A Whole Lotta Preppin' Goin' On!!!

I haven't posted in the past few days because I don't have that much to show.  Nothing really flashy, anyway.  Basically, I'm in the process of finishing up a few projects and preparing to start a few others.  For instance....

I finally decided how I want to do the borders for Amish Beauties....

I saw this border treatment on a quilt in a Kim Diehl book and loved it!  I don't remember which book, but I came home and sketched it out because I thought it might work for this quilt - and I think it does!  What do you think?  I like the soft edge it gives the quilt after all the spiky points in the center.

To make the petals, I got out my newest tool, the Leaves Galore ruler by Sue Pelland .....

and laid out several layers of my solids to cut some petals....

I wanted to get a nice variety of colored petals to test the look...

The only problem is that I forgot to put the fusible on the back of the fabric before I cut the petals!!!  I ended up having to use some leftover pieces of fusible from another project (which I'll share in a minute) and using my teflon applique sheet, try to get the fusible on the pieces without making a huge, sticky mess on my ironing board!

See all those little fabric "hairs" around the edges?  Those wouldn't be there if I had done the fusible first.  But it wasn't really a problem - I just trimmed them off as I cut the fusible away.

Since I liked the design and have decided to go with it, I now need to cut a bunch more petals out of the remaining solids - backing them with fusible first LOL!!!  And I also need to get some more of that black solid.  The border is going to be much wider than I expected and I've run short of fabric!  I'm pretty sure this is a piece I got at Joann's so I'm holding my breath, hoping I can find it again.  You know how it is to try to match blacks!!!  Yikes!!!!

The other project I am busy working on is Miss Genevieve's baby quilt!  Remember this photo?

This is Denise's (Count it all Joy!) photo of the cute little baby quilt she made for her little granddaughter - isn't it adorable???  I shared in an earlier post that my DIL has chosen this pattern for Miss G's baby quilt, so I'm in the process of working on that now.  As a reminder - here are my fabrics....

I traced the banners on fusible and cut them out with my ruler and rotary cutter .... easy peasy!!!  I also "windowed" out the middle 1/4" away from edge to remove excess fusible so they would be really soft on the quilt....

Leaving these fun little shapes to fuse to the fabrics....

This "leftover" fusible from the middle of the banner shapes is what I used to get fusible on my Amish Beauty petals!

So those are the "In Process" quilts that I'm working on - - - - -

For the fun "New" projects, I have a couple in the works ....

I decided to take part in Joanne's Christmas QAL, and I have two projects that I want to work on.  The first should be fairly easy.  It is Jovial, a free pattern by Moda....

A group of us got together last year and exchanged Christmas fabrics so we could get a nice variety in this scrappy quilt without having to break the bank buying it - great idea right?  Here are the fabrics I contributed...

And here is the lovely bounty after we put them all together!

I may add in a few more blues and limey greens since these are really predominantly red and green, but overall I really like these and I think it is going to make a great quilt!

The other Christmas quilt project is going to be much harder to do and will probably take me forever and a day....

This is Holiday Sampler, a Block of the Month pattern.  I took this picture of a quilt I saw on the wall at one of the shops we visited last year and fell in love with all the fun, bright colors, not to mention the cute blocks :*)  But the shop was totally out of the pattern and only had one fabric kit left.  The kit was discounted, so I grabbed it!  But now I'm finding that the pattern seems to be only available as a part of a BOM program - bummer!!!  So I have begun the process of drafting it out and drawing these little babies myself - UGH!!!  This may take a while so bear with me :*)  I also realized that the gorgeous Bracelets fabric in the border was not included, so I'm tracking that fabric down to see if it is still available.  I really love it - it's has just the perfect playfulness for the border!

As if that were not enough ..... really !?!  .... I plan to join in on Sew Kind of Wonderful's Medallion QAL ..

Click HERE to see more about this fun QAL and how to get the Quick Curve Ruler!

