2009 Spring Sampler finished!

As I have no idea which photograph is better I'm posing both for all to see.  This is my 2009 Spring Sampler.  The corner blocks are embroidered butterflies.  The beautiful stitches look hand done, but my hand will be happy to attest to not making them.  The blocks were picked here and there by me.  Final quilt size is a twin seen here on my full sized bed.  It is two sided but as the black is merely three long rows of fabric I didn't bother to photograph them.  No destiny on this one but of course Jessica has attempted to claim it as her own. 

Now I broke all the rules with this one and instead of using batting I used a huge piece ugly polyester fabric.  The results where not good so instead of quilting it, as is my preference, I machine tack stitched aka tied it.  Because of this the quilt is quite heavy.

What Would You do, without a Router?

Yesterday I must have been having to much fun because our router burned up.  Something about the ac/dc converter box.  Pain in the rear is what I'd call it.  It was working and then all of the sudden with no warning zip gone. 

While my DH is still in the process of installing the new one I'm back and raring to go.  While I was away from the Internet I FINALLY pieced together the blocks for the Spring Sampler.  It looks differently than I intended but that's okay as it contains only stash busting fabrics.  It's a twin quilt measuring in at 90" x 55"  I'll be pulling out the quilt I made for my daughter to measure before I decide if I'll be adding a border or not.

As always you can click on the photos to see them better.

All in a Hurry

Do you recall those friendship bracelets of the 80's and 90's? Well it seems my fingers still know how to make them. I was surprised at how fast this little bit came out.
It's all part of the Small Quilt Group Row Robin I pitched in to help out with, as the hostess sometimes things happen. This quilt's theme is building a snowman. Through the window you watch the snowman be put together and the house become decorated. You can of course click on the photo to see it closer. Then the person inside makes hot coco for everyone and takes it outside to help with the snowman. This will be added to the first row when it gets here and then out the door and off to Beth.
This is the latest quilt block in my Spring 2009 Sampler. This block is Bountiful Blessings and can be found for free at Quilter's Cache. It does take a while to make all the applique circles. It is quite a heavy block that I would in fact recommend as a stubble weighted special needs quilt. Because of the layered circles it gets quite heavy. Don't forget no matter how you make a special needs quilt use craft beads from Walmart instead of rice because the rice isn't very washable.

The fires are still burning. Fire trucks both in the wee hours of this morning and again throughout the day. It did rain a day or two ago but it wasn't enough to help much. DH found two preteen girls right up in the smoke. Seems they thought it was steam. Fires are so dangerous it's good he came up when they did because the roots underground that were burning could have given way beneath their feet at any moment not to mention smoke inhalation poisoning.

Spring Sampler Blocks Completed!

I am so excited about this. If a project can't hold your attention set it aside for a little while. Not to long, and certainly make sure it is in a place that you will see it, so it will continue to stir within your brain. That's exactly what happened with the Spring Sampler. Just a little bit here and there, and now I've got it. With the addition of the last two blocks I have all I need for the child's camp charity quilt.

My pieced blocks will be interspersed with muslin in between. I'm thinking 8 bits of embroidery, and 4 inspirational quotes. So far I like these:

"Once you choose hope anything is possible." ~Christopher Reeve

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." ~Epictetus

"A day without laughter is a day wasted." ~Charlie Chaplin

"The best way to give advice to children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it." ~Harry S. Truman

Do you know of any really good ones? I feel there must be more, but so far I'm not feeling it, so I must need a break.

The cornerstones for this quilt are butterflies, one of which can be seen in the header on the upper right. All four have been set. I need to do another load of laundry to pre-wash the muslin for embroidering.

A Plan and Everything for the Plan

Happy February! Most everyone I know is happy to shake the dirt of Jan. and leave it behind them eagerly looking forward to a new month still bright with the possibilities. As for me I am looking forward to have a little spending money in my pocket, perhaps to buy a little fabric with, but for now I have some eye candy to share with all of you.
This is the current layout plan for the apple quilt. It will involve a bit of seam ripping, but I think the black on the diagonals will suit it just fine. That leaves me with four squares of apple fabric and four squares of embroidered apples. And a deficit of 8 blocks for the completion of this quilt. I'm not sure how it will work out. I'm hoping it will come to me as I purchase a bit more black and sew together a bit more of the layout. I have also added another block to my sampler. This was a nice looking block from a BOM so of course I couldn't help but go ahead with the pattern. Aside from planning a Dresden plate and or a Grandmother's fan, I will also be sewing a circle block into this Spring Sampler of mine. So be on the look out for those.
A couple of copyright issues have arisen on the Quilting Board, so I will be posting my personal creation, the April BOM (block of the month) right here first. Yes, that's correct a previously unpublished Elizabeth Rogers original will appear right here for my follow bloggers to see. Look for that sometime later this month.

I have also begun to process a concept for my Charity Quilt 2009. This one is destined for a suffering young child, as I have heard quilt lore that if an ill person sleeps under a quilt. The quilt having been made of love will heal the sleeper. This is to be a large Carpenters Wheel in Shades of Purple. I look forward to working on it.

