Quilting Update... URR!!

Here are some more of my Underground Railroad blocks! 

I love the colors! 

Hobbs is getting sooooo big! 

Juliette Loves to sleep in my sewing chair! 

She doesn't care if I am sitting there too, she will just move over so we can share! LOL

I love it! 

I learned how to knit...It takes alot to get even a little bit done! 

I am not very good at it, or very fast! Oh well! 

Hugs, 

Lisa 

Sewing Vs Quilting

Alot of people that I meet assume that because I quilt I also enjoy sewing clothing. 

Well, that is not necessarily true. 

I do occasionally sew clothing, but I prefer quilting. 

I do however enjoy altering my clothes. 

I played with this shirt that was too big. 

It looks better on! 

Then I whipped up this fun knit tank.

And I even made this fabric flower and added it! 

I decided to conquer shirring. So, I made this bathing suit cover-up! I am so impressed with how well it turned out! 

Then I went through my closet and pulled all of this out to donate to my church thrift store!

I love getting rid of stuff that I haven't worn...

that just makes room for the new!!

Hugs, 

Lisa

Simple Woman's Daybook ~ Sewing Day

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... Storm clouds are teasing me.

I am thinking... I want to make a skirt, but I'm not sure which one I want to make.

I am thankful... For my Sewing machines!

In the kitchen... I taught Alyssa how to make meatloaf today. It's in the oven!

I am wearing... My comfy clothes!!

I am creating... LOTS! I got a GREAT deal on some interfacing at a thrift store yesterday ($.50), so I started working on a t-shirt quilt for someone special!

I am going... To try and stay home as long as possible today. Hopefully, I wont have to leave at all!

I am wondering... What Detto doing right now??

I am reading... A time to Love! I am almost done with it! 

I am hoping... To finish sewing the binding onto the purple and green quilt today. I keep stopping to work on other projects like mending, and blocks.

I am looking forward to... volunteering at the church thrift store tomorrow with Alyssa.

I am learning... English Literature in college and I'm learning how to sew clothes without a pattern.

Around the house... Sissy is singing!

I am pondering... What should I use as the focus fabric for my nine patches. 

A favorite quote for today... "If at first you don't succeed, try doing it the way your wife told you."

One of my favorite things... Fabric. I am in love with the feel of fabric.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Volunteering at the church Thrift Store, driving my kids around, dropping off some of my clothes at the consignment shop.

A peek into my day...

Nine Patch Quilt-A-Long Tutorial

I have been trying to find new ways to use up my scraps & make fun quilts for my Quilted Hugs Project!

Today I counted and so far I have 13 finished Quilts!!
I also have 18 finished quilt tops!
That makes a total of 31 quilts! WOW! I cannot believe that I have made so many already.
Go me!

After finishing sewing the binding on my last few quilts today I decided to find a way to use more scraps and make some more quilt tops.
I have enough fabric to make another Stringy Quilt.
Those come together soooo fast!

I like changing things up. I can not seem to make more than two quilts in any one pattern or method  before it just seems boring.

SO....
I decided to do a Quilt-A-Long (QAL).
I have tons of strips of fabric in my scrap basket and they seem to be constantly multiplying.
I don't like to use any strips larger than 3 inches, so those tend to sit on the bottom of the basket and just get in my way.
I decided to pull them out and see how many I had.
I was very surprised that I have sooo many large and long strips of fabric 3 inches wide or larger.

SEW... I decided to do a Nine Patch-A-Day QAL!
These are so easy and it's not hard to make one nine patch per day.

The fun will start on July 5th!
That gives you a week to get your fabric together, match up fabrics, cut any scraps to the required size, etc. (Note: If you have a jelly roll feel free to use that. Your blocks will finish a little smaller, but it will still turn out GREAT!!)

Here is a quick tutorial on how to make a nine patch for our QAL...

Materials Needed:
Aprox 3 yards of
Scrap fabric 3 inches by at least 18 inches long
(You can also use a jelly roll and your blocks will turn out smaller. Just make sure to cut your pieces
 2 1/2 inches wherever it says to cut 3 inches in the tutorial.)

1. Sew strips aprox. 9 inches down the length of the fabric, right sides together.

You should end up with this. 

