Swiss Days

The small town immediately south of my small town was founded by Swiss emigrants, so every year they have the Swiss Days celebration. It's fun. They have a parade, and games, and all sorts of great things. This year they are having some sort of little pageant for kids who wear Swiss costumes.

Anyway, my friend has three kids that she wanted to enter in this pageant thing, but she couldn't find Swiss costumes anywhere! Well, let me rephrase - she couldn't find kids Swiss costumes anywhere. Trashy adult Swiss dresses? Sure, but those just wouldn't work! hahaha!

So, she called me on Wednesday and asked if I could please please please sew some Swiss costumes for her by Friday. Well... SURE! :) I didn't have any patterns, but I had an idea of what we should do that would be cute and simple. I managed to get all three done yesterday. It was a pretty busy day... Anyway, this is the finished product:



I am so happy with how they came out! Not bad for one day of marathon sewing, huh?! :)

Summer All The Time Complete!!

With no WIP Wednesday Linky this week (Good luck to Lee who is busy designing a fabric line!! Woot woot!), I have decided instead to post a FINISH!!! Probably my favorite finish to date! (Yes, I know I say that every time. But I mean it every time too!) Yesterday I finished my Summer Series Quilt a Long, which has been named (by the Princess):

Summer All The Time


I am so so happy with this one!

I hemmed and hawed over the quilting. I knew I wanted free motion, but with such a dark back, I didn't want to use light thread, but I also wasn't sure about dark thread on the front. What to do...


I ended up asking the advice of my local quilt shop ladies. They universally agreed to match the thread to the back and sashing. So, with a bit of worry, I trusted them and plunged ahead with grey thread. It worked wonderfully. Yes, you can see the quilting on the blocks, but this is SO much better than seeing the quilting on the sashing and back. It actually seems to enhance the blocks and at the same time, doesn't call too much attention to the sashing. YEA! Great lesson learned there!


Binding... well, my whole approach to this quilt has been to go bold or go home, so I went with bright orange. I really like it. It's the perfect pop of color to finish off the quilt.


Thanks to Lee, Kate, and Faith for hosting this great quilt a long! I learned SO much and have finished a quilt that I can cherish for years!! Yea!

Which Witch Complete!!

I am so SO so SO thrilled to have my Halloween quilt finished!!! This has been a joy to make and even more joyous to finish! This quilt is my favorite. I know, I say that every time, but this time I mean it the most!! I think this quilt must have been designed just for me. After all, it combines two of my very favorite things: Halloween, and High Heels! :)

Anyway, with no further adu, here she is: Which Witch



For quilting, I did free motion quilting with little triangles. I had seen this and really wanted to try it. It turned out well, although I wish I had been a little more aggressive with the angles. Some look too round. Oh well, it was way fun to try!!



Quilt Info and Stats:

Pattern: Which Witch by Crazy Old Ladies
Size: 37.5" x 46.5"
Fabric: various Halloween deliciousness, most of which I got after Halloween last year. Oh, and I over bought. By a lot! :)
Destined for: ME! It's mine!! All mine!! Muahahaha!

As a small update, I haven't quilted any of the other quilts yet... soooo, I might get one more by next week, but even that's not likely! haha! Oh, well!! :)

WiP Wednesday - Basting edition!

So... I got a lot done this week! (I was going to say "I was a sewing machine this week" but... well, it is funny, but - you know...)

Anyway - I managed to finish the tops of: Halloween, Diamond Chain, and Twin Frolic.

!!!!!!!!!

Awesome!! So, today I had a massive basting party. See my sweet little helper?


I got Halloween, Diamond Chain, and Summer Series basted. I still need to baste Twin Frolic, and long lost Avignon Picnic.





I also managed to get Halloween quilted, and the binding stitched on, but have no pictures to show for it yet!

I will be out of town this weekend, but I am hoping to get all 5 tops quilted within the next week. I'm hoping, but not totally hopeful. We'll see! Wish me luck!!

Be sure to check out all of this weeks WiPs over at Freshly Pieced!

Mini Quilt Monday!

I am so excited to join in Faith's Mini Quilt Monday this week!!

For the last few weeks, I have worked on my "Super Secret" project - which was a birthday gift for my sister, who just 2 days ago turned the big 4-0!! :)

My sister is an author, with her first novel coming out in November!! YEA! So, for her birthday, I made her a mini quilt bookshelf:

She loved it, and I am thrilled!! I just love mini quilts!!

WiP Wednesday!

It seems like I haven't done much this week, but in reality, I did make some progress! That's so happy! :)

Super Secret - DONE! In the mail! Yea! But, I still can't show it. :) I'll post pictures SOON, when I know the recipient has seen it first! I was pretty tickled with the finished product though, so stay tuned!

Halloween - I have the blocks sewn together and one border sewn on!! YEA!! One border to go, then on to quilting! It is SO cute!!


Twin Frolic - blocks are sewn! Now, just need to get the top together!

NEW! Diamond Chain Quilt-a-Long with Tilda's Twisted Life! I am a little behind on the quilt a long, but making some progress! I am doing this one as a Christmas quilt! Here's the layout I have so far!


I love the middle fabric! :)

Let's see...
Summer Series in waiting to be quilted.
Long lost Avignon Picnic is waiting to be quilted.

And, I think that is all for this week! Hopefully, I can get Halloween and Frolic tops done, so I can have a massive quilting party! :)

Be sure to check out all the awesome WiPs over at Freshly Pieced!! Happy WiP Wednesday!!

Tired...

I totally planned on sewing a lot today.

After my 23 mile run.

I have 4 weeks left until the marathon, and this is the apex of my training.

Needless to say, after waking up at 4 am and running for about 4 hours... I spend the day crawling around and lounging on the couch. lol!

Tomorrow... THERE WILL BE SEWING!!! :)