Quilt Escape

Two January Finishes

2009-01-27T07:37:00.001-08:00

Hooray for me. I have finished two tops this month! Neither one is quilted yet, but it still feels good. The first one is the string quilt you saw as a WIP. I am very pleased with how this turned out. I even used fabric from my stash for the sashing and corner blocks. This is very thick already since I used a muslin base, so I think I will use a flannel backing and just quilt the two layers. The second finish is a quilt that I started in December for my son. He wasn't too happy with it while it was in progress, but he is happy with the result. He thought it had too many light fabrics in it, but I assured him they were needed. Now he agrees I am right. First time in 16 years apparently.
I am going to add these to the January finishes in my sidebar, but first off to work and to get taxes done. Yuck to both.

Update. I should have referenced the pattern for my son's quilt. It is noted in this blog entry here.

It is called Cabin Tracks from a Quilter's Sampler Magazine. I will add the issue and the shop name.

Donna

Progress on String Blocks

2009-01-19T13:07:00.000-08:00

I have really been having a lot of fun working on these string blocks. Here is the stack, all 192 of them. They are 4.5" squares. The strings are sewn on a muslin base.

Since the blocks are rather on the thick side, I need to pin them. I love these ultrafine pins from Fon's and Porter. They have glass heads, glide through the fabric and usually don't cause a broken needle, although I have had my share of mishaps.
I also use a walking foot due to the thickness of the blocks so that they stay nice and even. I sew rather slowly on these, and go right over the pins.

This is the setting I am playing with. It is hard to tell from the photo, but the sashing is a pale yellow. I like it so far, but need to put another row together before I make a final decision. The plan right now is for a layout 6 blocks x 8 blocks.
I have one more seam to sew and then the Double Delight will be put together also. I am still trying to decide on borders.

Donna

The Stash Part III

2009-01-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

So these are the third and last group of photos of the bundles in my stash. The rest of the stash is individual fat quarters or bundles of solids. This grouping is called Sonnet. I love the blues in here and think this would make a great fall quilt. I don't remember the name of this grouping. I bought it on a whim at a sale 2 years ago. Of all the stacks I have this is one that I have no clue what it will turn into.
These are some vintage types. I love the bright cheerfulness of this stack. I think this would look good with some white Kona cotton and have several pattern ideas in mind.
This is an older bundle from Valori Wells. I had some pattern in mind when I bought it, but for the life of me have no clue now. I think this is called Mariposa.

Finally Strawberry Lemonade from Me and My Sister. I love their fabric and have one top completed waiting to be quilted from their first line Cookies and Milk. There fabrics are fun to work with.
That is all of the stash posting for now. Pulling all of these out has kept me from impulse purchases on line, but I am going to Prescott tomorrow for my daughter's cheer competition and my aunt wants to go to the quilt store there. It may be too tempting for me.

I have been working diligently on Double Delight. It is really taking me a long time to put the rows together, but I like how it is turning out. Maybe somes pics next week if I can figure out the border.

Finally I have made at least 100 string blocks this week. I do not know why, but I have this overwhelming need to deplete the bucket of strings. It is actually about half gone now. I will have pictures of the blocks and the bucket later as well. It has been no small task, but oddly relaxing. It would probably make a non quilter think I am crazy though. All this new fabric to work with, and I am obsessed with scraps!

Donna

Some Mindless Sewing

2009-01-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

I have assembled all of the blocks for the Double Delight, and cut all the setting triangles, but I needed to take a break for the day. So I have decided to put together some string blocks. I have lots and lots of strings. I was going to toss all of them, but decided to see how these would look. I think they are pretty cute. There is no rhyme or reason to how I am piecing these, and they have every fabric under the sun in them. These are 4.5" blocks, and I have another stack of 8" blocks I will show you next time. I am off to lunch with the girls now, and then back for an afternoon of mindless sewing! String blocks do make a mess. I will have to take a picture of the floor and "string bucket" next. That little green cutting mat under the mess is one of those mats that is on a turntable. Hands down it is one of the 5 best quilty things I have ever purchased, along with the still MIA purple thang. I resisted buying it for a long time because it is fairly pricey, but I use it all the time for trimming up blocks. Used it alot for the Double Delight.
Back later,
Donna

The Stash Part II

2009-01-09T18:10:00.001-08:00

This is the Ava Rose bundle from Fat Quarter Shop. I love how it is packaged . It is almost too pretty to unpack. I am going to look for a pattern that will work for these large florals and bright colors.
This is the Chez Moi stack. I actually unpacked it for the first time tonight to take a picture. The colors are so pretty. It is kind of weird but I never unpack the bundles and look at each fat quarter until I am ready to make a quilt. I know that this is very backwards, but it is how I always do it. Finally this is Flutterby by Tula Pink. There are some great prints in this bundle. I am tempted to buy the Nest bundle to coordinate with this, but I really don't need to since there is plenty here.

There is a least one more round of pictures to go to show all the fat quarter bundles. I don't buy jelly rolls or charm packs. The rest of the stash is loose fat quarters for the most part and some 1 and 2 yard pieces. OH and LOTS of SCRAPS! I have started to use Bonnie's Scrap Users System and you can see in my sidebar that I have a few scrap quilts going. I will show some pictures of these soon.

The Double Delight is coming along very well. All of the trimming is done and I am assembling the large 9 patch blocks now. Next step is to cut the setting triangles. I am going to use a new Fons and Porter ruler I bought for this. I hardly ever set quilts on point, but this one sure is looking great.

All for now,
Donna

Quilter's Guilt

2009-01-07T11:36:00.001-08:00

So am I the only one who suffers from guilt when I look at my stash? I have decided to face the issue head on and organize the stash, as well as to kind of get the creative juices flowing. I have lots of bundles that have been sitting, some for a long time on the shelf. My sewing set up actually has my back to the stash, so I only see it when I walk into the room. I thought if I post pics of them here it might help to remind me of what I have and also keep me from buying new. This first guy here has been in custody for about 5 years now, and was actually one of the first bundle purchases I made. I am picturing this as a medallion type of quilt.

