Orange Crush Step 5

Well it doesn't represent my best moment as a quilter, but I did find some fabric in my stash that works colorwise with the pinwheel blocks.

One thing I have discovered through this mystery is that I don't buy a lot of fabric that reads as solid. I tried to stay true to the challenge and shop from my stash however. These are the album blocks and the corner pieces. It will be a mishmosh of pinks, so we will see how it all turns out. They look better in the picture than in person.

I did manage to buy a few more fat quarters this weekend in between baseball games. They were on sale and I really could not pass them up.

Quilt-a-Long

Well since my OC Step 5 blocks look awful with the other blocks I am going back to the drawing board on these. I need to shop in the stash for a better color combo.

But in the meantime here are the first four weeks of the Quilt-a-Long from Crazy Mom Quilts blog. This is a fun blog and she really makes some neat quilts. The first block is the setting block. There will be 12 of these and then 13 different star blocks. Mine are all purple and yellows from my stash. So far only one mistake on the last block below. The star points were supposed to be different fabrics from each other. But I think it looks ok as is. This is a very low stress quiltalong and should be a pretty quilt when completed. The setting blocks will offer a lot of space to practice machine quilting.

Have a good holiday. I am off to watch DS play baseball all day.

Donna

Look What I Got!!

Well so much for stashbusting. Does it seem like everyone is having fabric sales? Everywhere I go there is fabric screaming to be purchased and brought to a new home. I have decided to try and finish some UFOs and bring in some back up players for new UFOs.

I found this yardage on sale for $4 and $5 a yard. Could not pass that up! None of them were purchased with a purpose except the purple and yellow floral on the bottom. I thought maybe that would go with my Quilt-a-Long, but not sure after I brought it home. But don't they all look pretty. Not all together though, at least I don't think so.

And then I saw this great stack of fat quarters.

I just love how they are folded so that it looks different from either side. This is a great LQS that has lots of reproduction, novelties, brights and thirties types of fabric. It is called Zoe's Trunk. They do not have an online shop. These are so fun to look at. I will unwrap them, but not until I have admired them like this for a few weeks. Is anyone else weird like that?? I couldn't bust it open right away if I had to.

I am really anxious for Step 5 of the OC Mystery.

Thats all for now. Have a great day.

Donna

Aiden's Quilt

Well I am embarressed to admit it but this quilt was started about 7 or 8 years ago for my own son, who is now approaching 16. When I decided to finish some of the various UFO's in my closet I found this top. It only lacked the borders that had been waiting all these years to be added. One of the girls from work has a darling boy named Aiden who just turned 1. I was so happy to finish the quilt and give it to him. The pattern is very simple but it is nice and bright! It has a flannel back for cuddling.












I added the Flickr video to the blog. It was a little challenging and needs to be cleaned up a little, but at least it is there. There is so much you can do on blogger. I am thinking of adding a list of UFOs next, but it may be too depressing.

Thanks so much to everyone who left comments on my last post. It is so fun to read what everyone says and see your blogs as well.

Have a great day.
Donna

Just in Time!

This is the quilt I made for my son's teacher. She also taught my daughter for 3 years. She is a really wonderful lady and I hope she enjoys the quilt. I am pleased with how it has turned out. Tomorrow is the last day of school so it has just been done in time. If you click and enlarge the photo the colors show up much better.

The pattern is a combination of a couple of patterns from the Kim Diehl book called Simple Traditions. I really love her patterns and may eventually get up the courage to try one of the applique patterns. I have the Simple Traditions book and the Simple Seasons book. Both are wonderful to look through.










This is a close up of some of the quilting. I don't usually use white in my quilts, but it does make a great area to show off thread and quilting. I have started to use more white after seeing so many neat quilts on other blogs. This is a white on white. The fabrics are all Posh from Moda.









Thanks for checking out my blog. I have one more quilt to wash tonight, so maybe more pics later. I have to take DS for an appointment at the optometrist. His contacts prescription has expired and he only has one set left. I wonder where he gets this last minute thing from???


