Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2012

I just love this festival!

Amy, from Amy's Creative Side hosts this bi-annual event.

How fun

To visit all the lovely quilts, see some new friends,

visit some old friends . . . yummy!

Today I thought I would show you my courthouse steps quilt.

I started this quilt last August while I was in the middle of 

downsizing and moving.

I loved the planning that had to go into this one,

like a puzzle. 

I had to be able to lay it out to build each block on the last blocks.

You also needed to see color placement as you progressed,

there would be no flipping blocks around to get balance,

you had to find the balance as you sewed.

Kind of like life right?

I used Nice Jane for the backing

and a cute black and white leafy print for the binding.

I called this quilt Moving Day, because I made it through my big transition.

Then I decided that I wanted to donate it to Victoria's

Basic Quilts Charity.

I wanted someone else to find comfort in their transition.

I was so incredibly lucky to help Victoria hand out quilts

last December, so that made my donation even more special.

If you have a quilt that you can part with,

it is an amazing charity to support.

The details are here.

Thank you so much to Amy for hosting this quilt festival!

I so look forward to it each time it rolls around.

Sewing with The Kid

I know I haven't been posting a lot lately,

but I have been sewing a lot!

I have been making great progress on my flying geese quilt.

I have 56 four geese blocks

And I have 30 of these square in square filler blocks.

I love this one with the little sheep in the middle.

I am paper piecing all of these and I love the precision.

The Kid came over today to sew with me.

I LOVE it when this happens.

We have so much fun giggling and figuring out 

what works and what doesn't on our projects.

She finished the top for her log cabin quilt,

and started piecing the back.

I think I convinced her that quilting by check 

 might be the way to go for this quilt.

It's queen size and it would be her first time quilting it herself.

Maybe start with something smaller??? 

I want her to keep sewing!  Haha.

I worked on this Love wall hanging.

The kid helped me with the border selection,

and she was so right.

My first choice was way too busy.

I was inspired by Nichi at Quiltycat

and her love quilt.

I had to re-do a couple of the letters.

You really need to lay them all out to make sure the

colors work next to each other.

So we settled on a Kaffe border . . . 

(What a surprise!)

This little goodie is headed to a good friend for her birthday.

Shhhhh . . . it's a surprise.

Now to quilt it.

All in all a great day of sewing with the best company ever!

Hope you had a fun day too.

Crazy Quilting for Crazy Quilters!

I had the most wonderful day today!

I met a bunch of my quilting buddies for a lecture on crazy quilting.

They were so fabulous to drive up to my neighborhood!

Sue Reich gave a wonderful talk on crazy quilts,

how they were made and what the different embellishments mean.

They were mostly silks and satins with lots of yummy embroidery.

The women that made these quilts would collect scraps from

where ever they could, from old clothes, remnants, you name it.

Like a treasure hunt.

There could be thousands of pieces in each quilt.

Spider webs mean good luck.

These quilts were foundation pieced and usually done in blocks that

were later put together to make the quilt top.

I love the tufted wheat in this block.

And these black eyed Susans

This quilt was made by the grandmother one of the attendees.

The quilter was an opera singer and many of the pieces 

of fabric were from her costumes.

The detail is amazing.

She is pondering what to do with this quilt 

because no one in her family really wants it.

Well, there could have been a rumble!

Jody volunteered to take in on the spot! Hehe.

The flower on this block looks like a fluffy chenille dream!

 My group shot picture is kind of blurry,

but here is the gang!

Victoria, Margaret, me, Chris, Helen and Jody.

 I think Victoria and Helen will have better group shots on their blogs.

We all went out to lunch after and had a giggle fest.

My kind of day!

Thank you ladies for all the fun.

Mocha and a Bassinet

Mocha came to visit on Thursday night 

and I had my scrap bin dumped out and strewn about.

She jumped right in and started digging! 

I think Mocha must have been a quilter in a previous life.

Also arriving Thursday night was my friend's family bassinet.

She is about to become a grand-aunt!

Haha that sounds so old.  Sorry Barbarita!

