UFO and BOM progress

***Thank you all for commenting on my post looking for the Hooty Hoot fabric. I think I may have found some! Quilters are the best! ***

I think I'm caught up on all my monthly projects for March. Yay! First up is the Village Square block of the month. These are the first 6 blocks all assembled and appliqued.

I finally decided on an applique stitch. Once again, I copied my idol, Robin, who is also doing this BOM. It's simply a mini zig zag, but it's just the perfect touch! It adds just a touch of whimsy, I think. (you should be able to click on the pictures for a closer look)

Next is my Snow Days embroidery. The first picture are the blocks 8 & 9 from February, but I was a little late in finishing them....

And here is block 10 for March....again click for a closer look! :)

The April "Count on It" banner. Sorry for the lousy pictures....it's so dark and cloudy outside and makes my house too dark for good pictures!!

and also for May! We have lots of company and travel coming up in April, so I didn't want to get behind.

And finally, another UFO finished! Remember I showed you the quilting in this post? I finally finished stitching the binding. I'm really pleased with this quilt. It's sort of a "leftover" quilt, made with blocks leftover from various swaps, or blocks that weren't enough for a quilt on their own. It was just amazing how they all came together and worked so nicely in this quilt. Peggy gave me the "tree" blocks that make up the outer border. Can you believe there was almost exactly enough blocks for the entire border? I only made ONE extra tree block. Amazing!

Fabric Search

I am on a hunt for fabric from the Hooty Hoot line by Riley Blake! A special friend is having a baby and she is using this line for her nursery. I'd love to make a quilt for her and it seems to be sold out everywhere!

If any of you have anything you'd be willing to sell or trade, I'd be ever so grateful! Just shoot me an email and we'll work out a good deal!

Happy Quilting!

Quilting Day Project

I worked at a snail's pace, but this is what I worked on for National Quilting Day:

This is my first leader/ender project. Originally, the idea came from Bonnie's "Blue Ridge Beauty" quilt from her book "Adventures in Leaders & Enders," but when I started sewing units together, I didn't put them together according to her directions and didn't realize it until I had too many to take apart. :P So my blocks are Buckeye Beauty (6") or Jewel Box (12"). Either way, I'm happy with it and love it! I love that it is completely made from scraps and sewn as I was working on other projects. I wish I knew the exact date, but I truly think it was almost exactly a year ago that I started doing leaders/enders. I still want to add another border of some kind...any suggestions? It measures 75.5" x 87.5" now, and I'm hoping to add a border large enough to make it fit a queen bed, probably a 6" piano key border.

And of course, the obligatory quilt inspector picture....

Happy Quilting!

Are you quilting today?

I am!! :)

Christmas Wish

I finally finished the Christmas Wish quilt from 2009 (?)! Better late than never...and now it's ready for NEXT Christmas. :) I loved doing this BOM from Gail Pan. It was a freebie and is actually still available on her website. I could probably even make this one again...I love the blocks!

I realized recently that I'm pretty thread ignorant. I tend to use the same thread for all my piecing (Aurifil), and another thread (Robinson-Anton 50 wt Cotton) for quilting and machine applique. I think I'm just comfortable with what I know looks good and will work nicely in my machine. A few months ago, I started the Village Square block of the month and one of the things I like about it is that it uses fabrics I wouldn't normally choose. But when it was time to do the applique, I realized I'd have to branch out a little and try something different when it came to the thread I chose.

Once again, I turned to one of my BFFs for guidance. Robin rocks when it comes to her knowledge of different threads and needles! I'm always picking her brain...and I'm sure she's tired of repeating the same things every year or so. LOL Thanks Robin! She's doing the same BOM and mentioned that she was using Sulky Rayon for the applique, so I figured I'd jump in and copy her, er...I mean try the same thing. LOL Lucky me, JoAnn's has Sulky on sale right now!

I'm so looking forward to the warmer temps that we've been promised for later this week. Bring on the sunshine!!

Happy Quilting!

quilting

A few of you noticed and asked about the scrappy quilt blocks from this post. Can't get anything past you guys, can I?? LOL Well, I thought I'd give you just another peek...

Yesterday, I rented a quilting machine at a LQS and quilted it myself! It was sooo much fun! The machine they have in the shop is a HandiQuilter 18 Avante. I'm really impressed with this machine and table....it quilts beautifully and the table is very stable.

I just did freehand loops...I am comfortable with this design, but I need to start challenging myself and trying other things. :P I used a variegated thread, but it blended so well, you can hardly see it!

I'm sewing the binding on today, so maybe I'll have a picture of the finished quilt before too long! (no promises though...the Christmas Wish quilt is still waiting for the binding to be finished.)

Happy Quilting!

I'm still here!

Not a lot to share lately...the last couple of weeks haven't been very productive. I have been accomplishing a few things, but nothing really to share. Some are work in progress things, some are top secret things for an upcoming retreat.

A week or so ago, I pulled out my "Christmas Wish" BOM from a couple years back. I wasn't really happy with how I had set the embroidery blocks, but Robin helped me with a border idea (even though what I ended up with wasn't what she envisioned. LOL). In the end, though, I'm much happier with it now and I have it all quilted and the binding sewn to the front. Just have to do the hand sewing part of the binding and add the hanging sleeve and it'll be done!

Of course, I had to share this picture of one of our quilt inspectors hard at work. They always work so diligently! They take their jobs seriously and are willing to work anytime I lay something out on the floor. LOL I could barely get these blocks all laid out before she was sniffing what I had in my hands. :)

Hopefully this week I'll have something more to share! I'm feeling it...this is going to be a good week! :)

Happy Quilting!

Head on over to Pleasant Home for a chance to win a Accuquilt Go! Baby...I plan to win, though. Just sayin'. :)