This is one of the Funky Monkey bundles. I am not even sure which one. It was at a 50% off sale so I bought it. My son actually loves monkeys so it may end up as a throw for him.
This is a Buggy Barn bundle that I got as a birthday gift last year I think. I don't have a vision for this one yet.

This is the Fresh Squeezed collection from Sandy Gervais. I have seen lots of quilts in blogland made from this and really admired them. I picture this with white sashing, maybe a simple log cabin or rail fence even.
I have another bunch of stacks on the shelf to photograph next. I think this will help me to put thoughts in order for 2009. After all it is no fun just to finish projects and not start anything new is it?

Finally my progress on the Double Delight Mystery. I have all of the 9 patch strips sewn together and have begun the block assembly. I still have lots of trimming to do. UGH!

I am looking forward to see how all of these blocks look together. I am sure I will cheat and make a few more blocks before I finish all that trimming.

All for now.

Donna

One Project a Month Challenge

2009-01-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

There are so many UFO challenges in blogland these days, along with free BOM and weight loss challenges I really decided to concentrate on just one. It is a challenge to finish one project a month and you can get the details here at Tag Along Teddies blog. I have put a partial listing of some of the completed tops I want to quilt, and a second list of tops that need to be completed on my sidebar. I really need to go into the depths of the quilting closets to make sure I have inventoried all WIPs. If nothing else, this challenge has made me take a hard look at what all I have started and not completed. I do so love to start things. I am truly looking forward to completing some projects in 2009. Plus I get to put this cute teddy bear picture on my blog!

Donna

Purple Thang

2009-01-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

I am not advertising for any company, but gosh I love this tool, and I have lost mine. My business trip got postponed until next week, so I thought I would work on the Double Delight Mystery. I can't find my Purple Thang! It works great for holding down all those little seams when you go through the presser foot. This means I may have to make a trip to the quilt store, oh no there goes any hope of stashbusting. Plus Hancocks has a 20% off sale for the next day or two. What should I do? Hmmmm.

Donna

Too Many Projects Update!

2009-01-04T16:29:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of the quilt my son picked out for me to make him. Lots and lots of skinny strips. He took all of about 15 minutes to go through dozens of books and magazines and decided on this one. I love the quilt, but it has been a challenge for me.

These are some of the skinny little 1" strips sewn together to be cross cut into 2.5" strips for sashing pieces.
These are the finished blocks. They are 8" square and are four different layouts.
This is what one of the finished blocks will look like. I am working diligently, but it kinda makes my eyes cross, so I decided to take a break and start the Quiltville Mystery.This has been lots of little pieces too! Do not look further if you are working on this one and do not want to have the later steps spoiled. I have skipped ahead without finishing one step at a time. Step one blocks are finished and about half are trimmed.Step two blocks are 80% done, with only a few trimmed.The trimmings are cute.
Step 3 and 4 are in process. I wanted to see what one of the cute little 9 patches would look like. Here is the step 4 block put together correctly.......

And here it is put together incorrectly. I wish now that I had used a lighter value where the blue is so that the star would pop better, but that is the danger of a mystery. I think it will be fine when it is finished, but probably not what Bonnie envisioned for her pattern.
Have fun with the mystery everyone. I will not be sewing until the end of the week since I go back to work tomorrow, but it has been a fun weekend.

I have to decide which of the many challenges in blogland to participate in. Lots of stashbusting and UFO finishing challenges!

Donna

Double Delight

2008-12-31T11:53:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve everyone. I have decided to do Bonnie's Double Delight, the latest Quiltville Mystery, even though I have plenty of other projects to work on. One thing for sure is that I decided to use fabrics from my stash, so at least I don't have to feel guilty about making any new purchases.

I still have not decided whether or not to take Judy's Stashbusting Pledge. She has a great though provoking post about stashbusting here. But, I am weak and there are so many great sales right now, with more to come I am sure! So I decided to take the coward's way out and start a new quilt with stash fabrics.

This is what I chose below. The red, black, blue and whites are all from a coordinating bundle designed by Alex Anderson that I purchase about 4 years ago. I think it is called Remembrance. The yellow I bought some time ago, just because I liked it. I am going to use the yellow where Bonnie uses the double pinks, so I will have only one print here instead of a variety. I don't know if it will work but we will give it a try.

I made a few blocks this morning. So far so good. It will take a lot of trimming time, but hopefully it will be worth it when it comes to matching seams and not cutting off points. I don't have the ruler Bonnie recommended, but this little Omnigrid works pretty well.

Back to the sewing room.

Donna

Thank you Kate!

2008-12-26T08:40:00.001-08:00

Well it was sure fun on Christmas morning to open my SCSS gift. There were so many lovely surprises inside. Thank you so much Kate! First there was this darling Christmas hanging. There are red bells at the bottom, but I cut them off when I rotated the picture. It will hang in my family room on my quilt rack.

Then there was this magazine and a postcard from where Kate lives. Oh those beaches look so lovely. I adore all of the Australian magazines and I am looking forward to enjoying this issue. One of the things I have been wanting to learn to do is stitching.
Kate sent me the goodies below which should put me on to a great start. Little does she know she may have to get me started with email instructions! There was also a yummy bag of cookies that I think my son already ate before I could get a picture. Finally not to be outdone this is the bundle of fat quarters my hubby got for me, along with lots of other gifts. He is well known at the quilt store. He always buys fat quarters, two of each pattern at a time. It is great for stash building and since I love to make scrap quilts, these always fill in for missing colors or patterns to add that extra touch. They are special too since I know he picked them out when I look at the finished quilt.
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. It was wonderful at our house.

I am pondering whether or not to continue my blog. I started out with great intentions, but always seem to have a long time between posts lately. I do love to see all the other blogs out there though, and it doesn't seem right to lurk but not participate. We shall see.

I hope you all enjoyed the SCSS exchange. Thanks so much to Donna for organizing this. It must have been a lot of work for her.

Happy Holidays,
Donna

2008-12-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

My SSCS gift arrived this week. I was out of town on business, so it was a nice surprise to come home and find this waiting for me. I will wait patiently until Christmas to open this parcel. Thank you Santa.

