Another one bites the dust

I finished another quilt of mine today. the pattern name is Limerick and it was designed by my friend, Marilea. it is super easy to construct and loads of fun. i have made several of them now. great stash buster.

Here you can see the true colors of the fabrics. i really like this.

I chose colors that were in the batik border...green, purple, gold, brown....it all seemed to go together well even though the fabrics themselves were not something that you would normally put together. isn't it strange how that happens?

The back is a partial FatBack from Wilma....naturally. i love her stuff.  these dots are so much fun.

Here's a clearer, closer pic.

I used my Quiltazoid Baptist Fans and .... zip.... it was done in no time. 

Great quilt....great fun

What is this???

I was getting ready to close the blinds in my studio for the day and saw this stuck on my screen...outside.

It is the hugest butterfly or moth or whatever that i have ever seen. it's at least 4 inches from head to tail

It's shades of browns and tans with a fat belly. it has 6 legs and has itself plastered against the screen. where feelers would be are clear, see through things that are shaped like leaves...about 1/4" long with tiny tan lines going all through them....like veins on leaves. it's belly is about 1/2 inch wide and a bit over 1 inch long. i can see that he is just pressed up against the screen....it seems the screen is making little square marks on his belly.

It is raining out there and the wind is blowing and this guy is blowing in the breeze but hanging on. and doesn't seem concerned that i am on the other side of the glass and taking photos of him. i wish i weren't leaving town tomorrow...i would love to see if he was still there tomorrow.

Whatever it is....it is fascinating. i keep going back to look at it again. LOL

Wash That Gray Right Out of Your Hair...LOL

Tomorrow morning i leave for my vacation....Texas bound. 

Yesterday i shopped and got some new shorts and tshirts.

And decided to get rid of that gray hair once again....become a new woman in Texas. LOL

It's been quite some time since i've had red hair....maybe i'm too old for red hair.....can you be too old??

But i still like it. it's originally blonde....but i've dyed it red for ages and ages. now it is several shades of gray. Siggghh!!

Just ignore that growing bald spot in front. my hair is soooo thin. i think i'll start doing the 'old man comb-over'. hahahahahaha

Wild Batik Baby Quilt

I was digging around today in the studio....looking for a project. and came across some fat quarters of bright batik colors and 2 half yard pieces.....all folded nicely together. i guess i meant to do something with them....but who knows what. i don't even know where they came from or how long i've had them.

So today seemed as good a day as any to cut them up and make something. i went into EQ and quickly designed a little quilt with simple blocks, a sashing and 1 border. i pieced all 24 blocks today. chain piecing helps it all go quickly.

And a rant....why can't machines all have a way to tell you when the bobbin is low. the only machine i have that does that is my embroidery machine. it stops, beeps, and gives me a message that the bobbin is almost out of thread. i want to trade all my machines in for ones that tell me i am almost out of bobbin thread. i was chain piecing away....getting all the final parts of the blocks together....i sew the last one and think....good, those are done. i go to pick them up and .... WHAT??....about the last 12 have no seams stitched...the bobbin ran out. i was really in the zone to not notice that. i need the bobbin police.

I had enough to cut 24 blocks from each FQ, so the quilt will have 24 blocks. i used each FQ color in the blocks.  in real life they are not so dark....and brighter.

This will be the sashing..i like lime green and pink together, don't you?

And this will be the border.

I have some bits and pieces left from cutting the blocks so there might be a scrappy border, too. or i might just put them all together and use them on the back.

I have to find a funky back. my baby quilts lately are getting all wild and bright looking.

Perhaps tomorrow i will tell you of my water drama. rain is not my favorite thing right now.

#4 UFO finished .... Our Town

Just this morning i got the binding on my #4 UFO Challenge quilt from Judy LaQuidara's 2011 Challenge. i wasn't sure i would get it done before leaving town on thursday but i persevered and TA - DA!!

This was designed by our quilt teacher, Marilea Boushie. she gives us some great quilts to work on. i believe this one was from last year. It is 90x100". i used a light green striped background...mainly because i had a lot of it. LOL

The first row is applique flowers....Marilea does like her applique. i made my quilt a big larger than her pattern....so i made 2 applique swags.

