Help!

I have these beautiful Hawaiian fabrics that I'd like to use in a quilt. I've thought of large strips of squares laid like this with sashing (maybe that blue in between) or squares going diagonal (like 1/4 of a trip around the world) but there might be so many more ideas out there that I'm not thinking of. If someone gives me an idea that I use, I will send you a prize. I can even order more fabric if necessary. I like busy quilts as long as they have something to tone them down a bit.

Hawaiian Pineapple

Here it is layed out on my design wall (floor) freshly mopped. I have it pinned somewhat so I can start the needleturn applique. I will probably save it for our vacation in a couple of weeks. It is a good poolside project in 110 degree weather. St. George Utah.My daughter made these cupcakes with a couple of young girls last evening. Instead of making them all like normal cupcakes, she put these in tart pans and baked them. I think they are much better than cupcakes, not so caky. More frosting to the bite? Fatter also? But very tasty.

Contest

There is a contest being held at Hugs from Helen for patterns for this beautiful Christmas sampler. Check it out. It is something she designed for a BOM. Very cute.

This is a customer quilt that I just completed. It is a memory quilt and she just wanted to have me do a large stipple.This is a traditional Hawaiian pineapple quilt that I am starting to cut out. I saw the fabric (a Splash Citrus one) and to me it said pineapple. I've had it a while thinking I was going to do something else with it, but then just decided on Tradition. It will be about 5' square if I remember correctly.
I also decided to chalk the pattern on instead of a paper pattern, which is what I normally do. I think chalk works just fine as long as I don't take to long to cut it out. The rotary cutter doesn't work too well through all 8 layers, but I do have a sharp scissors. It is pretty scary to make the first cut, because you have to be sure you have the fabric folded correctly.

What to do with leftover squares

What you do is make potholders. I made a quilt a few months ago from leftovers and made more squares than I needed. The blue were the first squares I made and they were the wrong size. The orange and green were just leftover. So today I made these potholders. I will sell the blue ones because they look nice. The others I will use. I need more potholders anyway. These are blankets I finished yesterday. I needed more blankets that could be used for boys.

There's no rain in the forecast. Last night my husband and I tried sleeping under the stars, but it started raining. It's really nice camping right next to a nice house with all the plumbing and electricity you could find. We came in to a dry bed. Our younger daughters were in the tent and stayed there. Today it's raining also, even though the weather forecast said and still says no rain. But I did sit on my rocking chair on the porch and enjoyed the wind and rain. It's pleasant when it's warm outside.

Little Boy Blue Square

For the July summer picnic in my quilt guild, we are all bringing squares 12 1/2" that have blue in them. This is the first one I made and hopefully not the last. I like the card trick pattern and thought I'd do it in all blue. I did pretty good at matching points (especially for me) but it is not perfect, but I think it will work.This is the car organizer finished and photoed in my van. I think it'll work well.

WINNER

I do have a winner! Shelley chose correctly with her bear parts. The parts do make a nice little bear for a small child. Thanks to all those who entered. It was really fun to read what everyone guessed. Quite the variety of things.I'm practicing hats right now. I found that when I knit in the round I knit much smaller, so for the hats I must go up a needle size. For other items I go down 2 needle sizes. That's quite a bit of difference. So the pink hat is for a newborn. It was supposed to be for a 1 year old. The striped is correct because I learned by then.

I also made this blanket to add to the shop. It's Beatrix Potter fabric and a thick, soft chenille like fabric on the back. Very thick and very soft. I really like it.

Big Sale Day

I had quite a sale day off of our porch. This wallhanging which I made acouple of years ago sold. You can get attached to some of the things you make if you've had them a while, so it was a little sad. But I can always make more.This also sold. I'm glad there are those who enjoy buying what I make.

I could use more guesses for my contest. The ones that were made so far are not correct at all.

So keep guessing.

CONTEST - WHAT AM I MAKING?

I will send a prize to the person who is the most accurate in quessing what these pieces are for before I post the final product. I will probably post Monday, so let those guesses come.This is a sweater for a 6-9 month child that I just finished. I put it on my porch to sell.

Ruffling?

Yesterday I made this baby blanket from this fabric and minky on the back. I added a ruffle - thought it might be cute. I sell a lot of blankets off of my porch.I took that provence fabric and made this table runner and placemats for a customer. She likes the french look and really liked these. I'm always glad to have happy customers.

Now to go eat fresh strawberries. They are soooo good!!

Mom's now finished

Friends

We had friends over today to sew

and to cook. Don't Dot and Joe look like they are enjoying cooking- or is it tasting?

Here are the pillows that Maria and Molly made.

Mom's still working on her wall hanging.

