Warm Cool Quilt Along DONE, Finally~

A year and a half later, the warm cool quilt along quilt I made for a kiddo is finally done :).  The top has been done for quite some time- over a year, but the child requested a minty backing and it honestly scared me.  I had read so many posts about what nightmare minky was to baste and quilt that I put it off as long as possible!  I LOVE how it turned out, and the child likes it even more, so everyone is happy!!  I love these colors myself so it was very fun to make too!

 The minky was not near as bad as I had dreaded!  The quilt is between a twin and queen so the size is what had me so worried!  When I sandwiched the quilt, I taped it down to the floor really well!  With duct tape :)  Then I used an entire can of 505 to spray baste it- told ya I was really scared it would wiggle or move.  :)  hehe!  Then I got the batting and top situated with spray, and then added pins to have an extra extra good hold of that minky.  

 Once it was all situated, I took it to the sewing machine and got to work!  I decided to quilt it to mirror the diamonds made by the colors.  I love the simplicity of it!  You can sort of (if you look really hard) see the design on the back a photo down.  

 The quilting...  The minky is the softest I have ever felt, and it gives the quilt a wonderful weight.  I love a quilt that's just a drop on the heavy side!

 All rolled up and ready to give to a sweet kiddo!!  So after so long, it is wonderful to have it done and to be able to see it being used!  Makes a quilter happy :)

Warm Cool Quilt Top COMPLETE!!!

The Warm Cool Quilt top is finally complete!! I am sooooo lovin' this quilt! It is aqua and orange- a favorite combo of mine, and I am taken with it. The little one I made it for REALLY likes it too. I put some fabrics in that are really fun and really make me smile! The little one decided on the centered diamond pattern, so that is what I did. The pinning took for-ev-er, but it is so worth it to have all those corners meet up so neat and nice. I wanna get some glass head pins, as I have heard they pin so much easier. Just got some Joann's coupons in the mail, so I know what will be on the list :). Now we have to figure out fabric for the back and I can get this one sandwiched :) Yummy! Here's to a happy quilt top!! Yipee!

Catching up...one by one

My Skill Builder We Can Do It Sampler quilt along as gotten not along :) ha! I am 3 weeks behind, but only 2 now :) That's a tad bit better :0 I got the Breaking Out block completed yesterday! I love using Miss Lori's way of making these flying geese blocks. You can find her tutorials over on http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com. She's an amazing teacher! I really like how it turned out- and so PINK too!! Now 2 more and then I'll be back on track! Whew!

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing!

That's what I wish I could be doing at times! Life has exploded the last two weeks and I only have five mintues here and five minutes there to catch up on projects :). I am working on the aqua and orange value quilt for the Warm Cool Quilt along and am in process of piecing the rows. It wouldn't take long except for the crazy pinning! Lots and lots of them on each intersection! But we're getting there! Closer and closer every five minute chance I get :) YAY!

Color Palettes

Miss Lynne over at Lily's Quilts (http://lilysquilt.blogspot.com/) has been making me drool lately with her color palette talk! She's doing a Dead Simple Quilt Along which I would love to join and am having a hard time restraining myself! I love colors and the feelings/memories that go along with them. But I must get some of these other quilt tops completed first- and I have a few other projects in the works too :)!! I have, however, been following along with all the wonderful tips and hints for color palette picking. I really like looking at ideas and picking colors that are out of my "comfort zone"- i.e. pink and red, cutesie! I have yet to make a pink and red cutesie quilt though, funny, huh?! Anyway, I have looked at the palette sites and saw a couple that I liked but nothing really struck me.
Then I was getting in bed and noticed the pile of Kona fabric that needed folding on my comic book board folding system, and the palette HIT me!! I had gotten the fabrics a few days before just to refill my stock and add a few more colors- I loved the Pear and Sour Apple! And another new favorite is Papaya! Yum! Sound as good as they look :)! Then the Aqua and Turqouise threw me for a loop, they are so close in color, just a shade different! (Orange and Tangerine are in there too). So, after glancing over at them randomly placed, I sighed and knew I was on to something! I don't know when I'll be making a quilt from this- wonder if there is another Kona Solid Challenge coming up in the future?? But I love the feel of these colors together- gotta find some prints with these bold colors too- ouuu, yummy! What do you think??

