Christmas QAL, Lanterns and Slabs

This weekend Hazel is hosting the Christmas QAL http://www.hazelsquilts.blogspot.com  Hope you can find some time to join in and quilt with us.  I'm curious and want to see your projects.  If you are new to the QAL, the info intro on the Christmas QAL page is a good place to start.  Both Hazel and I have that posted.

 

Isn't this a beautiful bundle of fabric?  I received it today from Henry Glass Fabrics and is what I won from their July 4th giveaway. 

 

This week they are hosting a Summer Fabric Party.  Check it out. http://henryglassfabrics.blogspot.com/

 

I joined the Lantern QAL at Quilty Habit and completed the first block. http://www.quiltyhabit.blogspot.com   I made 2 of the block because I'm not sure what I'm making in the way of size or design.

 

 

Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts posted today about the slab blocks (scrap blocks) being collected by Cheryl, a quilter in Canada, for victims in Southern Alberta and Calgary.  http://naptimequilter.blogspot.ca/2013/06/slabs-for.html  I have one block completed and one half done and that's just from this afternoon and evening.  After the first block they come together quickly.  This is doable for me because I don't have to make a complete quilt. 

 

 

God Bless You.

 



Henry Glass Fabrics Summer Fabric Party. Lantern QAL

 Henry Glass Fabrics http://henryglassfabrics.blogspot.com/ is posting about some of their designers this week, and there are fabric bundles for giveaways each day.  Yesterday the fabric line was  called Here Fishy Fishy.  You will smile when you see the quilt that was made; it is too cute.  And today they are showing the most lovable bears in Bear Hugs.   I won one of their giveaways from July 4th. 

Today I am working on my blocks for the Lantern QAL I joined at Quilty Habit http://www.quiltyhabit.blogspot.com/ (even though I said I wasn't joining any QAL's this year so I could finish UFO's - so much for plans.)  I needed to make something new, easy and different.  These blocks are modern to my thinking, so I'm putting my toe in that pond to see if I like it. All I have so far is the layout;

I'm using up strips from a Ty Pennington Impressions jelly roll.  I'll be working on this between a doctor appointment and a dentist appointment today so we'll see what gets done. 

I made my first fabric postcards and mailed them yesterday to my partner who is in Nova Scotia.  Sheila of Sheila's Quilt World http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.com/ posted about the exchange she was planning so I joined in since I wanted to make fabric postcards but held back because it was an unknown venture.  I can't post my cards yet until my partner receives them, but then I'll show what I made.  Post Office I'm counting on you:-)

Janet Wickell at about.com quilting http://quilting.about.com/ has templates for the backs of the cards.

Check out the giveaway at Henry Glass.

 

This weekend is Christmas QAL; hope to meet up with you at Hazel's http://www.hazelsquilts.blogspot.com

 

God Bless.

Trip Around The World Quilt is Finished

I learned what I needed to do in order to successfully attach prairie points.  When I first looked for a tutorial on them it seemed to me that the individual points were placed a mere quarter or half inch into the adjacent point, but that isn't close enough.  I found this tutorial and just by looking at the pics I saw the solution.  http://www.designsbyloftcreations.com/2013/06/prairie-points-two-ways.html  As you can see the points are nestled well into each other and this helps when sewing them on because they don't travel and there aren't spaces between them. 



The quilt back is very patchy.

And I used one of my new Sizzix dies, a dove, next to the label. 

I love a finished quilt.

 

I began the current blocks for the Ben Franklin QAL.  We're making City Street blocks.  I'm not going to finish them today.  Time to grab a good book.

God Bless You.



 

 

Patriotic Bell

 

 I played with my bell block and Sizzix dies in order to make an appropriate wall hanging for the July holiday.  I had this hanging and wondered what it was missing.  Then it came to me.

It needs its clapper.

 

I also worked on sewing on the prairie points to KP's quilt, but all of the stitches have been taken out and I will have to redo. 

I almost dropped the plan to use a mix of fabrics for the points, but after pinning them on I think it looks okay. 

 

 

Have a wonderful day.

God Bless You.



Quilting KP's Quilt and Other Stuff

I began quilting KP's quilt.  I'm hoping to make the curves within the squares design that has the cathedral windows look.  Of course, my curves curve all over the place but that's what makes it my quilting.

 

The only batting I had at home the day I made the sandwich was the extra loft type.  I hesitated using it but now I really like the results.  So, it would be nice if I can get this done by early July, but whenever I make a plan something happens so no plan, just doing.

 

I won this great book from Quiltmaker. 

It's Farm Fresh Quilts by Kim Gaddy. 

 

I love, love the designs in this book.  You may see a bee skep or chicken runner soon.