Provence Fabric

This is a beautiful fabric from the Provence area of France that my daughter brought back with her for me a couple of years ago. I made one section of it into a tablerunner that I just sold off of my porch. I also had it listed on Etsy and it became a feature item. I am going to make 4 placemats for the same customer and then make one more runner which I will keep. After all, I'll probably never see that same fabric again.

Charity Guild Quilt

Today was a very profitable day. My family went kyaking and I'm here at home minding the store and working on projects. This quilt is a charity quilt done for my quild. It's great because I take these quilts and do things on them I wouldn't do for customers. I am pretty new in the longarm world-less than a year- so I need quilts to try and practice. A close-up - diagonals are hard. I do have a pattern board and that makes it better. I should just keep practicing with that. Also the twirls on the black fabric kept skipping stitches. Is it the fabric. I haven't had that problem since I first got the machine and learned some things. But this kept happening on the black- only. I put basketballs and footballs in the 4-patches. That was pretty fun.

I'll show the rest of my day in other posts.

Pay it forward Challenge

I checked out Erin's blog and signed up for the pay it forward challenge.

{The Rules}
1. Be one of the first THREE (3) bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!
2. Winners must post this challenge on their blog, meaning that they will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first 3 bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought that Counts!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!If you are not one of the Top 3 Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same.REMEMBER... Pay it forward!

I think it will be fun to see what happens. I'll post pictures of the gift I receive. I will send out my gifts quickly also.

Car organizer

My organizer is coming along. I don't think I'll do another one. Too many little details. I guess I like the details of quilts or cross stitch better. I was going to rank it as one of the ugliest things I had done, but I like it better now. My daughters will serge the cup holder for me (it's only pinned on) and then I'll come up with a way to hang it over a car seat. Let me know how ugly you would rate it. I've had quite a sale day off of our porch. My items sold today, not the twins.

This is Melanie's quilt on my design wall (floor) I did some ripping out after attaching 2 blue to white instead of 2 white to blue. But this quilt is going very quickly. I have to do more cutting. I cut a couple of center squares to small plus there are a few more strips I have to cut for the narrow rows. I don't know why I seem never to get enough cut in the first place.This is a car organizer from a Simplicity pattern that my girl's bought. I thought it was a neat idea and decided to try it.

Check out my twins' new blogspot.

Hawaii and Lamb

I thought I'd show you this quilt that I've been working on for months. It is an Hawaiian trumpet flower quilt. And I am handquilting it. It's probably the last quilt that I'll ever do by hand - maybe. The white fabric is a Hawaiian fabric that has been painted on.You can see the fabric better in this picture. It does not work in my machine well. In fact it is very difficult to quilt by hand also. But it is beautiful fabric. Maybe I'll have to think of other uses for it, so I can keep buying it. I love making Hawaiian quilts.

This is a little lamb I knitted up the other day. It is small enough to fit in a toddler's pocket. I might try to make a mother for it - maybe a whole family.

Pink Rose

This is a customer's quilt that I just took off the frame. It's a lovely one and I really enjoyed quilting it.Close-ups of some of my work. Thanks to Anita for the idea of the flower.

My feather work. I really enjoy feathers. These are a little wonky.

Sweater vest

Here is a sweater vest made out of cotton that I just completed. I'll put it on etsy to sell.

Isn't she cute?

The heat is here

Here I am sewing at my daughters' machine in the yard in the 90 degree heat! I didn't need a machine much today, so I didn't want to set mine up. We are outside or on the porch all day. We have to take advantage of the dry weather and the heat. It is going to rain again and get cooler. This is the sewing I was doing today-the start of Melanie's wedding quilt. I'll place them on my design wall (the floor) and pick out the border and rest of the inside fabrics to go best with this.

Finished Crossstitch

I feel like I'm getting a roll on finishing things. It does leave you in a state of what to do next-although I do have plenty to do. This is a picture I started in February (a crossstitch) and finally finished yesterday. The wedding is Saturday, so I got it done just in time. If things go well today, I'll have a couple more finishes to post later on. This picture is a little too green. I could have picked a better mat, but the mat itself has a silky finish and looked great before I saw it all put together. I hope she likes it.

New Sweater and Beret

Here is my little friend Kaylee modeling my latest sweater and hat that I just finished knitting. I am having a comeback with knitting and enjoying it very much. I can't get things done fast enough. My plan is to sell these on Etsy this fall. I liked this sweater because it looked English.
I think Kaylee has had enough of the beret. She must be thinking "why are they putting all this on me when it's 85 degrees outside?" What we as adults put little ones through.

Chickens

Our chickens are getting bolder. They are walking right up to the porch.Look at her run!

My husband was moving them on.

These are some of my lovely flowers. The first picture is a lacey lilac. And then my climbing roses. They have so many buds. We will have a lot of roses this year.