These are a few of my favorite things...

This is my 400th blog post and I think it calls for a celebration, don't you?  Now, since I have been blogging nearly 4 years, obviously, I am not the most prolific blogger to have only made it to 400 posts, but I want to thank those of you that stop by on a regular basis, and also to welcome anyone who may be visiting for the first time.

As a prize to go along with this milestone post, I'm going to give away a few of my favorite quilting tools.  Please leave a comment on my blog between now and midnight on Sunday, March 1 to be entered to win this adorable pincushion in a ceramic bowl with hand-made woodsy character pins (made by Etsy seller Pinks & Needles), a package of Schmetz quilting needles (I use them for all of my piecing), a spool of Presencia thread (my thread of choice for all my sewing) and a box of my favorite Clover fine, extra long, glass head quilting pins.  Thanks for playing along, and for reading my blog!

New project

I had a lot of fabric piles fighting for my attention after finishing my batik quilt.  Do I start something with my Swanky fat quarters, or with the Sweet jelly roll?  I had all but decided to start the Swanky quilt, but remembered a quilt I cut out in November to take to my retreat that I didn't end up working on.

I'm using Atkinson's Designs book Time Out Quilts and this quilt, Lilypads, is on the cover.  We had a sample hanging in our shop made out of batiks and I just loved the design of it.  I decided to make mine using some fat quarters of Sandy Henderson's Farmer's Market fabrics in the pink and orange colorways (with a few blues and purples thrown in for fun) and a big cream paisley from Moda's Roman Holiday collection.

I really like Terry Atkinson's patterns - they are usually made with fat quarters and have a variety of sizes so you can make it as large or as small as you need.  I'm making mine a twin size with 20 blocks.  Her patterns are also very well written with very clear instructions.  Although I must say, I really wasn't enjoying this quilt the first couple of days I worked on it.  I am very much a product person, and due to the diagonal layout of the quilt, you can't see the actual "blocks" until you've got them all laid out and start to sew the rows together.  But Nicole convinced me to press on, and I put the first few blocks up on my design wall and fell immediately in love.

Now I can't put this one down and I'm really enjoying the fun, fresh, spring-like fabrics.

Speaking of fun fabrics, I won a Valentine's fabric drawing on Monday from Pink Chalk Studios and look at the fun fat quarters that made their way into my mailbox - thanks Kathy!  I am thinking of adding more pinks and reds and making the cute Xs and Os quilt I saw on a blog (but first I have to find it again!)

I had a Blast!!!

I took advantage of a glorious 4 day weekend to do some sewing.  I got the borders on my Orange Berry Blast quilt and I just love the end result.  I really like how the striped fabric is mitered in the corners.  This was a very fun quilt to make, and like Nicole, I think I am hooked on batiks!

And the best part?  It's only Sunday - I have one more day to start a new quilt project!

Making progress!

I made excellent progress on my batik challenge quilt, and I'm still really enjoying putting this one together.  I'm very close now, but I don't want to spoil the reveal.  So instead of showing you how much I have completed, I thought I'd be a tease and simply show you how much I have left to sew together.  It's not much, is it?  Just a few more rows, 2 borders and I can call it done!

Orange Berry Blast!

I want to thank everyone who commented on my last batik challenge post.  I was really doubting myself on this one, but with so much reassurance from all of you, I forged ahead.  When I started to get the flying geese units up together with the background sections and setting triangles, I really began to enjoy this quilt!  I even contemplated calling in sick a day or two last week (but didn't!) just so I could work on it some more.

I think the borders will really pull this all together too, but it's looking good so far, and my DD is already asking if she can have the finished quilt on her bed.

My eyes! My eyes!

I made a lot of progress on the first stage of my Batik Challenge quilt.  Half my flock of flying geese is finished.  Now, I truly love the color orange, and I think the pinks and raspberry colors I chose to go along with my oranges really shine, and it made me very happy to pair the fabrics together to make my flying geese.  However, I think perhaps this color scheme may have been a mistake.  These colors are so bright, there is really nowhere for your eyes to rest!

This morning I added some of the block centers to my design wall, thinking more of the background would tone down the bright geese, but I think it made things worse.  Oh boy, I hope this isn't going to end up wadded in the back of the closet!  I do think the dark raspberry striped border fabric will wrap this up and tone it down, giving your eyes a place to rest.  I sure hope I don't burn too many of your corneas before I get to that point!

Come back again next week to see if this gets any better, or if it's a lost cause....

On a happier note, I was the winner of the monthly drawing for finishing my Simply Sophisticated blocks for January.  Thanks so much to Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop for spurring us on to finish the blocks by offering a wonderful incentive.  There are so many gorgeous new things in her web store, I don't know how I will ever chose!

Signed, sealed, delivered

My Web Sampler quilt returned from the quilter.  For a project I really struggled with, I'm very happy with the end result.  My quilter used the Baptist Fan pattern, which I think suits the feel of the design very well.

I used Dream Wool batting and must say I have a new favorite.  I also used it in my Allspice Tapestry quilt, and use that one on my bed.  The wool is nice and warm and has more loft than Warm & Natural.  What I did with this quilt is actually wash the quilt.  Yep - in the washing machine AND the dryer - and it came out looking perfect.  I think it washes up even better than cotton batting.  It maintains the loft and doesn't pucker and shrink.  LOVING IT!