Two for One

I’m still at work on my latest quilt and cleaning odd pieces out of the scrap bins.   16 blocks are done and lots of pieces are cut and ready.  Here and there throughout the day, I wander into my sewing room and sew up a block or two, or cut a square or two.  Very easy..very relaxing.  And satisfying to see all those little scraps being put to use.

 

Bonnie and Lori came up with the best idea!  And now I’ve joined in.  I keep these tiny squares next to my sewing machine and use them for leaders and enders while working on my quilt.

 

The results are another quilt in the making.  Which is so fun by itself that I have to restrain myself from sewing ahead on just bow ties.  They are 3 inches.  I don’t know if I’m going to stop at doll quilt size or keep going.  We’ll see.

Little Quilt for Autumn

My apple core doll quilt is finally finished.  It’s hand pieced and hand quilted, which is a first for me.  I don’t know if I could ever do that on a full sized quilt but I got a kick out of trying it on this little one. 

It measures 22” x 26” and there are 168 little apple cores… all different.

Life is good!

That’s all I could think of for the title of this post…because right now that’s just how I’m feeling…”Life is good.”

First of all, I’m happy to announce the winner of the 100 Blocks magazine and Schnibbles pattern, etc.…

Congratulations Angela!

I had Mr. Sunshine draw the name for me… he thought that was pretty fun.  Also, he is a lot more “user-friendly” than the Random Number Generator thing that I tried to figure out but couldn’t.

 

Now, meet my newest grandchild.  He’s the best reason for my happy mood!  What an adorable blessing he is.  We love him so much!

 

 

Big sister isn’t quite sure about it all. 

She doesn’t yet know about all the fun and mischief they’re going to have growing up together ☺

Sewing room tidy-up Giveaway!

When I came across Sarah’s version of Jacob’s Ladder over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, I knew I’d found one solution to my ever growing cache of scraps.  So now I’m busy taking care of that problem and thinking they look kind of fun this way.

(by the way, Karrie Lynn at Freckled Whimsy has a great tutorial on this block).

 

That got me motivated to clean out in other areas too…like magazines.  I’ve been clipping through mine like crazy and came to the conclusion that I just can’t do it all, so I’m limiting myself to a couple of binders full of patterns that I can keep.

I discovered I have 2 copies of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks vol. 2 magazine and the adorable Schnibbles Short Story pattern.  Who knows how that happened? 

So that’s my giveaway…

…the awesome 100 Blocks magazine… the cute Schnibbles quilt pattern… and a stack of magazine patterns that just wouldn’t fit in those binders, but are much too beautiful to toss. 

If you’d like to have them, leave me a comment and let me know.  I’ll draw a name in about a week when I’m through sorting out the sewing room.  By then, I might find a few more goodies to add to the package.  …lets say Wednesday, September 7th.

Red and white from all the world over

My Red and White Swap quilt all finished.

Except that I still need to make a label, because those beautiful red squares came from all over the world: 37 US States, Canada, Australia, Holland, Scotland, Malaysia, Slovakia, Israel, United Kingdom and Thailand! I want to remember them all in the years to come.

 

And remember this little goof-up block?  I took some of your suggestions and gave it a place of honor on the back.  It’s a keeper and makes me smile.

 

 

Also, last January, I joined Anne Marie’s Nine Patch Challenge…

…and my quilt is a nine-patch. 

The deadline is September 1st so I made it by a little over a week.  Whew!  Thanks Anne Marie.

Cozy batiks

It has been so very hot here, but today is stormy and cooler.  So I snuggled under this quilt and stitched away on the binding while listening to the thunder outside.  I loved it.

Three more quilts left to bind.  Then I can move on to new projects. I have a long list in my mind.

One down…

 

View Full Album

I recently finished 5 quilts and took them all in a bundle to my quilter, JoLynn.  She is amazing!!  She finished them all in one week.  If you click on the album you can get a better look at how beautiful her quilting is.

  

I finished binding the first one last night.  Such a great feeling!

 

And look what Mr. Sunshine noticed while I was taking my pictures… my miniature Dresden quilt sitting in the background.  I didn’t do that on purpose.  But what a fun contrast. 

Now on to the next quilt.  I kind of enjoy binding quilts.  But I’m questioning the fun of doing 5 at once. 

Keep going Annette!

Puppies waiting for their new owner

 

Remember these cute little guys?

 

Well, now they are a quilt.

All ready to welcome our newest grandchild who is due in just a couple of weeks.  We’re so excited to meet him!

I loved this pattern, “Bow Wow Blankie,” by Bonnie Sullivan.  Very fun to put together.

red and white and pretty all over

The red squares arrived in my mailbox last week and this week they are a quilt top!

Thanks to all the great swappers and to Karen, this quilt will be a fun memory for years to come. 

sew red she said now go to bed

The reds were already cut for me.  All I had to do was cut some white fabric and I was ready to start sewing.  6 blocks done and 10 left to go.  Not bad for a late evening’s work.

Until I lost my senses and did this!

Instead of this.

This little square is not like the others…

I trimmed it before realizing my mistake so it can’t be saved. And it was the only piece of fabric I had like that.  Sheesh!

That’s when you know it’s time to stop and go get ready for bed.

red all over

Look at this gorgeous variety of red and white fabric squares. 

I just got my package from Karen’s red/white swap and they are awesome!  All 125 of them!

That meant Karen sorted 15,625 five inch squares of fabric for the swappers!  She’s amazing!!  Thank you so much Karen, it was fun. 

And thanks to all the other swappers.  Great fabric choices.

Don’t you think the squares will be just perfect for something like this?

Puppies for baby

We have a new grandson on the way…due in September.  So I’ve been working on a quilt just for him.

For some time, I’ve had my eye on the adorable, Baby’s Bow Wow Blankie by Bonnie Sullivan, and finally decided it would be just perfect for this occasion.