Warm/Cool Quilt Along Top all laid out...

An update on the Warm / Cool Quilt Along quilt, or as I call it, the Orange and Aqua Value quilt...

Well, I was silly and thought I could lay this quilt out in a 30 minute time period. It is now a running joke- it took well over two hours- never woulda dreamed it! HA! It was just a matter of keeping the pattern right and the prints spread out enough that took so long. I was frantically trying to pick it up, in number rows, of course, before feet ran all over it! I have never stacked anything like this so I am nervous how the rows will go. I just CANNOT mess it up- I don't want to be that friendly with my seam ripper :) hehe! So I snapped a few photos to double check myself as I go.
I loved standing back and looking at the diamond pattern the orange and aqua makes! The giftee requested that the diamond be centered, so there you have it! Now to figure out a border, binding and backing :). This person loves SOFT but I can't find any minkee that is to the liking- ugh! I tried flannel, but that wasn't "soft enough". This will be interesting! I'm praying for some orange and blue minkee to pop up somewhere ! hehe!

I couldn't resist...

Seriously, I am up to my ears in quilting projects at the moment with some bags and purses I would like to try my hand at also, but when I see something that's this cute, I can't resist :). That's what happened when I saw the Billboard quilt along over at http://ohfransson.blogspot.com/. Yup, sign me up, I'm in! HA!! The hard part was figuring out what to say...

I am a stresser and worrier by nature- it is part of me, but I have made huge strides in the past couple of years to sit back and enjoy life more. One of the things I started saying years ago was, "It's ALL good!" It stuck and the entire family seems to say it now. It reminds me that life is good- even when I'm stressed, that there is a blessing in everything that happens, and that there is One who is holding me up at all times. That I am forever grateful for! So that had to be the saying I used.

I wound up using different letter widths on each line to get the proportions the way they were in my head. I also wound up using a different "font" for each line too. It has to look the way we say it :), right?! hehe! And the color system will be a little unique too- just like us!

The quilt will be approx. 80"x70"- just perfect for cuddling :) By the way, that was the other saying I contemplated too- "Quilts are for Cuddling"- so true, but the other one quickly won! I'll be using a soft Kona yellow for the background.

I am more than excited to cut and piece this fun quilt- so add this one to the list too! There ya go- 9 in process :) Woohoo!

Warm Cool quilt along and Zig Zag updates...

I have all my hst's finally sewed, trimmed, ironed, and ready to lay out for the official "design" of the quilt. Just to find time when there is floor space and time enough to do it now :) I am going with a centered diamond pattern, so it should go together very quickly. I am nervous about making sure they all get sewed the right way once I put them in rows- I will have to be very precise in my stacking :).

Then my zigs and zags are getting sewn and pieced together with the solid Kona basil. It is looking pretty schnazzy! When I get the first row done, I promise a photo :) Lots going and lots in the works!

Hi Ho a Dairy oh...

My first 3 Farmer's Wife blocks are DONE :) YAY!! It feels so good to finally get started with the months of planning I have been doing :) I am working on them in order, but only doing the ones right now that I can do the "math" for and rotary cut. I will go back when these are all done and work on the others as templates or paper piecing. I have quite a big list of those that I can do with math and started with #1. Here they are...

#1 Autumn Tints

#3 Basket

#4 Basket Weave

I am working on more orange and yellow at the moment. I love the colors I chose (red, pink, blue, green, orange, and yellow) and am so excited about all the pretty blocks to come!! I am officially "in" and am hooked! So fun!!

Bottled Rainbows Finished- Finally! :)

I have had this almost done for so long now- just waiting on me to hand sew the front of the binding... I had gotten about 2/3 of the way around and last night, gave up. I stuck it under the machine and went to town. And you know what, I LOVE that it turned out great- and so much faster :)!! Yipee Skipee! I put the ash as the bobbin and the white as the top thread and sewed from the back- since that was the hand sewing side :). The sewing line actually was hidden by the concentric square quilting, so all is very happy here!

