Cindy Lou Who

Top finished! I love it! I wasn't sure what I wanted to do... I had put some 9-patches around the outside, but that was just not right. So I went with the initial thought of a small green border and a wider red print border. I love the way it turned out.... and here it is.

It's 47.5 square so that should be a good size!

I made some wide mouth zippered bags too that turned out great. I used them last weekend and want to make some more by the end of the month. They are really cool the way they nest within each other.

That's about it - progress has been slow here.

Fall Quilt Progress...

I didn't mean to not post for a month (or more). I've been really busy. sewing. quilting. honestly!

Here's what I've been working on...

Halloween Runner - this one is for my youngest sister. She sent me a picture of a quilt that she liked and then she sent me some dimensions. I had to keep putting it aside as other more important things came up. I finally finished it last week to mail it...to the wrong address. It's on it's way back to me now...sigh. lesson learned. I thought about confirming her address and didn't...I will from now on. Here's the runner...

I did the quilting myself and I love love love it!! Hopefully I can still get it to my sister to use this year... sigh.

The other quilt I've been working on is Cindy Lou Who from the book "Another Bit of Schnibbles" by Carrie Nelson. Here's the first layout:

I didn't like it. I decided to replace 4 squares. My friend thought I was crazy as they are 4 squares in the middle of the top. Here's the new top with the replacement blocks:

I had just pinned them in place. LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I ripped it apart and put the new blocks in place. Now I'm trying to decide if I'm putting the black and white squares in for the border...

The quilt I was helping with this is for a friend. Her daughters choir is putting on a concert and the quilt will be a raffle that only military (current and retired) will get free tickets into. The winner gets the quilt. Here's the top:

We finished the quilt Thursday night. As soon as I get the picture, I'll post. The creativity of the choir kids in this quilt is phenomenal! Such heartfelt messages!!
So, it's been busy - although nothing quite done yet.

Big Green Star, Pink-Purple Hearts, and Autumn Pineapple Quilts

I finished 3 quilts this past week/weekend. They are all smaller table topper size for my round table at work. Here they are: Big Green Star, Pink-Purple Hearts, and Autumn Pineapple.

Big Green Star:



 

Here's the top:

Here's the back which is pretty plain:

The quilting shows up nicely, don't you think?

Pink-Purple Hearts
Here's the top:

Here's the back:

It's the same pattern as the green star quilt - and fits both pretty well.

Autumn Pineapple

I made one of these previously with applique leaves and acorns. This one was made using foundation piecing on preprinted foundations. Here's the top:

Here's the back:

This one was quilted with some great feathers. Here's a close up of the quilting:

Very nice, huh?

Picasa!

I've worked with a lot of different photo sites. Sometime, I did Picasa...and now, it just may help me with my photo problem...and woo hoo - it did! so, in random order...here's what I've been working on over the past couple of posts.

Hexies quilt based on patterns from Sizzling Sixties by Heather Mulder Peterson

Cindy Lou Who pattern from Carrie Nelson's Another Bite of Schnibbles in Countdown to Christmas fabric from Sweetwater (I LOVE THEIR STUFF!!)

My four red/white/blue (ok turquoise) Granny Squares blocks. I hope to make more...but then again, what a cute runner this would make, huh???!!

Black and white nine patch... the rows are sewn and need to be ironed and then the rows joined. Cute, huh?

Ohio stars - from who knows how long ago! I had them in a baggy and have been trying to use up my stash. For some reason this weekend, I just thought I'd put them together with a little border and finish it off.

String Hearts. I forgot to include this in the previous posts. I had the blocks done for awhile but didn't like it just like that and wasn't sure what to do. I thought of the black and white print checkerboard border. Loving it!!

String webs. I couldn't remember if I posted this so as long as I was working on everything else, I'm posting this too. This and two more are going to the LAQ tomorrow...

 

Oregon Ducks Disappearing 9-patch... I bought the fabrics to make a mug rug for Christmas but wasn't sure what kind of pattern I should use. So I bought three different fabrics, 1 yard each. I made this for the same guy I work with for his table at work...or...whatever he wants. This one goes to the LAQ tomorrow also and I hope to talk her into getting this one done in the next month or so...



