Seeing Stars

Here is my Friday finish for this week. I Found this great block, as a quilt in the Modern Bee book by Lindsay of Lindsay Sews and Craft Buds. I though it would make a great single block quilt for over the fireplace. Since it was too small for my needs, and finished at only 16 inches, I added a row and a 3 inch white border. I love the result.

 I chose bright colors, red raspberry and a yellow green, for my star points. This is a great block. The directions are very clear and easy to follow and yes, it would be lovely to have a quilt of this. The one in the book is beautiful.

 I never seem to get a day where the time I have and the light I have match up for great pictures. Sorry about that.

 For the quilting, I found the center point and quilted lines radiating out from there to give the illusion of shining stars. This was my hubby's suggestion and I love how it turned out.

 It is subtle, but it does show up. I think I will be making more of these and perhaps a quilt is in my future with this pattern. There are still more in the book I want to make.

 I used the Pearl Bracelets fabric to bind the edges and create a matching defined frame for the quilt.

I had this yard of fabric which I used for the back. I thought it was cool when I bought it, still do, but could never figure out how to use it in a quilt. I am learning through this using of my stash that my fabric buying habits were really all over the place. I am hoping to cure that and buy things I can really use and blend with what I have.  Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Friday.  Have a great weekend.

Sometimes, There Are No Words...

Cabin Fever?

Well, while I am kind of tired of winter and ready for spring, I can't actually claim to have cabin fever. I leave the house every day and go to work. Some days, it has been quite cold for North Carolina and two weeks ago, we got this:

 This is our front yard...

 And our back yard...

And it was not very sunny or warm...but it only lasted 48 hours before it ALL MELTED!  When it is cold or snowy, this is what we do:

 Omalley sleeps on the tuffet by the fire that hubby keeps going for him and for us.

 I sit and do hand work by the fire where it is toasty warm. I wear my favorite slippers too.

 And this is the hand work I did out of crochet while sitting in front of the fire. But this weekend spring was teasing us. It got up into the 60's and was quite sunny.  Colder weather is on the way again, but hopefully not for long!  So I am linking up with Lily Pad Quilting's Cabin Fever Linky Party.  Join us, won't you?

Sunday Stash #7

It is getting harder to post stash pictures, since I am not buying any new fabric right now. I may come up MIA in the coming weeks, but I will be checking out everybody else's goodies and drooling over them.  Well, here we go:

 This is a collection of Sara Jane prints I have been loving. Her illustrations are beyond cute, and I have used some of her fabrics in projects. These are a bit girly, so for now, they are being saved. These are from Children at Play and Let's Pretend.

These little cuties are a Laurie Wisbrun line called Sitting Pretty. I loved her bird and chair prints, so the cats were an automatic yes for me.  Linking up with Sunday Stash this week at Mila and Cuatro.

Swirly Friday Finish

Well, the winds have been swirling here today and so it is the perfect day to share my swirly quilted finish with you. This is one of the quilts that I pieced maybe 5 or 6 years ago and then never quilted it. So in my goal for this year to finish these poor orphan quilts I am working my way through them, in between other projects.

 When I first started this quilt, I selected these fabrics because I thought they looked like the Mediterranean. The Blues remind me of water and the yellows are the sunshine. The greens are the plants and olives. I. love. this. quilt.

 I quilted little swirls all over the quilt to mimic the swirls in the dark aqua border fabric. This was my husband's suggestion and he was sooooo right! It is perfect for this quilt. The pattern is a Shuffle the Deck pattern by Karla Alexander.

 I decided to not quilt at all over the olive green one inch border.  I wanted that "fence" to corral the blocks on the inside.  And I am happy with the way it turned out.

 I can't tell you what the fabrics are, since I bought them so long ago at my LQS.  But the swirly one that is the outer border is still available in lots of colors.

The back of the quilt is an Amy Butler stripe that I bought 4 yards of on a big sale, just to use as a back for a quilt and the colors are similar, so I think it is perfect.

 The binding is a stripe from Connecting Threads Quilter's Candy line. I bought about 4 or 5  different stripes to keep to use as binding.  Again, the colors are very similar.

 The sun was out briefly, so I hurried to take these photos. Now it is in the wash for its first bath and then the dryer to get all crinkly.

I am so happy to have this one done so I can enjoy it. The colors really make my heart sing.  Have a great weekend. Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Seeing Stars...WIP Wednesday

So I have all of a sudden decided that I really like stars in quilt blocks. I mean, I always did like them, just never wanted to make them. But then, I saw a quilt in the Modern Bee book by Lindsay Conner. I wanted to do a small quilt, about 38-40 inches square, for above my fireplace. The December quilt, Triple Star was perfect for this. Except it wasn't quite large enough. So I added another row.

 Three stars finishes at about 16 inches, so I did a whole bunch of measuring and math and finally figured out how to make one more round. And this is the result.

 I love these colors and they are ALL from my stash. I used Pearl Bracelets, Confetti Dots, Squared Elements and Metro Circles. I did run out of Kona White and had to go buy a couple of yards. I use it in so many things.

 Once I chose my colors, I poked through all my scraps until I found this sweet chair from Laurie Wisbrun's line. Perfect. I have consulted with my hubby, who has been very adept at helping me to figure out quilting pattern ideas lately and have a plan in mind. Hopefully I will have something finished to show you soon.

My next star project started out by making some Ohio Stars for a couple of baby quilts. I had these large-ish scraps in my stash from a baby quilt about 8 or maybe more, years ago. I love bright fabrics for baby quilts. So I am going to see how many of these stars I can make before I run out of fabric. Then I will figure out a design layout. Hope you are having a great week. Talk to you soon. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Sunday Stash #6

Hi Sunday Stashers! Still posting pics from my stash on hand, as I am not buying any new fabric. Let me tell you, It can be tough to decide what to photograph. I find myself trying to make little groupings of fabrics. Oh, well. After this week's snow event (which included a 4 hour journey home 6 miles from work) I was in the mood for some springtime flowers.

 Sew I went digging and found some lovely Amy Butler fabrics. These are from the Belle and Gypsy Caravan lines.

And in this group we have some Jennifer Pagnelli, Denyse Schmidt and Joel Dewberry. Now, not that I need any more WIPs, but I have an urge to sew up some flowery goodness.

And this little group is going to become a tote bag for my Color Intensives Class that I am taking from the lovely Rachel at Stitched In Color. Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket, Gypsy Caravan by Amy Butler and some lovely yellow Kona which I believe is Banana. Sew happy Sunday to you!
Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash.

My Friday Finish is...Crochet!

I have been secretly crocheting this fun project since just after Christmas. My Sweet oldest grandson, V, loves Calvin and Hobbes. He has two of the books and reads them incessantly. I found this pattern on line just before Christmas, but there was not time to make it for Christmas. Sew, without further ado, I present...Hobbes, for my little Calvin:

      Here he is on the couch.  He is so cute, it makes me smile every time I see him.

           Doesn't he look smart, wearing Grammie's glasses? I think he does.

 Here he is, helping me at the computer while I was reading some of my favorite blogs.

 And you have to love his little green scarf.  It did just snow here in NC, so he needs it to keep warm.

Sweet Hobbes

And that is the end.  Hope you have a lovely day and I will see you soon. Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts finish it Friday.