...... although I am only planning to make a few blocks for a wall hanging, not a full quilt.  I love playing with my Quick Curve Ruler and all the wonderful shapes it makes!  This is the ruler I use to make those soft curves in my Fantasia blocks...

TODAY they have a sale going for 20% off the rulers and any of their patterns, so if you've ever thought you might like a QCR, now's the time!

Now it's time for me to get off this computer and get busy on at least one of these projects!  What are you working on?  I hope you're finding time to get into some quilty fun!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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You are my Sunshine!!!

It was a beautiful sunshiny day in Nashville today - the perfect day to play in sunshine YELLOW scraps!!!

Here is my YELLOW Fantasia.....

Do you see Mr. Sun peeking through there to say "Hi!"?

And here are all six of the Fantasia blocks I've made so far for the 2013 Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at SoScrappy....  

                       

I think they are going to play together very nicely in a quilt someday, don't you?  

And can you believe we are already almost halfway through 2013?  Unbelievable!!!

And since this post is all about YELLOW, I couldn't resist showing you this really lovely Oriental Lilly I saw while out on my walk this evening.  

Isn't that gorgeous???  These were the largest variety of this flower I have ever seen, too - easily twice as tall as the red ones I showed you from my garden this morning.  I think I may have to pay a visit to my neighbor to see if I can have a stalk of these when they are finished blooming!  =^..^=

And these orange Oriental Lillies were quite spectacular as well!  This photo really doesn't capture the vibrant color - they were a deep, rich orange!  Hmmmm.... maybe an impromptu block party is in order?*wink*

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Also linking up with the following FUN blogs....

Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times

Tuesday Linky Party at Freemotion on the River
Show & Tell Tuesday at I Have to Say

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

The Turkey Wars!

Yesterday, my Turkey Bee friends and I got together again to work on our Talkin' Turkey quilts.  We sewed string blocks all day long ....

We sewed....

Love that black background swirly fabric - this is the last of those scraps :(

..... and we sewed.....

That plaid is from a 99-cent Goodwill shirt I cut up - love those bright colors!!!

...... and we sewed.....

Don't you just love the "I Love You" fabric in the corner?

And we sewed!!!

By the end of the day, we each had completed about 47-48 blocks out of the 60 we need....

Three of us sewing as fast as we can sew....... and we still have an overflowing strip bin!!!!

Wow!  I think it really is true that they multiply as quickly as you sew them up :*)

One more day of sewing string blocks, and then we will start on the large center nine-patches.  This is a really fun project!  But we did have one rather nasty casualty....

Yup, that's my finger!!!!  

(Badly in need of a manicure too LOL!!!)

Somehow, while I was trying to get a pesky piece under the needle, my foot mashed down on the foot pedal before I was ready, and the needle went right into my finger!!!  I thought at first that it had gone all the way through, but after examination this morning, the blood I saw at first on the other side must have bled from the front because there are no exit wounds :*D

And get this..... amazingly, the needle did not break and I just kept on sewing.  After some peroxide and neosporin and a few bandages, that is!  =^..^=  So today it's a little sore, but really not as bad as you might think.  Looks like that worn out manicure is going to have to wait to be refurbished until this little battle wound heals up though.  I'll try to spare you any ugly finger photos until that is fixed :*)

Today, I plan to play in my YELLOW scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Anybody recognize this little sunshiny friend?  Also the last piece of this :(

Hopefully I can finish up a few blocks without further casualties LOL!!!

What are you doing on this beautiful Saturday?

I'd love to know!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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On the Needles & Etc - 6/7/13

I'm really excited to share the start of my next sock project with you all.  But first, I just HAVE to share with you the cutest gift EVER .........

Am I right?  You know I'm right!  These tiny pineapple ornaments are just the cutest things ever!!!  OMG!!!  I just love them!!!  They are a gift from my friend, Janet O, who blogs over at Rogue Quilter.  I'm sure most of you know Janet - she's such a sweetheart, isn't she!!!  She says my Rainbow Pineapples helped inspire her to start making these cute little pineapple ornaments that are only about 2-1/2" square - why are tiny things always so much cuter?  So she wanted to share a couple of them with me.  How sweet and thoughtful is that?  And of course she used batiks and bright colors - does this girl know me, or what?  I just cannot express how much I really love them Janet!!!  You know I will treasure them always!  =^..^=

So, now that we've taken care of the important, really cute stuff, let's get back to the mundane but fun world of socks, shall we?