Peace on Earth is the fabric line and name of the quilt. I love this one. I wasn't sure of the background, but I do love it! This is the third one going to the LAQ tomorrow.

and that's it! PHEW! I love that I can get these loaded up!! Maybe I'll reset everything I changed on my internet settings and just use Picasa for uploading photos...

LOVE LOVE LOVE my design wall!!!

(sure wish I could fix the picture issue!!)

I love having a design wall! I've completed so many tops and improved on some layouts I thought would be good. They were made even better when I could lay them out and look at them from a distance.

This weekend, I made a top of four orphan Ohio star blocks - I can't even tell you where the fabric came from! It's a cute little top.

Then, I made some nine patch blocks in black and white to use with some string blocks... NO it was horrible. So, I made some other strip blocks and now have a cool quilt top (well, almost I do have the rows together!) in just black and white.

Then, I wanted to make the quit "Cindy Lou Who" From Carrie Nelson's book "Another Bite of Schnibbles". (If you go here:  http://www.missrosiesquiltco.com/Schnibbles.html the quilt on the left is Cindy Lou Who...cute, huh??? Christmassy but not in your face!) So....I pulled out all of my left over Sweetwater "Countdown to Christmas" fabric and went to town...except there were four blocks I just couldn't get figured out. Up on the design wall in went in stages and then POP I was able to figure out those 4 blocks! All of the blocks are up waiting for the black and white rows to get done so that I can use my row markers on Cindy Lou Who.

Next up with be a Halloween runner for my sister. She found a cute runner of witch's hats. I've looked online and at a couple of shops, but haven't found the pattern. So, I'm making it up. Hopefully it'll turn out well and she'll like it.

Peace on Earth and Oregon Ducks

I've been able to piece two quilt tops this weekend. The first used two charm packs of "Peace on Earth" plus some yardage in the teal-on-teal print. I've seen the pattern a couple of places online, but not any one place that I copied from... I love how it turned out - and I remembered to make the binding and use the rest of the yardage for the backing!!!

I took 3 different Oregon ducks fabrics that I had leftover from a project last year and did a disappearing 9-patch pattern. It's small - just under 40" square - but it should be the perfect size for a table topper for the new owner. Again, I remembered to cut some of the yardage into binding strips and I hope to have the back pieced before the weekend is over!

Still no ability to upload photos : ( 

Quilt Progress and Blogger Frustration

I've had a quilt in progress for most of the month of August. I had planned to show it here...but I'm having problems uploading photos. Blogger says there's an error in my server...but I think it's just a setting somewhere that I can't resolve.

I'm also having a display driver issue when I'm surfing the web. I have a 2 year old Toshiba laptop that I love...the good news is that I prepaid a 3 year service agreement so today or this weekend, I'm going to contact them and see what I can get fixed. Maybe both problems are related and one will take care of the other. Maybe the blogger problem is "operator error" ...and if so, hopefully they can help me with the.

At any rate, I do have photos to show and things in work. I have a couple of projects in work at one time so that I can work on one and work the other as a "leader and ender"...It's a little confusing as there's more than one project in work at a time...but it's also easy to work on two when they are completely different. Hopefully, I'll be able to show projects shortly.

Design Wall

I'm making a quilt based on some of the quilts in Sizzlin Sixties by Heather Mulder Peterson/Anka's Treasue (http://www.ankastreasures.com/item_212/Sizzlin-Sixties--ANK292.htm). I bought the book and a table runner kit last summer during vacation in northern Minnesota. The table runner is all pieced and ready to be quilted. I love the patterns as they are hexagons that don't require set in seams.

Anyway, my idea was to make a quilt using the 6 different layouts. I started making quilts with a jelly roll of Fresh Flowers (Moda) and a jelly roll of white (Robert Kaufman) fabrics. The two together ensure some great bright colors and lots of white. Anyway, I was having problems laying out the blocks... when I thought about the hangers and dowel I had bought to hang my Grand Canyon quilt. One of the only walls I have in my living room that is blank and easy to get to is the entry way (yep, you enter the front door into the entryway and the living room is immediately to the left). Anyway, I was hanging up the rod and my DH wasn't too thrilled with what I was doing...until later in the day when I had blocks on the batting. He was ok with my placement after that.

