September finish #3

Here is the 3rd quilt I just had quilted. This one is my 2010 Saturday Samper. It has 12 different blocks with this triple sashing with 9-patch cornerstones.

Love this pink and brown and cream colorway. It is so soft and tranquil looking. Carly put this simple loopy motif in each block, and did a floral in the sashing and border.

Another finish

Red, white, and blue - accented with golds. Love this color combination. This is another pinwheel project and it is also one of the quilts I just got back from the quilter (thanks Carly!).

She did this one in a large all-over swirl pattern. Looks great.

And I should mention that when I dropped off the 4 quilt tops to be quilted - I no longer have any tops laying around waiting to be quilted. Lots of sets of blocks waiting to be made into tops - but no UFO tops. That is a milestone for me.

Amish Houses are quilted

This one is just as pretty from the back as it is from the front. For my regular readers, this is my Amish House quilt, and I spent most of July and August working on this. It's a bit outside of my usual projects - with each of the 12 house blocks having a unique 6" square miniature quilt.

But it's all worth it when I see this finished up with beautiful quilting. Carly put a different quilted motif over the miniature quilt in each block. The house parts were outline quilted. The sky is a very small stipple. Then beautiful leaf shapes in the first border, a geometric design in the second border, and finally another soft swirly design in the third border.

I absolutely LOVE it! Carly did a great job!

UFOs no more

These 4 quilts are no longer UFOs!!! I dropped them off with Carly at The Pin Cushion a couple of weeks ago, and picked them all up today. And let me tell you, they are all beautifully quilted!!! Now I just need to get the bindings on. I know which one will be first.

I will show them off one at a time over the next few days.

Thanks Carly!

October Count On It

This will be the first thing you see upon entering my kitchen from the garage. This is October's Count On It design.
Love these little monthly wall hangings! They are so easy to applique because most pieces are fairly large. I added some beads for eyes that are a golden orange color. And the bat fangs are tiny little candy corn motifs cut from fabric and fused on.

Using up the leftovers

A close-up of the leaf design octagon shows how the 60 degree leftover cuts fit together perfectly to make this small table topper.

I decided to just quilt around the leaves in the black background. I'm doing the same on the long 60 degree table runner made of this fabric. This simple stitching allows the fabric to be the star.

60 degree and simple stitching

I ended up making 2 identical 60 degree table runners with this fabric, plus a bonus octagon with the leftover cuts. Then I made 2 identical ones using a fall fabric with a beautiful leaf design, plus the bonus octagon.

One of the Halloween runners is now hand quilted and bound. The Halloween octagon is also quilted but still needs binding. And the fall leaf octagon is quilted. I decided they all needed very simple hand quilting. It is so simple in fact that I just pin basted it and didn't even use my usual lap-sized quilt frame. I just held it in my hands and stitched, following the fabric designs. You'll have to click on the photo to make it bigger in order to see the stitching lines. I'll show the leaf design one another day.

The verdict is out . . .

The verdict is still out . . . I'm not sure how I feel about paper piecing yet. I tried some paper piecing years ago, and decided it was NOT my style. But then I saw this block - called Circle of Geese - and really, really wanted to make it. However, it was paper pieced. And I still decided to give it a try.

I like my finished block - a lot. So now , what is it going to be when it grows up? Maybe a pillow? Or the center of a doll quilt? I used scraps left over from another project and I still have enough to add something to it. I just have to decide what that will be.

A slow week

It has been one of those weeks where I have very little to show for the time spent in my sewing room. I did get my Saturday Sampler block done for this month, along with my secondary colorway block. We're over half way through this progam. And I'll have 2 quilts done when we finish up.

Headed to Canada

Not me, unfortunately. But my block is on its way to Ontario. Wish I could deliver it in person and meet my partner.

This block is called Follow The Leader. I got the free pattern from http://www.quiltmag.com/resources . This website has lots and lots of delightful block patterns and quilt patterns. And the instructions are well written.

I think this one would look really good in a quilt. There would be so many different ways to arrange them for different designs.

Hope my partner likes this one!

Swap block from Canada

Mary, from Ontario Canada, is my partner for September and she is really speedy. We received our partner information about Sept 1, and I got this cute bowtie block in the mail on Wednesday this week.

I absolutely love it. And ironically it is a 12" version of the 4.5" blocks I'm making with the charm pack swap fabric I just got.

This is a great dotted fabric and the block is going to fit in with the others perfectly. I now have 4 blocks from this swap.

Thank you so much Mary! My block for you will be in the mail this week yet.

Another 60 degree table runner

I have loved the pattern for the 60 degree table runner since I bought it a couple of winters ago. I've made 3 Christmas runners using the pattern in the past.

But yesterday in The Pin Cushion I saw that pattern done in this fun new Halloween "stripe" fabric. And I already owned a perfect sized piece of it. How lucky is that?

So on Wednesday night I spent less than an hour and put together this table runner. It just needs quilting and binding to be ready for the spooky season. And because the pattern repeated 4 times across I still have enough for another one.

Sometimes we need a treat

I decided a couple of weeks ago that my cutting mat was really worn out and that I needed a new one. That old one didn't owe me a thing since I've been using it for about 15 years.

So today after work I stopped in at The Pin Cushion and treated myself to a new mat. This one - from Martelli - is even reversible. So when this one gets worn out - or when I get tired of purple - I can flip it over and use the yellow side.

Of course the mat wasn't the only thing I bought. I picked up some batiks to use in some swap blocks I'm working on. And I picked up an idea for a piece of fabric I already own. And when I got home tonight I tested out my swap block and made a cute tablerunner. It was a productive sewing night since my husband was not home. No distractions! More on those projects another day!

Design Wall Monday

This is the first look at what I chose for the Rainbow Charm Pack swap fabrics. This won't be my final arrangement of course, but it's a start. The white background fabrics are scrappy - from various white-on-white fabrics.

The pattern is called . . . well it depends on where you are searching for it.

In the book, Schnibbles Times Two, it is called Bennington. If you are a fan of Me and My Sisters patterns, it is called Charlotte. The block itself - which measures 4.5" - is the same in both. The layout used is unique in each source. It's a pretty traditional block and perfect for charm squares.

This will be one of those on-going projects. Whenever I have just a few minutes to sew, I'll be able to add a couple more of these to the pile.

Amish House quilt top is done

I've finally finished my Amish Houses and am so happy with the results. These house blocks each have a unique miniature quilt that is 6 inches square. Some were easy and some were more difficult. But I like every one of them now that the top is all assembled.
My plan is to have it machine quilted and I have enough of the medium brown inner border to do the binding. I know this one I'm going to keep for myself. I think it needs a good place to hang where I can enjoy seeing it often.

A whole rainbow of charm squares

What would you do with a charm pack with 112 different fabrics in 8 color families?

A month or so ago I signed up for a rainbow charm pack swap and my rainbow arrived in the mail this week. Each of 56 participants was assigned a color family. We bought a yard of 2 different fabrics in that color and cut 56 charm squares (5") of each to send to the swap hostess.

That means we each got 14 squares in each color family. I won't show them all right now, but here are the orange ones. YUM!

Orange, Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink, Aqua, Purple.  I can't wait to start a project with all of these.  I have a pattern picked out, but have promised myself that my Amish House quilt top will be complete before starting this new project. Maybe I'll get to cut into these on Labor Day Monday . . .

Babies change too fast

Grandpa and Mason spent some bonding time after breakfast last weekend. I'm so glad that baby only lives about an hour away so we get to see him every couple of weeks. They change so fast at this age and we don't want to miss the fun.