Spring Is Really Here!

Spring has taken it's time getting to Western Washington, but I think we can safely assume now that it's really here.  Everything is blooming *ah-choo!*, the swallows and bugs are here, the frogs are croaking and the birds and ducks are courting and nest building. Oh, and the lawn needed mowing!  We won't talk about all the weeds busily growing everywhere, OK?

Here is my camellia.  I wasn't sure it would bloom this year, because of our big ice storm in January.  It didn't bloom in 2011 because of an early, hard freeze and snow storm the previous November.  But here it is!  I'm so glad to know that it survived.

And here are some sweet little violets.  They are all over the yard, and I just love them.  I keep threatening to put them in pots so that I can enjoy them up close, but I never seem to get to it.

Here are my blocks for the Block Lotto this month.  The pattern is called Hot Crossed 9-Patch.  I only got 2 made, and I'm hoping it's enough to win.  One can hope, right?  I really like this block.  If I don't win some of these, I may have to put this on my Bucket List of quilts to do.  I certainly have the plaid stash to do it, and then some!

The Kid got sick with a nasty virus about 3 weeks ago.  Then I got it a week later.  And, of course, DH got sick a week after me.  It's not the flu, according to the doctor, just a virus.  It has really kicked our butts. We even had to cancel having the family over for Easter.  :(  

 I'm finally feeling better, but I'm not totally up to speed yet.  And I'm still coughing some, although I have managed to get off the cough meds and inhalers finally.  DH is still fighting it.  The house has pretty much gone to rack and ruin in the meantime.  Ugh.  I hate having to do all that housework when I start feeling better.  Not that I ever like doing housework, you understand.  *grin* 

The only thing good about this is that I did manage to get some sewing done!  DH HATES the vaporizer.  I really needed it.  So, my solution was to basically lock myself in the quilt studio with the steam monster and sew.  And I made progress!

I started with 4 blocks and various bits and parts from the Liberated Log Cabin class I had with Gwen Marston last year.  This is what I had after 2 or 3 days of free-piecing the blocks.

BTW, this piece is really hard to get a decent picture of.  The green and turquoise fabrics are pretty bright and that hot pink is really bright!  The darkest fabric isn't really black, it's purple and it's not as dark as it looks here.  Maybe when it's all put together I can get a photo with true colors outside in better light.

And this was the next day, starting to put the blocks together and add the border pieces.  I'm working on more borders now, and will have more photos soon.  I'm happy with how this is coming together.  And it's been so fun to work on that I didn't mind being sick so much.  I've spent just about every evening for the last week in the quilt studio working on this.    

Of course, my quilting kitty, Shade, had to be in the studio with me.  You can see he's holding down those pesky fabric strips for me.  Actually, this is him NOT looking at the camera.  He doesn't like getting his photo taken too much.  I got quite a few photos just like this.

Got him!  Look at that long-suffering look on his face - hee hee!  Don't worry - he got lots of kisses and pets for being a good boy and letting me get a shot of him.  He's so happy when we're in the studio together. 

Happy Easter!

Happy Passover and Happy Spring Holiday!  Whatever you celebrate, I hope you have a good one.

Here's a little "cheater" cloth quilt I made a few years ago.  I just took a cute Debbie Mumm print that I only had a small scrap of and added some borders to it.  Quick, easy and fun and I do love me some bunnies!

It's been a while since my last post and I have very little to show for it.  I've hardly been in the quilt studio in the last two weeks.  I did get some Block Lotto blocks started, but they're not ready to show yet.

Here are some "liberated" Disappearing 4-Patches that I made for a friend's birthday gift last month.  The theme was pastels, so I decided to use some of the fabrics that she and I dyed/painted together for her gift.  The green in the blocks above was originally some hand-marbled fabric that I made, but I wasn't happy with it.  Too much white and not enough of the marbled greens, so I over-dyed it with green last year.  I think it's much improved now.  The blue is an over-dyed white-on-white fabric.

These 2 blocks were my first try and they're my favorites!  And they were a dumb mistake design opportunity.  I started with the pink/orange and blue/green fabrics and made a 4-patch.  (To see how to do this wonky 4-patch technique, go see the tutorial on the  Love Laugh Quilt blog here.  Thanks, Beth!)  Just as I was doing the wonky cutting, it dawned on me that I needed 2 4-patches that are alike to make this block wonky.  So, there I was with one wonky block that was not going to fit back together.  The problem was, I didn't have enough of those 2 fabrics to cut more patches from.  So, I had to improvise.  I found the purple and yellow fabrics and thought all the fabrics played nicely together, so I made another 4-patch.  I took the first block (remember, it was already sliced and diced) and layered it on top of the still-complete 2nd 4-patch and veeerrrry caaarefully cut along the "lines".  Then I shuffled and sewed it back together.  Ta Da!  It worked!

