Design Wall Monday

Well, this is what's on the design wall.

But this is what's actually being worked on.

The project that is on the wall is a scrappy 4-Patch quilt that has been put together mostly with leader/ender blocks. What is up on the wall is about half the total number of 4-patch blocks that I have. I decided to "release" the blocks from the tub they were in, and this is it so far. The majority of the fabrics are somewhat muted browns, reds and blues with a bit of green thrown in for good measure. I like how it looks and will continue to add blocks followed by a narrow border and end with another set of 4-patch blocks to create the outside border. I'm assuming that the binding will be the same as the narrow border, but we'll see. The best part of this project is that it's from stash. YEAH! I'm not planning to work on this exclusively right now, but who knows. This is a great "I need a mindless project" quilt. That's how it started and that's how I like it.

The second picture above is what I'm really working on right now. It's 4 quilts, yes count them 4 quilts, that are quilted, trimmed and ready for binding! Two of these are UFOs and two are new quilts started in 2011. The binding fabric is picked out for all the quilts and my goal today is to have the binding adding to the front of these quilts and begin hand-stitching them down. I can't wait. Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic. I can't wait because I like hand-stitching the binding.

I have to thank my friend Kare here because she has an HQ-16 that she let me use to get three of these quilts quilted. (The fourth quilt I did here at home because it was pretty small and easy to do.) She was gone for the Easter weekend and I went to her house to get these done. I'm so blessed with wonderful and generous friends! Thanks Kare!! Of course I still have lots of UFOs to work on but this is a great start! I'll post pictures once they're bound.

I should be working on my Glacier Star, but that will happen later after these are bound!

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today. Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

A Rebel at Heart?

A couple of weeks ago I was asked if I had ever made a quilt that upset people. Well, I'm finally getting around to answering that questions. Thanks for your patience Jerry!

A couple of years ago, Lynn wanted to make her friend Amy a fun quilt that had something to do with the Cleveland Indians, her favorite baseball team. Amy is a really fun person and we knew that just any old quilt wouldn't work, so we came up with the Name That Junk quilt.

You'd have thought that I had posted child pornography or something because I received a handful of private e-mails telling me how inappropriate this quilt is. I was told that I must be a terrible mother because I encouraged and even worse yet, helped my daughter make this quilt. "How could a mother do such a thing?" I was asked.

I was really surprised by the e-mails and quite honestly I didn't care. Lynn and I had fun making this wall hanging and Amy loved it! Call me a bad mom, but I'd make another one if I had the right pictures.

Stash Report - Week 17

Just the facts today because I'm kind of busy!

all the fabric brought in this week has been used and two more new quilts for this year have been pieced, quilted and bound and I've just finished quilting a two UFOs and two new quilts. They should be bound by next week so I can record them as DONE, DONE, DONE!

Happy Easter!

Fabric Added This Week: 6.75 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 76.50 yards
Fabric Used This Week: 17.00yards
Fabric Used to Date: 131.125 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 54.625 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 3
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 8

Check out how other quilters are using their stash by going to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - Week 16

I've been a busy beaver this past week, but I still wanted to get more done. Isn't that always the case? As a matter of fact, I didn't even touch my Glacier Star, but hopefully that will change tomorrow.

What I did get done includes 2 chenille rugs, 4 aprons, and 1 jelly roll quilt (pictures will come later). All of this helped take me past the 100 yards used for this year. YEAH!!!!! Now that isn't all stash, but that's ok. I've been using stash and I'm really happy with that progress. Plus ALL - 100% of the fabric that came into my stash this past week is earmarked for specific quilts and it should all be used by the end of the month. I love it when I can report fabric in and out within the same month. Don't you?

Kare and I were in Toledo most of Friday so no sewing got done then, but that's ok because I had a great time. We visited two quilt shops and I didn't buy any fabric. NONE!! Now I can't say the same for patterns. I bought four patterns that included Magic Tiles, Vernal Equinox, Shadowbox, and Town Square. I really like all of them and can't wait to make them!