I stuck it in the wash and love the crinkles!! I used Ann Kelle Remix in bright as the backing and Alexander Henry as the binding- I particularly love how the binding has "crayon" lines in it too :). If you remember this quilt has an image in every block that has a specific meaning to my sweet family. You can look for a heart, a shoe, a sewing machine, a purse, a flower, a cupcake, a bike, a rainbow, mountains, a hammer, a car, a sunshine, a book, a ball, a music note (an eighth note to be exact), and a board game! So there you have it- another quilt done!!! WOOHOO!

MY quilt is done, now only 7 more to go :)

How terrible is that?? Finihsing the quilt I had planned on doing last (since it is for moi) first. I wound up getting hooked on the pattern and it just took off, almost without me realizing it :). I am working on lots of quilts at the moment and was not expecting to finish one so quickly, but a week and a half was all it took! I followed the previous quilt along from Lee over at http://freshlypieced.blogspot.com/ and it is so perfectly explained!

The fabrics I chose are the colors of sunsets and sunset is my favorite time of day. I knew I needed a blanket to cuddle in that reflected my peaceful time. I saw Lee's quilt along about a month after it ended, but I knew it was "the" pattern that would be my quilt. I wound up machine binding this, and am in absolute heaven!! I am hooked forever- never again will I hand sew a binding- oh, such a nice feeling!

I used oranges, golds, reds, deep pinks, lavendars, and purples, with a few blues thrown in. It was so fun picking out the quarter yards I wanted- the poor, nice quilt shop cut over 60 prints for me :). And lots of Kona Ash, ordered from Etsy friends. Then it took months of looking and searching to find the backing. I wanted the specific colors I had chosen, and only those. Everything I found just didn't have the right feel, but I finally found EXACTLY the right thing at Hawthorne Threads (http://hawthornethreads.com/). Charlie and Lindsey have an incredble search engine that did the trick! So Castle Peeps it was, specifically Castle Town in Cardinal Red. Put it all together, with some quilting and a Kona Orange border, and you have the perfect sunset quilt for me :)!

Here's the folded and ready to cuddle picture:

I'm participating in the Gen X Quilter's Summer Fair and wanted to give you my favorite summer recipe.

It's the easiest recipe I know, but the yummiest too! You will never need to go to a BBQ house ever again... Wtihout further ado, Pulled Pork:

Ingredients:

4-8 lbs. Boston Butt Pork Roast (it HAS to be a Boston Butt to taste and pull the best)

2 bottles of Liquid Smoke (I use Hickory flavor) per 4 lbs of meat (8 lbs meat=4 bottles)

1 crockpot

Put pork and Liquid Smoke in crockpot and turn it on high for approx. 8 hours - I have found the altitude changes this number quite a bit. Just check it every so often, once it falls apart really, it is ready to pull. Take it out of the crockpot and put it in an old cookie sheet. Using two forks, pull the pork, separating the fat out. Put the pulled pork in a container and spoon several large spoonfuls of the "juice" from the crockpot to keep it moist. **This can be frozen once prepared and reheated later.**

Once you're ready to eat, put pulled pork on bun and add your favorite bbq sauce- for me and mine, that's Sticky Finger's Carolina (mustard base)- ohhh, makes my mouth water just thinking of it! Have a fun summer picnic!!

Supernova quilt top Finished!!

Looking at this project in the beginning, I knew it would take me forever. A week and a half later, it's done!! It's an old quilt along I found over at http://freshlypieced.blogspot.com/, designed by the lovely Lee. The very first time I saw it, I knew it was destined to be my very own, sunset colored, quilt. You see, sunset is my favorite time of the day. It's special, calm, peaceful- no matter how crazy things are around me at the moment, and I just am overcome with an inner quiet and strength. I grew up in the South, and we had beautiful sunsets there. I worried when I moved to the West years ago that there would not be "my sunsets". I was thrilled to find that the West holds it share of gorgeous sunsets also. There may not be as much green, but at least there are sunsets. :) So this quilt is a special one to me. It will be my "go to" quilt- perfect for an evening hot cocoa and for lazy day naps (oh what would one of those be like?? :) hehe!)!

I found ShaShaLaRue (http://www.flickr.com/photos/46563412@N06/) on Flickr and loved her extra touch of the pieced border. Her colors were so close to what I wanted to do, and that was all the inspiration I needed! So a border it was- love how the border corresponds to the colors of the closest star!

