Something's missing

Realizing that our Moda You meeting was this Thursday night, I set aside the Maison de Noel fabrics I've been cutting to work on the pairs of blocks for Green Piece Month 2 and Month 3.   Pairs, you say?   I don't see pairs of blocks, Lisa.   No, you don't - because Lisa miscut the background on Month 2 blocks (and yes, I did the same dang thing with Month 1 and had to go buy more fabric).   Then I cut ever so carefully for Month 3 and - son of a gun - I miscut the background again!  If you're keeping score, that's 3 for 3.   Hey Joyce - can you please just give me a fat quarter from now on instead of a fat eighth?  Maybe this month I'll learn....

In other news, our new refrigerator was delivered today.  It's so nice to have this roomy, ultra-modern new appliance.  We're hosting Christmas dinner at my house again this year - this baby will hold a lot of food!   Here's "Vanna" showing off the new beauty.

Dear Santa

Dear Mr. Claus - I would love to find this cute kit under my tree on Christmas morning.  I may even be able to finish it in time for Valentine's Day!   I understand Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop has them all ready to pop into your sleigh, and she's just a mouse click away!   I've been a very good girl this year!   Ok, kinda sorta good...

Oh my!

Good heavens - it's been over 2 weeks since I updated my blog.   Is anyone still stopping by?  I guess life just got away from me.  The boys had their first middle school concert and it was really fun to hear how good all the bands and orchestras sound.  Owen had a clarinet solo and I was impressed, as always, by his talent.  The band teacher has asked him to learn the bass clarinet in addition to his regular clarinet, so he must see potential in Owen too.   Eric plays the viola and is also very talented, but I wasn't able to get a photo of him - sorry E!

Tis the season for a million errands - I finally had a free weekend and we took the kids to see Santa, baked cookies, finished most of the shopping and decorated.  We bought a new refrigerator that will be delivered on Wednesday, so we won't put the main tree up until that happens or it will be in the way of the delivery men.

Here are the rest of our holiday decorations.  This little white fiber optic tree is so pretty, I just love it decorated simply with colored balls.  That tree skirt underneath?  My very first "quilting" project, before I knew a lick about quilting.   Yes, it is satin, and yes, I used satin on the back too.   Please, do not turn this puppy over - I beg of you!

My Opening Day quilt using Roman Holiday fabrics is newly displayed in the living room because it is the closest thing I have to a Christmas quilt.  I hope by the time next year rolls around, I will have completed more quilts that I can display during the holidays.

And this is my other Christmas vignette - you can see another early quilting effort on the top of this buffet - a Christmas tablerunner with prairie points along the edge.  I have a Tiny Christmas Annie at the base of the feather tree to the left, and my collection of Ballard Baines Christmas teddies on the opposite side.   A new find this year - the adorable snowman cookie jar that Lily found.   She must have been channelling Thelma and her wonderful cookie jar collection.

I've been working on cutting out a new Christmas quilt -  Miss Rosie's Toulouse, made of the fabulous Maison de Noel line from 3 Sisters for Moda.   Oh how I wish I had been a fabric hoarder back when these fabrics came out - I would have bought gobs more of this wonderful stuff!

Post-Thanksgiving Picnic

I finished my Picnic quilt - November's Year of Schnibbles project.   I love how this little cutie turned out!   I used American Jane's Recess charm packs and I adore the little baskets - especially how they make a star in the center of the quilt.

I took it with me to work on Friday and because it wasn't super busy, we hung it up in the shop - it's super cute against the red barn walls!

I'm not sure if I will participate in December's project, but if it's another one that I love as much as this one - count me in!

Lisa's salad

This year, like most years, we are going to my oldest brother's house for Thanksgiving dinner.  Every so often, our hosts have the audacity to make other plans for Thanksgiving, and I am left to my own devices for dinner.  About 11 years ago, they went to visit relatives in California and so I hosted my very first Thanksgiving dinner.  Having never done it before, I searched the Internet to find some interesting recipes.

