One Down and Many More to Go, Hopefully.

I live in New England, and if you know anything about what the weather has been like for us this winter, you may think I don't do anything but shovel snow and then sack out on the recliner with my blankie and cat to recover.  But I have in fact been sewing and crocheting, as well.
I wasn't going to show this quilt until I realized it is the first completed from start to finish project of 2011, so here it is.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I plan to make something from every quilt magazine I receive.  The February/March issue of Quilters Newsletter has a feature on quilts that were made by inspiration of the Mosaic Tiles of Andalusa, Spain, specifically the Alhambra Palace in Granada.  I didn't want a quilt with a white background, as beautiful as those quilts are, so I used fabric I had on hand to make something I needed, a table cover.  This is the quilt pattern I meant to follow:

My quilt looks like a fifth cousin removed a few times, if that's the correct reference. 

And as in life, it isn't exactly what you thought it would be, but it has it's merits.

I wanted a coffee table cover and I have one. 

And I have an accomplishment.

That's it for now.  More shoveling tomorrow, as another Nor'easter is hitting us right now.  This is the third snowfall this week.  I laughed yesterday when I received a call from the senior citizens group I joined to inform me that the February meeting was cancelled.  Not taking any chances:) 

Hope all is well with you. 

God Bless You.

Antique Tile Quilt Block

Block six of Janet Wickell's Scrap Happy Sampler Quilt is the antique tile block.  http://www.quilting.about.com/

My blocks so far in the order I made them.

God Bless You.

Scrap Block Five

I'm doing well keeping up with the blocks for the Scrap Happy Sampler Quilt from Janet Wickell of  http://www.quilting.about.com/ .  The latest block has the curious name of Swamp Angel.  I wanted to know where the name came from and it is either from the Civil War, or the 19th century name for mosquitoes, or a waterfront gang.  I am tending toward the Civil War and mosquito nickname due to the name given to a battalion that fought some battles in the

summer of 1863.  If you know more about it, please let me know. Here is my block:

So, we are already up to five blocks.

I am crocheting a lapghan that is coming along nicely.  I like the pattern:
1/24/11: This pattern is here:  http://www.happyyellowhouse.com/htm/simplyred.html



I won a book from Pink Chalk Fabrics.  It's called One Yard Wonders, and I look forward to getting it and maybe making a wonder.  I'll show it to you when I get it.  Thank you Pink Chalk Fabrics.  They have a giveaway every week.  Visit their shop and blog to learn more.  http://www.pinkchalkfabrics.com/

God Bless You.

It's My "Fifteen Minute" Time

My blog is listed on the Favorite Sewing Blogs of We All Sew.com http://www.weallsew.com/needle-thread-happiness/ and I'm very happy about that.  It's just a link to my blog, but this is the first time my blog has been chosen for something like this, so it's nice to be found out and recognized. 

Thank you We All Sew.  

What is funny is that I have been getting the feeds from We All Sew for a while because it's a good resource for other craft blogs, and I find it fun to see what others are making.  (We All Sew is sponsored by Bernina.)

God Bless You.  

Winner and Goshen Star Block

Congratulations to Sarah, the thirteenth commenter on the giveaway post.  An email is on the way.  A huge Thank You to everyone who left a comment.  I enjoyed reading each one and sharing my little celebration with all of you.

This is my version of the Goshen Star block, the fourth block Janet Wickell has given us for her Scrap Quilt Along.  The look of this block changed dramatically with where the light, medium and dark fabrics were used.  In my version I love the way the light and medium fabric in the bands look like handkerchiefs, at least to me.  Here are all four blocks so far:

It's going to be a very colorful scrap quilt.

I also made the fields block for the America the Beautiful quilt, so I'm done with that until I get the next issue of Quilting.

From one end to the other.  My block is 57" long.

I've been trying to get a good picture of Moxie, and this is the best I could do today.  She is such a cute cat, but I cannot get a decent picture of her.  I'm just going to keep trying.

Her tent and her tunnel take up a good piece of real estate, but she's worth it.

God Bless You.  Here's to another fun year of blogging.

America the Beautiful

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.

Although I love the song we are not singing America the Beautiful today, but you can if the spirit moves you.  The post title refers to the project I have worked on the past few days. 

Around Thanksgiving I subscribed to McCall's Quilting and another two quilt magazines.  I also received a subscription for another quilt magazine from my sister for Christmas.  And as I was trying to put some organization into my sewing area and noticed all of the books and periodicals I have for crocheting, cross stich, sewing and quilting, I decided that I needed to do more than just read my new subscriptions.  So, my goal is to make a project from each issue I receive.  The January/February Quilting issue made it easy for me.  They have a series sampler quilt that will be published in six installments, and I love the pattern so that is what I'm making.  The quilt is called America the Beautiful and it is designed by Lynn Lister.  The first three blocks to do are the Shining Star, the Barn, and The Field or what I think of as The Fruited Plain. 

The Shining Star took me almost all of yesterday afternoon to make. What takes you the most time when you begin a quilt? For me it is choosing the fabric.  I think it's because I like to play with fabric, and so I literally do that with my scraps.   

I still need to applique the star, but after that the Barn Block is done.

I haven't begun the Fruited Plains (Field) Block, but that will keep me busy later today.

The next block that Janet Wickell has chosen for her scrap quilt along is the Goshen Star Block.  So I get to play with my scraps again:)

I mentioned in an earlier post that this month I have been blogging for one year.  I'm having a small giveaway to celebrate being part of a nice community of bloggers.

This is Arianna by Jennifer Young for Benartex.  There are 35 5 inch squares.  This is one of the groups I received as part of Benartex' Preview Pack Club.  It's a pretty collection with pinks, aquas, browns, blues, yellows and khaki.

Leave me a nice comment.  Please don't just say, "Thanks for the giveaway.  Count me in" or  any variation of that.  Would you like to tell me what takes you the longest when you have a project?  Or what you subscribe to?  Or a qal or sal you've joined?  I'm interested.  

The winner will be chosen on Monday, January 10th.

Thanks for visiting.  God Bless You. 

Happy New Year 2011

Thursday I got back to sewing non-Christmas things.  I caught up on the qal I'm doing with Erik Homemade Coffee Break eZine.  Then I made the two blocks I was behind on for Janet Wickell's scrap qal.  And I have a suspicion that Janet is very fond of half-square triangles.  The two blocks we had to make are the Arizona quilt block and the Twinkling Star quilt block.  While I was making the twinkling star today I was very tempted to ditch it and make a block of my choice.  But I persevered and it came out okay.



Road to California, Arizona, Twinkling Star

See all of those little 1.5 inch hst's?  OY!

I will say that I think this scrap qal is challenging and for that reason will probably be an interesting quilt when it's done.   

I began to crochet a lapghan to donate, and I turn to it when the hst's drive me crazy.  I have a few quilts to finish, and I'm determined to do them.  

Hope you are all enjoying the holidays.  God Bless You.