I'm going to use this wonderful variegated red yarn which I was thinking would read more as a solid than a stripe when the socks are finished.  It is a Serenity Garden microfiber yarn, and the color is Hibiscus.  No one I follow uses microfiber yarn, so I have no idea how it will work up or if it will be comfortable to wear.  I just liked the color so I got it :*)  So far I have been purchasing my yarn at Joann's & Hobby Lobby rather than buying the expensive, nicer yarns online.  I figure these early socks are more experimental than anything anyway, right?

I used a gift certificate I received for Mother's Day along with a 40% coupon at Hobby Lobby to purchase a ball winder, and it made very short work of making these really cute, uniform balls of yarn.  There's something about having perfectly wound balls of yarn that makes me feel like a "real" knitter LOL!!!  But, man, those things are expensive!!!  No way I was buying one until I could cut that cost a good bit :*)

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of knitting my first pair of socks (you can see them HERE if you like), which were constructed using double-pointed needles (DPNs).  Once I finally got a handle on how to hold them and work with them comfortably, I was hooked!  But with this pair, I wanted to try using a circular needle and the Magic Loop method.  I also wanted to learn how to do two socks at the same time, since my first pair ended up with one of them just a smidge shorter than the other - imagine that!!!

This is the pattern I chose to use for these red socks.  It took quite a bit of practice and tearing out and restitching before I finally managed some success with the recommended cast on method - Judy's Magic Cast-On.  Then I had to tear it all out and figure out how to do it for two socks instead of one.  But I finally got this far along the first night .....

From small beginnings come great things..... right?  I'm sure hoping so!

My only issue right now is that I'm having a real problem with loose stitches on the ends that won't tighten up - can you see how loose they are on the inner end of the sock on the right?  I was nervous that was going to make holes in the toes, but since I've worked a little further it seems to be getting better....and no holes!

The two socks look like different colors but that is just because I started with a different part of the color strata on each one.  I think I'm really going to love the red :*)  However, it does look as though they are going to be striped rather than have a solid look, just bigger, wider stripes than the usual striping yarn.

It's been fun learning a new skill and playing with new tools while starting my second pair of socks, and I'm looking forward to another finished pair in my sock drawer :*)  My mom and my daughter are currently fighting over who gets the first pair; it will be very interesting to see who wins =^..^=  I'm linking this post up with On the Needles at Patchwork Times.

In other news, we had our first Hummingbird visitation yesterday morning!!!

The feeder was empty after sitting out for over a week - we hadn't refilled it because there were no hummingbirds. But there must have been some food still in the bottom because this little fellow stayed and sipped for quite some time.  It is good to have them back!

Our little bird house, which was a gift from my friend Corinne last year, finally has a little family in it!!!  

I tried to get a picture while the momma was around but she is terribly shy :*)  They are chickadees and, although I had hoped for some bluebirds, we are very pleased to have a family using it and enjoying it!

I managed to get some marigolds planted in the flower beds around the back of the house last week....

....... and my Oriental Lillys are in full bloom and GORGEOUS!!!  Every year I wait impatiently for them to bloom, and every year they take my breath away!  These are a deep rich blood red.....

And these are purply-pink with a sunshine yellow burst in the center....

Today, I'll be playing with more red - making Talkin' Turkey blocks with  my sewing buddies....

So what's going on in your world?

Happy Friday my friends!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Design Wall Monday - 6/3/13

I have a couple of things cooking in the quilting studio this week!

Yesterday, I finished up all the blocks for Amish Beauties - whoohoo!!!

Here they are with the sashing pieces laid out on the design wall and ready to piece together the center!

