14 is Better Than 12!!!

Hi There!

Well, I finally finished adding the staggered blocks to my lap quilt, consulted my friend Elaine who advised me to add a darker border and call it quits, after that.

I've never done mitered corners and plan on doing some You Tube research, to find out the best and easiest way to do mitered corners.

Wish me luck!



In the meantime, I've started up a "Snow People Block Swap". We were only supposed to be 12 and then, a 2nd group of 12 would sign up.

Well, unfortunately, only 2 people signed up with the 2nd group. Soooo, we invited them to join up with us.

Fourteen is MUCH better than twelve, right?!??

*VBG*

And without any further ado, let me introduce to you

Mr. Snowman.....
times 14 !!!!

I'm so excited about this snow people swap! And YES! I'll be posting pictures on their progress!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Rosa

What a Difference a Border Makes....

Hi There!

Gilbert and I - for once!!! - didn't have any errands to do today and we decided to just stay home and work (AKA play, for me). Gilbert quilted a quilt and I played in my Sewing Studio.

*VBG*

It took me almost all morning to sew and cut up those half square triangles and FINALLY add them to the log cabin blocks!

What a difference a Border Makes....
Twenty Four little Inches...

LOL

Seriously, to view a good rendition of that song,
click here...




Then, I added a 3/4 inch beige strip, to them.



Close-up of the beige strip.

Then, I found a piece of civil war strippy kinda fabric and managed to sew another border, with this.

And, I've decided to add a "staggered" blocks around it.

But I'm thinking that I might need another beige strip to divide the dark strips from the staggered blocks.

Suggestions, anyone?

Rosa

Wooly Flowers in my Baskets!!!

Hi There!

Finally finished my table topper!

Can't remember if I mentioned it but I decided to add some felted wool for the flowers, the vine and the leaves. It makes you want to continually touch them! LOL

Just need to find the proper back and ask Gilbert and Bertha to work their magic...



Then, because I had a lot of itsy, bitsy pieces of this and that and because I saw this design in my head, I decided to make a lap quilt.

The center hole-in-the-barn-door block measures 2 inches, finished!!!

Cute, eh?



And then, I log cabined around this 2 inch block!



Look underneath the log cabin.... See the tiny blocks?!?!?

Because I had a lot of teeny, tiny triangles, I decided to make some 1-1/2 inch half square triangles. These will finish to 1 inch square!

And that's pretty much what I'm working on, these days.... teeny, tiny triangles. I only need to make (approx.) 132 of these!

LOL

And, guess what?!?!?

Gilbert finished quilting the T-Shirt Quilt!!!!

I need to finish the binding on the batik quilt - on my agenda this evening - and tomorrow evening, I plan on starting the binding on this cute quilt!

Hope you all have a Super Saturday and Sunday!!!!

Rosa

Spider, Christmas Log Cabin and T-Shirt Quilts!!!

Hi There!

A quilt's not finished till the label's on the back!

Finished it, this past weekend!



And here's a picture of the back of this quilt.
I wanted something fun and
in-your-face-bright!!!



And, here she is,
on my clothesline, enveloped in fog!

And here's yet ANOTHER quilt
that I finished this weekend!

Hmmm... but it's not quite finished.
My quilty internet friends tell me
that I need to make a label for this one, as well.... even though it's a commissioned quilt.

I'll work on that this week, or this upcoming weekend.

And yet another picture,
of it blowing in the wind.

Seriously, it looks a LOT better in person!

I just LOVE these traditional Christmas colors.... I'm having a hard time accepting lime greens and pinks as Christmas colors.

*scratching her head*

I guess you can call me old fashioned....
*grin*

And now, here's my latest project....

A new customer asked me
to make a "T-Shirt" quilt.

I cut up the t-shirts on Sunday.



Experimented with one of Gilbert's old t-shirts and a "stabilizer" that I had picked up.

Now, I just got to go back to the store and pick up some more of that "stabilizer" and it worked PERFECT on Gilbert's old T-shirt.

And, in the meantime, I'm been mulling over how I'm going to do this.

Stay tuned, folks - there's bound to be more shared pictures down the road!

Rosa

Leftover Christmas Lasagna Quilt

Hi there!

I finally finished the Christmas Log Cabin quilt top.

Gilbert managed to squeeze it in between 2 clients
and got it "quilted".

(picture below - not quilted yet)



Here it is, all quilted.