I have stressed over the backing for months now- I'm not much for roses or big flowers, and most of the prints that had the colors I wanted in them were florals. I had almost settled on one of the new LouLouThi prints, but I didn't just want to "settle". So after more hours than I care to admit of searching the internet, I thought of Hawthorne Threads (http://www.hawthornethreads.com/) color grid (I had already searched their site, but not using that tool). It won the day and found my backing!! It wound up being the first Castle Peeps print called Castle Town in Cardinal Red. It has all the colors I wanted and looks like sunset has hit the town and is reflecting off all the buildings :). And I wanted something fun and cozy- castles are a little more grand than I was thinking, but every home can be our own "castle", and that sealed the deal! So I ordered it, and will have a back to the quilt soon! So exciting!

I am almost done hand sewing the binding on my Bottled Rainbows quilt. I have seen 2 tutorials in the last week about machine binding (thank you Kaelin http://theplaidscottie.blogspot.com/ and Jeni http://incolororder.blogspot.com/!!!) and will never hand sew another binding- wonder of all wonders!! I am beyond giddy! It takes me so long and I think of all the things I could be sewing instead :) hehe!

Now to fix my opps on Kermit's Path and see what I will have to do to make it work! I think I will wind up adding a border because I accidently cut all the pieces at 8.25" instead of 9.25 inches- gotta love that! HA! So off to get a section done! Have a great week!

Supernova Beginnings...

I have been so anxious to start this quilt, but with the others I am working on, I just haven't had enough time. I finally made some time and am so excited with how nicely these huge blocks come together! I love the scale of the blocks and the variety of prints you can use. I have two blocks done- of the nine- and the next one ready to be pieced.
I must admit, I wasn't too crazy about my fabric choices on the first, only for the reason that I am making a "sunset" colors quilt, and the blues came out a little too strong. That's ok, because the second block turned out exactly as I had pictured in my mind for this quilt. I think the blues will just blend in once I get all the blocks made. I can hardly stop making these blocks so I can see how the next one will turn out. You use a wild formula of which piece in your chosen series goes where, and they wind up looking a bit different than you think they will initially, on paper. But that's the fun and surprise of it. I am loving it!!

I am so thrilled that Lee made this quilt along available over at http://freshlypieced.blogspot.com/ so I could have my perfect sunset quilt!! It's my favorite time of day, you see. So have a happy sunset today- I am excited to get my tangible sunset finished soon!

~

PS- been switching around rooms in the house the past 3 days- almost have a little space for me (half of a room, but I am sooooo grateful for that half) and my sewing! Yipee!!

Thrifting and more sewing :)

I found these lovelies at the thrift store this past week- I have never found a red or blue, so I was tickled :) The red is a 1 qt. casserole and the blue is a fridgie- neither have lids, but I was still happy about it. It's been a while since I have found any Pyrex, so it made me smile :). I sorted these blue and orange into pairs and have been sewing them together. Then you cut them from corner to corner to make 4 half square triangles :). It's a good activity to take along with me as I run places with the kiddos. This will be my warm cool quilt along quilt.
My other brilliant idea of the weekend was to rearrange rooms in our house and get my hubby's office and my sewing room in the same room- that would give me a "semi-all mine" sewing room :)!!! Yipee Skipee- much better than the part bedroom/part living room as I have it now! Let me tell you how thrilled I am- I am itching to get going! I have to shift 4 rooms of furniture to get it to work- that's what I'll be doing the next few days :) Fun, fun, fun!

The Challenge and Design Boards

I've been following along with Miss Leila over at http://sewnbyleila.blogspot.com for the Sampler quilt along. There was no block this week, just tips and help for designing our own blocks. She challenged us to make a 4x4 block at the end of her post. It's one of those things that I am sure has been created at some point before, since quilting has been around for so long. But since I am new to the art, this is the design I thought of- I am calling it "Intermingling Pinwheels". There are 4 pinwheels, all turing around each other. I love pinwheels, so this just called to me. If anyone knows if this block has an "official" name, I'd love to know it :).

