Design Wall Monday

For the last couple of months, I have been struggling to get a handle on all the fabrics that I have brought home from R.J.'s.  Pre-printed panels have always intrigued me, although they are usually "not square", which can be very frustrating.  These panels were to be used to make pillows.  When I got them out this week-end, I discovered 12 blocks, which I cut down to 15" square and then cut sashing 3" wide.  When we create the Project Linus quilts, we try to make them less than 42" wide, so we don't have to piece the backs.  Our batting is 48" wide.

The next issue was to find fabric from 20 years ago that would match the fabrics printed in the blocks.  You would think that with all the fabric I have "in house", I could find something that blended.  Hooray!  I found about 3/4 yard of "Shades of Autumn" by Jenny Beyer, which I used for the sashing.

 

Then, I wondered what was in my "green and red" plastic bin.  Yikes!!   More fabric scraps, way more fabric scraps.  Over the last few weeks, I've been searching for quilt patterns for using scraps and strips.

See what others are creating at Judy's Blog; Patchwork Times.com

Design Wall Monday

Creative Girl Art Quilt--
I discovered this easy fun project in the November 2013 issue of American Quilter.  Carrie Payne provides more inspiration on her blog; Believe Magic.com

In Carrie's article, she suggests piecing the background for added interest.  I thought about doing that but found I was stuck on finding the right fabrics.  So, when I went to Hancock's of Paducah, I found a nice tone on tone that I thought would work for me.

Hop on over to Judy's Blog at:  Patchwork Times.com  to see what others are creating this week.

Creative Girl Art Quilt Begins

I Spy a 3rd Quilt Top

Last week, our local sewing group cut more squares for our "I Spy" quilt tops.  Last Tuesday, I took another packet of squares but decided I wanted to try adding some pieced letters.  I had done the letters previously on another couple of quilts and wanted to try it again.  It took awhile to find the magazine since I had put it somewhere safe and then could not find it. 

Sherri Bain Driver, wrote an excellent article called Patchwork Alphabet in Quilters Newsletter Magazine #316 dated October 1999.

I really enjoyed doing these quilts, hoping they would bring a smile to a child who was not feeling well. 

Third "I Spy" quilt Top May 2014

  

Fresh Strawberries picked this morning

A local strawberry patch of about 3 acres opened yesterday.  Last year, we picked one bucket.  However, this year we decided to pick two buckets (1 to eat and 1 to freeze).  Yum!  I discovered last year's plastic bucket made a great container for storing my 5" charm squares.  Now, I'll have (3) containers to store my charm squares.  To celebrate, I had a Strawberry Smoothie for lunch.

Fresh Strawberries picked this morning

Fresh Strawberries picked Monday, May 5th

May Day Celebration

Dancing Around the May Pole

My mother was from England and I always remember her telling about dancing around the May Pole on the first of May with flowers in their hair.

The girls in this picture are not from the same time period because my mother lived in England during the early 1900's.

Design Wall Monday posting on Wednesday

Last Saturday, I traveled to the AQS Show in Paducah, KY for their 30th Quilt Show Anniversary.  As always, the quilts were amazing!  I've found I love the smaller pictorial wall quilts and the landscape quilts best.  All the quilts displayed were beautiful and I can't imagine how much time and effort went into each one.  There were over 650 quilts displayed in three different locations.  Since I only took 150 pictures, I barely have a sampling of the quilts that were on display.  In past years, I tried to take pictures of the miniature quilts that were in a glass case, but found the reflection of light made it difficult to see the exquisite quilts inside the case.

It took all day Sunday and most of Monday to recover from the long wonderful day that I had in Paducah.
I was one of several ladies, cutting 5 1/2" squares for our "I Spy" quilts that our weekly sewing group is making for Project Linus Day in mid May.    During the first 2 weeks in May, we will be sandwiching the "blankets" to be ready for tying and labeling on Project Linus Day.

Here's a picture of my "I Spy" quilt on my Design Wall prior to sewing it together.

Be sure to link up with other quilters at: Patchworktimes.com

"I Spy" pieces ready for sewing

Scrappy Purple for April

So Scrappy Rainbow Challenge color for April is Violet/Purple--
I spotted a quilt pattern in McCall's Quilting May/June 2010 issue that intrigued me.  It was done in black & white with a lime green solid.  I decided to use purple instead of black & white and stick with lime green.  Since I had 2 fat quarters of lime green, I used both fabrics and mixed & matched.  The top turned out rather interesting.  Now, my only problem is, who in my family likes purple?  The quilt worked out to be 51" x 59".

Purple Scrappy 04242014