Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

My gift to you is this Christmas Invitation...something to reflect upon!


I am headed to New Orleans for my Grandma's funeral...so won't be around for a few days. I will use this time to catch up with family I haven't seen in nearly 15 years. 


Happy New Year to everyone! 

Butterfly Round Robin

From this:

To this:

Isn’t it gorgeous! And I have my two friends, Shannon and Dory, to thank.  Each added a border to my center applique block. To read my original post on how this round robin came to be...read APQS forum friends meet!

Shannon added the curved pieced border…it keeps the quilt ‘soft’ in my opinion. Reminds me of a pagoda.

Dory then added a piano key border with half square triangles in the corners.

I love it!

Please read Shannon’s post…pieceful kwilter: butterfly round robin
And Dory's post...crazy horse quilting: butterfly round robin

NOW..to get busy and decide what kind of border to add next. I really want to add to this quilt and make it larger. I am thinking more curved piecing…and definitely more applique! After all…my quilt should have a frog and a cute bug on it. Get it? Butterfly for Dory…Frog for me…Doodlebug for Shannon. Then it will be complete.

Thanks ladies…I love my quilt top and can’t wait to get it finished so that I can quilt it and hang it in my studio to remind me how special you both are!

Here are the pictures of Dory’s and Shannon’s quilts.
 
I added the string pieced border to Dory’s (left) and a piano key border to Shannon’s (right).

RRCB Part 5…Done at last…plus, How I did it

I used a paper template method for the hst’s. 

I was able to sew along a grid and after cutting…could get 18 1-1/2” finished hst’s from fabric cut to 6.5” x 8.5”. Not too shabby. 

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The corn fabric is my constant “red” fabric...green is background. Not sure what ever possessed me to buy corn fabric in the first place…so instead of Roll Roll Cotton Boll…this quilt will be named ‘Roll Roll Corn Field’. I made 628 of these hst's.

The pink is the constant and white w/black print is the background. This quilt is named ‘Teacher’s Pet’. I ended up making 648 of these little guys.

Guess all the extras can be made into blocks and put on the back of the quilt!

I am loving this mystery thus far. The fabrics are looking good together...and even though my fabrics have changed for the planned scrappy version...I am happy! Thanks Bonnie. Have I said that lately?

Brrr!

6-8" of snow...and still snowing!

We  are keeping toasty warm though inside!

RRCB Part 3 and 4

I finished Part 3 for the planned quilt (which is turning out to be more scrappy than I originally thought)!

Here is Part 4 for both quilts.

Now onto Part 5…making 2 sets of 600 1-1/2” HST’s. Hope to start making these tomorrow.

High Desert Mystery Pattern...Now for sale

Hi all...I have pulled the pattern from this blog...and am now offering this pattern for sale here on etsy. Thanks to all who participated...I have made some modifications to the pattern and it is able to be sent as a pdf for those who wish to purchase it. 


Happy Quilting, ;0) k

Been Quilting! Three Finishes! Wish they were mine!

This quilt belongs to my friend Carol.


She is such a doll and lets me "play" on her quilts. I decided on an overall, that I have named 'Bubble Gum'. It reminds me of the Dubble Bubble chewing gum. ;0)

And besides, it is easy to get into a rhythm if you are chewing gum at the same time as quilting it! 

The back...who knew solid white could be so much fun!
















This one belongs to Tina. I just did an allover medium stipple meander. She loved it! Thanks Tina for the pleasure of quilting this for you. 












This last one is Cindy's. She made it for one of her girls. The pattern is Between Friends and is in the Happy Hour book by Terry Atkinson. 


I used a variegated white/gray/black thread. Look hard...can YOU see the stitching? Me either. I did a medium stipple meander...in case you were wondering. And that black swirly print is really hard on the eyes. Her teenage girl is going to just love this! 

Roll Roll Cotton Boll Part 3 - Done

Wow. 60 string blocks was a lot to finish in one day...but I did it. Yesterday, everything just fell into place and I was given all the time I needed to just sew...all day long. Many thanks to my family. I love you all. 


I still need to cut the background for the planned quilt...but that will be easy. I decided since I had 5 yards of a gray...that was my background. No reason to string piece those blocks...so I am taking a gamble...and am just going to cut 60 8.5" squares and hope for the best. There are No quilt police...so I am sure this will work out fine! 

Here are the some of the blocks for part 3...they are all done...but I didn't feel like posting each and every block. I used some funky prints. My favorite is a Joe Boxer Toothbrush print. My friend Pat gave me a huge bag of scraps and this was in it. I asked her what on Earth she used it for...and when she said tooth fairy bags for her 3 boys way back when..I thought...how perfect. There is a print from 1984...Looney Tunes characters playing basketball with the Harlem Globe Trotters! That was a fun one too! I also had a book panel called "A Teacher's Pet"...that was printed all wonky, so I never made the book...but I cut it up into strips...and the entire panel is now gone! Thanks Bonnie! 

I should say too, that I started with a box of strips that didn't look like much...then after reaching in and pulling pieces...it began to swell. So much so, that strips were falling out and onto the floor. Then, finally, after 60 blocks were made, I was left with just a very small handful of strips in the box. Whew! These blocks cleared out nearly 5 yards of fabric from my stash alone. Who knew I had so many whites with black prints! 

I couldn't resist throwing in some bold colors into these. God paints the sky and Earth with  color everyday, and I fully intend to use color in my quilting too!