Happy New Year Eve's!

I hope you are all doing well. I have been working on my Christmas swap blocks. I will talk to you all next year! This has been a wonderful year for me and I have made many incredible friends. I look forward to a great 2010!

Catching Up

Right than writing a whole bunch of posts, I decided to write one to catch up on everything that is been going on. I had a wonderful Christmas. If I ever had doubts that I was a quilter I don't anymore.  It was all I want for Christmas is quilting stuff, and quilting stuff I got. Fabric, scissors, needles, thread, books, pins, glove, new iron, quilt calendar, quilt cards, patterns and chocolate. I can't quilt without chocolate!

I finished my son's Kitty Cat a couple of nights ago at 4:00 am in the morning. It was fun to put it on his bed while he was sleeping. Today he told his sister that she could not be under it because it was his quilt. They always know how to warm my heart.

I did not finish my in-laws table runner. I decided to use some of my sewing machine's decorative stitches on it and one of them went a bit haywire. I ended up taking some of the machine quilting out. However, through the magic of blogging I was able to show them the table runner.It has been fixed, so now I need to put on the binding.

I also started working on this snowman table topper. I had the idea of making it look like a window. I have a stitch that looks somewhat like snowflakes so that is what I used.

Here are the  blocks for 1 of my groups for the Holly Jolly Christmas Block Swap. I am in 2 groups. I like how the present turned out. It just needs to have a border on it and  I have a couple of ideas of what I want to do.

I hope you are all doing well.

Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future

Christmas Past

Here is a Christmas Table Runner I made last year for my mother.

Christmas Present

Here is the quilt finished for my dad and on his couch. I decided to keep it simple, and named it Dad's Quilt. He loved it and had us take lots of pictures of him with it.

Christmas Future

Here is the start of my Berry Sheri Christmas quilt for my daughter. I have decided on stars for the quilt, but I have not decided yet the rest of the pattern. I may do the Lucky Stars pattern by Terry Atkinson.


I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas, and for those who don't celebrate Christmas I hope that you have some time to relax for the start of a new year.

Pinwheels

My pinwheel quilt top is now finished. I started off in one direction and ended up in a totally different one. I am really happy with how it turned out. I am going to call it Summer Fun. I had planned on giving it to my mother-in-law, for her to pass it on but she may or may not get the chance to see the person for whom the quilt is for over the holidays. I have decided instead to mail it and this takes me off the hook for Christmas, which is good since I am sick right now. Every year, as soon I get holidays I get my traditional cold. It usually lasts about 5 days and I am on my 3rd day right now.

It also gives me a chance to work on this table runner for my other set of in-laws. I am extremely lucky to have 2 incredible mother-in-laws. I have also started making a table topper which I hope to have done for Christmas.

Quilting Triage

With 8 days left before Christmas, I am going through quilting triage right now, deciding what absolutely has to get done by next Friday. There is so much I want to do right now. I have the week off before Christmas, so I just have to decide what I can squeeze in. I have to get my pinwheel quilt done, put the label on my dad's quilt, and the binding on my son's. Now, I have decided I want to make a table runner for my in-laws. They just redid their dining room. My mother-in-law is an amazing sewer, but she does not quilt so I know she would really appreciate one. I have one that is half finished from August so it is doable. I still also would love to get a quilt top made for my sister.

I hope your triage is going better than mine.



P.S. Amy is having a fabulous giveaway for her 400th post. Go check it out!

Dear Santa ....

I have been a very good girl this year. I have made and given lots of quilts, participated in lots of swaps, made many new friends and have tried to be the best mother and wife I can be. For Christmas, I would love to receive the Aster Manor Jelly Roll.

Please, let the elves know at the Fat Quarter Shop that I appreciate them passing this letter on to you. I will have food waiting outside for the reindeer and a special treat for you inside.


If you would like to send your own letter to Santa, the Jolly Jabber blog for the Fat Quarter Shop is sending them on to Santa.

Need Suggestions

My strip search quilt top is now done. It was fun to put it together and not worry about matching seams. Now I need some help with it. I am trying to decide what colour thread I should use to quilt it with. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

I have also decided to start working on my sister's quilt. I have 2 weeks, right? I am thinking, simple and modern, most likely a square in a square type design. I would like to have the quilt top done for Christmas, and then do the rest of it in the New Year. If anyone else, has other suggestions I would love to hear those too.

My horoscope says I am in a creative phase. I just hope it can last for another couple of weeks.




Wishing you well,

Holly Jolly Blog Bingo

Run, don't walk and sign up for the Holly Jolly Blog Bingo put on by The Quilt Shoppe. You only have until midnight PST to sign up.

Mini Shop Hop

My husband and I went away for the weekend a couple of weeks ago. Luckily for me, we have been together long enough for him to know that will include me checking out the quilting stores in the area. I have been quilting ever since we have been together. We lived apart for a while, and when I went to visit him he would take me to the quilting stores in his area. I found 3 that were nearby and we visited all 3.

