Design Wall Monday – Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!!!

A heartfelt THANK YOU to all our soldiers and veterans and their families!  It is certainly never enough for your sacrifice and service to this wonderful country of ours.  May you be showered with honor, respect and lots of love this day =^..^=

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As for my design wall, it’s beginning to look like a Quilter lives here!!! 

My sweet husband hung my Quilts in Progress quilt up yesterday, and I am just in LOVE!!!  (Well, yes, I'm in love with HIM too, but I was talking about the quilt :*D)  It is so perfect up there, and I fall in love again every time I step into the room :*)  Thanks sweetie!

He looks like a really nice guy, doesn’t he?  That’s because he IS!  Now the cat on the other hand, that’s a different story LOL!!!!  But she sure does love her daddy =^..^=

I have so many projects in process!!!  Does that ever happen to you?  I've simply GOT to get some of them done and out of my way.  Here are the ones I managed to work on this past week.

Last night I finished the top for my June Calendar Quilt.  Boy-o-boy is it cute!!! 

The big, black ants kind of take over, but even though I'm not fond of insects in any form, I really love this quilt for a whimsical touch of summer!  

Do you see why I am always on the hunt for the perfect greens?
All of these olive colors came from my fat quarter stash!  

This will be even cuter when the applique is stitched down and it is quilted.  Hopefully I’ll get that done this week.  This is one of my NewFO Challenge quilts for May =^..^=

Here are the Churn Dash Star blocks I have done so far for my UFO from Runaway Retreat last September - Girls Just Want to Have Fun (GJWTHF)…. 

I completed these at Red Rooster last week.  This is a piecing intensive quilt, so I’m really happy to have this much of it done.  I only need to finish five more of these blocks and then 24 of the alternate block which is much, much simpler.  I can see a glimmer of hope of finishing this one soon :*)

Here are some of my favorites of these blocks…

  

No progress on Vintage Valentine last week because of retreat, but I will start working on that again in a few days, so stay posted for progress!

That’s it for me – how about you?  Share what’s on your Design Wall at PatchworkTimes!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=



Also linking up with:


Tuesday Linky Party at Quilting by the River
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced 
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

It's a Giveaway!!!

It's Leap Day and you know what that means..... Today I'm hosting my first ever Giveaway!  I'm linking up with Elizabeth at Such a Sew and Sew for her Leap Day Giveaway and Blog Hop.  So when you're finished here, be sure to click the link below to visit and see all the other bloggers' giveaways!


So what am I giving away to one lucky follower?


Drum roll please.......Tada!!!

Yes!  I'm giving away the pattern for Quilts in Progress!  I know a lot of you loved the quilt when I was making it, and since I am sure I will not make it again, I decided to share the pattern with one of my blog friends!  I'm nice like that (at least sometimes!) =^..^=
This is how mine turned out....

To win, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite quilt pattern.  That's it!  Easy peasy!!!  I want to be sure that anyone can win, so you do not have to be a follower.  However, if you are a follower, you can leave a second post stating that you are a follower and you will get an extra chance to win!


Also, please note:  be sure that I have your email address and can contact you if you win.  If your email is not visible in your blogger profile, you are a no-reply blogger and I cannot contact you.  So check that out and leave your email address if you have any doubts.


Then click HERE to go over to Such a Sew and Sew and see what all the other bloggers are giving away today!  Don't miss out - go NOW!!!

I hope everyone has a lovely Leap Day.  Imagine, something for free!!!!  I'll post the winner of the Quilts in Progress pattern on Thursday morning... be watching!!!


*** Contest & comments are now closed for this Giveaway ****




Hugs & Blessings,
Teresa
=^..^=

Design Wall Monday – Week #7

My Design Wall is pretty full this week!

I am working on my Scrappy Bearpaws for the 2012 UFO Challenge, and making great headway.  The blocks go together quickly and I just love making them.  As you can see, they are truly scrappy, with lots and lots of different fabrics! 

