We have been busy beavers out in the backyard.

This weekend I spent time cleaning up the shade garden weeding and moving a pile of brick and stone debris. You wouldn’t believe all the weird stuff we found while cleaning out and making a shade garden under the pine trees back there. I even found a pair of rusty old spurs that goes on cowboy boots. Huh…weird to find in the city right??

This is the corner where it was all piled…I kept some of the bricks and just laid them out there for now until I can figure out a use for them. On the list for some coming weekend is to paint the little shed there. The brown building behind my shade garden is the neighbors shed… so not much I can do about it unless he lets us paint it. =)

Some of the concrete and blocks I broke up and made a little pathway beside our little red garage leading to a bench my Daddy made me.

Mom gave me a bunch of hosta and fern to plant out here. I am LOVING the fern and hope it grows up nice and tall to hide the neighbors shed.

We also spent a lot of time taking the pallets apart that the patio bricks were delivered on. What to make, what to make?? We finally decided that we would just make a tall planter box for right behind the tiny patio. So sweet BG banged it out and then we filled it with shade loving plants.

Half way through making it , I thought it would have made a cute little bar, just put a larger top on and buy some cool retro bar stools, but the hubs put the kabosh on that. LOL He just wanted to be done I think.

The window boxes and container are starting to fill out.

Now we are starting to plan the transition from our backyard to our side yard. I promised The BG when we got the backyard somewhat situated that I would help him with the hill leading down to the side lot we recently purchased.

We took out the section of fence that separated the two yards and plan to build an arch/pergola with a gate there.

Here’s looking back in from the other side, the grass is still trying to fill itself in where no grass grew before. Come on baby grass, you can do it!!

This is to the left when you walk in from the side yard. This is my one good sunny flower bed, that I have yet to fill up. Mom gave me some wonderful plants and has more to share if I get my bootie over there. But it looks like I have some weeds there to keep the dirt company for now. =)~

So now just to wait for the money fairy so we can buy the dirt to regrade the hill and build some stairs down to the side yard.

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In quilt-y news:

I have been having a huge crush on Lori Holt’s fabric lines. I couldn’t resist Bake Sale and decided to make a little project for my retro themed kitchen.

I decided Sue Daley’s little clamshell pattern would do the trick!

I even hand quilted it!!!!! I wouldn’t advise looking at my stitches though, it was my first try. =) Instead of binding it I put it in a frame.

I finished the apple core too and hand quilted it as well. I’m going to frame it for the kitchen as wel but I need to buy some mat board.

Have you seen Geekly Chic? Pink old school t.v.’s ……YUUUUUMMMMM. I had to have some… even though I don’t have a clue what I will make.

It’s just fits the retro mood I’m in these days! I blame it on Mad Men.

Later gators!!

Melissa

Red,White, and Blue

Jun5

I don’t know about you, but the gals who write the blogs that I regularly read start to feel like old friends. When I don’t get to have a glimps into their world I miss them, even though they don’t know me from Adam!! LOL

So just in case you feel the same about me, I thought I better do a check in before things get too busy. The kids are almost out of school, and my sweet hubs, The Brooding Genius, is taking a few weeks off in the end of June, and we have lots of fun stuff planned.

I finally finished the Red and White quilt!!! Now I am just trying to find someone who can machine quilt it for me that doesn’t have a year wait list. Do share if you know anyone. =)

I have drawn on the scallops for a scalloped edge and will bind it in red.

On a rainy day last week, I was poking around in my sewing room and found some iron on July 4th bluework sheets that I bought a LONG time ago when I worked at Quilt N Go.

I ironed those babies on some 6 inch white squares and couldn’t help myself from making a little quilt.

I added prairie points in the border and will quilt it up today. Just in time for the season.

They look pretty patriotic together, don’t they?

Summer is the easiest season for me to decorate for, just add some red flowers and some flags and things are good to go!

I couldn’t get my mantel just right for some reason, the heights are off I think. I tried to go a bit nautical. It is impossible to get a good picture because of the mirrored wall above the mantel. I get so torn about removing it because it does make the room really bright reflecting all the light, but it does kind of look ridiculous at the same time.

That will be a dilemia for another day. With an old house we never run out of projects, but I have to say I am the happiest I have ever been in a house. I feel so lucky to live here, and I won’t mind if we never, ever move. =)

I’m off to do a little weeding and hand stitching! I started a couple little projects by Sue Daley, her apple core and clamshell patterns. They are so fun!!! Perfect for take along projects for camping.

Later Gators

Melissa

Summer’s Here!!! YIPPEEEEEE

May21

It’s about that time when I seem to disappear from my blog. I’m still around, just sucking up life in Michigan while the livin’s good.

We’ve been having fun (camping,) and working hard (around the yard.)

We constructed a patio in the first part of spring and boy I tell ya, I’ll need a break before we ever do that again! It’s pretty small, but it keeps me out of the dirt and mud in my favorite place to sit under the trees. We planted shade grass there for now until we can afford more pavers, and gravel, and sand, and a wet saw. When that happens then we’ll do some fancy curving around the fire pit. I wanted to do gravel around there, but the brooding genius is adamantly against gravel for some reason??? Men…

Here’s the before with just the fire pit done.

It’s amazing to me that in just a few short days the naked trees and brown grass exploded with green.

Of course I made a little quilt to match my new patio cushions.

We’re watching and waiting for things to bloom and grow.

Meanwhile inside spring decor is down and patriotic is up for Memorial Day through July 4th! I’ll share more pic’s next time =)

Hope you are enjoying spring into summer.

Later gators,

Melissa

I’m a centerfold!

Apr17

I’m over the moon to have another quilt design published in the new issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine!

It’s such a thrill and an honor to have your quilt professionally photographed. Since I am a terrible photographer it’s great fun to see it through another persons lens.

