Ok, ok. Quilt Sue challenged me to show my stash. Well, I've been looking at the pictures of stashes on Judy L.'s blog, and I think some of them look pretty darn good compared to mine. I've got huge tubs, zip lock bags, and no organization. It's no wonder I've sometimes purchased the exact same fabric several times.

I think I need an intervention.




The worst of it is, I have no idea how to organize this space so that I'll keep it up. I can sort the fabric, but how color? amount? project?

I listened to a Get Organized class from the Professional Quilter Magazine. I'm sorry to say it didn't help me much.

What's on my design wall

I decided to scrap the Chinese Coins from last week. I don't know what I'll do with the pieces, but something will come up I'm sure. I have a lot of 2.5x5" pieces.

So, I have this in the works to replace the coins.
My inspiration was this quilt from Fat Quarter Small Quilts by Darlene Zimmerman. I decided to modify it a bit. 3 inch blocks made the quilt a little too small for a baby quilt. I increased the block size to six inches and changed the colors to my friends lavender and brown choice. The colors in the photo are way off. The brown is not quite that dark and the lavender/purples are much brighter. I think I need to review the manual on my camera.



This was my first attempt with EQ6. I wasn't prepared for the learning curve. I'm not finding it as user friendly as I thought it would be, but I did get this done.

I have to cut the sashing strips and corner stones. I am happy that I got this much done today. I started with cutting and got the blocks done. That, and finishing a couple of lap quilts on the longarm, not a bad day.

I considered entering photos of my stash for Judy's stash collection, but I'm truly too embarrassed.

Give Away

Check out the give away over at Silver Thimble Talk.

Bottling

My dear hubby and I bottled wine this evening. What fun!
We went to The Wine Tailor several months ago and bought a full batch. It was ready for bottling today. We saved about $6.00 per bottle by bottling ourselves. Check them out: www.thewinetailor.com



-- Posted from my iPhone

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my youngest grandson's birthday. His party was Saturday. You know how that scheduling thing goes. Doesn't he look sophisticated in his suit vest and tie? He was a little overwhelmed with all the attention. Well, that and wearing big boy shoes.












And as for the design wall? I've put other projects on the back burner while I try to get a couple of baby quilts done. Two babies are due at work, and I need to get cracking to get them done. This one is Chinese Coins. The recent tutorial at Moda Bake Shop inspired me. I'm using a pack from the Eva line, though I think I like the hush-a-bye fabrics better now that I've been putting fabrics together. I may go back and take out the darkest fabrics and just try it with the lighter fabrics. I think that will help, I think.

Done, Well Almost

I finished the quilting on the mystery quilt. I just have to finish the binding. I am so incredibly happy with the way that it turned out. I also love that it was made completely from my stash. I didn't buy anything for it, a very unusual event for me.




















Like Alycia, I also love to look at the back of the quilt.


Tomorrow I will be on to other quilts, but I'll enjoy this one lots this evening while I sew down the binding.

Tomorrow, I'll also be going to my grandson's first birthday party. Cute kid pictures coming soon.

Quilting Makes the Quilt

The title of this post is borrowed from the book of the same name. This is one of the nine patch blocks from the Longarm U. mystery quilt. Kind of boring. Especially since this is a 12" block.









This is the nine patch block after quilting.
Once again, I didn't follow Cindy's directions. I changed the quilting in the white blocks. Cindy designed it with ribbons, but I don't quilt ribbons very well. I changed it to a variation of line dancing that I saw in Bread and Butter Quilting.

I am so happy with the way that this is turning out.

My husband is ready for me to have the feather quilting done. I practice drawing on the daily newspaper. I look for the pages of public announcements. There are the fewest pictures on those pages. I figure since we already pay for the paper it's free practice paper.

Nothing on the design wall

I'm finally starting to feel better. I still crave naps in the afternoon, but I can at least manage without them. I haven't done any sewing for a couple of weeks. Maybe this week I'll get some done.


On Saturday, I delivered this cute quilt to my friend Pauline. The colors are more intense in person. It was a round robin quilt that she did. It was a lot of fun to work on.












I started the quilting on my Longarm University quilt. The mystery day has long since passed, but I haven't been able to work on a quilt of my own. I'm sneaking this one in between customer quilts.
I'm tickled pink with how it's turning out. I look at it and think, "Gee whiz, I did that!"

I'm not exactly following Cindy's directions. She designed it with Amish feathers, but I'm filling the border with feathers.


















There is one down side. Without the lighting it looks like this. I'm thinking that maybe when it is washed the quilting will show more. I know in the white areas the quilting will show. Of course, if I followed Cindy's instructions I would be using a contrasting thread, and it would show up better.

I'm so bad at following directions.

Relapse

I've not posted because I've not done anything. I've had a relapse of the bronchitis I had a couple of weeks ago. I've not had energy to do anything except draw quilting designs. I fall asleep when I sit down to check my email after work. The doctor prescribed a second round of antibiotics. I'm hoping it works. I am rather tired of being tired.