Great News!!!

My Daughter and Son-In-Law are

Looks like Nana and Papa are going to get a new grandchild to love in about 7 months.

We are SO excited!!!

Just found out this last week and you know I had to get busy planning a few quilts... My daughter quickly let me know that this would be the last grandchild we get from them so she wants a quilt she wants not what I want...I quickly added then this grandchild will be getting LOTS of quilts.  She wants Forest Friends and her husband loves camo, so I will have to work on that.  She does love a Forest Friends panel from Northcott but it comes in both girl and boy color themes so that may have to wait until we find out which the stork is bringing.

In the meantime, I got to work on this idea.  Having recently tested the 'Just My Type' pattern for Kristy at Quiet Play, I thought I might design something using this fabric I found this weekend.  So far I have got the
' baby ' block done.  The pattern for this paper pieced font should be available from Kristy on her Craftsy website soon.  I am loving how these letters are turning out.  Don't they look fantastic???  I can't wait to see this all pieced together.

I thought it would be so appropriate to have these words on a baby quilt.  This fabric is the perfect inspiration for a quilt for the newest addition to our family.   Faith, Hope, Dream, Love, Inspire, and Joy, all very much what we will be keeping close to heart over the next 7 months as we anticipate the new life and gift from God that will be blessing our lives soon. Seems like September is so far away but in quilt time it will fly by so quickly. Time to kick it up a few notches!!!

Relax

LOVE THAT WORD!!!

funny ... How we have to be reminded to do it...

At least I do.

I can remember a Pastor telling me---well you know the whole congregration--- but it seems like He is talking straight to you about how God wants us to relax, chill, take time to rest and recharge.  

How does this relate to all the many quilting projects waiting for me to work on??? All the UFOs, WIPs, BOMs, QAYGs, SWAPs vying for my attention.  Well, this last week it was my honor to work on this little beauty for Kristy at Quiet Play for her Fontastic Quilt that she is putting together as a Word Cloud for a couple charity quilts for the victims of the Tasmanian Bushfires.  She designed this pattern and was looking for pattern testers and I was lucky enough to be chosen to help her not only test the pattern which will be available soon on her Craftsy site but to be able to contribute to this worthy charity quilt with this block as a donation to her quilt.         

    What a win, win for everyone !

Look for this pattern soon on her Craftsy site.  I LOVE how it turned out and it is wonderful to have such a talented designer as Kristy creating such awesome patterns for us to personalize our projects with!!!  She created both Upper and Lower case letters. 

I simply adore this set of lowercase letters she let me test.

I hope with the weekend you find time to RELAX

Rest, Unwind, Chill, Put your feet up and DO NOTHING

even if only for only a few hours to recharge and restore your soul.

Day at the Improv

Alyssa at Pile 'O Fabric posted the instructions to blocks 1 and 2 of the Skill Builder BOM for us on the 17th and what a great start to an exciting year ahead with her leading us on to an amazing quilt.

The first two blocks are improvisational.  She gave us general instructions on how to accomplish the task but no set measurements like traditional quilting.  Sure we had a lot of set in stone instructions like the block finishes at 12 and a half inches and the sound wave blocks have 12 one and a half inch wide strips but we absolutely got to play with how are finished blocks were to look.  I wasn't sure if I would like the new freedom she was handing me but I love how the blocks turned out and it is so fun to see everyone else's blocks come to life, too.  For me this was new because let's face it,  I am visual and like my block to look like the picture/pattern.  

My 'SOUND WAVE' Block

I am using Grey, Black and Yellow for my color scheme and incorporating lots of tones and shades of those three colors.  The background is white and Alyssa's quilt has black background and I wasn't sure how the dramatic shift in color was going to look but I LOVE, LOVE how this is going to turn out.  I am thinking of gifting this quilt to someone special but I think I am going to get overly attached to it throughout the year.

My 'MAGNUM' Block

I did re-work this one to get it to look more like the photo she gave us as a guideline.  My first attempt at freedom had the black and white outside pieces coming out equal sizes ( probably could never do that twice if I tried)  I couldn't handle the perfect complementary sides so I tweaked it to get this.  Much closer to her original design and I love the modern look to this quilt top and didn't want to put perfection in where it's not called for...he hee hee.

She has us starch the fabrics as we go and I do love the crisp sharp result that is achieved all along the way.  I can't wait to see where Alyssa takes us on the FMQ instructions for these blocks in a couple weeks on the 31st.

Keep Stitchin'

  Christmas Block Swap Sweeties

This week I received my swap blocks in the mail and I am thrilled beyond my wildest dreams with all of them.  To quote Vivian what a bunch of cutie patooties!!!

 What a lovely bunch of blocks these are:

Aunt Pitty Pat made this one.  I love polar bears and check out that cutie patootie bird.  Love, love this block and since a couple people flaked out on the swap she was sweet enough to send me two of these and kept two of mine in exchange.  I can't thank her enough!!!  I love this guy's adorable little face. Also a big huge thanks to her for hosting this swap.  I seriously hope she plans to do it again next year because I would certainly want to participate in this swap again.

