Spring Bliss

Not yet spring here in NC but the weather this weekend has been very nice!


Spring Bliss is the name of my latest wall quilt - made from Bliss fabric.  I spent time this morning FMQ and had a blast.  I didn't really have good backing fabric and didn't want to purchase something so I just went with a white scrap which was large enough.  More pictures once I get it trimmed and bound.

  
If you look carefully, you will see the flower inside each of the white squares.  The outer border was stipple.  The inner border and the blocks were loops.


This means I can officially take Bliss off my list of my Sweet Stash on my side bar.


However, I did purchase two new charms packs this week.  Max & Whiskers - a very, very cute print I will use to make a gift for a family member.  And Lovely.    (excuse the side ways photo.)

My sisters and I are in training to walk a 1/2 marathon - our first ever.  I walked 5 miles yesterday and feel pretty good today.  I will be taking it easy and will take a walk but at a slower pace, bringing my daughter along.


Have a wonderful weekend.


Happy Stitching!

The end of the sawtooth border

I finally wrestled this border to the ground.  I am very pleased with the way it looks but if I ever see a quilt pattern with a border like this again, I will run to the hills!

A couple of giveaways to tell you about:

• Stop by and wish a Happy Birthday to Freckled Whimsy
• And enjoy this beautiful new fabric from Lila Tueller designs

Hope your weekend was wonderful.  Happy Stitching!

Free Motion Quilting Fun

I was able to carve out 3 hrs Friday night for some Friday Night Sew-In Fun.


My sewing space is tucked into the corner of our bonus room.  It is a nice space and has great line of sight to a big tv.  At 7, my daughter joined me and watched one of her favorite Celtic Woman DVDs.  Their beautiful music served as a wonderful background sound to the whir of my machine as I FMQ my star using Pure by Sweetwater fabric and my table runner.


For the table runner, I used an overall large stipple design.  It went together quickly.  I attached the binding (Sat morning) by the machine because I was impatient to get it on the table!

For the star quilt, I varied the design but had the most fun mimicking the loops in the background fabric.  I hope to get to the binding this weekend.

Finally, I made my first mug rug.  This was made entirely from scraps from my Pure jelly roll including using the very last jelly roll strip as the binding.  From this single jelly roll, I made this Star wall hanging, about a dozen bags - see this post or this one -, AND a mug rug.  There are just a few scraps left. (Loving the jelly roll!!)

It was a wonderful 3 hours carved out of my week.  Looking forward to joining the next one and peeking around blog land to see what the other FNSI folks have done.


One more thought - check out the Quilting is Murder button on my sidebar and join the mystery.  There are giveaways (!!) and a fun read.




Happy Stitching!

Finishes For Friday

Sunday was a day of quilt top finishes.  I had several small quilt tops that I had pieced almost completely but some final block assembly was required and then they need to be quilted.  My goal for the entire weekend was to finish stuff.


Here is a table runner that I actually made about a YEAR ago.  I used a disappearing 9 patch block.  This is actually the first table runner I've every made.

I broke open my Bliss charm pack and made this small quilt.  It needs a border (fabric has been ordered).  I think the red color will make it a perfect Valentine's Day decoration.  This went together quite quickly.  I am going to 'try' to do a flower design in the white center squares - a first for my FMQ.  I've ordered some border fabric.  This is from the book Simplify - check out the giveaway that Camille has at her blog.  You could make one of these too if you win.

Finally, in the fall, I assembled together the major part of this star our of Pure (my favorite!) and managed to assemble it all today.  This quilt top will likely hang in my office to remind me of what I'd rather be doing!

This Friday, Jan 21,  is Friday Night Sew-in.  I hope to free motion quilt some (all?) of these!

Happy Stitching!

Village Green

Last January, I signed up for a block of the month for the 2010 Thimbleberries Village Green.   When I first started quilting, my local quilt shop carried the full Thimbleberries line and it was probably the first fabric I used to make a large quilt with.

With this block of the month, I found that I was keeping up with the monthly block for the first 6 months.  However, once summer hit, the dark colors of the quilt were just not appealing and I started to wonder whether I would finish.  I decided over the holidays to get caught up and make as much progress on the sawtooth border as I possibly could.  Today, I started assembling everything.

I LOVE it.  I've always liked house blocks.

I am a little more than halfway through making the other two sawtooth borders for the side - my goal is to finish next weekend.

Happy Stitching!

I Love Lucy

One of my sisters is a major league fan of the I Love Lucy show.  She and her best friend call each other Lucy & Ethel.  For her birthday in December, I made her a bag.  


I found some panels from their famous Hollywood episode and then quilted.  Frankly when I started I wasn't sure whether I was going to two place mats or something else.  But, once they were together, it was clear that it would make a nice size bag for carrying those papers to be graded to and from school.

She loved the gift!  It went together quickly and made an awesome teacher happy.


Happy Stitching!

Back the real world

My lovely end of year vacation has ended so now it is back to work .... putting a major dent in my quilting time!   As a result, I move back to spending more time dreaming about quilting than actually quilting.


I greatly enjoyed the New Year's mystery quilt from Planet Patchwork - here are the 4 blocks.  This was my first basket block so that in and of itself made it fun.  I stopped short of joining them (sashing in white with an outside border) because I am considering making it a table runner using 3 of the blocks instead.

I also quilted my tree from this post and a tree skirt that I'll post a picture of in the future.  Both were from the 12 Days of Christmas Kate Spain line.   I was pleased how they each turned out.  I just need to bind them both.


The giveaway I won from Tara at Sew Unique Creations came in the mail today.  The book looks fun and  will likely expand my bag making skills as I try some of the techniques out.  Tara also included a set of 3 of her patterns:  My Favorite Table Runner, Eighths are Enough, and Turkey Red.   Turkey Red is going on my make list for next Christmas so I need to start collecting various red fabrics.  For the spring, I think I will make the table runner first.  It was incredibly generous of Tara to include the bonus patterns.  Thank you!

Happy Stitching!

1/1/11 (How fun is that to write out!)

Happy New Year!


Hope your year has started off well.  I'm all set for the the mystery quilt  from Planet Patchwork.

Couple of giveaways to pass on:

1. Green Fairy Quilts  - a double giveaway of a layer cake and a jelly roll.  I like her store as well - have purchased many a pre-cut there.
2. Barn Quilt Calendar from I am Just a Guy Who Quilts
3. Don't Call me Betsy has some beautiful fabric.
4. Chance to win some amazing patterns from Sew Cal Girl.
5. Personal quilt labels from Life Scraps. 

Finally, wanted to pass on a big thank you to Samm from Stash Manicure who gave me some help with blog html related to comment section.  Her blog is great - I added a button to my sidebar.


Happy Stitching!