Linda got here this afternoon and she finished up her log cabin blocks, using Kaffe Fassett's pattern. Like his quilt, she used lots of bright and busy fabrics and I really like how it's turned out. Linda has sewn before but she's never made a quilt and she started this two weekends ago when we were having our "Fiber Weekend." Well, she doesn't do anything small because this thing is 96" x 96"! All of the blocks are done and up on the design wall. I think she'll start sewing the blocks together tomorrow. WoooHoooo. Here's a picture (a crappy picture, but a picture). Pretty cool for a first quilt, isn't it?

Ok, back to the stash report:
Fabric Added This Week: 10.75 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 69.75 yards
Fabric Used This Week: 19.750yards
Fabric Used to Date: 114.125 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 44.375 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 3
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 6

Check out how other quilters are using their stash by going to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Pictures

Here are the Seek and Find blocks that I'm trimming.

Aren't these fun? And, aren't you impressed that I posted the pictures on the same day that I said I would?

Making Another, Just Like the Other

This post title sounds like a song doesn't it? Well, ok, maybe not.

Anyway, I'm making another Seek and Find quilt. Here's the original.

I made this at least 5 years ago, well before I had any grandchildren and I made it because it sounded like fun. Each fussy cut block center has a match, except for one. Besides keeping you warm, this quilt provides you with lots of entertainment. Or in the case of grandchildren, it provides them with a distraction from fighting bedtime!

This quilt was on display at the Berlin Hts. Basket Festival and the Milan Museum Quilt Show one year and it was fun to watch the people as they stood there for a long time finding all the matches and the "orphan." Isn't it amazing how competitive we are? We can't just look at this and say "Wow, that's fun." No, we have to play the game and race to find the matches before the person next to us. :-)

Anyway, the new quilt has all new fussy cut centers and they are fun! I've sewn all the blocks and am in the process of trimming them. Since I haven't done anything to my hair yet today and I've got to head out the door in 15 minutes for an appointment in Norwalk followed by a trip to Toledo, I'll post a picture later today of the new blocks.

Signs of Spring

So how do you recognize the beginning of Spring? Is it the first splash of color with a single daffodil plant?

Or do you need to see the beautiful yellow spray of a clump of daffodils to really believe it's Spring?

Speaking of yellow, what about the gorgeous forsythia? I love how this looks in the morning with the early sun shining on it. But then again, the late afternoon sun is wonderful too. Oh heck, I just love to see this in bloom!

Maybe tulips are more your style. Don't you love seeing the first buds of tulips?

I think this is exciting and I can't wait to see what color is going to pop out of this plant. We have lots of tulips planted around here and when they are in bloom, the color is amazing! Do you see the lily plant next to the tulip? I love the deep green of those leaves.

Maybe flowers aren't your thing. Maybe you need to see some fruit or vegetable to feel like Spring has sprung. What about this rhubarb? Can't you just smell the pie or taste the strawberry/rhubarb jam?

Even though I really enjoy seeing all of the items above, I really look forward to seeing this. Do you know what it is?

These are itty bitty black-eyed susans! I LOVE these plants and we have a very large bed of them in the front yard. It's a wonderful feeling to wake up in the morning, look out the bedroom window and see these plants! Nothing like kick starting the day with color!

What's my least favorite sign of spring? That's an easy one.....

It's the dreaded mole hill. I swear that every year we have more and more moles. I think we are their favorite vacation spot. I can just hear the conversation at the annual mole convention when they decide where to invade visit. "Hey, did you make it up to the Hubbard yard last year? No, well you've got to go this year. It's wonderful and there's so much room for us to destroy. Do you know the best part? They don't use chemicals so you don't have to worry about getting sick. It's the "in place to be!"

No matter what you see as the first sign of Spring, I hope you enjoy it!

Design Wall Monday

It's Monday and I have my Glacier Star on the wall.

We've had our final instruction class and will meet one more time later this month to hopefully see some completed quilt tops. I can't wait and I hope that I get mine done.