This is the quilt that a customer requested.
Hope she likes it.
*grin*

And since I had some extra strips of fabric left over, I decided to make one of those, recently popular in my city, "lasagna" quilts.

I'm calling it "Leftover Christmas Lasagna".

*grin*

I'll be taking better pictures of both these projects, once they're completely "completed".

So....
In case you're wondering....

I finished binding the
"Chicky Baby Quilt".
I have the Log Cabin quilt to bind.
I have our Spider Web quilt to bind - remember that one?
I have some "Mug Rugs" to bind.

A new client came over this evening, with approx. 20 t-shirts. I've agreed to make a "Memory" quilt, for her daughter.

And I'm seriously thinking of pulling out one of my UFO's and get a start on that, too!...

Need more time.
Anyone got any to spare?
*grin*

Have you're having a Tremendous Thursday!

Rosa

Christmas Lasagna Lap Quilt

Hi There!

Finally got the "Yule Christmas Log" quilt top finished. Pulled out a back for this quilt, only to realize that it wasn't big enough.

*sigh*

I'll have to go to my favorite fabric store in the US....

*VBG*

Afterwards, as I had miscalculated the number of "strips" or "logs", I was left with an empty pizza box full of surplus strips!



Sooooo, I decided to make a Christmas Lasagna Lap Quilt!



This one doesn't look like much. And, I added a couple Santa Claus panel strips.

But, I've still got quite a few more strips to sew on it.

Have a great week!

Rosa

Lasagna and Log Cabin

Hi There!

Friday after work, I added the 2 borders on my Baby Blue Bow Tie Quilt and quickly pulled out a jelly roll, to do a Baby Lasagna Quilt.

My first mistake? I didn't sew the strips on the 45 degree diagonal. After I had done many, MANY miles of sewing these strips, Gilbert noticed that I had not pieced them on the diagonal.

*groan*

Second mistake? I noticed that there were too many repeats in my jelly roll.

Sooooooo, since I had to re-do all the strip sewing, I decided to go into my "Fabric Cave" again, and pull out all my lime greens, funky blues and a few yellows... so that I would have a good assortment of colored strips.

Here's a picture of the beginning of my lasagna quilt.



By 1 p.m. today, I had finished my Baby Lasagna Quilt.

It'll look 100 times better once Gilbert and Bertha have worked their magic on this one. *grin*



Third mistake of the day?

I re-read the instructions on that Christmas Log Cabin quilt..... the complete block placement, in the magazine, would have fit a KING SIZE quilt. The client that is asking for this quilt and will hopefully like it, wanted a DOUBLE SIZE quilt.

I had cut too many strips....

*slaps her forehead*

Well, I'll either make a table topper with the extra strips or .... whatever.

We shall see...

Snapped a picture when I had 3 blocks pieced.

Snapped another one when I had 6 blocks finished.

Now, here's where Gilbert said, "Supper's ready."

Otherwise, I'd probably STILL be at these cute blocks!

LOL

I managed to pump out 8 blocks.

Back to work tomorrow.

It was a REAL hot day today. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go anywhere. Gilbert and Bertha were busy and well..... I didn't mind. It was cool in the house and I was able to sew!

*grin*

Have a nice week!

Rosa

Baby Quilts and Christmas in July!

Hi There!

Last week I was asked if I would make a Christmas quilt and a baby quilt. The baby's sex will only be known in August and born in Jan/Feb and the Christmas quilt.... well, that's for Christmas.

As for the baby quilt, I will be offering her a few choices, in baby quilts. My "Snow Ball" quilt that Bertha and Gilbert will be quilting soon...



Today, Elly, in Scotland, sent me a link about a Bow Tie Block challenge and I quickly jumped in. One Bow Tie block per day.

I had 30's fabrics and decided to make this baby quilt in blues.



As for the Christmas quilt, I've been thinking and thinking what pattern I could do. I finally decided to make another log cabin quilt. I had made this one, for my sister Tina a few years ago, as a lap quilt and I just LOVED it!!!!

This one will be for a double size bed.

(picture taken from quilting magazine)


So, early yesterday afternoon, I started going through my stash, pulling out all my reds with gold and greens with gold.



And then, I started to cut "logs" or "strips".

42 X 5-1/2" red logs,
42 - 9-1/2" red logs and
42 X 13-1/2" red logs.

Logs waiting to be cut....



Here's my bundle of red logs, cut up and numbered.



And then, the green logs....

