I was 17 years old, I took a stool and easel and sat in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal and 

painted this watercolor rendition.

My mother wanted me to get it framed, but I never did.

It sat in a cardboard tube for 45 years.

As we were staging our home, my husband came across the tube and asked me what it was.

I told him and continued on with what I was doing.

He gave me this framed painting for Mother's Day!

Priceless!!!

Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild

I went to my guild meeting on Saturday,

the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild.

I wanted to show you some of the quilts that the ladies made :)

This is just plain cute and very appropriate for Arizona!

I love this 3D looking baby quilt :)

My friend Nedra made this cute Elizabeth Hartman penguin quilt.

This quilt is stunning!

Nedra said she made it as a leaders and enders quilt this past year.

It's 4 little 1 1/2" squares, sewn together!

It must have been so time consuming.

I'm going to have a difficult time showing you my quilting projects, because all of my tools are packed up.

We had to stage our house to sell.

We are building a new home a half mile down the street :)

Sewology

Hi Everyone!

We moved to the Phoenix area last June, almost a year ago!

I joined the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild and have really been enjoying it, everyone's very friendly :)

I jumped right into the BOM 2018, Sewology.

Lindsey from Pen and Paper patterns designed it, she's in our guild.

I'm happy to announce that I finished the top!!!

One of my favorite processes of making a quilt, is choosing the fabric.

First I bought the background fabric at Quilter's Oasis in Mesa.

I studied the different background options 

and liked the rich look of dark gray.

I had a lot of catching up to do, but had seen this quilt on Instagram so many times and was really excited to make it myself!

I delved into my fabric stash and chose every one of these bold, vibrant colors.

The last step that I had to do to finish my top, was cut out, press and stitch the "button" letters onto the orange fabric.

I wish I had sewn my rotary cutter in another color besides yellow, but I'm still thrilled with the outcome.

My stash is a little lighter, but I still have a lot to work with!

(eye roll...)

Until next week friends, happy quilting!!!

Stellar Stars

I belong to the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild, and this year's block of the month is Stellar Stars

 by Cristy Fincher @ Purple Daisies Quilting.

It's really pretty and very modern looking!

My friend Nedra and I get together once a month 

to make the block together.

I'm grateful that she's able to help me because some of these blocks are beyond my skill level.

January was the Limelight block, it was very easy!

February was Friends Forever, it was a little difficult...

March was Fire Flower, it was still easy because it was pieced.

April was the Mississippi Star, it was pretty difficult, paper pieced.

These are my Simple Sue blocks, made them with

triangles on a roll, the best invention ever!

 Here are my Ohio Stars, I'm behind one.

They're also made with triangles on a roll which can be 

purchased at Fat Quarter Shop.

Finally, my Flying Geese Sashings.

Once you get going, they are so much fun to make!

They're paper pieced.

I really love paper piecing, I think it's relaxing... 

(that is if the method isn't too difficult!)

I still need to make 8 more!

I'm excited to show you more progress as the months go by :)

Tilda Easter Bunnies

Hi Everyone!

Amongst other things, I have been up to my ears 

making Tilda Easter Bunnies for my darling grandchildren.

I made 12 of them, including a cute boy bunny 

with shorts and a bow tie!

I packaged each bunny with love and chocolate.

Easter morning, the photos came from far and wide :)

They all came from the state of Utah.

Maisie and Ben, Jacob isn't in the photo.

Kylie, Neo and Izzy, who are living with us right now :)

Here they are, all dressed up fro church,

in front of my Paperdoll quilt.

Paisley, Riley, Reagan and Taylor :)

I made a "boy" bunny for Bridger, who's almost 14, but he's such a sweet young man, best brother to his 3 younger sisters, and such a good sport!

Kennedy loves that her bunny has pink polka dots because pink is her current favorite color.
She said she loves the vintage fabric :)

Charlotte loves that her bunny matches her bag.
I made the "bunny ears" bag about 5 years ago when I first got my new sewing machine and chose Charlotte's name to embroider.
5 years later, I gave her the bag, lol!

Lucy's favorite color is red, so I made her bunny's dress with red strawberries :)

They thanked me over and over!!!

Bridger, Kennedy, Lucy and Charlotte, in their Easter best!

The Tilda Easter Bunnies were fun to make.

Here's the link which includes all of Tilda's free patterns.

I really want to make her Kitschy Friend!

Here's a link to Tilda's beautiful fabric too.

Thanks for reading, I'm so thankful for Easter.

Boxy Tote

My friend Nedra and I decided to make 

the Boxy Tote by Penny Sturges.

I have a featherweight which will fit perfectly, and Nedra always wanted to make the Boxy tote.

The bag is great for carrying just about anything!

We took a very scenic drive to Payson, Arizona to visit 

the Copper Needle quilt shop.

We spent a long time (hours!) choosing the fabric 
we wanted for our totes.

We both decided on some Art Gallery fabric,

 and met the owner of the quilt shop, Gina!

Nedra is a modern quilt gal, I absolutely love the fabric she chose!

The white fabric is called "Hand Symbol".
I'm not sure what the names of her other fabrics are....

I think her color choices are perfect!!!

My Art Gallery fabric is called Modern Woodland Owls.

The pink is Vanessa Christenson's Ombre Confetti.

The yellow is Lighthearted by Ayumi Mills for Kokka fabrics.

Nedra gifted me with these cute metal adornments 

which really add a lot to the bag :)

I tried to make the machine quilting contrasting and interesting.

I used a yellow Spirit Animal Tula Pink print for the lining.

I wish I had used Vanessa's confetti for the side pockets too.

I have my eyes on you, lol!

My Singer Featherweight sewing machine 

fits in this boxy tote perfectly!

Too bad I don't have a photo to show you!!!

One shopping trip + two sew days + a lot of eating + tons of talking and laughing = two boxy totes and two happy girls!!!

Given a second chance, I would be able to sew the bag much quicker.

We had to read and reread the instructions, and it was a little confusion as to which fabric we had to use where...

I'm travelling to sew days in style now!

This is what the pattern looks like, just google it :)