I also saw this darling tute over at http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/ - Miss Lori's blog. She is so fun and I love how she makes EVERYTHING c-u-t-e!! It makes me smile. I have already messed up several blocks between the cutting board and my sewing machine- so these mini design boards have come in very handy indeed! I finished them and began using them yesterday! LOVE them! They are 10" square and I am so excited to make more sizes!
Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine this weekend!

Happy Mail Day :)

I love it when I have a great reason to do the happy dance at the mailbox!! It was one of those days a couple of days ago---I got my Farmer's Wife Sampler book and my Material Obsessions 2 book! I will be making the Gypsy Kisses out of MO2 and will be working (probably forever) on the FWQAL :) It is way over my head, but I like to push myself, so there you go :) I am just having the darndest time picking out fabrics on the internet- gotta get to a LQS soon!Leila's Sampler quilt we are doing over at http://sewnbyleila.blogspot.com as a quilt along has been teaching me a lot- for instance, when I think a print is not "too busy" , it usually IS!! hehe! So it is good I am doing it before and as I will be going along on the Farmer's wife too- every little bit helps me :) Here's block 3 from this week! Even though it's busy, I still like it tons! I wanted a pink-a-lious quilt for a little girl, and I'll be getting one :) Love it!

Happy a sunny day and a 4th full of sunshine inside!!

Kermit's Path starts to look like a path :)

Miss Angela, over at http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com, has dubbed my version of her Zig Zag Quilt Along, Kermit's Path. And it finally started looking like a path yesterday! :) Yipee! I spent most of the day, that wasn't filled with kiddos and family, ironing, sewing, and ironing more :) I wound up with 20 "paths" of the same fabrics and 8 "paths" with different fabrics on either side of my Kona Basil. I worked out a really cute layout for it and am itching to see it laid out. BUT we gotta make cuts first and sew and iron more before the laying-it-out stage hits :) I'm trying so hard to be patient! Working on my other bazillion projects should keep me busy- HA!! Here's a few of my favorite "paths" to give you an idea of the Basil- I think I am gonna just go ga-ga over how it looks all put together! I am soooo going to love the darker backgroud :)

I have also been working on my folding- another one of Angela's amazing tutorials! It is easy, I just am really slow. I don't know why but I am not too lickety-split at it :) As long as it looks lovely like this, I am good :). Look at that Kona rainbow--Drool!!

Oh my merci-ness- I WON!!

Ok, let me preface this by saying, I rarely, if ever, win anything I need. Every once in a blue moon I will win a little something cute or fun, but it is hard for me to find a specific use for. Well, Miss Kaelin is having a wonderful quilt along over at http://theplaidscottie.blogspot.com/ and Pink Castle Fabrics sponsored a giveaway for foundation piecing papers. I really needed these since I want to follow along but make a slight variation to the quilt- more of a pickle dish shape in the end- and I don't have a clue how to paper piece! Since I needed them really bad- it's been on my "to buy" list for weeks now- I knew there was no way I could win. Fast forward to today... I went to the mailbox and found this -->

Oh my stars in the morning- for REAL!!!??!!! I was in shock! I flew inside to my computer and went straight to Kaelin's blog. I had been out of town the day she announced the winner but had tried keeping up with blogs on my phone. I think I saw the first winner and didn't even remember that there were 2 winners. What an awesome surprise that was to see my name there! Oh wow! I danced the Happy Dance and proceeded to squeal every few minutes for the rest of the afternoon. Every time I look at my desk, I get all smiley inside :) Thank you so much Kaelin and thank you Brenda of Pink Castle Fabrics!! I can hardly wait to get the fabric together to start!! And I get to learn something new!! Yipee all around!
This is what I have done lately- cut out almost 600 squares for the Hello Pickles quilt I am making using Karen's wonderful instructions! She's over at http://feistyeily.blogspot.com/ and she makes some beauties too! Stop on over and see the Christmas version of her original quilt that she's working on for Angela right now- it's YUMMY!! Makes me wish it was Nov.1- yes, I put up my Christmas tree that early :) It takes me 3 days- I have a 12' tree with an insane number of ornaments- so you gotta have some time to enjoy it :)! Sorry, I like tangents...
Then here is my second block for the We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler quilt along (you can follow along at http://sewnbyleila.blogspot.com/). It is a 9-block square and I wanted to try an O's and X's pattern to mine. It's harder to see with it all being pink, but the all being pink part is important, so that is what it had to be :). I like it, even though it is busy- it's pink, and that's what counts! And I really like the fabrics in this one!
I also got almost 100 green strips cut for Angela's Zig Zag quilt along over at http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/. She said I should call it Kermit's Path, and so it is! Love it! It's so sad that I will probably have to explain to it's recipient who Kermit is :)! He may be familiar with him through old VHS's, but so sad he's not still around on tv! It makes me smile and I am so excited to start piecing!!

