What I Did on My Spring Break

I am so lucky to get a Spring Break at my job.  This week my goal was to make something everyday.  Here's what I did:

Day one - I have always wanted to make a needle book.  I recently bought a beautiful quilted needlebook at the Santa Barbara Arts and Craft show from Lady Cordelia, so it was her inspiration and this tutorial that helped me.  I gave this one to my best friend for her birthday.

  

Day 2- I've had a spread of orange chenille that I've been saving for a while to make a rag quilt.  I never got around to it, I think due to the color.  Now my daughter has started making these adorable chenille animals and she asked if she could have it.  I kept a small piece and made this for my etsy shop:

It has a little tiny ragged edge that I hope will show better when I wash it.  I showed it to my daughter to see if it was good enough to sell and she loved it so much, she asked to keep it for her sweet baby.  How could I say no?  I'll just make another for the shop.

 

 

Day 3 - I wanted to try another needlebook but this time I wanted to make it bigger.  The result was way too big so I took it all apart (yes I did) and cut it smaller.  I Frankenstein-stitched it back up and noticed the squares were no longer equal.  I thought it was still nice. Here's what needlebook II looks like:

front

 

back

inside

 

I sent this one to my sister in law as a surprise "just because" gift.  Next one I make will go into my shop.

 

Day 4 -  I didn't actually get anything made today but I cut and laid out a rag quilt I've been wanting to do for over a year. I was making a queen size black, white and red quilt for a customer and I gave her two layout options with two different red fabrics.  The red she didn't pick was the one I loved.  It was a black, white and red hawaiian quilt print and I've always wanted to make that quilt so here is the layout:

All ready to sew

Day 5 -  I made a quilt top a few years ago and I had put it away without finishing it because of a comment someone made that was more along the lines of constructive criticism.  (More about that later.)  I thought it was the right time to finish the quilt.  Unfortunately I didn't have the same fabric to finish the binding so I opted for a similar solid color.  It's not completely done but here's the progress:

The one thing I didn't get to do was make the yellow nesting/stacking block.  The fabric didn't come in time.  That was the one thing I needed to get done for the birthday party today.  Oh well...

All in all, I think this was a terrific Spring Break.  Can't wait till Summer Break.