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!

What a week!

Last night that white stuff started falling again. It is always so beautiful to me to see snow fall since I grew up in So. Cal.   It has never gotten old to me to watch out a window to see the snow fall.  This is what it looked like this a.m. outside one of my windows.  Just when I was thinking yesterday how all the snow was about gone from the street and driveway.

On Monday, when we had a nice day, I went for a walk with my new ipod.  Have to say, I am LOVING that thing!  I can listen to music, podcasts and I even found old time radio classics that are free to download.  I love to listen to those old  mysteries.  I listen to one the other day that was recorded over 70 years ago!  

Anyway.  Back to my lovely walk.  

It was lovely until I woke up the next day with a sore throat.  

Then the following day came a full-blown flu.  Oh my.  I haven't been sick in forever so this really put me down for the count.  I laid on the floor as close as I could in front of the fireplace to get myself warm for most of the morning and slept.  Finally I decided I would be more comfortable in bed so I dragged myself there after trying to talk myself into getting up off of the floor for about an hour.  Slept until the Honey came home.  

Felt a bit better yesterday but today I feel pretty much back to my old self so this is what I have been doing this a.m.  Blah.  The house has been neglected this week and needed some loving care.

This is where I really want to be though.....

......finishing the bottom block and then working on another.  These blocks are from the jelly roll sampler and the round robin that I talked about in my earlier post.  

How about one more thing to make.......

On my sidebar you might have noticed I added a couple of quilt-alongs.  I thought that other quilters might want to join and if you are like me and only read blogs through google reader, you probably haven't noticed the additions.  The first one is a jelly roll sew along.  Go here and join in on the fun!  During the next few months, we will be making a jelly roll sampler quilt!  Who doesn't have a few jelly rolls in their possession and are looking for ways to make them into a fun quilt?!  The first block was presented just today so none of us are behind.  A new block will be available every two weeks.

The other fun sew-along is a Round Robin with a twist.  There won't be any sewing and then passing on your portion of the quilt.  We will all make our own Round Robin quilt.  This sew-along has already started (and I am behind) but you can join any time.  I think it will be a fun quilt to use up some of that fabric that I have just laying around and I can't quit buying.  Go here to see the center block.

It's not like I don't have other patterns and books full of ideas of what to make next but these two sew-alongs looked fun and I couldn't resist.  Let me know if you join too!

Semi-annual Ace sale!

Drove over to K-town this a.m. for the "big" sale. See that fabric? It was $1.60 yard. Yup. Michael Miller, Red Rooster, Alexander Henry, Northcott. All good, quilty quality fabric. I will use it for backs on quilts. The books and patterns were either $.80 (yes--under a dollar) or $1.60.
It's always a fun sale to attend----so glad our "local" Ace carries fabric!

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.

Yup. Still Winter.

Been snowing off and on for the past several days around here. I guess we should say that it's about time--we haven't had much snow this year. Just wish it wasn't coming so late in the season.  I am ready to be warm again!

And here are the Aqua/Red blocks.  I have only sewn them into blocks.  Not sure now what to do with them so I have put them away again and have started a new project.  At least I got this far with them!

Red Aqua

In trying to keep up on my desire of getting old projects finished, I pulled out my swapped red/aqua disappearing 9 patch blocks. These are from a swap that Jane hostessed a few months ago. Not sure what I am going to end up with but here are some of the ideas I have had. I am leaning towards #4 but maybe that is just because it is still on the design wall and would be easy to sew together. It has been hard trying to decide what to do since some blocks had the aqua in the middle and others have the red. Some blocks are not even in the colors either they used. It's definitely going to be a bright quilt no matter what I end up with!
I like the blocks having the red on the outside but I don't have enough of these blocks to make the quilt very big.

Red blocks on the outside and aqua on the inside.

Red, then aqua blocks.

A mixture of both colors in each block.