IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!

Finally!

Oooouuuu and Aaahhhing….

Happy Sigh….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, I'm inspired

To

Get this one quilted!

~Sewn back in Oct. 2013~

Oops! I Forgot To Share This Finish

I realized I hadn't shared my Butterfly quilt I finished way back in August.

This quilt was started a long time ago, back in 2010 with Amy over at Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts blog.

It started from a photo in a Japanese magazine and then became ALL the rage

here in blogland.
You can make one too, just click on Amy's link I provided above for her tutorial.

There are no 2 fabrics alike in this quilt, using ALL florals.   The brown I used for the butterfly background is a medium shade brown…..NOT the chocolate brown the photos show it.

Cloudy skies made photo taking difficult.

My butterflies are Wonky and kind of odd shaped…..on purpose of course!

I hand quilted it using the good ole standard Baptist Fan design.  Not knowing at the time I chose this
quilting design that it would give the butterflies GREAT MOVEMENT.  I can almost see their
little wings fluttering around all those flowers!!

Of course the backing  had to be floral too……right?
I did struggle with the binding FOR MONTHS!!  I hauled this quilt around with me to
every quilt shop I came across!
I dug dug dug in my stash……UNTIL I just finally decided to bind it with the same
backing fabric!
Yes, it works……why oh why do I make things so hard?!

I just gotta have it the way I gotta have it!!!

Measures 69" x 61"

Soooo, here it is!  This was the best photo I could get….of about 50 taken!
( well, it SEEMED like 50 )

The size of this quilt was determined by when I ran out of the brown background fabric for the butterflies.  In fact, there are a few brown backgrounds that are pieced, just
so I could get an even amount of blocks.

In person, this quilt is VERY light and soft looking.  It's EXACTLY the look and feel I was going for.  The photos do it NO JUSTICE.

No scraps were used or harmed during the making of this quilt.  Only fresh new fat quarters
were cut...coming straight from MY STASH!!!  LOL!

SEE YA'LL NEXT YEAR!!

Wonky Wishes Finish

I really wanted to try and squeeze in another finish for 2014.

(not that i had that many in 2014 to begin with)

AND I DID….

TA DA! 

I LOVE THIS QUILT!!

This is another Bonnie Hunter pattern.  So far, she has only written the instructions for the 4 star "BLOCK"

but looking at her quilt I figured out the sashing sizes and such.

You can go HERE to see Bonnie's quilt and read what she has to say about this block.

IT'S SO SCRAPPY!!

SONG BIRDS, MUSIC AND PURPLE BUTTERFLIES!

Anything goes!

CARROTS TOO!

I machine quilted it in what I call "MATTRESS PAD" design.  LOL, well, that's what I call it!

Basically a cross hatch design.  You can see it in the previous photo.

My backing is a small red floral calico with a mottled red/rusty binding.

measures 63" x 78"

HEY……..DID I TELL YOU I LOVE THIS QUILT?!

GO MAKE YOU ONE!!

A Finish!

I slow stitched on this Sunday all the way to the finish line!

HAPPY DANCE!!

Isn't it just too WILD?!!  I haven't enhanced this photo, it really is this bright and colorful in person.

I didn't quilt this one too heavy and this was my first time at BIG STITCHING.

Choosing concentric circles in each square.

Border quilting

Another block closeup.

The back.

This quilt is one I sewed 4 1/2 yrs. ago using inspiration from a Gwen Marston book I have.
One day I basted the top and then there it sat.  How should I quilt it?
I'm so glad the BIG STITCH thought came to me and I could finally get on with it.

Hubby says it is HIS and NO I can't give it away!
I said " not even for one of your great grand children coming in Feb?"

He still said "NO!"

It measures 48" x 60".

Deadline Met and Mission Accomplished

I was SOOOO excited AND exhausted but I finished sewing on the binding at 6:00 pm Friday evening!!  Yes, a completed quilt in 5 days.

( You need to read my previous post to know what this post is talking about )

Hubby came home a few minutes after I finished it.  I was glad I had moved my sewing 

room back upstairs where all my gift wrap, bows and such are up

here too.  I quickly found some ribbon and tied it around the

folded and rolled up quilt.

Hubby was really surprised when I gifted it to him.  He was REALLY

impressed I had actually machine quilted it.  Especially

in a design other than just straight lines.  ( I was patting myself on the back for this one too! )

Here it is…. I know it's just squares, but I wanted it simple so I could make it quick and fast

as fast could be.  

I chose some older fabrics

that have been lurking around for a while 'cause I'm sure tired of looking at them

every time I thumb through my stash!!

I knew Hubby and the Goober dog would like it regardless!

( The Goober dog lays in the chair every night with Hubby so it's his quilt too! )

This gingham on the back has been in my stash l-o-n-g before I knew to call it my stash.

I added this tan fruit/veggie in 'cause it has corn and various other

fruits and veggies Hubby has in his garden.

I like it……especially now that it's finished.  There are sunflowers and a block FULL of red tomatoes.

An African print toward the top, various type prints and a few flowers

thrown in so he can stay in touch with his FEMININE side! (snicker)

Maybe I should challenge myself with deadlines on future quilts and inspire myself to 

get more accomplished………….naaahhhhhh!

I'm headed outside now,

it's 84 degrees!!!!

Death by Triangles

This death of mine could be a slow one too.  HA!  Sheeee Wiz, it is taking me

F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get this finished...well….it seems that way!

Just all that repetition I guess is making me crazy!!

I have 18 rows so far and I have calculated I need 5 more rows to make it NOT square.

I have always wanted a Red/White quilt and sooooo, I thought I would

start with a simple design.  No paper piecing here, I drew out a 

template the size I wanted and started cutting out.  These

are 4" tall by 3-ish wide.  Each row has 54 triangles

which make it roughly 73' wide.  I'm shooting for maybe

85" for the length.  I'll just see how it works out.

This photo makes some of the reds look PINK, but they really are

ALL red and white.

Ok…..back to my dead man's walk…..

Star Crazy is now a Flimsy

FINALLY!!!  Yes, just this VERY MINUTE (no kidding) I finished this top.  I must say I really struggled toward the end with this one. 

There were 9 BORDERS!!!

To date, this is the largest top I have sewn!

It measures 84"x84".

Yep, I did a post a while back titled I HATE BORDERS!!  Well,

now I REALLY hate them.  HA!

Maybe when I get over all the borders I had to deal with I'll decide I like it.  It's

not that I don't like it, it's just pretty bright and more

colorful in person than the photo on the pattern.

It truly is a miracle this thing is even REMOTELY square.  This top had

problems and issues (me being the main issue) from the 'git go'.

This was a BOM featured several years

back on The Quilt Show.

But....looking above at the dreamy photo.....I'm beginning to feel a mother's love.

Enjoy some of my process photos below.

LOTS of STARS to sew.

 LOTS of trimming and snipping.

 (hope the birds don't poop on this while I have it out here on the lawn)

LOTS of paper piecing.

LOTS of HST'S.

LOTS of ironing.

Only 3 more borders to go here.  I nearly rebelled and flung it to the floor on this day!

But......I didn't.....and I finished it......

and now

I can go back to working on ANOTHER BOM I have started.

OH NO!!!!  Just as I was about to hit the publish button I saw

a BIG mistake sewn in.  DARN! DARN! DARN!

I just CAN NOT believe I didn't see it before now.....

*SIGH*

Kaleidoscope Anyone???

I never thought I'd be making one of these....but here ya go!  The pieces aren't sewn together yet

but that won't take long.  (of course, this is what I always say! ha!)

This Kaleidoscope was so much fun!  They are mystery surprise quilts, you don't know

what they will look like until you piece them together 

on your design wall.

And I actually have the right fabric in my stash to finish out this top....YIPPEE!!

This measures about 36 inches across.

Log Cabin

My friend Terry just finished her wonderful wonky log cabin quilt.  You can see it HERE.

As I watched her progress I was inspired to find my half finished one I started W-A-Y back when.  This was a Melly and Me project years ago when I first started blogging.  I think I cleaned my studio when company was coming and put it away and eventually was forgotten.  You know how that goes, forgotten and replaced by a "shiny and new" quilt project you saw in blogland.

These are NOT sewn together yet and I haven't decided how I will piece it all together

when I get enough blocks made.

The quilt on the left has been hanging around for a while too.  Made from all men's shirting fabrics has had it's blocks moved and changed and completely re-arranged A MILLION times.  Should I make MORE flying geese?  Should I make another different type of block?

You know how that ROUTINE goes!!

Just haven't had any inspiration on how I want to complete it.

SOOOO, thanks Terry for making me 'get the lead out' and make an effort to get MY log cabin finished!!!

Light White Fun In The Summertime Quilt

Bright sun...Warm breezes...Fragrant flowers...Blue skies...Sips of cool lemonade

Fire Flies at night...Marshmallows...Giggles...Rainy afternoons...Picnics on the 4th of July...Walks in the meadow......with Goober the dog! 

WHAT?  It all sounded so soft and dreamy until Goober the dog came into the picture!  HA!

This quilt was extremely hard to photograph.  It's very light/whitish in color and the details are hard to get focused, but maybe you can get the jest of it here. I have found if you CLICK on the photos to enlarge they look better!

I came across these blocks about a month or so ago, about 9 of them I had left over from this quilt here.   They are 11" in size and the 9 of them together would be the start of something good.  I got busy pulling out more white and light strips and strings and paper pieced and paper pieced until I just couldn't stand it anymore!!!  After all, I had just finished another strippy string paper pieced Victorian Spider Web here.

The 9 blocks I started with from the other quilt project had more dark creams and tans mixed in, but I wanted this Summertime quilt to be on the lighter whiter side.  I scattered the darker blocks in among my newer light blocks and I think the mixture turned out ok. 

It's scrappy strippy and Shabby but Chic!

It takes 2...8 1/2" paper pieced blocks to make 1 of these 11" blocks.

Finished quilt size is 75" x 65"

I plan on quilting it on both sides of the 'X' seams shown here and on both sides of the seams where I sewed the rows together.

OK....now where were we?  Oh yeah...........Poofy white Clouds exploding in the sky...Floating in the Boat across the still Lake...Butterflies bouncing from flower to flower.........

GOOBER!......leave the butterflies alone!!!!!!

Spider Web Quilt

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y............yes, I finally finished my vintage Victorian style Spider Web. Notice this quilt has 3 paddles or kite shapes instead of the usual 4 we see today in a lot of other Spider Web designs. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this quilt....BUT....let me just tell you, this one is not for the faint of heart!!

LOTS of paper pieced diamonds going on here......
and here...........

MORE papers to deal with. Now you have to tear it all off. (I secretly really truly adore paper piecing !)

I ran out of background fabric. The bottom fabric is the one I ran out of, it was 2 yards worth. I thought "OH NO"....whatever will I do? The quilt is not in a good size/shape to be finished! I was astounded when I dug through my stash and found a fat quarter in the top fabric! Wow, what luck. I determined it was close enough to use. After all, this is a VINTAGE design and isn't that what they did in the old days? Just used what they had on hand. I bet if you clicked on the top photo for a close up you will have a hard time finding where I used the fat quarter pieces.

In the end, after I sewed and sewed Y seams until I thought I would croak I was VERY happy I had used up A LOT of terrible UGLY fabrics that have been hanging around here w-a-y too long.

You can click HERE......HERE.....HERE and HERE for more looks at this quilt style. If you are interested in what all you can do with the diamond shape, go HERE to Kate's Empty Field blog for a look at some fabulous diamond shapes.

Hand Quilting Clamshells

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to ALL my quilty friends!!! Today is a day I will be quietly quilting on my clamshell quilt while MR. BROWN DIRT waits on me HAND and FOOT!!!!......HA! Do you think you can believe that????

CLAMSHELL QUILT TUTORIAL HERE.

Leaders and Enders Flimsy Finish

YEP.......I've added another one to the PILE!!! I used Bonnie Hunter's Leader/Ender method to finally get this little flimsy created. It is her Basket-Weave-Strings quilt. I started this project way back HERE and I gave the instructions and a little tutorial on how I started it. This is a GREAT way to use up those pesky little strips and strings left over from other projects. I threw in a little bit of everything as I've shown in the following photos. I used a paper piece for my foundation and these blocks measure 5 inches.

This green strip is a LETTUCE print Mr. Brown Dirt bought me a Christmas or so ago. I did point it out to him that I was indeed using some of the fabric he gave me.

BUTTERFLIES outlined in some garish gold. The white with the blue design next to them is some cut up mens boxer shorts! Har har har!!!
OINK! OINK! Mr. Porky Pig jumped right in too!!!

I'm not sure how/where/when I ended up with this little tad of PINK FLAMINGO! Notice the AFTERNOON TEA selvedge in the upper right hand corner!

A-N-D these UGLY EASTER EGGS!!!!!

So SEE, this is an EXCELLENT way to get some OR ALL of those numerous and UGLY strips and strings out of your way!!! It's like getting a quilt for FREE!!!!! It was easy and mindless and I plan on doing another one or two. I could control the colors in the next one....Maybe RED WHITE and BLUE!!!

As I mentioned in the beginning about adding to the PILE, yes, I went through and rounded up ALL my Q.U.I.P.S......that's Quilts In Progress. I was amazed when I discovered how many I had. I should be ashamed!!! Do you care to make a guess as to how many I have PILED in the closet???? There might be a little prize if you guess it right!!

COTTON HARVEST is in full swing. Mr. Brown Dirt is already anxious for it to be over and I think he'll get his wish. Last year we harvested around 1800 bales of cotton and this year with the drought we will harvest only around 500 to 700 bales. Quite a difference indeed, but never fear, we always have CROP INSURANCE. Read about how we HARVEST right HERE.

Just to keep you informed.....COTTON PRICES are around $ 1.00 a pound right now. Mr. Brown Dirt says it will probable fall some before the year end. I WONDER if those FABRIC PRICES will fall some this year too???????????