Saturday Night Fun

I promised that I would come back to show you what all the striped squares of fabric were for.  A very dear friend of our family, Ken, celebrated turning 40!  His beautiful wife, Kristin, threw a surprise party for him.  Several guy friends met at the local 9 hole golf coarse and surprised Ken.  As they golfed, some of the wives set up for a party on the patio.  The patio is at the end of the 9th hole. So as Ken was finishing his golf game, he could see us all gathered.  What a FUN night! With Ken it couldn't be any other way!  

First 4 some to golf

Ken in his new golfing outfit

Another 4 some and Ken's caddy

The tee off

Pretty table decorations - see the striped square of fabric!

Coming off the 9th hole with his daughters, Klara & Greta

funny Ken & beautiful Kristin

And such a beautiful day it was!!

The results are in....

It's Saturday morning and time to reveal the results of last night's sew-in.  A BIG thank you to Heidi and Bobbi for sponsoring this monthly event!  If you haven't joined in yet, don't miss the FUN next month! So here is what I accomplished....

First, I worked on cutting and serging the edges of these squares of fabrics to be used for...shh! It's a secret! I promise I'll come back later to reveal the secret. Don't you just love the colors of the stripes?

And then I worked on sewing back together the quilt I mentioned in my last post...the one that I picked all the stitches out cuz I was not happy with it!!! I never took a 'before' picture but I do have a picture of one of the blocks from the second quilt in another color.  Instead of the yellow, just imagine...the block in brown.  Simply boring!

[These will also be picked apart and recut and stitched.]  

So all I can give you are little peeks cuz this quilt is also a surprise for someone.  Shh!

  

It still needs 2 or 3 more borders to complete the top but a least it is at the same point as when I started unsewing!  I added the red bandana fabric to give it some 'POP' and also alternated between churn dash and broken dishes blocks.  The main fabric is Happy Camper from Clothworks.  Cute isn't it?

And now some family pictures....

This is my daughter, Brit, and her boyfriend, Young, at their BBQ following her graduation.

Korean BBQ is delicious!

I hope you had as much fun sewing as I did last night! It is so rewarding to see projects come together!!

Friday Night Sew-In & a dilemma

Tomorrow is Friday Night Sew-In and I hope you are ready!  It really is a good time to reward yourself with some sewing time.  What will you be working on?  

I had a dilemma.  A couple of posts back, I talked about 2 quilts that I was making.  One I finished piecing the top and the other the blocks were finished.  As the finished one hung on my design wall while I was just too busy to get much sewing done, I grew increasingly dissatisfied with it.  I knew that if I didn't take drastic measures, it would become a permanent UFO.  So after looking at several blogs and other web sites for ideas, I took out a clean sheet of graph paper and started over.  Of coarse that meant that I needed to rip out the entire quilt top.  I recut some pieces and added new some fabric.  It is now, once again, a work in process.  I still need to rip out the stitching on all the blocks for the second quilt and recut but I have a renewed interest in these quilts.  I saved them from becoming UFO's!    [Sorry I never took before pictures.]      Has this ever happened to you?  How did you handle your situation?    I'd love to hear! 

Will be back on Saturday for the results of my Friday Night Sew-In!

UPDATE...finally

Again it has been a while since I have been able to get around to my blog.  There has been a lot going on following my daughter, Kirsten's graduation.  She arrived home on Monday, May 3rd and started packing up her things.  She has moved to South Dakota and has started her new job.  On the Friday before she left,  our wonderful family friends hosted a Open House/Art Gallery to show her work.  Here are a few pictures...

Early Saturday she was headed for Rapid City, South Dakota.  That same night, May 8th, our oldest daughter, Brit, graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a degree in Art Education.  Yay!! We are so proud of her! Here are a few pictures from her graduation.

Receiving her diploma!

CONGRATULATIONS BRIT AND KIRSTEN!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU! WELL DONE!

The very next day was Mother's Day.  My daughter's did a nice job making me feel special! Take a look.

AND now for an update on the little bit of sewing I have been able to get done...I finished 5 more little bags and added a some bling.  I also knitted a pair of fingerless gloves to help out a friend (no picture).

Also, coming May 21st is the Friday Night Sew-In hosted by Heidi and Bobbi.  Head on over here to join the fun!  It's a great way to devote some serious time to catching up and maybe win a prize!

One last picture from my spring gardens.  Pretty...

That's all for now.  As summer comes, I will have more free time for the things I love! 

Happenings...

I'm back for a brief update.  It has been very busy around here but exciting! Our 2nd oldest daughter, Kirsten, graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University yesterday!  We attended a very beautiful Baccalaureate Ceremony on Friday and then Graduation on Saturday.  We are so proud of her and her boyfriend, Mike! Here are a few pictures...

This coming week will be a crazy one as Kirsten comes home and gathers her things to move to South Dakota to start her new job and adventure.  At the same time, we are preparing for our oldest daughter, Brit, to graduate from University of Illinois - Chicago next Saturday.  I'm preparing for the emotional roller coaster that this week promises to be!  Tears have already been shed and I'm sure there will be many more, both of joy and sadness!

On the sewing front, I have been able to work on a few things!  I have started 2 lap quilts, one having the top almost pieced and the 2nd one well on its way (no pictures, sorry), I completed 2 of these adorable little bags, directions here, and here, and I have finished all but 2 of the 96 blocks on my red and white quilt.

Aren't these bags cute!  I need to add some bling to the zipper to finish them off.  I will be making several more.  What I haven't done is work on my husband's Mariner's Compass.  Sigh!  I need a good solid block of time and I just don't have it right now.  It will have to wait a little longer.  That's it for now!

EDIT: I finished the last 2 blocks - a total of 96 blocks - of my red and white 2-color quilt - Robbing Peter to Pay Paul!