What's the deal.........

 I need to put a label on a quilt that is completely finished. That's all, just a label, easy, right? then box it up and ship it out.
Instead, Friday p.m. and Sat a.m. I custom quilted a shop sample,

I spent the day with my sister on Saturday, got the binding made for the sample and machine stitched it to one side. Now to hand stitch it and add a sleeve.

Sunday I quilted my Girlfriends quilt and got it off the machine,

edge to edge feathered Panto called Fantasia.

I made a bunch of star blocks for this section of another shop sample,

Made this little flag block where the 1/4 sq tri's finish at 1"

 and yes, I fixed the mixed up star......
Funny how a photo points out these errors and my eyes didn't see it. Kind of like that expression, can't see the forest for the trees?
I also got in about 2 hours of hand quilting on "The Tank" Sunday evening.

Hmmm, Monday morning rolled around and still no label on the quilt. 
Seriously?
Sharon

Blogger issues?

It seems like my post isn't showing up? Testing, Testing, one, two, three.
I'm looking at blogs that follow me and blogger is not showing the newest post, now this will be the newest one,.........
Sharon

Americana Flavor

It helps to push the 'Publish' button if you want your post to actually be seen by others. Good grief. OK, so this was my beginnings of, yes, another new start. I've told you all before, I love a good start. Pie Crust for backgrounds and a nice variety of reds and blues. Not all are C.W. but most are.

Here are some of the blocks so far. I've made 3 of each pattern, they finish at 6", and each pattern is all the same fabric. Lots of different techniques are suggested in the pattern and I've added a few of my own.

Once I get the top together, I'll share all the details of this or you can pop over to Candices' blog and see her version. It's not my pattern, but off the top I don't have the name/link to post. While I've been working on this, I've also had stacks of my cheddar/cream Ohio stars sitting by my machine and have been using them as leaders/enders. At last count, 50 of the 81 star blocks are pieced, whoohoo!
I've been picking away at the last leaves on my Joy of Life applique, packing it to work, getting a leaf sewn down here, one there, all working towards a finished top.  Finally, I've been making 1/2 sq tri's for a swap at the end of this month, Lee @ Two Thimbles is organizing this one.

Hope you get some sewing time in this week.
Sharon

Dotty Fabric Collection

I showed a stack of fabric a few weeks ago when I said I had a secret sewing project and had several requests for the line info.  Here is are the fabrics from the group called Simply Color.  Fabric Etc has it in the grey and the green.  There are chevron stripes, hombre solids, leaf prints and polka dots.  Carol also had a few other bolts that matched up perfectly with this collection. 

Someone's work inspired me to make something with stripes, and as I wandered and looked at all the striped, I became enamored with this collection.  My striped project turned into a dotty piece.  I was able to use the whole width of the fabric with my piece and that thrills me with prints like this.

Here's the selvage with all the info. 

I'd love to share my top with you all, but I've been sworn to secrecy.  All shall be reveled in due time, I promise.  Right now it's getting loaded on my machine to turn the top into a quilt.  If you love this fabric and can't find it locally, call Carol, she'll help you out
Sharon

Saturday Appliques

The 3rd Sat of every month a group of fellow appliquer's all meet at Fabric Etc for our Applique Society meeting.  There is always a lot of ooh's and ahh's and this month was no exception.
First up was Karen.  She's been doing all this embroidery throughout the winter and has now got all the blocks together.

 Certainly a WOW moment in Show and Tell. This has all bias edges so she has staystitched all around it to help keep it flat, straight and square, the goal of all our quilts.  She asked if I know of a quilter who would quilt it and I replied, I think you should hand quilt it.  That was the consensus of the group, so now Karen has a new trick to learn! Beautiful work.

 Next up was Anita, and she told me this piece was all my fault.  I did a mental check and I'm thinking, "I have no idea what she is talking about"  Then she explained she went to my blog, which linked her to Humble Quilts, which linked her to The Painted Quilt and she found Kaaren's blog and couldn't resist.   I'm sure you can all see how this was my fault. *wink*

 Finally, I'm sharing Cheryl's work.  She is working on a quilt inspired by The Bird of Paradise, aka The Civil  War Bride quilt aka A Bountiful Life

Look at the tail on this bird, it's fabulous.  Cheryl is working this all from batiks and is doing an amazing job.  I always learn and get inspired when I see her work. That's the beauty of a group like this!

After our meeting wrapped up, Anita stayed and participated in my Hand Quilting class.  All the ladies were zooming along after about an hour.  The trick to hand quilting is to hand quilt, no shortcuts or quick tips, just rock the needle, relax and enjoy the process.

Did you learn something new this weekend? Please share....
Sharon

Playin' Around + 500th Post Winner

I sewed like this.....

pressed like this.........

pieced like this........

created one of these......

and here are the four sewn into a 6" block.

It's all part of a sample I'm putting together and will hopefully turn it into a 6 month class at Fabric Etc in Bellingham, WA, one Sat per month.
If you're up in my area and want to learn a bunch of great piecing tips and tricks, along with the eassy angle ruler, this will be a great Saturday workshop.
Stay tuned for details.

And the winner of my 500th post giveaway is Meredith from Quilt Threads.  She just posted a great review on a book that I happen to have and love.  Check it out.

Thanks to my co worker who pulled out the winning slip.
Sharon

Last chance

If you haven't gotten in on my giveaway, click here.  This will take you to the post, it closes tonight at midnight! Good luck to everyone, I shall draw a winner tomorrow.  I'll get a co worker to pick out the winning comment! 
Sharon

Suprises by Mail

These are the only snowmenpeople I will see this winter. First up, Mrs Snowperson and all her babies peeking out from behind. I bet they were looking to see if the sun was coming out to get them! This goodie arrived in my mailbox in January, I've been keeping it all to myself, but knew I had to share the goodness with everyone else. It's so darn cute. You'd have to ask Faye at Mimi's Passions where the pattern came from.