I am so pleased with how these blocks came out.  Those wonderful pastel colors remind me of Easter eggs and jelly beans!.  Now, I think I have to make a whole quilt of these with my large stack of hand-dyed fabrics that have been waiting for just the right project!  Oh goodie, another project to start!  

Happy quilting!

Festival of Scrappiness

It's finally time for the Festival of Scrappiness hosted by Rachel over at Stitched in Color.  On January 2nd this year, Rachel started the Scrap Attack and issued the challenge to all who were interested to make scrap quilts and projects.  Now it's time for everyone to show off their creations, and there's even prizes! 

Happy Scraps
63 x 82 inches

Here is my entry in the the festival.  "Happy Scraps" is all crumb blocks, which I learned about from Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville.  I made the very first blocks about 5 or 6 years ago.  We were in the middle of selling the house and moving and I had to put all my sewing projects away to show the house.  I kept out a small bin of scraps and my machine while everything else went into storage for the duration.  When we actually sold the house and drove out of town, heading for the Pacific Northwest, this also came along in the car with me.  I've worked on these blocks off and on ever since, and yesterday this got put into a box and sent to my long-arm quilter for her to work her magic on it.  Yay!  


This actually ended up much bigger than I had originally envisioned.  You can see my "quilt holder" up above is struggling to hold it all up!  I was thinking just a lap quilt, but now it's big enough to snuggle into, or even to use on the bed.  I'm still a little unsure of how all this large-ness actually occurred.  
  

I got somewhat of a wild hair and decided to piece the back.  I started with this panel that I love and then decided to make it a log cabin block.  The world's largest log cabin block?  Probably not, but it sure felt like it!  I was trying to use up some fabrics that have been in the stash for too many years awhile.  Now that it's done, I'm not so sure I like it.  I'm hoping that the quilting will help.

Here are some random blocks, letting you see some of the fun fabrics I used.

I've made lots of other crumb blocks since I started, and even finished a few charity quilts with them.  But these are some of my favorite blocks, with fabrics that have meaning to me.  Lots of baby quilts, pillowcases and scraps of other quilts that I've made are in these.

I also used some random orphans and rejected bits.  That just adds to the fun!  Anything really does go in these crumb blocks.

Recently my quilt guild hosted a "crumb workshop" for the members.  Many of the members had never heard of crumb blocks and wanted to know how to make them.  They were fascinated by my quilt top.  It was a lot of fun.  We made enough blocks for about 9 charity lap quilts, and still have so many blocks in process that we'll be having another workshop to finish them.  Everyone that came had fun, and I think many of them are "hooked" now.

If you haven't tried crumb blocks yet, I suggest that you give it a try.  It's fun, and I call it therapy sewing.  There are no mistakes and it's stress free.  Plus, you get rid of some of the scraps and end up with something useful using something that might otherwise have been tossed out.

And now, please go visit the Festival of Scrappiness and see what all the other quilters have been up to.  There are some wonderful quilts to be seen!  And thanks for the kick in the pants to get this finished, Rachel!

A Finish and An Award

At long last, my Liberated Amish Challenge quilt is totally done!

You can read more about this challenge by scrolling waaaay down to the list of labels on the left-side of my blog and clicking on the tag "Liberated Amish Challenge".  There's a few posts - apparently I've been pretty wordy about this project!

"Snuggle"
53 inches by 65 inches

It took me some months to get around to getting the binding done.  I couldn't find any of the fabrics I used on the front, so ended up using the batik backing fabric I trimmed off the quilt.

Here is the back, with the pieced label I did.  I will be adding another label with more information on it.

A close up of the piecing, with the free-pieced Unruly letters from Lazy Gal Tonya.

Here's a photo of my free-pieced word on the front, all quilted.

And here's a shot of the quilting on one of the blocks.  This photo has the truest colors.

And a photo of the quilting that Shari did in the alternate blocks.  She knows I love Celtic knotwork.  I left this picture high contrast so the quilting would show up well.

I'm so happy that this quilt is finished and ready for use!  

The talented Kelly over at Pinkadot Quilts has nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award.  Thank you so much, Kelly!  I'm honored.  Go check out her blog.  She is making a small quilt every week for her personal journal quilt, and she's making some beauties!

The Liebster Blog Award rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Link back to their blog.

