Beautiful Fabric

Just bought this beautiful fabric today.  The line is called "French Journal Collection".   Isn't it gorgeous?   I have no idea what I'll do with it cuz I don't want to cut it up!

What would you do with it?

Butterfly Garden block

I finished block 3 (out of 9) of "Butterfly Garden".  A soft and romantic quilt by designer Leanne Beasley of Australia.  It's quilt that includes simple patchwork, applique and embroidery.   Each 18 inch big block is made up of nine 6 inch blocks.  

Here's a couple of close-ups of some of the embroidery.

This one is on one of the 6 inch blocks:

And this one is just in that little square in the upper left hand corner of the four patch....so cute:

I bought this as a block of the month a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately I've been a bit crazy buying appliqued block of the months.....currently have 3 going!   And doing bits and pieces on all 3 means I'm not finishing any one of them.  So I'm putting Butterfly Garden away till I finish a different one that I want to finish first.   

Bottled Rainbows - Block Two

I finished my second Bottled Rainbow block yesterday on my new sewing machine.   Perfect way to try out the  new girl!   I also got the third block all cut out and glued and ready to sew.  Hopefully I'll get it done in the next day or two cuz we are on week three and I don't want to be too far behind.

Here's a picture of a finished Bottled Rainbow quilt:

Crystal made this one.   She is a quick finisher!     You can read more about how she finished it on her blog, Sonnet of the Moon.

Red Bottled Rainbow

I finished my first "Bottled Rainbow" block yesterday.   Once decisions are made on which scraps to use and where to put them and what shape/size they should be.....it sews up really fast.....just a zig zag around each scrap.   :)     Hoping the decision process goes faster with each new block.

Bottled Rainbows

 Isn't that a lovely stack of color?    It's my fabric for a new project I'm doing called "Bottled Rainbows".   I read about it on the blog Stitched in Color.    Rachel is doing it as a sew-along......one block a week....and I thought it'd be fun to participate.   I've gotten a slow start cuz I just got my fabrics from work (we were out of stock of so many due to the new Solids Club).  I washed and ironed it all last night and will try to get my first block done this weekend.

This is an example of the blocks we are making.  Rachel made this one.  It is done in the "Ticker Tape" style of quilt making....which is sewing small scraps down on a background....they are not pieced.  And often it is done with batting so that the sewing down of the scraps is also the quilting.    This is all new to me but apparently very popular in the Modern Quilt movement.

Hopefully I'll have one of my own blocks to show you soon.

Design Wall Monday - Lucky Stars

I can't believe I actually have a new project on my design wall so soon after the last one!

I've had the blocks done for quite some time and the sashing rectangles cut out too.  All I needed was to put them up and try to balance color.   It shouldn't take too long to sew it all together. 

The pattern is called "Lucky Stars", by Atkinsons Designs.   Another super easy quilt.

See other designs walls here.  

Belated Quilt Show

One good thing about procrastinating about showing you some pictures from the Kitsap Quilters show last month is that now I know who won ribbons and I can tell you!   Enjoy the mini show.   :)

"Kaffee's Quilt" made by Carol Olsen.  This won Viewers Choice!

So colorful....and so many blocks.

I took this close-up so you could see the itty-bitty blocks....they are only 1.5 inches....and there are 272 of them in the quilt.

"Hawaiian Honeymoon" by Barbara Thomason.   This took second place in the Viewers Choice.  Plus first for Best Hand Quilting and second in the Large Bed Quilt category.  Over 2000 hours of work to complete this.  Wow.

"Cabbage Patch" by Jetty Morton.   This won second place in the Medium Bed Quilt category.

What I loved about this quilt was the use of Kaffe type fabrics.  I used to have the pattern book for this quilt and it was done in 1930's reproduction fabrics.....this is a wonderful update to that, I think.  I love it and want to make it.  To bad I gave away the book!

"Batik Baby Jane" by Ann Trujillo. 

 Never seen a Dear Jane quilt done in Batiks.  Beautiful.

