Category Archives: birthdays

April FAB Birthday Challenge

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Cher’s birthday was April 27.  Life got in the way and we had to delay birthday party celebrations until June 16.  We had one two hour window in the evening on that day where all 5 FABs were available.
Cher opened each present and described the contents in detail until the pictures could be distributed through the e-mail system.
I made Cher place mats.  (pattern:  Take Four Place Mats by Something Sew Fine / Cary Flanagan).  I downloaded the pattern from Quiltwoman.com. 
I love the patterns that you can download from Quiltwoman.com–no shipping costs and no waiting for mail delivery to bring the pattern to your house.  You place your order on line and shortly thereafter, the pattern is available for printing from your e-mail Inbox. 

I made the place mats reversible.  Two place mats had Valentine’s Day fabric on the back and two place mats had Easter fabric on the back.

 

To match the fabric on the front and back of each place mat, I made the binding reversible.

 For fun and because Cher’s birthday is near Easter, I included one Easter place mat / table topper.  This Easter Egg pattern was designed by one of our Quilt Guild members during our Guild’s Place mat of the Month program this year.

The egg is reversible as well.
My friend started to call these, Cadbury eggs.  I think the name is great!

First FAB Birthday PAR-TAY of 2011

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In 2008, the FABs started regular quilt challenges. 2011 is the year of the FAB Bday Party Challenge. First up was Pam, with a birthday on January 29 that for 2011 was moved to February 26. By February 26, not all parcels were received yet by Pam so we delayed the birthday party to March 5.

At 7 am Pacific timeon March 5, all FABs were positioned in front of their computer screens, chatting on line as we waited for Pam to open each of her gifts.

Pam is a big ME (Mary Engelbreit) fan. I had scraps of some ME fabrics in my stash and so I used those to make a ME inspired bag. The pattern is called, Market Bag and is a Terry Atkinson design from her book, Let’s Do Lunch.

This is one side of the bag.

This is the other side of the bag.

I also made a matching triangle bag. This bag is made from the Humbug bag pattern.

Pam was also the recipient of the 5th pansy project – the first 4 were posted here: http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2011/02/pansy-finishes.html
These are thumbtacks made from fabric covered buttons.
After the presents were opened, we were on to the rest of the party. After watching the video on Youtube for the Jelly Roll 1600, Pam decided we should all make one of these quilts during her Par-Tay. Pam and Cher used Jelly Rolls, and Linda, Pat, and I used strips cut from our stash.
After joining your 2.5 inch strips together end to end, you will have 1,600 inches of fabric. (Note: Pam used some of her Jelly Roll strips for another project so she made the Jelly Roll 1080). Take the end of your strip and match it to the beginning of your strip and put the pedal to the metal and sew! You will be working on one long seam–800 inches long. You repeat this 5 times and end up with a lap sized quilt. There is to be no pressing of seams until the top is together. This is what my version looked like before pressing.

Within 2.5 hours, all 5 of us had our tops completed. The woman on the video claimed to have made her quilt within 35 minutes. I think it took longer than 35 minutes for me to complete my first seam!

We had a great day sewing together. This project may not have been something that anyone of us might have attempted on our own, but in the spirit of the FABs, we all gave it a try and had a blast doing it!
If you are interested in seeing the lap quilts made by the rest of the FABs, have a look here: Pam, Cher, Linda, Pat

Happy Birthday

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We celebrated my husband’s birthday last night with a traditional family meal. The weather has been great this past week so we were able to cook and eat outdoors in the backyard. Summer living is great.
This is my husband and my son–two peas in a pod.

The two peas, and my daughter. I never seem to have enough pictures of my three favorite people!

This is a photo from my garden. I have been keeping an eye on this Hydrangea bush–it does not like the intense heat we have been experiencing lately and so I have been giving it extra water to help preserve those gorgeous blooms.

First Finish for 2010

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This is my first finish for 2010!

This isn’t a quilt, but I am counting it as a finish anyway.

This bag was made a week ago as an early birthday present for my mom. I have made these bags before, but this is the first time I have made one with a zipper top.

The base of the bag is denim and the straps are webbing–going all the way down the side of the bag. The materials used make this a sturdy bag that will withstand heavy items such as books.

New Year’s Eve

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We enjoyed our New Year’s family meal on New Year’s Eve this year, rather than waiting until New Year’s Day. Dinner was followed by birthday cake for my Dad.

We then played board games until midnight. After watching the fireworks from the Seattle Space Needle on TV, we wished each other a Happy New Year and headed to bed.


They say what you start your New Year doing foreshadows how you will spend the rest of that year. I have no problem looking forward to many celebrations throughout the new year with all of my family members near.