They will be assembled with neutral sashing and red cornerstones, then a neutral inner border, a red/neutral sawtooth middle border and then another neutral outer border.  I have been making the sawtooth HST’s as leaders and enders, and they are piling up quickly (thank goodness!). 

A friend recently gave me a bag of scraps from her last project and guess what I found inside ….

Yep!  A pile of these just-the-right-size triangles for the HST’s!  I usually use the Easy Angle ruler to make HST’s anyway, so I got busy and cut lots of red triangles to put with the scrap neutrals.  

Before I knew it, Presto! Shazam!!!  I’ve got lots of cute perfect HST’s!!!  Love it when a friend shares her scraps =^..^=  Of course, there will be lots of HST's with other neutrals too, but I just love these with the pretty red flowers.

I’m also getting ready to work on my green pineapples for the Rainbow Challenge – here is my bucket of crumbs with a lot of green scraps added in.  Yum!!!!  These will be so sweet when I’ve got them done.  They will look like Christmas when I put them on the Display Wall beside the red ones I made last month :*D

And just because I like you all, here’s a little Show-n-Tell of my recent finishes…..

Quilts in Progress – just love this little wall-hanging!!!  You saw it on my Design Wall picture above, but I completed it Saturday night, so Hooray!  A finish!!!!

And this is my Iris Tango, with its binding all finished up and now hanging on my quilt rack in the front dining room.  Doesn’t it look all sophisticated hanging there?  I’m so happy to have a new quilt to display!

So what have you been up to in your sewing rooms?  Share with us at Patchwork Times!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Sunday Stash Report – Week #7

Back in the black!!!  I had two finishes this week which brought my numbers back up into positive usage – yay!!!!

First, I finished up my Quilts in Progress wall quilt which was my NewFO for January.  I just LOVE it!!!!  It is so colorful and happy.  I can’t help but smile every time I see it.  Now I have to decide whether I am going to hang it over the doorway into my sewing room as originally planned or on the wall over my window.  I’ll be sure to post a picture when it finally settles into its new home.  I used about 3.25 yards fabric in this little gem.  

Also finished this week is Anita’s quilt.  The members of our Guild contributed floral snowball blocks for this lovely Floral Garden quilt to be given to the church secretary where we meet each month.  Anita lost her husband last year and we wanted to give her a quilt to show our sympathy and appreciation for all she does for us. 

I assembled the quilt and handed it off to others for quilting and binding.  Many willing hands contributed to this quilt, and many others contributed fabrics.  Special thanks go out to Ruth, Teresa C, Pat S, Joanne and Susie!  I only used about .5 yard of fabrics from my own stash.

This brings my stash totals to:

Used this week:      3.75 yards

Used YTD 2012:      22.50 yards

Added this week:   0 yards

Added YTD 2012:   21.00 yards

Net Used for 2012: 1.50 yards

How is your stash coming along?  Growing (fun!) or getting busted (more room for shopping!)?  Go over to Patchwork Times to see how others are doing with theirs.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

January NewFO Challenge

So I had a lot of fun with Barbara's NewFO Challenge in January!  I love the freedom of not having to finish something, to just go with the creative flow and start something new that is buzzing around begging to be started!


Here are some of the quilt projects I had fun with in January-----------


I started the Quilts in Progress wall hanging and got quite a lot done, thanks to spending several days at retreat.  I still have to sandwich & quilt the main quilt, and then make the 3 mini-quilts that hang from the bottom. You can see more details about this quilt here.

I also completed TWO Calendar quilts!  The February quilt - Keep the Heart Truth Growing ..... is quilted and ready for hanging.

The March Calendar Quilt is a completed top, needing only to be sandwiched & quilted to be called done.  I really, really love this little quilt!

I also started a wonderful little stitchery BOM from Jenny Elefantz called Promises and Borders.  

I didn't get as much done on that as I would have liked because I had a few guild projects that took up a lot of my time this month.  I feel pretty confident I will be able to catch up in February.  We'll see =^..^=


One other project that I have not even had a chance to share with you yet is a Rainbow Pineapple quilt.  I've always wanted to make a pineapple quilt using paper-piecing, and I got the idea from SoScrappy's Rainbow Challenge, so I decided at the last minute to make 2 red ones for January and then several pineapples of each color throughout the year.  These blocks finish at only 3.5 inches - aren't they so cute!!!  I'm really excited about this one!  And I used only reds I found in my crumb box too!  Woohoo!!! Even the black is left over from a previous project, so I'm happy to be using it up.