A big thanks to Anita, I love this holly with the yo-yo holly berries. Simply beautiful!

Lorene sent this one with red buttons to put on her wings. I love her choice of fabrics and this is the sweetest Angel I have ever seen. Bless you Lorene for making her for me I will cherish her.

I am not sure who made this block but I am in awe of how much work went into 

making 12 of these to swap.  It is fantastic!!!

What can I say except Freaking Phenomenal!!!

Janet must have an awesome embroidery machine.  I am so thankful to her for sending this my way. Never in a million years would I be able to make this for myself .

 I will forever cherish it!!!  He is adorable and reminds me of how happy my husband use to be when he was younger putting up his many Christmas lights...now he just grumbles...  he he he...

Wowwza!

Janice out did herself, too.  How perfect a Santa is this.  Outstanding and great fabric choices. I tell you these ladies are making me want an embroidery machine.

I don't know who sent this one, either, but thank you.  He is so cute and he fits in so perfectly with all the others.  Love his happy little smile.

Pat made this one and her four ornaments are really incredible.  I love how their hooks swirl in the snail trail together.  Again a lot of work and love went into the making of this block and I am so lucky to get to put it into this sampler quilt to enjoy for years in my home. The colors again work beautifully with all the other blocks.

I love this little whimsical tree that Cathy made.  I love her fabrics and her embellishments, it is just simply wonderful. 

And of course one of mine to keep

and one of these back.

I can't believe how absolutely freaking perfect they all look together!!!

When I lay them out on the floor they make the perfect combination of all the colors.

White, blue, red, green, gold, cranberry, even brown.

They all look great together!!!

Now I just have to come up with the perfect sashing and these are going to make a great lap quilt for me to snuggle with next year at Christmas time. 

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the special ladies who made these blocks.

I could never thank you enough.

May 2013 bring you all many Blessings!!!

Another BOM

I was visiting the blog of Pippa's when what should I see but no...not a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer but another BOM that I just HAVE to do.  In fact I am considering doing it twice.  One I will share with my readers here and one I will not reveal until late October. That's the plan anyway if it works out like I think it will.  So what was it that peeked my interest so.  A BOM by Ula Lenz.  I LOVE, LOVE her paper piece patterns. This one involves a castle that will consist of twelve 8x8 inch paper pieced blocks presented once a month here
I made a quilt a few years ago that I made from one of her patterns in this book.

 I ordered it from her site and was surprised how quickly I received it.  It features miniquilts but I was wanting to make the 'It's a small small world' quilt that is shown on the front cover in a size for a baby blanket.  I enlarged the patterns and adding a row of hearts to the top and bottom to make it a rectangle and this is how it turned out.  It is like my Opus Magnum of all that I have created.  I gifted it to a special friend I work with and I would love to make another just as a wall hanging for my own personal enjoyment but Iknow I probably will never do it.  I don't know why but I  hate making the same quilt twice.  The thrill of seeing it come to life is gone the second time around...at least for me.  Another co-worker has offered to have me make this quilt for his child and he will buy it, but what would one put as a price on something like this.  I don't think whatever it would be, would be enough to get me to do it again and give it away (paid or not) if I were to make it again I would want to keep it.  I have always loved the It's a small, small world theme since I was a young girl and had a collection of international dolls that I wish I still had but alas I do not.

 I created the pattern for the Hawaiian girl, Mexican boy with the small sombrero, Scottish girl in plaid and since Ula is from Germany I figured I needed a boy in lederhosen so I created him, too. The rest are from her pattern and I am definitely a huge fan of her work.  She is simply one of the best paper piece pattern makers in my estimation.  I am truly excited to find this BOM and add it to my growing list of monthly projects.  Now I just have to figure out what fabrics to use.  Think, think, think....

 .

Drum Roll Please.....

And the winner of my blogiversary giveaway as chosen by 

Mr. Random is...

Congrats to Vivian!!!

who said,

 

VivianDecember 31, 2012 8:18 PM

Oh look at the cutie patootie red birds!!!!!

Happy blogiversary from a follower of some time. I've enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to 2013!!!!

Thanks so much for being a loyal follower and offering my cutie patootie birds a new home!!!  I am sure you will enjoy them as much as I am in my blocks, they are certainly cutie patooties!

I will be emailing you soon to get your contact info so I can get these in the mail to you ASAP 

  2013 Year of the BOM

For me 2013 already seems to be the Year of the BOM.

I've joined Three so far and contemplating a fourth.

Here is the block I made today from the BOM hosted by

Quilt Doodle Doodles  

This will be my red and aqua top

 Here it is assembled

I am currently giving away some red and aqua fat quarters to celebrate my bloggiversary. Winner will be chosen this friday. Leave a comment on the original post below to enter.

This is the BOM I made for the sewing inspired paper pieced BOM that Kristi at Quiet Play 

Keep Stitchin'