We interrupt this program...

Things have been a bit topsy-turvey at my house the last couple days, so my plan to get lots of sewing accomplished on Friday and Saturday did not materialize!  On Friday evening my husband was admitted to the hospital with a blockage in his small intestine and yesterday afternoon, he had surgery!  He is already feeling much better, so I am very thankful for that, and anxious to get him home.

In spite of the excitement, I did get going on a couple of WiPs that I want to complete in the next couple of weeks.   My string blocks are sewn together and I have some fabric chosen for the border that I want to put around them.

I also decided to finish a much older WiP , my braided quilt, so that I can give it to a friend who is a new grandma and needs a "grandma" quilt!  I first blogged about this quilt back in November of 2013!  It is made from yardage of Hello Sunshine that I bought from Connecting Threads in the fall of 2013, and a few additional fat quarters from my stash.  I think it will be a great quilt for a little boy!

I used this tutorial from Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for the basic quilt, but I have since added an additional border to make it a bit wider.  It now measures about 45" x 55".

Friday, I had the chance to piece a backing for this quilt and baste the layers together.  Hopefully, I will have a chance to start quilting it this week..  But first, I am off to the hospital to see how my hubby is feeling today. Hopefully, life can get back to normal pretty soon!

Travels and More

My mom, who will be 84 on her next birthday, is going on a cruise to Alaska!  I'm so excited for her!  So, I decided she needs a brand new pouch to carry things in on her travels.  Hopefully she will find this little pouch as useful as I am finding the ones I have made for myself.  I used the tutorial from Noodlehead for the Open-Wide Zippered Pouch.  It went together so quickly, and made me think maybe I am getting the hang of doing the zipper!

The outside is a blue polka dot that I think I bought at Hobby Lobby and the lining is from a fun, low volume striped fat quarter, both from my stash.  I can't wait to give to my mom when I see her next week.

Last Friday, I received a package from Tanya, of Tanya Quilts in CO, because I won her blog anniversary drawing!  What a fun treat!  Tanya made a Watcha Got? project bag and a pin cushion out of sweet Bonnie and Camille fabrics.  It is such a great bag and will be fun to use to store a project in with its clear plastic front window.

                           

Tanya also filled the bag with goodies like thread, a measuring tape, buttons, hand lotion, and my favorite candy, Peanut M&Ms.  Don't look too closely in the picture above, or you will notice that the M&M package was already empty when I took the picture!  Yum!  And look at the adorable zipper pull she put on the bag!  I love it!

Thanks, Tanya!  You are so generous!

In other sewing this week, I have been adding string blocks to my collection, and am up to 16.  Every time I make a few more, I have fun laying them out to see how they could potentially look.

I am thinking I might stop at 20 blocks, and then put a pretty large border on to give myself some negative space for quilting in, as inspired by this quilt made by Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studio.  I love how her quilting follows shape of the string block diamonds out into the borders!  And it's something I can do with my walking foot, which is what I do best right now!

Have a great week, everyone!  I am looking forward to a visit with my oldest son for the first few days of the week and then a trip to Arizona to see my mom.  It's supposed to be in the 110s there while we are there... Yikes!  At least there is a pool to cool off in!

I will be linking up with Oh Scrap! on Sunday, and looking forward to reading about the other fun projects going on out there!

Playing with Scraps

Since I had a big finish (for me!) last week, I decided to dedicate this week to playing with my scraps. While browsing the Oh Scrap link-up last Sunday, I was inspired to start working on a String Quilt, something that's been on my quilty bucket list for quite awhile.  I went back to Cynthia's Scrap-a-Palooza quilt from last August to get the scoop on how these blocks are made.  After re-reading that series of posts, I pulled out this inspiration fabric from my stash.  I love the blue, green, and cream, and that bright orange that really catches your eye!

I don't have very much of it, so I cut a few strings from it to add into the blocks, but I was also able to choose a bunch of fabrics to go with it that are ending to make a very fun combination!

I have also added some dark gray and cream fabrics, plus more with the blue, green, and orange theme.  My scraps aren't necessarily cut into strings, so I have had to do quite a bit of cutting as I go along, but since I just need various widths and don't need to worry about the length, that has gone fast! The other thing I needed to find was some muslin for the foundation of these blocks, and lo and behold, I had some! So, here is what has happened so far:

I think I like where this is going!  But I definitely need a lot more.  I'm a slowpoke at these kinds of projects, but I do have fun just making a block or two whenever the inspiration strikes!

Also, my Scrap Vortex quilt is growing!

Don't you just love my Design Floor?!

And one last WiP to share... I am not much of a gardener.  In fact, I have a bit of a brown thumb for just about everything except petunias, but I am so proud of my tomato in a pot.  It's big, green, healthy, and has lots of tomatoes on it!  Yay!  Can't wait to start eating them!

Okay, getting back to work  playing with my scraps!  Linking up with Oh Scrap!