Halloween Table Runners

This is funny was going though old blog posts and found that I created this post long ago and never posted it since I finished the binding yesterday on these I thought I should share this.  yes we have many ore then the first 3 to finish they are just the start.  Any way below is what I wrote a year ago when I first started these.

Tanya has us off making new projects again.  This time we are trying to get ahead of the game.  Meaning that we will start making things for a holiday before the holiday is over.  My task to make 10+ Halloween table runners. 

Kind of a blurry picture but above you can see my nearly 2 inch tall stack of strips.  To give context to their size its 4 1/2 inches wide.  I do not ever make one thing at a time.  Its more like a dozen projects started at a time.  One day I am going to have to catalog all the 1/3 way projects I have done in the past.

Well we didn't get any of them done by Halloween. Three tops were completed. On to the next season.  

Creepy Crawly Spiders

It has been way too long since I have posted a blog post and I guess that has to change.  Any way this last week Jared has been at scout camp and I went up to visit him his last night.  While up there, I found this spider and it looked cool so I gook a picture. It goes well with my post so, I thought I would start with it.

It has been a long time since I last quilted.  But today, I put the binding on 3 table runners that I started a year ago and never finished in time for Halloween.  Well this year I got them done in time.

They are just simple squares type of table runners.  You can download the pattern free from our Craftsy Pattern store.  When they are washed they will end up in our Etsy Store.

Not that the picture is very clear but I quilted this quilt last week and its now in the binding pile.

Batik's and Birthday's

Last year some time my wife bought me this huge stack of Batik's and as my wife said I did not seem excited or care.  I dont know how I went almost a year with out being excited about these but for my Birthday I decided to treat my self and cut into this stack.  I started last night (My B-Day Eve) and I finished this morning.  And will share in Pictures.

I really enjoyed visually how this stack was put together it had the lighter on one side and the darker on the other side.  So I had to get a picture of both sides of this bundle to show it all off.

The way my wife cuts material is so much different then my style of cutting.  Many or most I would assume cuts 1-2 layers of material at a time.  For me that is way too slow and not as efficient.

It might be hard to tell but the stacks that I am cutting are about 12-15 layers thick.  The cutting blade I use is the larger of the 2 standard size blades and I always make sure my blades are sharp as I like to cut thick stacks.

Here is more of a close up.  Please note these are 2 stacks thick each but gives you an idea of how many layers are in the stacks.

So you may ask what in the world am I doing with all of these.  My plans are too make 3 quilts (yes I cant ever seem to make a single quilt at a time, though Tanya is trying to convince me to make 4 rather then 3 quilts go figure)  To explain the material at the top of the above picture is what is left of my Fat Quarter Bundle which is about 1/3 of the fabric left.  The long strips will be a diagonal lap quilt and maybe a 2nd baby quilt if Tanya gets her way.  The 2 1/2 inch squares in the 3 bags will make 2 different quilts one will be one of my 25 squared patterns and the other will be a granny square quilt which I have made many times but never made a pattern for but will make a pattern this time while making it.

Well I still had a little time before having to leave for work so I started to sew my strips together.  At the point I took this picture the strips each had about 6 strips sewed together so the weight of it was dragging them off the side of the table.

The funny thing about Batik's are that my wife hates them and complains and the longer I play with them and sew them together the more she starts telling me how much she likes them and wants me to make more and more.  She just cant make up her mind.  

What I love most is the contrast in the colors.  Any way this is the pile that I had when all the strips were sewed and there is only 5 long strips left.

While I am finally at work and they thought to celebrate and since it also shows off the quilt on the wall in my office I took a picture sorry for the poor quality and poor editing I was at work after all but Happy B-Day to me.  And for those that are curious I turn 47 today.  I was born in the summer of 1969.

Last and not least Google had to get in on the B-Day Action and I seem to be getting a B-Day google celebration page.  If you click it it goes to my profile so good job Google and thanks.

Mothers Day

This is a old picture but Happy Mother's Day Tanya From the Kids and Me.  Also Happy Mother's day to all the other mothers out there.  

And 

Happy Quilting

Valentines Day 2015

Well it is valentines day today so I suppose I must start with some hearts.  These are not original they were mock ups I made back in 2013 for a quilt I made for my wife. That post can be found here.

Even earlier then that back in 2013, we decided we were going to make some quilts with hearts in them and well it of course cased me to make a funny post about it called Tugging on my Heart Strings you can read it for more info.

Those hearts eventually made it into a quilt and well I guess I should show it off as well it has more hearts.  You can read more on that here.

Hearts are great and as such we have even applique a few in the past into a rag quilt.  More on that quilt here.

Of course some times you just need hearts in the material print.  You can read more about That quilt here.

Well Sadly I have nothing new this year for Valentines Day.  I do love my wife and would like to wish her a Happy Valentines even if she gets nothing from me (I am not a big present buyer) I love her all the same.

Happy Halloween

Well another holiday is here and me and the kids are dressed for work/school today.  I hate dressing up but at work today they are feeding us and its required to be in costume.  Are you able to tell what I am dressed as?

If you said scout you are only half correct.  Think Pixar Movies by Disney

For the love of GREEN!

I know I should not start this post saying that I am not into St Patrick's Day, but I don't really enjoy the day.  When I was a kid I was that poor kid that always forgot green at school and every one took turns pinching me.  Well this year my son Jared is now at that cute age of 8 where kids will be kids. I wonder how he will do?

If you have followed along much at our blog, you will know that Jared is a HUGE fan of GREEN!  In the picture above you can see his Creeper costume that he wore for Halloween last year.  

From the images I could find on my blog showing things we have done green in the past you can see that we do like a couple things green.  We have the John Deere quilts we made as gifts last year to green solo coups (I know I got the color wrong for the song) to this pile below which is for Jared's green helix quilt which other then picking the blocks we have not yet really started it.

But for the best green thing we have ever done it would be the first quilt I made for Jared.  It is called the Green Quilt of Awesomeness.  Follow that link to read more about it or just look at the happy picture below of Jared in it.  Hope you have a Happy Green Day today.

Happy Valentines!

This post is to Tanya from the Family that Loves you.  Richard, James, Rebecca, Jared, Julia.

Happy Valentines from Me and The kids to you.  Your Heart is finished (OK well its only a quilt top but hey its the 13th and my basting queen is not home to baste it.)

I did make a cute little something to go on the back.  Since you think its too big to be a wall hanging (quilt top above, not the cute little thing for the back) maybe we can add a border and make it a quilt for you.

I am slowly getting in the mood for the season!

Two days ago was National Boss Day.  To celebrate, my coworkers and I decided to do something special for the boss. We filled his office up with pumpkins.  A full pickup truck full.

My boss is a pretty cool guy and has a great sense of humor.  A couple years back we filled his office up with packing peanuts to the 3 foot level.  A few years before that we Shrink wrapped his entire office with a full roll of industrial packing wrap.  Needless to say, we try to keep things fun at work.  And some times the boss just sits and shakes his head and wonders what we have planned next.

Since I was all in a Pumpkin Mood, I brought 5 large ones home with me, so expect to see them carved some where down the road.  I decided it was about time I finished this Halloween decoration.  Its hard to tell how big it is, but its pretty decent size I think it was one yard by width of fabric.  My son James is scoping out the house trying to decide where to hang it and has pointed out the large front window would be perfect for it.  This was a one yard cut and all I did is some simple quilting around boxes and the strings from the spider I sewed down them too.  I circled all the ghosts and witches and all the purple boxes.  I would guess over the next few years each time I pull it out, I will sew it just a little more until its quilted more fully.