I haven't yet decided about the borders, but a few ideas are percolating. 

A few of the blocks close up - YUM!!!

This is my quilt from the "Jared Takes a Wife" class with Bonnie Hunter back in April.  I chose to make my quilt out of solids on a black background, and then cut them down to half-size - 6 inches finished - to make a small wall quilt.  We are having a special Show-n-Tell at Guild tomorrow for the BH projects, and I really wanted to have at least the center of mine put together to share.  You can click on the name of the quilt to read more about it's journey if you like :*)

And I have started yet another new project!!!  Yep, I just didn't have enough quilts in progress.  Don't you hate it when you've only got about 20 quilts in the works?  Seriously, I need to start another project like I need another hole in my head!!!  But, I ask you, how could I resist this gorgeous red beauty???

Talkin' Turkey by Bonnie Hunter @ Quiltville.com

A couple of friends and I fell in love with this quilt when Bonnie visited our Guild, and we decided that we would start a quilt-along together to work on it.  Each week or so, we plan to get together at each other's house and play in our red scraps!  What fun!!!  Want to join us?  Come on over!  =^..^=

We finally set our first play date a few days ago.....

We each dumped some red scraps into the heap in the middle of the table, and then got busy sewing up strip blocks.....

Here is Bonnie's Talkin' Turkey block ......

Talkin' Turkey block by Bonnie Hunter @ Quiltville.com

I just love the mish-mash of neutrals - it adds such variety and warmth.  And the reds just sparkle when there are so many levels of color all put together!  This quilt is in Bonnie's book "String Fling" ....

It has quite a few really wonderful quilts in it that I plan to make - someday LOL!!!  You can see these patterns and order your own copy of Bonnie's book here at this link and she will autograph it for you :*)

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/05/presenting-string-fling.html 

So what's on your Design Wall?  I'm really anxious to know!!!  

Share with us at Patchwork Times!!!

Also linking up with:

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Stash Enhancement!

I recently discovered Ozark Fabrics over on Facebook where you can buy fabric at discounted prices, and I thought you might like to know about it too :*)  I have to be really careful not to buy too much fabric there - I'm a real sucker for a sale!  You didn't know that?  And how long have you been following me?  LOL!!!  Yep, I love a good sale or discount, or anything that lets me play with pretty fabrics for less money :*D  Who doesn't?

So here are some fabrics I received from Tonya recently - these are all designed by Jason Yenter - LOVE his fabrics!!!! - his Return to Atlantis line from In the Beginning fabrics...... these fabrics say it all!!!!

Are these super yummy, or what???
Don't you just love the rich colors and details????

I have absolutely no idea what I will make with them, but it's going to be fun hoarding, petting, stashing them until I figure that out, right?  =^..^=

You can click HERE to check out Ozark Fabrics for yourself - if you dare :*D  Once you get to her page, you can click "LIKE" to get the new updates to show up on your feed.  That's how you find out she has new fabric in!  Click "PHOTOS" to see what she is currently offering.  Right now she has some really pretty fabrics posted from the Hot Chocolate line - they are just as yummy as their name implies!  So far, I have resisted, so there may still be a piece of two for you.  You do have to join the group before you can order, so click on "FILES" to read the rules and agree to them so you can be included.

Bear in mind that this is a small operation and she puts up one set of fabrics at a time, so there's not always a lot to choose from.  You have to be quick to get the fabrics you want because there are a lot of other sharks, um, fabric lovers out there who want it too :*)  Tonya recently decided to open up an online shop too called Hillbilly Handiworks - it's still very new but you can go check that out HERE.  She says she will be having some really nice sales here soon ;*)

So that's my good deed for the week!!!  Oops - that's actually TWO good deeds - sharing some yummy eye candy and cluing you in to a new fabric source.... wow, I'm on a roll!!!

Linking up with Judy's Patchwork Times, where other quilters are doing their best to use up their stash, while I seem to be doing my best to add to my stash LOL!!!

Have a blessed Sunday my friends!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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