Blues and Greens

 Last week the blocks were on the design board, leftover ones that had been sitting in a basket. When I found them I placed each one on the design board without a plan or purpose for them. This  led to sewing them together. Before I know it it is a finished quilt!

Doing a Happy Dance . . .

since this was an impromptu quilt.  Hmmm, I have some other orphan blocks sitting in a beautiful Christmas box. Must go dig them out and see what can be made from them.

Having still 3 blocks left why not incorporate it in the back?  It feels rather good to have all these blocks used up.

The blocks were stripped pieced and I cut a template for the center white piece. 

Anyone interested in seeing the larger version of this quilt go here.

It has a different back but again used many of the blocks on the backside too. 

Plaid like design quilting. Simple and yet effective.

Even made this little label. The label is made of two pieces of fabric with a frame made from leftover binding. I placed freezer paper in between so I could use a permanent marker to write on it. 

 

I was so happy to have enough of the blue fabric from my stash, another piece intended for a quilt that was never made. It worked so nicely with the blocks. The fabric in the quilt is a collection of fat quarters picked up from my local quilt store, Mary Jo Fabrics who carries a huge selection of quilting fabric. and a few from JoAnn Fabrics. White is Robert Kaufman's Kona Cotton.

The binding is blue and green Christmas fabric. The design is tree ball ornaments. The colors were the ones I wanted to use to make this quilt so it traveled with me from the various stores to match. Made up you really can't determine that it is Christmas fabric.

While sewing the binding on I moved my needle left of center so I would have a scant larger than 1/4" seam. I cut binding fabric 2 1/2" to make sure there is enough when folded to the back will cover the seam. Moving the needle left of center caused the stitching to be closer to the edge of the binding on he backside. I have placed this quilt in My Etsy Shop.

For those interested in making this quilt block can find the pattern in Amy Smart's Shop. She titles it Double Crossed. 

Several of the FLAWs (former ladies at work) got together for a sewing day last Fall. We made stuffed pumpkins. Such a fun day. The pattern was first seen on Pinterest. I couldn't find the pin but fortunately one of the pictures has the designer's name. Here is Danielle Thompson's tutorial. I decorated mine with berry stems. Daneille uses doilies on hers.

One last harrah for Fall and in celebration for Thanksgiving. Many were getting snow yesterday and today. Snow sightings have even been seen Charlotte, NC where we are a hop and skip away from SC. Hubby just stuck his head in and said the over night low last evening was 24 degrees.

Keep warm and safe! Great time to be quilting and sewing!

Linking up with:

The WIPS are Growing!

Yesterday was a great day meeting the F.LA.W.s (former ladies at work) for a long lunch and catch up. We met at the SouthPark Cheesecake Factory. No, I didn't have any cheesecake but did have a wonderful lunch combo of soup, sandwich and salad.  We shared a couple appetizers of Samosa, a first for me. Yum!

One of the gals that joined us for lunch is home on leave from the mission field, Lesotho, a landlocked country in South Africa. It is always such a joy catching up with her and the happenings in Africa.  She claims "I love Africa and feel so blessed to have been led there."  Discussion even led up to maybe, possibly a trip to Africa for me someday! We will see! At least I know I would have a place to stay. I think it would be amazing to pet a baby lion, see the giraffes, cheetahs and elephants in their natural habitat.

Needless to say there wasn't any sewing or quilting yesterday. But on Monday with a little help from my friend, Cassie and NetFlix watching a couple shows of Doc Martin, we got the St. Louis 16 Patch quilt sandwiched and pinned shown above. It has a 1" sash with setting triangles and corners. Bonnie Hunter has the calculations for the setting triangles and corners on her website HERE. 

Fabric used for the setting corners and triangles is a pretty soft yellow! I just love how it turned out! It just calls me to want to cuddle under this prettiness while reading a good book. I kept with a theme of blooming and leafy, an inspiration from a Kaffe Fasset quilt I found in one of his books. Yes! I know it is a far cry from one of his quilts, but I was so happy to use the floral and leafy stash that has been lingering for a long time. In fact the yellow calico like was intended to make a blue and yellow quilt for my daughter-in-law. I didn't get it made up fast enough as she changed her colors. Here is another snapshot in hopes that it reveals the colors better. Photo was taken in the evening and you know how evening snapshots in the home after dark are usually not the best ones to capture true colors.

