A Productive Day of Fun Sewing

Today was a Sew In day with friends, and I like to take just fun, kind of mindless sewing when I go to these days.  I got everything accomplished that I wanted to get to today, and that's always a good feeling :) 

This first one I got the binding put on today to finish it up ~ it's a little quilt that I made as my donation quilt for the Log Cabin challenge that the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild was doing, and the quilts will go to the SE Early Childcare center in Baltimore.  The quilts were due at last month's meeting, but I missed that one so mine didn't get in on the quilt display that was put up at Kennedy Kraiger, but it's going to tomorrow's meeting and will still get donated to a little kiddo.   Btw, the whale's name is Steven...I asked Elsie to name the quilt, thinking she'd say something along the lines of Willie the Whale...but after a little thought, she said his name should be Steven ~ So Steven it is :)
 

I also got these two tops pieced today.  I'm making these quilts for my cousin's grandsons, they are 8" squares made up of fabrics that interest each boy.  One has footballs and basketballs, etc. and the other has guitars and music notes.  They each will get an inner and outer border and then be ready for quilting and off to them for Christmas gifts :)

And finally today I put some extra borders on this top that I had made up a while back after swapping these blocks with my sewing buddies.  I need another Queen size rather than Full size quilt, so this one just needed to be made a little bit larger.  Maddie liked it as soon as I brought it home and draped it out to snap a photo :)
 

And here are some of the things that got finished at the Sew In today by others.  Starlyn and Mary finished the last bit of hand quilting that needed to be done on this block of the month quilt that Starlyn had made a while back and just hadn't gotten it completed.  It's so cool to see some hand quilting getting finished :)

Chris finished piecing together this beautiful quilt that she made from a block of the month.  I love the different size blocks throughout this quilt. 

And Cappy added the borders on this awesome black/white quilt to complete the top.  It's going to be a raffle quilt being raffled off at Halloween to benefit her Border Collie rescue group, so contact me if you're interested in trying to win it, and I'll hook you up with the ticket sales.

I'm glad I was able to make it today, it was a fun and productive day visiting, eating and sewing with good friends :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Little Fun With Kool Aid

Yesterday was a pretty day ~ and because sometimes you just need a play day ~ we spent some time learning how to dye yarn using Kool Aid drink packets ~ and these are all our final results :)

Abby and I packed up and went over to my friend Starlyn's backyard, and Mary showed us the process.

 I started out with this yarn, they are all natural wool fibers.

We mixed Kool Aid packets in water ~ we used about 3 packets in half a jar of water.  And since it's not toxic, Abby was able to pitch in and take part too.  She did a lot of stirring...

 ...and a little smushing...and stayed busy sorting our Kool Aid packets into piles by color :)

Some hanks we layed out in plastic boxes and drizzled, and some we dipped in jars. Zip Lock Baggies work too.  Here are some of them in progress...

After each color we added, we heat set them in the microwave for two minutes.

Or some were left out in the sun's heat to set.  Then rinsed and left out to dry.  It was all pretty easy and fun :)

Mary made these socks from Kool Aid yarn a while back.  Now I can't wait to get started on some projects with my new yarn creations and see how it knits up :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Autumn Sunset

Autumn is in the air, and this lovely quilt sample is one that my good friend Mary Nielsen of Keep Me In Quilts made from my Autumn Sunset pattern that I designed last Fall for Andover Fabrics using their Candy Corn and Black Magic fabric lines designed by Renee Nannaman.  

Mary did her amazing free motion quilting all over it, including her fun Pumpkins & Spiders that she's teaching in an upcoming HandiQuilter Club on October 16th. 

It was a pretty day out today (even though our leaves aren't changing quite yet), so I had to take this baby outside to snap some photos.   I still think this makes a great Autumn picnic quilt :)

Take a deep breath, Autumn is in the air...ahhh ~ I just love Autumn :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Spooky Eve!

I love October!  October brings some of my favorite things ~ candy corn, mounds of mums, fun size candy bars, and a few fun Halloween quilty projects :)  These are two projects that I designed for Quilting Treasures using their Spooky Eve fabric line designed by Pamela Bishop.  The center is the cute Trick or Treat panel with some pieced borders added to make this first one a throw sized quilt. 
 

...And how about a quick little wall hanging/door banner to welcome the little ghouls and goblins on the Spooky Eve :)  You can get the Free Project sheet that includes instructions for both of these projects Here on Quilting Treasure's Site ~ just scroll down the page a little and click on Spooky Eve.  You can look for Spooky Eve fabrics available in quilt shops now, or do a search online if your local shop doesn't have it.  Happy October!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

O Say Can You See!

The big Defenders Day weekend in Baltimore was last weekend, and yes our Star Spangled Banner flew!  I can't report back with lots of beautiful photos though, because alas in lieu of previous commitments I couldn't be there ~ Boo! (This photo is actually one I took at the Fort on July 4th of the Fort's flag, not the one we stitched)

However, you can check out Mimi Dietrich's blog for a great accounting of the day, complete with the march through Baltimore as the flag was delivered to Fort McHenry by horse drawn caisson, The Old Guard, and some of the stitchers!

And this past Sunday morning, the CBS Sunday Morning show with Charles Osgood did a wonderful piece on the Stitching History project and the flag flying at the Fort.  The video includes many of my stitching friends on the project, and Kristin giving a great history packed interview, and is of course interspersed with Charles Osgood's excellent narrative.  You can watch the video clip Here at their site.

I'm still awed and honored to be a part of this project.  Now I'm looking forward to tracking our recreated Star Spangled Banner as it makes it's travels around the country :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Happy Labor Day!

Spotted this banner at the Maryland Renaissance Festival yesterday, and thought it was timely for Labor Day :)

We spent a lovely day eating, drinking, wandering, enjoying music...and eating some more.  Hope you are enjoying your Labor Day weekend too :)

The MD Renn Fest runs every weekend through October 20th in Crownsville MD, and definitely worth an afternoon.

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Sew Anyway...

...I've been away from blogging for a bit ~ and we've been so busy I'm not even going to try and catch up, I'm just going to plow forward and jump back into the swing of things.  One of the projects I had going in August, and I finished several weeks ago was the gift I was making for Heather's wedding.  If you're a Facebook friend, you saw my race to the finish in getting this one made up in time :)

This was a quilt that Heather had started cutting out for herself, but never finished. We're getting several of those types of collaborations on projects :) It's a version of my Chutes & Ladders quilt only made larger to fit her queen size bed.  Happy to have another UFO finished :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn