Less than a month!

Nina has been pestering me for a new post - claiming she checks here everyday and there is never a new post. I finally remembered to get my husband to bring home his good camera so that I can take pictures of the latest quilts.

This first one is still just a top. Not sure if it will get quilted before Christmas. It is approximately 50" square. I am going to bind it in red. Can't wait to see it after it is washed - hopefully all nice and crinkly!


This next one is already a favorite! I think I am going to name it "How the Wrench stole Christmas". Get it? The pattern is from the February 2009 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. Four different sizes of Monkey Wrench blocks. I think the largest is about 15 inches. I love all the reds and greens together. Click for larger versions of all these pictures!

Here is a close up of the four different sizes of monkey wrenches. I got tired of making these blocks by the end - but when I got top put together I fell in love all over again. I might even be lured into making this one again!


Yesterday my son and I were talking about a friend of his who has gone home to India for the past month. I told Ian that I guess that means he would need to go home to Indiana. He was up for the idea - with the hopes of seeing snow. He was only two when we left Indiana and says he doesn't remember much. I would be up for spending a holiday in the frozen north - especially if it meant spending time with Nines and her family! Wishing all of my quilting friends a very merry Christmas!

Added: SewCalGal is hosting a virtual Christmas quilt show. Go check it out and be inspired!

Oops!

I shouldn't have complained about not posting for a month - because now I have gone two months with nothing new. Somehow the fast forward button on time has been hit and I can't seem to slow down.

As usual - lots of baby quilts to show. This pink quilt is made from left overs! I love the fresh look that the white sashing gives it. This one is for a young Chinese couple that go to church with us. The husband is attending Auburn to get his doctorate in math. Baby Hannah is expected to arrive a few days before Christmas!




Another young couple at services are expecting twins in December. Two boys! We have been friends with Matt and Jana for over six years now and she has been waiting patiently for her turn for a quilt. They moved away for a year or so and when they moved back she told me that one of the big reasons she was excited to be back in Auburn was because now she will get a baby quilt! Little did I know she would somehow scheme a way to get two! I wanted to keep the green quilt for myself, but it was a bit small. Maybe I should make another one for me!



I have another quilt to show you, but I haven't photographed it yet, so it will have to wait. This morning is the Thanksgiving play at school and then I told the kids I would go ahead and check them out. We need to get busy cleaning - the in-laws are coming tomorrow. Looking forward to turkey and dressing! Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Disappearing act

I didn't meant to disappear for a month - but just haven't been very inspired to post. I have been sewing though! This first quilt has a long story. About seven or eight years ago, my grandma Mimi gave me a walmart bag with these pieced blocks inside. The fabrics are vintage. I don't know if she had made the blocks or if she had somehow inherited them from someone else. They sat in my project closet for a year or so until we started to pack up to move from Indiana to Alabama. I decided life was too short for these "ugly" blocks - so I passed them on to Nina. Nina has an amazing sense of color. She put this top together and packed it away in her box of tops to be quilted. A couple of years later, I am visiting and we are having a little show and tell. She shows me the top and I fall in love, but she won't give it up. A couple of more years pass - I visit again - and we have another show and tell - and the top is still sitting there. This time I managed to talk her out of it. We even managed to go out and find a backing and she quilted it up for me. Check out the amazing free-hand quilting. Now the quilt has been sitting in my project closet for a couple of years waiting for me to finish the binding. Yesterday I had a friend come over to practice on using my quilting machine - so while she did that, I put the binding on this quilt. I love that it is finally finished!




My neighbor hired me to make a quilt for another set of neighbors who were expecting their first baby. The quilt turned out to be bigger than your normal baby quilt - but that way she can use it longer! The middle squares are the fabrics the mommy-to-be chose for her nursery. I hope the baby likes bright colors!


I am working on a Christmas quilt right now - all shades of reds and greens. The pattern is from American Patchwork & Quilting and is made completely out of churn dash blocks. The blocks range in size from 16 inches down to 4.5 inches. I am loving it!

While surfing through my bloglines the other day, I fell in love with another Christmas quilt. Go ahead and click on the link - but be prepared to fall in love! I ordered 7 of the main prints from a couple of shops on Etsy - My Heart & Sew and Spiceberry Cottage . I gotten the fabrics and I love them even more than I did in the pictures! They are silky smooth! I am hoping to visit a couple of local (45 miles) quilt stores very soon and get the rest of the fabrics - so I can get this done before Christmas. This year we get to be at our home for Thanksgiving and Christmas - so I am looking forward to decorating!

Flea Market Fancy

The fabric is all gone now! Good job!

Yesterday while shopping in a small local fabric store, I came across an almost full bolt of the polka dot fabric in the middle of the picture. If you are in need of some of it (at about $9 a yard), email me and I will get you the name & number for the shop.

What happened to my free time?

The kids started back to school last Monday - which should have left me with more time on my hands - but I am still waiting for that to happen. Last Monday we also had to say goodbye to my husband's first full-time employee. She has been with us for over two years. She is now going on to grad school. She loved the quilt I made for her. Her grandmother is a quilter - but Cayce says her quilts look like "Grandmother" quilts. She loved this quilt because of "the cool fabrics".


After giving Cayce her quilt, I had to turn my attention to finishing the latest baby quilt. The shower was on Saturday. As usual, the mother loved it! There was also much talk about my new "one quilt" rule. Everyone said that they would just have to hire me to make their additional quilts. Not really what I was going for, but it might be an acceptable alternative. My mom said it might make them realize what a precious gift I have been giving out.


For the backing, I used the left over fabrics and cut it into 10.5" squares (Bonnie Hunter's suggestion!). I love the patchwork look on the back!


This week I am working on quilting my birthday quilt. I am a member of a birthday block lunch group in my guild. We meet once a month to celebrate someone's birthday and we each make them a block of their choice. My birthday celebration was in July. I love the variety of fabrics the ladies used in their blocks. The quilt is loaded on the machine and will hopefully get quilted tomorrow. I am hoping to have it finished by Thursday to take to the guild meeting for show and tell.

Have a great week!