Do you ever sign up for a swap...

...and fall in love with the gift you've made?

Last month, on a whim I signed up for the Modern She Made Swap on Flickr.  They were just about to get started with Round 2 and I thought "What the heck!  Why not?"  I hadn't done a swap in a long while and this seemed like a good one to get back in.

After stalking my partner's Flickr page and mulling over several ideas, this is what I came up with.

This is the picture I posted on the group's page to get feeback.

 

 

Pieced and ready for quilting.

 

 

And here we are midday on Day 2. 

 

 

The quilting is almost complete and then I'll turn it into a pillow cover.  First, I have to figure out what I want to quilt in the corners.  I know I don't want more lines...hmm.

 

 

I'll be back in a day or two to show you the finished pillow...fingers crossed.

 

I hope everyone has a fabulous Saturday!  

What would you do...

...with a large pile of old uniforms?

 

 

 

Here sits my son's old Army uniforms.  When he was getting out of the Army last May

I asked him if I could have some of his old uniforms and this is what I got.  I want to make

a quilt out of them but I haven't been able to come up any good ideas yet. 

 

So I'm looking for ideas and inspiration.  Got any?

 

Simple, complex, colorful, muted, pieced, appliqued...it doesn't matter. 

I want to hear your ideas.  What would you do with a pile of old uniforms?

 

 

P.S.  I haven't been sewing a lot lately but I'll try to post again soon with

something more interesting that a pile of clothes.

Highlights from the 2012 Trinity Valley Quilt Show

Good Tuesday to y'all.  This past weekend I and a couple of my besties went to

Trinity Valley Quilt Guild's annual show.  Here are a few highlights...

 

 

The Red Birds

Made by Sharon Bowman

Quilted by Susan Corbett

 

 

 

Albums

Made by Carol Staehle and Divas

Quilted by Sheri Mecom

 

 

Vintage Stars

Made by Bonnie Chovanetz and Friends

Quilted by Miriam McCurdy

 

 

Monterrey Medallion

Made by Christine Merrell

Quilted by Susan Corbett

 

 

Lucy in the Sky

Made by Carolyn Bowden

Quilted by Susan Corbett

 

 

Flower Pots

Made by Peggy Sympson

Quilted by Dawn Smith

 

 

Patriotic Primitive Garden

Made by Wanda Nabors

Quilted by Karen Denney

 

 

 

My Baltimore Quilt

Made by Pat Nielson

Quilted by Dawn Smith

 

 

1930's Bunnys Jumping

Made by Dawn Horvath

Quilted by Miriam McCurdy

 

 

Symphony of Light - Aurora Borealias

Made by Janis Chism Keene

Quilted by Martha Tsihlas

 

 

"Eye" see what's on your plate

Made by Fran Snay

Quilted by Sue Champion

 

 

Triangles Galore

Made by Gale Cochran

Quilted by Donna Akins

 

Confetti Flowers

Made by Beth Rhodes

Quilted by Dawn Smith

 

 

 

Made in Texas - By a Texan

Made by Rebecca Yarborough

Quilted by Sara Burris

 

 

As far as goodies go, I went to the show with the desire to NOT purchase fabric and

to FIND something unique.  And this is what I came up with.

 



 

I bought the Quiltsmart's Baskets Around  pattern because I thought it would be

good for one of the bazillion fat quarters bundles I have collecting dust.

 

And the Hickory Nut templates?  I just thought were neat.  Here's what they're used for...

 

 

These little hexagons are SUPER addictive!  These particular ones were made from the small template set using a few charm packs.  So far I have 30 made with another 45 or so to go.  

 

For anyone interested, you can purchase the templates here.  

 

That's all for now.  Type at ya later...

While I’ve been trying to figure out…

…how the heck Blogger’s new interface works, I made a rug!

It is made of two 100 ft. lengths of cotton clothesline wrapped with 3/4” strips of various batik fabrics.  
I wish I had started my center with a longer width of clothesline rather than the two 2” I did use. 
But I learned a lot and considering this was my first rug, I’m very happy with the end result. 

The squiggle section was a moment of inspiration that took a few minutes to figure 
out how to arrange it and make it stay.  I really like the look of it!

And just for grins and giggles here is my model Frank displaying the rug.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Stash Enhancement...the final word

For anyone interested in the continued topic of stash enhancing, in a previous post Kristi left the following comments:

"....wondering how much to buy since I'm fairly new to quilting. My main problem when I go to make something is I don't have enough background fabric for a pattern...do you buy background fabric

for each quilt you make or do you deal with background fabric another way?"

I buy my background like I buy my prints...in fat quarters and 1/2 yards.  I don't typically buy any more than that unless I just absolutely love it or its for a specific project.  And the reason why I do it this way is I often find that those impulse 1+ yardage purchases never end up being enough for the project I want to use them in.  So I just try not to do it.

And let's be honest, 9 times out of 10  when I start a new project it has DOZENS of different fabrics in it.  I don't remember the last time I did a quilt with only three or four fabrics.  I like to mix as much colors and fabric into a quilt as I can.  I just like the look of it.  Here are some examples.

You will notice though that all but one have yardage pieces that were used as a counter balance to all the rest.  I don't imagine these quilts would look as good without that background/setting anchor fabric.

I hope that answers your question Kristi.  Thanks for asking it.  I'm sure it was more more than you ever wanted to know but I couldn't help myself...just like my shopping...LOL.

Winner Time!

Congratulations to

Sandy of Textile House

You're the winner of the 400 Followers Giveaway!

Please send me your address so I can mail your goodies.

Thank you to everyone who entered and shared their how they shop for stash enhancement. 

It was very interesting reading all your comments.

Do you ever have a quilt idea...

...and start making it before you have a clear plan?  Please tell me I'm not the only one. 

Last month, right before retreat, I had an idea. I knew I wanted to do a quilt with Civil War-ish prints and I knew I wanted to do it with Birds in the Air blocks. But that's all I knew. I didn't know how many I needed so I just grabbed the bin I store all the fabrics I like to use for scrap quilts.

Here is my bin...

...and here is everything that's in it. 

To give you an idea of how much that is, I weighed the bin... 

15 1/2 lbs!  That is A LOT of scraps.

I decided on a size for my block...6" finished...and started sorting, pulling out the fabrics I didn't want to use and put them back in the bin.  From the rest I just started cutting.  Here is my pile of Birds in the Air blocks so far. 

I already have enough for two large quilts and I still have a few dozen to make.  I have one solid design that I'm definately going to do and a few ideas for what's left over.  EQ7 has been very helpful in solidifying my ideas.  I hope to have a quilt to share soon.

In other news...I made a little quilt top this weekend from block I found last week while tidying up.  The 3" nine patches came from JulieQ's swap TWO years ago.  How's that for procrastination?   The Dresden Plate came from a friend of mine.

38 1/2 x 43"

When I received those nine patches two years ago I had a couple of idea but nothing that really excited me.  And then last week...I don't know what happened.  Something just clicked.  Again I went back to EQ7 to layout the design.  Once I knew exactly what I needed for my design, I cut up more squares for nine patches and then I cut the alternating squares.

I have to say...I really love this little quilt.  I'm still debating on borders.  I want to just add a small 3" border that matches the setting triangles but my husband thinks it needs more than that.  He thinks it needs a red or brown border outside of that.  But then he wants to use it for a lap quilt and I want it for a wall hanging.  So I don't know what I'm going to do.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Hope y'all had a great weekend filled with lots of sewing!