Row 2 has stars and 16 patch blocks. we are always making blocks with itsy bitsy parts. ... not my favorite.

Row 3 has the church and some trees.....   i embroidered the word 'Believe' on the church and an angel. the top of the chimney is 3D. the trees were actually supposed to be little 4 patches but i didn't want to do tiny pieces so i just did the squares.

Row 3 also has connected stars blocks...2 of them.

Row 4 might have been my favorite.  There is a school and another tree. the top of the bell tower and top of the dorrway are 3D. i added an embroidered school bus and a couple birds.

Row 4 also has a farmhouse....complete with mailbox and rooster.... and a barn filled with hay bales...along with a cow. those do look like hay bales...right?   they are the middle of sunflowers

And row 4 has a couple of applique wreaths with 3D buds.

Row 5 is full of 3D flying geese....going in opposite directions and meeting in the middle.

Row 6 has cathedral window blocks....i had never done those before....they are kind of cool because you fold the fabric over and stitch down the edge....so it is 3D, too. plus some 4 patch blocks.

Row 7 is double wedding rings. some people made 2 rows and made their quilt longer. but i had enough of those and just made my sashings wider to gain some length. LOL   they are pretty quilted up but the construction of them gives me fits. you can tell that they are not straight.

The borders got quilted with lines.....kinda, sorta straight....but with no regard to width....just willy-nilly. i like them that way.  no measuring, no marking, no mess, no fuss.  just kind of quirky

And, finally, the back. i used a dark green thread so absolutely nothing shows on the back. it is a bright floral flannel. again....the best thing i had that i had enough of...9 yards to be exact. but i think it works just fine. this quilt does have a bit of weight to it.

And in order to get it quilted and done before i leave town in a few days i did some quick quilting on it....rather funky and folksy looking. not too concerned about technicalities or correctness. a case of 'done is better than pretty'.

So, challenge #4 got done in time for the month. now i can go on vacation and have fun and not fret about it.

I bought 104

104 of what......shoes?......cans of soup?........ bars of soap?........bottles of juice?....... hats?........ NOPE.....



104 Fat Quarters


There goes my stashbusting efforts. i have been so good for so long and then...boom....someone on MQR mentioned Marmalade Fabrics.   i went there....  www.marmaladefabrics.com     oh...yummy

Did you know Moda has 221 different colors of plain colored fabrics?    Tammy at MF has 104 of them. and her price was awesome....and they were so delicious looking.  i caved and got them all....don't laugh....you would have done the same thing.

LOOK!!!!...

A large flat rate box was STUFFED.   and each and every one has a little label on it with the name of the color. there are so many food colors.....avacado; celery; mango; tangerine; orange; lime; tomato; tarragon; mustard; berry......makes you hungry just looking. when they got here i spent an hour just folding and petting and drooling. and rearranging colors. LOL 

Tammy's customer service is top rate.....shipping is fast.....i got free shipping. plus you get 10% back for every $100 you spend....so i already have a $10 coupon for my next visit. she says she gets 5 or 6 new colors every couple weeks. so i am keeping an eye on her site so i can snatch up the other 100 colors. woopee!!    i am so baaad!!......it feels soooo good!....hahahahahahahaha

I think i am going to use them for a couple BOMs that i am doing this year. they will look great in the My Tweets BOM

Cabin Cats #6.....Boxed Squares

Another Cabin Cats top is pieced...#6. this pattern is called Boxed Squares and you can find the instructions on www.maryquilts.com    she has lots of easy patterns.

This turned out to be 64 x 76 inches. it is a bit dark and could have used more contrast....but i worked with what i had.

The pattern was quick and easy and went together in no time. I like the stripe for the final border. puts the whole thing in a log cabin....where cabin cats should be.

I pieced a binding with scraps from all the fabrics just to use more of it up. i swear these bolts of fabric will never end. although i have less than a yard of 4 of the fabrics....i still have 2 fabrics wrapped on bolts. there will probably be 3 more quilts made from these fabrics. who knew you could get so many.

But it is fun trying to come up with different patterns to use it all up. let's see what i figure out next.

Maybe you have some bolts of fabric of your own.....see how many quilts you can get out of them. it might surprise you.