I found this salad recipe on Allrecipes.com and it's definitely a keeper.   I have made it for Thanksgiving, Christmas and potlucks in between, countless times since 1998.  It's always a huge hit.  It's official name is Winter Fruit Salad With Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing, but my family calls it "Lisa's Salad," and I would like to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
  
• 2 teaspoons diced onion
  
• 1 teaspoon Dijon-style prepared mustard
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
  
• 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
  
• 4 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
  
• 1 cup cashews
  
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  
• 1 apple - peeled, cored and diced
  
• 1 pear - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. In a blender or food processor, combine sugar, lemon juice, onion, mustard, and salt. Process until well blended. With machine still running, add oil in a slow, steady stream until mixture is thick and smooth. Add poppy seeds, and process just a few seconds more to mix.
   
2. In a large serving bowl, toss together the romaine lettuce, shredded Swiss cheese, cashews, dried cranberries, apple, and pear. Pour dressing over salad just before serving, and toss to coat.

I use only about half of the prepared dressing - the whole recipe is way too much for the salad.  I hope you will try it and that you like it as much as my family does!

A tisket, a tasket

Look at all my baskets!   I have completed all my baskets for the November Year of Schnibbles project.  I might have finished the top this week, but I've been down for the count with a horrible cold all week.  Seriously - when was the last time you missed 4 days of work from a silly cold?  But I'm finally back to work today (hey - nobody picked up the slack for me while I was on my deathbed?) and hopefully will feel up to spending some time in my sewing room this weekend to get the sashing done for this cute Picnic quilt.

Alrighty then

I finished putting the borders on my Red Velvet quilt - a wonderful Thimbleblossoms pattern that went together beautifully and easily.  People at my retreat were just raving about the French General Rouenneries fabrics, and I love how the aqua fabric from Simple Abundance adds so much whimsy to those serious prints.

I made a decision at retreat to come home and send 2 quilt tops off to be machine quilted.   I have put it off for months, but I have a little extra pocket money and now the decision is - which 2?  My brilliant friend Rani suggested sending my Indian Orange Peel quilt (click on my quilt album on the sidebar to the right and you can see a picture) - a quilt I had completely forgotten about!  I seriously love her for reminding me.   I have been waiting to find a quilter I trusted enough to quilt my "masterpiece" - that quilt took me 7 years to finish - and now that I have someone, I simply must send my quilt.  Like, RIGHT THIS MINUTE!

Back!

Oh brother, now that I'm back from retreat at a real computer, I see how horrible my last photo of my basket blocks was, taken on my cell phone and posted from my Blackberry.  I promise better pictures as soon as I am unpacked and settled in at home.

It was one of the best retreats ever!  We shared a work table with Mary Hickey and Judy Pollard and had the best time hearing their stories about quilts and life.  I can't remember the last time I laughed so much.

I finished 15 of the 16 basket blocks for my November Schnibbles quilt, Picnic.  I left the rest of my charm squares AND my pattern instructions at home, or it may have gotten finished this weekend (sigh).

I finished my Rouenneries layer cake quilt and can't wait to get the borders on so I can show you.  What a beautiful and simple quilt to make!

Picnic Time!

I threw this project into my retreat box at the last minute (and forgot to bring my pattern instructions). I love these little baskets!



Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Cindy Lou, Woo Hoo!

I didn't think I would meet this month's Year of Schnibbles deadline, but I finished Cindy Lou Who with time to spare!  I love how it turned out.  I used Minick & Simpson's Winter fabrics.  I can't wait to see what our November Schnibbles will be!

My memory fails me!

Yesterday I embarked upon Part Two of my sewing room clean-out.  The previous round consisted of tidying the easily-accessible piles, but when I read about Allyson and Nicole's challenge to make this snowball quilt, I decided I needed to go deep in the recesses of my sewing room closet to find the boxes of fabric sorted by color so I could decide what color to make my snowball quilt.

