Long time, no blog

Well it has been a long time since I posted anything on this blog.  The last post was right before Halloween.  Shortly after that, I made a quilt for my uncle and he passed away the week before Thanksgiving.  I finished up some random sewing projects for Christmas and really haven't done much since.  It has been a long winter - lots of stress at work and not a lot of "me" time.  Right before Christmas my husband found out he is allergic to gluten, eggs, milk, tomatoes, and garlic.  So we had to do a drastic diet makeover - he is down 35 pounds and I'm down 22 so there has been an "up" side to not being able to eat what we want.

But I'm back - I have tons of fabric to work with and I'm excited to start creating again!  I'm working on a 99 Charms Quilt - my mom, mother-in-law, sister, cousin and I have been collecting different Halloween material for a charm quilt.  We finally have 99 different fabrics so we can start sewing together the quilt top!


Here is a picture of my Uncle with his quilt...I just love this pic...

Happy Halloween!

I wanted to share with you the quilt that my 4th graders helped make!  They each decorated a jack-o-latern.  The quilt was quilted with a pumpkin design - I love it!  My mother-in-law did a beautful job putting it all together.  Enjoy the pics!

Back from the quilters...and some quilting myself!

Okay so not so much posting lately...but I've been doing lots of sewing.  AND...I got a brand new ironing board...ironing holder, cord holder, extra wide...I never thought I would be so excited about ironing.

Anyway, here are somethings that were finished up in the past few weeks...

My coffee cup quilt is back from the quilters...I just love the varigated (is that how you spell it?) thread!

I quilted the gingerbread quilt myself...I just stitched in the ditch!  You can see that Jango Fett loves this quilt!

My wolf quilt was quilted with a leaf pattern...Jango loves to get in front of the camera!

I also quilted the "Old Fashioned Christmas" quilt myself..I used sparkly white thread and used decorative stitches to add some detail to the snowbanks!

I have some other things I am working on:

Snowman Biker Quilt
Patriotic / WWI Quilt

I'll post new pics soon!

Rock-N-Roll Quilt

So what have I been working on the past few weeks...
this Rock-n-Roll Quilt!

I made this quilt for my Uncle, who has rock-n-roll in his blood!  A few months ago, he was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.  He is fighting back with chemo treatment but I wanted to cheer him up with a fun, warm quilt.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers...

Back - I love the music note quilting! 

Finished quilt

Don't you love the keyboard fabric?

Close up of appliqued music notes and quilting...

Back to School / Link to Giveaway

No blogging for the past few weeks.  As you may know, I'm a teacher and I went back to school on Aug. 16th (early I know!).  I think I am finally back into the groove of my working schedule (no more late nights sewing until the weekend).  The students in my class are wonderful and we already started this year's class quilt!

Even though I have been quiet in blogland, I have completed a few projects.  I'll post about them later...
But here is something EXCITING!
Sherri from "A Quilting Life" is giving away a GO Cutter!  Visit her blog before September 2nd for your chance to win.  Thanks Sherri for offering this awesome giveaway!

Charity Quilt Finished!

The coffee cup charity quilt for the 2010 Walk to Cure Psoriasis Chicago is finished!  I hope this beauty will raise money for this worthy cause.  I love the coffee cup quilting pattern and the back fabric!

Jango loves it too!

If you or someone in your family has been affected by psoriasis or if you would like to make a donation, please consider sponsoring my family's walk team.  Every dollar counts! 

Click here to visit the Pagano Family walk page

Route 66 quilt done!

It's been a long road this week...

• I had to work on this quilt while my husband was sleeping (yawn...)
• I don't like fussy cutting
• My fabric was from all different places and stretched differently (grrrrrr....)
• I need a real ironing board

But the Route 66 quilt top for my hubby's Christmas present is DONE!  What I love most about this quilt is the border fabric and the map fabric around each block.  I orginally made 16 blocks but realized it was going to be way too big.  The finished size now is around 60 x 60. 

I looked around for awhile for Route 66 fabric and I have some I didn't use on the quilt top.  I think for the back of this quit, I am going to piece together strips of Route 66 fabric and maybe add in some fabric that looks like a road.  Okay, now the hard part...keeping this a secret until Christmas!