I have only done the minimum on Christmas decorating so far. My tree is up, sadly without any ornaments. My teenagers do not have time to help and I have not been home. Maybe we will just have twinkly lights this year. It seems like I only just put those ornaments away a few days ago!
I have hung a few of my Christmas quilts. At least I have a little bit of decorating done.

Donna

A Happy Stack

2008-11-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

Last January I started on Christmas quilts for my sister's 5 kids. I thought I was giving myself plenty of time. Well I came down to the wire, but here is the stack of finished quilts. I love the backings on all of them. It is the only fabric I had to buy for five quilts since I had so much Christmas fabric in my stash.

Here are the fronts. This one is for my oldest niece. She is a college student.

Next niece number 2 a high school senior.

Next niece number 3, 8th grade.

Then niece number 4, 3rd grade.

Then finally my nephew, 6th grade.

It was fun to make each one. They will go in the mail by the end of this week. Each one needs to still be washed.

And I get to buy new Christmas fabric to replenish my stash!

Donna

Not Working on Christmas

2008-10-22T12:39:00.001-07:00

So I should be working on Christmas gifts, but somehow I can't get in the mood for that, so I am working with these pretty florals. They are from the Hoffman Flower of the Month Series from a couple of years ago. The pattern is from a Christmas Magazine, so at least I was looking at Christmas projects.

I have worked on my Secret Santa Christmas Swap gift, but I don't think we are supposed to show more that a sneak peak from that, so here is a sneak peek of that also.What is everyone else working on?

Donna

Orange Crush Finally Finished

2008-10-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

Boy it was a long haul on this one! I really didn't feel the love for this quilt while working on it, but my family loves it. My husband says it is his favorite quilt so far! Go figure. It is going to my dear friend Ceil, and I am excited to give it to her.

Thanks to Bonnie at Quiltville for the pattern. If you haven't checked out her website and blog, be sure to do so. It is full of ideas, one better than the next.

So here is the quilt. I have one more OC to finish that I will keep for me. It may be a few months before that one gets done. Lots of Christmas projects in line ahead of it.

The quilting is kind of a spiral meandering. The quilt is so busy I did not think much would show up anyway.

I used pink Aurafil thread. This is the first time I used Aurafil, and I found it a little challenging. I don't think I had the proper needle size for the thread weight however. I do like the look of the finished quilting however.

My dear daughter left this little project for me. Her Invisible Children club at school worked here last weekend and dyed t-shirts for a fund raiser. Now someone, (guess who) has to wash all the excess dye out of the t-shirts so they can put their logo on them Sunday. Oh and by the way, each color has to be washed separately. Well I am off to the Rit dye website for some instructions. Hope I find them there.

Happy quilting,

Donna

I'm Back!

2008-10-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well I kind of took an unplanned break from blogging. Things have been hectic here to say the least, some good some bad, but all the normal stuff of family life.

Last week my daughter turned 18, my son turned 16 and I turn the big 50 on Friday! How is that for a few milestones?

We have been to about 20 baseball games and four football games since my last post. I also had some dental surgery that didn't go quite right the first time, but all is fixed now.

I did manage to get a few quilty things done and have a few pictures to post. I do have a goal to return to blogging on a more regular basis. Here is what I have been up to.

Lots of these little baskets from the Pink Penguin blog have been spotted in blogland. They are certainly fun to make.

I made a little cosmetic bag. I may make a few more for Christmas gifts. These are easy to make also.I'm finishing the hand stitching on the binding of one of my Orange Crush quilts (finally). I love the backing.

I have also managed to finish 3 UFO tops. I won't show these until they are quilted.

I have this little stack of finished tops to quilt before Christmas. We will see how that goes.

Finally I bought this book a month or so ago. I just love all the quilts in this book. As soon as that little stack above is finished I will be starting to work on a few things in here.

Happy quilting,

Donna

Thanks Tanner

2008-09-06T11:20:00.001-07:00

This is the lovely quilt I received from Tanner in the Doll Quilt Swap. He also sent a couple of cute patterns. Thanks Tanner. I have to decide where to hang my quilt now.

Donna

Good Help is Hard to Find

2008-09-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

Now that school and baseball and football and cheerleading, etc. are back in full swing I have lost all of my quilt helper holding uppers, so I have to resort to making do for the camera.

This quilt is for my sister and I really want to get it off in the mail to her, so I am posting the best pictures I can get. This is made from some Robyn Pandolph fabric from about 6 or 7 years ago. This was a UFO for a very long time. I started it as all stars, but I quickly grew bored with that so kind of made it a hodge podge. I like how it turned out and think that my sister will too.

I am still trying to finish up some UFOs. I am waiting for some batting to be delivered and then I am finally going to quilt the two Orange Crush quilts I made. I decided not to do Bonnie's latest mystery called Old Tobacco Roads right now since I still have 2 OCs in progress. It looks like it might be fun to do later though.

I am still working on the Patches and Pinwheels and almost have it ready for borders. I am loving how this one is turning out.

It is time to start giving some thought to the Secret Santa exchange. I have some ideas, but need to do a detailed search of the recipients blog for some clues as to what is liked. It will be fun!

We had a busy weekend but did manage to barbeque with my aunt, uncle and cousin on Monday. My aunt made this yummy black forest cake. I forgot to take a picture before she cut it but the inside looks pretty too. It tastes just as good as it looks.

Happy quilting,

Donna

Long Time No Blog

2008-08-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well it has been busy here with school in full swing again. Lots of meetings for school and sports. My daughter has finally at long last gotten into planning what college I will go to mode, so that has involved lots of talks and plans and website looksees.

I haven't been in the mood to blog either. Don't know why. I think I still get separation anxiety from my kids after summer break, and I keep thinking about my daughter going off to college next year. It makes me sad. Here are my little (used to be at least) babies.

I finished these blocks for Kids Quilts. Check out Alison's blog here. She is assembling quilts for the siblings of children who are chronically ill.

This quilt's theme is bug jars. You have probably seen a few others bug jar blocks around blogland.

I finished another UFO, a king sized one. I need help from the kiddos to hold it up for pictures. Maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime even though there are quite a few UFOs still waiting to be quilted, I really felt like doing some piecing. I am working on a scrap quilt called Patches and Pinwheels from Bonnie's wonderful Quiltville site.

