Fruity Apron with a Little Less Rick Rack

Today during nap time I decided to make my first apron. I used my least favorite fabric so I could make the mistakes with it and hopefully have it perfected (haha) by the time I get to fabric I like better. I also decided to line the apron, which is not part of the instructions, since it seemed easier to do the rick rack that way. Things went well until I started on the ruffle.

I didn't have enough lining for the ruffle so I decided to try out my rolled hem foot. It took a few practices, but it's actually pretty cool. I'm excited to experiment a little more with it.

Then I started on the rick rack. I did the bottom and sides of the ruffle first. While I was pinning on the ruffle one of my children (who shall remain nameless) decided to "help." When I turned around he was cutting my rick rack into small pieces. When I gasped in horror he looked confused. He thought I needed it in little pieces. Really, how could I get mad when he was just trying to help. Needless to say, the apron does not have rick rack in all the required places. Can you tell where I left it off?

Now I need to start dinner. I feel like a new apron needs to debut with a great dinner. Too bad I haven't been to the grocery store in about two weeks. Maybe they'll be happy with peanut butter? Oh wait, we're out of bread.

Prairie Paisley

I finished my blocks for my quilt exchange. I needed to make 12 12 inch star blocks out of Prarie Paisley fabric to share with my friends. The exchange is in September sometime. I'm glad to be done early! Can't wait to see what the others do.


This is my camera happy 2 year old. Whenever he sees me taking a picture that is not of him he jumps into it. Then he smiles his "pose for the camera" smile, which is not the same as his happy smile. He loves to be the center of attention and when he's not, he does something to make him the center of attention.

Now the bad news. I was taking off a short sleeve sweater on the 4th of July. I don't know if there was already a small hole or what, but I put my elbow right through the seam of the arm and body of the sweater. Now, can I just sew it back up again, or do I have to knit it up? I'm not good at knitting. Can I just do it with my sewing machine? It's just the seam that's ripped.

The Centerville Quilt Show and a Rolled Hem Foot

On the Fourth of July Centerville has a quilt show at Centerville Elementary. It's not a contest, just a show. Last year I entered a few quilts I just happened to have with me when we slept over the night before at my parents house. This year I decided not to enter any, but had fun going to see them. Unfortunately, with my camera in hand, I forgot to take any pictures.

There weren't as many quilts as last year, but it's always fun too see what people enter. There were two quilts that were needle turn applique, a Baltimore album and a Hawaiian quilt. Some were quilted by hand and some were machine quilted.

My favorite three quilts were at the end. The first was a log cabin quilt. The quilt history was on a paper next to it. It was made in 1778. I couldn't believe it! All had pieced and hand quilted. Wow! Next to it was a quilt from 1880. It was a quadruple Irish Chain. It as very interesting to see that because it wasn't fabric I would have thought of if I were making a civil war era reproduction quilt. One of the colors was a bright orange solid, which I would not have thought of. I guess 1880 is a good 18 years after the civil war, however I was still surprised to see the color choice. Apparently I need to read up on quilt history. Next to that was a yo-yo quilt/bedspread made around 1940. The paper telling the information said how many yo-yos it had. I can't remember the exact number, but it was about 2,650. I love seeing old quilts that have been in the families for years.

In other quilt news I bought a rolled hem foot. My patterns for aprons use one on the ruffles. I have birthday money left so off to Nuttalls I went! I've never used one before and am a little intimidated. It will be a fun adventure though. The lady at Nuttalls gave me a little demo. It looked complicated so I may be reaching out to my quilt blog friends for tips! Let me know if you have any!

Shop Hop

This weekend I went to three shops for Shop Hop. The first I went to was American Quilting in Orem. I love all their simple, but sooo cute quilts. There was one quilt near the front of the store that was appliqued flowers though that I love. However, I'm not much of an appliquer, so I did not buy the pattern. I am still thinking about that quilt though. It reminded me of something I'd find in my grandma's closet.

I did buy this fabric there. The peach is Fig Tree's Dandilion Girl. I will use it in the sashing and boarder when I make the Jelly Stars quilt. The three fat
quarters are because I love 30's fabric and my current 30's quilt has yellow. I love the yellow one with the cherries. It's quite old, but I have bought it several times in yellow, blue and pink. I'm almost out though and saw one last fat quarter so I bought it. I believe it came out about 3 years ago and I'll be sad when it's gone. Do any of you do that? Buy your favorite fabrics again?