3. Copy and paste the Liebster award to your profile.

4. Pick 5 blogs that you feel deserve to be in the spotlight (they must have @200 followers or under).

5. Blog about it and leave a comment for your nominations to let them know that you have chosen their blog.

Here are my blog nominations for Liebster Awards:

1.  Joe Tulips at Joe Tulips Quilts blog.  She has made the BEST zombie quilt ever, she makes funny, fabulous cards (both paper and fabric), she geocaches, and she makes great quilts too!  She always has something fun to see on her blog.  Oh, and she's pretty obsessed with the Scrappy Trips pattern, and it's my fault.

2.  Michelle at Nostalgic Cafe.  Michelle is a funny lady - she'll make you smile.  Right now she's having some snake-y issues.  She also has some intriguing recipes on her blog.  Oh yeah, she makes bright, happy, fun quilts too!

3.  Kate at Kate Kwiltz blog.  Kate is another ADD quilter like I am, but you wouldn't know it.  She's in the process of making 5 baby quilts and 2 wedding quilts that are due this spring.  She's making great progress.  She makes great modern quilts with a real grounding in tradition.  

4.  Maureen at Pursuit of Quilts.  Maureen does more traditional quilts with great style.  Right now she has two posts up that are full of eye candy from two big quilt shows that she has visited.

5. Sharon at Grass Roots Quilting.  Sharon is making the Beyond The Cherry Tree quilt and is making great progress as well as other quilting projects.  She does long-arm quilting with the most wonderful feathers.  She is a funny, generous quilter.  I took the Gwen Marston class last year with her, and it was great fun.  I'm happy to call her "friend".

Go take a look at their blogs.  I think you'll enjoy them as much as I do.

One last thing:  Michelle at Nostalgic Cafe blogged today about the new Dark Shadows movie starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton.  I deeply loved D.S. when it was on TV.  I think my sister and I watched every episode!  I went to IMDb (Internet Movie Database) here and watched the trailer for this movie.  It looks like it will be hilarious and great fun.  I mean, how could you go wrong with Johnny Depp??  I can't wait until May 11th when the movie is released!

Happy quilting!

This and That

Last week was the biggest thing in this area for quilting and sewing - Sew Expo.  I went with my friend C. on the first day.  We didn't do any of the classes or see anything other than some of the vendors.  I really didn't "need" anything, and she was just looking for a baby quilt pattern.  So we just kind of wandered around seeing all the sights.

At the Just Imagination booth, filled with wonderful, luscious hand-dyed fabrics, there was a small quilt top on display that C. really liked.  It was made with only 2 fabrics, but because of the nature of the hand-dyed fabric, it had lots of variations and interest.  It was done in intense blues and rusts. We got to talking to Judy Robertson, who makes all those wonderful hand-dyed fabrics, and found out what pattern she had used to make the sample.

Then we wandered over to a booth selling quilt books and got the last copy of the book (40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts by Evelyn Sloppy) that the pattern for that quilt was in!  

I brought it home to make a sample block of the pattern.  I didn't get any of the hand-dyed fabrics ($26/yard!), so I used some batiks.  I just picked some with strong contrast.  And green and purple are always good together to me.  It was a very simple block to make, and there were great directions in the book.  It's all done with 2 1/2 inch strips.  By the way, I recommend this book!  Lots of great patterns in here, and they're all pretty simple and straightforward to make.

It looks like this will be the quilt my guild will be making for the raffle quilt to raise money for the local arts group/gallery.  I don't know what colors we'll be using, but I'll show you when I know!

I also found some things that I couldn't live without!  I got some zippers (2 for $1), a texture stamp, a stamp pad cleaner, foil, some metallic paints, a new seam ripper (wore out the other one making the Halloween Trips) and a cute pattern for a chicken or pig or bunny stuffy.  I think they'll make cute pincushions.  Maybe a little voodoo doll-ish to stick pins in them, but still cute.

Here is the final layout of the Halloween Trip blocks.  DH and The Kid did the final arrangement for me.  They wanted those bands of color to kind of match up.  I like it, so I left it.  I have 3 rows sewn together and the last two will get done tonight. And I even have an idea for the border now.  Just have to pull fabrics for it!  I'm relieved excited that this one is almost together.  I'm ready to do something else now.  Short-attention-span quilting!

Last, but not least, here are the fabrics I received from Nifty over at Nifty Quilts.  We did a little vintage fabric swap.  Go visit her blog and see all the great fabrics she's got to work with now!  These fill out my selection nicely.  I was short on the grey/pink combo, and I'm always in love with dots.  Dots on dots are even better!

Happy quilting!

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!