Nothing but FMQ this weekend

I finished both the New Port Beach quilts for 100 Quilts for kids.  Just need to get them boxed up and sent out.  One is going to upstate New York for the hurricane victims.  What a tragedy with the many small towns in the valleys completely devastated.  Contact Sharon at Vrooman's Quilt for details if you would like to help.  The white one is going locally here to project Linus.

I did exercise considerable restraint while quilting these.  Normally I go crazy with the quilting but I just did SITD on the white one and some free motion swirls and squiggly lines on the Brown one.  Both quilted in a day.  I NEVER quilt anything in a day!!!   It also helps that they are smaller quilts for kids.  The white one is slightly larger at 52 x 60 and the brown one is 50 square.   But at least there 2 things off the waiting to be quilted list.  Two done, one more added (I finally finished the button hole stitching around the bugs on Snug as a Bug) leaves 6 on the list.  Dang it, still too many!!  Couple more weeks of quilting and it should all be under control.  Hopefully ...maybe.....well we see what happens :)

I was so happy with my new found self control in quilting that I decided to start right away on Fair and Square.  Funny, I started that one cuz I thought the Kaleidoscope quilt would have been too easy!!  I looked at all those little postage stamps and thought, goodness what am I going to do with those.  So I started leafing through a few my FMQ books that inspire me and found something that looked easy enough.  On page 81 of Diane Gaudynski's "Quilt Savvy" book is "Diane-shiko".  I thought, I have the grid, it's the piecing, it's almost like straight lines, like SITD twice.  And no marking, I'm all about the no marking.  Ahhh, at that moment I  hopped right off the "take it easy with the quilting" wagon.  Oh my, it's going to take me a while to finish this one.  I've only started on the small squares and not even half way done.   Then I have the centers of those blocks to do.  I have a few ideas, hmm really need to narrow that down now don't I?!  What ever I choose for the red square blocks will be replicated in the string blocks so I need to choose carefully.  So what do you think?  Thoughts? Suggestions?  Recommendations?

Those other six on the "Waiting to be Quilted" list, I going to be on there for a little while.

Another easy one - 100 Quilt for Kids - added another

I've got one two of two done.  I can't believe how quickly this one went together and I really like it.  This is Newport Beach by Judy Martin.  I did this with my blue green and yellow scraps, only had to cut into a couple of fat quarters to get it done.  One down one to go.   This is actually a bit bigger than I expected it to be, but I still like it.

The odd thing about this pattern is that there is not one single seam to be matched in the entire quilt.  Now that may seem easy, but as a quilter, you live to match up those seams oh so nicely.  Do you know how many times I had to rip things out because I kept putting the last shadow piece on the block to that it would match a seam??  Uggghhh, way tooooo many times. I think I did one entire row incorrectly!  But once I got past that it was really easy :)

And the brown one is done as well.  It's a bit smaller as I ran out of the blue green, yellow scraps.  I really wish I would have had some solid grey.  I've been seeing a lot of quilts lately with the grey and just adore them. But this was about using what I had, so I went with Brown.  And the brown is definitely a boys quilt.  Hopefully some little boy will enjoy it.  There is one block that is the wrong way, but I left that little bit of "sparkle" in the quilt!!

I also was able to get 4 of my quilts on the waiting to be quilted list basted.  These two plus the Fair and Square and the Kaleidoscope quilt are basted.  That is my least favorite part of quilting.  I guess that's why I wait and do it in batches.  Even with those basted, I still have 4quilt that need to be basted!  Oh my I have to stop procrastinating!!

Linking up with Judy, see what is on everyone's design wall and  Megan take a look at the Sew Modern Monday projects.   Have a great week everyone!!

A wonderful end to a mini vacation

Four days off work, with a weekend thrown in,   pure heaven.  I ended the vacation by finishing the top of the Army Quilt.  I love the Smith Mountain Morning pattern by Bonnie Hunter.  And I think it looks surprisingly good in the two different camouflage fabrics.  The fabric is old uniforms from my niece.  She's in the Army and has served all over the world.  It was an honor to make this for her.  Unfortunately, vacation is over and the quilting will have to wait for a little while.










We started the mini vacation at Voyaguers National Park.  Our nephew got married there this weekend.  Voyaguers is a water based park.  We canoed from resort to resort, how fun is that ??? We loved it!  We had to take a water taxi to the wedding site.  When was the last time you did that?  It was a first for me. When we got to our cabin I just sat on the deck and almost immediately relaxed.  The water is just so calming to me, and it was unbelievably beautiful.  The wedding was wonderful!! Here's the view from the cabin, the first is looking straight ahead from the deck and the second was just to the side.  The weather was unseasonably warm, and we enjoyed every minute of it!!

Design Wall Monday - 9/12 remembered

I was hoping to get the top done but that didn't happen.  I did make some progress though, maybe tomorrow.  One more day off work and the husband has chores to do so I might be able to get the top done.  I'm still surprised how the different camouflages look together.  I really didn't think there was going to be enough contrast but I think it works.  I was hoping to have this done for her for 9/11 anniversary but that didn't happen.   I saw a lot of coverage about 9/11 and a silent prayer for those that lost loved ones.   But the day I really remember is 9/12.  The day after, when it really sets in that it's not a bad dream and the way the entire country banded together to help.  That day there were no party lines to divide us, we were a country united.  We were resilient, and a nation built on faith and hope.  Our spirit could not be broken.  We united to help those in need, and for the first time I understood what the "United" was in USA.  9/12 will always be the day I remember, when there was complete and total unity in the US.  While this quilt is for my niece Becky who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and is still serving in the Army, I would like to thank all those who help protect our nation and our freedom in so many different ways.

Design Wall Monday - September already????

Oh say it ain't so, September already? Where did the summer go? It definitely feels like a crisp fall day here in the Mid-West, only in the low 60's. Great weather for sewing!! We've been waiting so patiently (ok maybe that's a stretch) to find out if our new grand child is going to be a girl or boy so the REAL sewing can being. The gender neutral stuff is pretty hard for me! And we are anxiously awaing Miles David (Smiles is what I call him, he makes me smile already and I haven't even seen him!!). So I just did a quick little top. My daughter loves the fabric collection and I saw this pattern on the Moda blog http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/08/snug-as-bug-baby-quilt.html As soon as I saw this I knew I had to make it, but just waited until we found out. So easy to do, I got the top together in a day and I NEVER get anything done in a day. I"m talking cutting, sewing, tracing, cutting and fusing. Ok, I still need to stitch around the applique. But hey, the top is done in my book ;) The fabric matches the glider cover that we made. So much fun!!

I got started on the Army quilt for my niece. She's been in the

Army for some time and I certainly feel safer knowing that she's party of the team watching out for the freedom of our country. I decided on Bonnie Hunter's Smith Mountain Morning. My niece is a mountain climber and when all the kids were young we spent a few summer vacations in the mountains. I knew this would be a great pattern for her. I really wanted to see how it looked so I made a few blocks of each and I have to say I do REALLY like it. I hope she will too. I have a bag full of patches and I'll put on in the center of each of the stars. I'm honored to make this one for her, I'm really glad her and her mom asked me to do it.