Anyway she was begging for help to make a liner.

"When is the shower?"

"Sunday."

Oh my!!

Luckily I had the perfect fabric in my stash and enough of it to do the job.

I added the hot pink pom poms for a little flair.

The mattress is about 30 years old,

so I covered it with a cotton blanket I just happened to have.

I must say I am very pleased with the results.  

I believe the new mama has sheets that will go with this scheme.

For those of you worrying that this is a 30 year old bassinet,

and it may not be safe . . . 

I have a feeling this is for photo opt purposes only.

Every baby in the family has slept in it.

Now let's just hope that ultra sound was right

and we are having a girl here.

Just incase, I better start looking at my blues and teals!

Here is a parting shot of Mocha in her new life jacket.

Apparently she is going kayaking soon.

Poor little darling.  Her mother dresses her funny . . . all the time.

Two posts in one week? What is going on here?

Don't get too excited!

I am just finding myself with a little more time to sew these days.

So I am going to try to make the most of it!

First up is a Bee block for Suzanne in our Metro Mod Bee.

She sent us most of the fabric and asked for a star,

I just added the coral. I am smitten with this block.

Next up is the VERY fun color challenge going on at 15 min play.

This week's color is ochre.

I was planning on making all star blocks,

but as you can see, my hands had another idea.

I like this too.  I am going to go with it.  

Each subsequent block will have the same components,

but a different layout.

Brilliant!  The same, but not.

Sometimes, I just surprise myself.

AND then . . . 

When I went to my mailbox today,

what did I find but these little goodies from my friend Helen!

She sent them for my hexie charm quilt. 

With a note that said some of these fabrics were older than me!

Hahaha.  I don't think so, but it made me laugh out loud.

Worth the price of admission! 

Thanks Helen!  For the fabric and the giggle.

Mojo Monday

Well, and Sunday too . . .

Did you have a nice holiday weekend?

I had a nice quiet weekend filled with friends and sewing.

I made another of Victoria's stars . . .

inspired by her Color Challenge at 15 mins play.

Victoria challenged us to use mauve, and while I'm not a total fan of mauve,

I have warmed up to the color.

The block on the right is my challenge block.

Once a week for twelve weeks, Victoria will post another color

for us to play with and explore.

I also did some more of these little filler blocks for my flying geese quilt.

Theses guys are only 4.5" so they use up lots of scraps,

not that you would notice, my scrap bin is overflowing again!

The hexies got a re-load too.

I think as I cut new fabric, I'll just snatch a piece for a hexie.

This is supposed to be a charm quilt, but I may break down 

and repeat of few of these fabrics.

And lastly, my friend Sally is quite the artist!

She is making paper these days and wanted some tiny pieces

to put in her mix.

I scrounged through the waste basket, and I also took some

scraps and chopped them up with my rotary cutter.

That provided some mindless therapy!

Can't wait to see what she makes with all of this.

So my Mojo is coming back slowly.

How's your Mojo these days?? hehehe

Back Again!

I was away from home again last week, so that

meant being away from my sewing machine :(

Luckily I thought to bring along my hexies.

They have grown a lot in a week! 

I actually ran out of hexies patches to sew together,

so now I am back digging through my scraps

to make more.

Can I just say I love my scrap bin?

It gets bigger and bigger,

and it is like a treasure hunt when I dive in there.

Before I left the penthouse last week,

I did try one of Victoria's stars.

I loved making this one.

It does take a little bit of time tracing the pattern onto tracing paper,

but it is totally worth it.  I have already gotten the next ready to go,

now to pick the fabric!

I also got this lovely little package of fabric this week

from a good friend of mine.

She just knew I would be gaga for this lovely set of Kaffe!

I see a blue and white quilt in my future!

Or maybe blue and yellow?

Or maybe blue and magenta?

Or maybe blue and everything!

Can't wait to cut into these babies and see the fabric start flying.

So thoughtful of my friend to inspire me!

It's good to be home and near my sewing machine again,

sleeping in my own bed . . . .

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful spring day!

I think my hexies are calling me . . .