Straighten Up And Fly Right . . . .

This is one of my all time favorite quilts that I have made!

I started this project in January of 2012.

It has been under wraps for a long time,

but I think I can do a reveal now.

It made a mini appearance last week.

I love paper piecing.  And Triangles!  And color!

So what a perfect match.

As usual, I just started making blocks with no real thought

as to the end project.

I felt the geese needed something else, so I made a few of these.

I tried some different layouts.

I'll admit, I was looking for chaos.

Then I realized that if I made some two geese blocks,

I could really mix this up easily.

The four geese blocks equal two, and with a nine patch mix,

I had a 12" block.

Here is the back all put together before the "un-papering."

That's a lot of paper!

Good sit and watch a movie activity.

My friend David suggested a diagonal quilting.

This was the first of many dense channel quiltings I have done.

I  have to say I love the look.

I used the edge of my walking foot for guidance.

Summer 2012 at that beach.

Before piecing the blocks.

Black & White binding.  Always a fave.

Yummy crinkles.

I did fussy cut some of the centers on these little blocks.

A pieced back.  Orange, another fave!

And a label.  I am trying to always label my quilts.

Do you do that?  

Because, I can't believe this quilt is almost two years old.

I would have told you I made it three months ago!

Hehe.

Too Much Fun!

I have been looking forward to today's festivities for weeks . . .

My two buddies came up from "the city" to sew with me!

David brought some fabulous Dresden Plates that he was given.

He proceeded to throw them up on a quilt that hangs in my kitchen.

They just dissolved into my quilt!

How fun is that!!

You haven't seen this quilt before, because it's going to be in a book.

But, I decided what the heck!

It's out there now, I'll give you a peek.

I'll do a full post on it's birth in a week or two . . . . 

These are the fabulous 100% polyester Dresden Plates.

All hand sewn.

David gave us each one to finish off and give back to him.

Are those my colors or what???

My great buddy Earamichia came up Saturday night

for some pre-game shenanigans, and boy did we have fun!

Alas, what happens in the Penthouse, stays in the Penthouse.

Here she is giving my new Juki a few fine tunings.

Nice to have a pro around to show me the ropes on my new darling.

David made him self at home, pondering what he would work on . . .

He also kept us in "stitches," he is a very funny guy!

E. layered two quilts!!!

I worked on my new baby quilt.

The mimosa's were poured.

The patterns came out.

  

E. made great progress on her DWR challenge;

Have you started yours yet?

Deadline is December 1st!

One of E's layered quilts.

Don't  you love it!

 David worked on his DWR challenge too.

He spent alot of time in that chair!

Hehe.  He would never cut it in a real sweat shop!

I finished the top on my baby quilt.

The block is from the Aurifil Block of the Month series.

I couldn't wait to jump on David's Dresden Challenge.

I love it!

So there you have it.

The most fun!

Sewing with buddies.

Laughing all day.

What did you so this weekend?

Futzing Sunday . . .

It was one of those weekends . . . 

I had nothing really planned and so I was scattered.

I did some errands, I went to the movies,

I cleaned, I read, I went for walks . . .

I didn't really focus on all the sewing I wanted to do.

I have just finished two quilts, so where to start?

I gathered up all of the scraps laying around my sewing table,

and started sewing them together

a la 15 mins play.

I also had some plaids to play with

and made a block for a possible challenge.

That one needs to brew.

Then I got the fabulous news that this little darling has finally arrived!

Almost 9lbs!  

Ouch!

I don't start a baby quilt until the baby is here.

It's just . . .  well . . . you know.

This darling little girl has a nursery with a beautiful

tree painted on the wall by her grandmother, my dear friend.

I'm told hot pink and grey are the prominent colors.

Not the tree, but the rest of the room!

I hardly ever cut a whole quilt first,

but this is a block I want to try.

Nine blocks and we'll see what happens.

Glass of wine for inspiration, right Earamichia?

On another note,

I joined a gym today.

Time to get this old bag back in shape!

But I can promise there will be no running!

Yoga yes, weights yes, running NO!

Hehe.  Really, it's not good for your joints.

I'm serious!!

Sweat Shop and other little things . . . .

Yesterday was Veteran's Day.

Thank you to all of our service men and women

here and abroad!

And especially to my brother and sister-in-law who served together 

in Bagdad, met and fell in love!

One good thing came out of all of that!  

And so because we honor all of our service peeps . . . 

I had a day off.  

So did Gidget and the kid.

And a sweat shop commenced.

It was a slow start.  

We needed to shop for fabric for the kid's borders.

Then we had to stop at the Marshall's next door.

You can see where I'm going right?

There needed to be some easier projects to get this party started.

This little beauty I found on Pinterest.

And since I can never part with a scrap,

there were plenty to go around.

Gidget had a bag full of denim.

So she mixed it with my scraps.

Really cute.

We talked about doing one with all different

greens and some reds thrown in.

They go together pretty quickly. Fun and festive!

The kid finished her top on this black and red

scrappy trip around the world.

It came out great!

Now to layer and quilt.

I wasn't so productive.

First, I had a kitchen accident making lunch for everyone.

Scraped my knuckle on the cheese grater.

GROSS!

This is why you order in!

All is fine.  But I was traumatized! Hehe.  Not really.

 I worked on piecing together all the leftovers

from my scrappy trip around the world.

This quilt was finished last week.

A fun colorful  plaids and stripes quilt for a good friend

having a tough time.

She will do great!!

Love the colors.

The binding came out perfectly!

Don't you just love it when that happens??!!!

on another note . . . 

Over the weekend I was in Cape Cod and saw this totally cute mermaid.

I think I might have to try to make some of these.

And this little sign just make me chuckle.

Whatcha working on?

Little Things Everywhere . . .

This week has been spent working on little things.

Very tiny little things.

I took up Victoria's Miniature Challenge.

Create a 12 x 12 quilt using very tiny pieces of fabric.

She was inspired by some little Amish quilts,

but you could make this anyway you wanted.

I had just bought bunch of solids because one of my friends said to me,

"You never work with solids."

You just can't let those kinds of things just sit there!

So off I went,

cutting tiny pieces . . . 

Making little bits of "made" fabric.

They look so cute, like little multicolor crayons.

Each little block is 1.25" square.

I used a very tiny seam allowance.

The nine patches measure 3" square.

I quilted it very simply. And the binding was a snap!

Of course when the binding is only about 48"

it feels like you are doing a corner every five minutes!

I used my new Juki to do the quilting!

I just love it!  I am still getting used to it, 

but boy is it fast!

The other littles I did this week included

these two mug rugs.

I joined an online swap through the Quilting Gallery.

It's the first time I have done one of these online swaps, and it was fun.

The theme was "Fall"

So I had to do flying geese!

They were shipped off today to my swap mate in Texas.

Hope she likes them.

on another note,

I saw these cute little dish towels in the city last weekend.

Don't you just love his mustache?!!

So what little things have you been up to??