 

And because I appreciate her approach to quilting, I ordered Mary Ellen Hopkins' book, The It's Okay To Sit On My Quilt Book.

It's out of print, so I ordered a used book through Amazon.  My book is like new.  Love it.

 

I like my Sizzix die cutter very much, and get emails from them when they have sales and such.  I was able to buy all of these dies for under $40.00, including shipping, which I think is pretty good shopping.

 

If you like die cutters, visit SewCalGal  http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/ .  There is an eBosser blog hop going on with how-to's and giveaways.  Apparently, the eBosser is compatible with dies from multiple manufacturers.  Sounds nice.

 

The sun is out and so are the lawn mowers. 

Not mine:-)

God Bless You.

 

 



2013 Christmas QAL - Thank You All

 

The winner of the two fat quarters is Sheila.  I'm waiting for a reply to my email and will send them out to her when she responds.  Since she is in Australia it may actually be Christmas by the time they reach her with the mail what it is.    I must need a good rest.  Sheila is in Nova Scotia.  My apologies. 

Next month we will be at Hazel's Quilts http://hazelsquilts.blogspot.com/ 

Hazel's a fun chick so I'm sure we'll have a memorable time at her place.  No pressure, Hazel ;-)

 

Thank you to each and every one of you who participated with me this weekend.  I met some new folks and made progress with my projects, so as far as I'm concerned it was a success.

 

I hope to see you next month. 

 

Now I can take down my Christmas background.  It's cute  but I need a bit of Spring/Summer.

 

God Bless You.

2013 Christmas QAL - Flash Quiz

Did that get your attention?    Do you remember flash quizzes?  Boy, did I hate them.  Well, this is not a flash quiz.  But in celebration of the first Christimas QAL of 2013 this is a Flash Giveaway.

 

2 fat quarters of Christmas fabric.  Not colors you can use in the challenge, but nice nevertheless. 

 

Everyone who has linked up is in the giveaway.  If you do not want to be a part of it, then send me an email and I will take your name out of the hat.

 

I'll wait until the end of the day here or tomorrow morning and then post the winner. 

 

Thanks so much for being a part of the 2013 Christmas QAl.  I have enjoyed yesterday and today very much.

 



2013 Christmas QAL - A Neat How-to

I wanted to share something with you that I just came across on facebook.  It's a way to make multiple HST's at once.  I love smart quilters, especially those who share their knowledge.

 http://scrapatches.blogspot.com/2012/10/mysterious-hsts.html

http://katiesquiltsandcrafts.blogspot.com/2010/12/half-square-triangle-shortcut.html

Hope you can use the info.

2013 Christmas QAL - Autumn Apron

The feedback on my question about the QAL being a weekend event is positive, and we seem to have more people able to join in today, so that makes me happy.

 

I abandoned my plaid fabric and small squares.  I don't know how I will approach them yet, so better to put them aside.  Instead, I finally cut out and put together an apron that came as a panel with the ties, pocket and embellishments.  I've had it for a few years so I'm happy it's done. 

It's from Henry Glass & Co.  Right up there with Christmas fabric is autumn fabric on my "I love that" list.  So we talked about aprons yesterday and today I made one. 

 

We're covering the seasons this weekend.  Gotta love it.

Christmas QAL -It's Sunday and We Are Back

Welcome to everyone joining in today.  I'm back from Mass and can now visit you and see what's going on at your houses. 

 Here's a project I began last night.  I wanted to see how it would look with the plaid, and I like it, but it needs some light fabric somewhere so I will play some more.

Would you like to know what I think.  I'll tell you anyway:)  I think the two day QAL is neat because I can work at a slower pace if I choose to.  It's working for me anyway.  Let me know what you think about it.

2013 Christmas QAL - Recipe

How about some Chocolate Saltine Toffee?  Surprisingly easy to make with a salty-sweet chewy thing going on that is so good.  These taste a bit like a Heath Bar, and the nice thing is that instead of just one little bar, you have a whole jelly roll pan to eat:)

I followed  this recipe http://www.averiecooks.com/2011/12/chocolate-saltine-toffee.html almost exactly, except I did use a jelly roll pan which measures 10 inches by 15 inches.  I did not have overflow because when I lined the pan with foil I brought it up higher than the sides of the pan. 

Although the recipe states 1 1/2 to 2 cups of chocolate chips, I needed all of the 2 cups and even broke up a few Hersey bar miniatures to add more chocolate.  That might have been because my pan was bigger, but my advice is to be prepared to use the greater amount.

The hardest thing about this recipe is standing at the stove and stirring the toffee.  Don't walk away.  It comes to a boil very quickly and then you need to let it cook for about 4 minutes or more, stirring constantly. 

