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!

Just picked up my sewing machine from the "spa". She is oiled, greased, tuned up, and ready to get back to work. Yay!!!

Sew much to do...

It is slow going for the Route 66 quilt.  I can only work on it when my husband is sleeping or in another room.  I have the blocks bordered twice, so I just need the third border on and then I'll just have to piece it all together.  I'll post pics when the blocks are finished. 

So my fabric stashes are overflowing and I really need to get sewing to have all this stuff ready for Christmas.  Tomorrow my sewing machine is going for a spa day (a.k.a. tune up and check up!).  Here is what is on my list of things to do:

1.  Route 66 quilt
2. Backing of wine quilt
3. Woods / Canoe quilt
4. Motorcycle Snowdudes quilt
5. Kitty Quilt

I'm sure I forgot some projects but I definitely have sew much to do! 

Gettin' my kicks...

Okay so I'm not traveling down the Mother Road of Route 66, but my Route 66 fabric did come in the mail today!  Last summer when we drove to Vegas, we drove on Route 66 for a few miles and visited this awesome roadside diner.  My husband and I are planning on driving Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica next summer...the whole stretch!  I thought I would make him a Route 66 quilt for Christmas. 

A few fabric designers make Route 66 fabric but I think they are older lines of fabric and I really couldn't find coordinating fabric.  So I shopped around the fabric shops by my house and online and found fabric that goes together well.  I am not really working off a pattern - just a sketch I drew about what I want it to look like.  The hubby is still off work due to his surgery so I might have to wait to start this quilt (or wait until he's asleep!)

Recycled T-Shirt Bag!

Okay I saw this Pepsi commercial with this little girl who makes recycled t-shirt bags and I just had to look it up.  I found the full story here at Pepsi.com.   If you know anything about Chicago, you know there is a fierce baseball rivalry between the Southside Sox and the Northside Cubs.  Now being a diehard Sox fan, I would normally NEVER post anything with Cubs but it is my best friend's birthday next week so I decided to try and make her a Cubs t-shirt bag...

They are so fan and easy to make!

Friendship is like wine, it gets better with age...

A wine quilt made for a Christmas gift for our good friends...what do ya think?!?

Cute little drawstring bag

I found this link that shows you how to make a very simple drawstring bag.  I am going to try and make one tonight.  Definitely an awesome blog to check out!!!

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday...a few minutes early

Okay, so I found some fabric sales...

Christmas in July

The hubby is still recovering from his surgery so we spent the weekend just relaxing.  I got a lot of sewing done and finished two Christmas presents...



A colorful table runner....

 

A lap quilt...

The best thing about these two projects is that I found all the fabric in my mother-in-law's scrap bin!!! How great is that!!!

Coffee Cup Charity Quilt

Hubby is feeling better but taking lots of naps to recover...and nap time = quilting time!  I finished the top for a charity quilt that will be auctioned off at the Chicago Psoriasis Walk in September.  My aunt is one of the coordinators of the walk and I was happy to make something to raise money for the charity.

I didn't want to make something too colorful so I chose blue and brown, figuring it would match somewhere in most houses.  I love coffee so that was the theme for this quilt.  The thing I love most about the quilt is that the coordinating fabrics were not part of the same fabric line - I just kind of stumbled upon a bunch of fabrics that matched perfectly.  I just love the coffee bean border!!!

I just set up mobile blogging from my cell phone. Just testing it out!