Blog Hop, Day 3

Wow - thanks to the many blog hoppers who left comments for me yesterday. It's always interesting to hear how you like to buy and use (or in some cases, don't use!) fabric. I'm knee deep in charm squares right now - I pulled out my stash of charms to get some smaller quilts made for my new office work space. So even though I'm not participating in Another Year of Schnibbles, I've been Schnibbling. Yes I have.

I hope you will stop in and visit Denise at Quilters Window and the talented Monique Dillard at Open Gate Quilts to see what they have to share with you from the book Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts.

Eeek! Spider!

Sorry - I'm just being silly. No, I don't like spiders. AT ALL. Still, I picked this project from Monique's book because the block really intrigued me. I've never seen one quite like it!

I struggled a bit with getting the first block done. Totally operator error, not the fault of the instructions. On page 34 when it tells you to "Make sure it looks exactly like the diagram, with the main light on the left and the
dark on the right" - I suggest following that recommendation or your block will not turn out. Nope, not at all....

Thelma talked about 'bending the rules' last year. Well, I'm the defiant one this year. First, although this is called Fat Quarter Traditional Quilts, I wanted to use a fat eighth bundle of Fig Tree's California Girl. I was able to get one block from each fat eighth (with some left over), so if you want a scrappier look, you can use fat eighths for the Spider blocks, too.

I made 3 test blocks and then decided to go into assembly line mode for the rest of the blocks. I had all the centers done and started to put them together side by side. I really liked the blocks, so I made a little baby quilt from just the centers of the Spider block. If you cut carefully, you can make 2 "center" blocks from one layer cake square and some background - how's that for frugal?

Be sure and leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a copy of Monique's book, Fat Quarter Traditional Quilts and one of her fabulous rulers. Tell me what your favorite precut is and why. I'm a huge fan of fat eighth bundles - not as expensive as fat quarters and you can get a decent sized quilt just by adding a little background fabric!

Be sure and stop by to see what the other participants have to show you. The line up of participating blogs includes:
Monday - Thelma from Cupcakes 'n Daisies
Tuesday - My Turn!
Wednesday - Denise from Quilters Window and Monique from Open Gate Quilts
Thursday - Sherri from A Quilting Life
Friday - Carrie from La Vie en Rosie and Nicole from Sister's Choice Quilts

Thanks for visiting!

Welcome to the Blog Hop!

I'm glad you have joined me for a week dedicated to showcasing some great quilts from Monique Dillard's new book, Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts. Get it at your local quilt shop or preview and order the book from C&T Publishing.

The line up of participating blogs includes:
Monday - Thelma from Cupcakes 'n Daisies
Tuesday - My Turn!
Wednesday - Denise from Quilters Window and Monique from Open Gate Quilts
Thursday - Sherri from A Quilting Life
Friday - Carrie from La Vie en Rosie and Nicole from Sister's Choice Quilts

Be sure to stop by and comment on each blog on their featured day for a chance to win prizes!

Please come back tomorrow to see the project I've been working on - here's a preview from the book of my project, Spider.

What are you doing next week?

A new release from C&T Publishing is this beautiful book written by my friend, Monique Dillard.  Next week we're having a Blog Hop to showcase some of the projects from this book.

Please stop by the following blogs next week and see what we have to show you.   There will be inspiration, fun and prizes!

Monday - Thelma http://www.cupcakesndaisies.blogspot.com/
Tuesday - me http://the-stashmaster.blogspot.com/
Wednesday - Denise http://www.quilterswindow.com/blog/ and Monique http://opengatequilts.blogspot.com/
Thursday - Sherri http://www.aquiltinglife.com/
Friday - Carrie http://lavieenrosie.typepad.com/lavieenrosie/ and Nicole http://sisterschoice.typepad.com/sisters_choice_quilts/

A welcome visitor

Our school district has a series of concerts every winter that coincide with my daughter's birthday. A perfect time for a visit from Grandma and some accompanying silliness.



We had a very fun visit, but no sewing going on here.


We were so struck by how much my son Owen had grown since Grandma has seen him last fall. I had to go digging in my photo albums to show how much my tiny baby boy has changed since Mom stayed with us after the twins' birth.