These are the patches. They are finished and I am working on the Pinwheels. Should be colorful anyway!

Oh and I almost forgot, I am participating in the Secret Santa Christmas Swap that Chookyblue is running. She has a great blog, check it out.

I also finished piecing the quilt from my header. Not quilted yet, so I will wait to post a photo once it is all completed.

Now off to pick up my son from school.

Happy quilting,

Donna

Two Finishes

2008-08-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have finished two more quilts this week. One was started last weekend and finished this week. It is a quilt for my neighbor who is going away to college in a week. I have known him since he was 3, I watched him in the mornings before school for 6 years. He played with my kids all the time when they were all little. He is now a wonderful young man. I will try to get a picture of him with his quilt when I give it to him.

This next one has been a UFO for longer than I care to admit. I love it now that it is finally done. It is all Christmas fabrics and is king size. It will go on hubby's and my bed right after Thanksgiving.

It is almost time to watch the Olympics. It has been fun watching Michael Phelps every night.
Happy quilting,
Donna

Thank You Peggy

2008-08-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

I received this award from Peggy! Somehow I overlooked it until today. Check out her blog here.

I will post the award but not pass it on to anyone specific. All of the lovely blogs I have found have received so many awards they probably have this one a few times already. Thanks again Peggy for the award and your kind words.

Happy quilting. I actually hope to post another finish soon!

Donna

Paige's Quilt

2008-08-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. It does feel good to have some UFOs complete. I am going to try to finish a few more before I start something new, even though I am really ready to open a new pack of fat quarters! I have two darned Orange Crush quilts to be completed. They are kind of hanging over my head right not. Maybe soon.

This is the quilt I just finished for my daughter's friend Paige. She will be taking it to college this fall.

I really struggled to get a good picture. I think it is because the colors are pastels and I did not shoot it outside. It is the same pattern I used in this quilt back in May.It is such an easy pattern and makes a really nice display for the fabric.

The back is pieced which I usually don't do, but my daughter really liked the idea. This fabric was a fat quarter stack I had on my shelf for a long time. It is from Nancy Halverson. I think it is called Friends.

Here is a close up of some of the quilting. You can see how pretty the fabric is in the close up shots as well. The funny thing is that this fabric sat on my shelf forever as an unopened stack because I really was not drawn to it and had received it as a gift. After working with it, I think it is one of the prettiest quilts I have ever made. Very feminine. Let's hope Paige likes it!Have fun quilting girls!

Donna

Peg's Finish Five Challenge

2008-07-31T21:52:00.001-07:00

Today is the last day for Peg's Finish Five Challenge. I am happy to say that I completed 8 projects. The best part is that I got all my projects organized, finished some oldies but goodies, and have three additional UFOs quilted and only needing binding to be completed. Peg did a great job organizing and running this challenge, while completing some gorgeous quilts of her own. Check out her blog.

Peg asked each of us to post a summary on our blogs. Here is mine.

One

Two
Three

Four

Five

SixSevenAnd last but not least ... Eight

Here is the sister quilt to number 8 above that was finished quite a few years ago.

It was a great challenge and I am anxious to finish a few more, and then start some new ones "guilt free"

Happy quilting,

Donna

Mr. Troublemaker

2008-07-27T11:17:00.001-07:00

Looks innocent enough doesn't he? But this little bundle has been calling out to me for the last couple of weeks. Now he knows I am on a mission to finish old things, not start new things, so that is why I am calling him, (he must be a male because of the blue ribbon), Mr. Troublemaker.

He has sat patiently on the shelf where I put him 3 years ago for a long time, but lately he is looking for attenion. I just might have to untie the ribbons and see what is inside. But for now I have two more bindings to finish before July 31st.

Donna

Sad but True

2008-07-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

This is the quilt I finished tonight. Isn't it cute? That is the true part.

The sad part is that I started it about 6 or 7 years ago for my son who was then a little boy. Now he is almost 16. Oh Well, I guess at Christmas we are all kids again. My daughter has a matching one with aqua instead of royal blue sashing. Hers was finished the year I started them, then I got bored making the same pattern again and put his away on a shelf in the closet. Anyway it is great to have it finally finished and crossed off the UFO list.

This is my list of quilts to be finished. I started the list about the same time I started the blog with the intention of putting the list online. I never got around to that part ( I don't know how), but I have managed to get a lot of "Done" marked on the list since April. I am going to try to get a couple more bindings done before Peg's Challenge ends on the 30th of July. It is such a good feeling to be completing some of these quilts. Then I will be yearning to start something new. We'll see. There are still a lot of UFOs on these lists. There are also two Orange Crush quilts to be added to the list, and a few other odds and ends.

Did I mention I am making a Christmas quilt for each of my sisters 5 kids? It seemed like a good idea when I started! At least these are already on the UFO list.

Donna

More Fabric

2008-07-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

These are some of the goodies I got last weekend at the $4.50 per yard sale. There is more, but this is some of it that doesn't have a specific future plan, other than just hanging out in the sewing room.

This is some that I ordered online from Fabric Depot. I am using it for the back of a quilt I am working on today. All 9 yards of it. Isn't it pretty?

An Oldie But Goodie

2008-07-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well Peg's Challenge has really made me dig in the closet and try to finish some of the tops that have been "resting" there for a while. This is one of those. I finished piecing it long ago, but was never very thrilled with it if you know what I mean. I bought the Thimbleberries fabric called Daisy Days simply because since everyone else loved Thimbleberries so much, shouldn't I? Well here is the result. While the fabric is beautiful, it really isn't my taste. My son really likes it now that it is finished however, so this will go into the pile belonging to him. Hopefully someday he will have a lovely home with some of mom's quilts to decorate with.

I am glad to have it complete, and have since learned the valuable lesson to buy the fabric I like, not what everyone else likes!

This makes finish number 7 in Peg's Challenge. Hooray for me!

Have a great day.

Little Bits of This and That

2008-07-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Trisha received her Doll Quilt today. Check out her blog. She is a quilter and a knitter!

Here is the finished quilt which shows some of the fun things she has done with her family this summer. It was a joy to make. I will definitely sign up for another Swap.

