Design Wall Monday - 3/4/2013

I decided this afternoon to begin a new quilt project - are you surprised?  

LOL!!!  I didn't think so!

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I've been wanting to do more playing with the fun and colorful Happy Town fabrics ever since I got them in from Jacquelynne Steves of The Noble Wife.  My plan is to make a play quilt for our grandson, Hudson.

This little fellow is growing up and doing some serious playing now, and he loves to play with cars, like most boys do.  I went to my Planning Book - a loose-leaf notebook filled with lots of "wish list" projects from magazines, etc. - and found the perfect pattern.  And after an afternoon of playing, this is what I have created so far....

These will be little ambulances!  Aren't they just the cutest little things?  Or, at least they will be once they get some wheels LOL!!!  I found the pattern for the ambulance in the Sept/Oct '09 issue of Quiltmaker.  Rescue Squad was designed by Erin Wilcoxon.   I'm going to call this one Hudson's Heroes.


There are 3 really cute vehicles included in the pattern - as you can see from this picture in the magazine, it also includes a fire truck and a ladder truck.

This will be a small quilt, only 36" x 33", which is exactly what I am looking for.  Hudson has a "special" quilt that I made for him when he was born, but we want him to have one that he can drag around with him as he plays, which means it has to be small enough to not be too heavy for a little guy.  I mean, really, would you want to slow down this guy?

He'll be going in to have tubes in his ears in a few weeks, and I think a Grandma Quilt may be just the ticket to help him get all better... what do you think?  :*D

These are the fabrics I gathered up for Hudson's Heroes.....  stripes, and spots, and cars & trucks - what more could a little boy want, I ask you?  Most of them are from the Happy Town line with a few solids added in from my stash.

I'll use this Happy Town panel for the backing.  He can use this side of the quilt as a "road" for his cars - now how fun is that???  

Photo courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop where you can find these cute fabrics!

This project is my NewFO Challenge project for March - getting it done early!!

As I was playing with these fabrics this afternoon, I was reminded once again of the nice quality and feel of them.  And don't forget that they were created for a great cause!  You can go to my post HERE if you want to learn more about what Jacquelynne and Henry Glass had in mind when these fabrics were brought to life.  There's a quilt contest and cash prizes too - so go check it out!  There's also a button on my side bar if you want to go straight to the contest information :*)

Elsewhere on my Design Wall, I finished up another of the Starry Night star blocks....

That leaves just 4 more to complete, and then the outer part of the blocks with the floating friendship stars.  I think I should be able to complete this one at our retreat in Pigeon Forge if I apply myself to the task.  That would be great to have another finish for this year already!!!  And it will be one more UFO off my list too - whoohoo!!!

If you missed some previous posts, you can click HERE to see my post about current yarn projects, and HERE to see my post earlier today about my hand stitching projects.  And then there's THIS POST where we discuss the joys of creamsicles and the color ORANGE!

What's on your Design Wall?  Share it with us at Patchwork Times!  

We'd love to see what you are creating!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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I'm joining in on the following fun linky parties....why don't you come too!

And the Oscar for Most Fun Design Wall goes to....

Well, we'll need to go over to Patchwork Times to find that out won't we?  But I thought you might like to see some of the fun projects on my design wall now that Easy Street and the Rainbow Pineapples have finally abdicated their place on the wall.

Since I'm linking up with Barbara at Cat Patches for her 2013 NewFO Challenge this year, that means 12 new projects started this year - yikes!!!  I have no illusions that all 12 will get finished either LOL!!!  So, I thought it might be a smart idea to make some effort to finish up a few UFO's - right?  I learned from last year that it's just not possible for me to complete one UFO a month, especially since most of them are less than halfway done - some barely started.  I decided to set a more reasonable goal of finishing up no less than 6 UFO's this year.  Of course, my happy Rainbow Pineapples will count as the first completion.



For my next UFO, I decided to pick something that would serve as a great sit-n-sew project.  For me, a sit-n-sew project needs to be portable - not too many different fabrics, complicated techniques, or exotic tools! - and it needs to be machine pieced.  I chose Starry Night, a quilt I began as a BOM from a LQS back in 2007.  This is what the quilt should look like when I complete it.....

Photo from Starr Design Fabrics, Inc

This wonderful quilt by Starr Designs is made with all hand-dyed fabrics - luscious, deep, rich colorful fabrics!!!  The large paper-pieced star blocks are set in a floating background filled with tiny friendship stars.....

This is my Block #1 completed

I have six blocks completed - here are few more of them, just for eye candy :*)

I'll keep this box ready to grab whenever I go to a sit-n-sew or retreat and work on it until it is completely assembled.  I managed to get half of another block done at our Guild Sit-n-Sew last Thursday!



I'm also working on the Curve it Up QAL with Jenny Pedigo of Sew Kind of Wonderful and her sister, Helen from HGMR Deco Quilting blog.  One of my Get It Done objectives was to catch up on these QAL blocks.  Here are the two most current completed blocks, #5 & #6....

The Curved 9-Patch

Curvy Geese

They've released 3 more new blocks in the QAL since then - Yikes!!!  And Jenny's had a baby too - which really makes me a slacker LOL!!!  But I was so far behind on these when I set that goal last month - 4 blocks behind.  Since I've done those 4 blocks this month, I'm going to count that goal as DONE!!!  Then I'll put getting the next 3 done on my March Get It Done list.

These blocks are a lot of fun to make.  They challenge me to pay attention and to think differently about how I piece.  They are so original!  I never feel as if I'm making a block I've ever made before, and I really like that.  I'm just hoping my fabrics will end up playing well together and making a beautiful quilt overall.  I'm going to have concerns about that until they are all together I'm afraid.

Of course, these projects join my newest NewFO, Cool Cats, and my current applique project, The Blue Collection, as well as a couple of embroidery projects for times when hand stitching is the perfect activity!  You can click on their names to see what they are all about if you like :*D

So what's cooking on your Design Wall?

Is it Ocsar worthy LOL???  

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Linking up with.....