I knew that I wouldn't have enough reds, but I've always loved blue and knew that my biggest box was full of blue fabrics.  Of course, it was the furthest in and on the very bottom of a pile of other boxes.  While on my way there, I sorted through each color box, pulling out fabrics that no longer appealed to me.  Yes, I was right - woefully short on reds.  Not surprisingly, judging by my blog header, I have a very large stash of orange fabrics.  But I wanted, not another orange quilt, but something different.

I have some lovely purples, but most of those have already been cut for a scrappy purple and cream quilt that I have not yet started.

Digging deeper, I finally reached my tub of blue fabrics, finding some treasures along the way that I know have lived with me since I started quilting and collecting fabric in 1993.  I opened the box of blues, and after culling out the prints that I no longer loved, here - voila - is my "huge" stash of blue fabrics.   Oh my.   For somebody who subscribes to Carrie Nelson's More-Is-Better Theory of Scrap Quilts, this will never give me the ultra scrappy look I want.  Good thing I work at a quilt store.   I think I need to go shopping!

Green Piece, month 1

I signed up for Moda U last year at the shop where I work part-time.   I was there for the "after party" from the previous year's Moda U and it looked like so much fun.   Sadly, there weren't enough people for the Thursday evening class, so they dropped it.   I still got my block packets, but no fellow students to encourage me to finish them.  And so I didn't....

This year Joyce convinced me to join the Moda You Green Piece BOM.   It wasn't hard to convince me - her blocks have been displayed in the shop for the last few weeks and the fabrics are just beautiful.  We had our first meeting last Thursday and the group is really fun.   It will give me a reason to finish my blocks each month for "show and tell."

Here are my first two blocks - each month we will have 2 pieced stars and 2 wool applique blocks.  The wool hasn't arrived in the shop yet, so we won't get started on those until next month.

I also worked this weekend on Cindy Lou Who for the Year of Schnibbles and also made good progress on my stunt sewing project (rows all completed, half are sewn together!).  Yes, that's right - I have 3 projects layered on top of each other on my sewing table.  This is NOT how I usually work.  I work on ONE project at a time.  This is making me certifiable.  But the good news is - I'M SEWING AGAIN!!!!!

It's Alive!

Well no, not really.  But my stash has seemed to take on a life of its own and started to take over my sewing space.  The need to clean and organize has been pulling at me for months, but I haven't been able to make myself do it.

My car accident has changed things for me.  I am no longer able to sit and sew for hours or even minutes without excruciating pain in my lower back.  Oh how I miss sewing.  I miss my machine, I miss watching Friends on my DVD player next to my Pfaff.

 

I went into my sewing room on Friday night after dinner.   I just received Camille's new Red Velvet Cake pattern and finally knew how I was going to use my prized Rouenneries layer cake.  I sorted squares and started cutting, but then the mess all around me stole my focus.

 

I started to think how I could sort and organize my collection of fabrics.  I started to pull things off shelves, off the floor, out of the closet.  I started to open storage boxes.  I needed MORE storage boxes!  I woke up early Saturday and went out to get more storage boxes.  I would corral these projects strewn around the room into some semblance of order!

 

I worked all day Saturday and oh, my back was killing me when I went to bed, and still hurting when I woke up on Sunday.  I completely overdid it - my body is not healthy right now and all that activity really took its toll.  But I was determined to finish what I started.  I took some ibuprofen and surged ahead.

 

I worked all day Sunday, taking time out to iron my clothes for work this week and to make a killer pot roast for our Sunday dinner.   I was brutal - if I didn't love it, or thought there wasn't a snowball's chance that I'd ever finish it, out it went!  Projects were gathered together with all the supplies and labeled in storage boxes.

 

My room looks fabulous.  I feel a great freedom and also feel my creativity returning.  Sometimes purging can be a very good thing.   Stay tuned for my upcoming stash reduction sale!

My first Schnibbles

I've collected many of the Schnibbles patterns, but have never attempted to make one.   The Year of Schnibbles club hosted by Sherri and Sinta encouraged me to take the plunge, and I am really happy with the result.   I made their September pattern selection - Winter White - using 2 Spooktacular charm packs.  I wasn't so sure I liked these bright colors while I was making it, but I do really like the way it turned out and now I finally have a little Halloween quilt!

