More Monkeying Around

Yes, I love this fabric, which is why I made two more

children's blankets out of them (both with a ruffle, of course!)

This one is pretty much like the other one I made.

 Fabric: "Monkey Around" - designed by 

Bethany Berndt Shackelford for Quilting Treasures.

The back of the quilt

This one is made using the quilt-as-you-sew method

 BUT LOOK! 

There's a little pocket in the corner for a sock monkey

or a gift card...or whatever I want to add.

 The back of the quilt

I think I have to stop sewing monkeys for a while, because there's another

hop coming up on July 31st that will require some sewing with Christmas fabric.

(Plus that other lady is SO competitive I'm sure she's already sewn

DOZENS of Ho Ho Ho projects...good thing I'm not competitive.)

And don't forget that Stamp On It starts back up on Monday!

I Stamped On It!

While I was at that retreat not too long ago, we went to do a little shopping at Scrap Apple where I saw a quilt on the wall that totally stole my heart. I loved the fabric...it's called Ladies Diary...and it's a little vintage looking like me, plus I love to write in my journal so it was a fabric I'm sure was created JUST FOR ME! I bought a little fabric for my stamp AND THEN went back later to buy the whole quilt kit...HAD to have it and I've already started working on putting it together.

MY STAMP

My stamp ended up on a side-slung bag with no zippers or pockets....just a bag

to throw my stuff in when I'm dashing out the door. 

My sister's yard was in total bloom mode with beautiful flowers...

Ladies Diary fabric by Wilmington Prints

I fussy cut some of the pictures from the fabric and appliqued them in positions I liked better for my stamp.

The postal marks were hand embroidered as was the 1 cent mark. USA was stamped on with ink.

Ooooo, look what's inside! Can you see it? It's my new label (love it!)

It needed a matching Tammy Bag...I was sure of it...so, of course I made one.

June 26

Marjorie'sBusyCorner

Life in the Scrapatch

Pig Tales and Quilts

littlemushroomcap

sosewgreen

The Thimblemouse

Just Let Me Quilt - It's me!

Words & Stitches

In Stitches And Seams

June 27

Life @ Ruffhaven 

Englating

Charlottes Creations

Moments

Feathered Nest Studio 

Moose Stash Quilting

Jane's Quilting

Hillvalleyquilter

June 28

Robin's Fabric Nest

In The Sewing Basket

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Just Quilt It

AnnieOak Designs

Buzzing and Bumbling

krislovesfabric

CherrysPrairiePrimitives

Hanging On By A Thread

July 1

Sew Many Yarns

Quilt Matters

Scrapbook-ChickADoodle 

Patchouli Moon

The Slow Quilter

A Loose Thread

Janes Fabrics and Quilts

Selina Quilts

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Dancing Thru Threads

July 2

Sew and Sow Farm  

fishkopp

Scraps of Life

Meadowbrook

Katie and Kwilts  

Em's Scrap Bag   

GrammieQ's

How ART you?

BumbleberryStitches

A Stitch in Time

July 3

More Stars in Comanche

Dachsies With Moxie

NotionNanny

13 Woodhouse Road

Heikesquilt’

Traveling Quilter

Jackie’s Art Quilts

What About Rheema?

From This to That

Sew We Quilt

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

There's A Winner Out There!

SUZANNA (no blog)

(an email has been sent to her.)

Thanks for all your sweet comments on my Tammy Bags!

Tammy And Me...Bags, Of Course!

I chose some Moda fabric called Round Robin by Kathy Schmitz for

my bag. I loved the colors and prints so much I used it to make

a quilt, too! It's HERE on a previous post.

This is my little can. I cut a piece from a magnet sheet to fit the lid,

which holds my needles in place, and the can will hold several colors 

of thread depending on what I need for the project I'm working on.

Label It ME!

I hear it is important to label your quilts.

I don't...well, I did once, but just once.

I either forget or they seem like too much trouble at the moment.

And then I saw some labels over at Lesley's blog,

The Cuddle Quilter, and knew I HAD to have some, too.

So, of course, I ordered some (they came yesterday) 

from MommieMadeIt.etsy.com.

They fold over and fit right in to a seam or binding edge.

I can even write a date on them if I want to.

These are my kind of easy, fun, and personal kind of labels.

LOVE THEM!

I can't wait to add one to my next quilt or project!

Lost And Late To The Party!

For some reason, which is unclear to me, I have "lost" some of the

favorite blogs that I had been following for years. When I switched to Bloglovin 

I thought they would all miraculously appear in my little blog roll of favorites.

THEY DIDN'T!

Even if I search them out in Bloglovin and click that little "FOLLOW" button,

they don't always appear in my list. I hear it has something to do with them 

"claiming" their blog--if they don't claim it, I guess they don't appear for me to see.

I'm so sad when I see a blog post days, weeks, or more after it is posted

(not that I don't stalk blogs for older posts...of course, I do.)

It's just feels like I'm late to the party!

I HATE being late to anything...just saying.

My whine is over now...moving on.

Tammy Bag--Day Two

It's time to see how stylish we can be when we're working

on our sewing projects. Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt came up 

with the cutest bag to store our "stuff" in while we craft away our days.

