Christmas in July!

Christmas in July starts tomorrow!

Sarah, over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is hosting this awesome 12 Days of Christmas blog hop again and there are going to be some really cool projects shared.

Sarah has also organized a quilt a long during the blog hop and if it's anything like the last couple of years, it will be wonderful. Just imagine, by sewing for just an hour or so a day, you can have a quilt top made by the end of the hop. WooHoo!

Check out her post about it HERE. 

Here's the line up for the hop. 

Not only will you see lots of projects, there'll be some giveaways too. 

Saturday, July 14th

Joy @ Days Filled With Joy

Selina @ Selina Quilts

Sunday, July 15th

Joanne @ Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Jan @ The Colorful Fabriholic

Monday, July 16th

Carole @ From My Carolina Home

Jamie @ L'Fair Quilts

Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels & Eats

Tuesday, July 17th

Sharon @ Vrooman's Quilts

Mary @ Made by Marney

Wednesday, July 18th

Karrin @ Karrin's Crazy World

Marian @ Seams To Be Sew

Thursday, July 19th

Christina @ Christina's Handicrafts

Sherry @ Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc.

Danice @ Homespun Hannah

Friday, July 20th

Kristi @ Confessions of A Fabric Addict

Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts

Saturday, July 21st

Cindy @ Stitchin' At Home

Meloney @ Mel's Quilting Blog

Sunday, July 22nd

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Moira @ Quilted Snail

Monday, July 23rd

Brenda @ Songbird Designs

Amy @ Sea of Estrogen

Bonnie @ In Stitches With Bonnie

Tuesday, July 24th

Kathy @ Kathy's Kwilts and More

Summer @ Summer Lee Quilts

Wednesday, July 25th

Susan @ Quilt Fabrication

Brandy @ Pampered Pettit

Jean @ All Points of the Compass

Baby Quilt

Happy July 4th!

Yesterday, I took a break from my Quilts of Valor and Winter Wonderland projects to make a baby quilt. (I'll go back to working on the QOV projects later today.)

This is my version of Baby Crosshatch, by Brenda Henning. I made some changes to the size and the orientation of the strips. The size change was intentional, while the strip changes was not. 😮

I like the fabrics and the layout and plan to quilt this with straight or wavy lines in the colored strips and a meander or swirl in the background. (I know it's difficult to see, but it's a light blue background.) In the top left negative space, I plan to quilt the baby's name. I need to practice before doing that, so my guess is that this will not be done until sometime next week. 

Jack and I will be attending a Naturalization Ceremony later today. We have a good friend who will fulfill a longtime dream and become a United States citizen today. We are thrilled for her and honored that she asked us to attend. I've never been to one of these ceremonies and I'm looking forward to it. There sure will be reason to celebrate this afternoon. 

Whatever you choose to do today, do it safely and with American pride!

Design Wall Monday

Last week was quite busy, but I did finish the top I showed last Monday. I added eight blocks to make this finish approximately 64" x 82" - a good Quilts of Valor size.  

I decided to add the extra blocks rather than border this to make it fit the QOV size requirements mostly because I had enough background fabric to do it, and because I didn't really know what I would use for a border. 

I'm going to try to get this quilted and ready for binding today or tomorrow so because I always like to be working on a QOV on July 4th. (I try to do the same thing on Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Veterans Day too.) I'm thinking about binding this in gold, but we'll see after it's quilted.

I also took some time to put together these Six Hexie Placemats. I still need to quilt and bind these, but that will be easy.

I used the Cut Loose Press Set of 6 Hexie Placemats pattern by Gudrun Erla (GE Designs). It's an easy project to make and since I'll be teaching this project in the Fall, I decided to make mine out of Christmas fabric - Red Dot...Green Dash by Me & My Sister Designs. 

I'm hoping to spend a little more time sewing this week, but we'll see. I feel like I need to  mix things up a bit and step away from the computer work and spend some time fondling fabric. I think I'll go start now!

What are you working on today?

Check out the Quilters' Eye Candy at 

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and 

Beth's Monday Making

Design Wall Monday

Annie and I are off to teach an umbrella workshop today, so this post will be short and sweet.

In an attempt to get caught up on work, I've been dong a little sewing on a lot of different projects. While doing that, I use the leader/ender method a lot and love that I can actually be working on two projects at the same time.  

Here's the latest leader/ender blocks that I'm making and so far, I like what I'm seeing. 

I like the big blocks here and the boldness of them. I'm using all the same background, but each print is different. I'm not sure yet if I'll make more blocks or it I'll add sashing. I have the three blocks on the bottom to finish before I have to make that decision.

Of course, this will be a Quilts of Valor, so I'll have to play with sizes to determine what will work and look the best. 

What are you working on today?

Check out the eye candy at

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and

Beth's Monday Making

A Test and Finish

On Friday, I posted some pictures from a couple of rug classes that I recently taught and included pictures of the "rope" coiled up on the table. To see the other pictures click HERE 

I love how it looks! Besides looking really cool, I think there is a psychological benefit to coiling it this way. If you've made one of these rugs, you know that the process of making the rope is a long and tedious one. I think that seeing the progression and getting a general idea of how the rug will look (in reverse) keeps the maker motivated. 