When we had company last weekend, I put my Grand Canyon quilt on the dowel as I didn't want the blocks to fall down. So here's a picture of the dowl with my Grand Canyon quilt:

(yeah, a little too high for this quilt... but than again not too bad) My front door is on the right, the bookcase on the right is at the edge of the living room. Everything else is the entry...
Here's a picture of the "design wall":

The batting is a lot wider than the dowel. Last weekend, I let it fall off both ends. This time, I scrunched it up on the right...It's a little hard to see the white batting on the white wall...
I'll take a picture later today/this week when I put my 1/2 blocks back up for designing purposes... This has really helped me to layout this quilt! I actually laid out the quilt blocks three different times. I remade a couple of them and streamlined the amount of blocks I'm going to use. Today, I'm making more blocks as the quilt was getting long but still pretty narrow... I'm confident the quilt will be great.

String Clean Finish

I finished this quilt on August 4th. I was going to blog about it last weekend, but we had other plans. Here's String Clean:

This quilt is about 60" square - a little too big for my table at work and a little too square for other uses. I think it's a decorating type of quilt. I've got another similar pattern to make - maybe with smaller blocks? The quilting is custom and is wavy lines following the stings. Here's a close up on one of the blocks:

The  quilting gives the front lots of great texture and here's the back:

Cool huh?

I also finished my Sparkle Stars. I loved it so much I took that one to work and it's on my table. When I bring it home (after Labor Day, most likely...), I'll take pictures and post them. I still have 3 more quilts at the LAQ - almost brought another one home but as we were looking at it, she noticed a bad run of bobbin thread. She's so cool in that she's going to fix just that little area. Talk about attention to detail!

Granny Squares - Top finished

Way back at the beginning of this month. I pieced together my granny squares into a top. I sashed my nearly 9inch blocks with 2.5 inch black sashing...and added one 2.5 inch border around the entire outside. Its 40something x 50something as it's 20 squares. I love the way it turned out. here it is:

Isn't it pretty? I love how all of the color in the blocks pop so great. All of the fabrics here are scraps that I cut up in 2.5 inch squares and have been using in a variety of projects. Here's three more pictures of this quilt top:

This was a fun and easy quilt to make.

I started on my next project but have been taking it slow. I'm making up my own pattern but following a few hexagon blocks made in Heather Mulder Peterson (of Anka's Treasures) book Sigglin' Sixties. I bought a kit last summer for the Secret Garden Runner from this book and found Heather's methods very easy. I had a thought to use two jelly rolls (one white/Robert Kaufman, one Fresh Flowers by Deb Strain/Moda). I have a bunch of the triangle blocks cut out and some of them pieced in half hexies (Heather's method to sew in strips and not have to sew any set in seams!). I'll post blocks/layout as I work on it. I really wish I had a design wall for this one. I've tried different layouts on paper and so far...yuck. I'm certain the reality will be far better!!

(OK, just figured out spell check in blogger - love it!)

Spiderweb progress - finished top?

I think the spiderweb quilt top is finished. Here it is:

It's wonky in places but I think that adds to it's character. The top is 54" square.I have more of the yellow fabric so after a couple of weeks if I feel it needs to be bigger, I can make it bigger.

2 Finishes - Rainbow Feathered Star & Tropical Dreams @ Night #2

I dropped off these two quilts a few weeks ago. I got them both back a week or so ago - it took me that long to finish the binding. Usually, I get the binding done within a day of a finish... We had a bunch of other stuff going on for the past couple of weeks, so it took longer to get an evening or two to apply the binding.

First - Rainbow Feathered Star:

The rainbow fabrics are all hand dyed. The pattern came free with the fabric bundle. I added in the flying geese and plain black border. Then it sat waiting for another border. I finally gave up making it bigger and decided it's a good size for a table top.  The quilting by my LAQ is fab-u-lous! Here's a close up:

I love the quilting!!! It's a really great green color. The binding took me about 3 hours total.

The second quilt finish is called Tropical Dreams at Night #2. It's the second time I've made this quilt. I loved the first one so much I needed to make another one. The first one was donated for a fundrasier auction. Here's the 2nd version:

Isn't it great??!! I love the quilting on this one too! It's a great gold thread color. Here's a close up:

So maybe it doesn't photograph as well...but it's spectacular!!! The binding took me about 4 hours total.