I did have to spread the toffee about on the crackers to distribute before putting on the chocolate chips.  I put the tray back into the warm oven to melt the chocolate faster just for a minute and then spread it about.

I did put it into the refrigerator to cool and harden.

 

Then you break off a corner to test it, and keep testing until you realize you have eaten five chunks of the stuff and you need to stop before it's all gone.

 

My supply is in the fridge.

What's left of it.

 

Enjoy.

This is the Bow Block.  The block design is from It's Okay If You Sit On My Quilt by Mary Ellen Hopkins. 

The Bow Block and the Bell Block are different sizes and I'm running out of the blue fabric so I'm going to have to play with them to see what I can do.  After reading Vroomans Quilts http://vroomansquilts.blogspot.com/ blog post this morning, I like Sharon's apron idea.  This Bow Block would make a cute bib portion on an apron.  I would just have to look for some blue fabric for the skirt section.  And I definitely would get use out of a cute apron.  That's one possibility anyway.  I want to use the Bell Block for a wall hanging I think.

After a day and night of heavy rain the sun is shining.  I'm going to run the vacuum and take a break.  Hope everyone is having a good sewing day.

2013 Christmas QAL - Bell Block Design

Well, I have been playing with all of my Christmas fabric and believe me, I have a good amount of it because I am addicted to it.  But once I remove any of it that has red or green I am left with a small stack; a very small stack.  Oh boy, Sue, you knew what you were doing when you made up this challenge.

Fortunately, blues and golds are popular for Christmas fabric, and I have some.  I came up with this.

One of my favorite Christmas carols is Silver Bells.  I love the images of the verses, and when thinking about a quilt design I wondered about making a patchwork bell.  I haven't seen one before so this is my design as far as I know. 

My bell isn't silver because I don't have silver fabric, but gold works. 



These are the measurements I used for  my bell, but you can adjust the size to suit.

Cutting:

Background:  cut 16   2 1/2  inch  squares
                       cut   2  2 7/8 inch squares

Bell fabric:    cut 10    2 1/2 inch squares
                      cut 2     2 7/8 inch squares
                      cut 1 circle 3 1/2 inch diameter

Match each background 2 7/8 inch square with a bell fabric 2 7/8 inch square.  Use you favorite method to make half square triangles.  You should have 4 when you are done. 

This is the layout:

 

5 background squares

1 background square, 1 HST, 1 bell fabric square, 1 HST, 1 background square

1 background square, 3 bell fabric square, 1 background square

1 background square, 3 bell fabric square, 1 background square

1 background square, 3 bell fabric square, 1 background square

1 HST, 3 bell fabric squares, 1 HST

5 background squares

 

Make a yoyo from the circle.  This will be the bell clapper.

If you spot any errors in my directions, let me know.

 

 

I have a bow block that I got from one of Mary Ellen Hopkins' books, It's Okay If You Sit on My Quilt.  I'm going to play with it to see how I can make it work some way with my bell.

That's what I'm up to for now.  Back latter.

2013 Christmas QAL Begins

Crafters are a fun bunch.  When I began quilting it was a few months before I finally understood the terms fat quarter and charm pack.  So it's no surprise that it's June 8th and we are about to begin a Christmas QAL.  It makes perfect sense to us.

My blog has a Christmas background, and there are pictures of Christmas treats.   I'm going to be sewing with Christmas theme fabric, albeit not red or green.   And you are going to join me this month and then Hazel of Hazel's Quilts next month and then me again and then Hazel again and then..., and together we will have fun and accomplish some quilting for the holidays.  We are starting early so there's no excuse not to get a few things done before December.  At least that's what I'm telling myself. 

 

Are you ready to go?   If you haven't taken a peek at the Christmas Challenge that Sue of Quilt Times has made up for us, than click on the Christmas QAL link at the top of this blog.  You are invited to participate, and we hope you do.  Get a blog post going and sign in with Mr. Linky.  Please note; your Mr. Linky sign in must bring us to your blog where you have a new post associated with this QAL.  You have the weekend to join in, then the link will be shut down for this month.  All of these rules are to keep things fair, in regard to the giveaway, for the true blue quilters who join in for the better part of the QAL. Enough said about that.

I have a neat recipe to share and a block how-to, both very easy. 
 

Right now I need my coffee, my rotary cutter, fabric and a plan. 

 

Here we go.

This Weekend is Christmas QAL Weekend

Saturday begins the 2013 Christmas QAl.  My first Christmas QAL was in 2010. Sue of Quilt Times began this wonderful event that year and I, as a new blogger and quilter, joined in.  I don't remember how I learned of Sue's QAL, but I'm happy I did.  There are a group of us "usual suspects" who have been a part of the QAL and we keep coming back because it's fun, we meet new quilters online and we make beautiful creations.  If you are just hearing about this for the first time, I hope you will join in. 

