My Little Buttercup

Moda released a new line of fabrics in February and I fell in love with them at our LQS Saturday while waiting for the IMQG March meeting.

I came home with these

beautiful prints!  There are very few lines I have to have more than one print or color from.  These were just too gorgeous, soft, cottagey and feminine to pass up.

I don't have plans for them yet.  I just like looking at them and waiting to be inspired.

This is what happens when you're up late waiting for your college freshman to call you for a ride home from a cultural event.  Hubby sweets and Bean had already gone to bed and Middleman had agreed to ride to campus with me to pick Javi up.  Well, due to a miscommunication, Javi rode the shuttle bus home and forgot to call and tell us he wouldn't need a ride.

I had been playing around the with whirleygig applique and couldn't quite convince myself to work on it that late at night.  I started playing with scraps from my scrap box and my Stack-N-Whack fan ruler.  I cut cute little 3" Dresdens and started laying them out in a circle.  Didn't like the look of that and intimidated at how big the circle would be and how many I would have to cut.  

Laying on my cutting mat was a hexagon from the Jack's Chain wip.



This is what happened when I laid the Dresdens out in a hexagonal pattern.

I pressed a 1/4" seam on the sides of the Dresdens and only appliqued the top ones onto the white.  I like the 3-D effect it gives the block.  Then I cut out a hexagon that would fit in the middle and appliqued it on.

Voila!

I'm thinking of making four of these blocks and turning them into a table runner for Spring/Summer. 

These blocks are fun and fast to make and I definitely see more in my future!

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.  If you want to be inspired, encouraged and see some fresh, happy projects in the works...head on over!

Sending you happy thoughts and sunshiney weather!

Learning Curve

I'm trying to learn Paint with the pictures I take.

This is a first try so I can identify and credit pictures I like and store for inspiration.

These are my great-great-great-grandparents.

I'll need to go fix the picture after a phone call to my mom this morning.  I didn't have enough "greats" in there!

lol

Okay, I'm diggin' this!  I've been looking for a way to edit pictures since I got this new computer.  Thanks to Javi for being out so late I need to stay awake to go pick him up!

'Night all!

Random Bits of Quiltey Goodness

Still looking for this in person before I buy.  I have to touch, feel, see a fabric before I commit to it.

I'm just that kinda gal.

Beautiful quilt scammed from cyberspace.  Thought it very appropriate for the month of March.

Also shamelessly scammed inspiration.

(if you know who these belong to, can you please leave a comment? I want to give credit and see if they have tutorials! thanx!)

Theresa showcases a super cute skirt on her blog.

Another beautiful small quilt with no identifying quilter.  Ratz.

What was I thinking when I scanned them in, but didn't note their origins?

Yum.  Yum.  Yum!

Cutaway Applique-The Itsy, Bitsy Spider

Like I don't have enough to do or going on in my world...

On Fridays our homeschool co-op meets and I have about four hours where I can work on something off and on.  I clean the "cafeteria" and play "enforcer" for a junior high class during this time.  During play practice for the high school students, I get to chat with grown-ups, but hate not having any hand work.  (well, okay, there is a crochet blanket for Middleman, but I'm not in the mood right now)

Here's where once again, I prove how insane I am.

Isn't this just the most gorgeous and fun quilt ever!

It's from Quilts with a Spin by Becky Goldsnith and Linda Jenkins.

Found this awesome book at Half Price Books for $5.98/listing price $24.95.

It calls for a technique called "cutaway applique" and has pretty good instructions on how to do this block.  This is one time Google is not my best friend.  I looked for other tips, hints, how to's or tutorials, and couldn't find any.  Bummer.  Guess I'm on my own unless any of you know where to find such a treasure.

Okay, so maybe this is too light?  lol

You make two templates from the pattern provided in the book.  A full template and one of the



shaded only area.  I got this!

And voila!  There is a nifty, eight legged spider looking thingey that crawled onto the Pat Bravo fabric!  LOL

The next step is to trace, carefully, around the template onto my chosen fabric.  Which will probably be a light fabric since I can't find my pencil for dark fabrics (wonder where that went?  hmmmmm!) and as I'm still in my jammies, I'm not going out just for a pencil.

We never really get a spring break here.  Haven't for the last three years.  Having kids in different schools (public, private, homeschool and now college) means three different spring break weeks.  Add a hubby who is at his busyiest and...well.  Last week was BSU's break, this week is public school and next week is private school kid's break.

We're just doing co-op and homeschool work this week and next week we'll take a break from homeschool stuff and just do public and co-op.  Make sense?  LOL  Yeah.  I know.

Hope the day treats you well and that Life is good to you!

Quilts for Comfort Sashing

The ladies at the IMQG made Criss Cross blocks for me.  My month was January, and I've gotten enough back now to make up one of the quilts I'm donating to a cancer patient through our cancer center.

I went with oranges and a hint of aqua in this HST block.

I've been waiting for the rest of the blocks to come because originally, I wanted to have two quilts with 12 blocks each.  I consulted with my mom about what size quilt she thinks works best when she has her treatment.  You can see the quilt I made for her here.

We agreed a lapsize of only nine blocks would be a better fit.

