Lazy weekend

My 8two8 has been left for too long now. I am quite intimidated by it, but since I would hate for it to end up as a UFO, I need to get started... So today I basted it while A was napping... It's large, I am a little worried about quilting it, but we'll see how it goes :)

I have all my pins in use (thank you Diana) for this one :)

I am also working on a pillowcase for a 28" sq. pillowcase for a floor cushion for the kids. I have been sewing the hexagons for a while, not having a specific project in mind for them. So now they are ending up part of a pillowcase :)

I quilted them last night.Lots of stopping and turning. I am so glad it was just a smallish square and not a full size quilt!

Charles is attending a PhD course this week, so he is in Italy. Before he left, he gave me this book:

YAY! I love it, it has some wonderful projects in it. I may just have to start doing some more appliqué!
More pictures here.

A little sewing

Last weekend, while I was sick, one of my best friends got married. Needless to say, I couldn't go to her wedding, but I also couldn't bear not to see her get married. So we went to give our gift, and to say congratulations.
I had made her the bag in the top photo, and we filled it with presents.

My friend had made all the decorations herself, not traditional, but really pretty. These are our seats.

We stayed for a little while, saw the beautiful ceremony and gave them our present. Then back home -luckily the party was just two blocks away! I was so tired, pain-killers only get you so far :)

We are also getting ready for fall, Miss V needed new slippers for her daycare. We went to lots of different stores, she tried on lots of different slippers, but nooooo...
Until she saw these

She loves them, which gives me hope she will actually wear them and avoid getting too many colds this winter!

I also made her this bag to hold her change of clothes, her slippers, her rainclothes, hat, mittens etc.
V chose the fabrics ;)

I used the Jane Market Bag pattern. It was really easy to make. I think this will make an exellent project for Christmas presents!

Presents from my sweetie

Charles has just spent a month at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill as part of his PhD. It was great for his research, and he met some really good collegues and made new friends.

We made do with Skype/Google video chat and emails while he was gone, and it was a great help for the kids to be able to "see" him every day.

Anyway....it is wonderful to have him back home, and he brought some amazing presents. He bought me "Julie & Julia" I have started reading it, and I like it so far!

Also....he bought me fabric....
He got to go JoAnns...I'm quite jealous!

I got this -I have had my eye on it since forever- to use as backing for a future Christmas quilt
and these great dinosaur prints to put into a pieced backing for A's I SPY
and some Strawberry Shortcake and princesses for V
and books for me, the softies in this one are so fun
and this is a beautiful book, the pictures are so pretty I can just look at them over and over again
He got me some great presents, don't you think?
The kids also got presents, and they were so happy :) Most of all, happy he is home!

I have been sick for almost a week now :/ so there is not much sewing going on around here. Or anything else for that matter. I pieced the backing for my 8two8 quilt before I got sick, so I am hoping to baste that as soon as I feel better.....hopefully that'll be before my next post?!

This once a week blogging plan seems to be a good one. I'll stick with it :) I have missed you all so much and it has been so great catching up with how everyone is doing!

Once a week!

That is my new plan :) To devote one night a week to blogging.
And maybe I should devote one night a week to sewing too...it seems to be difficult for me to find time to sew these days :/

I have made the block above for SewConnected2. I really like these virtual quilting bees, it's so much fun to see all the different blocks made from the same fabrics.

I also managed to piece a quilttop for A's I SPY. I based it on the "Turning Twenty" pattern (I forget who the designer is -help!)
This was fun to make, and could be put together really quick -a busy mom like me appreciates that!

I am going to piece the backing.......and so it is waiting for me to get back into my sewing room and get to work.

And another thing I have to find a pattern for, is a dinosaur cape. A found one in the dress-up clothes at our local library, and he loves it!
If you know of a pattern for one of these, please let me know :)

May was my month in the SC2 group, and I have almost all the blocks now.... I am playing with possible layout-ideas, here is a picture that shows all the blocks I have received so far:

Aren't they beautiful?! The colors in this picture are not very good, I'll have to take a picture outside once the top is all done.