Finishing Christmas UFO's

The first quilt I want to share with you is the quilt I made for my granddaughter.  She has been asking me for almost a year to make her a pink quilt.  I wanted to do it for her birthday but..........time ran out!!  I had a great time making it and she seemed to love it.

This is the front of Maren's pink quilt!

The back of the quilt.

I think she liked it!!

Happy Quilting
Luv ya,  Gigi

Aren't these girls the cutest? 

I get to work with them twice a week as their tutor.  Actually I have 5 students.  But these two have been with me the longest.  They are so fun and just enrich my life.

Today they came over for the day to sew.  N made a quilt with me last summer featuring all the books that we read.  It was a great quilt!!  L had never sewn and they both had never ironed before!!  Well, we decided to make candy in December - my Christmas gift to them - so today we made a bib apron to wear while we cook.  Sounded like a great idea to me!

The aprons turned out great and the girls did them pretty much by themselves, of course with me hanging over their shoulders.  HA!  If something was  really off, I would run into my sewing room and make it straight and rip out the old without them knowing.  They did get to use the ripper and got to know how to use it pretty well.  The girls learned how to sew, iron, rip, sew, rip, and resew.   I am sure you get the picture.  They were so excited the whole day.

Enjoy the pictures of our fun day together!!

The ripper at work!!

Having fun at the machine

Add caption

The pro!!

What a cute apron!!

So cute!!

The finished product!!  

Happy quilting!!
Luv ya,  Jodi

Houston - We have a Problem

WOW!!  We had an awesome time in Houston at the International Quilt Festival.  Yes, Jackie and I were there along with 2 of my Bridge Group friends who are also quilters.  We shopped, laughed, shopped more, ate, and shopped!!  The problem is that we didn't have enough money to enjoy all the new things that we saw.  Oh, we enjoyed them but we weren't able to bring them home with us to enjoy.  There was so much to see and so many fun people to meet....yes, from all over the world!

Jackie and me ready for a day of shopping at the Festival.

Dinner out at the Houston Aquarium with our traveling buddies!!

Our teacher for a class we took - Anita Solomon

One half of the Festival looking from the floor above.

The other half of the Festival!

We wish everyone could have joined us!!  It was soooo fun!!

Luv ya,  Gigi

Here I Am----The Other Sister!

I am back from the land of travels, company and summer!  Whew....it has been a busy few months. Summer has always been a busy time in my family's lives!  We love to be at the lake and we spend a lot of our time there.  Summer is my favorite time of year, but I do NOT get much sewing done!  Or blogging!

I have way too many Bee Block pictures to show you at once, so I will spread them out over several blog posts.  These first five are from my Calendar of Houses Bee for May, June, July, August, and September.

May log cabin/lake block for Emily.

Emily is a very close friend of mine who lives in my town.  I have know her for 24 years!!  We both love to boat with our families, so I added 2 little boats in the lake.  (I am NOT known for my drawing skills!)  She often goes to the lake with me, so I made her a log house with the lake in front!

    

A cabana June block for Lynette.

     

4th of July row houses block for Beth.

                                  

                             August schoolhouse block for Linda.

       

                            September barn block for Beth

In other news.........


My good friends were able to join me at the lake for a few days in June.  We had such a fun time!  Three of us sew, but we decided not to sew this time.  We have all known each other for over 20 years, so along with being best friends, we have a long history together.  Over the years, we have given and received advice on how to raise children, "deal" with our husbands, handle our pets, etc.  We have even dubbed ourselves the "unofficial SENIOR bridesmaids" at our children's weddings!  I just love these women!

My friends with me at the lake on a beautiful day!

Ann, Me, Emily, and Chi-Chi

Emily also machine quilts for people.  She does an amazing job!  I just got back 4 of my quilts from her!  Now to find time to bind them all!

Included in the pile is a machine embroidered redwork quilt, a picnic quilt, a Forth of July flag quilt, and a quilt along quilt.

This summer was extra special since it was our granddaughter's first time at the lake and in a boat.  She became an expert boater, and even managed to get a few cat naps in!

All of our kids and their families were able to join my husband and me at the lake for our annual family vacation in July.  Our oldest daughter brought her boyfriend and his two kids!  It was also their first time at a lake, so it was super fun watching their excitement of the boat, water, and tubing!

The Family!

Another exciting event happened in September.  Our oldest daughter became engaged! We are now planning an April 2012 wedding. It will be on our deck at the lake!  We already have so many wonderful family memories of the lake, and this will just add to it. It is going to be super special!

Joel Penny and Dee Dee Rodgers

Along with getting a new son-in-law, we are also getting 2 new grandchildren!  Now, my husband and I will have 3 grandchildren to spoil!

Seven, Parker, and Sterling

Many of my bees have finished.  In some ways I am sad.  I have met many wonderful women through the bees, and I will miss being in touch with them.  But, I am also glad!  I think I got myself into too many bees and was too bogged down each month trying to make all the blocks!  With less Bee Blocks to make, I will have more time to sew for myself!  I am starting a "Wedding Quilt" for my daughter and her fiance.  It is going to be a queen size log cabin quilt using off-whites, blues and greens.  The center of the block will be made into a design of a heart.  I love making quilts for my family, so this will truly be a labor of love.  While I am sewing, I will be thinking of the many wedding plans, and I will be having loving thoughts of my daughter.  There may be a few tears shed that may find their way onto the quilt, but those tears will be tears of joy and happiness.

I hope to show the progress of the quilt on this blog as I go along.  So keep reading!

Hugs,

Jackie

How could this happen?????

We went from this........

My owl resting in the tree on a beautiful day!!

to this............