I think I am going to use these fq's to make placemats. The fat eights are for a quilt I have been collecting fabric for, for a long time.

At the next store, I found this incredible sun and watermelon fabric. I was unhappy with my pinwheel quilt and this fabric will make a great border for it. I also bought some Christmas fabric, because I may have forgot to mention (okay I did it on purpose) that I joined the Christmas block swap twice. To make a long story shorter, I had switched groups so that I could make Christmas presents. Then when I checked out the swap a week later, I noticed there was only one spot remaining and it was in my former group, and Christmas trees were available, and that was what I had originally planned on doing. So, I signed up again, plus between the 2 groups I will be getting 18 different designs!

At the last store, I found a cute aqua fabric. I have not started to put together my red/aqua swap but I thought it would come in handy if I need a few extra blocks. I also bought some straw needles. I had heard good things about them for binding and I must admit they worked well. The end did seem sharper then other needles and I did get a sore on my finger. I may have to try a thimble next time. I also got this fabric which I just love and have no idea how I am going to use it.

Started Strip Searching

As a quilter I am learning more about myself. I think things work better for me if I stick to one project at a time. That way, I don't lose track of where I have been and things seem to go smoother. That said I do get distracted easily, because as I start to sew, it frees up brain space to come up with other ideas for projects I am working on.

Right now, I am working on my Strip Search quilt. It will definitely have a new name in the end. Here is my progress so far.

My Strips

My A Set of Blocks

The B set ready to be sewn together

I started it on Friday and only worked on it this weekend. I am really happy with it. I loved it when it was in the strips, and almost did not cut it up. It always makes me nervous to cut something once it is sewn. I decided that I did need to cut it , and try something new and I am glad I did.

I am going to be machine quilting soon. MQ and I have had a long history together and I am ready to tackle it again. If anyone has suggestions to make mq easier I would gladly take them. The largest I have ever machine quilted is a baby size quilt, and I would like to quilt some lap quilts.

Hope you are making progress too,

Puttering Away

I have been puttering away all week. The ideas kept coming last weekend. I woke up and could not get back to sleep on Sunday morning, so I watched a bit of tv, including Quilt in A Day with Eleanor Burns. She was making a quilt with charm packs. I have quite a few charm packs called Tulip Time that I had bought last December. Tulips are my favourite flower. I had tried the disappearing nine patch and I did not like it. I also tried sewing the squares together in a 9 patch to make a square quilt but I was not happy with that either. Her pattern uses 4 patch blocks and other blocks that are highlighted on their own. Immediately, I started unpicking my 9 patches into 4 patches and I like it much better.

I have also been working on my pinwheel quilt. It is such a fun quilt that I keep changing my mind on how I want to put it together. I have to have it finished for Christmas so I better decide soon.

Last week I went out shopping at a craft store to look for gifts to suggest to my mother. While there I saw a ruler that I had not seen before. It helps you make halfsquare triangles and hourglass blocks. I had a 40% off coupon so I bought it. So far, I have used it to size up my pinwheel blocks and I really like it.

 I also got my 2 quilts back from the quilter. I need to have one of them bound for Wednesday so I can take it to my guild meeting.

Hope you are all doing well,

The Intricate Dance

"I don't want to force the food" - Ashley from Top Chef

Maybe a month ago Ashley said this on Top Chef and this resonated with me. They were given a box of ingredients and had to come up with something to make from them. It is the way I feel about quilting. When I am quilting I usually start with a pattern. I think that is the mathematical part of me. Then I choose fabric that will go well with the person I am making the quilt for, something which I also quite enjoy doing. Then the magic comes together and pattern/concept and fabric meet. It is an intricate dance whereby sometimes the fabric takes the lead and sometimes the pattern takes the lead. Sometimes the fabric no longer meets the need of the pattern and sometimes the pattern needs to be changed to meet the needs of the fabric. I have learned enough by now to take breaks when something is not working out right.

Right now, everything is working out great. My pinwheels are looking good, my stars are coming along nicely and I know what I want to do with my Fresh charm packs. I have also figured out how I want to layout my Block of the Month and maybe too for my Rainbow block swap. The down side of course is that all of the quilts are now clamoring for attention.

Sometimes too, I don't mind if someone does the dance for me. I do buy kits occasionally. For me, I have limited time to shop around for individual fabrics and if I see something I know someone will really like I will buy a kit. I had decided not to make a quilt for my friend because I was not happy with the layer cake I had chosen for her. I made a log cabin quilt for my aunt that was cream and red with some green accents. My friend really liked it. When I was browsing through the Internet I visited Crazy4Quilts, who sell kits. I found one that would suit her perfectly and bought it. I don't think though that I am going to tell her the name of the pattern.

I hope you are all enjoying the intricate dance called quilting. I wish you much productivity for the end of the year.

Wow, Wow! Red and Aqua!

