Will Work for Fabric

A few weeks ago I started making shop samples for my LQS.  They used to be located a good 30 minute drive from me but recently moved a lot closer,  about 8 minutes travel time including the long Florida traffic lights.  I was so excited!  I went in today and got "paid" for my samples ~ Two yards of the dotted fabric, one yard of the lime green and a Jelly Roll of Eden with pay deducted ended up costing me eleven dollars and change! 
And then I took advantage of some of those July Fourth sales on the internet and got,

Bliss by Bonnie and Camille.  It is so pretty!  I think the yardage will be out in September.

And two charm packs from my favorite designer Fig Tree Quilts.  I almost used these for my Joy Luck Schnibbles but couldn't quite bear to cut into them yet.

And lastly, Block 11 of the Jelly Roll Quilt Along over at Moose on the Porch Quilts. The center is a leftover charm square from Holly Jolly.   Hard to believe there's only one more month.  Here's  the rest of the blocks altogether.

Talk to you later ~

It Was Love At First Sight

Went to my LQS and they had a quilt hanging up using red and blue reproduction fabrics with vintage looking shirtings made up using this pattern from the Jelly Roll Quilts book. Oh it was just so wonderful! I love the Jelly Roll book but I have to tell you, I had no interest in making the 9-patch wonder quilt from the picture they have in the book.

Here's the jelly roll and ack! my picture does not show how wonderful the Jelly Roll is! You'll have to trust me on this one.

And then I was one of the lucky winners on October first's Year of Schnibbles Parade! Yay, I won a Santorini charm pack and a Schnibbles pattern, I chose Picnic,from Quilt Taffy.

I just realized my 100th posting came and went with no recognition from me so I thought I'd have some giveaways.

First up is a little kit to make a fabric pumpkin. It looks better than the picture shows. The kit only makes one but if you can use your own fabric to make more.

Next up, 8 fat quarters by Free Spirit from a line called Celebrate, have no idea when it was out.


And last up, a doll sized quilt of leftover Japanese fabrics from a prior project. Sorry the picture is so bad. Anyway, leave a comment on this post by midnight Monday (October 19), make sure I have a way of getting in contact with you, and I'll chose 3 winners on Tuesday.



Meanwhile I am off to Washington University in St. Louis tomorrow for a long weekend.
Talk to you later.

New Book

Wish I could say I've been sewing but this is as close as I've got. This is the new book by the mother/daughter team of Pam and Nicky Lintott. Their first book was just great so I bought this one from Amazon sight unseen, so far I do not think it is going to disappoint.

This one from the book is called Damask Rose, so pretty and feminine. Just one jelly roll, four fat quarters and fabric for binding.

This is another winner, Hidden Stars. I made this one year using Christmas fabrics and a starry-beige for the stars. All in all, there are eighteen projects in the books using jelly rolls, layer cakes and/or charm squares.

This is what has been occupying my free time, getting ready for a vacation. I keep second guessing what to bring for weather so different from here (Florida). And to compound the problem, we are flying a local airline (once we get to where we are going) that puts strict weight restrictions on all luggage. Don't you just hate that when you get somewhere and you ended up leaving something out you should have brought?
Well, decisions must be made as we leave tomorrow. Be sure to come back the end of July as I plan on having a giveaway, maybe with something from our vacation to Russia.

My Brown Quilt

I didn't do much sewing this past weekend. We had such beautiful weather, warm, sunny and the nicest part, low humidity, I spent some time outdoors. I finished the quilt, Around the Block from On A Roll book by Heather Mulder Peterson on Thursday. It mainly uses Dandelion Girl fabric with just a little Allspice Tapestry and Urban Indigo. I picked up the Jelly Roll at one of the Saturday Jelly Roll classes but decided not to use the apron pattern that came with it. I think it's definitely a brown quilt, my first using that color. I love the way it turned out.

The border looks hard but it is so easy to do and really adds a little pizzazz to a otherwise simple quilt.

It finishes at a twin size, 68 by 81 inches.


Also finished the online Block of the Month I am doing using Christmas fabrics. The red is not that orangey.

These fat quarters are from a line called Victoria's Scatter Garden that came out in 2004. I could never figure out what to do with them.

About a month agao, I saw the Magic Vine line by Eleanor Burns and just couldn't resist getting some. It coordinates nicely with the Scatter Garden fat quarters so I think this will be my next project.

And this is Katherine! We have a small salt water tank and this is one of our hermit crabs. Isn't she cute? She's about a little over an inch wide to give a sense of scale. I think she could use a new shell.
Thanks for stopping by!

New Project

Well I've put my prior debacle behind me and started a new project. While I was reading another blog, can't remember whose, I saw a project out of this book. In fact, the cover quilt started. It looked so cute and simple. I need an opportunity for success!

It seemed the perfect project for another Jelly Roll. It's not an "official" Jelly Roll per se but rather a compendium of mainly Dandelion fabrics with some Allspice Tapestry fabrics and others thrown in.




I so love 9 patches. They are so classic and timeless. I had to make a quick run to my LQS to get some fabric for the borders before it was gone. As is, I ended up settling for another color than what I was hoping for. Don't you just love that new ironing board cover? I am so hoping I can keep it nice for a while. It really perks up my sewing room.

Now, on to the scrap giveaway. I'd like to thank everyone for all your nice comments! I wrote everyone's name who commented prior to noon today on a piece of paper and put them into my favorite Pottery Barn cherry bowl and

picked "free indeed". So if you could email me your mailing address I'll get your package off to you! Thanks for stopping by.

Jelly Roll Disaster

For the past several days I've worked with a Oh-Cherry-Oh Jelly Roll that I picked up at a LQS class. It also came with a free pattern from Moda's website called Sultry. It makes a friendship braid quilt when done, something I've never made before but was anxious to try.

All the Jelly Roll strips are cut to 7 inches and then sewn to alternate sides of a beginning square.

After the braid is sewn, the edges need to be trimmed and then the rows sewn together.

Well, somewhere amongst all this sewing, I should have used some starch on all those bias edges. I didn't have any and was too lazy to go get some. I figured it would be ok. It wasn't.

It is so wonky, so crooked, so bowed! Waah, I've never had anything turn out so bad before!

Trust me, it is much worse in actuality than the pictures reveal. You see that top edge? It should lay right along that tile grout line. I was feeling pretty down on the day it happened, but with some distance I've adjusted and console myself with that little aphorism, "Every quilter has a masterpiece within" and mine just hasn't come out yet!