Monday Musings (blog anniversary give away tomorrow)

Good Morning!  Another new week, full of possibilities.  The sun is shining here after a miniscule amount of snow last night.  As the title of this post suggests, tomorrow is my one year blog anniversary and I will be doing a give away to celebrate.  But for today, an update on my sewing.

 This is a little sneak peak of my Modern Mini.  If it turns out okay, I may enter it in the challenge.

 Some time ago I won a giveaway of "scraps" from Moda Lissa.  She had made a Log Cabin quilt for the December 2011 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting and had these leftovers.  It was an incredible bounty for me.  You can read about it and see the pictures here.  I decided to make a quilt for my middle daughter.  She needs a new one.  I decided upon seeing the scrap box to only use them for the top and see where it would take me.  This first picture is taken on my queen size bed when I auditioned the red panels for the sides.

 I started with these six log cabin blocks and added strips around to make it larger.  I wanted to include the log cabin, but not make it a total log cabin quilt.  I let the quilt lead me.  It has been a couple of months in the process so far.

 Here is another view showing the bottom section of the quilt top.

 I decided to make another panel with some of the strips that were already cut.  I didn't want to only include horizontal strips so I broke it up with vertical strips with a red square in each one.  The red side panels really make the reds that are scattered throughout pop.  I tried several others, but my husband and I agreed the red was the one.  All that's left to do now is to sew them on and figure out how to quilt this baby.  I am very pleased with how this one is working out.

 Next up is my sister's queen size quilt.  I started cutting this in January and am finally to the point of joining all the blocks together.  The pattern is a variation of an Amanda Murphy quilt from McCall's Quick Quilts April/May 2011 called Box of Chocolates.  My sister picked out the fabrics and then later found the pattern.  I simplified the blocks a bit and it really makes this fabric work well together.

 The horizontal sashing strips are just laid on top to see how it looks.  I had to spread the whole thing out on my bed to get the proper arrangement of colors.  The little white things in the center of the blocks is masking tape with my numbering system on them.  When this quilt top is done, I will have it quilted by a long arm quilter locally.  This is a first for me, but I think it will be the best for this quilt.  I know how it needs to be quilted.  Yesterday it "told" me while I was working on it.

 And lastly, these are some 2 inch squares my oldest daughter cut out when she thought she'd like to make a quilt.  She made 2 when she was in high school, but she really is more of a knitter.  She finally decided to turn them over to me, figuring they had more of a chance to be made into something.  I think I am going to continue with this pattern and see what size I end up with.  I don't really want to add another fabric to it until I get to the border, but we'll see.

I especially love these little cottages.  I don't know what the name of this fabric is, but if you do, leave me a comment.  I'd love to find a bit more if I can.

That's all I have for today.  Don't forget to drop by tomorrow and help me celebrate my blog anniversary.  Have a great day.