I got my red and aqua swap blocks in the mail yesterday. I felt like Wubbzy (a kid's cartoon). I took a few minutes to ignore (hide) from my kids and looked through every single one. They are all incredible. I like all of the fabric and I was quite impressed at how many red/aqua variations there are. I was going to turn this into a Christmas quilt but now I think I want it all year long. I am going to put it together and then see if I still like the border I have chosen for it. I want to thank everyone who participated and Jane for organizing the swap.

112th post Giveaway winner

The giveaway winner of the batik fat quarters is Jane! I had my son pick a number out of a pail which he was very excited to do. I hope you get everything you want done by the end of the year. I have only added 2 more projects since last week!

Winter Wonderland

Well, I am happy to report I am getting smarter in my older age. I had 2 dates set aside with a quilter. One was for my dad's quilt and the other one was originally meant for my friend who is retiring. I had bought a layer cake for her quilt, but I was not sure I was happy with it. Then I thought I should make a Christmas/winter quilt since I have never made one of those. Finally I smartened up and realized the quilt I should get finished was the one for my son. It was a completed quilt top. I had already made my husband, my daughter and myself quilts this year, so it will be nice to have one for him too.

This means I get to play around and have fun. Other than my Christmas swap I have no pressures on me for the next 2 months. I decided to work on some of my winter/Christmas quilts and just enjoy myself.

 

Here is my Winter Wonderland quilt. I got the fabric last year for Christmas from my parents. My mom and I had been to a quilt lecture in the fall organized by my LQS. One of the stores had a sample of this quilt and the fqs. The pattern was a free download from http://www.allpeoplequilt.com

I immediately fell in love with it. Snowmen are my favourite. You can keep them up so much longer than Christmas items. I hurried home at lunch today to finish the last few blocks so I could show you.

I have also started working on my Sheri Berry Christmas quilt. I am doing stars, but I have not figured out a pattern yet. I also have my half-square triangles done for my pinwheel quilt. I just need to sew them together.


Happy Creating,

112th post giveaway

I am giving away 6 batik fat quarters for my 112th post giveaway. It has been a wonderful journey for me to blog. I was never one to keep a diary, so I am very happy that I have made it this far. It has been great to meet all of you. I have made many friends and have learned so much. Each day, I set aside some time to read blogs and it is wonderful to see so much creativity and to have some time to give positive feedback to others. All of your work is amazing and I feel as though I need a new vocabulary to describe how wonderful you are.

For the giveaway, you need to tell me what project you are hoping to complete by the end of the year.  The giveaway will end Wednesday, November 18th at 9:00 PM EST and I will annouce the winner on Thursday, November 19th. The winner will be drawn randomly.

Lest We Forget

Quilt Bingo & Ginger Jar Quilt Giveaway

I have signed up for Quilt Bingo! It looks like it will be a lot of fun. It starts November 13th so there is still time to join.

Barb of Bejewelled Quilts is having an amazing giveaway. She is giving away this quilt in honour of her niece opening Inch Worm Fabrics an online store.

Happy Quilting!

Great Giveaway & Guild Thoughts

Julie of Jaybird Quilts is have a wonderful giveaway for her 100th post. She does amazing work and I have really enjoyed getting to know her.


I went to my guild meeting on Wednesday evening and I think it was the best one yet. We had 6 of our members give mini trunk shows. We learned when they started to quilt, some of their inspiration and got to see some wonderful quilts. It was incredible to see what amazing quilters they all are. Most of the quilts I wanted to start making. There were a lot of oohs and ahs from the crowd. I work full-time, so getting together once a month is the only time I get to interact with other quilters in my community.

UFO Sightings

After 7 months of almost continuous swapping, I got the urge to go back and work on my UFO's. Some of them were giving me the sad puppy dog looks. Luckily for me, Jacquie of  Tallgrass Prairie Studio had the same thought.  I really enjoyed the Spring to Finish and now she is having the Joy to the New Year Challenge. I have 9 projects that I had hoped to have done by the end of the year.

1. Bento Box
2. Kitty Cat quilt top
3. Label all my quilts (5)
4. Finish the pinwheel quilt
5. Complete the winter quilt top
6. Put together Fresh quilt
7. Make my Sheri Berry quilt top
8. Get something made for my friend who is retiring.
9. Halloween quilt top
   

Here is what I have done so far:

I am so happy with how the Kitty Cat quilt turned out. It is for my son who really likes it. It is definitely different than what I am used to doing. I love its whismy and the colours.

The bento box is finally put together for my dad and willl be ready to give at Christmas time. The quilt made be a bit modern for him but I love the collection of fabrics. I would love to make one for myself. I am going to have a giveaway soon that will hopefully help you find Joy in the New Year. My 100th post was during the Blogger's Quilt Festival, so I decided to wait until my 111th post.

PS. Though it may seem as though I am contradicting myself by the previous post. The November list is the minimum I need to do. This is my wish list. I am hoping, dream big accomplish lots!