First Finish of 2020- Blackbird Gathering

Ta-Da! I'm pleased to report the completion of the first quilt of 2020!

My friend, Linda, was not happy with her UFO's so offered several of these block to me. Uh, yeah, I just looked and it was 3 years ago!! Check out which ones were hers HERE. 

I brought it outside to try and get a better look at the quilt and quilting.

Thank you Diane, Butterfly Threads Quilting for quilting this for me! She kept it simple in keeping with the primitive quilt top.

Hanging out in the jacuzzi and look who wants to play??!! 

I said I'd be having the fundraiser book sale on February 1st, but that is Saturday. I'll be doing it on Thursday and Friday of this week,. So keep your eyes open! I have a large stack!!

December Giveaway

This is a random assortment of sewing and quilting stuff! There's a wee bit of everything. If you'd like to win it, please be a follower of my blog and leave a comment. If you are a no reply commenter please leave your email address. I'm going to post in the comments if you are a no reply, because I know many of you don't know. I'll draw next week.
Drawing is Closed! Thank you all for entering!

Baby quilt basted, hombre small quilt started. (Oops, machine quilting baby quilt soon!)

Elsa enjoying her first snow with us! She loves digging her nose in the snow to look for her ball.

More snow predicted today!

Phenomenal Friday

This has been a crazy week, starting off with losing an hour! I had puppy class Monday and Wednesday because we were making up one class. It's an hour drive ONE WAY - thank goodness Elsa is a great passenger. She is also really exhausted when we leave too. (Me too!)

Here are 5 more blocks of Cheri's scrap basket quilt. They are fun and simple.

 This was Elsa yesterday in my sewing room. Is it any wonder I'm not getting a lot of sewing done? Her injury is almost all closed up! Yay! Wonder how long it will take for her hair to grow back.

Here is the backing of ,y doll quilt for the swap. I'm hand quilting it in the evenings. 

Sunday night at midnight is the cut off. If you have not sent me your mailing address at any point this week, you are not signed up! I think we will have about 70 swappers again this year! Thanks for your understanding on the rules and such. It gets a little crazy. 

Here's my Instagram for this week.  

Loved The Nightingale, couldn't quite get into The Truth According to Us. 

I'm looking forward to the weekend! Make it a wonderful one!

Ben Biggs in the Sewing Room with a Needle

I got to spend some more time with the BBiggs quilt. Since the borders are pretty much the same it is a little boring to show you, but I thought I'd let you tag along and show you how I'm doing it. 

After appliqueing the second border I added it by centering it and the quilt and matching them up first, then the ends. It fit together really well. 

 One side...

 And the other....

I then took three measurements so I would know exactly how long to cut my other two borders. I measured  on the two sides and through the center. Mine was exactly 70" at all 3 measurements. (miracles really do happen!) . Personally I think the border is a bit wide at 10" so I didn't need to be super exact. Chances are I will trim them later. I plan on checking Gay's blog and seeing what the original size is and how it is quilted before I make that decision.

 Then I measured from the swag down, so when I started on the other two borders, they would all be relatively close. This photo turned upside down, but my measurement is 5 1/8" from the edge, Since it is already sewn I need to add 1/4" for the seam allowance.

 I cut my border 10" x70 and creased the center so I'd know where to place my swag. I measured from the bottom up to find the 5 3/8" placement. (again, my photo is upside down)

 For the bud placement I put the pattern sheet underneath my fabric and laid out the pieces on top. I'm fusing, so once they are placed I iron them down ready to use a tiny zig zag with matching thread.

I left the corners open because I'll need to improvise on the swag pattern a little. I  won't attach the right border until the machine applique is done. I will also applique the swags before adding the red three bud thing. That way where the swags meet I don't have to be that neat. 

I hope that makes sense.

 The talented and generous Cheri of Quilts by Cheri has started a little sampler on her facebook page. Here's my first 4 blocks.

My instagram feed is filled with Elsa!

I also sent my registration in to go on the mission trip to Peru in November! So exciting!

Have a really wonderful weekend.

Benjamin Biggs Revisited

I thought I had 2 borders on my 3x3 quilt top.........I guess not. 

 I did have 2 border swags fused. I got them appliqued and tried to remember what I had planned to do for the corners. It's always a good idea to make notes and put with the quilt if it is going to get packed up for awhile. (I did not do this!)

I added the threesome buds and I like the way it is looking.

 My corner swag looks like it will be too big, so I'll redraft 2 of them that will meet in the corner. Lots of  machine applique is on my list this week!!

It was so cold but we took the dogs to the park today to give them a bit more space to run and play. It has been one week and Elsa is making some progress at fitting in- although she ran to the neighbors today and met the 2 dogs. Thankfully my neighbor and myself were outside and all 4! dogs got along okay. We are keeping Elsa away from playing with "other" dogs until her wound is completely healed.  Thanks for all your wonderful words of support concerning our adopting her. It has been an exhausting week! LOL It has been many years since we've had a puppy.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Elsa, But no Quilting

I took this photo of Elsa yesterday. Elsa has not had a good start to her life and we are hoping to change that. 

 What we do know is she was brought to our veterinarian on February 9 with a massive wound on her back that was abscessed. The people that brought her in said she was a stray.  According to the vet's wife and our friend, Betty, she probably managed to live on her own for a time. She was underweight and afraid of everything. I got a call from the Vet's office and they left a message saying they had a German Shepherd pup and they thought we may be interested in adopting. I met her on Wednesday the 17th and returned on the 20th with our dog to meet her, who is part shepherd. I took the photo above on that day.

My husband picked her up on Saturday (while I was at sew expo) Porter and Elsa are finally on decent terms. Because her wound is still open we are only allowing supervised play. 

A rare quiet moment with both of them.

Playing with my new brother is very tiring!

I'm awake and ready to play!

After her rough start we are having a few issues but will  build her trust first before too much official training. 

The third day and she finally walked through our kitchen that has wood floors. She hasn't quite figured out the stairs yet either..... puppy steps......

Thanks for indulging me today.

Have a wonderful day!!

Sewing Expo

I had a fun weekend meeting my great nephew and seeing the other relatives. My SIL, my daughter and myself made it to the Expo. It's been years since I've been and it didn't disappoint!

 These were displayed in one of the vendor's booth. I look forward to checking out their online store- www.sewcherished.com

 I would never do a quilt like this but I can sure appreciate it. 

 I picked up a few things. I've been wanting to try out some of this thread from Superior for machine quilting and picked up some great scissors made by Kai.  (no reason to not have two good fabric scissors!)

Here's a great older fabric by Pilgrim and Roy. 1 yd for $5!

 Quiltmania was there and I snagged this heavy duty bag with Bill Volkening's quilt on it. It was last year's model and they were practically giving them away!

 I also saw a great display of Liz's Sunflower Fields Quilt Patterns. I love seeing my blogging friends succeed! 

 Isn't that adorable?

 I saw Mary Fons promoting her Small Wonders fabric.  I just did a giveaway of the little quilt I made to help spread the word about her adorable fabrics. It was fun to introduce myself and meet her.

And look who came to live with us this weekend! Please meet 4 month old Elsa. She was brought in to our Vet's office with an injury on her back, saying she was a stray. Because we have Porter (part shepherd) they called us to see if we may be interested in adopting her. We are taking it slow getting the two dogs together. My husband is glad I'm home tonight! LOL

Oh gee, I thought work was cutting into my sewing time! HAHAHA

Happy Monday!