A baby finish

Three things to be happy about:
(1) the click of poker chips (if poker is your thing!)
(2) crocuses
(3) rereading Peanuts  comic strips (Linus rocks!)

Have you done a Linus  quilt (or quilts) yet?  That's on my "to-start-doing" list!

I finished up the little cobblestone quilt I was making for my neighbor's new baby, I wanted to take it to guild meeting for show n tell before giving it to them.

This pattern and layout is from the workshop I taught at last month's meeting, it will be interesting to see how many finishes there are!  You can see some of the blocks they made here 

There were some very pretty fabric combinations being used.

I used the fleece I got from Hancock's on the back, it was a joy to work with!  To quilt it I just made a wavy horizontal line, every so often doing a sort of innie-outie circular twirl.  I echoe'd that line from side to side, making more random twirls (does that make sense?). 

Anyway, here's a closeup!  Good enuf for a 3- month-old baby who won't critique it - by the time he's old enough it'll be pretty worn anyway!

Well that's it for now, guild meeting today.   The center where we meet bumped us up an hour earlier today, they rented the room out from under us for a party later on.  Let's see... quilt guild meeting vs wedding reception... hmmmm...

Sew forth and sew on!

Getting there

Three things to be happy about:
(1) baseball trivia
(2) continuous learning
(3) a gift that is truly a surprise

Do you like my new calendar over on the right?  Does it cause the page to load too sloooooow?  If so, I can easily remove it, just let me know.  It's a cute little add-on but I don't really need it - give me feedback!

Yesterday was the first day of the Die Cut Scrap (Make Later) Along over on the Love Bug site.  She's giving a very good overview of what we'll be doing, along with the schedule - check it out! 

Also yesterday I got all of the bug jars pieced, they'll make a cute quilt!

The original pattern called for a 1-1/4" bottom strip, but when I did the test block I used a 2-1/2" strip by mistake.  I realized it didn't make a whit of difference, the bigger size will help make the overall size of the quilt longer (which is what I need), so its a win-win situation.

I just have to decide on the layout, make the bottom border, then piece them together and I'm all set.  This really is an easy block to make - you gotta love easy blocks!

And as if I don't have enough to do...
I'm joining in on the Hello Moon quilt along, it looks like fun!  

This calls for a strata of 9 different greys for the moons, so while I was out yesterday I picked up some 1/8 yards  pieces to add with what I already have.  Also, I found this nice piece of Kaufman fabric in my stash that will do nicely for the background.

 

 

They look nice together!  I'm already behind by four months, so I'll play catch up soon.

That's what I'm up to, have a great Tuesday... sew forth and sew on til later!

A finish and a start

I should say an "almost" finish!  I got the Cobblestone baby quilt pieced and quilted, but I haven't attached the binding yet although it's sewn together.  Because I used fleece on the back without a batting, it's a bit thinner than a normal quilt, so I chose to use a 2" wide binding, which I cut with my GO cutter.  Always glad to have a reason to use that cutter!  I'll have a picture to show you tomorrow.

Little Isaiah across the street will be two years old this week so I thought I'd better finish the quilt I thought about doing a year ago, lest he's packing his bags for college before I get it done!  I've never done a bug jar pattern but I think they're so cute and I wanted to give it a try.  I found a really easy bug jar pattern on About.com that goes together quickly - Janet Wickell does a really great job as the quilting site guide. 

So I shopped my stash and pulled some kiddy-like prints - fishies, frogs, kitty-cats (they have a dog), birds for the kitties to chase, flies for the birds to eat ...

Some of these fabrics were used in the 3-month old's quilt that I just finished piecing, may as well get rid of it.  Isn't it interesting... at one time I would have said "oh no, I can't use all this  particular fabric, I might need it again!"  ???  Can't use it because I "might need it"?  Then, if or when I do  need it, does that mean I won't use it because I might need it some time in the future??  Mind boggling stuff that only a stashologist would understand, I tell ya!  (stashologist: one with a degree in stashology)

I found this piece of bug-jar fabric that I'll use on the back...

I don't remember where or when I bought it, but it's perfect for this little quilt!  And I have a cute idea for the bottom edge that I'll fussy-cut pieces from this fabric for...

The bug jar blocks will be 12", set 3 x 3 without a sashing.  I want the quilt to be 40x50, so side borders will widen it enough and the bottom edge will make it long enough.

