Monday, April 30, 2012

Jungle Cuddles
I am ready to show off my Jungle Cuddles Quilt now that I received my new camera cord in the mail today.  I had fun taking these pictures,  so I was glad to be able to recover them.  I haven't been sure about the whole process used to create this blanket but the end result isn't so bad.  The girls I work with love it so I must have done something right.  I am always my worst critic.  Hope Madelynn approves when she arrives soon that is all that really matters.   All I need to do is wash the blanket and iron the back and it will be all hers. Well I do need to put a quilt label on the back, too .  I always seem to forget that it is nice to let baby know the who, when and with my love part of making this for her so she can cherish it for years.                                                                


   

Take Care,

Sunday, April 29, 2012

                             Wonderful Weekend
I didn't get a ton of quilting done.   I did get the three blocks I posted yesterday and I got another quilt ready to just sew the binding by hand on the back.  So some things were gained on that front.   Love it when a quilt gets to that stage.   I will post pics of it when I finish it.   What I did get done was a lot of yard work.    Spring has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest.   The trees are all turning green, grass is growing and flowers are blooming---as my allergies can attest to.   Finally we are past the frost stage and we got half of the garden planted today.  I'd like to show you a couple of the things my husband has recently made me.   First I haven't shown you the new coffee table that he finished a few weeks ago.   On it you will notice my dresden block table runner.   Didn't it turn out so nice?   The resin has a lot of bubbles in it and will probably need to be redone at some point but that will happen some other day.  Lesson learned is we won't be trying that product again. Meantime if you don't look closely it is gorgeous. 



He made three wheelbarrow planters for Christmas gifts and he finally got one finished for me.  I planted it a few weeks ago and it looks so cute in the front yard.  He has another one ready for our cousin Kay.  She is the one I am finishing the next quilt for.   Her quilt is one I started about four years ago.  It was before I started machine quilting them so I offered to give her the quilt top if she wanted to finish it by hand.  She gave it back to me to bind about a year and a half ago.  I hate binding them, too.   I kept putting it off because I couldn't find the right fabric for the binding.  I actually bought a print for it but hated how it looked so I just sat it on the sideburner for way too long.   She is going to fall in love with her new gifts.

My moose planter that my husband just finished this weekend is my absolute fav.   I bought some plants and got it all planted up today.   My husband staked it to the ground because he doesn't think it would last in our frontyard even one night if it wasn't.  My moose better be safe out there because he is fab-tastic.







Since I am on a roll sharing my garden joys today I have a couple more to share.  Last year I made a succulent planting frame on a fence wall and wasn't sure it would survive the winter.  We do have pretty mild winters here but we had our share of freezing temps as usual.  I wasn't sure the succulents would survive but they did and seemed to thrive.  What do you think?  I am hoping to add some to the back over the next few years so the view from both sides is the same.

This little tea kettle is a garage sale find from last year.  I paid 25 cents for it and had a flower pot in mind when I dragged it home.  Hope your week ahead is as fan-tabulous as my Moose :)

Saturday, April 28, 2012


I finished Madelynn's quilt and I would love to show you the pics I took of it but I evidently forgot to load the memory card back into the camera after the last time I uploaded to the computer.  The good news is they appear to be on the camera's internal memory---bad news being I can't find the USB cord that came with the camera. I found one online at Adorama but it takes 5-7 business days to ship so I may not be able to post them for a week or two. In the meantime I've been busy surfing around looking for a new project to start.  I've been wanting to make a quilt for my bed for sometime.    I actually starting one years ago but changed the color scheme in my room since then so I had better get hopping on this one.    I am going to make it a sampler quilt incorporating the colors of green and golds.   The center will be a bear panel I picked up and I'll be putting some bears in some of the sampler blocks,too.    Most of the blocks are from the 2011 Dream Castle Quilt BOM from Betty Dietz.  You can find them here.     I think I will skip the March block as I really don't want to attempt the curved piecing.  She appliqued it but it still is not what I prefer to do.    I really like the flying geese block because it was just the right size for my bear center so I will probably make several of those.    I finished three blocks today.