The back is pieced again with more leafy and blooming fabrics. Oh I am so happy to use up some of this stash as this back definitely was a stash buster for some of the larger yardages.

And would you believe Monday evening I also made the binding as well? Now to get this baby quilted. I haven't decided on the quilting design. I am leaning toward meandering. Will revisit this idea later though by checking out some of the other designs I have in a neat little packet.

While going through more stash I came across some orphan blocks. There is enough to make a baby quilt. So when I have a few minutes here and there I have been stitching them together. This morning FireFox was doing its updates so I just started pinning and matching seams. They are all ready for some chain stitching and just in time to get back online.

There are a couple other orphan blocks too as you can see. The top one is a practice piece tubing. I need to redo it to get a better design. This maybe another future stash buster for me.

The other one was an extra block that was intended for the Fall Blue Ridge table runner. I realized that my table runner was going to be larger than my table which is now minus one less center block. It really is a pretty block. This picture doesn't even begin to justify it. Now to find a home for this pretty fall block.

And the Raggedy Anns and Andys are still in progress. The couple shown here I took with me to share with the F.L.A.W.S. Their response touched me because they too love their sweet faces as much as I do!

My sewing room looks like a Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and outft factory!  Now to get some of these completed and in My Etsy Shop!

I have to share a funny on My Etsy Shop. I received several inquiries from moms with babies wondering if the little outfits will fit their baby. In all honesty I don't know if they will. I love making quilts and don't mind making up a few of these dolls, especially since I had many pre- made legs from years ago when selling these sweet babies at craft fairs. I really don't want to venture in to making baby clothes again, and at this time even though there are so many darling ideas.

Oh I just have to share a picture my oldest son sent me. I love this picture of him! He looks quite happy with his catch! He wrote, "Went to Bellhaven last weekend for a work trip. We had a sales contest and I got to ride along. Had an executive chef to cook our meals and went fishing in the inter coastal water way. Stayed in a mansion that has been converted to a huge bed and breakfast." Sounds like a nice trip doesn't it? Sounds like a great place to have a quilting retreat until we think how much that would cost. Happy Quilting! I am linking up with:

Works in Progress Wednesday

Here I am still messing with the St. Louis 16 Patch Block. It's been hanging on the design board for a long time. It first looked like this. I did rearrange so  

 

that the coral blocks were spread out more evenly. But then I kept coming across other images of this same pattern and just couldn't reach a sense of satisfaction. 

I contemplated on creating a disappearing 16 block but didn't like how it would cut off points. Then I saw an image of one with the blocks on-point and loved that setting. It had a plain block for every other one. Since the blocks are 16" blocks I nixed that idea since it takes away too much of the scrappiness and makes the quilt way bigger than desired. Back to the drawing board or better the design board. I rearranged and played with the idea of sashing and setting the blocks on-point. Hmm this is appealing and different. 

 

 

So should the on-point blocks float?  This appealed to me.

How about keeping with pattern with set-in blocks? Oh I like this too.

Now I have a enough blocks to make one more quilt.

In the process of making 2 sets of 15" Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. One set is for a custom order and the other will be for My Etsy Shop. 

I had a whoopee moment last week as I made my first sale in My Etsy Shop a Raggedy Ann outfit.

 Another nice thing happened last week. It was a pay-forward sort of thing. So when that happens I want to do it in return. Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs created the pattern for Arrows All Around.

I just love this quilt . . . and she sent me the pattern!  Last evening, finally having a moment to read the pattern, I decided I needed to make this quilt. I visited her blog a few minutes ago and once again have been wowed away with her awesome quilt designs! If you have a moment take a peek.  You will see lots of eye candy other there!

That's all for the Works in Progress updates.

This week I am in high giddy mode having Modern Star Quilt being featured at 3 Linky Parties this week. To read more about it go here.

Go here to see the closeup images of Modern Stars

Linky parties I am attending: 

Happy quilting all,