My Modern Hearts

Here are my blocks for the Block Lotto this month.  We were supposed to do the block of our choice that's a heart or has a heart in it, using pink, cream, orange and grey.  Very Modern Quilting colors!  I've always disliked orange and pink, especially together, but these new citrus-y oranges are winning me over. And I think they look OK with the pink too, although pink still isn't my fave.  Hmmm, funny how your taste changes over the years, isn't it?  I'm really liking these blocks!

The top block is from one of my old Debbie Mumm books, and the second one is using some pink/heart fabric I've had for quite a while in the center.  It's not really as crooked as it looks here - I just can't seem to get a straight photo of it.  These are all I'm doing this month, and so my fingers are crossed that maybe I'll win in spite of not making enough to have more chances.  

Here is the latest photo of my Halloween trips - 15 blocks now!  I only need 5 more - one more column - and I have 2 in the works and another one to fix.  I had cut one of the strips at 3 1/2 inches instead of 3 and didn't notice until I started sewing it together.  So, a little time with my seam ripper will be in order this evening.

Now I'm down to picking fabrics carefully to get the color balance I want (hopefully!) and to include my favorite fabrics.  I've decided this needs more green, for a start, so I found and cut more today.  I've getting excited about this, and am already thinking of what to do for the border and the back.  I'm hoping I can finish this by the end of the week.

Back to the Quilt Studio while DH fixes Ginger Chicken and pot stickers for  dinner.  Yum!

P.S. When did Blogger change the look of the pop-up comment form??  Weird - it must have been overnight.  It just kinda blew my mind.  LOL!

Cool Stuff

I thought I would share some of the great things I saw while at my sister's house.  This is a fused glass face that was hanging on the back wall of an art gallery, out in the parking lot, that we visited in Portland.  I thought it was really fun. It's about 20 inches high.

This is another fused glass face at the same place.

And here is the back door to the art gallery.  I loved this mosaic around the door!  We were having a beautiful sunny day, and this just sparkled in the light.  There was also a similar mosaic around the front door, but I didn't get a photo of that, because I would have had to stand in the busy street.  

Wouldn't this make a great border on a quilt?

And here is one of my birthday presents - antique album blocks.  In my favorite color too!

An extra 2 brown ones..  (excuse the lack of ironing)

Look at these great fabrics.

These will be challenging to work with, as all of the edges are on the bias.

I love this one!

This is Zoe, my sister's cat.  She is so funny - she's always sitting up like this.  My sister calls it "prairie dog pose".  LOL  She's a little portly, so she balances pretty well this way.  She sat like this for about half an hour.  She seems to enjoy it!

I'm still sewing on my Halloween Trip blocks.  I've got another 4 done since the last post, but no pix yet.  Maybe next time.

Happy quilting!

Thursday Update

I've been so crazy busy the last few weeks that I haven't gotten around to posting.  I have so much to share with you!  I'm going to break it up into a few posts, I think.  My brain seems to be "out to lunch" lately.  LOL

I've been so busy that I haven't had much time in the Quilt Studio.  But I've managed some time this week.

I am up to 9 blocks now on my Halloween Trip, which makes me 1 under the halfway point.  However, I have two more blocks in-process since this picture was taken.

I have so many strips cut for this quilt!  I'm planning on 20 blocks for this, but may keep on sewing until all the strips are used, and then see what I can do.  Maybe another one or two small tops!  These are big blocks - 15 inches finished - so it wouldn't take many for a quilt sized for a DGD.

Of course, no photo shoot is complete with the quilt inspector! He seemed to approve.

Here's a birthday card I made for a friend a couple of weeks ago.  I made the painted paper and then found the butterfly sticker that worked with it.  That made it quick and easy, and my friend really liked it too.  Good all the way around!

Two weeks ago I went to visit my sister.  It had been 6 months since we'd seen each other, which is silly since we live only 3 hours apart.  It was really fun to spend the weekend together.  We went to an art gallery, a quilt/fabric store, stayed up too late and talked our heads off (as usual!).  But more on that later.

In the middle of all this, we finally got around to exchanging our birthday and Christmas presents.  This was one of the gifts from my sister.  It's either a little quilt or a tabletopper.  It's about 30 inches square.  Now I just need to decide what I'm going to do with it.  Applique something in the middle?  Or just quilt it and put it on the table?  It's in my colors (blues and olive green), which you can't really tell from the photo.  The weather is being dark and grey, and lousy for photo-taking, which is typical of Washington in the winter.  I tried to brighten the photo some, but it's not true colors.

That's it for today.  I'll be back in a few days with more photos to share.  Meanwhile, happy quilting!