I want to thank all of you for your supportive comments following my accident.  I'm slowing improving and hope things continue to get better with each passing day.  Now I'm dealing with insurance companies (hers and mine) and that's a whole 'nother kind of pain....

Hit by a truck

Have you ever used that expression "I feel like I've been hit by a truck"?  I'm pretty sure I've used it before, but now I can actually say I know what it feels like.

Yesterday morning I parked my car at the park-and-ride and - bus pass in hand - was walking through the parking lot to the bus stop.  Over my shoulder I could see a truck cut through a line of empty parking stalls and thought "gee, that truck is coming awfully close to me, are they trying to run me out of their way?" but the next thing I know, the truck hits me from behind and knocks me to the ground!   I am in a total state of shock and disbelief.  The driver comes flying out of her truck saying "oh my god, oh my god" and my first words to her were "I can't believe you just did that!"

She whips out her phone as I gingerly get up and asks if I want her to call an ambulance.  I say I think I am okay, besides being dazed and scraped up (thank goodness I chose to wear a jacket or my elbows would have been hamburger.  I don't even want to think about my knees if I wasn't wearing jeans.  I told her I would like her to call the police.

We wait in the 5 a.m. darkness for the police to arrive, her nervous chatter making me want to slug her.  The police came and wrote up a report.  She isn't cited because in the officer's words, she wasn't driving fast enough to be charged with reckless driving.  Still, wouldn't you consider it reckless to HIT A PEDESTRIAN in a parking lot???

I drove myself home and my husband took me to urgent care after we got the kids off to school.  After 3 hours, I learned I had no broken bones, but by now it was 6 hours after the accident and the pain was starting to set in.   I also went to my chiropractor, who can't do a full assessment until 72 hours has passed.  He also warned me the pain would increase and by Sunday I probably won't be able to get out of bed without help.

I am stunned, in shock and incredible pain.  And I lost my bus pass.

I'm still here!

Thelma emailed me a few days ago wondering if I was ok, since I hadn't posted in so long.  I apologize to anyone who has stopped here and found nothing new since the pillowcase post.  I've been busy with a secret sewing project that I can't share right now, and with getting the kids back to school (yesterday!) and also with getting myself prepped (mentally and physically) for an unpleasant medical procedure.  I tell ya - they can put a man on the moon, so why can't they make the colonoscopy prep even the least bit palatable?  Yikes.  Oh well, kids are back to school, I made it through my test with no complications, and I'm still sewing like a mad woman.

I'm taking a little break from stunt sewing to work on my Year of Schnibbles project.  I'm nearly 2/3 finished, and waffling between "I really like this!" and "Oh my, I'm not sure these fabrics work for this pattern!"  So I hope to have that project to show you in a couple of days.  Come back, please?  I swear I won't always be this boring!

How about some cute kid pictures to distract you?  My boys started 7th grade yesterday - MIDDLE SCHOOL!   How did that happen?   And my daughter started 4th grade - she is very excited to be at elementary school without her brothers, so now she has her own little kingdom!

You can teach an old dog new tricks!

I'm sure many of you have made pillowcases - they are a fun, quick gift to give someone special.  I haven't made one in a while, but recently a friend had surgery and a bunch of us from the quilt shop all made her pillowcases to let her know we were thinking about her during her recovery.

Now, I have made the standard pillowcase, but we have a newer pattern at the quilt shop that we hand out free with a fabric purchase, and I wanted to try the new method.  It was a little harder to wrap my head around the instructions (and harder still when using a directional print like this Monster pillowcase I made for my daughter), but now I really like this method for making a pillowcase.  Try it the next time you need a quick present for someone!  There is a good tutorial with photos at the Lazy Girl Designs website.  So try something new, you might find a method you like better than the one you use now!

Detour!

I now have all 36 star blocks finished for my 2nd Story quilt.  I have all the sashing strips cut and all my cornerstones are ready to assemble.

