What Will it Be?

Have you been joining in the fun of the NewFO Challenge over at Cat Patches?

I love this challenge because it gives me the freedom to start new things without guilt!  Yep, I love being guilt free!  So what did I start this month?

Well, I started (and finished) my niece’s graduation quilt, Raney Days & Mondays….

And I also had a blast starting my Twister Trees projects, which are completely pieced but not yet quilted…..

Now I’m trying to decide what to start in September for the Challenge, and it’s really hard to decide because there are a couple of quilts calling my name!

Let's see....Will it be Hawaiian Sunset? 

I just love the colors in this quilt, but I’m not sure I want to start on something so piecing intensive right now.  SoScrappy - who is NOT starting hers yet – sure is tempting me!  She’s already stitched up a block – just to make sure she’ll enjoy working on it of course.  But she’s not starting a new project yet… she’s really not … *wink*  And Jo over at Jo’s Country Junction has started working on hers too, and is inviting us all to join her.   What an enabler!!!! =^..^=

Or maybe I’ll start this….

Oh my gosh!!!  Have you seen these Butterflies by Debra Gabel?  

My fingers are itching to start this quilt!!!  I think it would be great fun to stitch with a group – maybe we could have a quilt-a-long?!?  Oh yeah – that would be FUN!!!  If you're interested let me know.... I’m ordering the patterns, but not sure if I should start it just yet….  Hmmmm….

And then again, I may just start something small and sweet, like the September Calendar Quilt…..although I have to say this is not one of my favorites of her quilts and I may skip this month and just try to finish up the August quilt instead (which I like much better) :*)

Oh dear, I just can’t decide!  I’ll be plenty busy this month working on my Dots on Dots blocks. But I’m taking a week off to go on to Runaway Quilters Retreat too, so plenty of sewing time there – yippee!!!!

Are you thinking of starting something new in the coming month?   Join the NewFO Challenge fun and share it with us at Cat Patches!

Linking up with ......

Hugs & Blessings,

Teresa

=^..^=

Cleaning up the Ivory Tower…..

Do you ever feel like you need a magic carpet to make your way through your quilting room?  

This is what I’ve needed this past week to get through my sewing area! 

I don’t know about you, but I just can’t work in a messy, disorganized environment.  It’s okay to turn the room on its head pulling out fabrics to start a new project…. Oh yeah!  That’s FUN!!  But once it’s planned and cut and I’m ready to sew, I have to put things back in order before I start sewing! 

So, not much sewing has been going on the past few days because I’ve been very busy taming the stash!  It had seriously begun to get completely out of hand, and I found myself wasting a lot of time just looking for fabrics because they were not where I thought they should be.  A few days ago my studio looked like this….

Pulling out fabrics to give away.....

Flannels.... Wow! These are like dust bunnies,  multiplying while my back is turned!

How many greens do YOU have?  I obviously have more than I thought :*)

Stuff just shoved onto the shelves... not good!

Now all these piles have been neatly organized...........

............ and put in their proper places on their shelves….

I remember when my mom would view my room after I had cleaned it (under protest of course!)  She'd always say, “Now, doesn’t that look better?”  Yes, Mom, it does!!!

I’ve also pulled out a LOT of fabric that no longer works for me. 

TONS of fabric being pulled out!  These are fabrics I bought or picked up on the “free” table at guild when I first started quilting, and I know I’ll never use them.  Tastes change, and I only have so much room, so I’m getting a lot more picky about what is allowed to remain in my stash!  I’ve pulled out some that I’ll sell at our guild’s yard sale, but most of it I’ll put back on the “free” table or take to Goodwill. 

I'm sending out a HUGE Thanks to my good friend Dar over at Dar's Patchwork Garden who reminded me that I can count destashing older fabrics like this as MINUS YARDAGE on my Stash Report!  Yoohoo!!!  And it’s a lot of yardage too!!!  More room for new stuff, right ;-)  Thanks Dar for reminding me to count this!

So, as I said, not much sewing getting done.  Lots of Plotting and Planning though!!!  =^..^=    

Planning as in picking lots of DOTS fabrics out as I’ve been reorganizing. 

Why?  Because my day on the Dots on Dots Blog Hop is September 17, and I’m really looking forward to showing what I’m planning on doing with all my happy little dots :*)

And Planning my next Promises & Borders block for slow stitching. 

