A Week in Photos

Happy Sunday peeps! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I know I am.

The weeks seem to be flying by now that I have started school. School days are long but somehow I manage to get some sewing in here and there.

Farmer's Wife Quilt A-Long Week 7.

Calico Puzzle (Block 16) and Buzzard's Roost (Block 15)

I love lavender sachets and had this idea to make some kitty sachets using my scraps. Here they are! I love the fact that I can use scraps to make them, and that each one is unique. I embroidered their faces using DMC floss.

I have fallen for hexagons. LOL I can't stop making them! After I add some more to these I plan on using them to make a pillow. I am loving the stash busting, and the fact that I can sit on the couch and stitch these while watching a movie.

I caught a snapshot of Tex basking in the late afternoon sun.

Lola loves rolling around with her toy fox!

Alas, the weekend is almost over and I have a long school day coming up tomorrow.

What's coming up for you next week?

Oh My Stars!

Sorry for the lack of posts around here. School has started and lately my nose has been deep in my dental anatomy books, and going to school 2 full days a week. Thankfully, I've managed to squeak in some sewing time. ;) My newest obsession? Wonky stars!! Oh, how I love making these. This week I cranked out five.

I haven't fully decided what I will make with these. Maybe individual mug rugs? Maybe add a border and turn them into travel embroidery bags? Or piece several together to make a table runner? Oh decisions! ;)
This large one I think I am going to add a border to and make a laptop sleeve out of. In all my spare time. *insert sarcasm here* ;)
Still managing to keep up with the FWQAL. Here we are at Week 6 already! This week I made blocks 13 and 14 which are Buckwheat, on the left, and Butterfly at the Crossroads, on the right.
I'd be lying if I said they were easy peasy. They were quite time consuming and Buckwheat in particular gave me a few headaches. But alas, I am quite thrilled to be learning new piecing skills with this QAL. Good times for sure!
The rainy season has finally started here in Florida. My Dahlia plant is quite loving the rain and the sun. I am ecstatic that she is growing up so nicely, having never tried my hand, err thumb, at gardening. It just may be green after all. My thumb and the plant. ;)

What's good in your world, peeps? Happy Weekend to you!

My Name is Laura and I'm Addicted to Quilting

I know there could be worse addictions, so all things considered, quilting is a harmless addiction. Unless that is, you are running out of time to do it all!

Below are this week's FWQAL blocks. Yep, I did 4 over the past week and a half. I jumped ahead. I couldn't help it. The more I make, the more I want to keep on making them! At this rate I'll surely have all 111 blocks finished by 2012. Not that there's a deadline....;)

Since I'm following along with the order in the book, I completed 9, and 10 below. Box and Bowtie.
Here's the I.Can't.Help.Myself.Part. I continued with blocks 11 and 12. Broken Dishes (on the lower right) and Broken Sugar Bowl (on the left).
Oooh! I can hardly wait until the quilt top is ready to be pieced!
Of course I just *had* to start some new 12 inch blocks....for another quilt. I have had a bunch of feedsack prints in my stash for some time, waiting to be used. I knew I wanted to make a quilt with them. So I searched the net for some free quilt block patterns, and settled on this block called Baby Bud. They go together pretty fast and being 12 inches square, I only need to make roughly 49 to make a nice sized quilt. So, yay!
My Dahlia plant is coming along nicely. I'm so excited to see it growing up so quickly. Yay for flowers this summer!
This post is brought to you by Harry. He tends to be the inspector of my projects. Always jumping up on my cutting table or hanging out next to my sewing machine.

Happy July 4th Peeps! I hope you all have a splendid holiday!

FWQAL Week 4 and Something Scrappy

This week's blocks are #8 Bouquet and # 7 Birds in the Air. I'm happy that I have been able to keep up with the QAL so far! The Birds in the Air block took a considerable amount of time to piece but I'm fairly happy with how it turned out.

Here are all 8 blocks so far! I'm excited that at the end of this I'll have 111 blocks to make into a quilt!

Last weekend I was playing around with some small scrappy pieces leftover from a another quilt project in progress. I made a sort of log-cabiny mini mug rug. I had fun just playing with the pieces and seeing what I ended up with.

Hope you are all having a great weekend! What are you working on?

Sew Much Fun! Or FWQAL Week 3

I am absolutely loving the fwqal. Really, really loving. Here we are at week 3 already. I am following the blocks in the order they appear in the book. Here are the Big Dipper on the left and Bat Wing on the right. If you like sewing, whether new to quilting or not, jump on in! It's so amazing to see what everyone is creating over in the flickr group. Fun times for sure!

Lately, I've been obsessed with making veggie pizzas at home. Here's last week's creation.
Best. Pizza. I've. Ever.Tasted. Seriously folks. If you haven't made pizzas at home yet, what are you waiting for??!! I use Emeril Lagasse's crust recipe. I haven't had 1 disappointing crust yet!
To switch things up a bit, we had chicken tacos with black beans and brown rice the other night. Delicious! I am really loving dinner lately. ;)
I am trying my hand at planting this summer. These will *hopefully* be Dahlias sometime

this summer. Here are the sprouts after about 1 week. I was so excited to see them sprout so fast!

What are you excited about lately?

Farmer's Wife Quilt- A-long

I did it! I jumped in head first, err, rotary cutter first, and joined the #fwqal.

I received the book as a gift for Christmas and it has been sitting languishing on the shelf until now. The quilt-a-long is just what I needed. A swift kick in the pants to stop sitting and get sewing! Peeps are already all over it. Check out the flickr link above if you feel so inclined.

The goal of the quilt-a-along as I understand it, is to sew 2 blocks a week until we've completed all 111 blocks. That's a huge amount of blocks! But it seems doable if you do it in small increments.

I also love that the blocks are only 6 inches by 6 inches so you can use up scraps and fabric from your stash! Yay for stash busting!

So what do you say? Care to join? ;)

Buffalo

I have always considered Buffalo "home", even though I have lived in many places across the U.S. For that reason, my visit there this past week was so very lovely. My mom and I drove up with Lola and she was such a great car traveler. The drive was beautiful.....made the length of it easier to handle. In fact, I was so taken by all the green. Especially in West Virginia. We don't have anything nearly as green here in Florida.

A trip wouldn't be complete without a stop in a fabric store! We went to Patchwork Garden on Transit Rd. in Buffalo and it was a bit of heaven! I have never been to a fabric store with such a fantastic selection. The owner, Joan, was so gracious because when we got there they were actually closed but since a class was in session, Joan let us come in and shop anyway. Thanks Joan! She also gave me permission to snap some photos.

These are the fat quarters I bought. Crazy? Maybe. ;) I bought over 30. Addicted? Yes!

On Thursday we drove into Buffalo and walked Elmwood Avenue. Again, I was so amazed at all the green!

These were some beautiful flowers (among many!) at a co-op market on Elmwood.
This is a photo I took at Glen Falls park in Williamsville. It smelled so good! The air was so fresh and cool. I was in heaven.
On Friday night we met family for a fish fry. I took this photo on the way to the restaurant. I love the Memorial Day flags in the grass.
On Saturday night I had a very special evening planned at HSBC Arena with my favorite boy band. This photo was snapped right after I met said boy band. Note super big smile.
......And here's a photo with little old me and the boy band. It's an NKOTB sandwich! It was really, really memorable.

We got back to Florida on Tuesday evening and much of today was spent unpacking, organizing, etc.. While in Buffalo, we also went to the flea market, and some estate sales. I picked up some neat stuff. More to come!

I hope everyone's week is going great! Now, to get on with some sewing!