Yvonne, who blogs over at Quilting Jetgirl commented on my last post that it would be fun to go back and compare the coil to the finished rug. I think she's right so I decided that I needed to make another rug and take pictures along the way. Okay, I admit that I used her comment as an excuse to make another rug; but I really did want to make the comparison. 

So, purely for the research aspect of rug making and to respond to Yvonne's comment, I made a new rug yesterday. 😉

I started with a Moda Jelly Roll - Collection for a Cause - Sunshine by Howard Marcus. I've had this roll for quite some time, having purchased it for another project. When I started working on that project, I decided that this was not the best fabric for the quilt so it got set aside. Gee, I'm using stash so that's another good excuse reason for me to make this rug.

I rearranged the strips a bit, kind of taking a guess on how I wanted them to appear in the rug. I try not to fret too much at this stage of the game, but sometimes that's a challenge. I knew that I wanted the dark on the outside of the rug and a couple of colorful rings throughout. I also did not want the lightest fabrics right in the middle so the rug, so I opted to put the grey fabrics there. I also chose to put a floral print in the center, instead of one that reads solid.

Once I made my decision, I started with the dark fabrics and made my rope. As I was sewing, I coiled the rope and this is what it looked like when I was done. I liked this!

Remember when I said I wanted the dark fabrics on the outside? You actually sew those fabrics first, so they ended up in the middle of the picture above. Plus, unlike the rug where you see about .75" of each fabric, you only get a very small piece of it at this stage. I'm ok with that and still love the look.

Of course, now I want to make a circular rug! Ohhhhh, will it ever end?  😂 

Here's the completed rug. (Getting good pictures of these rugs are such a challenge for me. Sorry!)

I got the rings of color I wanted, but I'm not totally thrilled with the big grey area in the center. I'm sure it will grow on my though. 

Thanks for the comment Yvonne, and the excuse to make another rug.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Quick Catch Up

As usual, I've been quite busy here and blog posts have fallen by the wayside. I've got a few minutes and decided to post a few pictures of recent projects and classes, just so you don't think that I've forgotten about all of you or being lazy. :-)

Here's a T-Shirt quilt that I recently made. I was given a variety of size shirts and needed to play a little with the layout. I'm glad I chose the shadow effect. The recipient liked the quilt, which is always a plus.

This is my version of Poinsettia Millefiori which is a free download by Michael Miller Fabrics. The original quilt is by Marinda Stewart and measures approx. 44" x 59." 

The fascinating thing about these One Block Wonder/Stack and Whack type quilts is that no two look the same. This was fun to make and the quilt is at Chestnut Ridge Sewing in Millersburg, OH. There is a class scheduled for this in July, and I'm looking forward to that. I think there are a few open spots, if you are interested. :-) 

I've recently taught a couple of rug classes and while I am really not great at remembering to take pictures during class, here are a few I was able to get.

I love the greys and blacks of this rug!

This blue rug is made with twenty strips and is from a single fabric - ombre confetti metallic. This exact fabric and a variety of the color colorways is available at Chestnut Ridge Sewing. 

I love the placemat size rugs and this is looking awesome!

I've changed the way the "ropes" are coiled a bit because I've found it so much easier with which to work. Of course another big plus is the fact that we get a glimpse of what the rug will look like when it's complete. (It's actually in reverse, but it still gives you a good idea.)

Even though the picture is blurry, I love these browns together and think the rug will be striking!

Isn't this just plain wonderful?

This is so colorful and fun and can't wait to see it as a rug!

This is so soft looking and it's just beautiful!

I'm loving these fabrics!

This is going to be striking!

As you can see from the pictures, I've been busy and that makes me happy!

Design Wall Monday

If you read my last post, you know that my house has been filled with even more laughter and happiness than usual because my six sisters were here. Even though the majority went home yesterday, Pat and Annie are still here because Pat's flight doesn't leave until this afternoon and Annie is taking her to the airport. 

Lots of fun projects were worked on and many were completed over the past five days, but this quilt remains on my design wall.

Isn't this beautiful? The center is the Dream Big panel by Hoffman Fabrics and this picture does not do it justice. It is striking, as are all the colorways available.

I have to be honest. This is on my design wall, but it's not my quilt. It's Pat's and we are trying to decide how to quilt this. A Google search produced a bunch of amazing options, so now we are more unsure than ever. It doesn't matter though; I'm ok with having this on the wall and looking at it over and over and over...

Paula worked with the same panel and planned her borders to go in reverse order of the colors in the flower. This picture was taken in haste as she was packing up to go home. I don't know why she was not receptive to the idea of leaving the quilt with me. :-)

Terri bought the grey panel, but kept that tucked away to be worked on at home. It is beautiful too and I can't wait to see what she does with it. 

This afternoon, I plan to spend some time cleaning and reorganizing the sewing room. I've had some discussions with a couple of the sisters about making some layout changes and look forward to trying them. I'm excited about the possibilities and hope that this also helps me purge a few things that have been gathering dust for quite some time. Maybe I'll host a giveaway or two.

What's on your design wall today?

Check out the eye candy at 

Judy's Doll Quilts and Small Quilts

and

Beth's Monday Making