I love finishing quilts!!

Drop Off x4

I dropped off four quilts to my favorite LAQ today. Here's what they were:

Big Green star - top made in March. Quilt is 40" square.

Pink and Purple Hearts - top made in February/March and is 40" square or so...

Red/White/Blue Sparkle Stars - top done in April? I love this top!! It's about 40" square - I can't wait to see how it'll be quilted.

String Clean - ok, I didn't take a picture of the completed top. Imagine this block x4. The top is about 60" square. It's so cool! Foundation pieced on muslin and all seams ironed open to reduce bulk.

Later in the weekend, I hope to post two new finishes! Just got them back from the LAQ today so I'm going to try and whip on the binding before the end of the weekend! The quilting is fantastic on them so I can't wait for them to be complete!

Spiderweb progress

Here they are - the 18 blocks I have to date:

Isn't it great? I'm planning on finishing the 1/2 row and then adding one more for a 5x5 layout. I still have 1/4 bucket of scraps...and a lot of strings. It'll be interesting to see what happens after 7 more blocks!!

I'm really starting to dig the yellow too - I'm so happy I found more so that it'll be the same exact farbic throughout.

More Spiderweb Blocks

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all of our patriotic men and women who have fought and are fighting for our freedom. We can't say thank you enough! We live in a military town and we appreciate these brave people who lay their lives on the line for us.

It's been a beautiful weekend here. We were a little worried as it was a little cooler than we liked but as the weekend continued, it warmed up nicely. Today felt like summer!

We only made it to one movie - Battleship. Loved it!  Great effects! Great timing to see it this weekend. Sad the theater was almost empty.... Next is MIB3...love that series! Should be a good one.

I've been picking out paper piecing papers from some new spiderweb blocks. I made 10 blocks and have picked out half of them. I did buy some yellow fabric as I used all that I had...or so I thought. I hadn't found anything to match, but did pick up a couple yards of something darker and another fabric that was the reverse coloration. Then I washed them and was putting them away when I found nearly 2 more yards of my original fabric.  Here's the 8 finished blocks:

Yep, that yellow fabric was what I was looking for. I can't remember how many years I've had it...I had bought a ton and have used it in a quilt and as backing... this will be the last quilt as I'm double the above picture with the blocks I've got made...and then I need to figure out how many more to make...

That's about it for this weekend. We have a 3 day work week this week with the holiday today and our regular day off Friday. Woo Hoo!

Starry Eyed finish x2 and Spiderweb blocks

Wow, can it be nearly a month ago that I posted? We had a few things going on during our last couple of weekends. I try and post Sunday nights and by then, I was too tired...or not home...or...

Here's what I've been working on:

 

Starry Eyed x2 --- both back from the quilter and I bound them both in a black print. They are both amazing and have the reindeer's names in the quilting. The names match how they are spelt in one of the fabrics in this line.

Can you see "donner" in the middle of this picture? so cute!!!! I made two - one to keep and one to sell.

Spiderweb blocks - Here's what I have so far. I sewed and sewed and sewed...and only have 8 blocks so I'll be sewing a TON more on these. I was a little bummed at how many strips/strings/scraps I still have until I saw how small this is so far. I'm starting to like the yellow. I wasn't too sure after the first two blocks, but I'm loving it now.

I also have some Granny Square blocks with a black background and another quilt top finish. I forgot to take pictures of these two things, so I'll get that done and then post them. You'll love them as they are both looking fantastic!

Have a great week - I hope to get in some sewing during the upcoming 3-day weekend... WOO HOO!!

Knickerbocker Glory #2

Back on July 25, 2011, I blogged about my Knickerbocker Glory Quilt (pattern from the book Jelly Roll Inspirations by Pam and Nicky Lintott). At that time, I had made double the number of four patches...so I made another quilt. Here it is:

It's quilted by my LAQ using green thread and done in a stipple format.

Here's the back:

It's scrappy with a central patch of 2.5 inch squares.

I've been busy on some othe blocks. Hopefully, I'll have some of them completed and picture of them in a week or so...