2. Cut sewn strip into Three 3 inch sections.

3. Out of the remaining fabric cut two 3 inch squares out of fabric A and one 3 inch square out of fabric B

4. Sew the 3 inch squares onto your pieces making three alternating sections. (See picture above)

5. Press seams towards the darker fabric.

6. Sew the three sections together to make a nine patch block. Make sure to match your seams.

7. Press open seams.

Your yield should be one nine patch block that finishes at 7 3/4. 

I am going to make one block per day for the next 36 days.
That will give me enough blocks to make a nice lap quilt for my Quilted Hugs Project!

Please join me and leave a comment to let me know that you are playing along.
I would love to see your progress so please follow my blog and then post about this fun Nine Patch QAL!!

I will post soon about how to turn these blocks into a quilt top.

Hugs,
Lisa 

Sewing with Ceceilia & hanging with the Mongiovi Kids!

Mike & Tina's kids came over to hang out this week. 

Tina is packing because they are moving to Tennessee and so I offered to watch the kids to give her some time to get stuff done.

While Ceceillia was here she asked me if she could make a rug for her cat. LOL

Into the sewing room we went and I gave her my scrap bin and scissors and let her go to town!

This is what she designed.

I helped her pin down the pieces and I taught her how to sew them down.

She did most of it herself.

She drew a cat on the "quilt/rug" and lots of quilting designs. 

I quilted it for her, but she did everything else on her own.

This is the "finished product"!

She did such a great job!

The boys played games and hung out with Detto with me and girly worked in the sewing room. Then we all went swimming!

It was such a blessing to be able to spend time with them.

We sure will miss these little wiggles when they move!

Hugs, 

Lisa

FREE Block of the Month from Craftsy

Whenever I first come into my sewing room it seems that I can't start sewing until I check my email and/or Blogger. 

I'm not sure why, but I sometimes think that if I didn't sew I would never even check my email. 

Today, I saw this... 

I was instantly interested! 

My freebies4mom email said this: 

Take a free ‘Block of the Month: The Modern 9-Patch’ quilting class with Amy Gibson fromCraftsy free for a limited time (classes normally cost between $9.99 and $39.99). Not only will you have access to June’s 20-minute class, but you’ll be able to access all five previous ‘Block of the Month’ classes. It’s easy to sign-up with just your email address and a password of your choice. Watch the high-quality class videos at your convenience, and interact with other crafters.

I just had to share it with you. 

I joined and I think I am going to start this BOM (Block of the Month) right away.... 

well, as soon as I finish binding the 5 quilts in my pile, and after I square up my finished string quilt top, and after I get these scrappy string rows off of my design wall, and....

But, the important part is that I decided to start it! 

LOL 

Let me know if you joined and if you plan on starting this block of the month quilt too! 

The great part about it is that it is only ONE block per month! Which means that it wont take away from my other projects! Yippy 4 Me!

Hugs,

Lisa 

Beginners Sewing / Quilting Class

Beginner Machine Sewing/Quilting Classes!

ALL AGES WELCOME!

$30 for the three-part session

When:

Thurs, July 26^th, 9am-11am

Friday, July 27^th 9am-11am

Monday, July 30^th 9am-12pm

(We will have a potluck following our final class, Monday!)

Where:

Silver Lake Community Church (Joy Room)

34030 Radio Rd. Leesburg, Fl. 34788

Register:

Email or call Lisa Scarberry with your name, email address, age and phone #, as well as your sewing skill level and whether or not you have a sewing machine.

email: addicted2quilting@yahoo.com or phone/text: 352-638-6747

**Please “add” my email address to your contacts so that you can receive the information I will be sending out once you are registered. (Otherwise my emails tend to go into people’s spam folder-not sure why).

There will be a few machines available for use on a first come, first requested basis. Please make every effort to bring a machine with you.

Sewing Time Snacks and More...

For some strange reason whenever I am sewing I seem to get hungry.

I am not sure if this is just me or do you experience it too??

I always bring water up to my sewing room, and I often bring hot tea or sweet tea as well. 

Sew... when these snack-y fits hit in the past I would grab junk, but over the last few months I have wizened up and I have kept "better" snacks in my sewing room. 

