Flea Market Fantastic!!!

This was my flea market/antiquing treasure for the weekend(among others). And honestly, even if i never sew with it it was absolutely worth the 25 i paid for it. Isn't she beautiful? She is definitely going to need a name. Any suggestions? Also if anyone has used one of these before and has tips that you know i need, let me know. i am all ears!
I can not get over how amazing this sewing machine is. Take a moment of silence with me to just gaze at her!.........


I picked up a few small things. This tea cup is destined to be a pin cushion for my sewing table. It is such a perfect shade of green/blue. The fridge dish was a steal. It is so cute and adorable and tiny....i have been slowly accumulating these to replace the plastic that is cluttering up my cabinets.

I was so excited to find this quilt...i can not say exactly how old it is or what the story behind it is but at 20 i knew it was coming home with me. I have washed it and am working on some stains but i think there is hope. I don't think that you can see this in the picture but every fan is trimmed with ric-rac. How cute?? And the back looks to be a sheet. It is hand quilted and just bright and fun. How can a girl pass that up?

This was my other quilt find. I saw it on a rack and asked the lady in the booth how much and she said 10. I said, "excuse me?"i did not think i had heard her right. When she repeated the same i told her right awway i would take it. i don't think i even looked at it closely. This one is older and definitely is going to need a little more love and care. I think it is a true scrap quilt, by necessity. There is such a huge and amazing variety of fabric styles and weights. I did not see the red "stripes" in it until i looked at the pictures. Love it!

Thanks for indulging me...sorry to any of you die hard Flea Market Fancy fabric lovers... hope i did not mislead you. But this week these were my true flea market fancy treasures!!!

Do you see this?

It is snowing?!!! This is pretty early for us in NY. The kids were more than excited...one of our little neighborhood friends was jumping up and down back there by our fence, thrilled! I can't believe it. I wonder if this is a sign of the winter to come for us.

Crash Landing

This little guy(titmouse) had a unfortunate run in with my backdoor slider this week. Hard enough that he left some feathers behind. i was washing up some dishes and then i heard the crash. And there he/she sat on my patio...still and scared! Poor little thing...he just sat there and looked at me like, "what are you going to do now?". Then the kids gathered around...you can imagine that this did nothing to settle his nerves. But, maybe his brain was addled from hitting the window so hard that he did not notice. The three kids were so concerned, and we were all soon relieved to see that this little guy got his head straightened out and he flew off again to join his friends...about half and hour later.

It's Here!!!

Blogger Quilt Festival began today....hosted by Amy at Park City Girl. You have to go check it out. I can not believe the number of people that have already posted and added their name to the list and this is only day one. This goes on from the 9th to the 16th. I am hoping to find lots of inspiration.
The quilt i chose for quilt festival is one of my older quilts...pretty close to being the first one that i made. I found this easy pattern on the internet many years ago and loved it for being simple and easy for a then beginner. Today was not the greatest day for pictures...it was rainy and dark pretty much all day.
Even then i knew my limitations. I had a really simple basic sewing machine that would not machine quilt anything well...i found that out the hard way. So back then all i knew to do was hand quilting. I would draw out my pattern free hand with chalk or a wash away fabric marking pen, and then quilt away. For this I did a simple flower and some swirls to fill in any gaps.

I made this for Avery when she was little(way before blogging)...and it lived on her bed for a long time. But at some point in all the moving it got folded and stored away in the linen closet with all the other blankets. It is worn and soft and i still am in love with the colors and fabrics. This was the first set of fabrics that i chose because i fell in love...that was the beginning of a fabric obsession that does not quit!

This week when i pulled it of the shelf i looked it over i could see all the things i have learned to do a little better...most especially the corners. Yikes!! These were bad. It was the first time that i had to do real big repairs on a quilt. I took all the corners apart, machined them and re-stitched the binding back down by hand.

You can see a little of the back here. I pieced it together with what i had before i knew that pieced backs were cool!!Oh, the panic when i thought i had run out. I still remember it well.
Another really close up of the corner repair i did...i am so excited to go and see what everyone else is sharing. I am going to have to pace myself over the next few days so that i can really take it all in. Go check it out here...and share something you have made!!!

Wee Play Complete

i had a grand idea for another picture to show this quilt off...me and the hubby with the blanket over our laps and just our feet sticking out the bottom, all cozy cozied up together...but considering he had some wisdom teeth pulled today, that was not going to happen. Today was the day we met, 10 years ago. How is that for celebrating? I just love him...but i digress!!!

Kim, you asked for a close up of the quilting. I hope this is close enough. I just followed the lines of the quilt on each side of the seam. I love the colors of these fabrics...there is something about how soft the blues are. I love all the colors but i really love the blues. i just love them. I did the binding in one of the ruler prints from the line...i think it turned out really nicely. Like a stripe with a little somethin extra.

The wind finally died down enough to take the quilt outside to get some good light for pictures. I am not kidding...it was like a hurricane up here!! I finished the quilting last week in time for sew and tell..then i took a few nights to sit and leisurely hand sew the binding. i love this part...it is somehow soothing, and it is so great to be at that final step so close to the end, but then i find myself sort of torn and almost disappointed that it is over. What a conflict...i spend all the piecing and assembling hoping for a finish and then when i am there i am a little sad. Ugh!! Anyone know what i mean?