Back to busy! Make like sunny today!

Binding!!

I worked all day today free motion quilting squares- more and more huge squares on my Bottled Rainbow quilt! And I LOVE it- oh, so much better than the loops ever dreamed of being :)! Yipee! It was worth unpicking for over 8 hours to be able to quilt it in lines. And it was my first line project too. I really like the look. I got the binding cut, sewn and stitched on the front. Now to pin the back and hand sew away :)!! hehe! I'll be busy tomorrow!
I can hardly wait to put in the the wash and watch it come out crinkly :)!! Oh, I have a hard time being patient! It will be worth the work- the colors just make me smile, and the Kona Ash with the lines on it look great! So excited!

Then I'll be on to my next project- or several at one time, probably :) Here's how my first block of 36, it was 3 a month, not 1, HA!, turned out. I love the Pink-ness! Going to be so much fun seeing all the pink in this one :)

That's my progress at the moment- wait a day or two and I'll have FINISHED Bottled Rainbow pictures- woot, woot!! :)

Ou la la and a big Oops!

Missing in action again- we wound up having a surprise weekend long vacation for a great- grandma's birthday. It was so nice to get away and just be together- hotels are magical places for kiddos :). So it was good, but now I'm back, ready to get going, big time, on these projects!

I finally have so pretty fabric to show :) Yipee! Here's the home decor weight fabric for the first bag I'm making with help from http://sweetbeebuzzings.blogspot.com/- keep your fingers crossed that it turns out alright- I'm a little nervous to try this :) But with such pretty colors, it will have to be cute!

Then here is the green fabric for the quilt along over with Angela at http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/! I'm doing a boy version of the zig zag quilt and had a request for shades of green, so here they are! Now the tough part is deciding if I dare put it on a white background or a soft green Kona shade. Hmmmm, any opinions???

Then for the Pickles quilt I am making from the lovely tutorial from http://fiestyeily.blogspot.com/, I had a request for wild, fun colors! I asked the lovely ladies at http://www.etsy.com/sewfreshfabrics to make me an "unafriad of color" bundle, but with less flowers. They were so wonderful to create this group, just perfect and so happy too :)!!
For the We can do it Sampler quilt at http://sewnbyleila.blogspot.com/, I am going to make an all-pink version- so excited about this! One block a month is completely do-able! Nice steady pace :) So here are my pinks- all ready to go -- yummy!

Then, for the quilt along with Jeni at http://incolororder.blogspot.com/, we are doing a warm/cool value quilt. On my list of "To make" quilts is an orange/aqua quilt, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity! I love some pictures I've seen on Flickr of orange and aqua value blocks, so this will be fun to see a whole quilt like that :)

These two fabrics are both favorites- the trains becuase trains have always been big at my house, and the campers are just perfect! We love camping and these cuties fit right in! I could buy a bolt of these :)
So now, cutting will keep me busy for a year! :) hehe! I have to seriously get busy on cutting to keep up with all my groups- off to Joanns to get a new rotary blade :) And lastly, I was so excited last Wednesday to quilt my Bottled Rainbows quilt. I had thought and thought about it and decided that loops would be a fatastic contrast to the "square-ness" of the blocks. Well, I got about a tenth of the way through and looked at it- it did NOT look good to me- I didn't like the contrast and it made me feel yucky inside. Oh dear! So I turned off the machine and grabbed my lovely seam ripper. I have picked for over 6 hours and have about 1/3 to go- oh dear!! I do not like it when I oops, especially on such a beloved quilt. But it will be the way that looks best by the time it's done- at least it's fixable, right?! :) Oh well, I'll get some more blisters and hopefully have it done by THIS weekend! HA!

Have a great start to the week! And enjoy the sunshine!