 

The Christmas QAL page listed at the top of my blog tells you more about the QAL and the challenge that Sue has composed.  Hazel of Hazel's Quilts will share hosting duties with me, but this month you will be stopping by my blog.  We will be following the same format as in the past in that you will link up by the Mr. Linky which I will put on the QAL page.  We'll post pictures of our projects, visit the other blogs, give support and compliments, and enjoy the process.  What is different this year is that the QAL is on both Saturday and Sunday, and you can blog and link up at any time during the weekend.  We thought that by holding the QAL on both days of the weekend quilters would find it easier to participate. 

 

http://bostonmqg.blogspot.com/2013/05/quilted-for-boston.html I have been able to see all four of my blocks that I donated to the BMQG for the Boston Marathon used in quilts, and in the 5/28/13 post on the guild's blog is a quilt that has two of my blocks and a picture of one of them.  Maybe I'm different, but I love spotting my blocks. 

 

See you Saturday.  Today I tested a recipe to post  and it's so good I can't stop raiding the air-tight container.  I think you'll like it.  Early Christmas treats:)

 

God Bless You. 

Join Us For a Christmas QAL



Are you super busy next weekend?  Can you find some time to do some stitching on either Saturday or Sunday or both days?  If so, stitch with us.  Who is "us"?  Sue of Quilt Times http://quilttimes.blogspot.com , Hazel of Hazel's Quilts http://hazelsquilts.blogspot.com  and Joanna of Needle, Thread, Happiness (that's me.)  Sue has put together a Christmas Quilting Challenge and Hazel and I will be hosting for the next several months leading to that wonderful holiday. 

Unlike the Christmas QAL's of the past few years, this one challenges you to make your own choice of quilt following the limits of the challenge, one of which is that neither red nor green is used. There is also a size rule so that completing the quilt by Christmas is a definite possibility (as well as a requirement for the giveaway.)  That's right,  Sue has a giveaway planned, but only those who actively participate in at least three months on any day of the weekend will be entered.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?  If the challenge doesn't interest you, then just stitch along with us on any old project you have going.

 

We will each have a page on our blogs dedicated to the QAL, so you just have to click on it and you will see the Challenge Rules.
 As in the past, we will visit and encourage each other in our stitching. 

  We want to stretch our quilting muscles a bit and see what we can do. I think we'll surprise ourselves. 

Just writing this post has me rev'd.  But no red or green?  Is Sue going Modern?  If we see her using grey we'll know for sure ;-)

Hope to see you back here on Saturday, June 8th and/or Sunday June 9th.

God Bless!
 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

Yesterday I presented my brother with the Quilt of Valor and he and his daughter were very pleased. It's been a very nice Memorial Day weekend. I've attended two events honoring veterans and feel humbled by their sacrifices.

 

 

I've decided to put prairie points on the border of the quilt I'm making for my my sister's granddaughter.   

 

 
I've spotted two of my blocks used in quilts by the BMQG.  My Bingo block can be seen here in the last picture.  Made me happy to spot it.  http://bostonmqg.blogspot.com/2013/05/gathering-to-make-quilts-for-boston.html
And one of the Boxed In blocks is in the third picture from the end in this post
http://bostonmqg.blogspot.com/2013/05/quilts-for-boston-sew-in-at-quilters-way.html  I noticed someone else made that block also.  Most of the blocks are non-traditional and nothing like the kind of quilting I do, so I'm pleased that my blocks are fitting in somewhere. 
 
They mention in their post that they received over  660 blocks from quilters all over the world. 

These four 6" blocks were the latest for the Ben Franklin QAL, so I'm up to date on that project.

 

Did someone say Christmas?  Quilt Along?  No?  I thought for sure I heard whisperings along those lines.

 

God Bless You and a special prayer for all of our veterans, dead or alive.

You are not forgotten!

 

AEP, MEP, EJP, JO, TO, JP, AL, EL,  JL, AO



My Blocks for Boston

I made 4 blocks for the Boston Modern Quilt Guild's project, Quilts for Boston.  They put out a request for blocks so they could make quilts for the Boston Marathon bombing victims.   http://bostonmqg.blogspot.com/2013/04/quilts-for-boston.htmlQuilt 

All of my blocks are from volumes of Quiltmaker 100 Blocks issues.

This one is called Texas Circle Around by Lynn Roddy Brown, Volume 1.

This is called Boxed In by Julie Herman, Volume 2.

 

 

This is called Bingo by Jessie Kurtz, Volume 5.

 

 

From the flicker group it looks like the Guild received a good response for their request for blocks, and some quilters were very creative. 

 

Have a wonderful weekend.

 

God Bless You.