On a side note...my husband just asked me tonight if i would make a quilt to be auctioned at his work. How crazy is that? i have not answered yet, but i am pretty sure the answer will be yes, but then i panic a little because i have never done anything with a deadline before. What if it does not raise much money? How much of a bummer would that be?

***i just wanted to take a minute to note that this quilt was inspired by another that i saw here on flickr. Camille made the one that inspired me with 2 charm packs...mine has 3. I originally blogged about this way back in July when i finished the top.***

Dinner Treat

When daddy is away mommy and the kiddies will play!!! We don't make dinner if we don't have to, and last night Chris was not going to be here so we thought we would have a little fun instead. The kids were all for it. Of course i made them a cheezy bagel first, not just snack food!!!

My good friend makes this special popcorn for her kids and mine when they are at her house. I thought we would give it a try. Can you tell they enjoyed it? Mitchell had chocolate everywhere. All you do is pop some popcorn....melt some marshmallows with butter on the stove...and then pour it on the popcorn. While it is still hot stir in some chocolate chips. It melts and makes this wonderful sticky, chocolaty mess. Enjoy...it is well worth a try

Dueling Machines

Today it was like the battle of the sewing machines!!! My QF(quilting friend) brought along her machine(Bette) so that we could sew at the same time to work on our project. With the girls, aka the sewing machines, running full tilt we managed to get all our blocks pieced. I am really liking how different the tops are working up to be.

Here are some of her blocks!!! Aren't they pretty. The Neptune is amazing. Everything was going along just great until we reached the end and laid out the quilts. Do you see it? That gap on the right?

That is where the block, not in the instructions, goes. The pattern is so fun and has been easy to follow, but we were regularly reminded to cut carefully so that we would waste nothing because it was going to be close. And because of that...we are short a block, with nothing big enough to spare. The pattern asked us to cut 30 pieces but it should have been 36 meaning the pattern numbers and picture don't jive. UGH!!!! It was not frustrating until now. I happened to have some variety of neptune yardage that i gave to QF to use so she was saved, but i am really hesitant to cut into the second jelly roll i have of this fabric. I don't want to use some fabric that i might need for another pattern. What would you do?

Green Things

Yesterday we had a surprise and very large visitor at our backdoor. In fact he hung around all day long. Isn't he amazing! I admit i was a little scared to get too close when i was taking the picture because i knew it could jump/fly...but for the most part he was pretty mellow and let us check him out all day long. Look how big he is compared to Mitchell's little hand!! We think it is a katydid. Am i right?

And for good measure here is a silly Avery shot. She wanted me to put it on the blog. Our very nice neighbor made a batch of homemade playdough, and when he was done with it he gave it to my kiddo's. They love it and sit and use it for a very long time when i am brave enough to have it out. i hate playdough mess. Avery made a pizza and was pretending to eat a slice. Goofy girl!!!

He Had a Birthday!

Birthday's are not a big deal to my husband...to him it is just another day. I used to try to make a bigger deal out of it, but i have learned that i should just go with what he wants. It is easier that way. This year he surprised me with an idea for something he would like to do. He wanted to go and visit the Orange County Choppers showroom nearby.
Isn't he cute? We surprisingly enjoyed ourselves. We brought along friends and all of our kids and aside from reminding the kids, constantly, not to touch the motorcycles, we had fun. Things went well.

Mitchell was working out his tough face...he was thrilled about the firefighter motorcycle. The tribute wall to 9-11 was really cool...covered in patches from various fire stations around the country, and surrounded by several fire helmets.

Chris tried on some new gear, and settled on none but he had fun...this was what he wanted for his birthday, so we made it happen. The show on TLC is a little much sometimes but the motorcycles were really fun to see. I love Avery's serious face while wearing Chris' motorcycle jacket.

So, sweet husband...it has been 10 years together this week(we met days after his 23rd birthday). Like you said tonight...can you believe that in a blink of an eye 10 years have passed? They have been a great 10 years. I love you more with every passing day. You are a wonderful husband and partner. You are truly the best. You do more for me and the kids than i could ever ask for. There is no one more perfect than you. Happy Birthday, love. Here is to another wonderful 10 years

Sew and Tell, maybe?

I was SEW close to my Friday finish. I was determined that i would get it done. I have been working on it all day. Note to self, if you want to finish a whole quilting project....start before the day you plan to finish. Then there is a better chance of finishing. So ladies, can i count getting all the quilting done as my finish?

I sure hope so...i started basting this morning and had just enough spray baste to get it all done. Thank goodness. Avery declared that it would have been a disaster if i had run out! Then i had a marathon quilting day...all my free time has gone into getting this quilted. My back and my arms are killing me! But, best part of this project is that it is one i get to keep, for myself. I plan on having it in my living room to cozy up under on cool nights.Preferably with my warm hubby!

I hope that tomorrow i will have a updated picture to include a finished binding. I am loving sew and tell it is really keeping me motivated to get old projects done. Go on over to Amy's and see what everyone else got done this week. There is lots of great stuff.