I just LOVE these sweet little blocks!  Each stitch reminds me of how wonderful my Father is and how much I love Him!!!

I’m also doing a lot of Plotting …. What will my September NewFO Challenge project be?  Hmmmm…. So many quilts, so little time!!!  I think I’ll explore those options in tomorrow’s post.  Be sure to come back & see what I decide!  =^..^= 

Today I am keeping those in the path of Isaac in my prayers!  It looks as though it will miss us all the way up here in Nashville.  Although we may get some of the outer bands of activity.  My friend Norma took this picture while on her morning walk - is this spectacular or what???

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning!

Later in the morning, this was the view from my back porch....

......... the cloud bands can be clearly seen but it is only the very edges of it, so no rain or other types of weather yet.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed though, because we sure could use some of that rain!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Design Wall Monday - August 27, 2012

I finally have a quilt on my design wall!!!

This is my Girls Just Want to Have Fun, designed by Charlotte Angotti.  All of the blocks are now pieced, but I still have to piece the outer blocks so I can put them all together.  It also has a pieced piano key border, so I'm far from done yet!  

I started this quilt in a class taught by Jean Shaw at Runaway Quilters Retreat last September.  Jean also taught the class at our Piecemakers Guild, so a lot of my friends have made the quilt.  It is a gorgeous quilt in every color scheme imaginable.  I have seen it done in brights on black, brights on white, blue and brown batiks, purple batiks, and browns on cream.  Every one of them YUM!!!

Mine is done in 30's fabrics.... 
  

I have always loved the look of a quilt done in 30's fabrics - so soft and sweet and inviting....

I even used scrappy whites for the background - I LOVE the look of that!

Don't 30's quilts just make you want to cuddle up into them and lie down for a sweet afternoon nap?  They do me!  But I am not so fond of the fabrics themselves.  Given a choice of buying a batik or a 30's print, I'm picking the batik any day, you know what I mean?!?  I'm all about color and splash and boldness in my quilts, right?!?

So as you can imagine, I have maybe three 30's prints in my stash LOL!!!  I really wanted to make this quilt in the 30's prints, but I didn't want to go out and buy up a bunch of fat quarters, use a little bit of each one and have all these scraps left over that I would never use again.  So my friend Joanne came to my rescue!  She had used a million 30's prints for her Dear Jane quilt and offered to let me use her scraps!  What a friend!!!  She handed me two baskets full of scraps, and when I was done it didn't even look as though I had even used any of it.

By the way, Joanne just won BEST OF SHOW at our Wilson County Fair this year for her Dear Jane - Congrats Joanne!!!  She totally deserves it too....

Look at that scalloped border!  And every inch hand quilted!!!  It is shown here in the case of honor with some other blue ribbon winners.  (I'm sure that metal figure is nice, but it really seems out of place on the quilt)  My Dear Jane still needs to be quilted, and seeing hers done and gorgeous really makes me want to get it out and finish it up!  Just sayin'....

In the meantime, however, I really want to have my Girls Just Want to Have Fun done to show at Runaway this year.  The retreat is the last week of September, so I should have plenty of time to finish it up, but you never know, right?

What's on your design wall today?  Go HERE to Patchwork Times to see what others are working on!  I'm also linkup with:
*    Connie's Tuesday Linky Party at Freemotion by the River
*    Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story
*    WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

WELCOME to my new followers!!!  I look forward to getting to know you better :*)  And I wish everyone a wonderful week!

Hugs & Blessings,
Teresa
=^..^=

Slow Stitching & a Stash Report :*)

Looking for my Blog Hop Party giveaway?  Click HERE to go there & join in the fun!

Today is one of those really great days I look forward to with much anticipation!

Sundays are always a day of relaxation, spending time with my sweetie, watching sports and some Slow Stitching!  This weekend I have been working very hard at reorganizing my stash closet - okay, so maybe that's not so much fun, but I will definitely enjoy the results :*)  And I this afternoon I will be working on my latest Promises & Borders block while watching some sports on TV.  This is my progress so far....

I'm really liking the lavender I substituted in the bottom left corner rather than the red flowers as in the pattern.  Jenny's patterns are amazing, but I was getting a little fatigued at all the red flowers :*)  It was nice to start adding some color too.  I always begin by getting the neutrals of the letters, the tree and the borders out of the way first so I have the bright colors of flowers, leaves and birds to spur me on to the finish! =^..^=

Today we're looking forward to watching our Goodlettsville, Tennessee, little league guys go for the World Series Championship!  Yesterday, the guys won the US Championship - the first time a Tennessee team has ever won.  