By keeping this smarter choices close by I have not been eating the other higher calorie snacks.

This is what I keep on hand.

What about you?

Do you have that "must have" snack hidden in your sewing room?

(I have kids who will eat my 100 calorie snacks if I don't hide them.)

I also keep a pack of gum on hand. I LOVE to chew gum, it helps me not eat when I am restless.

If I am stuck on a design or color choice, I tend to stop and grab a snack to clear my head and then I come back to re-address the problem.

Gum or yogurt are my non-chocolate snacks of choice. (I know gum isn't really a food, but my "I want food" side of my brain doesn't know that!)

OK, enough about snacks....LOOK what I won!!

I enter giveaways all the time and I finally won something.

This looks like a really fun pattern. 

I can't wait to try it out! 

I have an idea to make a cork board out of wine bottle corks.

My only problem is that we don't drink enough wine!! 

I have been saving corks for 3 years and I only have 25. This even includes Christmas when my whole family was over and drank 4-5 bottles in one day!

This is my pile so far! Maybe in a few years I will have enough to make an 8x10 cork board. 

LOL

Hugs, 

Lisa 

Sewing Saturday

When I get to stay at home on a Saturday and Sew, I feel like I have just won the lottery! 

Now to some that might feel a little exaggerated, but not for me. 

In this busy, rush, rush era that we all live in, it seems that there is hardly ever a day of "rest"!

Sunday is supposed to be that day, but it often seems that Sunday is an "extra" day, not a rest day. 

When I say an extra day, I mean a day to play catch-up on work, chores, or shopping. 

So, when I get a sewing Saturday I feel blessed. 

Thankfully, I used my time wisely and got a lot accomplished.

I made binding for 5 quilts.Here is one waiting to be sewn on. 

I attached a few bindings, but I didn't finish them yet. I will hopefully accomplish that before the weekend is over.

Here is one binding being sewn on.It took a lot of time to cut scraps into usable binding strips and then sew them all together. 

It doesn't sound like a lot of work, but you can't just sew the strips end to end. For binding they have to be sewn on at a diagonal to avoid so many layers of fabric going under the needle at once. 

I also pulled out some quilts that were recently pinned.

I set these two quilts next to the ironing board in order to inspire me to sew the edges. These were pinned envelope style and so the next step is sewing around the border of the quilt.

I was sooooo pleased that I completed this quilt top. I really like how it turned out. 

This is my summer applique quilt that I finished last week, but forgot to catch a picture of.

I really LOVE it. I do think I  need to add another border. 

I just haven't decided what color fabric to use for it. 

Hugs, 

Lisa

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... It is overcast, but the sun keeps peeking through. Kind of like a surprise. 

I am thinking... God is so good to me. 

I am thankful... for my sewing machines. They are always ready and waiting for a visit from me. 

In the kitchen... I am trying to decide what to  make for dinner....

I am wearing... A black skirt and a "summer" top. Both stretchy and very comfy. I tend to wear lots of skirts and dresses during the summer.

I am creating... quilt binding. I have 5 quilts that I hope to make the binding for today. 

I am going... NOWHERE!! I plan on staying home all day!

I am wondering... What Stephen is doing right now. He left for a camping trip last night. I pray he is enjoying himself.

I am reading... "A Time to Heal". Still! I sat down and read a few chapters this morning over breakfast!

I am hoping... To bind all five quilts today, and maybe even piece another quilt top!

I am looking forward to... Spending all day SEWING!

I am learning... how to do counted cross stitch! I am really enjoying it! 

Around the house... Sissy is watching Saturday Morning Cartoons and Jackson & Jasmine are sleeping on the pillow next to my sewing machine. (Detto's at drill & Stephen's camping.) Just us girls today.

I am pondering... What can I make with my over abundance of tomato's growing in my garden?

A favorite quote for today... Quilts are not meant to be perfect, they are meant to be loved!

One of my favorite things... My quilting Iron! It is so "HOT"! LOL

A few plans for the rest of the week: This is going to be a fairly busy week. I get to hang out with Mike & Tina's three kids and I am really looking forward to Reilly's birthday Party!

A peek into my day...