A productive 3 days..

Hello!
In the last few days I have been a busy girl. I have completed 3 projects. ( 3 ufo's)

First - I completed my "Home is where the heart is quilt" to the flimsy stage. I consider it done. I didn't add the very final border as it was getting too big. I don't need another 100 by 100 inch quilt. So I repurposed the border fabric into the backing fabric. I cut it in half and used it but it wasn't quite wide enough, so I cut off about 6 inches and used it as a connection between the two sides with other left over fabric. I haven't taken a photo yet but i will soon. Oh - another thing that happened was that since i wasn't using the large blue fabric i increased my last border to 4 1/2 inches wide. I only had 1 yard of fabric and just had enough. When i put it on the quilt i was short a few inches on the sides so i did an estimated cut to extend it off the top and bottom pieces. I judged correctly. Also when i put the border on the top and bottom... again i just had enough. I know i should have been more precise and done more measuring but i was just wanting to get it done. As I always say.. the quilting gods were watching out for me. So my second UFO is done for July for the Charming girls club.. Yahoo. I am still debating which quilt to do for August. So keep reading... as I will post the answer soon.

2ND. A couple of years ago a went to the close out fabric store in the "hood". I found some black and white toile that i fell in love with. I think that it's a duck broadcloth. I thought it would be the perfect picnic cloth. I bought two yards i think and it was a bigger size over 44 inches. I folded it together with the right sides together and sewed a 5/8 seam on the two sides. I then turned it inside out and sewed a quarter inch seam along the bottom and the two sides. I then folded in the top ends and sewed a quarter inch line and then another line a quarter inch from that. I did sew three cross seams horizontally. It's simple and a good practice piece to get some sewing miles on. I love it.

3rd. This is another UFO that has been sitting in my closet for two years. I got the idea when i went to the beach with friends. My friends mom had made a wind breaker using purple denim and a couple of old broom handles. I went to Fabric Depot here in Portland and found some striped denim on the clearance rack. The stripes were wonderful to use as i used them as guides from the amount i turned over on the ends and to sew the holes for the dowels. I included a photo of one offered by Kath Kidston but mine is closer to the ground and not quite so tall and is longer in length but you get the idea. What i also did was did a label so i would remember when i did it. I took some decorator fabric and cut it out in a flower shape and then embroidered the name "The Wind Breaker" (how original I know.. lol) my name and the date as the Summer of 09. I then sewed it on with a zig zag stitch all around the sides on the wrong side of the fabric and then a bit of free hand lines to tack it in the middle. It even looks good on the outside as it is in the shape of a flower. I can't wait to try it out at the beach. I think i will use the dowels i used for the family tree last year. I will need to take them over to my brothers so i can cut them off of the cement blocks.

So I had a wonderful 3 days and feel like i got something accomplished. Well it's off for a few days at the coast. Enjoy your weekend!
Dottie