Look how cute this bag is all dressed up in that gingham print...love it!

Those dishes look just perfect with her bag, of course.

 She's cheering this hop (whoohoo to her!) so we all know this will

be an incredible event going from blog-to-blog just looking at the bags.

Madame Samm has a giveaway on her blog from such nice sponsors and

don't forget to stop by there every day to see her top choices of the day.

You can find all of the blog hop photos here:

Here's who's hopping today:

June 13th (Thursday)

Les

Marlene

Lisa

Anjeanette

Kristen

Marica

Lynn

Gingini

Linda J

Nicole

Monkeys And A Ruffle

During the retreat last weekend, it seemed to be the rule that you MUST go fabric 

shopping during the course of the whole sew, eat, laugh, and play getaway thing.

So, of course, I went shopping and of course I bought fabric.

While on one of these shopping trips, I saw a cute quilt in a fabric store and loved 

the fabric and method they used to make it. So, of course, I HAD to make it...my way...

(their's had ric rac, mine has a ruffle.)

Fabric: "Monkey Around" - designed by 

Bethany Berndt Shackelford for Quilting Treasures.

It has raw edges and will need a few more machine washings to get the perfect frayed look. 

It was so easy (and I do love that easy stuff) and it went together really fast.

I machine bound it using that fun method with a piping look (love it!)

Linda (that amazing long-arm quilter from the retreat) suggested the wavy lines in between the rows 

and the extra waves at the top. I liked her idea and so I used it. Thanks, Linda!

Now I just have to find a little girl who needs this since my Monkey Boys aren't crazy about that ruffle.

Blog hop news:

Tomorrow starts the Tammy Bag hop!

The Ho Ho Ho hop is FULL!

Retreated And Survived!

I survived my first retreat without running from the room in total fright 

because of all the amazing quilters that surrounded me.

I was even nice to a few people.

My friend, Brenda, forced me out of my comfort zone by MAKING me 

go early BY MYSELF to reserve four spots that were close together.

I did it, but it's a blur...must have been the fear I was feeling.

Linda and Kay greeted the new arrivals...they both

do incredible applique work. REALLY incredible!

They were pretty funny, too.

Each person received a cute name tag.

They even made these cute little pin cushions for everyone.

While I waited for my support group/friends to arrive, I pulled out my

mini Comma charm squares and started sewing them together.

I have a long way to go before they will actually look anything close to a quilt.

FINALLY...Brenda, Susan, and Vicki arrived. This was Velcroed on

their sewing machines from one of the other retreats they went to.

Susan almost lost her sewing machine...to me! It's purple!

Each table had table toppers that were so adorable.

Loved this one! Are you noticing the hen theme going on?

I learned a lot from Brenda, Susan, and Vicki:

1. Every group has an obnoxious person in it.

If you don't think any of your friends are obnoxious,

it just might be YOU that is the obnoxious one.

2. If the 20% coupon won't be good after 6 p.m., it doesn't take a 

rocket scientist to figure out that it's because the store closes at 6 p.m.

3. It's important to buy fabric while on a retreat to add to the

fabric you brought to work on. It was so cool that the fabric store,

ScrapApple, was just out the gate behind the hotel where the retreat

was being held. Like, totally connected to the hotel by a fence!

4. Sewing isn't the only reason to retreat. Food plays a really

big part in the whole experience. Lots of food!

The purple sewing machine...oh, that's Susan.

This is Vicki being nice when I was taking her picture, 

but she was wishing I'd just leave her alone to sew.

Brenda found her own corner to cut her fabric.

It just happened to be in a separate room away from all of us.

We didn't take it personally...much.

 I ALMOST finished this little monkey quilt, but it still needs a little work. There's a 

ruffle AND monkeys...love it! I'll show it when it's finished...hopefully  real soon. 

A long-arm quilter, Linda, gave me a great idea to give it a nice finished look. 

She was so nice! I can't wait to do what she suggested.

My sister asked me if I'd do it again.

Yep!

Ruffled Binding...So Easy!

I love ruffles so I went looking for EASY and different ways to add them to a quilt.
I found this method and really liked it.

Start by making yourself a nice pile of ruffles, enough to go around your quilt.

 I cut strips 3 1/2" wide and folded them over to make the ruffles.

Sew the ruffle to the back side of the quilt.

You'll need enough strips for binding to go around your quilt.

I cut strips that were 1 1/2" and 1 3/4"--it's better if you cut them 1 3/4" and 1".
Sew them together like this:

Match the long edges and iron flat to create the piping. Mine ended up
looking like this...I'd rather have wider piping and narrower flange.

Sew the binding strips with the piping side down.

Rounding the corners makes it look a little prettier.

Fold the binding/ruffle over the front edges of your quilt.

Top stitch between the piping and the flange in a

thread color that matches the back of your quilt.

Mine ended up looking like this because I cut my flange

strip too wide. It's okay, but a narrower flange would be better.

Here's my finished quilt. Nothing fancy. Not-so perfect. Not too big.

Just right for covering my lap and snuggling with my

puppies or Monkey Boys.

PLUS...

Our neighbor had a nest with two baby hummingbirds in it.

They are so tiny! That nest is kind of gross, though...ewwww!