However, I must put this away for a short little while (sorry Karen!) so I can work on a top-secret Stunt Sewing project that I am very excited about, using some unspeakably beautiful fabrics (sneak peak below).....

I'll be back to the construction trailer soon to finish building my Beach House!

 

Halfway there!

Since this quilt pattern is 2nd Story, I guess that means the 1st Story is complete!   And actually, I am one block away from having another row done.  I am really enjoying this "construction project" with Beach House fabrics.   I have all of my red star points completed with a background and accent color.  So as I make each block, I choose a center for the star, one or two accent colors and then decide how to construct the background.   It's a challenging project but is keeping my interest.  I can't wait to see what happens next!

You may have heard that Seattle is experiencing an unprecedented heat wave.  It's been over 90 degrees for over a week here, with 2 days where the temps were over 100.   This is NOT what I signed up for, living in Seattle.  Where's my familiar drizzly rain?  And to make things worse, I worked at the quilt shop 3 days this week (unusual for me, but helping out for folks on vacation) and we do not have air conditioning in the shop, so it was pretty miserable working conditions.  At my "real job" we have a/c so cold I have to wear a sweater!  Then again, being around fabric and quilts - how bad can THAT be?

I'm spoiled - not many in this area have air conditioning at home, but we do, since my brother-in-law is in the biz and we got a good deal on a unit and installation when we first bought our house.  We don't usually need to use it much, but it's been a gold mine this summer for sure!  I imagine if I had to come home to a sweltering house, I wouldn't be feeling much like sewing.   But enough whining - today is a new week, temperatures are cooling and I have two jobs that I love - I'm a very happy girl.

Claude's Beaver

When I participated in the Parade of Quilts a couple of weeks ago, it made me think back to some of my early quilts.  I'd only been quilting for a short time when my grandfather was turning 80 and a big family party was planned.  I saw a beaver quilt in a book by Margaret Rolfe (I believe it was A Quilter's Ark), and I knew I had to make the quilt for my grandpa, who had a long-standing love/hate relationship with a family of beavers on his ranch property.

I had no idea what I was doing quilt-wise back then, but when I finished piecing this top, I thought it needed "something more" and bought a book on Seminole piecing so I could make a pieced border to liven it up.   Pretty creative for a novice!  I also took a machine quilting class so I could finish the quilt myself.

My fabric choices back then make me cringe a little now, but Grandpa loved the quilt.  Sadly, my Grandpa Claude passed away in December 2006, but now his little beaver quilt has a new happy home with my mom.

Laying the Foundation

I am finally getting back to a project I started cutting out a few months back.  I'm making a Miss Rosie's pattern called 2nd Story, using a fat quarter bundle of the fabulous Blackbird Designs' Beach House fabrics.

There are 4 different star blocks and many ways to put them together, so this is certainly not a speed piecing project, but it's also been very enjoyable experimenting and putting the combinations of fabrics together.

Well Eva, We've Done Some Excellent Work Here....

If you are a fan of the tv show Friends, like I am, you might recall a show in the first season called "The One With the Butt" where Joey portrays Dr. Sigmund Freud in a musical play called Freud!  I have all the seasons of Friends on DVD and I play them next to my Pfaff while I sew.  I've watched them so many times over, I can pretty much recite every line before the actors do.

I recently watched the first season again, so I thought I would share my latest photo of the Eva quilt and quote one of Joey's lines from that show.

I like the pink setting fabric (thanks for the advice, Carrie!) from Basic Grey's previous Moda collection, Sultry.  It coordinates well with Eva, and I think makes a nice frame around the Jacob's Ladder Jewel Box blocks.  There will be a piano key strip-pieced border added next.

The pattern is Sweet Escape, another great (and very fast!) quilt design from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  It uses just 2 layer cakes and 3/4 yard of one print for the setting triangles.  So if you have layer cakes that you don't know what to do with, you might want to consider making this quilt!

Million Dollar Smile!