42 X 7-1/2" green logs,
etc, etc, etc.

All the red logs are now cut and I've got about 1/2 of the green ones cut....

And then, there's all the white logs - haven't touched those ones, yet!

Anyhow, that's a LOT of logs!
*grin*

But, I just love log cabin quilts and I KNOW that this time, with Gilbert and Bertha quilting this one, it will be DROP DEAD BEAUTIFUL!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Rosa

Cat Pie, Anyone?!?!

Hi There!

Well, one more quilty project, waiting for Gilbert and Bertha (our Longarm machine) to do their magic.

Thanks to a lovely gifty from Barb H., a couple years ago, I will be using her fabric for the back.

Cute, eh?



And another BIG thanks for the 3 comments that I got, suggesting how I should finish the border on this quilt.

I picked one of them and modified it slightly.
*grin*



As I was working on my batik blocks, this evening, Gilbert was puttering around. I asked if he wanted to help me, with cutting up logs for a UFO (Un-Finished Object) Log Cabin quilt that I had started 2 years ago.

Even though he has difficulty with English, he was able to read the directions and Gilbert IS precise, when cutting wood!

The old saying "Measure Twice, Cut Once"
applies to wood, as well as fabric, for him!

Aren't I the lucky quilter?!?!?

He doesn't mind cutting my fabric
AND he's precise?!?!?

Yep - he's a keeper!

*VBG*

Gilbert and I bought one of those humungous pies at Costco. These pies come in a plastic container.

This time, I decided to keep the plastic container for "something".

Minou, our cat, decided to take over.

As you can see, she more than fills up the pie plate!

LOL

Actually, she kept sleeping on my ironing board!

So, I decided to put some scrap fabric in the empty pie plate and she took to it, like a duck to water!

Gilbert says she slept in it, almost all day!

LOL

Have a great week!

Rosa

Log Cabin Eye Candy!!!

Hi There!

Gilbert and I went to our local quilt show, this morning. As some of you might know, my favorite quilt blocks are the "Log Cabins".... there's SOOOOO many different ways you can place the blocks, right?

Well, in the past 2 or 3 years, I've come to see more and more Log Cabins, with appliqués in them!

And I LOVE appliqués, as well!

Here are a few, from the quilt show.
(apologies 'cause I didn't get your names or details...)

This was had adorable hearts in it, with silver, metallic fabric.



And it ALSO had the COOLEST heart quilting, as well!

This one had fat and thin BRIGHT stripes. The different sizes of stripes gives the illusion of curves.

And here's a picture of me, taking a picture of this quilt, taken with Giblert's iPhone. Click on either of the pictures and it looks like there's a bright light shining through the BRIGHT fabrics. Incredible, eh?!??!



Here's a close-up.

Look at the INCREDIBLE appliqués!!!

More to come....

In the meantime, you might want to visit my friend Riel's blog page. She has a lot of incredible pictures, too.

Have a great Saturday!

Rosa

Better Late Than Never, eh?

Hi There!

Last Saturday, I FINALLY finished the binding on my "Thanksgiving Table Topper".

You see, our Canadian Thanksgiving was last month.... October 11th. actually.

It's now laid out on our kitchen table, anyhow.



I just LOVE the colors!!!!

A lot of these fabrics came from California and Florida - gifties from 2 good friends!

My "Thanks" for their "Giving"....

*grin*

Seriously....

Thanks... from the bottom of my heart!

Rosa

My Pink Quilt

Hi There!

One more UFO that I can claim...
FINISHED!!!!

Here's a close up of Gilbert's INCREDIBLE Long Arm work!

Cute, tiny and little meanderings!



I decided to make a "home made" label, for the back of this quilt.

I had picked up this nice (label) pattern book, last year and this was the first time that I had actually done something in it!

And here's...
"My Pink Quilt"!!!

Don't you just LOVE log cabins?!?!?

Well, I do.
*grin*

And here's a picture of it outside, hanging on the clothesline.

I'm not the best photographer
but I just LOVE this quilt!

It will be going in our local quilt show and then, perhaps I will hand it over to it's recipient...
a family member, who doesn't know that they will be getting this.

*long sigh*

Don't you just get that special feeling, way down in your tummy, when you give away a special quilt? Almost as if you're giving away your first born? But then, along with that special feeling in your tummy, your heart warms up.... knowing that the recipient will surely love their new quilt and will share the same warmth in THEIR heart, as well!

*grin*

Have a great weekend - we're almost there!

Rosa