A wedding quilt

In May, one of my daughter's best friend got married. We have known Jillian since she was born. This quilt is called The Lakefront because Jillian and Jonny met while attending school in downtown Chicago close to the beautiful lakefront. I am finally posting pictures of the quilt that I made for the happy couple.  Enjoy!

pieced back

quilt roll ~ YUM

Most of these photos were taken by my daughter.  You can see more of her work here.

It seems forever ago...

My birthday was just Monday let it seems so long ago.  The very next day, a major storm rolled through our area* and then we had no power for 40+ hours.  It briefly came back on for 1 1/2 hours and was off again.  It was again restored but no internet. Yesterday by mid-morning everything here was back to normal but some of my neighbors are still without.  It has been a long week! 

*

Our canopy over our deck was thrown into our yard in pieces and we lost several shingles from our roof.

My DH's mini evergreen tree was smashed (see it on the right.)

My planter was flipped off the deck.

Furniture was rearranged.

And just down the block was this...one of many!

Just hanging on the power lines!

So after I was restored to normal, I checked my blog and the next step in the Simple Things QAL was posted!  Sew this is what I got busy doing.  

Yay for electricity and internet!

Aren't they cute!

*Edited: (it was confirmed 2 tornadoes touched down.) This storm doesn't compare to the recent devastation in other areas like Alabama & Missouri, just an account of what happened in my life. 

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent a lovely evening with my family downtown Chicago at Millenium Park. We had a picnic dinner, some wine and enjoyed the concert.  More about it and pictures later.  

Now if you are a regular reader, you may remember that my birthday was the closing date of my giveaway.  Thank you all for visiting.  So without making you wait any further...the lucky winner is #34...Peach Rainbow...she was born in January!  Congratulations!! I will send you an email shortly but should you see this first, email me your address and I'll get your package out promptly.

I will close this post with a few pictures of things I been working on...

Finished Dresden plate pillow...read more here.

Have you tried this?  It is actually quite relaxing to do and they look pretty cool!!

   These are pretty simple designs. They can get quite complicated.

Getting it done!

Yesterday I had some alone time that I used to sew! 

My DH was out of town all week and scheduled to fly home on the red eye getting in at 5AM today. Due to some computer problems United was experiencing nationwide, he didn't get home until 8:30AM.  My DD2 & DD3 were at work so I had the house to myself from about 4PM.  

And there is a lull in wedding activities...does this mean we are getting close to being done? A perfect opportunity for Friday Night Sew IN!!

I started with my June Birdie Stitches BOM which I had been working on and ever so close to finishing...and now it's done! 

I love all the different fonts! 

There was a lot of stitching in this block but I really like it.  What do you think?

I next moved on to work on my blocks for the Simple Things QAL.  Earlier in the day, Kelly posted the directions for the first blocks.  This was perfect timing for FNSI.  All the pieces were already cut out so I got busy sewing.  

These little blocks are so cute! 

 I'm hopeful that I will be able to keep up once wedding plans speed up again and take precedence over sewing. At least I'm off to a good start! 

I finished all these and it was only 8:30...plenty of time to start another project!

My very dear friend gave me some vintage dresden plate blocks that were from her grandma.  

Long ago, she tried to make them into something

cut up a couple of them and starting making them into pillows. 

She never finished them. She asked if I could do anything with them.

  

They were very soiled from years of being in storage. 

So a couple of weeks ago I started working with them.  

I unstitched the worked she had done removing stuffing that was in each center and point.  I then hand washed them to see if I could remove the stains that had badly soiled the fabrics.  I was pleasantly surprised with the results. 

Some of the fabrics were also faded, {one lost almost all its color} but they are sew pretty.  

There are 4 cut and 9 with the background fabric in tact.

On Thursday, I bought some Kona cotton in green to use as a background 

{in anticipation of FNSI}. 

After some thought, I cut a square of green 22" 

{the dresden's measure 14" across} 

and unpicked 1 dresden from the old background fabric.  

I centered it on the new pretty green fabric and hand stitched it. 

I then needed to make a choice for the center fabric.  I originally intended to used the cutest green polka dot with a vintage look but decided it took away from the dresden points.  

