Welcome home!

My Roman Holiday quilt made it back from the longarm quilter and I am just thrilled with the work she did.  It's very detailed and each star has a pretty spiral snowflake pattern in the middle - that's 36 stars!  It's more beautiful and detailed than I could have imagined.  The pattern is Opening Day, another terrific pattern from  Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  Despite the number of pieces, this one went together in a SNAP - truly.   Everything fit together perfectly - no pulling or tugging to get the borders to fit.  Really, I promise.

I  met with a new longarm quilter today to drop off my Portobello Market quilt - another Miss Rosie design called 4OT.  She showed me some amazing samples of her work so I let her have free rein with the quilting design.  I am anxious to see what she comes up with.

But for now, enjoy these pictures of my beautiful Opening Day quilt.

Summer's Arrival!

Well yes, of course, summer has *been* here for a month, but my little slice of summer arrived yesterday from Tucson.  My swap partner, Jo-Anne, made me this wonderful little summer quilt - isn't it beautiful?   I love the design and the colors.  It just screams summer to me.  Thank you so much Jo-Anne!

And look at the cutie pie label she made for the back too!  Oh boy, I hope my partner can forgive the fact that I didn't label mine, nor did I include a method for hanging (this was my first swap, I'm a newbie!).

Jo-Anne also included 2 crocheted dishcloths, which my daughter covets as blankets for her Webkinz.  I also got some cute notecards and some bath stuff.  Mmmmm - I think a relaxing bath is in the cards for me tonight after a rough week.

Thanks so much Jo-Anne, this was a lot of fun and the little summer quilt will look awesome on the end table in my living room - it's the perfect size!

Third time's a charm

Jelly Star #3 was a success!   I tried to be extra cautious about not stretching anything while sewing or pressing my seams open, and this one turned out pretty perfect.  My blocks are finishing at 25-3/4" - they would be 29-3/4" if I used the jelly roll strip.  Still a nice sized block - even one block framed with a border fabric would be pretty as a wall hanging or table topper.  I have 2 stars that I need to remake, and as I wait impatiently for my Fig & Plum jelly roll to arrive from Canada, I'm cutting and sewing the checkerboard sashing.

While this quilt could definitely be made with just one jelly roll, using 2 will give me the opportunity to use more strips of my favorite prints from the line and eliminate some of the darker plums, which are very pretty, but take too much focus away from the lighter prints.  I've got my fabric choices for the 2 remaining stars all sketched out.  Did I mention I'm waiting impatiently for the mailman?

My Four Seasons Swap partner down under, Soo, received her quilt from me.  I'm so happy that she likes it.  And hey - that means I should be getting a quilt in my mailbox soon.  Another reason to stalk the mailman!

Two down

My second Jelly Star didn't go together quite as nicely as the first one.  The points match pretty well, but the seams in the corners of the background squares are a little off.  Still, I really like the colors on this one.  I may redo it when I get another jelly roll, or if the third star proves it's impossible to make these stars "perfect," I may just go with them as is.  Stay tuned, I'm working on Star #3.

Know your limits!

OK, I'll admit it - I do not like jelly rolls.   Those pinked edges just aren't for me.  They stretch and I cannot get the accuracy that I always strive for in my piecing.  What was I thinking, volunteering to make this sample for the shop with 45 degree strip pieced diamonds?  Yes, it was not a good decision, but I so wanted to work with this Fig & Plum jelly roll that my shop owner brought back from Portland Quilt Market.

This is my second attempt at making a Jelly Star.  Looks pretty good, doesn't it?  I will not show you my first attempt.   It's in a wad in the closet.  I've never had so much trouble lining up seams and having poofy seams - ever.  I'm so ashamed of it.

For my second star pictured here, I trimmed the pinked edges off the strips, leaving them 2-1/4" wide rather than 2-1/2" wide.   My stars will be a smidge smaller than the original pattern intended, but they will be accurate and will not make me cringe every time I look at all the seams that don't meet.  I can just add an extra wide border if I want a bigger quilt.

But this looks dreamy, doesn't it?   And these new Fig Tree fabrics are certainly drool worthy.   Ok, I'm off to make more stars while I'm on a roll!

Does this look like summer?

Here is a finished quilt top, ready to mail "very far away" (hint...) to my Four Seasons Quilt Swap partner.   I hope my partner will like this little quilt made out of Moda's Swell fabrics.  I think based on the color preferences mentioned that she will.

No OT required!

Carrie Nelson's little story of the name of this pattern of hers - 4OT - is something about finishing this quilt while watching an exciting hockey game that went into 4 overtimes.  Well I'm here to tell you, there were NO OVERTIMES required with this quilt.  It was definitely one of the fastest and easiest quilts I've ever assembled.  Nice big pieces and everything fit together nicely - it was a real pleasure to work with this pattern and these fabrics.  I have a quilter lined up who will do this for me at the end of July, so there will be plenty of time to bind it and have it in the shop when the fabrics - Portobello Market by 3 Sisters for Moda - arrive in September.

Please, don't anyone be intimidated by a Miss Rosie pattern if you haven't made one before.  It looks like a lot of pieces, but the effort is definitely worth the result.  The hardest part of this one will be waiting until it's finished being a shop model so it can come home to live with me!