Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Jack and I were noticing the other day that there are more and more people decorating for Halloween lately, and I don't mean just a few pumpkins and flags. No, there are not only intricately carved pumpkins, but lots of inflatable spiders, ghosts and haunted houses, but also lots of outdoor light decorations. WOW! It's almost like Christmas, just in black and orange.

Now, I like to see the decorations, but I really dislike putting them up and worse - taking them down!

It is kind of a running joke here at our house about the fact that I really procrastinate when it comes to holiday decorating. Even at Christmas I am content to let someone else get the job done. Now that the girls are both gone, I pretty much have to force myself to decorate. When they were here, it was easy. I would get the items from the basement and set them out in the back room. And viola!, in a couple of days everything was done.

Now I guess in retrospect my lack of desire to decorate isn't entirely true. I have no problem changing out my quilts! A few of my favorite quilts are wall hangings that I display each year for the various holidays. Do you have favorite "quilty" decorations you like to use?

Even though this is one of my earliest projects and there are lots of problem areas (Can you say wavy borders?), this continues to be one of my all-time favorite quilts. I love the colors and the scrappy pieced binding!

 

It's funny that I still like this quilt so much. I used to always work in what Jack called "safe" colors and fabrics. Everything matched and I often used a specific fabric line so I would be sure that it all "went together." I've made a lot of projects using the color scheme from this wall hanging or something very similar, but I'm happy to say that I've developed a greater sense of adventure lately.

 

I really like scrappy quilting and I try to have a much broader range of fabric choices. Sometimes I think I am working outside of my comfort zone, but quite honestly I'm feeling a lot like just working with fabric is my comfort zone - no matter what the design or color is. I think my discomfort comes from not being happy with the fabric choices available in my stash and my conflict on whether or not I should buy more fabric.

 

I am seriously trying to use up stash and I've done a pretty darn good job the last couple of years, but sometimes I just can't find a fabric that works for me. I audition lots of fabrics and I may even sew a block or two before I decide that I just don't like it and decide that I have to buy something.

 

Now don't get me wrong. I do continue to buy fabric. I often/usually buy fabric for a project that I'll be teaching because someone always asks if the fabric in the sample is available for kits. Besides, it helps the shops sell fabric when customers see the sample, and if I help them sell fabric they'll keep having me back to teach. (That's a real win-win situation!) As a matter of fact, I often make a large quilt out of fabric that I really like and then make a small version using a completely different type, style or color of fabric. I often change the borders up a bit, or embellish it too. Here's an example. The original pattern is Voila! from Swirly Girls Design.

 

 

Here are my versions!

 

I love the more traditional look of the black, white and red. But my favorite thing about this quilt is the striped border.

 

 

I love the pink, orange and yellow together! I would never have done that a few years ago. I used a striped border fabric again just because I could.  :-)

 

 

Here's a small version made from my stash. I love the border fabric and added cornerstones because I didn't have enough of it.

 

 

Now here's a small sample made out of some more traditional fabrics. If I'm not mistaken, most of these fabrics are from Thimbleberries so you know they'll all "work" together.

 

 

It still amazes me how different all of these look!

 

I guess I just love fabric and color. Life sure is good!

Design Wall Monday and More

I'm back from my little hiatus. I've been quite busy the last couple of weeks and something had to give, so it was the blog. During my "away time," I got lots done and practiced my patience skills when things didn't go quite as planned. I also got some quilting done, but not as much as I'd hoped. I'll take some time the next few days and post some pictures of the various projects on which I worked; but since it's Monday and that means it's Design Wall day, I'll post what's up right now.

Even though I haven't quilted the first one, I started a new Voila! quilt last night - in brights! I'll have to double check, but I think all the fabric for this is from the Crush line by Timeless Treasures. I  would never have guessed that I would be making a quilt with bright pink, orange and yellow, but I am, and I'm liking it. Now Jack on the other hands, doesn't really care for this. I told him to wait and see if he changes his mind after I add the border - another stripe.

It sure is different that the other one, isn't it?

As you can see, one of the projects I did NOT get done was to change the fabric on my design wall. I'm going to replace the white batting with brown craft felt. That should help have things like the bright Voila! quilt show up better in pictures as well as give me a better feel for it's overall look just by seeing the contrast. I really think that even when I'm working with black fabric this will be good. I guess I'll let you know or let you be the judge when I finally do get it up and post pictures.

Among some of the other things I did during my "away time" was to go to a quilt show with Jack, Sheryll, Jim and Hannah. We met at Lake Farmpark and spent the afternoon in awe of such talented people. I know the Best of Show Winner - Sue Wilson. Speaking of talented people. She's awesome!

I also had the pleasure of spending a week with Mom while Terri and Danny were out of town, and that was wonderful. It's been a LONG time since I've spent my birthday with Mom and it was fun! I usually send Mom flowers on my birthday because she's the one who did all the work. I just kicked a bit to let her know I was ready to meet the real world; and she and Dad (ok, and all the siblings) had the difficult task of raising me and dealing with whatever drama I deemed to be of the upmost importance on any particular day, so I find that sending flowers is the least I can do.

Anyway, I digress. We spent my birthday afternoon with Nikki, Zach, Quinn, Sadie, Brad, Heather, Aiden and Cameron. We had a "basement picnic" and the kids played while the adults visited. It was fun and Mom was quite tired by the time everyone left so she took a short nap. While she napped, I took the opportunity  to do a bit of mending. Yep, you read that's right. I did some mending! It was for Mom, and that's really the only reason I did it. I really don't like to mend. Can you tell?

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

Design Wall Monday

I do have something on the wall and I'm loving it! I am really excited about this quilt and I can't wait to finish it.

It's my version of Voila! from Swirly Girls Design. (Have I told you how much I like Swirly Girls?)

The picture doesn't really do this justice (in my humble opinion). Maybe you'll get a better picture when you enlarge it. If you notice there is a streak of light on the right side of the picture. That is the sun! I have another picture that doesn't include it; but hey, it's February in Ohio and it's cold, so I'll take whatever sunshine I can get!

Anyway, back to the quilt. The dark around the red print fabric is actually a black fabric with white dots. I'm going to use the same fabric for the binding. Heck, I already have the backing for this quilt too, which is so unusual for me. The fabric for this quilt was purchased while I was on retreat and the inside was sewn then also. I had previously purchased the pattern and took it with me just in case I found the perfect focus fabric. I think I did!

Anyway, one more border and it's ready to quilt, although I have no idea yet of how to do that. Besides, it will probably be a little bit before that happens so I have some time to think about it. Any suggestions?

I've been busy trying to get things caught up and it seems to be working. It's amazing how many projects really just needed a little bit of work done to them but they just got set aside instead. I'll post pictures later of some of those projects. I just have to be home and take the time to snap pictures!

To check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times!