"Christmas Eye Candy" by Mary Polensky.   This one won Honorable Mention in the Medium Bed Quilt category.  This is a Piece-o-cake pattern and I love anything they design!

"Christmas at Grandmother's House" by Geri Vondersmith.  

I like how Geri used the "Over the River & Through the Woods" pattern by Crab-Apple Hill for the embroidery and lay-out but substituted swapped blocks for the rest.  

"Locally Grown" by Barbara Schultz.   

I collected food fabrics for years and wish this pattern (original pattern by Barbara) was around then.  Its so cute!    I'm glad Barb is selling the pattern now.  Maybe another food quilt is in my future.    :)

 There ya go!   Hope you enjoyed the show.

Design Wall Monday - Sweet Garden

Here it is....my "Sweet Garden" top.   There are just two more seams to join sections, that gray sashing strip all the way around the outside, and I'll be done.   Can't believe I actually got it done this fast.   Totally not my normal speed.   I'm gonna use leftover layer cake squares to piece the back.....should be cute.

See other design walls here.

Mr. Liam turns 6

 

Today is Liam’s 6th birthday.   Hard to believe it was 6 years ago that hubby and I became grandparents…..didn’t we just have our own kids?   LOL!  

We aren’t able to be with him today but did have him over here last weekend for a small “party”.

 

He is loving his new cd player.  It has a cassette player too.  So we gave him our kids old cassettes of radio shows like Gunsmoke (Liam says he loves it) and The Lone Ranger (he says those are too scary).   We even had a tape of Papa telling stories to the kids when they were 4 & 2!   Liam loved asking “is that Mommy talking or Uncle Daniel”?  

Happy birthday, Liam!     Have a super duper fun day.                Nana loves you.

Design Wall Monday - Sweet Garden

I randomly post Design Wall Monday entries.  Mostly because I don’t change what’s up there very often…….you’d think cuz I was so darn slow but really it’s cuz I’m so easily distracted by other projects!  
Anyhoo.  I’m currently working on a quilt pattern called “Sweet Garden” by Carolina Patchworks.  I’m using fabric by Aneela Hoey…its her line called “Sherbet Pips”.  So cute.
This quilt is done in big sections.  I’ve sewn one section together and am working on the second one.  There are nine of them.   

See what others have up on their design walls here.

McKenna Ryan

Last month I got to take a fun trip (as part of my work day, no less!) to McKenna Ryan's new showroom on Bainbridge Island.   Mckenna is a quilt artist/designer who has been in the quilting world for 10 years.  I love her designs.

Here we are at the showroom in front of two of McKenna's Christmas quilts.  

This was how one of the rooms was set up:

This is one of my favorite set of designs...in a fabric color way that I hadn't seen before:

Another view of the showroom:

  If you're ever coming to Bainbridge Island, be sure to give yourself plenty of time and include McKenna's showroom in your visit. 

Knitted Fingerless gloves

I tried knitting some fingerless gloves in the round this fall.  It was slow work…all those double pointed needles were tricky.  I got the hang of it and managed to get one glove done.  But decided I didn’t like the pattern so took it all out    I was determined to have fingerless gloves this year, though!  So I dug out a pattern called “Waffle Stitch Fingerless Gloves” by Jill Toporkiewicz that I got on this site.   They are done flat and seamed up the side.  Wow!  So fast.   This is the way to get it done.  

Here they are:

And here is a close up:

Beach Projects

I just had 3 fabulous days of fun at the beach with my Yaya's.  This was our tenth time to go to the Washington coast for a girls get-away.   We spend our time creating, eating, laughing, walking on the beach (though, this year the weather didn't cooperate much), hot tubbing, dancing,  talking....and talking....and talking.  :)

I was more productive than usual.  Here are pictures of two of my favorite finishes.

LOVE this bag!  This is a pattern by Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk called "Mail Sack".  Isn't that fabric gorgeous?