The next store I went to was Corn Wagon. I love this store which seems to have a little of everything. I bought the blue fabric for the body of and apron and the
stripe for the ruffle. The ric rac for the trim. I loved the quilt on the cover of
the magazine. It has a y-seam though and I've never done that before. We'll see how and when that one comes.

I also bought this pattern for a stuffed frog. My boys will love it. I made my
oldest a bear when he was about 2 and cannot find the pattern anywhere. He loves it though, but I've been wanting to make another one. I'll now be making frogs instead.


Last I went to Cherry Tree Cottage in Spanish Fork. I bought more apron fabric.

At Corn Wagon I also bought a few more fat quarters of Prarie Paisley. I have 9 blocks done now of 12. I was hoping to finish this afternoon, but a realtor called to show our house so I cleaned instead.

Now to think about the stash quilt. Not quite sure what I'll do. Most likely a baby quilt. Either one of red and white fabric that I saw several years ago in a magazine or one of 30s fabric. We'll see.

Cupcakes, Aprons and Current Projects.

So here's what I've been working on: I have one complete zig-zag ribbon boarder completely finished. I have the flying geese for 2 mores sides finished. Unfortunatly, when I was doing the setting triangles I forgot to trim one piece of sashing and ran the sashing all the way to the end. I need to unpick and make two more setting triangles. What a pain. Seriously, I don't know how I missed that. I cannot find matching background fabric. Hopefully as I go to the Shop Hop tomorrow I can find the piece. Shouldn't be too difficult.

I started this lemon quilt as a diversion from the boarder, which actually hasn't been too bad. Less than a half hour per side. Not sure why it seemed so daunting
to me. Anwyay, I am having fun with this quick one and am going to put three yo-yos on the left side (my right) of the lemon. The pattern calls for wool flowers but since my oldest breaks out in hives when he touches wool I think yo-yos may be a better option. What do you think?

Next I need to get going on my Prarie Paisley stars for a block swap in August. So far, I haven't even gotten the fabric cut. I just need to get it cut and out of the way, but I want to wait until I'm done with Strawberry Lillies before I start something else. For whatever reason, I'm not feeling that motivated to finish so it's becoming a slow process.

Last night I ran over to Broadbent's to see if they had more background fabric. Although they didn't, it's shop hop so I had fun looking at all the new displays. I also bought a few unexpected patterns. I've been wanting to make some aprons forever. As a stay-at-home mom I feel like I'm always getting stuff on my clothes.
I need cute aprons to cover them up. I'm guessing though, that the aprons will end up cutier than my real clothes.

I also bought this cute cupcake pincushion pattern. Yes, I already have a pin cushion pattern, but I couldn't resist this. They had some already finished there that were soooo cute! The picture doesn't do it justice. My only worry.... will it make me crave cupcakes?

Torn!

I love to quilt, but I also love to read. I love to read mysteries, but recently I've been reading novels about quilters. A few years ago I discovered the Elm Creek Quilts books. I really enjoyed the earlier books in this series. Most of the series is about 7 women who run a Quilt Camp in Pennsylvania. These books not only explore the lives of these women and but also of their ancestors who influenced them. My favorite book in this series are The Runaway Quilt, about how quilts were used as signals on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. My second favorite book in this series is The Sugar Camp Quilt, also about the Civil War. These books made me feel torn.....do I keep reading or do I quilt. Reading the books made me want to quilt, but these two books I could not put down! I just finished the latest in this series. Not my favorite, but still good.

My very favorite quilting novel has to be the Persian Pickle Club. When I started reading this I had no idea it had my three favorite genres: quilting, adoption and murder! What could be more exciting? I really need to buy this book so I can read it at least once a year. I also want to read Tallgrass, also by Sandra Dallas. If any of you have any great quilting novels let me know! I'd love to read more.

Weekly quilting goals

I am to the point in my Strawberry Lilies quilt I have been dreading.... the zig zag ribbon boarder. It's not that it's especially hard or anything, it's just A LOT of flying geese. I have decided to set a weekly goal of doing one side a week. That's 46 flying geese a week. Sounds manageable, right? I have several other quilt projects I want to work on. One is a lemon quilt out of 30's print, one is Jelly Stars and one is out of Prarie Paisley and I need to do 12 blocks for an exchange. I should probably do the one for the exchange, but the lemons are calling me. It's a small quilt, 46x52 or something like that, so maybe I can do it first and quick. Does anyone else do this? As soon as they find a new pattern or fabric they want to start on that project?