Orthodontia Phase One is complete and my beautiful daughter got her braces off yesterday - isn't that a gorgeous smile?  Now she'll wear a retainer and her headgear for a while (I'm guessing until all her permanent teeth are done emerging) and then - well, I don't even want to think about Phase Two ($$$$$).  But seeing her teeth, it's so totally worth it!

My First Quilt

Carrie at LaVieEnRoise and Camille at Simplify have challenged readers to show their first quilt along with their most recent quilt.  I've shown this once before, but here again is my very first quilt, in all it's mismatched points' glory.

I started making this quilt in 1993.  It was a pattern from Quiltmaker magazine called Winkin' Blinkin' and Nod.  From this project I learned that templates are not for beginners, and that cardboard does not make a suitable template for rotary cutting.  What difference does it make if you slice off a little sliver of cardboard with each cut?  A lot, apparently!

Notice, if you will, the intersections of the pinwheel blocks in my second photo that don't come anywhere close to meeting!  Click the photo to get a closer look.  Go ahead.  I guarantee it will make anyone feel better about their piecing skills!  (and you can probably see my wonky attempt at machine quilting as well)

My quilt guild did a "Then and Now" feature at their show in 2008 and my first quilt was displayed along with a sampler quilt that I finished in 2007.  Yes, I do feel like I have grown a great deal in my technique since 1993.

For this blog post, I'm going to show another picture of my most recent finish - the Paisley Parade top designed by Laurie Simpson that was on the cover of Quilt Sampler magazine last summer.

Införa Eva

In case you don't speak Swedish, that translates to "Introducing Eva."   This is my new quilt project using Carrie Nelson's pattern Sweet Escape and the 2 Eva layer cakes that Carrie sent me from Spring Market.  The fabric designer is Basic Grey, who designs scrapbook papers and now also designs beautiful fabrics for Moda.

A couple of things - I know these blocks look very unbalanced.  This is just over half of them completed, and I will work on a more pleasing color arrangement after they are all done.  Also - the white fabric around my squares is the flannel on my design wall - I'm still trying to find a suitable fabric for the setting triangles (and pink was not a good choice!).

A little side note - when I was in high school we had 4 choices of foreign language study - French, German, Spanish and Swedish.  While my parents tried to discourage me from taking Swedish (so impractical!), I signed up anyway (it's that stubborn Taurus thing).  We had a great teacher - Frau Johnson - and boy was it ever fun, but sadly the program was dropped and I was only able to take 2 years of high school Swedish.  Even sadder, I have retained NONE of it.  The funny thing is, I remembered as I started this blog post that the Swedish name I chose for myself in class was Eva.  I think this fabric was somehow meant to be mine.  Thanks again, Carrie!

8 Tiny Reindeer

I finished the second shop sample using the top portion of the Crazy Eight panel.  Just a couple of pieced borders and you have a cute holiday wallhanging!

My baby boys graduated from elementary school last week.  No photos to share - I definitely need to look into a new digital camera that actually WORKS in low lighting situations like the school gymnasium.

We're Number 2!

My daughter's basketball team won just 2 of their regular season games, but they did well enough in the end of season tournament to bring home the second place trophy.  Way to go girls!

Christmas Windows

I finished this sample for the shop using the adorable Crazy Eight panel designed by Sandy Gervais.  Nobody makes panels as cute as Sandy, and this one is no exception.  The pattern is called Christmas Windows and is a quick and easy Churn Dash.  Look how cute the little ornament man is!

I'm making another quickie sample with the top part of the Crazy Eight panel and I'll show you that one soon.

Ready for the 4th!

I finished my Paisley Parade top this weekend and no, Nicole, it's not at the quilter quite yet.  I just love the way this turned out - Prairie Paisley is by far my favorite Minnick & Simpson fabric collection.   No struggles piecing this beauty, not a one!  It went together flawlessly.  And I have a good supply of the fabrics left and intend to make another Minnick & Simpson design, Chippewa 9-Patch.

But next up are a couple of samples for the shop using the new Sandy Gervais fabrics, Crazy Eight.  I promised to get them done before our Shop Hop starts on June 24.