The barren scrub oak all alone on a snowy grey day!!

Oh, there is a block I made for my Orange You Glad Bee.  It brightened it up a bit!!

How could it happen over night??????


Luv ya!!  Jodi

Fall is in the air and the animals are out!!

We have many different wildlife that live in our yard and area.  Our newest creature is the Habitat Owl.

Isn't the owl so cute?

My Modern Quilt Guild participated in the Habitat Challenge.  The fabrics were designed by Jay McCarroll.  We were given 6 fat eights and were to use at least one of the fabrics.  I decided to use all the fabric and I made my owl to fit the fabric line is called Habitat.  I did add the brown log and my binding was a solid black.    The remaining of the fabric is on the back of the quilt.

I pieced the back together and did the quilting.

We had an owl in our yard this summer and the magpies were not happy with her/him. We watched the owl for a whole day thinking that she/he might be protecting some babies from the magpies.  He didn't move all day until it was dark and then she/he was "outta here"!  There is always something special going on in our back yard!!

Happy Quilting,
Luv ya, Jodi

The Sisters Are Together

Our sewing machines have been humming and we have been creating while laughing and enjoying each other at Jodi's home in Colorado for the past 3 days.  


Jackie's daughter is getting married in May so she has been busy thinking about the wedding and deciding on what projects she has to tackle between now and then.  You can bet she will be quilting, sewing, and taste testing her way through the next 7 months.  In between our brainstorming this week, Jackie has put together an "Eye Spy" quilt for her precious granddaughter!! (Pictures to come.)  Jodi has been sewing together the blocks she received from an online "house bee."  The sashing is detailed and has taken a long time.  She also worked on a FRMQG Challenge.  (Pictures to come.)

At a Sew-In last month for the FRMQG, Jodi had some requests for a tutorial of our "SIS binding technique".  So, since we are together, we would like to share this technique with you, our followers!

SIS Binding Technique
Excuse our photos and hand written notes.  We have been so busy sewing that we did not take new photos.  Enjoy!

1.  Prepare your binding by folding your strip in half and pressing. We use a 2 1/8" - 2/14" fabric strip.  Open your binding and fold one corner down to the lower edge.  It will form a triangle.  Press. Refold in half and press.  Sew binding onto the quilt starting around 10" from the triangle end.  You will have a 10" tail that is not sewn down.  Be sure to start on the side of your quilt in the middle.  See picture below.  Stop sewing the binding leaving about 10" of the binding hanging.

2.  We have divided step 2 into two parts.  Pictured above is part one.  Lay both ends flat with the triangle side on top.  Cut the non-triangle tail past the triangle end at least 2" as pictured above.  Pictured below is part 2.

Note the 2" past the end of the triangle.

3.  Put the non-triangle end inside the triangle end.  Make sure to have both bindings laying flat on the quilt making sure there are no puckers.  

4.   Holding both edges, open up the two layered bindings. They will lay flat, having the non-triangle end laying on top of the triangle end.

5.  Reach under the top binding layer and grab the triangle keeping the two layers together.  Right side of fabrics will be together.  Make sure top of triangle binding is even with side of non-triangle binding.  Pin on both sides of the triangle folded line.  Sew on the triangle folded line.  Trim to 1/4" and press.  (***Cut on the RIGHT side of the sewn line.  Do not cut on the left side of the sewn line like we have both done.  If you do this you will be sad!!)  Refold in half and press.  Pin joined binding to your quilt and sew it down.  YOU ARE DONE!  This is the project that we were working on together.

                             

Sadly our quilting time together is coming to an end.  Jackie is heading home tomorrow after we enjoy brunch with our Dad at "The Egg and I".  

Happy Quilting everyone!!

Luv ya,  Jackie & Jodi

If you have any questions about our tutorial, do not hesitate to contact us.  We will be happy to answer your questions.

Is there an end in sight?

I continue to work on my September list of UFOs!!  It is getting smaller but I still have about 3 things I need to finish up.  My Quick Christmas Bee is coming to an end and it is a good thing as we all would like to get our Christmas quilts done before December 2011.  I really want to have mine out to use this year.....oh, and that reminds me ....... I have stockings to make.  I think I will put those on the list for next month.

Manuela lives in Portugal and wanted us to do an appliqued block.  I love  gingerbread people!!

She also wanted us to write a word or two that remind us of the Christmas season.
Jesus loved us so much and because of that we are asked to believe in Him.

Both of my blocks together!!

This was a fun bee as Jackie and I were in it together along with 5 other quilters from different countries.  I have had the privilege of meeting them by way of Skype and they are all great quilters and new friends!!

Luv  ya,  Jodi

    

A walk for Alzheimer's

Last weekend we went on a 5K walk in support of Alzheimer's.  Jackie and I have a sister-in-law who was diagnosed at 49 with "early onset Alzheimer's" and my husband lost his mother to Alzheimer's at the age of 85.  
The day was beautiful, the cause is always on our minds, and the fellowship was fun.  At registration, we were given flowers to represent our relationship to Alzheimer's.  Yellow flowers were given to those of us who have a family member or friend who has the disease.  Blue flowers were given to those who were participating in walk with the awful disease and purple flowers were for people who have lost loved ones to the disease.

Everyone in our group who took the walk

My precious grandson got to ride.  I think he was the lucky one!

Maren was all decked out for her 5K ride!!

Her she comes...and August (her doll) gets to ride in the basket!

Sometimes we held up the pace but no one cared one bit!

Daddy gets to carry the bike and I get to hold her hand and enjoy a great conversation!

I have been sore for 3 days but it was all worth it for me!!

Luv ya,  Jodi