one shabby chick

Marmalade

When I first spotted that name in the list of suggestions I loved it. So here it is:

Marmalade.

By the way M, you can email me your address and I'll send a pile of scraps to you too :-)

I'm going with Cherry Blossom for the other quilt and she came up with both of them!

I just finished sewing the binding on this one today and was so excited I took pictures before throwing it in the wash...I love it.

Last night I took wrapped up this quilt to take to a baby shower for a friend...she loved it.

I forgot to take pictures of the back!

I have decided to do AmandaJean's nine patch quilt-a-long...figure it's the perfect way to use up some scraps!

Bindings and quilting bees

I picked a binding....I debated over it for a while and then just decided to go for it.

Of course it's one of the wallflower prints!

And I sewed up Wendy's block (I made two) for Common Threads.

She linked to some inspiration quilts: here, here and here.

Hmmmm - now as I look at those links I think I should have gone more wonky!

Hope these are ok Wendy!

Failing Miserably

In the Spring to Finish challenge that is....

I'm too busy working on new projects (well, finishing up newer projects but I'm not counting them as UFO's).

Almost finished with this one - just have to pick out some binding!

I spent pretty much all Saturday sewing - it was so fun. I didn't even have to make dinner since we got the yummiest Thai food for dinner...my hubby is great.

He had a fun day too watching NBA playoffs.

This one is going to be big - I'm not quilting it myself.

I'm going to give it to my quilt class leader - it makes me love it even more knowing I'm not going to even attempt to quilt it!

It's long enough right now but not wide enough so I'm thinking of different options for borders.

I was thinking about making small log cabin squares for the borders out of all the same fabrics as the center squares but I'm not sure.

The kids are all much better and there has been lots of lego-building going on lately....

And I have the funniest story to tell of our six year old.

My dad came back from California with the same cold flu as the rest of us and went to the doctor on Sat. He was outside that evening and we asked him what the doctor had said.

He (sarcastically) told us the doctor said he was going to die.

We laughed and went back to eating dinner. A few minutes later our six year old said, "I'm really going to miss him!".

We laughed so hard and quickly told him that Papa was just joking - still cracks me up!

A new plan

I sat down at my sewing area today and decided I had to work on some UFO's.

I pulled the big picnic top out but the thought of piecing that backing was just too overwhelming.

Then I saw my Common Threads quilt and sighed. I was just not liking it - way too much red.

Then I started thinking - I have only sewn 4 blocks (plus some borders) together so there is not THAT much seam ripping to do.

I looked over fabric options....immediately gravitating towards the new stuff (I always do that - buy fabric for hoarding and then use it right away).

I wasn't sure at first so I did one block...then another and another.

I am so excited about this quilt now. It's so much more fresh and cheery than before.

Of course now I have lots of strips of this and this but I'm sure eventually I can use them for borders or bindings.

I haven't had a chance to go back through the names you all gave me. There were some great ones and I will choose them soon!

A little more Amy

Ok so after this quilt I got a little crazy with the Lotus and Belle fabric lines. And since I read on Flikr about how they are discontinuing it, I figured I might as well get the prints I want while they are still plentiful.

I had a coupon for 25% off my order for fabric.com (thanks Amy!) so I bought some dots...

coriander...

and wallflower prints.

Think I'm done with fabric buying for a while - although these prints are sooo cute!

My parents just got back from Morro Bay (my dad had a knife show in Ventura) and my mom brought a beautiful hummingbird feeder back for the kids (who are all doing much better) and some super yummy fudge!

The salesperson assured her there were hummingbirds here but after some Google searching we discovered there aren't any.

But there are some other birds that are nectar feeders so hopefully something will fly up to it - it's right outside the living room door so we can see it really well.

Rainy Day

The little guy seems to be doing better....at least he's off his bed and onto a make-shift one in my room. And he's speaking and eating a little. It's made me a little less worried.

I started on the quilting for this one last night at quilt group and have been working on it today too.

I was debating how to quilt it and finally decided to mimic the squares/rectangles in the quilt.

I know it will take me longer than stippling it but I'm happy with the results so far - plus it looks super cool on the back.

I'm (sorta) working on finishing up a few projects for this too. This is one of those secret test projects - almost done with it (and I'm definitely counting it if I finish it)!

I really want to finish the curtains for the boys' room too - that's my main goal. I just keep putting it off because I have to get out my serger (and re-thread it). I'm just being lazy!

Winners

OK ladies...

Here are the winners...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

66
43
44
30
71

Timestamp: 2009-04-23 18:21:55 UTC

#66 Kathy Murray

#43 Theresa

#44 Cory

#30 Dana

#71  willy nilly

Congrats! Send me you addresses and I'll get these in the mail to you all. Thanks everyone for playing along and I'll do another one with blue/green scraps in May!

Smiling

You guys are cracking me up - I love how everyone starts their comments by telling me how bad they are at naming quilts....why do you think I'm bribing you for names?!

I feel bad not responding to all the comments but with giveaways there are just too many - hope you guys understand...I do read them all!

I never name mine either but figured it was time to start!

We've had more sick days - had to take the 6 year old to the doctor again today. Hubby met me there and I just came home with everyone else since Bela now has a fever and cold. 

She was the last one - luckily there are no more kiddos to get sick :-)

(Easter at a friend's house)

I got concerned since the 6 year old went to bed at 7 pm last night and then never got out of bed - and had a fever again.

Turns out he has an ear infection - and a cold (compiled with his allergies). So we are starting antibiotics for him too.

(mine is in the glasses - too cool for photos but I guess not for hunting for eggs!)

Hopefully this will be the only sickness of the year since it's dragged on for so long - the doctor said it's going around here...and lasting a few weeks too.

I have my quilting group tonight (we've haven't had chance to meet for a while) so hopefully I can get some things done while I'm there.

Scrap happy

I sewed up the backing for the Far, Far Away quilt...

And the Amy Butler one. That backing is big - and somehow took forever.

It needs to be 8" bigger on each side for the long arm machine and piecing all of it together (with not much a of a plan) took a while. But it's done and ready to be shipped.

After I was done with the backs, I was looking over my scraps and realized I HAVE TOO MANY!

Much, much too many!

Lucky for all of you!

Because, in honor of Earth Day (I would have done it even if Earth Day wasn't tomorrow but this worked out well), I am giving away 5 bags of scraps (as much as I can fit in a flat rate envelope) to 5 people.

There are some big and little pieces all mixed in - mostly pinks, browns, yellows and reds.

I started sorting and then when I was done, looked over and realized I hadn't even touched the blue or green bags. So I'll have another giveaway for those next month (I told you I had a lot!).

So here's the catch....leave me a comment telling me what you think I should name this quilt and this one. Don't worry if you can't think of any names - the drawing will be random - I just need some ideas.

I'll leave the giveaway open until Thursday morning (and as long as all the winners aren't international, I'll open it up to everyone!).

**Comments are now closed! Thanks!

Borders

I finished sewing on the borders on these two quilts this afternoon (and then had another after-hours clinic visit for the 6 year old which resulted in some traumatic blood-drawing....he almost pulled the needle out!).

I went with a double border on the Far, Far Away one...orange and yellow - definitely not my normal colors but they work so well with the rest of the quilt.

And blue for the Amy Butler one.

I also finished up two Project Improv blocks last night for Jacquie since she needed a few extras.

Hope they aren't too improv-y.

They are supposed to be red/aqua blocks - do they look red/aqua enough?