Progress all around

I'm making great strides with my Prairie Paisley quilt.  It looks rather wild with that feather print border, but the last pieced border will really help tone things down, I think.

There's also been a lot of progress where my daughter's teeth are concerned.  Here's a picture of her last August when she first got her braces on - see that big gap between her front teeth?    It was something she wanted gone.   Well, as the second picture shows, we're almost there - the gap is very small now!   Of course, now the silly girl says "I miss my gap"   You can't win, but I think she's adorable, gap or no gap.

Sharing my good fortune

I hesitated to post about this because I didn't want to appear to be bragging, but I see Nicole shared her loot with you, so I am going to do the same.  Besides, I am so over the moon with excitement that I can't stand not sharing my good fortune.

I was also honored to be asked by my friend Carrie Nelson to piece 2 quilts for her upcoming secret project.  Now while it was certainly reward enough to me to have been asked to be a part of this project, Carrie somehow felt she needed to reward me with gifts as well.  She not only sent me 2 boxes of my favorite Presencia thread before I began the project, but she sent me these wonderful goodies from Market, which came as a surprise in my mailbox after a rough day at work on Tuesday.  I could barely contain my excitement as I opened the box.

Inside were a FQ bundle of the fall release from one of my favorite designers, 3 Sisters - Aster Manor - plus 2 layer cakes of Eva, the upcoming collection from another designer I'm growing quite fond of - Basic Grey.  Those mulberry, pink and lime green are not my typical color palette, but one of my secret projects was a quilt made from their current collection, Sultry, which is lighter shades in the same color ranges and I absolutely fell in love with that quilt.   It's all I can do not to post a picture of it.  These Eva fabrics have already been planned into a quilt that will coordinate nicely with my Sultry quilt and I can't wait to get started after my Prairie Paisley project is finished.

Carrie also included one of those great sampler pincushions from Blackbird Designs, which I have been coveting at the quilt shop where I work, I just hadn't brought myself to buy one yet.  And now I'm glad I didn't!

Thanks so much for your kindness and generosity, Carrie.  I had so much fun working with you and hope I get to do it again soon - you don't even have to bribe me with fabric!!!

I love a Parade!

Let me introduce my latest project - I'm making the Paisley Parade quilt designed by Laurie Simpson that was on the cover of Quilt Sampler magazine last year.  Look here to see what the finished quilt will look like.  I absolutely adore the Prairie Paisley fabrics, and am already planning a second quilt with my leftovers.

I've never made a medallion-style quilt before and I am really enjoying this one.

February

Here is the second block of my Wool and Needle Snowmen thru the Year by Buttermilk Basin.

I hope you are all enjoying this holiday weekend.  I've had the last 3 days off from my "real" job and will have Monday off as well.  I will be working at the quilt shop tomorrow, but I don't mind - that's my "fun" job.

This morning I finally finished the shop sample I've been working on with Moda's Wonderland fabric.  It was not a fun project to piece and I'm glad that I'm done and now have all the possibilities of my fabric stash and my sewing room at my disposal for a more "fun" project.  I'm already excited to get started!

January

I've made quite a lot of progress on my Wonderland quilt, but now it is getting too big to photograph.  Take the last photo I posted of the blocks and multiply it by 4, and that's the progress I have made on that project.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I started a new stitching project.  I found this cute pattern - Wool and Needle Snowmen thru the Year by Buttermilk Basin.  Each piece is 4-1/2 x 5-1/2 and can be entirely stitched, or you can add wool applique pieces, which is what I am doing with mine.  I will frame these with quilt fabric and make a wallhanging.

I used Sandhut fabric for the first time as my background, and it's great for stitching.  It's substantial enough that I don't need a hoop, and the thickness of it means I don't have to worry about threads showing through to the front.  I followed this wonderful tutuorial to transfer my design to Solvy and it works really great!  This will be my warm up project to Winter Wonderland.

Finally, a post!