Kari Ruedisale did the machine quilting for me. She did an awesome job!

Click on the link in my sidebar if you would like to subscribe to the magazine. I always love getting my copy in the mail =)

Later Gators,

Melissa

Parade Day Sew Along – Outer Borders

Apr11

Okay last post for the Parade Day Quilt!!!

Congrats if you have been sewing along and are ready for your borders.

Here is my original quilt on the left using 2 1/2 inch inner borders and 3 1/2 outer borders. On the right is the sew along quilt using 2 inch inner borders and 6 inch outer borders.

Those border measurements are the cutting size, not the finished size. So depending on how big you want your quilt, or how much of the border fabric you want to see, you can choose your own border sizes.

Thank you to those who have emailed, and shared your Parade Day progress with me! It has been so fun to see your fabric choices and your beautiful quilts!

Have a great weekend!

Melissa

Ready for Glamping!

Apr5

At least in the luggage category.

After I made my new Weekender, I decided I needed a matching toiletry bag. I just made up my own pattern to resemble the Sophia bag. And voila!

Then I recently purchased the cutest glamping fabric from Moda a couple of weekends ago and was trying to decided what to make out of it. I made up a backpack pattern and went to town:

And today I am going to attempt a bike basket liner for my beach cruiser.

Too much time on my hands?? LOL maybe.

It’s spring break this week, so today my baby girl wanted to hang out with me in the sewing room. So I got out my old starter machine for her and she is sewing her first quilt.

I let her go through my scraps and she picked some interesting color combo’s.

We’ll see if she sticks with it. I already made her seam rip a couple of blocks that were no where near 1/4 inch LOL! Poor girl.

Enjoy your weekend!

Melissa

Parade Day Part 4

Apr3

Hi there friends!

We’re almost done with our Parade Day quilt!!

Today we are going to cut our setting triangles, corner triangles, and applique our buntings.

Cutting for setting triangles.

Cut 2 squares at 11 1/4 inches cut once on the diagonal.

For each setting triangle finger press in half ,

then center the bunting in the middle, pin and applique with your favorite method (machine stitch, blanket stitch, or hand applique.)

I actually love to hand applique and encourage you to try it if you haven’t done it. I always think of it just like hand sewing the back of your binding on. It’s that simple.

My friend Jane, who taught me how to hand applique gave me these tips when I started: use YLI silk thread because it just melts right in like butter, and use straw needles (11, or 10.)

Once you have all the buntings sewn on to your setting triangles you will then make the center portion of the bunting.

1. Use this template: Parade Day Template and trace it on to the dull side of freezer paper. (Or if you are machine stitching you can use a fusible, like steam-a-seam)

2. Press with shiny side down onto the BACK of your fabric, cut out leaving a 1/4 inch seam, and baste.

3. Finger press in half

4. Center on your bunting, pin, and applique.

***Edit: I forgot to add that you need to pull out the freezer paper and basting stitches!

Now we can lay our quilt out into rows paying special attention to the direction your flags are facing.

Sew into rows with a 1/4 inch seam. Press toward flag blocks. Here I am pinning my first seam, see where the over hang of the triangle block is:

Here are the rows all sewn up:

Now sew the rows together:

Once the rows are all sewn, it’s time to add the corner triangles,

Cutting the corner triangles:

Cut 2 squares 7 1/4 inches cut once on the diagonal.

Finger press each corner triangle and center on the corner blocks. Pin and sew.

It looks a little wonky when you have it all sewn on, but we are going to trim the corners to square it.

Using your rotary cutting and a large square ruler ( I used a 12 1/2 inch square) Square your corners.

You should now have a 25 inch square quilt center! Whoop whoop!

From here you can add any sized inner and outer borders you want, but we will discuss the sizes I choose next week!

Here is my finished quilt a long quilt:

cornbread and beans blog 046

See ya next week for borders!

Later Gators,

Melissa

Parade Day Sew Along- Part 3

Mar27

YEAAAAHHHHHHHH!! It’s actually sunny today! My spirit is soaring. It’s amazing what a little sunshine can do for a light deprived Michigander. =)

With the sunshine it is easy to put me in a summery 4th of July mood.

So lets get started making our little parade buntings made out of dresedens.

Cutting:

If using fat quarters :cut 3 strips of blue 1- 3/4 x 22

3 strips of red 1- 3/4 x 22

If using yardage: cut 2 strips of blue 1 -3/4 x wof

2 strips of red 1- 3/4 x wof

Sewing

Sew the red strips to the blue strips using a 1/4 inch seam. Press toward the blue (we will be pressing half toward the red in later steps.) Your strips should measure 3 inches.

Now using your dresden ruler, line it up on the 3 inch mark. The 1- 1/2 inch mark on the ruler should be right across the middle where the red and blue meet. Using your rotary cutter, trim the side off and make your first cut.

Flip your ruler upside down and make your second cut.

Continue cutting your strips until you have a pile of 20 red on the top blue on the bottom , and 20 blue on the top red on the bottom.

Using a quarter inch seam allowance fold your blades in half at the “fat” end and feed them through your machine.

You can chain stitch these.

Now cut the threads that bind your blades together. For each blade you will trim the corner off with scissors (being careful not to cut into the stitching), finger press the seam open, turn the blade tip inside out, and using a bodkin or something sharp push the tip out.

Now take 10 matching blades to your ironing board and press the point of the blade.

Leave 5 of the blades pressed toward the blue fabric, and press 5 of the blades toward the red fabric. This will aid in butting up your seams when we sew them together.

Here are my first 10 blades ready to become a bunting!

Take two blades and butt up the seams, you can pin if you like. Sew using a 1/4 inch seam back stitching at the beginning and end. Sew together 5 pairs.