Monday, July 30, 2012

Not much going on...

...because it's too darn hot!

I hope y'all are staying cool wherever you are.  Here it's been in the 100's with a forecast of high 100's.  And we were lucky enough to have our A/C die last night.  A repairman is supposed to be here today between 1:00 and 5:00.  I'm kinda hoping he shows up a little earlier.

Anyway...as the post title says, there's not much going on here.  I spent the weekend tidying up and reorganizing my quilting room.  All I think I did though was just rearrange the piles.  I did manage to go through some more UFO's and toss a few of them into a box to donate.  I tried working on them but I just wasn't into them.  I'm hoping someone in the guild will want to finish them either for themself or just as a charity project.

While cleaning up I came across these embroideries that I did a couple of years ago. 



I absolutely LOVE them but I still haven't figured out what to do with them.  What would you do with them?  The only thing I can think of is using them in a Triple Irish Chain.

WINNERS!


Congratulations to 

winner of the Tradtional prize

and

winner of the Modern prize


Ladies, please send me your address so that I can mail your goodies.

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway. 
I wish I had something for everyone.

To end this post here I'll leave you with booth pictures of Pam Buda and QP Designs.






Enjoy your day!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Third Blogiversary & 350+ Followers Giveaway!!!

Are you a "traditional" quilter or a "modern" quilter? 

If you've been following my blog for a while now you know that I like to dabble in both traditional and modern quilting.  Here are some goodies I picked up at Market back in May that will go to two followers of my blog.

For the traditional quilter I have Pam Buda's newest patterns that she introduced at Market and a Fall 2011 copy of Primitive Quilts. 

Believe me! If you are a traditional quilter you will WANT these patterns. I bought a set for myself also and I can't wait to start making them!


And for the modern quilter I have GE Designs newest book Big Blocks Big Style, QP Designs newest creation Dresden Flower Patch, and the first issue of Generation Q Magazine. 

Gundren's (aka GE Designs) new book is to die for. It has nine different quilt designs to choose from.  I'm going to have to dig into my stash soon just so I can make a quilt in it.  And I just LOVE the dresden pattern!  It's done in Kaffe!


Okay...now the rules for this giveaway.  Because I'm celebrating my
third blogiversary and reaching over 350 followers, this is
going to be a FOLLOWERS ONLY giveaway. 

For a chance to win, simply leave me a comment saying

"Make mine TRADITIONAL"
 
or
 
"Make mine MODERN"


It's that simple.  On Moday, July 30th, I'll post the winners.  Good luck to everyone!

Still plugging away...

...at all those old projects. A good share of my time was spent finishing up the applique for the center of my Our Home Sweet Home quilt from the Sep/Oct 2006 issue of Fon's & Porter's.  Here is the original quilt shown in the magazine.


And here is mine...so far.


I didn't care for the applique in the original design so I drafted my own.  I just love the applique design that I came up with. 

All the units for this 108" square quilt are completed and ready to be attached in rounds.  But I have another issue that needs to be dealt with first...the house.  What was I thinking?  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  But now that I look at it, its glaringly obvious that the house is too dark and blends into it's setting too much. 

To fix this problem and make the quilt even more individualized, I'm thinking about ripping out the house block and replacing it with a fancy star.  I don't plan to use the exact star block you see below.  It's just to give you...and myself...an idea of what it would look like.  Opinions?



While I was contemplating on the house vs. star dilemma  I managed to complete blocks minus 1 for these two quilts.  I hate it when I miscut.


The first one is made from charms. I know it's not real pretty to look at but I think after some sashing strips are added it'll look much better. Don't you think?

For the second one I used my Studio and Rob Peter to Pay Paul die to cut up a Tula Pink layer cake and some background. I'm thinking the blocks would look better on point.  Maybe have them on point surrounding a large applique of some sort?  As you can see I don't have a plan for them so they'll go back into the closet till I decide what to do with them.


Well hat's all I have to share today. 

Next up...the Blog Birthday/Follower giveaway thing.  I promise!  

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Hello Again!

I am still alive and kickin'.  I swear.  It's just sometimes the thought of blogging just seems like too much darn work.  But I'm here and now and I'm happy to report that I've been sewing up a storm.  Some things I can share with you and some not just yet.

In the past week, I've finished six WIP/UFO's, attached the binding to six quilts, and finished the binding on two of them.  And I managed to work on a few "secret" projects. 

So...wanna see what I've been up to?  First up... here's my Kaffe Japanese Chrysanthemum One Block Wonder. 


I must have played with the layout of this darn quilt for close to two weeks before finishing it up this week. My dear friend Donna was kind enough to do a rush quilting on it and I finished the binding Sunday night.

Next up is a little quilt I started probably two years ago and just never got around to finishing it.  Which is really sad because it was 90% done and just needed a little more blanket stitching.  The pattern is from one of Kim Diehl's books...which one I can't remember at the moment. 



Here's my version of the granny square craze which I started a few weeks ago.  The blocks were made using 1 1/2" squares.  After they were all done I wasn't terribly pleased with them so they sat around for a while.  But not wanting them to become another UFO I forced myself to finish the project and now I'm glad I did because I think it's kinda cute.  I call it my "Olive Oil" quilt. I imagine that the fabrics used came from her old dresses...dorky I know.



Wasn't Rooibos (below) part of Pink Pincushion's Year of Small Projects last year?  That's how long this one has been sitting around.  And all that it needed done to it?  Trim it down to size and add the already pieced border! 

*hanging my head in shame*



Here's a quilt top I made from 10" squares.  What did this one need?  Borders...that's all.  I really really really HATE sewing on borders.  But hey...it's done now!



And finally...my Ocean Waves quilt top is completed!!!  I am beyond thrilled to have this one done.  The half square triangles finish at 1 3/4".  While it doesn't have as many pieces as my Elizabeth Crockett quilt, it has a respectable 2,951 pieces.  Now all I need to do is find someone up for the challenge of custom quilting it.


Now I'm off to bed because my husband just informed me it's almost 3 AM.  Tomorrow's plan?  BINDING!



P.S.  In my absence my blog has turned 3 so in honor of that I'll post a new giveaway in the next day or two...or three...LOL.