Progress on My Jubilee Quilts

I'm afraid I stay behind and can not seem to keep up with the Barrister's Sow-a-long over at Randy's blog. But.....I am trying!! I most likely, would have not had such a hard time of it had I not decided to make an extra quilt in all Christmas fabrics.

Both of these quilts are my Jubilee quilts, made in the year I turned fifty. I can honestly say, I would never have believed I would have completed all of these blocks and continue to stay sewing to complete these quilts. I guess my motivation is "turning 50" and needing something(s) to commemorate that event!

To get a better look at fabrics...click photos to enlarge

I decided to lay all of the blocks out and take a look at how they were coming together.  So far, I have completed 39 blocks for each quilt.

Here are the Christmas fabric blocks. At this point I am not sure which set of blocks I love the best!!

And speaking of behind.....I am six blocks behind before the new blocks are released on Randy's blog.

But if you do that math....that translates to TWELVE blocks behind.....six blocks for each quilt!!

I have all the blocks cut out....and if this looks like a gillion pieces...well believe me it feels like a gillion times ten to me!!! I need to get these sewn together today if possible, or at least make a good dent in these blocks....there are tiny pieces in here.....so wish me luck!! I think the new blocks come out this week....so I need to get busy!!!

Have a great day!!! Sew something fantastic!!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Touches To a Baby Shower

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

I hosted a baby shower for my niece and had a marvelous time with the planning of all the festivities! The theme was Under The Big Top - circus theme shower and I used a few vintage things to add to the decor and re-purpose for the shower. I will have a more detailed post a few days next week and show how it all came together! But for now, here are some of the things that I used that came from vintage items. As always, clicking on photos will make them bigger.

 This is a banner that I made using photo copied pages from a vintage circus children's book that I purchased online.  This banner spelled the name of the baby....it was so cute!

 I found an elephant and giraffe at goodwill.....vintage looking brass animals from the 70's maybe.....but these quickly became decor for the mantle.

 I don't like brass at all...but painted these turned out really cute! See that circus poster????.....I gave you a sneak peek HERE and this is what I did with that poster and window......spray paint can fix up lots of ugly things really quick.

I purchased this elephant at an estate sale. It was one of those ceramic pieces from the 70's as well....and while it looked ok as it was....it was not what I really had in mind.

I used baby blue spray paint from Michaels and it made all the difference in that elephant and the planter in the middle that held cotton candy.

Here is another view of one of the tables.....

 A vintage baby planter that is a clown was the topper for this serving display. I filled the planter with suckers and it worked out really well.

The lion was a vintage fine, and embellished with felt and the initial for my new great nephew's name. 

By collecting cast off items at goodwill, thrift stores and estate sales, I was able to update them to fit right in with my theme and not break the budget. Come back next week for a more detailed look at the shower and how it all came together! 

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!