Amish Country Shop Hop

Clarinda and I went to the Amish Country Shop Hop, it was actually called a mini-shop hop and cuisine. We went to 5 shops and each shop gave us a recipe and each shop had also made the same quilt pattern but in different colors. It was kind of like a mystery quilt because we did not know what the quilt look liked but you could buy the different kits at each shop. So, we did the shops and then met at one of the churches for a reveal of the mystery quilt and also a tasting of all the recipes we had received. It was really quite fun except some of the shops were small and crowded. The pattern ended up being a star, I think some would call it an Ohio Star but don't quote me on that. I only really liked one of the color patterns but I doubt if I would ever make it. Here are the different colors, let me know which one you like and I will let you know which one I like!! Tell me which number you like in the order of how the pictures are shown - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I didn't take many pictures of the shops just because they were so crowded. I did take a picture in the big warehouse that we go to when we are there. It was not part of the shop hop but they have great deals on fabric. It is called Zinck's. I also picked up a few projects along the way. My favorite by far is the safari themed baby blanket. I am going to make it and put it away for any grandkids I might have one day. :) I didn't get this material at the shop hop, I got it at a shop on the way to the shop hop, because we have to hit all the shops on the way too otherwise why go?? I also picked up a few materials to make into pillowcases. I also did not get these at the shop hop shops. So, you probably think I go to Amish country just to do quilt shopping right? Wrong! I mostly go for the food. I bought more food this time than fabric...can you believe it?? I of course picked up 2 dozen fried fruit pies, a delicious German Chocolate Pie which I took to work today and heard from more than one person that it was the best pie they ever ate (I agree with this whole-heartedly), I got two summer sausages (regular and jalapeno with cheese) Jack got the Jalapeno one and he said it was awesome, I also got cheese curds and a block of cheddar, I also got a jar of bread and butter pickles. I only wish it were not 3 hours away! Oh, I also had a piece of peanut butter cup pie from the Amish restaurant, it was very rich and I couldn't eat it all but it was delicious. I can't remember if I showed you all the final animals and the bag I made for them. I hear they were a big hit at the silent auction although I did not get the final price they went for I heard they went to a grandma who is about to have a grandbaby so very glad to hear that. I might make some more sets and take them to a consignment shop that is here in Beavercreek. The license on the pattern allows you to make 50 items for sale without having to get permission. So here are the final animals. I picked up a few gifts too but some I can't show here because they are going to people who look at this blog and what's the fun of getting a gift if you already saw it?? I got this super cute barn with animals. All the animals have their names on them and make a corresponding noise when they are squeezed. I got this for Rachel to send to her step-daughter Heather who had a baby a few months ago. We went back to one of the shops after the church meeting and I got this super soft minkee to make me a throw. It is real simple to make and I'll probably sew it up this weekend. This is my new T-shirt, I love it!! I forgot to get Rachel one though so I am in the dog house! I also got some more of the wonderful soap that Rachel and I discovered on our visit. I got some soap that her friend wanted and I bought a few of the ones I liked. I am in love with the ginger peach so I got the lotion too. It is actually a lotion that I can stand the smell of and doesn't give me a headache. Last thing! I got some homespun and waffle towels to do some embroidery on. Clarinda has a cool program that puts recipes on towels and I want to try that on these to have them available for gifts. All right that is it! Overall we had a great time, stayed in the awesome Berlin Grande Hotel! I am ready to go again!

