Mod Quilt-Along Quilt is Quilted...

Here is a picture of the top of the quilt all quilted! I still have to bind it and so you see the white batting showing around all edges. I am binding it with a navy blue fabric that has little gold stars on it.And here is the back quilted, again, you can see the white batting on the side as it is without binding:

I went ahead and had the quilt quilted by a professional as I just love it too much to use it for trying out my hand and machine quilting for the first time. I took the quilt in for a quote on Tuesday and to my surprise the woman at the shop said she would get right on it that day! She said a 'first time quilt' deserved to be done right away! So, I picked it up all quilted on Wednesday!!! I am so happy with it. I imagined as I was working on this quilt that if I was an experienced quilter that I would quilt it using a dog bone pattern for some whimsy and visual interest. I walked in the quilters shop ready to get the quote and tell her to just use a stippling quilting pattern since that is what the Quilt-Along is using but she said to me, "Oh, I have something that I think would go perfect with this quilt." Can you imagine my surprise when she showed me quilting of DOGGIE BONES along with profiles of dogs that look like labs!!! Wow, was that meant to be or what!?!

Can you see the profile of the doggie below. He is on the left side of the picture and his nose is up in the air some facing to the left. His ear is in the center of the bottom left brown square:

Here is a better shot perhaps. The doggie is in the brown and this time he is facing towards the right. His nose is in the air and he is looking up at a dog bone:

So now I just have to follow along in the Quilt-Along to bind the quilt. Then it will be finished and ready to give to my son!

There are lots of great finished quilt pictures rolling in at the Mod Sampler Quilt-Along group on Flickr site so go take a look!

Fabric, Fabric, Fabric!!!

You know what I have a perhaps unhealthy obsession with at the moment - FABRIC! There are just so many wonder fabrics out there to create with. I could spend hours browsing fabric shops and imagining all the wonderful projects I could create...I say I COULD because the fact is that I have small children and a job and household to run. However, I do find time to browse some great shops online and especially on Etsy.

Recently, I came across another great blog called A La Mode where I can also see some beautiful fabrics and great creativity. Even better, Heather over at A La Mode is having a fabric giveaway this week and next as well!!! If you get a chance, head on over and take a look at the site...and if you love fabric as much as I do, sign up for the give-away!

Day out With Thomas...

Yesterday we took the kids to see Thomas the Train! He was in town for a short time pulling train cars at the Vintage Railroad near us. For those of you that don't know, meeting Thomas is like way up there on the list for 3-year-old little boys...not so much for 8-year-old sisters but she had a great time as well!My son could not believe he was standing in front of THOMAS THE TRAIN!

Here we are as a family riding in one of the train cars. All the while on the ride songs from the Thomas series were playing and the kids were singing along!

Here they got to meet Sir Topam Hat. They are looking at the person there you pay to take your picture and not at me, but still a cute pic. The Little Prince had said all morning that he was going to shake Topam Hat's hand! He just beamed when he met him.

They had lots of Thomas and Friends models for the kids to play with.

Then there were some very elaborate models to look at but not touch.

It was a crisp sunny morning and a great time! There were bounce house, carnival food, music and stories for the kids and a great way to spend a weekend morning. The Prince has yet to stop talking about meeting Thomas!

Mod Quilt-Along Back Complete!!!

I DID IT!!!!

I completed the back of the quilt for the Quilt-Along today! I LOVE it. Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson was such a help and good guide through the project! I am quite pleased since this was my first time to attempt anything like this. You can see the other finished pieces at the Flickr site.

My little boy, for whom the quilt is for, was helping me this morning as I finished the back. He found a great new use for my sewing rulers! Roads! He was making roads and driving his little cars over them...it was precious!

Mod Quilt-Along Quilt Top COMPLETE!!!

Obviously I went with the blue sashing and am happy that I did! I think the quilt will be perfect for my little boy and a quilt that will grow with him since it it not too 'cartoon-ish'. Tomorrow I will take care of the back of the quilt. Hopefully that will not take me as long since it is not as involved as the top. This has been a great learning experience and I am quite happy with my first quilt so far.
Now off to enjoy an ice cold Diet Coke as my kiddos play outside some. We had some rain here yesterday and today so everything looks squeaky clean and greening up. Spring is here!!!

Finished Blocks all Laid Out!

I laid out all of the finished blocks for the top of the Mod Quilt from the Quilt-Along this afternoon! I have gone back and forth on which sashing to use on my quilt top for the baby-man so I put down the fabric for the blue sashing on one half of the blocks and the fabric for the cream sashing on the other half of the blocks and I made a decision.

The BLUE is the winner!

I appreciate how the cream stands out against the blocks, but I think the blue just really makes them pop and brings the work together. I will use the fabric you see in some in that bottom middle square with the darker navy background and yellow stars as the binding.

I will start sewing the sashing to the squares tomorrow. I was hoping to get to it today but I had too much work to catch up on, a meeting at church, dance class for the princess, a mountain of laundry, and a little boy that needed me to play!

As an aside, here is something soooo cute I watched and heard the baby-man say today during play. I had a neighbor friend over for a bit and she brought her son who is my son's age. They both have just recently turned 3. They were zipping around downstairs. As my son zipped by he says to the other little boy "Hey Jeff, I mean Batman, wait!" I stopped my son and asked him if he had said 'Batman' and he said yes so I asked him who he was and he said "I Superman!" It was such a sweet moment. Really the first time I have witnessed him really playing with a friend in a pretend role like that! He is growing so fast and it is such a blessing to be a part of his milestone moments!

My daughter just turned 8 and it happens so fast. It is such an amazing and truly awesome thing to be a parent and to join these little beings on their journeys to discovery. I cherish every single moment of it and am truly grateful to be their mother.

Block F Pieced and Sewn...

I finished piecing and sewing all the blocks for Block F this morning! Whew!!! I am still awaiting the alternate fabric in case I decide to nix the bottom far left and bottom far right fabric (both with stars in them).

I also laid all of the blocks out both with the navy sashing and the cream sashing and took pics so I could make the final decision on that with it all laid out. HOWEVER, I went to put my camera card in the computer to upload the pics and THERE WAS NO CAMERA CARD!!! It was still in my computer from uploading the last bunch. I desperately need to shower and tidy up around here so I will lay it all out again sometime later and CHECK FOR THE CAMERA CARD before taking them all up again!!!