Sweet Dreams

My embroidery machine has been busy. while i was quilting the O63 quilt....the embroidery machine was humming away with Sweet Dream blocks.

The background fabric is a pale yellow....although my sad picture taking abilities don't show that. the pattern had it stitched in all pastel colors of yellow, blue, pink and green. but i decided to do it all one color....a sort of salmon.

I think the first cousin to have a baby girl is gonna get this quilt. 3 young couples have been married now in the last year....so any time this should be needed. i love the horse and the crib. the booties and the stork are so cute. hard to decide. i guess i like them all.

The embroidery machine gave me a message while we were stitching these out. "preventive maintenance is recommended"....when i looked that up in the book...hoping i just had to oil....but, no, it is due for a trip to the dealer for a spa treatment. so, while i am in Texas....it will be all prettied up and ready to go again.

Sweet Dreams

O63.....Bingo!

Usually i don't name my quilts but i think this one needs a name. it's name is O63.  O is for orange...the color of the month for Judy's Monochromatic Challenge. and 63 for my age. and O63 is a valid Bingo number...i used Judy LaQuidara's pattern titled Bingo Whirl from her book titled Weekend Quilts. This pattern is quick and fun....i recommend it. here is Judy's quilt

Here is the front of mine. i took a couple of liberties from the actual pattern because of the amount of fabrics i had. mine is much more scrappy that Judy's is.

The blocks are so easy to piece...just rectangles. i would use this pattern again.

And i think making it scrappy worked, too. as long as there are only 2 colors in a block it gives the look of Judy's.

Love the pieced border. that, too, was quick and easy.

There were 6 borders on this quilt....but each added to the overall look and were necessary. i love how the striped border cuts off at the corners and seems to curve around.

The backing was a piece that i got from Wilma at her end of bolt sale. go check her out at www.christianlanequilters.com    fabulous fabrics. and wonderful customer service. the piece i got wasn't quite large enough for this quilt so i pieced another piece of orange in the middle.

I loved this orange backing....it is so happy looking and i like the dots on it.

I quilted it with a pantograph called Blooming Feathers by Anne Bright. i use that one a lot.

All in all, i like my orange challenge quilt and love the pattern i used.

Now i have 10 days before i leave town to get the other challenge quilted up....#4. it's going on the frame today.

I think i want to go to the VFW.....O63...Bingo!!

Dog Accessories

I am heading to Texas to visit with my son and dear daughter-in-law in a couple weeks. DIL, Andi, was recently gifted with a sewing machine....which she hardly knows how to turn on...much less use. so i am on a mission to impart some sewing knowledge to her. they raise little dachshunds so she thought she could make them some accessories to sell .... along with the puppies.

So yesterday i played and made a dog leash. really, really, simple...took about 15 minutes. the little clip on the end is actually a key chain clip that i found at JoAnn's. i probably need to get a better clip that is a bit sturdier and not plastic....but little hotdogs are pretty small so i think it would work, too.

And i tried a little bandana. just a simple triangle of fabric that is hemmed on the edges. i think it needs Velcro as a closure instead of tying a knot. that way, it the dog gets caught on something...he can pull himself free.

I also got a pattern at JoAnn's and tried a simple little coat. these could be embellished with laces and trims. this one is quilted...with a batting inside. it has a binding around it...which is a pain on the curves. i am going to try another and just stitch it right sides together and turn it....no binding. i just have to add the velcro to this one.

The inside fabric and binding is the same as the leash. and there is a little D-ring on the top to hook the leash on. now we are ready for a walk.

And for something quilty......last week at quilt class we had a project that cut off little triangles. these triangles were made of 4 different fabrics....and were about 1.5" wide. they were so cute....too cute to throw away. although no one had a problem with tossing them but me. LOL  so i brought them all home and made some crumb blocks with the little triangles in the middles.

You have to look close to see the little triangles....here's a closer shot of this one

I even put 2 of them together and made a little square of them. 

I decided not to make the pattern that we learned...it was a fan shape...sort of like a dresden plate when you put 4 of them together. so i used my practice pieces for crumb blocks, too. look back at the first picture....the block on the top left...with the red, white and blue fan shape is part of what i did. there's another in the second picture...the bottom right block. i like them as crumb blocks better.

Now...duty calls....back to the quilt on the frame.