Wow, I cannot believe it's been more than 2 weeks since I updated my blog!  I have finally finished the second of my stunt sewing projects that I couldn't blog about and now I am making a sample for the quilt shop using these cute Wonderland fabrics by Moda.  Here are the first 4 blocks - they are 15" blocks, so this will be one really big quilt!

I have my first stunt quilt back from the quilter, and as much as I would love to give you a sneak peek and show off the fabulous quilting like Nicole did with hers, it doesn't photograph well (and I completely blame *that* on my photography skills).  Rest assured, the quilt is absolutely gorgeous.  My 2 coworkers at the quilt shop wanted to make sure we laid in a supply of the fabric so they could make the quilt, too.  But wait until you see the second stunt quilt - it will take your breath away.  It's one of those rare projects where, every time I finished a block and put it on the design wall I said "oh that's my favorite block" until I finished the next one!

Do you have a favorite?

Park City Girl is hosting a virtual Quilt Festival, asking folks to post a photo and the story behind their favorite quilts.   My Kowabunga quilt has to be in the top 5 of my favorites - you can see I even turned it into my blog banner!

In 2006, I gathered some terrific orange fabrics which were so completely out of my comfort zone.  I started searching for the perfect pattern to use with them, and decided on a pattern called Zuzu's Petals, designed by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  Putting the scrappy orange and white blocks together was so much fun, and the colors just made me smile the entire time I worked on it.  There are some really sparkly orange fabrics in it too, and I really love the added pizazz (like an orange quilt needs extra pizazz!!).

I found a wild surfboard fabric for the border.  In retrospect, I think it detracts a little from the orange and I wish I had stayed with something more subdued, but I tend to overthink these things.

When I finished the quilt in early 2007, I emailed a picture of it to Carrie Nelson.  Later that summer, I was lucky enough to take 2 classes from Carrie at the Buggy Barn in Reardan, WA.   One of the participants asked her how she felt about different interpretations of her pattern designs, and she began to tell a story about a wonderful quilt she had seen made from her Zuzu's Petals pattern in wild oranges and pinks.   It took me a few minutes to realize it was my quilt she was talking about, and I've never been so flattered.

She shoots, she scores!

I think I might win the prize for the most boring quilt blog ever!   It's not that I am not sewing, but I am working on another TOP SECRET quilt that I cannot blog about.

So how about I distract you with pictures of my adorable daughter?  She had her first basketball practice last night.   She did very well for never having played before - about half the girls on the team haven't, so she is not alone, but she seemed to be having fun and even made a few baskets.  If nothing else, she is the cutest player ever (not that Mom is biased or anything)!

How did this happen?

It seems like I blinked and the next thing I knew, my baby boys turned 12!  I remember when we brought them home from the hospital - it took their dad, my mom and me about a week before we could tell them apart - they look so different, there's not a chance of that happening now!  Happy Birthday to 2 of the sweetest boys a mom could ask for - they are smart, funny and talented as all get out, and next year they'll be TEENAGERS!   Happy Birthday Boys!

Construction halted!

My 2nd Story Beach House project is on hold while I stop to do a little sewing favor for a certain Quilting Rock Star that I just so happen to have the good fortune to be friends with.   Here is a beautiful little pile left over from my cutting - I'm bursting to show someone, but for now, I am sworn to secrecy....

Quilt Show

I put in almost twice as many hours this week as I usually work at the quilt store - this week was the Quilter's Anonymous quilt show in Monroe and the only show where our shop participates as a vendor (and I can see why - it's a LOT of work and I'm exhausted!!!)

Thursday and Friday I worked in the shop, but Sunday I got a chance to work out at the show, connect with some guild friends, see the beautiful quilts on display, and even meet a blog buddy!   This is me with Candace, from Squash House Quilts, who is just as nice as can be and isn't she cute as a button?!  It was fun to finally connect with another blogger - I hope you enjoyed the show, Candace - it was really nice to meet you!

I haven't spent much time in the ol' sewing room this month.  Hopefully after the honors concert tomorrow, I will be able to return to my trusty Pfaff.  I really miss him!