My daughter

gave me this darling plate this week. She and some of the girls went to make pottery last weekend. They wanted to do something different. She surprised me with this, and I love it so much! It is displayed with pride in our family room. Sometimes your children will do the sweetest things.

My AC is dead again. That makes four times so far this summer. I think I finally have hubby convinced we need a new one! I am trying to be not so grumpy about it, but it is hard. At least my downstairs air works. Unfortunately the sewing room is upstairs. Hopefully it will be fixed (again) this afternoon.

Have a great day everyone. I hope to have another finish soon (after the fix! :D)

Doll Quilt Swap

2008-07-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

Today I mailed my goodies for the Doll Quilt Swap. I don't want to spill the beans, but here are a few little sneak peaks. I am excited for my partner to receive her quilt.

I had so much fun with this. I mean even get the courage up to participate in another swap.

I will have to wait and see if I did things correctly. Once she receives it I will post a picture of the whole quilt.

I also broke the budget today at a fabric sale. All of the yardage was $4.50 a yard. You can't pass that up! I will take some pictures of my haul tonight. I bought 40 yards of fabric! Now that is obscene, but it sure was fun.

Donna

Work Stopage! Finish 5 Challenge - Two More Done

2008-07-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

My assistant is exhausted from all the work this last week. Actually he is upset because our upstairs AC konked out yesterday and he could not sleep comfortably in his usual spot. Hope to get it fixed today, or he might stage a work stopage. Good help is hard to find.

Thanks to all of you who commented on my One Block Wonder Quilt. I really enjoyed reading all of your comments.

I have finished my quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap, but I will wait and post pictures after I have sent it to its new owner. I don't really know the etiquette on this, do you post pictures before or after? It turned out really cute and I am excited to send it out as well as show it to all of you.

I finished two more quilts this week. They have been laying on the closet floor waiting patiently for binding, so here they are.

This one uses a Fig Tree Quilts fat quarter pack. I think this pattern is a Jacob's Ladder.

This one was an older Moda collection called Pique Nique. I like the white sashing on this one. Nothing remarkable on the quilting of either of these, but I am happy to have them done.

I am almost done with another. Peg's challenge has really got me motivated. Thanks Peg!

Talk to all of you soon.

Donna

YIKES!

2008-07-07T08:45:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wandered through a fabric store or surfed a website and wondered, "Who in their right mind would buy that fabric?" Well now you know. It is me!

This is what I bought.

This is what I made.

I have wanted to make a One Block Wonder for a long time, but always hesitated because they take so much fabric, and I didn't want to spend that much money for something that didn't work out. The book is written by Maxine Rosenthal. There is even a second book now.

This little quilt is only about 42" x 50" and took 6 yards of fabric. See all those little seams.

This fabric was on super clearance for $1.99 a yard, and loosely fit the criteria for fabric selection. If I do another I will choose my fabric a little more wisely. But anyway it is kind of a fun quilt. I learned what I needed to in the process and may make another someday, but not until I recover from this one!
I quilted it all over with little pumpkins. After I started this, I realized it was a waste of time since the fabric was so busy you really can't see the quilting. But I didn't want to rip out the little I had done and it was good practice anyway.

I spent a lot of time in my sewing room this weekend. Lots of these all over the floor.

I worked on some leader and ender blocks that I had started. They are going to go into Patches and Pinwheels pattern from the Quiltville Website.

I put borders on one quilt and almost finished putting the blocks together for my second OC. I did this one less scrappy and it is turning out better than the first. I hope to get two more flimsies quilted this week for Peg's Challenge. We will see.

Well I am going to vacuum the sewing room (maybe), start some laundry (definitely) and continue sewing (hopefully).

Talk to you soon.

Donna

Doll Quilt Swap 4

2008-06-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

I think I mentioned briefly last week that I had signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap. This is the first swap of any kind I have done, and I must admit to being a little nervous. I checked out the blog of my swap recipient and she is quite a talented quilter. It is a little intimidating, but I will do the best I can! I have an idea in mind and have pulled some fabrics from my stash. I hope to make some progress over the 4th of July weekend. It is too hot in Arizona to do a lot of outdoor activities. It is too hot for me even for fireworks, even though there are thousands that wait out in the heat every year. I take the easy way out and watch on tv.

This is one of the quilts that needed only binding to be completed. I finished this last week. I am happy with the results. The fabric was from a few years ago. It was called Willa. This is another pattern from the Evelyn Sloppy book mentioned in my last post.

Here are a couple of close ups of some of the quilting.

Talk to you soon,

Donna

Finish Five Challenge

2008-06-27T08:01:00.001-07:00

Hooray !

Here is my first "Finish Five Challenge". This is the baby quilt I have been working on. It is a little late, but the baby is not here yet, so to me that is on time.

I ended up cutting back about 2" from the original size of the borders I had added. They were overwhelming the quilt a little.

This is a detail of some of the quilting. I did hearts for the first time in the white sashing. I like how they turned out.

I used my walking foot in the border. For some reason I hate to quilt borders. I think it is the idea of all that space still left to quilt after you have already done so much. This fits the quilt I think. I showed the best corner. The others are not so good!

I am also working on another project. I put it on the back burner a few months ago and kind of forgot about it. When I am finishing projects and doing a lot of borders, bindings and quilting, I always miss piecing. So I pulled this out to work on for a break.

This design is called Double Pinwheel. The fabric is Moda Picket Fences that I got a few years ago. The big fat quarter stack. I am loving this fabric. It is so fun to work with coordinating fat quarters sometimes. You can't make mistakes matching fabric!

The pattern is in this book by Evelyn Sloppy. I love this book. I could make every quilt in here. One thing I have learned lately from blogging is to look beyond the picture in the book. I have always followed the authors suggestions to a T, including color choices. Other bloggers have showed to me it is ok to be adventuresome and change color combos, etc to suit yourself. Elementary quilting to some, but it has taken be a long time to get to this point. So I am pulling out some older books and "rediscovering" some patterns I thought I would never make. It is like having all new books all over again. Do you know what I mean?

This is the quilt as it appears in Evelyn's book. I am not sure yet how I am going to do my borders. My quilt is going to be more scrappy looking thanks to the jumbo fat quarter stack.