After choosing 9 fabrics I did a test block to see if I really like it and guess what - I do!! 

After just a few minutes cutting and sewing, I have a great start on the quilt with a nice jar-o-frogs!

I want to thank everybody for checking in and giving a shout-out for your location.  I've visited some of your blogs before without realizing where you were, and your shout-out gives me a chance to visit blogs I never saw before.  And guess what - I totally forgot I had joined UnRuly Quilters until I saw that Lynn at Alamosa Quilter is a member too!  Oh man! 

Such is life when you're either absent-minded or uber-multi-tasking - sew forth and sew on...

A little side trip

Is this Thursday already?  Where did the week go!? 

Sometimes when I look at my log I'm intrigued to see where my visitors are coming from - places like Colombes, Opelousas, Madrid, Oswego, Sheffield, Kaposvar... if you have a minute leave me a "location" comment!  Just say "Hi, I'm from _____"  I think it'd be fun to see how many different places check in!

I wanted to stop playing with triangles for a little bit to make a baby quilt, and I thought I'd back it with fleece without a batting.  My friend Renea mentioned that the soon-to-be-closed Hancock Fabrics had a lot left, so Monday Felicia (The Slow Quilter) and I went to check it out.  I'm glad we did!  They had a whole section of fleece, and I got a nice 2-yard piece at $1.10 a yard.

I wanted a pattern that was quick and easy and fuss-free, so I went to the cobblestone pattern that I've used before.  I highly recommend this pattern if you want to make an attractive quilt on short order, the blocks work up very quickly.  The most "difficult" part is deciding which fabrics to pair together - piece o cake!

The blocks for this one are sewn at 6x6 and 6x12 (finished); my goal was to get a 36 inch center.  As I sewed each block I just put it on my design wall in no particular order, I'll rearrange them and start sewing the quilt together today. 

There were some cute fabrics in this quilt...  I like these little animals:

is that Curious George on the green?  I've seen a lot of sock monkey fabric lately!

I didn't just buy fleece at Hancock's, I also bought three pieces of red fabric that I couldn't resist.  They had some very pretty Christmas fabric that I got at 90 cents a yard, what a deal!  At that price I didn't mind buying two yards; I understand they'll be closing Wednesday or Thursday of next week (April 10 or 11).  At this point the discounts were 70, 80 and 90 percent off.

Of course we had to eat after shopping!  We dropped into a Japanese restaurant next door to the Hancock's but we only stayed a hot minute - it was dark in there, but not too dark to notice how grungy the menus were, yuck.  I was forward enough to ask the waiter why they were so dirty, "Uh, well, we're about to order some new ones soon, I don't know when but they're coming."  Pu-lese!  There was hardly anything on the menu that didn't include beef, which I don't do very well, so Felicia was nice enough to agree on someplace else.  So, we had a nice lunch at Appleby's - I had the shrimp alfredo with side salad.  It was pretty good!

That's it for now, enjoy your Thursday.  The cherry blossoms haven't peaked yet, I think the official date now is in one or two weeks.  Sew forth and sew on til later!

Making it GO!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!  I hope you get lots of hearts and flowers on this special day - it must be nice (I wouldn't know).  Today is also a special GO day for the cruisers on the Carnival ghost ship, I understand they'll be getting home today, yaaaay!

I've been wrasslin' just a wee bit too much on this little baby quilt, but now I can say the flimsy is done!  In an attempt to just get on with it, I put this black and white alpha border on...

yuck!

I got some great advice from Sharon at Vroomans Quilts about dividing the center (thanks Sharon!), so I took the borders off, made off-center slashes, and added a dark blue sash. 

After I bordered the whole piece I was thinking I should have bordered the center block, but too late - I was on my way outta there!

I added a green outer border...

this looks like a done deal to me!  I didn't want to make a meal out of this little quilt, lest the recipient have to pack it into his college gear.  Although the center would  have looked better slashed in regular slices.  I must have been in one of my creative moods... whatever.

The family has a dog but I think Nicholas will have fun looking at the playful monkeys, whilygigs,

apple pies, stars, puppy prints, chickens, dots... sew forth and sew on.

I'll be participating in a fun die cut scrap-along sponsored by Ebony at Love Bug Studios.  This is just the thing to use my new GO cutter and it starts April 1, check it out!

Have a great Thursday, be careful on the ice if you have any.  Sew forth and sew on til later!