So, what have you started new in January?  What are you just bubbling over to start?  Get busy and start a NewFO in February and then tell us about it over at Cat Patches!  It's not too late!  You can learn more about the 2012 NewFO Challenge by clicking on Barbara's button on the right side of my blog page.


Thanks Barbara for such a fun Challenge!!!


Hugs & Blessings!
Teresa
=^..^=

Home from the Rooster!

Nine of us packed up half our sewing rooms (and whatever else we could fit into our vehicles!) and headed off to the Red Rooster for 4 days of sewing fun!  Here are some fun pictures of what we accomplished….

This is me just chillin' and reading my blogs... now you see why I didn't get a lot done!!!  LOL!

I did manage to get my March Calendar quilt top completed – doesn’t it make you wish for spring!!!  I’m not real happy with the tree limb, I think I maybe should have chosen a darker brown, but I loved the texture, and I guess it’s too late now ;*)

I also got this far on my Quilts in Progress top.  All the appliqué is done and I hope to finish assembling & quilting it this weekend in time for the NewFO Challenge reveal.  We’ll see….  Going to see One for the Money movie this afternoon, so not much sewing will get done today.

I did a little work on my Promises & Borders stitchery but not enough to show, and I never got to touch Forever Autumn (**sigh**) – poor thing, it just gets shuffled around like an orphan.  I’ve determined that it is coming out of the closet & moving up on my To Do list.  Where it will land I’m not sure, but it’s time to get ‘er done!!!

So what did my fellow retreaters work on?

Here is Barbara with her totally awesome Orca Bay! 

 She finished the top while we were there, but I didn’t get a picture – bummer!!!!  You can see though that it just sparkles!  I didn’t start this Quiltville mystery because I had too much going on at the time, but I’ve saved the clues and I’m thinking it might show up on a NewFO list soon!

And then here’s Donna (left) with her red creation!  I never got the name of this quilt, but I know that it was a BOM at a LQS, Quilters Attic, several years ago.  It is one of the most beautiful BOM’s I’ve seen ever, wouldn’t you agree!!!

Norma Jean our Dancing Queen worked on her Pat Speth Nickel Quilts blocks.  She had so much fun matching up her fabrics, and they turned out just great!  She added a lot of plaids which really added interest.  Can’t wait to see the completed quilt!  

She also bought a new sewing machine at a Decatur fabric shop that was going out of business – for HALF PRICE!!!  She’s happy that her chicken has found a new home!

This is our Mother Hen, Mary!  She worked on Sewn-N-Love quilts like this one most of her time there.  

Pat also worked on this blue winter scene Sewn-N-Love quilt below, as well as a new one in batiks.  I guess I didn't get a picture of Pat because she had to leave a day early.

For the curious, Sewn-N-Love is a local charity started by Sandy Wilson, a lady whose husband died of cancer.  She said he got so cold while in chemo that she made him a quilt.  Others having chemo saw it and said what a wonderful idea, and the idea was born and took root.  You can read more about Sewn-N-Love here.  Sandy's been making quilts and quilt kits for others to make from donated fabric for quite a while now, and she can’t keep up with the demand! 

Poor Joanne (left) got sick before she even got there, so she didn’t get a lot accomplished except for some string blocks for her Orca Bay.  And then Rosie (right) had some health issues too.  But not before she completed this cuddly flannel treasure! 

By the end of the trip, Dee also succumbed (before I could get her picture darn it!).  We're pretty sure it was breathing in all that Fairy Dust that got to her! =^..^=  Since she was the 3rd one to get sick, the rest of us were all holding our breath and hoping & praying that it would stop there – which fortunately it did – whew!!!!

So I’ll end with some eye candy from the Red Rooster for your delight…. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=