I really like this quilt and I have a somewhat funny story about it. Remember way back in December when I made these blocks? I really liked them and thought they looked so bright and cheery. I was really excited to see them in the finished quilt. Well, as I progressed through the various stages of this quilt from the inner flying geese to the lone star blocks and finally to the inner snowflake, I just wasn't very happy with these blocks and I really wasn't sure that they would look right. Check out this picture to see one of the New Your Beauty blocks next to the other units. I thought the pink was too bright and wouldn't play well with the rest of the quilt.

I had only made four of the New York Beauty blocks so I decided that I would make new ones using the red/wine fabric that I used for the spikes on the center snowflake. My thoughts were that this would create a better flow throughout the quilt and not stand out so much. I was ready to make the new blocks and find a new home for the old, bright blocks. All was good!

That is until a friend stopped over and saw bits and pieces of the quilt and was intrigued. She asked me to lay out what I had done so she could see what it would look like. I obliged and went ahead and put the 4 bright New York Beauty blocks up just to show her how they would look and explained to her that I was remaking them, etc. Well, as I stepped back and looked I couldn't believe it but I LIKED the bright blocks! It's kind of like shopping for a dress. I don't know how many times I look at multiple stores to only go back to the very first one and buy the first dress that I tried. :-) Do you ever do that?

Anyway, I called my friend Kare who is also making this quilt and said "You aren't going to believe this, but I think I'm keeping my original blocks." After sending her (and my daughters) a picture, they all agreed with me. Oh well, I guess it just goes to show that you should trust your gut feelings.

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today. Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times and be amazed!

Stash Report - Weeks 13, 14, and 15

What a slacker! I haven't posted a stash report in 3 weeks. I could go into lots of explanations as to how busy I've been, blah, blah, blah; but nobody really wants to hear that do they?

Even though I haven't been sewing like I'd like to, I did use some fabric during the last 3 weeks. Of course I brought some in too. :-) Actually, I realized that I hadn't listed fabric for one project that I finished weeks and weeks ago so it's being counted here (both in and out). Also, I realized that I accounted for my Glacier Star fabric as being brought in, but I've not counted any of it going out. Since I'm getting close to finishing that top, I'll just wait to count it all when I'm done piecing it. That's going to be a good report because there's a lot of fabric in that quilt so far!

I'm closing in on 100 yards used for the year and that's exciting. I'd like to be able to hit that in my stash report next week. I know just what project I'm going to work on to get there. :-)

My UFO progress has taken a dive recently because I've just not had time to get things quilted. I'm afraid to look at how many on in the "To Be Quilted" pile, but I know there's a lot. Heck, since January I've added at least 6! YIKES. I better get busy or save up some cash so I can send them out to be quilted.

Anyway, here's the report:
Fabric Added: 18.25 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 59.00 yards
Fabric Used: 22.50 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 94.375 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 35.375 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 3
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 4

Check out how other quilters are using their stash by going to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

It's Margarita Time!

Margarita Sunrise, that is. This is a free pattern from Hoffman Fabrics and I used the Margarita Mango Bali Pop to make it. Besides loving the quilt, I just love the name of the Bali Pop collection. :-)

I finished the top this afternoon and it's ready to quilt. Now I just have to decide what backing to use and then I'm ready to go. YEAH!!!

I wish I could get a better picture of the border fabric that I used. It looks pretty much like plain black in the picture, but it's really a fun piece of fabric that is black, blue, purple, and green. Maybe enlarging the picture will help you see it better. To do that, just click on the picture and keep your fingers crossed.

I've been working on my Glacier Star and really like how it's coming together. I promise to take a picture soon and let you in on the progress.

Design Wall Monday

Even though it hasn't been a very "quilty" place around here lately, I do have something on my design wall today.

This is Margarita Sunrise by Daniela Stout of CozyQuilts.com for Hoffman Fabrics. This uses a bali pop and is fun and easy to construct. I threw this up on the wall and worked on it one night while my sister and niece were here for their "Destination Vacation" spring break. (It was wonderful and wish that it could have lasted longer!)

March was really busy with working, not feeling great, having grandchildren and other family visiting, and finally going on a "Fiber Weekend" with my step-daughters (more on that later). Even though I wasn't very productive quilt-wise, March was wonderful!

Check out what other quilters have on their design wall by going to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times!