Donna

OC Step 4 "the pink quilt"

Well I finished the Step 4 blocks for the OC with the pink used as the light color. I am happy with these and think that this quilt is going to turn out to be my favorite of the two. The other OC uses whites and beiges as the light colors.

I am looking forward to seeing how the other two colors for each of the quilts are going to mix in with the 30 blocks we just made, and the other scrappy blocks. I ended up using the lime green that was to be used for the accent color in the first quilt, so I will have to pull something else from the stash.

I have never done a mystery quilt before so I guess it is ok to change on the fly. I do feel like it is 50/50 that I will end up with a big mess at this point. Worst case I can put these 2 sets of 30 blocks together with sashing at this point!

But it has been really fun starting a blog and sharing with all of you, so the Orange Crush mystery has been worth it for that alone.

While waiting for Clue 5, I am working on putting binding on 6 quilts that I have had as UFOs for longer than I like to admit. I will post photos of each one as they are finished. I had set a goal of June 1st. I think that will need to be revisited.

The other thing I have been working on this week is a quilt for my son's teacher. It is turning out really well. It only needs binding which I think I will put on tonight. I will do the hand sewing during Dancing with the Stars. I am totally addicted to that show. I have withdrawal when it is off of the air.

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Step 4 Done, Finally!

I don't know why it took me so long to complete my step 4. I feel like I was working on it forever. I still need to complete the Step 4 for the pink blocks. Hopefully I will work a little more efficiently.

Below is what my DH gave me for Mother's Day. He always goes to a LQS and picks a bunch of fat quarters. The funny thing is that he gets at least two of each one if he can, and sometimes he gets 3 or 4. He always picks what I would not, but I end up using his a lot. My favorite this go round is the dotted one at the end. It is always fun to open the bag (no wrapping from this guy) and see what goodies are inside. Love my feet at the bottom of the picture. Don't know how to edit those big things out!

Happy Quilting,
Donna

Let's Hear it for the Boy!!

Well it's time for DS to receive equal time. The Freshman Formal was Saturday night and here he is dressed up. I tried to get him to get a haircut, but the season is over and there are no coaches to back me up right now, so no go on the haircut.






He had a great time.



On the quilting front I am about half way through the Step 4 blocks, and I have a top to quilt as a gift for one of my son's teachers. She actually taught my daughter as well, so she has taught my kids for the last 5 years. She is a wonderful lady. I will post a pic once it is quilted. Of course I am last minute on another deadline for it to be finished by the 22nd of May, last day of school here.

Happy quilting,
Donna

Baby Shower Quilt Done

Well the baby shower is tomorrow and the quilt is finished. I am happy. Actually my daughter has to work tomorrow so she will give the quilt to her cheer coach on Monday. I am pleased with how it turned out. This is the result of a machine quilting class I took a couple of weekends ago. The purpose of the class was to lighten up your machine quilting a little. I also quilted this a little more densely than is typical for me.

There are a few oopsies, but overall I like it.

Now on to Step 4 of Orange Crush.

Donna

So You Wanna Be a Prom Queen???

Well we survived prom at our house. My DD decided at the last minute to go to prom after all. She is a junior this year and 2 of her best friends are seniors. She didn't want to miss the fun so at the last minute, (1 week before, last minute in my book) she asked a friend she has known since kindergarten to go with her.

Of course the world's gravitational center then shifted to DD. I am surprised to see that more in blogland did not notice the shift. I am glad to give you the explanation. Since I had a quilting class that had been scheduled for a long time she was forced to go dress shopping with dear old dad. And of course just to show me up they managed to get a gorgeous dress, purse, shoes and jewelry, not to mention lunch in 2 hours. If she and I had gone we would not even have agreed on a lunch spot in 2 hours.

Here she is with proud grandpa.

This is part of the trail of destruction left behind.

And here is part of the mess on Sunday morning.

They did have a great time though. Five couples went in a limo so there were no worries about driving. Then all of the girls slept over at one of the girl's houses. Parent were present so it all went well. That is a bottle of cider they gave away at the prom by the way. So now you see how spoiled one of my children is. DS has his freshman formal this weekend. I'll be sure to post photos of that. I got to do the shopping on this one.

Maybe some quilting photos later today or tomorrow.

Donna