Building Blocks

A few things I’ve been working on.

My October Stash Busting Bee block for Vintage Fern.

A quilt top assembled from a Quilt Block Exchange.

I’ve been making these scrap log cabins, some are monochromatic and some are wild. I was thinking it would end up as two quilts but I tried to see what integrating them would look like. It’s not bad (if I make one more, that is).

Happy Halloween. Boo!

Sing it Sister

I found this blog post via Park City Amy’s blog. This Amy says it so well. I’m thinking of joining her “Moments” group. What do you think?

Where have I been?

Absentminded mostly. Juggling lots of things, large and small and neglecting my blog. Anyway, to catch up…

The ladies quilting weekend was once again heavenly. We had a full house, amazing gals, food, wine and sewing morning til night. These are some of my acquisitions from the trip.

I quilted my two tops from the Old Red Barn first quilt-a-long. I’ll post pictures when I finish the bindings in a few days. I also completed two tops from existing blocks for charity quilts. It was nice to get these WIPs moving forward.

Here’s some eye candy from our spectacular fall day yesterday. Beautiful leaves and plenty of wood for the winter. It’s all good.

Playing with Red, White and Black

I got a late start on Becca’s September Stash Busting Bee blocks so I made some extra ones as atonement. Her focus fabric was the retro kitchen print and she loves wonky log cabins. She also sent some of the large red checks. I found some nice coordinates from the shirting fabrics that I received. I’ve also been playing with Metro Market and Mingle which was perfect. I made the requested 10.5″ block and four 5.5″ blocks.

Here’s my Metro Market and Mingle project… placemats, ready to be quilted.

And just because I can’t resist a wonky log cabin or a cute chicken print…

maybe it will be a trivet for a placemat set. Isn’t it cool how the chicken on the left seems to have his backside completed by the swirls in the black print? Totally random, I swear.

Quilters Connecting Quilt

Thanks again Amy, for hosting the Bloggers Quilt Festival!

I’m writing about my Scrappy Squares quilt because it made me feel connected to the online quilting world. I saw this quilt on Flickr and fell in love. It was a match made in heaven because I have a hard time throwing away even the smallest pieces of fabric. Thus my first scrap quilt was born. I made up the pattern myself and it had a few kinks along the way.

Next, Liza from Quiltifications decided to make it in black and white along with her friend Beth doing a brown and teal colorway. Their two quilts are here. Liza worked up the design in EQ and eliminated the annoying y-seam problem that I created for myself.

Then Lisa emailed me and asked about the pattern. Liza was kind enough to pass it on and Lisa made another terrific quilt.

I am so encouraged and inspired by the online quilting community. I’m continually amazed by the support and talent of the people out there. It’s nice when we can connect a little bit more. Thanks to all of you. Now off to the festival for me!

It’s A Piece of Cake

This is my cake from the “Idiom” challenge for my quilt guild show. I sent the image of my cake painting to Spoonflower to have it transferred onto fabric. Then I appliqued on top of it and set it into the still life. It was fun to play with the patterns and shapes. I like working in this smaller, narrative-type format.

The guild show was a success, the quilts were fabulous and attendance was up. And late Sunday afternoon, I got a very pleasant surprise…. my Blooming Nine Patch was awarded Second Place in Viewer’s Choice for large quilts! I now have a very impressive ribbon to hang in my sewing room. Pretty cool.

And lastly, my quilters getaway weekend is in 9 days!! WooHoo!!