Believe it or not I have more pics but I will save them for a later post. Those of you who stuck with my through today's ramblings, well thanks.

Have a great quilting day. I am doing a little quilting today. A little lunch with the girls and a lot of quilting (hopefully) this weekend. 110 degrees here. Good to be inside.

Donna

Benji Goes to the Beauty Parlor

2008-06-25T22:13:00.001-07:00

Well my little sewing room buddy got one of his quarterly (or so) spa days at the doggie beauty salon, as my kids like to call it. It is really the laundry room turned dog groomers room at a lovely lady named Betty's house. Now I do think Benji looks so cute with his long shaggy locks...

However it is about 110 degrees here now and all that fur is too hot for him, even inside the house. So he gets all groomed and clean for a while. He loves to go there and is so excited to show himself off when I go to pick him up. Here he is looking out the front window of my sewing room. It's hard to believe it is the same dog. I have to keep a chair there so he can be exactly the right height to survey the neighborhood comings and goings. My room faces the street in front of the house.

A dog's life is very stressful isn't it?

I have been doing some organizing in my sewing room. I have started Bonnie's scrap system, but I am only keeping 3.5", 2.5" and 2.0" strips. Here are the 3.5" and 2.5" strips. It is neater, but it kind of stresses me out a little to think of how many quilts I could actually make from just the scraps alone.

These are two patches I have made in the last 2 months from the Leaders and Enders article.

Finally this is block 9 for Crazy Mom Quilts Quilt a Long. This was a little easier block than the last few.

I hope to show a finish in the finish 5 challenge tomorrow. The small baby quilt is done, but I need to take a picture tomorrow.

Off to watch the Bravo show about hair stylists. Maybe there is a bouffant in Benji's future!

Donna

Finish 5 Challenge

2008-06-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

I have signed up for a challenge called "Finish Five by the End of July". You can see the logo in my sidebar. I found it on Peg's blog. Here is the link to the Challenge info. I have at least 20 or 25 UFOs in various stages that need to be finished. If I can get 5 done by the end of July that would put a serious dent into them. The challenge has at least made me pull out five tops and match them up with backing and binding fabric. At least I am one step closer than I was last week.

Here are the 5 projects targeted.

Number 1
This is a top that still needs borders before it can be quilted. It is a graduation gift for my daughter's friend.

Number 2
This next one is my first and only attempt at a One Block Wonder. I don't think this style of piecing is for me. It is very tedious. But I am going to finish it. This one only needs quilting. It is a small wall hanging size.

Number 3

This is a lovely quilt I finished a few months ago. It is very flowery, all in pinks, yellows and blues from Robyn Pandolph. It is twin sized.

Number 4

This is one of the two Orange Crush quilts I started. This one needs borders and quilting. I have been working on the borders today. This one is a little bigger than twin sized, and will be a gift for a friend. She loves how it looks, so that makes me feel better about finishing it.

Number 5

The last one is a crib quilt made for a friend whose baby is due in September. It is the one I posted a few blogs ago. I will probably quilt this one first since it is so small.

Wish me luck!

Donna

Friday Plans

2008-06-20T13:17:00.001-07:00

Well DS and DH are off to a baseball tournament, so I have lots of time on my hands this weekend to sew. If I accomplish even a little bit of my plans then it will be a successful sewing weekend.

This is one of the projects I am working on. It is a quilt for a friend of my daughter's for graduation. The only request she had is that I finish it before she goes off to college in the fall. Not that far away anymore. The summer is flying by!

I just finished Crazy Mom's block #8. I am really enjoying the results as well as the pace of this quilt.

My daughter says she is staying in tonight and maybe we can watch a movie together, so that will be fun. I was thinking of Fool's Gold. That is until she gets a better offer. I have two bindings to tack down during movie time.

I also received a package a few days ago from Fabric Depot. It is the first time I have ordered from them, and I will definitely do so again. They have great customer service. I ordered two pieces for backings and they were out of one. They called me and checked if I was willing to substitute which I was. The substitute was better than the original since it wasn't a sale fabric yet. The substitute is on the right.

These are some yummy 1 yard pieces that were on sale. Don't know where these are going yet.

Did I mention that I signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap? More on that later. Oh yeah, and my LQS is having a 25% off sale on everything tomorrow.

Happy sewing,

Donna

My Freddie Quilt

2008-06-18T19:25:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started quilting and watching Simply Quilts, I have loved bright quilts. I especially love Freddie Moran quilts. I even remember seeing a television show of some type that toured her house.

When this book she authored with Gwen Marston came out I was thrilled, and I have spent many hours pouring over the contents. It is a great book full of lots and lots of quilts and well worth the money in my opinion. Sometimes you buy a book and there about 2 pages you like and you think there went $20.00 I could have used for fabric! Not so with this one.

I finally made my own quilt using some of the steps and ideas in this book. It was great fun, and I hope to make more like this. I plan on hanging this on a wall in my upstairs hallway. I just need to buy some of those quilt hanger thingamabobs. I think my daughter's arms are getting tired.

Bummer

2008-06-18T09:17:00.001-07:00

This is what happened when I tried to put my glasses on this morning.

Not good.

I wear progressive lenses, so I don't need them too badly for distance, but I sure do need them to read, sew, cook or anything else within 5 feet of me.

Needless to say, I have a problem. Luckily I did go and get a new prescription and an eyecheck last week. I didn't order new glasses at the doctor's however because they were outrageously expensive, even with insurance. I have been procrastinating as usual. We have been getting our glasses and contacts at Walmart, but our new insurance is not taken there.

So I did a somewhat frantic search through drawers and coat pockets and old purses and came up with these old over the counter readers. These are all readers in varying strengths from 1.25 to 2.5. My current prescription is around a 2.5. I needed the magnifying glass to read the strength on the eyeglasses!

After a quick (and surprisingly painless) phone call to our insurance, I am off to Target to buy some new glasses. Hope they can do something quickly. I will see if they can fix my old ones in the meantime. Doubtful, but you never know. Now at least I know why you see people walking around with tape on their glasses. I miss mine already, and it has only been and hour.

