My Travels and a Giveaway

Had a great trip with my sister and brother.  We drove over 1300 miles and took two legs of the trip by plane.  That's a lot of distance covered.  As always, looking for inspiration for quilts wherever I go.  I found some:

 This was the runner on the bed in our first hotel room.  Loved it.

                                                                Vermont

                             Wood crafted bowls by my brother.

Philly

In Reading PA

Boston

Fanieul Hall

Stairs at Fanieul Hall

Pretty ceiling...

Now after all that inspiration, info about the giveaway...I have been saving selvedges forever.  I thought I would make something when I had enough, but I have limited time so I thought I would give them away to a good home.  If you are interested, check back Sunday.  I will be posting pictures of what I have and the rules for the giveaway.  I know it's a tease, but I've gotta go to work now.  See you Sunday...

I'm Back!

I feel like I've been gone forever.  It has only been 9 days, but a whirlwind of things has gone on in my absence.  I have driven over 1300 miles by car, and flown...I don't know how many miles by plane.  How far is it from North Carolina to Boston and back?  My head is still reeling and trying to find "normal".  I thought I'd give you a rundown of what has been going on here.

I took a couple of hand projects with me for the car part of the trip.  I worked on some crochet...

 These are the parts I got done on the drive.  It still needs a bit of work before it's done.

 I fell in love with this guy and my daughter had lots of cotton yarn to be used up  so...

 This is the book I am using.  It has lots of very cute softies to crochet for your favorite kid or kids.

 I also took along my daisy chain sampler to see if I could make some progress.  As we sat and chatted at my brother's house in Vermont I got quite a bit done.

 I wanted to make it all the way up to V for my grandson.  He has been patiently waiting for me to make it that far.

In addition to V, I was able to complete all these letters as well.  Not bad, huh?

We traveled from Chapel Hill to Boston, to Vermont, to Philadelphia, to Wyomissing PA, back to Philly, Boston and then home to Chapel Hill.  The icing on the cake was this:

                    Baby B was born this weekend after I got home.  So all is right with my world.

I will post again soon with some pictures of my travels.  Have a great day everyone.

Memories...

I have been thinking about the many quilts I have made lately.  I decided to revisit a few of them in pictures.  So here, today, are just a few of the many quilts I have made.

on the couch and the tuffet

I love how clear the colors are

Just a jumble

Sew pretty colors

Some older faves

I hope you enjoyed seeing my history of quilting.  Maybe I'll feature some of these in more detail soon.  Have any particular one you'd like a closer look at?  Let me know.  Have a great Sunday.

Joining Bloggers Quilt Festival

I love participating in this.  This is only my second time to participate, but I have seen so many cool quilts and found so many great blogs through this.  I am so happy Amy began doing this for those of us who can't/don't go to market.  So without further ado...my entry.

I pieced this top a few years ago when I was trying to decide if I wanted to make a business out of quilting.  I had planned to make baby quilts and sell them.  I pieced 4-5 tops, trying out designs for boys, girls and gender neutral designs.  This was my girl quilt.  I fell in love with it.  I had been hoarding  saving the fabric for years.  I don't even know what it is, but I had a fat quarter only. (If you know what it is, please mention it in the comments)

 Half way through quilting it this last week, I stopped and draped it over my machine for the night.  The next morning, the sun was shining in on it.

 I took it to the quilt shop and this was the fabric the shop owner suggested.  It's way orange here in the picture, but not in real life.  It's more of a rose color.

 Sew anyway, I decided that if I made a business out of quilting, the joy might go away and I couldn't let that happen.  I love it too much.  So I decided to just put the quilts away for another use.  And they sat for a couple of years.

 I kept thinking of this one and hoping for a granddaughter some day.  Well, I don't think that's gonna happen.  There are 2 grandsons and one more on the way soon.

 So I decided to just quilt it for myself.  I meandered on the stripes, outlined the flowers and did loop de loops on the border.  The backing was a couple of yards I picked up at the LQS on sale awhile ago.

 It's perfect.  The whole thing.  I love it.  And I don't think I could part with it now.

a better look at the binding color

close up of the flower print

the backing looks grey, but is really light green

Please Visit Amy's Creative side to see more great quilts and meet more great bloggers.