         Keep Yourself in Stitches,

Saturday, April 21, 2012

My contribution to Danny's Quilt

 I mailed off my 8 point star for Danny's Tribute Quilt on Friday.  Michele over at Quilts From My Crayon Box is asking for any 12 1/2 inch quilt blocks in red, white and black that feature 8 point stars for a quilt she is making for a charity fundraiser to raffle off in July. You can find out more about what she is doing to raise money for his softball team by checking out her Would You Help post.  My star is called a Rolling Star block that I found the pattern for at Quilter's Cache. It is a paper pieced block. I hope it fits her needs but understand if it doesn't fit well with the overall look of the quilt.  Seems like I may have made a block  a little too feminine for Danny's quilt.  Sorry if I missed the mark on this one Michele but I had a good time making it  :) I'm hoping the quilt is as scrappy as I thought it would be and it works out for you.  Best of luck with your project to honor your nephew.

Friday, April 20, 2012

I learned to add my Signature today :)

I just learned how to add my signature to my posts.  I got my lesson from the tutorial from the Quilting by the River blog.  You can find out how to do it by following the instructions at that Connie has graciously put together for us blog dummies here.  Thank goodness for people who are willing to teach old dogs new tricks. Thanks Connie! 

Monday, April 16, 2012

Still a WIP

I still have to add another row to the top and the leaf border to the other three sides but the quilt top is coming along.  The monkey found a nice place to live but since he moved in over there I needed another animal to live at the bottom of the quilt. I needed an animal not too tall so I added the alligator.  He was never in my original sketch but I really like him down there. I love how soft the minky cuddle fabric's are.  I'm not sure I would piece the quilt together this way again.  You can see I am a little crooked on the backing, that is why I wouldn't choose to do it this way again. I think I will just barely have enough room at the top since the layers are already quilted and I just have to add the border.
Happy Quilting...........

Saturday, April 14, 2012

I forgot the giraffe needed to have a mane on its neck so I added that and the lion is now a part of the quilt but the monkey is not sure where on the quilt he will live.  I need to make the elephant and zebra before locking him down I think because I am a little worried about room for them all. What do you think of how it is coming along so far?  Sure am loving how soft they are. I will have to hand sew an eye on the giraffe.  I forgot that when I started this project,too. I can't wait to make the elephant. JoAnn's didn't have gray cuddle fabric so it is off to craft warehouse tomorrow to get some. I was tempted to make it out of regular fabric and just line the ears with pink cuddle fabric but the monkey is sooooo soft to the touch that I must have the elephant out of cuddle fabric and I don't really want a pink elephant. Looking at the picture I think I should have given the lion a body of yellow under his head. Oh, well I am not re-doing it.
Wish me luck putting the rest of this together. I will show you how it's coming along when I get the elephant added.
                                               Why do I procrastinate so???

I can't believe it has taken me so long to finally start Brittney's baby quilt for Madelynn.  The last three weekends I have gone to local quilt show every Saturday and taken lots of pictures of very inspiring quilts and many ideas were added to my bucket list of quilt ideas but now it is time to get to work.  Brittney stopped by my house this last week and her belly was a HUGE reminder of how little time I have left to finish this project and I hadn't even started it yet! One of the biggest reasons other than I haven't been home much lately is my lack of real understanding what I am attempting to do. I am kind of treating this quilt like a giant paper piece project sewing directly onto the backing and batting. Problem is I have no pattern on the back that would normally be my sewing lines when paper piecing so I am free handing it from the front of the quilt.  I started with the giraffe in the middle (only it is a little to the left and a little lower than I would have liked) so right off the bat I will probably be compensating down the road and changing my original design to compensate for that problem.  I am mixing cuddle fabrics and regular cotton fabrics so that to has been challenging.  I love the soft feel of the cuddle fabrics though and look forward to what they offer this quilt. I still want to be able to add an elephant , monkey, zebra and a lion.
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