We are so proud of them!  Goodlettsville is a small town just north of Nashville.  One of my favorite quilt shops is located there - Quilters Attic.  **Hi Fran!**

We're also looking forward to the finish of the Barclays golf tournament - go Tiger!!! - as well as watching our beloved Carolina Panthers duke it out in preseason NFL football tonight.  Fun times!!!

I bet what you're really wanting to know though is what is happening in the stash, right?  Oh yeah!  I know my followers :*)  Okay, you'll be happy to know that there have been some really nice enhancements!  See.....

This gorgeous snowflake batik will make a wonderful background for a Christmas quilt :*)

These fat quarters insisted on going home with me :*)  Love the browns which tend to be hard to find!

My only finish was my small Twister Tree - you can go HERE to see my earlier post about the large tree and how the leftover scraps make this cute little mini-me tree!

I had already accounted for the fabric used in the trees, but I realized that I had miscalculated, so I get to add 1 yard to my fabric used for my totals this week.  That works for me :*)

Stash Enhancement Report - August 12, 2012 

Used this week: 1.00 yards

Used YTD 2012: 102.75 yards

Added this week: 6.00 yards

Added YTD 2012: 179.50 yards

Net Used for 2012: -76.75 yards

I hope you'll join us at Kathy's Quilts for some Slow Stitching today!  You can also go to Patchwork Times to see what others are doing to manage their stash :*)  

Also linking up with BOM's Away at What a Hoot and the Tuesday Linky Party at Freemotion by the River.

And of course, don't forget the PARTY at the Blog Hop Giveaway...

Hugs & Blessings,
Teresa
=^..^=

Blog Hop Giveaway!!!

Are you ready for a fun Blog Hop that's all about giveaways?  Me too!!!

Thanks to Quilting Gallery for hosting a Blog Hop Party to celebrate Back-to-School -

Of course I wanted to join in the party - who doesn't LOVE a party?!?  And I am really excited to celebrate the fact that AQAP now has over 200 followers - whoohoo!!!  So this is what I will be giving away here at A Quilt and A Prayer....

Don't we all just love Kaffe Fassett?  What a designer!!!  If I were going back to school, Kaffe's classes would be at the top of my "gotta-take-it" list!!!  And of course Kaffe's books are more than just projects and quilts... they are ART!  So much eye candy and gorgeous photography.....

Not to mention Kaffe's luscious fabrics!!!

This book is one of my favorites, so it's no surprise that somehow I ended up with a second copy. =^..^=  So I'd love to pass it on to one of you who would love it!  It is a very large, heavy softcover book, with 144 pages of gorgeousness :*)  Of course it is in perfect condition.  Here are just a few of the 20 projects in Quilts en Provence....

So how do you win this gorgeous book?  Simple! just leave a comment and tell me what you like most about your favorite blog site.  You do not have to be a follower to enter, but if you are a follower or decide to become a follower, I'd like to say THANKS by giving you an extra chance to win.  Just leave a second comment letting me know you are a follower and how you follow.  That's it!   

Why would you want to decide to follow me here at A Quilt and A Prayer?  Well, for all the fun projects of course!  With a little kitty cat fun thrown in too :*)  Here are some of the fun projects I've shared recently....

One Block Wonder

Medallion Block for Vintage Valentines

July Calendar Block

Moonglow!

The Blog Hop Giveaway event runs through September 3, so I will draw a winner at midnight that night (or close thereabouts :*)  I will be happy to ship internationally, so feel free to comment and get in your chance to win no matter where you live! =^..^=  Also, if you are a No-Reply Blogger, be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you.  Otherwise I will have to draw another name, and that would make me - and you! - very sad :*(

Now, you know you want to join in the Giveaway Party and see what everyone else is giving away too, right?  So after you have left your comments below to win the Kaffe book, be sure to click on this button to get to Quilting Gallery and check out the other blogs that are having giveaways!  The full list of participating blogs will be posted on Sunday, August 26, shortly after midnight.

Good luck!  

And as they say in The Hunger Games, "May the odds be evah in your favah!"

Hugs & Blessings,

Teresa

=^..^=