This lovely block was also in the envelope. Won't it be the perfect center for a medallion styled quilt? I've got lots of pinks to add to this super block. Stripes and florals, perfect combo.

This long tall snowman arrived just before I left for my Christmas vacation. Norma (no blog)sent this to me. The pattern is from the new Primitive magazine. Lots of super cute patterns in this publication, check it out.

Norma used vintage buttons for down his front. They are metal with enamel and are really pretty, they came from her great aunts button box. I feel so special that she shared these with me.

From one quilter to another, I really think we appreciate quilty gifts more than the general public. What do you think?
Sharon

JT2 Group Wrap

The first Sat of the month has been a meeting day for a group of us who started working on JT2. Thinking I would stay motivated and on track if I was accountable for the group, well, lets just say is was good in theory. The patterns kept coming and coming, they were paper pieced, they were challenging, they were appliqued. I just couldn't find a rhythm with this BOM. February was our wrap up meeting so I pulled out my JT2.  Yes, that is the dust I had to clean off before I left home. head hanging in shame

Carol not only got hers all together, she also did all the embroidery and then some.

I'd like to tell you she doesn't have a life.....but I'd be lying.

She works f/t, did all the applique by hand, has a house, yard, DH, and a family.

Goodness, I could get some pointers from her on how to stay on task.

Look at the propellers, she even put a tiny bead on this block. She truly made this her own way!

Then Cheri put her version on the way.  WOW, the red and white contrast really is stunning.

She did machine applique and on some blocks did contrasting stitching.  This really added to her top.

Love how this block turned out, a perfect way to sidestep hand piecing curves.

Cheri used one white print and one red print in her top, great job!

Verna is working in scrappy black and whites.  So far she has this put together. Fabulous!

There are a lot more blocks ready to go into her top, she had them out on the table for us to admire.  Don't you just love that basket block in the front.

She chose to do all her flying geese in the same polka dot print, that really keeps the whole project together.

What a variety of prints in this.  Who knew there were so many out there!

V also added some embroidery to her top.  We also auditioned some border choices for her.  The last one was a red stop border and some type of black with white print.  We were all confident she would be able to find something to fit the bill.  She is gifting her quilt to her brother.  (I can say that, cus I doubt he reads my blog)

Well, that's the end of the group.  We had 8 regular attendee's, 2 and 3/4 tops finished, and the other four are still working away on their project. OK, the other 5, I will get to work on mine, soon.
Sharon

One Bite at a Time

I promised I wouldn't bore you with lines of hand quilting every few days, but would show my progress once a month. Trying to hand quilt everyday hasn't been difficult, hey, it was January. I am outlining all the applique, so a lot of that had to get done before I could start working in the grid lines.  Now I'm at a point where I can bounce back and forth.  Outlining is a PITA job, as the quilt is a tank to constantly shift. (I quilt in my lap).

I managed to stitch 28 out of 31 days. This quilt is just like the saying, "How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time" This quilt will get stitched one stitch at a time, so even if I only have 15 minutes, that's 15 minutes closer to being finished.

Looking at what I accomplished in January has made me rethink my July 2014 deadline. I'm now thinking Dec 2014.

There are 25 blocks plus borders and after one month I can comfortably say 2 blocks are completely finished. I have ignored my machine quilting work in January, there is no gardening, I've been trying to rehab a broken bone in my foot (unsuccessfully) so no walking or yoga.

So you see where I'm going with this? In January I had an extraordinary amount of time to sit on my butt and rock the needle.
I hope I can keep the momentum, but some days there just are not enough quilting hours, I'm sure most of you can relate.
Sharon

500th Post = Give Away

This stack of lovely FQ's can be yours, 20 in all, from a Red Rooster Collection that is nameless to me. Yes, I know, I'm sure it's on the selvage, but I don't want to open up your pretty stack of fabric.

No gimmicks, you don't have to spread the word, simply be a follower and leave me a comment on your favorite color to quilt with.  Sorry, I will only ship to US or Canada addresses.

This is in appreciation for all the time and comments and cheering on and support and sharing all my fellow bloggers have given me. The world of blogging completely changed the dynamics of my quilting, and for that, I say THANK YOU!
I'll keep it open until Feb 13th @ midnight.
Good luck everyone
Sharon

Liberated Stars

499th post...wow.  Look for a giveaway on Post 500!

I've got my groove back for machine quilting, so there won't be any crazy piecing marathons this weekend.  This needs binding and a label, and it will be shipped off for a raffle.  All funds are for a digital mammography machine at the hospital where I used to live in BC.  They really need it!

This was a stack of 25 homespuns and the quilt blocks are 12" finished.  Click on the picture below and you will see my registration dots. I use the blue Mark B Gone.  4 dots and the corners all lined up with ruler work to make the star, then I filled it in with the back and forth S's

5 x 5 = 25, so it worked out perfectly. 60 x 60 without borders.  A nice lap sized quilt.

A picture of the corner and side blocks to show how I continued the star points around the outside of this piece.  I used a circle template for the center of the stars.  LOVE doing this type of work.

I have one more top the same, as each FQ was enough for 2 stars.  The second one is going to my doctor.  Should I quilt it the same?
Enjoy your weekend and I hope you all get some sew time.  Nothing like a football game for some hand applique or quilting.

Sharon