Donna

Orange Crush No Borders

2008-06-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well here is one of the OC quilts. If I do another Mystery I will remember to not be quite so scrappy. I also managed to put the white four patch rows in the wrong direction. But at least I was consistent in putting all of them in the wrong direction. I am definitely not doing the pieced border. I want to finish this one and chalk it up to experience! I am thinking of doing a pink border. What do all of you think?

Playin' Catch Up

2008-06-12T08:34:00.001-07:00

Well my weekend in Prescott, AZ was just what the doctor ordered. We had a great time. Here is my friend Ceil on the right and me on the left. I look much younger and thinner in my imagination.

This is my friend Ceil on the left with our friend Nancy. Nancy was the designated driver for our trip.

I think that Ceil and I taxed her last nerve, but I swear she had fun also! We shopped for arts and crafts on the courthouse square, antiques in lots of cute little shops and ate lots of good food. Ceil was the official trip photographer, so I will hopefully get some better shots from her. The weather in Prescott was gorgeous. Sunny and in the 70s. It is such a nice change once the weather in Phoenix starts to get hot.

Here is the other member of our traveling group. This is Nancy's skunk. She once made the mistake of telling us that she saw a skunk in the Cul-de-Sac one morning. (she is my across the street neighbor) and we haven't let her forget it. Most of us think it was the other neighbors black and white cat. But ever since then this stuffed skunk appears at the most unlikely of times, like when Ceil and Nancy went into the Walgreen's for ice and water and I was left to watch the car.

And then as luck would have it, there was a Quilt Show in Prescott at the local college. We didn't have a lot of time for it, and Nancy is not a quilter, but we did manage to do a drive by and spend about 30 minutes there while Nancy enjoyed the weather outside. It is amazing how much damage you can do in 30 minutes, but I don't need to tell you girls that.

In my defense, they were on sale. It would have been wrong to leave them there at 25% off. My DS loves the funky monkey prints and I have been wanting the Sandy Gervais Fresh Squeezed for a while now. I have been on rather a buying binge lately. It would probably be a good idea to sew some as well.

More later,

Donna

Another Mistake, (or an Opportunity for Creativity)

2008-06-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is block 6 in the Quilt-a-Long from Crazy Mom Quilts. Her block is different because she made hers the correct way. See this, this is how she wanted the block to look. What you see below is my version. Now I could say that I am exercising creative juices here, or I could just tell the truth and say that I screwed up the directions again. So out of 6 blocks so far, I have made 4 right and 2 wrong, but I am not going to rip it apart. No one will know but me and all the rest of the bloggers doing this Quilt-a-Long, and you, so please don't tell.

Bonnie has posted the final step in the Orange Crush Mystery Quilt. I have one of mine partially laid out on the design wall. I am still not too sure about these quilts. I may not do the scrappy borders. I may take the lazy way out and just add a resting strip and a non-pieced border. That option is sounding better by the minute.

This is the baby quilt that I mentioned in my last post. I like how the inside turned out. It is a package of charm squares from Moda's Simplicity. The border is from my stash. I may pull it off and buy some of Simplicity yardage instead to finish the quilt. It is OK this way, but I think it could be a lot better. Can you tell that I am not liking anything today?

I am heading out in the morning with a couple of girlfriends for a weekend in Prescott, AZ, away from the heat. Maybe that will make me less grumpy. There is a quilt show there this weekend, although we are just going to get away from the DHs and DDs and DSs. I will try to remember to take some pics along the way. We will see if we make it to the quilt show.

Now I am off to DS baseball game.

Donna

Have you ever wondered...

2008-06-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

... why no one ever thinks mom gets tired too. My family was scattered to the four winds all weekend. You know how it is with teenagers; work, baseball, the mall, cheer practice, graduation party, etc. So mom stayed home today to make everyone a nice dinner and do the laundry for DS and DD. They were very appreciative and also very exhausted. By the time I turned around everyone had eaten and gone to bed, including DH! How is that for gratitude? I looked at all those dishes and leftovers and that's when I thought good thing mom never gets tired!

Anyway I feel better after venting that. I did get lots of piecing done this weekend. I finished the Step 5 blocks for the second OC quilt I am making. This one is less scrappy, and so far I like it better. I am looking forward to Step 6 to see how the border will pull it together.

I have had the experience before of not being thrilled with a quilt, only to have the resting strip and border(s) make a huge difference. I like the bright blue with the pinks.

I did block 5 in the Quilt-a-Long from Crazy Mom Quilts Blog. I think this quilt is going to turn out to be really neat. I finished all of the 12 setting blocks too.

Believe it or not I pieced a small baby quilt also for a shower on the 14th of June. I will post a picture tomorrow if I can get one of the sleepy heads to hold it up for me. I tried to take a pic of it lying on the floor, but it did not turn out well. The baby shower is for a friend who is remarried and having a little girl. Her sons are teenagers now. She has lots more energy and patience than me!

Have a good Monday. Thanks for listening.

Donna

Orange Crush Step 5

2008-05-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-05-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

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"

2008-05-19T16:57:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-05-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-05-12T09:31:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

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???

2008-05-07T05:50:00.001-07:00

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

Orange Crush Step 3

2008-04-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

Well step 3 is done, but for me it was not as easy as it sounded. I had a hard time with these half blocks, don't know why. After a nice round with my seam ripper they are complete. I must have had brain freeze or something.

First are the blocks for the Mystery Quilt with whites and off whites as the lights. Most of my darks are medium to darks with more mediums since this is what I tend to buy.

I have had a few requests to also show the blocks for the pink as light quilt, so here they are as well.

This is for the friend I mentioned who is a cancer survivor. I actually like how these are turning out better. All of the darks in these blocks are brights. I may have to buy some yardage for the next steps, but I am waiting to see what the next step is.

Finally here are some fun pieces I picked up over the weekend. Our local quilt shop had a $4.00 per yard sale. I would have bought more, but I can never make a quick decision under stress and it was definitely crowded and a little stressful. I am loving the orange.

That's it for now. Thanks to everyone who leaves comments.

Donna

"Wild' Flowers

2008-04-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

Finally finished. I LOVE this quilt, although I know it may be a little too wild to appeal to everyone. This is a variation of a quilt I saw in a Kaffe Fassett book called Passionate Patchwork.