Sunday Wrap Up

Well, it has been a pretty good weekend. We had nice weather yesterday until mid-afternoon then it turned cold and it has been very cold today. Clarinda and I went to Creative Fires and Hancock Fabrics yesterday and then she came over and we worked on our projects. She finished cutting her chenille dinosaur blanket and worked some on the owl blanket she is making. I broke in my embroidery machine. I decided to make these stuffed animals that I got on an embroidery disk from Clarinda. I made the blue bunny first and it took me most of the night to get that done because I couldn't get my machine working properly. Finally looked under the embroidery unit and I hadn't taken out a plastic thing that was holding the arm from moving. Once I got that removed things went well. The machine has been going just about non-stop today and I know have 8 animals complete. I was actually going to just make a couple and put them in the boy's and girl's Easter basket that I am making for the silent auction at work this week but once I started making them they seemed to be a bit babyish and not really in the age range for which I made the baskets so, now the plan is to do 10 -12 animals and make a bag for them with something like "Baby's stuffed animals" embroidered on it, probably with a drawstring. The other thing I did this weekend is get the boy and girl Easter baskets put together. I made a Cars pillowcase for the boy's and a sparkly butterfly pillowcase for the girl's. They have standard Easter stuff in them, candy, coloring books, crayons, stuffed animal, bubbles, etc. I am really happy with them. Here is a picture of everything. I didn't really do anything for JoAnn's gift. I did write out how many blocks I need to cut to make the bed runner. Since there is not a bed runner in the book, I have to figure out how to make it cut down from the queen size quilt. Pretty sure I have a game plan now and I just need to cut the blocks and get it all together. I am going to have to make 9 ruffles because there will be 9 blocks like you see in the middle of the pillows (but without pictures), and then 9 solid blocks, then two borders. It will end up being about 75" x 25". I'll get to work on it as soon as I get the Easter baskets and animals done. On Friday, Clarinda and I are going up to Amish country for a shop hop up there. It is about 3 hours away and we are going to stop at some shops on the way up. We are going to spend the night Friday in Berlin, OH and then do the shop hop on Saturday. We are really excited about going. Dave and I went to a movie today. We saw Burt Wonderstone,it was not that great, I thought it would be a lot funnier. I haven't been good at picking out movies to see lately. Yesterday I went to show the rental house and the lady forgot to show up so we rescheduled for today and she really liked it and was going to recommend it to her friends in Germany so I am hoping to hear from them some time this week to get the paperwork rolling. It will be nice to have that all settled in advance to our tenants leaving in June. Okay, that's all the news for the weekend. Got a super busy week ahead but at least I have Friday off...Yippee!

Lazy Saturday Morning

It has been a lazy morning here so far but I have to get going in a few minutes to meet a potential renter at the Crab Tree house. We had wanted to sell the house this year but the market still isn't good and now with my furlough coming up in April - May time frame we just can't afford to carry the mortgage. So, the person I am meeting today is a friend of the family who is stationed in Germany and will be coming here around the time we will have the house ready to move in. Hopefully, I will have good news that they want it by the end of the weekend. Dave got a job delivering parts with O'Rielly auto parts, he is very happy about it. It is part time so it will still give him time to work on his projects. He is getting ready to build some bumpers for a fellow Jeeper and he is still selling the parts he gets from the junkyard. I am currently working on a couple of Easter baskets that will go into a silent auction for work. I am making a boy and girl basket so they are pink and blue. I picked up the baskets at JoAnn's for half off, they had all their Easter stuff half off so I got most things there. They also had some $1 coloring books so I got a few of those too. I am making a pillow case for each basket, I have a Cars one for the boy and a butterfly one for the girl basket. I am also going to try to make some stuffed animals that I have an embroidery disk for, I just need to pick up some plush fabric today. Here is a picture of the baskets. I've made some good progress on the pillows for JoAnn. I have all three tops done and just need to make the backs which I don't think will take too long once I sit down and do it. I will get them done this weekend I just want to get the baskets done first. Here are some pictures of the pillow tops. I got a nice big container for my embroidery threads. It was hard to keep them all contained in the smaller box I had. I am getting quite a few now. Whenever they are on sale at JoAnn's I pick up a few more. I also made Jack a Bengals pillow case which I forgot to take a picture of but I am going to make him another so I got the orange material yesterday and I had the Bengals material left from the first material, so this one will be the opposite of the one I already made, orange body and Bengals topper. I also picked up this Family Guy no sew throw for Mark's girlfriend Jackie. They love that show and she likes making these blankets so I got it for her. All right I have to go get ready to show the house. I'll try to post more tomorrow on any progress I have made this weekend. Clarinda is supposed to come over today and sew but we are also going to Creative Fires quilt shop because today is National Quilt Day!!!