We all made fabric wrapped clothesline bowls this year.  Mine is the bright long skinny one in the foreground.   I added a fun circular embellishment on the side....and may add some beads, not sure yet.  I made one of these bowls before....super easy.

Every time I finish projects I'm always motivated to finish more.   It's time to start digging in my unfinished project bins.   :)

Machine Lace

I joined the Machine Embroiderers of Oregon and Washington (MEOW for short) group this year.  I have a wonderful Viking sewing machine that can do amazing things besides sew a straight seam.......except I don't know how!   I figured years of ignorance was enough and it was time to learn new skills.   This group is all about machine artistry. The ladies do incredible work and I am excited to see what the year holds.  

The project this month was machine lace.  Cynthia Keim was our teacher.   She is truly an inspiring woman who makes spectacular quilts despite major physical limitations.  

Below are some pictures of Cynthia's lace work in quilts.  Some times she cuts holes (yes, I said holes!) in her quilts and then creates lace work in the opening....and some times the shapes are created separately and tacked on the quilt afterwards.

I only worked on creating shapes in a hoop.....no holes in quilts for me.  :)     The thread work is done on water soluble stabilizer that is put in a embroidery hoop and free motion stitched.  As you can see by the picture below I have a long way to go in learning this technique!   :)     Fun class!

Pillowcase dresses

We had a sew-in day at Pink Chalk to help Emily make her goal of 100 little dresses for Africa.   Emily is a senior at North Kitsap High and chose this as her senior year service project.  I don't remember how we at Pink Chalk became involved but I'm glad we did.  It was such a fun project.

This is Emily and her Mom:

And this is a small sample of the dresses we made:

I had to leave early (had grand kids to go play with) but I guess about 35 dresses were made.   Way to go ladies!  

These dresses are super easy to make and you can find directions for them at the Little Dresses site (link is above).  And they also need Britches for Boys (shorts).   

Stack of Yumminess

I cut this lovely stack of color today at work -- the biggest order I’ve cut so far.   I love cutting solids…reminds me of crayons….and who doesn’t love crayons?   :)

White House Quilting Bee

Who knew?  LOL!

This makes me laugh!

New Block of the Month

Bunny Hill Designs has a new free block of the month program starting called "Henrietta Whiskers".   I love Bunny Hill's appliquéd quilts.  LOVE them.   This will be the third year I've printed off the block of the month patterns.  The first was called "A Tisket, A Tasket".  I decided to wait until the whole years worth of block directions were printed before starting it.   Bad move....cuz then I saw the first block of the next one ("Snowbound") and liked it better....again deciding to wait until I had all of them before starting.   This time I avoided going to Bunny Hill's web site so I wouldn't be tempted.  I had learned.   :)    I bought the background fabric for Snowbound and made other fabric decisions, like wool for the snowmen.

 And then today....blog surfing.....just wanted to take a peek....just a wee one.....big mistake.....Miss Henrietta is so cute.....so cute.   I guess what I really learned is that I have no resistance.   

Winslow Market Tote

I made this bag for my daughter-in-law for Christmas.  The pattern is called "Winslow Market Tote"...also by my boss, Kathy Mack.   :)     This bag went together so fast and is pretty big.   That black and white Paris fabric is a pocket and there is one on the other side too.   I used mostly fabrics from the "Matisse" line by Alexander Henry.....I wanted a french themed bag and those worked well.  

Crochet Hook Holder

Now that Christmas is over I can share some of the things I made.  For my daughter I crocheted a lovely lace scarf....but forgot to take pics!   Oops.   But I did remember to take pics of the crochet hook holder I made her.  I used the Pencil Roll pattern by Kathy Mack and adapted it a teeny bit for the hooks (just made it shorter in height).   Easy and fun.....just like I like.

Here it is all rolled up:

This is the outside of it...such cute fabric:

This is the inside with the flap down....covering the hooks:

This is it all opened up...I left room for her to add more hooks:

I think this pattern works well for any straight items.  And its easy to adjust the height and width if needed.   It sewed up pretty fast so would be a great pattern to have on hand for a quick gift.