Five Shadows

The newly weds are back from their honeymoon and settling into their new routine in married life.

Anna and Nathan

The Monday morning following the wedding, we had all our out of town guests, relatives and friends in for breakfast. Everyone had to hit the road soon after to catch flights or start their drive home. But during our breakfast we had exciting news shared! My son and daughter-in-law announced that they will be expecting their first baby in December! I’ll be a first time grandmother!

Luke and Kim

And, our nephew in for the wedding from the west coast also announced that he and his wife are expecting their first baby!

Right on the heals of my daughter Anna’s wedding, we geared up for my youngest daughter’s high school graduation.

My husband, John, and me with our daughter, Charis.

Sunday, June 22, we had an open house for our daughter. The rain held off for a beautiful celebration with yard games, family and friends, and of course good food!

And between all of this, I did manage to make a quilt for a demo this coming Saturday for Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe in Roanoke, IN.

This is Missouri Star Quilt Co. Periwinkle quilt using their templates and papers. It is a quick and easy quilt!

Then Monday evening hit. And I do mean hit. Some teen boys thought it would be fun to drive around our side of town and heave 5# rocks at oncoming traffic as they drove past. Three cars hit with the rocks going through the windshields. My daughter’s car was one of the cars hit just as she prepared to turn into our neighborhood. She was very shaken up, but Thank God, not hurt but covered in glass. One man was hit in the chest by the rock and sent to the hospital. I hope and pray these teens are apprehended. This is a felony! The policeman said her’s was the third report in about a 20 minute time frame and within a 2 mile radius.

Isn’t it just so sad that there are people around that would do such a thing? Today we all just tried to take a breather. It just so happened that daughter, husband and I all had off work today. I thought I’d get to some of my own personal sewing today, but ended up mostly talking with my daughter and reading. Hoping tomorrow brings back that sunshine we enjoyed on Sunday!

Just a little bit of playing with “Quilt As You Go” using Double Duty Runners Pattern by G. E. Designs. The “Quilt As You Go” technique will be a demo this Saturday at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shop, Roanoke, IN. Kits available for purchase.

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday

I’m late! For To Do Tuesday list, but here is what I have finished for next weeks Stitcher’s Garden Class held next Monday and Thursday at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shop, Roanoke, Indiana.

In this block we learn how to make and insert piping in our quilt blocks. The hot pink between the white background and the first border is a very thin piping. And the green between the orange and purple is a fusible piping. Here is a close up of the pink piping -

In the next block we learn how to use the Fringe or Tailor Tack presser foot.

The center of the flowers has fringe stitching. Here is a close up -

Kind of fun, isn’t it!?

Yes, I know it is Friday. But here is a late post to To-Do Tuesday.

Are you familiar with Buggy Barn books and patterns? I made this one years and years ago.

Deb Roehm, owner of Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shop, carries just about all of Buggy Barn’s books. Deb has ‘Til the Cows Come Home! from the book _Crazy Till the Cows Come Home_ made and displayed in the shop.

This Saturday, I’ll be demoing Buggy Barn’s construction method. I call it a funky mix between Stack n Whack and sort of traditional piecing. Their patterns are very well written, making them easy follow and construct. I’m using the Bramble Baskets pattern for the demo.

(images from Buggy Barn Website. I’ll update with personal photos soon.)

I’m linking to To-Do-Tuesday with Red’s Needles and Threads.

Last week I hoped to:

-continue working on client’s quilt  ✔ top finished and heading to the longarm quilter!

-work on Luke and Kim’s quilt, I should aim for 2 blocks a week (ugh, just not happening)

-piece a few more blocks of Whirled Peas (that did not happen either)

-tackle daughter’s closet ✔ A partial check, we made progress

-some fun stuff with daughter ✔ Yes! We shopped and found a prom dress and ate dinner out too – Sushi!

This week I’ll be happy to:

-finish up the demo mentioned above, with step outs

-visit Grace College with daughter

-continue the clean out of daughter’s closet

-add helping middle daughter with her fast approaching wedding of May 25! I see less quilting happening as the wedding date draws closer! I’m trying to be realistic here!

Update to include some photos, April 11th.

Just finished this table runner Wednesday. From Buggy Barn book _Still Crazy_.

… And a new-to-me tool. The Creative Grids Pineapple Trim Tool.

20 blocks made, border fabric, Pineapple Trim Tool.

I used Andover Fabric Line Kim’s Hand Dyes, filling them out with some dot fabrics for 14 colorful fabrics. I used Moda white muslin for the background and will use Moda Simple Marks for the border. The bright colorful fabrics make me happy!

I will be demoing this tool Saturday, March 1st at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shop, Roanoke, IN. Shop hours 10 -3.

Linking to Freemotion by the River Linky Tuesday

and to To-Do Tuesday Link up Here is my list for this week:

Finish and photo Pineapple Quilt

Work on client clothing quilt

Catch up with Building Block Quilt Along

Stitcher’s Garden Block No. 7. Twin needle stitching in background.

Stitcher’s Garden Block No. 8. More twin needle stitching in background and pintuck foot used in center of flower.

Close up of pintucks. I used two different colors of thread, and the lighter thread is showing up better.

Stitcher’s Garden using Batiks Classes at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shop, Roanoke, IN held the third Tuesday and third Thursday of each month.

Here is my first completed quilt for the new year. Toes In the Sand Pattern by Jaybird Quilts using the Hex N More Ruler. Love Julie’s ruler. Julie’s patterns are very well written with clear and easy to follow directions and diagrams. I was very happy that all the points in the blocks matched up so perfectly. The Hex N More Ruler is designed  including four shapes, each with four sizes, all in one ruler. The shapes are triangles, hexagons, half hexagons, and diamonds.

I used all Batiks for this quilt.

Close up of a few blocks.

I love the Moda Batik for the back, and also the All-In-One Flange Binding made with left overs from the pieced blocks.

This quilt is being offered as a Block of the Month at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shop in Roanoke, IN.

Autumn Breeze Table Runner, an original design. 4 – 12 inch off-set leaf blocks, Fairy Frost fabrics, fusible applique for the stems, free motion quilted with variegated thread, inside corner binding.

The Stitcher’s Garden Classes are well under way at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shop in Roanoke, IN. We have a once a month Thursday class with beginners. They are a joy to teach! It is so much fun to see them learn new-to-them techniques. The once a month Monday class has one beginner who is learning the techniques and always experimenting to tweak each lesson making them her own. The other 3 gals in the class are really there just for the fun of it and time to visit and sew in a group. We bounce ideas off of each other and discuss ways to change the quilt block using favorite techniques. We are using Batiks for all the blocks. Here are the blocks so far:

Block 2 – turned edge applique circles, fusible applique

Block 3 – circle attachment, also ‘poor man’s circles’ which means using an index card and thumb tack if you don’t own a circle attachment for your machine. Fusible applique.

Block 4a – couching, fusible applique

Block 4b – couching. I used DMC floss for the couching. Students used yarn and ribbons. Fusible applique.

Block 1 – previously shown in an earlier post. Snowball blocks and fusible applique.