Finished!!

Three for three! I've finished my 3rd UFO Challenge project in as many months! If you know me, this is totally unexpected! I'm the one with 2 stacks

of finished tops never to be heard from again! Yet,

Judy's encouragement has some sort of magic effect on me and I'm actually finishing projects!

I loved this quilt top, begun in 2008 at a "Strip Club" (tee-hee) in Sacramento. Why didn't I finish it? Same reason as always: I hate to pin! Love to piece, love to quilt, love to hand stitch binding, hate to pin! And another thing I did that is astonishing: I marked this quilt before I quilted it! I don't like to mark (takes too much time for a peddle-to-the-metal quilter like me--that, and the fact that I've always had trouble "coloring inside the lines") so I'd rather just wing it with free-motion quilting. Here's a little detail of my "fancy" quilting for this quilt though:

Once again, thanks to Judy for the support! (Peer pressure from the other fabulous quilters on Judy's blog doesn't hurt either!)

Designs Galore!

I've had quite a bit of time to quilt this week! With all the rain we've had (over double normal for the month of March and there's lots of flooding) I'd rather be in than out so it's been perfect.

I did some hand-applique on my DH's Civil War quilt borders. . .

I also started another hand-applique project:

They're not sewn down yet but the freezer paper/starch method I love has them all ready to be.

And this beautiful stack of Civil War fabric (took me a while but I'm hooked on the colors and 'flavor' of it) are for a June Mystery Retreat my quilting buddies and I will be going to.

Check out what everyone else has on THEIR design walls over at Judy's Blog.

Stash Report March 27

As I mentioned last week, my quilt guild's quilt show was last weekend and like a good little quilter, I supported our vendors. I'm signed up for our annual mystery retreat in northern California and found some lovely Civil War prints just right for it. Aren't they pretty?!

But I did work on 3 projects that used a total of 1 1/2 yards so I wasn't all bad. Two were applique projects which used tiny pieces but I did have fun with my new ruler gadget and used up a Charm Pack plus borders.

Fabric added this week: 8.25

Fabric used this week: 1.5

Fabric added YTD: 63.75

Fabric used YTD: 53.25

Total: -10.50

Go on over to Judy's Blog and see how everyone else's done this week?

New gadget!

I bought a new ruler-gadget at our quilt show yesterday and tried it out today. It's the Lil' Twister ruler and here's my progression through the process:

You take 5" squares (perfect for charm packs of which I have many!) and make 9-patches out of them.

Add a 3" frame around them making a 14" block.

You take this little 3 1/2' Lil' Twister ruler and lining up the lines on the ruler with the seams you've just sewn, slice up the nice little blocks leaving this behind:

But what you get are these cute 12 1/2" pinwheel blocks that would make a lovely baby quilt, which is what I'm making this for--

You might think there's a lot of waste but you can cut the remaining scraps into 2 1/2" squares. I used 36, 5" squares for this quilt center so have 36, 2 1/2" squares to use for the border or whatever. They also make a larger one of these rulers to use with "layer cake" charms. I think I might buy one!

Oh, and I spent 2 1/2 hours on this project. I plan to add sashing and borders and am thinking about making it Minkee!

Stash Report March 20

We had a terrific storm last night and our electricity has been out until now so I couldn't post!

As I reported last week, my quilt guild's quilt show was this weekend. Since I won't be shopping until later today, I have ZERO additional fabric for this week! However, we are encouraged to "make our vendors happy" so we do like to buy from them and I intend to comply.

I quilted my UFO, completed by BOM and prepared applique leaves for my Civil War quilt so didn't use much fabric--only 1/4 yard for the binding for my UFO and 1/4 for the leaves. I don't use a double binding, only single, cutting 1 1/4" strips. I learned that in a Darlene Zimmerman finishing class. Most of my quilts are for show and won't get a lot of use so why struggle with double binding? Of course, if it's for a college kid or a baby or a quilt that will get a LOT of use and washing, double it up. Otherwise, save your fabric and make it easy on yourself, especially if you're doing a curvy or wavy edge you'll be cutting on the bias!

Stats:

Fabric added this week: 0

Fabric used this week: .5

Fabric added year to date: 55.25

Fabric used year to date: 51.75

Totals: -3.75

DWM--Vernal Equinox!

First things first: go to this blog and vote for Judy for “Best Author” in the 2011 Golden Quilter Awards--

http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/

...OK. . .

Welcome to Spring! It's official no matter what the weather's like where you are, yesterday at 4:20 PDT, spring officially began. And here's Henreitta Whiskers pulling her cart full of yummy acorns on a windy, spring day on Acorn Lane. This is the 3rd block in Bunny Hill Designs BOM and I'm loving the hand applique, embroidery and embellishments that make these blocks (by Anne Sutton) so charming.

I've also been working on the borders for the Civil War quilt I'm making my husband. I took your advice from last week's post, and will be appliqueing the 150 leaves in an alternate pattern along the vines on the borders. Thanks for your almost unanimous vote!

Borders on my Design Wall

So, which do you like better for the vine and leaf borders

for the Civil War quilt I'm making for my husband: leaves adjacent to each other like the sample on the left or alternating like the ones on the right?

You're seeing the vine just pinned up there and paper leaves, also pinned, but you get the idea. I'm planning on hand appliqueing 150 leaves around the border to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the historic conflict using at least 50 different fabrics. It's truly a labor of love and I'm really enjoying making it!

Check out what everyone else has on their design walls on Judy's blog!