A Before and After

My mother-in-law had an old ottoman that had seen better days, and she asked me if I wanted it. At first I said no.

 You can see why, can't you? And that isn't even the worse side. I had to do a little "taping therapy" on it, so that the holes wouldn't get any larger.
This is what I did with it. I used some really pretty fabric I bought from Ozark Fabrics by Hillbilly Tonya on Facebook. I didn't know what I would use it for when I bought it, but I found something worthy of it. *grin*

 As you can see, it is in front of a futon. Which is another new addition to my sewing room. When I get the wall above it like I want, I'll show you that before and after.

I quilted the top, and used elastic around the side seam and bottom. I killed two birds this way....gathering it and keeping it tight on the ottoman. It pulls underneath for a good fit. It didn't take long and I'm pretty happy with it.

Two Finishes...Yay Me!

In all the hubbub that's been my life, I carved out some time to do these two baby quilts for the NICU. The first one is just a jumble of fabrics I grabbed out of my stash and blocked with scraps. I didn't do a lot of quilting on it, just the seams and corner to corner in the large areas. It's pretty colorful and I like it even though it's simple. It's sort of an Eye Spy, so that's what I'll call it.

 The next one actually began with the backing. All those red polka dots and the little daisies inspired me to do something in pink and red.

I love all the hour glass/bow tie blocks in this one. And I took some extra backing and appliqued three of the daisies onto the front to give it a little bling. I named it Daisy Chain.

I learned something from binding this little number. Normally, I sew the binding on the front first, then fold it over and press to the back, stitching in the ditch from the front.  I decided to leave off the pressing this time to see what would happened. I sewed it onto the back first and just folded it over as I stitched along on the front. I have to say that I believe this is the best job of binding I've ever done. Yay Me!

I have several larger quilts just calling out to me. They say, "Quilt me! Quilt me! I've been sitting here for months waiting for you! Please choose me!" I really don't like to leave a lot of UFOs....BUT I have some other projects I want to start. Maybe I just need to keep two sewing machines up and going all the time. One for quilting and one for piecing. I bet some of you do just that, don't you?!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Well no, I didn't win a chicken dinner, but my Birds at the Window quilt won Viewer's Choice at  Lily Pad Quilting!!

That was so exciting!! I won two jelly rolls from Penny Cottons and I can't wait to pick them out!!

Last week I made a tee shirt dress for Princess Klaire. It was the first time I'd tried something like that and I think it turned out pretty. Only thing is,  I believe it's going to be too short to wear without leggings, so I suppose it's not a dress, but a top. *grin*

I have a baby quilt ready to bind, laying on my cutting table right now, but it will be a few days before I can finish it up and post. Monday my BFF Jan and I are going to a fabric store in Batesville, Arkansas to buy lots and lots of fabric!! Actually..... probably....lots of fabric, but maybe not lots and lots. It will be fun to just walk around and pet the lovely stuff, even if we don't buy anything!

Enjoy your Sabbath!!

Pets On Quilts!!

After posting about my finished birds, my good friend Sharon suggested I enter the Pets on Quilts Show at Lily Pad Quilting. I never thought about that!!
So, here is my entry in the category of Other Animal-Themed Project.

"Birds at the Window"

These birds are paper pieced, and from the book Backyard Birds by Jodie Davis.

Good luck to all the entries!

Done! Yay Me!!!

I finished binding my paper pieced bird throw and I'm tickled with the result!

I used a meandering stitch over most of it, but a little more detailed work on the birds themselves.

 My favorite two birds are the chickadee and goldfinch. I have always loved chickadees, and the finch just jumps out at me. I love the fabric combination.

So, Yay Me!! Now to try moving on to getting other UFOs quilted...

Some Finishes

I've been spending most of the summer with the grandchildren and doing summertime things, but I finally have some finished projects.

These are two of the last furniture painting projects I'll be doing.

A lovely little piano bench. And just look at the inside storage area...

I lined it with the sweetest fabric! I need to figure out what to do with the rest of it because I love it so well. Just can't think of anything right now. I don't want to use it for a quilt, because I can't stand the thought of cutting it up into little pieces and losing the design.

I love the green of this retro table. I wasn't sure it would sell, but it actually sold pretty quickly. (Thank goodness!!)

My friend and I have decided that money is just too tight these days, and the market is flooded, so we are not going to continue in our business venture.

In the sewing department, I've been steadily quilting my paper pieced bird blocks and am ready to bind the quilt today. I'll post pics tomorrow if I am successful.  I also paused in working on that, to make up a couple of beachy pillows for my bedroom.

I have so much blue and white that I thought I needed to bring in some coral to break it up. I used a postage motif fabric and painted the sea life onto it. I then free motion quilted the fabric/painting and made the pillows. I meant to make them a little larger but I like them anyway.

Here's hoping that today is productive and I can get a couple more things finished along with my much needed housework.

Have a great Monday!!

Back to Normal?

I've found that there are a LOT of folks out there repainting and selling furniture. Thus, I've not sold much of what I've done. Therefore, I've slowed waaaaay down on my painting and have gone back to sewing. Not a bad idea either since I love it. Here are some of my latest things.

A little something for my Princess Klaire. Can't wait to see her in it.

The latest block for Quilt Art Designs In the Garden BOM. I was distracted and made several mistakes on this one. I realized I missed one, but it will stay where it is. I can live with it.

Last month's block. I used some paint and did a little shading of her face, neck, arms and feet and I like the result.

I finally got the borders on my bird quilt top. It's a throw size and ready to sandwich when I find the time.

Well, I have done a LITTLE painting, but nothing noteworthy so we'll close with my little birdies.
Oh wait! I'll show you a picture of my family gathering together at a new water park my sister manages. We had a blast!

See ya later!