Design Wall Monday and Giveaway #2

Feeling pretty good about finishing my oldest UFO, I went searching for another really old one and found this.

There really isn't a lot that needs done here. None of the fish are appliqued to the border yet and I need to finish the faces on 4 of the fish.

Then it's ready to be quilted and bound. I don't remember the name of this quilt, but I remember taking the class at an area quilt shop. (I'm going to have to search my box of patterns before I finish this so I can give proper credit!) The sample in the shop was smaller than this, and of course I wanted it bigger so I made more fish and cat blocks, changed the border and for some reason just stopped working on it, even though I was very close to completing the top. Well, it's going to get done here soon! I think my young granddaughters will love this.

I'm also making a bunch of "controlled scrappy" rail fence blocks as a leader/ender project. I need to make 168 of these for a project and they're great to work on along with another project.

After my Plaid for Dad quilt and this Cat and Fish quilt are done, I think I'll reward myself by working on this quilt exclusively. I'm excited about it and have come up with what I think is a really fun name that I'll share when I have this up on my design wall. I know, I know. That's not fair. I should just tell you now and not keep you in suspence. Well the truth is, I want to see the blocks up on the wall to make my final decision on the name. That's my incentive to get busy here. I'm really loving the fabrics in these blocks.

It's the second week of my giveaway as part of my blogtoberfest participation, and here's what you can win this time around. I decided to add a little something to the giveaway that I didn't show before - 4 fruit and vegetable related fat quarters. (Oops, I forgot to include the folding strawberry tote bag in the picture, but it goes along with the package.)

I decided to add the fabric because of the cookbook. A friend (Sandy Hooper) and I co-authored this cookbook in 2008 for my sister-in-law's Troy Mills Strawberry Farm in Willard Ohio. (Ok, honestly, Sandy did most of the work. I wrote a lot of the recipes, tried them of course, and passed them on to her to compile this wonderful book.) Beside the usual pies, cakes, jams, salads, etc. we've included various strawberry facts and a miscellaneous section that includes things like facial scrubs, exfoliants, etc. It's a fun cookbook and has some great recipes!

Here's a close-up of the Framed Rectangles patterns. As you can see (hopefully), there are 8 size options, all the way from toddler to king. There are also a couple of layout options and a pieced border option. I try to write patterns to include multiple size options because I know that not everyone wants to make a lap size or king size and then figuring the yardage for making the change is a pain. I know lots of quilters that just don't do it. They would rather not make the quilt than deal with the math. Of course, I've been known to offer to determine fabric requirements and layout changes that are needed to re-size a quilt. I just kind of like to do that. Weird, huh?

I love this pattern! This is the pattern I used for our 2011 Breast Cancer 3-Day Raffle Quilt, and I used it for one of the Honor Flight quilts (it's the 8th quilt down), and I made a small Christmas version to snuggle with this December. Since the original quilt was the raffle quilt and I love that quilt, I decided to make another version of it to keep just for little old me.  I'm changing the border a bit and I think this will be a wonderful spring or summer quilt. It's not done yet but I have some time before I want to use it   :-)

Getting back to the giveaway.

Here's how to enter (up to three entries per person - woo hoo):
1. Leave a comment on this post by 9:00pm Wednesday (10/19/11), when I'll randomly pick a winner.
2. Earn a second chance by posting about this giveaway on your blog (and link to this page), and post a second comment here.
3. The third entry can be earned by becoming a follower of this blog, and posting again that you are a follower. (If you are already a follower, just leave a post stating so.)

If I wasn't hosting this giveaway, I'd be entering all three times for sure! Remember, there's another giveaway next week that includes The Wonder clips, another pattern and a surprise. Be sure to check back to enter!

Check out Patchwork Times to see what other quilters have on their design wall today. You just might find your next project!