A quilt for a friend....

My daughter is making a new quilt. Her friend was recently diagnosed with cancer and she is aggressively trying to stop it in it's tracks. This quilt is for her. Middle daughter looked through many patterns before settling on this one designed by Natalia Bonner. You can find the free pattern here. She will put different words on it for her friend. I'm excited to see this quilt come together! It has been a pattern that is on my "to make in the future" list. I am loving it!

 

After 2 years.........

.......she's done! Yea for middle child!!!! This quilt is made up of blocks from 2 different BOM's. The green/purple were from 2010 and the peachy color blocks were finished in 2009. Middle child has several blocks that she didn't like so she decided to combine them all together....whether she liked the color scheme or not she was going to make it all work. Don't we get like that sometimes where we just want to say we are finished with a project and it doesn't matter anymore?!

I like the end result!

 

The reaction

Okay so if I am being honest....the lil' man's reaction is probably more for the toy trucks than the quilt but I had to share.

 

Now on to other quilty things. This year, along with many other bloggers, I am going to try to use use up what I already have. I have several quilt kits that I have bought from years pass that are just taking up space. I hope to make several of them in 2011. I have time today to go through my stash and pick one of those kits to start working on. I hope this won't be too hard of a resolution for me to keep!

Today's the day!

The lil' guy is 4 today! Here are his gifts from Grammie and Grampie. He came over a few weeks ago---ran into the house and just stopped in his tracks, staring at the design wall. Finally he asked me where the truck blocks were since they weren't on the wall anymore. He will be surprised to see them made into a quilt just for him. Of course I know he will be excited to play with the toy trucks! He is definitely all boy! Happy Birthday lil' man! I am so happy you are in my life!

 

Here comes the Convoy!

My dil had an emergency appendectomy a couple of weeks ago. While at the hospital she found out she was pregnant! I have been watching these two lil' ones so she can rest. It has been fun and crazy!

This was my high chair when I was a baby. I have used it for all of my kids and now we are on to the grandkids using it. Yes.......it needs a new strap to keep the munchkin in. I think he was trying to get out because I was taking too long to find him something else to eat. :)

 

And lil' man is dancing because he is so excited that he could help Grammie decorate the Christmas tree! I love the excitement and energy of these lil' ones!

 

Speaking of CRAZY.....I am finally finishing this Buggy Barn pattern called Convoy. It is for the oldest's birthday. Am changing the pattern so it will fit on his bed. It has to be done this weekend so I can get on with Christmas and fun times! It's our year to have all the kids home so the Honey and I are excited!

 

Gettin' it done!

Here's a couple of more pictures of what I am working on. By the time you read this, it will be finished! Yea! Deadline will be met!

Friday afternoon.

 

Friday evening.

 

And?????? Can't show anymore....need some surprise for Christmas in case his mommy sees this!

A new quilt and new toys!

Am working on this right now. Suppose to be to the quilter tomorrow. :) I'm not too worried. It's going to be a Snuggle blanket. My idea is to make each grandbaby a small quilt, add a few books, then tell their parents that these are "snuggle" quilts....snuggle up in them and read. I loved the panel with the animals on it when I saw it in the LQS but it wasn't until I got it home and really studied it, that I saw none of the animals were in a perfect circle. It's going to bug me but hopefully the little one getting this quilt won't care when he is older.

 

I had seen these lil' gadgets before but didn't think I needed one until I was at the Utah State Quilt Guild show and heard someone started walking by a booth I was in, stopped in her tracks, picked up one of these and told the booth owner that she saw they were carrying her most favorite seam ripper. Of course my friend and I had to each buy one after hearing her rave about it! They are called The Wizz Ripper Gripper. I can't get the website to work but here is a review of it. And another review. Here is a great price for it! Don't know anything about this site though so be careful if you order it from there.

 

Just put it near your sewing machine and you can rip apart each block as you chain piece. It also comes out of the heart so you can even rip apart your mistakes.....not that I would ever need to use it that way......umprgh.....yea right.....just had to do it a few minutes ago.

 

This was priced right so I picked up this lil' light so I can clip it to my embroidery hoop when I stitch in the evenings. Haven't tried it yet but I hope it will be a great tool for these old eyes of mine!

 

Now back to sewing!

Halloween Swap quilt

I finally got this one to the quilter. I was in a swap last year with ladies from around the world. It was fun to get the finished blocks back and see where everyone was from. Since it was so long ago, I hope I can find where I put all the names/areas of each participant so they can go on the quilt label.

 

Instead of using new fabric for the back I decided to use up the last of the Halloween fabric I had. Also put my extra blocks from the swap on the back. I'm trying to use up my fabric!

 

Back from the quilter

And I'm very pleased with the quilting. I was very specific this time in telling the quilter I wanted black thread on the black. She did a chicken wire on the black to go along with the fabric.

 

Jelly Roll Sampler Quiltalong almost done!

Have been working on my last blocks for the Sampler Quilt that you make from a jelly roll. It has been a fun online quilt-a-long! If you didn't play along, all the blocks and instructions are on Konda's blog. Just click the highlighted words above. I used Summer's Basket of Flowers by Moda to make all the blocks. Now to even up all the blocks and put it together! So nice to be able to use up an old jelly roll!

 

 

 

Valley Fabric BOM

It's been snowing all day--not very Springy at all, so I decided to get out my March BOM and finish it. It is the one from our LQS and will only cost me $6 if I attend each meeting for the rest of the year. We only have to pay for the first month and then if we bring our completed block back the next month, we get the new one free.
January Block

February Block

March Block

Here they are all together.  Still haven't sat down to finish the words on the blocks.  I'm afraid that might be put off until the end of the year.

Cutting Mats

Last week I was reading an email that came my way about the differences in cutting mats.  I had heard about the self-healing vs. the hard surface mat but never paid much attention to them since I just assumed I "needed" the self-healing mat that everyone seems to use.

Well I was in Wal-Mart soon after reading that email and decided to see if they had a hard surface mat.  Yes, they did.  June Tailor makes it.  I decided to buy one (the biggest one they had--23"x23") and see what I thought after reading that your cutting blades will not dull as quickly.  (If you are thinking that my blade is dull right now, you would be correct)  Wow.  It does feel different when you cut.  Much more smooth when you cut and I am not pushing down so hard to cut.  I think I am going to like this new mat.  Will have to look for a bigger one though to fit my table.

Finished Block 2 of my Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt.  Am loving this mystery quilt!

Meet Me in the Meadow

I have LOVED this fabric since the first day I saw it last year! It's called Meet Me in the Meadow by Jill Finley for Henry Glass fabrics. When I fall in love with a fabric collection I usually buy a 1/2 yard of each fabric I want. I had just enough to make a crib size quilt but I am thinking that I might buy a bit more so I can make at least 3 more blocks. That way I would have a bigger wall hanging. But why stop there???? Maybe I will just keep going and make more blocks for a lap quilt or even a bed quilt! I'm telling ya...this fabric just makes me smile. The yellow is not from the same line. 1/2 yard was not enough for the stars so I ended up using Regency Rose by Laurie Bird for Windham fabrics. I love the white polka dots on it.
The pattern is Orion's Star by Eleanor Burns. I hadn't really made any quilts by Eleanor before making my Day and Night quilt but I like how she teaches and there is a picture for each step so if you are a beginner or haven't yet tried some new quilting step, she walks you through it quite clearly. It's a quick pattern to make. One of those "Quilt in a Day" pattern that Eleanor is famous for.