More charity quilting, more binding!

Last night I finished up another binding and today, I quilted two more, and added binding to sew down later. I have to keep the big machine free for a rush job coming very soon. More time to play, for me!

This one is quilted with free motion flowers and swirls

Here is the back

This one has swirly quilting

I love this bright plaid shirting. Soooo soft!!

I have my next project picked out and am starting to fool around with colors and fabrics I like together. It is a paper pieced project, so it will be slow going with all the fiddly folding, cutting and pressing needed to make flat blocks. I also got the applique pattern I sent for in the mail today! Woo hoo! After browsing through the directions, I began looking over my stash of background fabrics so I can get started on the blocks. I will show you my progress as I go along.
Now, it is time to hand sew... deja vu. I hand sew binding every night lately.
Needle ready! Let's sew.

It's a flimsy!!

I have been working feverishly to get the top finished for our bed quilt. There are two custom quilts to be done, and I need to get ready for them. Here is where I started this morning.

This is from 2:15 this afternoon when I stopped for lunch.

Almost done...

Yippee! 6:30 and it is a flimsy!

Tim took the picture with the quilt draped over the railing. It is too big to hold up in a picture. I think it will be pretty when it's done.

Mr Wazoo soldiered through this pretty quilt yesterday.

He had lots of problems with it due to wavy borders. I helped him out and finished it for him after he had a meltdown . Poor baby. I fired him temporarily for whining and grousing all morning...then gave him a reprieve when he apologized for his behavior. Today, he played outside and stayed out of my studio!!
One more of the 5 charity quilts has its binding sewn down, so now I can go to bed and read my book as a reward.
Good night...dreaming of my next quilt! ZZZZ

Changed gears for charity

I meant to sew the quilt top for our bed today, but I had to change gears and do other things. I started with mounds of laundry. When the husband likes to play outside in the dirt, there will be loads of dirty laundry, and that is what I had to do today. So while the washer chugged along, I went to the studio and tackled the pile of charity quilts for the guild. There were three from other quilters, and two of mine from the sewcial yesterday. All of them are now quilted and have their bindings sewn on. I need to do the hand sewing before turning them in next week.

The squirrel applique makes this quilt fun

I like how thw quilter made stars in this stack and slash quilt

Looks like a jelly roll race

I made this fruity quilt. It is a bit busy, but colorful

I made this cherries quilt, too

I made myself a promise; to start the bed quilt tomorrow, for sure!

A No Ice Cream Social

Today was the guild's monthly 'sewcial' with a tutorial by yours truly. I demonstrated the 2-3-2-6 quilt, and made my own number 151 and 152! If I had a better memory, I could tell you who all these happy ladies are, but I am slow on the up-take with names so we'll settle for pictures! Some quilters have a bit of a hard time wrapping their minds around the Eleanor Burns method of vertical chain piecing, just as I did when I first learned it, but it is an easy way to whip out this type of quilt in a short period of time. I pieced two of the pattern today and will have them on the blog tomorrow. Enjoy our Sewcial pictures!

Our hostess, Nelda on the right

Our other hostess, Joanne

Shop Hop, Donkeys and Mother's Day...Oh My!

Happy Mother's Day to all the quilty mothers out there! I had a glorious day, but we'll get to that in a minute.
The last couple of days Stephanie and I navigated the north Georgia countryside visiting quilt shops and adding more fabric to our stashes. What could be more fun than choosing from rows, stacks and bins of beautiful fabric from six different shops?! Let's just say, I had better get sewing in order to justify the bag loads I brought home. There were many bargains and snacks at every stop. We will be re-visiting some of the shops again because we have coupons!!

The haul of new fabric for my stash!

Backing and juvenile fabric for charity quilts

Backings, 30s and modern fabrics

Foodies and fillers

One shop had all the modern fresh looks I love

Sale shelf goodies

Kaffe and 30s FQs

Eclectic bargains from one of the Dahlonega stores

I was the driver for the 'tour', so I ventured over to Coffey mountain where Stephanie lives, almost at the tippy top. To get there, you drive past a ramshackle little barn with a donkey outside, and another donkey halfway in. (The back half of the donkey on the outside of the shack) Then you pass the herd of cows with their babies all lounging in the shade. Then...straight up! I have mastered the scary driveway by going as quickly as I can and not pausing for anything. Works for me!

Happy outside donkey

The shy 'inside' donkey

moo

At the top of the fence post, in the trees, at the top, is Stephanie's house!

See it now?
Okay, Mother's Day. After a blueberry waffle breakfast, (I made that), we were off to Clayton, which is in the northeastern corner of Georgia. We stopped at a gourd stand in Mountain View and learned everything there is to know about gourds. The ladies who ran the stand were delightful. One woman made all the birdhouses, baskets, lampshades, and animals out of the gourds the other woman either grew or bought from growers down in Valdosta. They sold the seeds, too, if you wanted to grow your own gourds, but we passed on those. Mr Wazoo bought us five of the birdhouse gourds to hang around the yard, hopefully to attract birds.

The gourd store in Mountain View, GA

The gourd artist at work on a bear

We bought gourds like these.

The ride continued to Franklin, NC, through the Smoky Mountains and back through Murphy, NC. The weather was perfect, and the scenery un-matched.

The road into NC

The Great Smoky Mountains

When we got home, I prepared the samples for my tutorial tomorrow and put away my shop hop booty.  My next project is all cut out and the blocks are matched right sides together and ready to sew. I'm itching to get going on it, but will have to wait until Tuesday to start.

A project heavy on the Kaffe fabrics

Another perfect day in Georgia!