No dragging the ground in the treatment center (yuck!) and not a lot of bulk to wrestle with your IV.

So, out came the boxes of blue scraps to make sashing.  I still have two sides to sash, then choose a border, but the sun was shining today and I wanted to get some pictures.

Waiting for the Beanster to finish a page in his book and come help me take pictures outside.

Moda Snippets, Henna Garden, Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Sandi Henderson, FMF...um too many to remember and name! 

All scraps from other projects or quilts waiting to be made.

You can see the side I need to add sashing to.  A lot of the blues came from KT and projects she's done through the years.  Thanks bud!

When all the blocks come in, I should have at least enough now for two good sized lap quilts with six blocks left over.  I will probably make up another three for three quilts to donate.  Not to mention other blocks donated by bloggy friends to become Quilts for Comfort for more cancer patients.

Hoping the sunshine smiles on you today too!

Robert Koffman Challenge

~Sending out prayers for Japan.~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

American Patchwork & Quilting's April 2009 issue browsed through at MIL's house a month or two ago. I had just signed up to receive a free charm pack from the IMQG for the Robert Koffman Modern Quilt Guild Challenge.

Our guild chose the bright pack of Kona solids and gave us a theme of "Spring". There were some questions as to what other fabrics you could use, but general consensus was the sky's the limit.

This is the inspiration for my quilt. It's called Color Cues and when I saw it in the magazine, I just knew this was what I wanted to make.

What a great way to showcase the fabrics and keep in the spirit of "modern" quilting.

Here is what I had accomplished by Saturday. I've since added the borders. I'm not a big teal person and took my blocks to Joann's to audition other colors of Kona for the sashing and borders. I settled on "Maize" and love the brightness that still lets the colors pop.

Thinking maybe there ought to be a flickr group for the challenge...hmmm.
Going to go look if there is right now.

Blessings to you and yours.
Please join Lee at Freshly Peiced WIP Wednesday to check out some other fabulous in the works quilts and projects!

Persian Garden

Last Thursday, I broke out of my routine and went shopping at Joann's and Hobby Lobby.  Just didn't want to go back to the house after dropping Middleman at school. 

I found some beautiful fabric at both places that played well together, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them.

A couple of years ago, I bought this book

Quick and Easy Romantic Quilts

by

Sandy Berry.

I love the designs in this book and made one of them for Javi's graduation.  That picture is on my other laptop, but you can see it at the link.

This is another of my favorites I wanted to try.

A variation of a blooming nine patch.

I started cutting fabric last Friday and Saturday KT arranged for she and I to spend most of the day Saturday just sewing at a LQS. 

(She's having a giveaway on her blog right now!)

This is my interpretation of Sandy Berry's Anastasia' Dream.

I'm calling it Persian Garden.

It reminds me of one of our Persian rugs!  lol

I started out with a purple polka dot in the middle and added the material from Joann's and Hobby Lobby.

You strip piece the 4" x 4" nine patches and blend them with same size fabric blocks.  Blending or contrasting as you like.  It measures about 61" x 72" inches and will make a colorful and springey quilt to cuddle under.

The black was way out of my color comfort zone.  But it's so beautiful!

The light, flowery fabric towards the center was the first fabric I saw and the black, flowery just begged to be paired with it.  The pink and blue fabrics I already had in my stash.  The paisley, aqua and black on the edges bought to finish out the quilt.

I just finished it today and am already thinking about what kind of a back to make.

Diamonds?

Later that night, KT's family and mine went to Half Price Books in Indy where hubby sweets bought me a new book.

(sorry for the flash, I'm so lame!)

Quilts with a Spin

by

Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins.

This was one of the patterns that caught my eye.

Along with this one I am dying to try!

Don't they look yummy!

Sew happy I finished up the top so quickly.  I was really motivated by the sunshine we had the last couple of days.  Except for today.  When it was finished and ready for pictures!  lol

Thanks to Middleman for braving the height of the coffee table to help me snap a picture.

Here he is with his 15th birthday present.  He's been playing and taking lessons since September and amazes me.  He plays by ear and has learned to read guitar music.  Which, I'm told, is different from other kinds of music...like the piano and trombone he's played.

He's growing his hair out to join the keepers on his soccer team.  He would like to keep this year or in the future.  Except for one, all the other boys have long hair.

Sigh.

Signing off to go start on the back!

Spring is...well..springing!



Blogging Vampirism....

is all I seem capable of right now.

LOL

You know, reading through my blog list and totally sucking whatever color, excitement and vitality out of them that I can...

without responding...

without blogging myself.

(disclaimer, I am commenting, just not faithfully as I normally do...I am a commenting freak)

My world is all about gray, brown and white right now.  In one week we had school delays for icy roads, snow dumps closing schools and getting out of bed at 2:30 in the morning for tornadoes.  Blah!  Monday, I needed a boat to get out of our neighborhood.

I do have some perennials starting to peek through. 

So I know it can't last much longer.

I am working on a flimsy right now.

In between...well, you know what I do, there's no need to list it.

I have three more months of cab driving and shuttle service before summer vacation kicks in.

I'm working to have it ready for photos to post on Friday since it's spring break for co-op and I will have time to post.

I leave you with this promise of spring... 

It's just around the corner!