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I am currently trying to finish Selene's quilt. As I am attaching the border, I am wondering how it should be quilted. I find deciding how to quilt something a lot harder than putting it together. I find myself wondering "what if I mess it up?" Does anyone have any ideas? I think I will have to experiment with free motion quilting or something. It won't hurt anything. Practice is what I need and practice is what I am going to get.
As usual, I have several works in process (a.k.a. WIP). This week I have a lot to accomplish.
1. I have finished my items for the Martha Stewart Good Things Swap hosted by Katie Jean. It was due in the mail yesterday, but I didn't make it to the post in time and then I didn't make the 7:00 pm cut-off time for UPS either. Today, we are buried in snow, so I as soon as we get dug out, I will send the package.
2. I am in the process of picking out fabrics for the Spring Fling. I have several patterns that I am considering for the 8" block. Nine of the them to be exact. I was looking at the patterns on the Quilters Cache and originally picked out about 20 different patterns. The only problem is that some of them require paper piecing and I have never done that. I need to learn. I'm told that it is relatively easy to learn. Maybe I will try that for the Spring round of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. If you haven't already, you should give it a try and sign up.
Here are some of my picks:
Double Quartet,Posy Chain,Shooting Squares,On Target Star,Wandering Star,Quatrefoils,Pieced Tulips,Castles in Spain,and Forest Paths.
3. I have cut out the pieces to the apron I am making for the Sassy Apron Swap. I am making it with Butterick pattern B5125. I am making it out of a light weight denim and then I am going to applique a flower or some other springy design on it.
It is a good thing that the girls have a week off from cheer practice. It is giving us some much needed rest from the two nights a week of practice. I am taking advantage of the time after they are in bed to have a little more Mommy time.
Isn't this the cutest quilt? I know my girls would love to receive this little quilt along with their Easter bunnies. If you hop on over to Oh, Fransson!, you will see where Elizabeth has graciously provided us with a pattern and tutorial for this quilt. Thanks Elizabeth!
I would like to send out a very special birthday greeting to Eric.
Eric is a good family friend and the God Father to our girls.
What can I say about Eric? Well, I met him over 20 years ago when I was a sophomore in college. From day one, he was a good friend/brother. He is married to my best friend Heidi who was my college roommate (pictured with him above). They are currently living in Africa and teaching at a school there. Eric is very kind,thoughtful and patient person. Besides my hubby and my Dad, he is one man I look up to. No question that I ask is too silly for Eric. He can go from grilling or talking sports with B one minute, to playing with the girls the next. We couldn't ask for a better person to be a part of our family.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!
WE LOVE YOU!
If you haven't done so already, hop on over to Sew Mama Sew for quilt month.
I'm going to toot my little horn for just a second because they highlighted this quilt that I made for my nephew. Toot! Toot!
I decided that I would work on the design of my blog. So far, so FUN! I want something pink because PINK is after all my absolute FAVORITE color! Not to mention the fact that I am the proud Mother of three girls who also LOVE pink. But I am not so sure about the layout. So if you are checking out my blog and you are thinking that things look different, you are right!
Yesterday I signed up for this Spring Fling Round Robin hosted by Margaret. She is also the person who led the Four Seasons Quilt Swap I was involved in. I am soooo excited! I think it is going to be a lot of fun! Margaret is going to divide us up in to groups of 4. Each one of us will do each of 4 steps and then send the quilt on to another person. In the end, each person will receive a mini quilt that is the callaborative effort of four quilters. I believe there are still openings if you would like to sign up.
As you know I participated in the Winter Edition of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. Check out what Mr. Postman brought me!! The quilt I received is from Alice. She calls it "All Ends Have a Beginning! Take a look at this! It is BEAUTIFUL!! I like the colors. I like the stained glass effect. I can't imagine all the work she put in to it. It is a wonderful addition to my collection. Thanks Alice!!
I also want to send out a special thanks to Margaret for hosting the swap. I know she put in a lot of time and effort in to making it enjoyable for all of us.
**photograph taken by Alice
I participated in the Winter Quilt Swap hosted by Margaret. I had a really hard time figuring out what type of quilt to make. I tried a Kaffe Fasset inspired quilt. I cut all the sqares and never sewed them together. Then I tried another design which involved strip piecing. I sewed that one together and then had to cut some triangles to sew on to the edges and ended up cutting one of them the wrong size. I didn't have any more of the fabric I needed and I wasn't going to make yet another run to the fabric store. But guess what, I ended up doing just that. At Joann's, they had a new line of fabric by quilting expert/auther M'Liss Rae Hawley. I mixed her cat themed prints with some other fabric I had at home. I have enjoyed watching M'Liss on various quilting shows on PBS and when I saw she had a line of fabric out, I wanted to check it out. It is pretty fabric. I like the shades of pink, burgandy and green. So, I went and bought several pieces of the fabric and stared at it for a couple of days. Hmmm, what to do? What to do? Then I was flipping through one of the quilting catalogs I receive in the mail and saw a log cabin type quilt and I based the pattern on that. The inspiration quilt was 64x64 and used more fall type colors. I made my own pattern sized to make it a doll quilt and this is what I ended up with.
Front
Back
I pieced together the back and added a row of rick rack for fun. The thing that caused me the most pain was the binding. Oh my goodness was that a nightmare! The scallops are pretty, but binding around them wasn't fun for me and I hate to say it, but I didn't do the best job on the binding. I hope my partner understands that I am a beginner as far as binding goes and is kind enough to forgive. I was so nervous about who my partner was because she quilts A LOT and her quilts are BEAUTIFUL! Now that I am thinking about it, I should have just cut off the scallops. Boy oh boyyyyy why am I just now thinking of that? Oh well, live and learn right? And even though I had problems with the binding, I am proud of this little quilt and I hope my partner likes it. I do! I almost hated to send it after all of the hard work I put in to it.
I am really looking forward to the spring quilt exchange. The wheels in my head are already turning!