I collected the florals over a few months and really enjoyed putting this together. As you can see it was very easy.

Then like a lot of my projects it sat in my closet for a couple of years waiting for borders and then quilting. I plan to put this on my bed for a summer quilt.

I am working away on Step 2 for the pink version of the Mystery Quilt. I hope to have those blocks finished before Step 3 is posted Monday.

Have fun.

Donna

Orange Crush Step 2

2008-04-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well the step two blocks are done for the Orange Crush Mystery. I still need to do the step two blocks for the second quilt with the pinks. These blocks ended up being easier than they looked. The Easy Angle definitely helps the blocks to be the correct size, but what really helped was Bonnie's Fudge Factor Hint to match the outside corners of the large triangle and let the center seam gap a little on the pieced side. This little bit of cheating seemed to make the difference. Let's just hope that none of my seams pull apart.

I have a lot of mediums compared to most of the other photos in the Yahoo group. Hope that the pattern shows up well in the finished quilt.

I have been diligently cutting scraps into 3.5", 2.5" and 2" strips. Also started a box of strings and a box of crumbs. This is a big change from my former scrap system which just kind of threw everything in a bin based upon color. It was fun to see all the old fabrics I have made quilts from, some even from the first quilt I made 8 years ago.

I have continued to play with the crumb blocks. The block with blue sashing leaves 1/2" between blocks. The block with yellow sashing leaves 1/4" between blocks. I think I prefer the 1/4" right now, although it is a lot harder to sew since there are so many seams in a little area.

Thanks for stopping by. Love it when you leave comments.

Donna

Changed my Mind

2008-04-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

After viewing the baby quilt picture I decided it needed something else so I added the sashing. It looks better to me now than it did without sashing. I bought the border print for this quilt today. It was 20% off at the Mystery sale. Bought some fat quarters too. I will post pics of those later.

My Orange Crush step 2 triangles are half done. Maybe finish tonight while watching the baseball game on tv.

Donna

Progress??????

2008-04-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well I had great intentions of 2008 being the year that I finished up a lot of my UFOs. While making some progress there, it is an indisputable fact that I love to start new projects much more than I love to finish up old ones.

Now that I have discovered Bonnie's wonderful site I am feeling less guilty about starting new projects. After all I am just using scraps aren't I?

So here are some updates of what I have been working on.

The baby quilt only needs borders at this point. I don't have anything in my stash that works well enough, so I will need to buy some yardage for that and the backing as well. One of the LQS here is having a "mystery sale" tomorrow, so I will be checking that out!

Then I thought I would practice some more with the easy angle ruler, so I started this layout. I think this is from Quiltville's Leaders and Enders instructions. I really love the scrappy look. It certainly brings back a lot of memories of quilts made for freinds and family when I have been cutting up these scraps.

I have started step 2 of the Orange Crush Mystery as well, but just barely. I am finding it a little challenging to use the Easy Angle on the smaller 2" strips, so I have to go very slowly so as not to have any cutting accidents. Here's the lonely 4 patches waiting patiently for the next step.

I even messed around with the Crumbs, crumbs, crumbs instructions from Bonnie's website.

This is fun too. Kind of mindless sewing while I was watching tv. I have thrown out a lot of crumbs over the last few years.

And finally, so you don't think I am doing all this work on my own, here hard at work is my crackerjack assistant and harshest critic, Benji the dog.

Happy Quilting,

Donna

"So I Think I Need a Quilt for a Baby Shower, Maybe"

2008-04-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

Those are the words I was greeted with yesterday by my daughter. Unfortunately the conversation did not offer much more clarification after that.

At least she knew the shower was for her cheerleading coach. "When is it?" "The 18th" she replied. "April or May?" Not sure. "Who is organizing this?" Not sure. "Where is it?" Not sure.... and on we go.

So anyway, since I was going to make a baby quilt for the coach anyway, I thought I might as well get started. It gives me a chance to play with the Easy Angle we will be using in the Orange Crush Mystery Quilt since I am using half square triangles in the baby quilt.

In the past I have always drawn the line down the middle of two layered squares and then sewn 1/4" away on each side. The Easy Angle is nice, but I am finding the bias stretches a lot. I have to put a pin at the trailing end of each set in order to have them stay together through the presser foot. We'll see how it goes. It definitely is faster.

Here's the direction I am going in. The fabric is mostly Zippee Jungle from Clothworks with some scraps thrown in. The baby is a girl so I wanted a little pink. I will need some type of sashing I think. Maybe black and white? ...Not sure......

Purse and Pink Squares

2008-04-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

Well I tried a couple of new things this week. The first is this purse from the book Patchwork with Pizzazz by Lise Bergene. I like how it turned out. Next time I will use some interfacing or maybe a stiffer batting to make it stand up a little better, but it was fun to make.

Then I decided to go ahead and make the second set of 4 patch blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville mystery quilt. This is for a birthday gift for a dear friend who is a two time breast cancer survivor. I am not sure about these yet, but we'll see if step two of the mystery helps them out. If you look at the Quilt Pink Magazine there are a lot of colors mixed well with pink. I am not sure what I will use for the four accent colors on this one. Probably bright pink for one of them. Maybe a bright yellow also. Any suggestions?

Donna

Mystery Quilt Step 1

2008-04-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well thanks to a lot of determination from Tracy , I am in the Mystery Quilters Ring, and excited to be here. I finished the step one blocks last night.

Here they are waiting to have the little center seam pinwheeled open. I like to do this so that they will lie flat for me. They look like a fuzzy caterpillar to me.

Now pressed open and pinned together. I made a few extra, not knowing what the layout will look like.

I am looking forward to step 2. I think I am going to try making another version with pink as the light and all brights for the darks. I need a birthday gift for a friend who is a breast cancer survivor, but she is not the 100% pink type. We'll see.

Donna

First Blog Post Ever - Orange Crush Mystery Quilt

2008-03-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well I am new to this blogging thing so I hope that this works. My picture of the fabrics for the Orange Crush quilt is above. I am using red instead of orange (so far anyway) so I will call it Strawberry Crush.

Hope this post works. We'll see.

Donna