Spinning Star Back Finished!

I have been working on the back of the quilt today, designed it last night and finished it today.  It is entirely paper pieced, using a hand dyed maroon batik and Kaffe Fassett Paper Weight in blue.  I wanted the design to echo the spinning star on the front of the quilt and yet leave plenty of room for the quilting to show.

I have also added the border fabric to the front of the quilt and will be hand basting these together so they are precise when I start to quilt.  No quilting tomorrow...picnic at French Meadows with my husband!

Broken Dishes Quilt

Well, I am back to this now, working on the quilt for Mona.  Broken Dishes.  These blocks will represent the dishes.  I am auditioning fabric for the back ground of the blocks, this is Kona Cotton Midnight Blue.  The idea I'm going for here, is whole plates and then fractal shards scattered about.  We'll see how it progresses.  I am wondering if this fabric isn't just a shade or three too dark.  May try a lighter shade.  More to come!

Red Clover, Red Clover, Let Rover Come Over Finished! UPDATE

Maliyah Ray Meyer was born August 2, 2011.  Gramma was surprised!  It was a scramble, good thing the quilt was done.   I quickly cut out and stitched up a little outfit and a bib and burp set...here they are:

Cheery Cherry Binding is on and this little baby quilt is finished!  All ready for our new granddaughter who will be born on August 17th.  We are so excited and looking forward to her arrival.

Today's project, work on the MMM swap, it's laid out on my wall right now ready for stitching and cut out the baby dresses.  I may stitch some hexies that were fussy cut from the scraps onto the back of this quilt tonight, just for a little point of interest...or they may look really pretty on a little bib or one of the dresses...hmm.

And you better believe, I counted all her fingers and toes...so precious!

UPDATE:  More dresses for the wee one...

All my bibs have a signature rabbit somewhere on them.

MMM Swap Reject

Here it is, my spinning star, it will remain unfinished until the end of August due to time constraints and quilting priorities, we have a granddaughter being born August 17th and I have the MMM Swap to complete.

It will get finished before September.   I already have ideas for the border.  The annual Colfax Quilt Show is in September and I think this would be a fine entry.  After looking at this for a while, and reading the posts from my swap partner, looking at her blog, I determined that this really isn't her style or colors...so, keeping it.  I love it!

The piece is entirely paper pieced.  Fabric dominance is Kaffe Fasset in two colorways, there is also a batik, some hand dyed and some generic off the bolt cotton prints.

Red Clover, Red Clover, Let Rover Come Over

Red Clover is loaded and the quilting has begun!

MMM Swap Sneak Peek

I am rather stumped about my swap partner.  I have looked at her blog and see a ton of fuschia and turquoise.  Now obviously those are favorite colors for her.  Do I replicate what she already has or do I take her in a new direction?

 Her fabric selections are swirly.  I have constructed something with very straight lines and yet it has movement.   I have used her color palette on steroids.  I wonder if she would like this or if I should make it over in a different fabric selection.  I have ordered up some more fabric which should arrive this week and will make it up again in that color way to see if that might be more appealing to her.  In the mean time, these are just little snippets of my potential swap.

Baby Blues Quilt is Finished! And Delivered!!

The Baby Blues quilt was finished and delivered, thought I would post a final pic here and show you a sneak of the next baby quilt, made Sherbet Pips.

Soft and snuggly flannel with a pieced center strip for the backing.

Little Baby Feet strips for binding.

This was fun to finish up with those little feet!

All tucked into the box with the matching diaper tote.

Okay, here is the sneak peek for the next baby quilt.

After a little bit of input from several online quilt pals, I ordered up some red for the border which arrived yesterday, so today's project is to get that border on and then add the blocks around it.  I have ordered up a few yards of the little pips girl in the swing under the tree in white and also in pink for the back of the quilt.  Not sure which color way I will select until I see it together with the quilt.  

A dress will have to be made from the unchosen one!  Stay tuned for more!!!

Japanese Wrist Bags

I have been having fun this weekend sewing up these Japanese Wrist Bags.  I love them and want more!

I saw the pattern offer and the video online and ordered it up, but it will take 5 days to get here, so I just watched the video and drafted up my own pattern.  These go together in about 20 minutes or less, hold everything you need and nothing more, are light weight and secure when they are closed and on your wrist, I mean seriously, how much do you need to tote around with you?  I have found that the bigger the bag, the bigger the mess you have to sort through to find what you need.  This has resolved that issue for me.  Economy of space.  Smart people those Japanese.

Well here are some pictures of the little bags I stitched last night, you can see they are not difficult.  The large loop feeds through the little loop to close the bag and slips nicely over your hand to sit comfortably on your wrist.  It takes only 1 fat quarter of fabric to make this little gem, with the tiniest sliver of waste, I mean tiny as in toss it, there is no use for what is left. (if you've been reading my blog, you know I'm inundated with scraps presently)  I will put the link for the video at the end of this post if you want to make your own.

Another nice thing about these little bags...you just toss them in the washer and you're good to go.  Here is the video, you can watch it, she shows you step by step how to make them.

Pin Cushion Tutorials

Another Project on my list of millions...pattern is blogged here...

offset-square-wrist-pincushion-tutorial

pincushion-tutorial

More Bins, Bins for Scraps!

 Blogged here Bins for Scraps!   I am so excited about this, I just finished making a box for my postal supplies and just ran across this on flicker.  OMGosh, this is perfect, I have been looking for something to sort all the scrappy pieces and this will work.  Sort by color, have the bins with your quilt stuff and you are set!

Okay, on a mission for patterns for these buckets!  Found these links

How-Tuesday Organizational Fabruckets
Bagsket Tutorial
Collapsible Bucket
How To's for Many Styles
Using a Tin Can
Using A Real Bucket
Fabric Scrap Basket
Nesting Quilted Fabric Buckets
Fabric Boxes and other nice links