So I cut a circle of Kona snow and hand sewed it onto the center.  The center circles of these dresden's are 6 1/2" across...it needed something...so I found some perle cotton in a soft pink and stitched a row of big stitches.  

The results....

I'm in love!

It was time to call it a night...but I will work on making this into a 20" throw pillow.  

Hop over to Bobbi's at Crafty Vegas Mom to see what everyone else worked on.

And there is still time to enter my giveaway. Just go here.

I'm joining...

the Simple Things Quilt Along over at Charming Chatter.  

I have decided to join in even though my summer is packed full of wedding activities. Last summer's quilt along was so much fun that I just don't want to miss it. Kelly has assured me that the quilt along will go at a slower pace so I should be able to keep up.  I'm hopeful even though I haven't had anytime recently to sew/craft anything other than for the wedding.  Here is a peek of one of the things I've been working on. I've made well over 30 of them. 

More on these later.

So I have decided to do the smaller version of the quilt due to my time constraints. Here is Kelly's...isn't it pretty.

Carol over at Brown Quilts is offering a larger version of the quilt.  Here is Carol's quilt...so lovely in its patriotic colors!

So last week we were to pick out our fabrics and today we got the cutting instructions.  I have chosen to use the lovely Charlevoix fabric line by Minick & Simpson for Moda. I fell in love with this fabric when it was introduced and I think this quilt will be perfect for it.  I will be using Bella white for the background and a red & white dot from my stash.  Take a look!

Perfect don't you think?

Note: There is still time to join my giveaway.  Just scroll down to the previous post or click here. It is open until my birthday, June 20th!

Also, next Friday night, June 17th is the FNSI. Click on the button on my sidebar to join in on the fun.  

Giveaway and Taking Care of Business

As we move closer to the wedding date, everything seems to be moving so fast!  We are very busy and I haven't had time to post...yet, so much is happening.  Last Sunday was my daughter's bridal shower...a beautiful celebration given by our dearest friends and her sisters. 

I also want to send some overdue thanks to Andrea over at KnittyBitties.  

I won a beautiful handmade pair of rose earrings in the Spring Board Creative Collaboration.  I have been remiss in posting my thanks.  

How cute is the packaging! See the roses on the allora card...rose earrings on the end of stems.  How clever is that!  Check out her store for some very cute things.

There is so much more that I could share...the wedding of my daughter's BFF, the Baptism of my nephew's daughter and much more wedding things...but I'll save them for another day.  

Now, if you recall, I mentioned that my 100th post was the very same post as my post for Giveaway Days hosted by Sew Mama Sew.  I didn't want my 100th post giveaway to be the same so I postponed it until after the Giveaway Days were over.  Then I received some HAPPY news from Madame Samm over at Sew We Quilt that my daughter's wedding quilt was chosen to be on the June banner. So I posted about that here and let that amazing news sink in before...

I'm hosting my 100th post giveaway! 

I have put together a few things that I hope you will like.  

There is a Schnibbles pattern (Hot Cross), a fat quarter of this cute polka dotted fabric, some coordinating ricrac, a pair of cute buttons, 3 skeins of embroidery thread, and a teacup pin cushion.  

If you would like to win my giveaway...

leave me a comment on this post.  Since June is my birthday month, tell me your birthday month in your comment.  

If you would like a second chance to win, become a follower of my blog and leave me a separate comment.  If you are already a follower, tell me so in your second comment.  

I really appreciate all your comments and encouragement.

I will leave this giveaway open until Monday, June 20th...my birthday!

(10pm my local time) Then I will randomly select a winner.

Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you should you win.  If I can not contact you, I will need to select a new winner. Good Luck!

I'm on the Banner!

Today I can tell you that my quilt was chosen to be on the banner over at Sew We Quilt! Click on the button on my side bar to link and see the other beautiful quilts too!

It is such an honor to be recognized among the hundreds of quilts submitted.  Thank you Samm! 

Just scroll down to my last post to see more pictures and read a little more about my quilt!  Thanks for visiting...I appreciate all my readers and comments.  You are all so encouraging!