Wedding Quilt Delivered!! Finally

Well, I finally finished the wedding quilt and delivered it to the bride's mother. It turned out okay, I like the design but wasn't totally happy with the quilting. It is going to take me some time to get used to working with the long arm. The quilt caused me all kinds of troubles while I was making it and Rachel and I nicknamed it "Nemesis" didn't seem like I was ever going to finish it. Here is a picture of the final product. On Friday and Saturday, Clarinda and I went to the Anita Good Design embroidery party for 2013. The event was okay, I don't think it needed to be two days but we liked to seeing the new designs. I ended up getting a new machine that is a sewing and embroidery machine. The embroidery part of the machine can do larger designs and the sewing part is great for piecing the quilts, it sews really straight and has a built in dual feed that you really need when quilting. Clarinda and I split the cost of a embroidery club membership so we ended up getting all kinds of designs for attending the show and signing up for the club. Clarinda got to make a cute coin purse that she already had the program for but she wasn't sure how to make. We left early the second day and hit one of the close quilt shops. I got the materials to make the bunny that I want to put in a Easter basket for a silent auction we are having at work. Here are is a picture of my new machine and the bunny material and the little dress I made for the bunny. We had a big snow storm last Wednesday and got a wonderful snow day! It was the most snow we have had all year. It was nice to have the day off, it let me get some work done on the "Nemesis." I took a picture of the snow and one of Puppy taking a nice nap on a snowy day, he looked so cute laying there I couldn't resist taking a picture of him. My next project besides the bunny is the pillows and bed runner for JoAnn. I feel so bad because I have started about 3 quilts for her and I haven't been happy with any of them. She got married back in October and I am still trying to get something done for her. I liked the pillow I did to go along with the wedding quilt and the book I made that out of has another set of pillows that I am going to make for JoAnn. I am going to make three pillows with three of her wedding photos. The photos will be in the middle of the pillow with a ruffle around them. I am also going to make a bed runner to match the pillows. Here is a picture of her wedding photos (the photos will be black and white on the pillows) and the materials I will use to make the pillows and runner. She has purple in her bedroom her husband told me so I chose these materials based on that and she also commented on the "Nemesis" that it was similar to the colors in her bedroom. My other acquisition this past week is a new notebook laptop. I gave up my IPad, I just couldn't do my blog or run my embroidery designs on it so it went to Dave. He didn't like it either so I think it is now on Craig's List for sale. I am so happy to have this new thing and now maybe I will be more faithful in my blog posts. That is all the news for now! I'll be back soon to post my progress on all of my projects.

Snowy March Morning

We have some snowflakes this morning. Hopefully the snow will stop soon and we will have some spring weather. It hasn't been a bad winter this year so that is two nice winters in a row. I've been very busy since I last posted and have lots of pictures to share. The plan today is to finish the wedding quilt, I can't believe it is taking me so long to finish it. I have started working on the sea spa quilt and am anxious to work on it full time but have to get this wedding quilt done first. I took a little time out to make a baby quilt for a coworker. They are having a shower for her this week. I also made my first pillowcase for the Dayton Children's Hospital, I can't believe how quick and easy they are to make! Last weekend Clarinda and I did the Heart of Ohio Shop Hop. I picked up a lot of material for making the pillow cases. Clarinda has come over last Sunday and last night and we have been working away here in the new craft room. It is nice to have her over, it keeps me motivated. Next Friday we are going to a embroidery demonstration, it is a two day event and you get to see the new designs and make a project. All right, here are the pictures from all of my activities! The above is the whole series of die cutting. The material was cut in 7 1/2" strips and folded acordian style over the die area which you can see the outline of the 6 1/2" square on the die. Once you have the folds done, place the rubber mat on top and roll through the machine and you then get all your blocks cut!! Sure beats rotary cutting, especially when you have so many blocks to cut. I also had to cut 150 2 1/2" x 7" strips to make the wave pattern so I used my 2 1/2" strip cutter and then rotary cut the strips in to 7" rectangles, it didn't take me very long at all to cut them, I forgot to take pictures though!! Well, that's all my activities for the past week or so. I am really excited to get going on the Sea Spa quilt. Going to work on the wedding quilt now!!