Crooked Little Houses

Yesterday was exciting!  Not only did Bullseye go out in the mail to California, but so did Miss Kay's Puppy Dog baby quilt!  It's measured out to be 39" square when it was all done and the pieced binding turned out well.  As always, my photography skills need a lot of work but you get the idea. 

Hand quilting in perle cotton floss is always fun, but this time, I made the stitches a little bigger to match the bigger blocks.  I took a chance on using brown floss instead of the blue I really wanted to use and I'm pleased with the results.  Actually, I was so excited about being done with it that I forgot to wipe away the yellow and white chalk marks before I took the photos.  LOL    There are no labels for this quilt, which is how Kay wanted it.  The family hasn't picked a name for their new little one yet, so I offered to add a patch to the back later on if they decide they want one.

My paper piecing rulers and other supplies will be here tomorrow!  Christmas in August!  Not really.  Our 16th wedding anniversary is coming up and after 16 years, you run out of things to buy for each other.  So, I told Eagle1 that I would rather save the money he would normally spend on a gift for something I could use in the craft room later on and he was cool with that, which is how I didn't get yelled at for buying paper piecing stuff!  ;-) 

 

While scrolling through my FB feed for a quilting group I belong to, I saw a link to a scrappy log cabin quilt that was just stunning.  I've never made a log cabin block before even though I do think they are pretty.  They just seem too "organized" and planned out to me.  I like a bit more chaos in my piecing and if I can use up scraps without cutting or waste, I'm there!  I have a whole WM bag full of strip scraps just begging to be used, so round and round in log cabin fashion, the first of many Crooked Little Houses was born.  I think it would be fun to make a few blocks that don't sit quite square, maybe cant one way or another, or to just truly use the strips as they lay without squaring them up.  Maybe for another quilt.  One bit of chaos at a time. 

Happy Stitching!

Ribbons! Ribbons! Ribbons! at the County Fair

The little "Simply Woven" quilt took second place at the County Fair this year!  For someone who rarely wins anything, to say that I'm super happy is an understatement.  I really need to come up with a new name for it though, as "Simply Woven" is really the name of the pattern.  No matter what I end up calling it, I really do like how this one turned out so I think I'll keep it to brighten up the sewing room wall. 

I also entered "Ribbon Candy" in the Christmas category, which took second and my oldest son's patriotic bed quilt in the Red, White and Blue category.  His quilt took first place!  We were really happy with that win until we got his quilt home and found two holes in it that weren't there when I turned it in to the fair coordinators.  :-( The damage really stole the happiness away.  I don't have much experience mending quilts, but he loves it so much that not fixing it is really not an option.   

The remodeling of the two largest bedrooms is now complete after 6 weeks of work.  Eagle1 helped me with our son's room but I had to work on the master bedroom alone due to his work schedule.  To be finished with them is such a relief, not only because of the stress of having the house in disarray, but because I really missed having time to work on fun things. 

This week I'm working on a stroller quilt for a baby shower in Illinois.  I think I mentioned in an earlier post that my friend Kay bought a quilt for a pregnant friend a few months ago. 

The new mommy was very happy with her gift and Kay asked me to make another quilt for her other friend who is going to have a baby boy in a few months.  For me, the biggest compliment for my work is when someone offers to buy one of them.  :-)

I can pick fabric for little girls all day long, but when it comes to boys, my brain goes numb.  Trying to balance the need for masculinity while savoring the fun of a new baby is a challenge.  Hopefully, I did okay with the puppy dog fabric and coordinates I chose for this one.  I used the Double Slice Layer Cake Quilt pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Co. for this quilt.  The little blue "star" in the middle of the quilt is just me being quirky.  I'm about halfway done with hand quilting it with brown perle cotton thread in large stitches. 

My friend Beth celebrated a birthday recently.  It just so happened that she invited our family to join hers for their annual trip to the water park in Old Forge this year, right around the same time as her birthday, so I thought it would be fun to make her a big beach bag!  Her Mom told me she really likes all shades of blue, so I used that as a starting point.  The bottom of the bag is upcycled denim from a pair of jeans that my son outgrew after one wearing.  Some of the patches are denim, too.  I tried to find something in my stash that was bright and cheery and found the pretty yellow print in the bottom of a box packed for the move.  From there, it was easy to pick colors to go along and in less than a day, a new bag was born.  I never could find the right lighting for a good picture of this one, (I never take good photos!), but this will have to do. 

That's about it for now.  Until next time...Happy Stitching!