I Did It! (a finish)

I've wanted to link up with Amy's Creative Side for the One Week, One Challenge for awhile, but the timing never was right...until now.  Last week I decided to make it happen.  I had a quilt top I have been wanting to quilt for quite some time.  I finally took this as the push I needed to get it done.

And here it is in all it's glory.  I am more than pleased with how it turned out.  Sew pretty!

And this actually spurred me on to get another Swoon block done...

And now there is only one more Swoon block to be made.  I think I am past the...whatever it was that kept me from finishing these Swoon blocks.  I am starting to get excited about it again.  Thanks Amy, for the push.

An Inspired Bee...Wanna Join Me?

I recently bought a copy of this book:

I know you all have seen it.  If you haven't gotten a copy yet, you're going to want to.  I have been reading, re-reading and getting inspired on every page.  I couldn't decide where to start.  I have made a couple of small ticker tape quilts and am loving playing with my scraps.

Now here's where the Bee inspiration comes in.  I started making a couple of slabs, which for those of you who haven't seen the book yet, is a chunk of fabric made up of lots of little scraps.  This. is. so. cool!!  Then I got to thinking "I wonder what kinds of scraps other quilter have and what their slabs would look like?"

I want to organize a Bee to make 10 1/2 inch square slabs that can then be made into a quilt.  The slabs are usually all one colorway of scraps.  I am thinking we make a color of the month, two blocks each and then we swap with each other.  I am still trying to work out the details, but I need at least 7 other people besides myself to play along.  We can go as high as 16 people.  If you are interested, leave me a comment saying so.

This is a picture of 2 slabs I made in less than 30 minutes out of blues in my scrap bin.  Doesn't that inspire you?

I have emailed Amanda Jean and Cheryl to get permission to use the technique in their book.  I have heard back from Amanda Jean so I am going forward with the planning.  I hope you all want to play with me.  This could be the beginning of something really fun.  C'mon, let's go!!

Doll Quilts

My brother is a cancer patient and I have done some sewing for him along the way.  I have made hats to keep his hairless head warm in the Vermont winter.  I have made quilts to warm him and some to raffle off for the cancer cause that he supports.  I have made pot holders for him to raffle off or sell for the same cancer fundraiser.  Now, I was asked to send something for a silent auction that some family members are doing to raise money to help him out personally.

I didn't have much time, and I struggled to think of something that would be quick, easy and yet good enough.  Then it hit me...doll quilts.  They are small and you can get a bit intricate with them and still finish quickly.  So here we go...I had a jelly roll of Always and Forever by Deb Strain that I had been wanting bust out.  And I have been wanting to make some flying geese blocks forever.

This is how I cut it: one strip I cut into 4 1/2 inch strips  and another into 2 1/2 inch squares.  This will yield 8 flying geese blocks.

 I sewed the first square onto one corner and then trimmed 1/4 inch from the stitching line.

 Press them all open, toward the red corner piece like this.

 Then stitch the other square onto the opposite side of the rectangle. Again, trim 1/4 inch from the stitching line.

 When you press them open, you have the block like this.

 You can take the trimmed triangles and stitch them together to make tiny HSTs like this.

                                            Play with them a bit, like this....

                                                      ...or this

 This is how I chain pieced all the blocks together.  It goes really quickly too and you save tons of thread over the course of a project.  Need to take these to the iron? Don't clip the thread until you push one of those little HSTs under the needle to keep the chain going.

                                                   I played with the arrangement a bit.

 Then I made some more with a charm pack of Fairy Tale Friends by American Jane so I could make a second doll quilt.

 This was so fun and so easy folks.  I made these in just a few hours between laundry, helping my daughter paint furniture and dinner last night.  I finished them up this morning in about 20 minutes.  And I made little pillows to go with them.

So cute with the pillow.

The back, although the yellow is very washed out in this shot.

 I had my model, my youngest daughter's American Girl doll who lives with me in the sewing room, show off the quilts for you.  She seems rather bored to me, don't you think?

I think she really likes them though.  I hope the future owners like them too.  They were fun to make.  Now to get them in the mail. 
Have a great day.