Modern Christmas Trees QAL

I made my trees for the Modern Christmas Trees QAL being hosted by Christa's Quilts http://christaquiltsblog.com/quilt-alongs/  Because I couldn't decide on which fabrics to use for the trees I decided to make them with the scraps from other projects.  Christa refers to these as improv trees, which makes me sound very modern, which I am not :-)  To me they are scrap trees. I used my Tri Recs rulers for the first time and am happy with them.  I've had them for a while but didn't know how to use them, so this was a good project to work that out.

 

 

 

This Annalee Quilter Mouse is my birthday present to myself.  She makes me smile.

 

Have a great weekend.

God Bless You.



Taking Stock

I used a piece of flannel as a kind of design wall and find that looking at projects straight gives a fresh look at blocks.  This year I had planned to work on UFO's and I did complete a couple of big projects, but of course I have plenty more to go.  That's ok, there's always next year.  I pulled out my blocks to take a look.

I love these blocks.  They are Radiant Star, an Eleanor Burns block that is in the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Vol. 4 issue.  I don't know what made me stop this project but I have to get back to it.

 

These are my Ben Franklin Mystery QAL blocks with Erik's Homemade Coffee Break eZine. http://erikhomemade.typepad.com/erik_homemade/

 I think I'm going to redo the third block down on the right. 

I notice I have two of the same block and I can't think why.  The host for this qal is on vacation, but then we'll be back at it.

 

These are the blocks so far in the Stashbusters QAL at Linda's Quiltmania.  http://lindasquiltmania.blogspot.com/

We were given block 4 today. 

 

I worked on one of my Christmas QAL projects.  I bought fabric at Joann's for the borders of my Nativity wallhanging and wanted to see how it would look.

 

The fabric that is adjacent to the plaid is perfect; it's covered in Christmas stars.

I'm thinking of crocheting some stars to applique to the plaid. Last night I made the quilt sandwich for this project so it is ready when I want to quilt it. I know I'll have other Christmas ideas to work on for our QAL.

 

There is a nice blog hop being hosted by Sheri of Sunshine in the Attic called Quilts in the Pumpkin Patch  http://sunshineintheattic.blogspot.com/

The projects are autumn related so if you like pumpkins and autumn leaves you may like the projects being shown. 

 

God Bless You and have a fun quilting week.





September Christmas QAL - Post 4

I have been sewing today, but not on a Christmas item, although there is so much red and green in this project that I think it could be mistaken for a Christmas Quilt.  I mentioned earlier this week that I made a churn dash quilt.  It is very colorful.  When you take one block at a time, it seems very simple.

But put them all together and there is a color burst.

There are only 5 prints in fabrics in this quilt, but it looks like 100. 

Well, this quilt is becoming another of my favorites.  I think I might do a bit more ditch stitching and then put on the binding. 

 

Thank you to lovely Hazel for hosting this weekend.  She does such a good job of it.  And have you seen all of the pastry people have been showing?  Between the cookies, blondies, gingerbread, Sue's boozy recipes and I don't know what else, we could become a Cook and Quilt Along.

 

Hopefully I'll be seeing you here next month.

 

God Bless and have a great time quilting (and eating;-)

September Christmas QAL - Post 3

Are you a pet lover?  Than you will enjoy this link that was shared by Soggibottom.  The creativity of bloggers is awesome.

http://www.speedyhousebunny.com/

September Christmas QAL - Post 2

I fixed my polar bear and he's going to be quilted, and get his eyes and pompom sewn and finished up all together this weekend. 

He's going to be lovable once he's quilted.

 

I hesitate to show the Nativity because I know the plaid isn't matched.  But this is still a work in progress and we'll see how it looks when some borders are added and maybe some applique.  I need to make a trip to Joann's Fabrics to see if I can find some red or green that matches.  I never seem to have just the right color. 

 

I think I'm going to pick up one of Donna's design walls while I'm shopping.  http://www.sosewcrafty.blogspot.com  Crawling around the floor isn't the best way to see the best layouts. 

September Christmas QAL - Post 1

The Christmas QAL is on at Hazel's http://www.hazelsquilts.blogspot.com   Where I live it is one gorgeous day.  I think I love it more after a week of humidity, the kind of days that sap energy.  Not today.  It's clear, cool, dry; lovely. 

So, I do plan to work on my Nativity, but I need to fix my second polar bear first.  When he was hanging up waiting for attention I noticed his cap was off.  Now paper piecing has the reputation for accuracy, but not in my hands. But it's fixable.  So that's first.

 

You got Cookies by Sonja Callaghan; Quiltmaker Nov/Dec 2012



Things I've Been Doing

This month's Christmas QAL is being hosted by Hazel http://www.hazelsquilts.blogspot.com and it's this weekend.  I hope you can participate and that you are enjoying the qal time as much as I am.  I want to work on the Nativity quilt top this month and hope to make progress with it.

I'm also joining Christa Quilts QAL of her pattern, Modern Christmas Trees Wall Hanging.  http://christaquiltsblog.com/2013/09/11/christas-quilt-along-7-0-modern-trees-intro-and-schedule/ 

 

I think it's a sweet design and will use up some of my Christmas fabric.  If you visit Christa's blog you will see variations of the design that show the possibilities with changing fabric and layout.  Join in if you can.

 

I am quilting a churn dash quilt.

The fabric is from a 2010 collection called Golden Afternoon by Connecting Threads.  I think I've had the fabric since 2011 when I began quilting, and probably bought it because the floral is of marigolds, one of my favorite flowers.  In my part of the world, they are now coming into their best show, and I love that I can have them growing until late October or even November.  I'm doing only simple curves on this quilt so it's almost finished.

 

I've also wanted to see if I liked the look of drop cloth slipcovers so I made a cover for a hassock.  It looks pretty good so I'll be making new slipcovers for the living room. 

 

God Bless You.

Double Hourglass Block

I saw on Sheila's Quilt World http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-little-mail-today.html about the Stash Buster's Quilt Along at Linda's Quiltmania http://www.lindasquiltmania.blogspot.com/  and decided to join in, mostly because the first block is so cute.

I was happy to see that I have the two rulers needed.  In fact, I used one of them for the first time making the Double Hourglass block.  Thank you, Sheila, for posting about this.  I think it will be fun.

I finished one of my polar bear You Got Cookies wall hangings which I began during the Christmas QAL.  It is sweet.  I love him.  I can't show him off until December when we have our show and tell at Sue's (http://www.quilttimes.blogspot.com ).  I did say "one of my polar bears."  I made another one with a bright blue cap.  I didn't have to do that because the first one, which I thought was bland, is not at all plain since he's been quilted, has cute brown eyes and  a big blue pompom at the end of his hat.  And I am loving paper piecing, even though I rip out more stitches than I put in. 

 

God Bless You.