Now before I depart I would like to offer my congrats to my Row Robin ladies. I have had confirmation from all but one that their rows were sent out by our Jan. 31st deadline. Kudos to all of you. As we embark on the second row look within yourself for the answers that lie within.

Good Progress...

The apple quilt is coming along swimmingly. I have made progress in the right direction. The Log Cabin blocks (all 20) are done. I have also sketched and decided on an arrangement for the blocks, and have created an 80" braid which is to be part of the design. I have selected a center. It will be a handkerchief I bought for DH from Joann's about two years ago with a pirate map on it. It's 22", so I'll need to border it, and I haven't yet selected a fabric to do that.

I also need to cut the apple fabric that will be my "filler squares". After those things are done the quilt will be nearly finished. Mostly only awaiting the last fabric to add, of which I haven't decided on yet. I'm planning on using Muslin on the back because I still have enough left from the two bolts I bought to do two more quilt backs. The main body of the quilt is going to be 80"X80" with borders framing it up and bringing it up to size. There are no photos of this process because DH is home and so far it is still completely a surprise.

My row for the Row Robin is in the mail and should arrive around the end of this week or the first of next. The row I will be adding to for the month of Feb. I have already seen parts of, and am very much looking forward to adding to it. My current plans include a bit of embroidery, a tree, and a couple of candles, sound like a traditional elegant Christmas? I sure hope so because that's her theme.

While doing a bit of research for that Row I stumbled upon something else. A beautiful bit of embroidery that screams out for a bit of painted glitter. I looked it up and for the colors I'd like it would run about $10 or so, I'll be doing a bit more research and keeping you up to date about that.

The Spring Sampler hasn't spoken to me in anything above a whisper lately. I think the next block I make will be a Grandmother's Fan Block (there was one on her sick bed in "You've Got Mail"), but with no printer it will be up to me to create the template. Not my first choice and certainly adding a degree of difficulty.

As I mentioned sorry no photos today. DH doesn't return to work until next week so I might not have anything to show you until then. Take care everyone and have a safe weekend.

CatchUp

I have been so immersed, that I have been neglectful. Well let me catch you up. I altered some old curtains to fit my bedroom window (and most of the other windows in the house, just in case). I took before and after photos. That has been part of my mending mission. Hey reuse! They had been floor to ceiling, but I cut them down, as a bonus I even have a bit of denim leftover for some future project. Yesterday afternoon I FINALLY got to the mixer cover for my mixer that I've been wanting to make so long ago. I made one for Jessica back then and ever since mine has been on the to do list. Well I took it off last week, I was sick of seeing it, that was just the right push to get it done. The fabric is easy clean indoor outdoor so it's a real witch to sew on, I broke more needles than I'd care to admit, but I think it turned out nice, complete with pockets. One is just right to hold my small cookbooks and another is perfect to hold the box tops that I collect for my brother's school. There is another small one, I don't know what I will use it for, but something will come to me. A new Block of the Month came out for the 15th of Jan. This one is Hole in the Barn Door, I'm happy to make anything that looks nice for the Spring Sampler 2009.

The first one for the books

The memorial quilt is done. Hopefully it will be mailed out by the first of the week. This quilt had is hanging sleeve hand sewn on. Boy oh boy how time consuming! In the future I will plan a border big enough to have the sleeve machine sewn to the back in that area. At least the sleeve hides nicely. Can you see it?
This is the update on my knitting. I'm onto the last ball and it is 52" with a goal of 58"+, not much longer now. I hope you can see better this time. Once again length does not include the tassels. I have also been working on blocks for my Springtime 2009 Sampler. It's fun picking patterns. I have a pile of fabrics that match my "main" theme fabric, so when ever the mood strikes I pull out a pattern and pull out my fabric and away we go. The photo above is Churn Dash, with Jessica hollering in my ear this one didn't turn out as great as I would have liked but the embroidery I'd done before Christmas as a trial stitch out, worked here beautifully. This one is my favorite. It is called cactus basket, but I've also heard it called many other things. The basket went together beautifully, and the "flowers" in the basket are my main inspiration print. This one is called Anvil. I like it as once again I was able to use an old stitch out test. The light color is swapped with the dark one in order to use that center to it's best advantage so the directions were backwards, but I got through it.

Currently DH is off for a meet and greet for a little pt job at a big chain. Hopefully he will get it. Having him unemployed since June (father's day) has been really hard.

A word from one who knows, do not sew to the elastic all the way around the waist, if you do you end up with more of a waist band than a stretchy waist. So nearly as soon as I'd made Jessica a skirt she out grew it. Yesterday I decided I would remake her skirt. This time I used Red polka dots complete Minnie Mouse style. Here was the final outfit. I liked it enough to make the skirt long so she can wear it for a long time, perhaps even next Halloween. Can you see my trademark tail feather? Jessica on the other hand wasn't interested. Silly girl, doesn't know what she's missing. I'm certain a real Minnie outfit would be over $50.

Pretty Embroideries

I finished off my label for the Row Robin, I'm posting it here again with the row so that you can see how they match, there is a line for each group member to sign, embroider, or cross stitch their name. Someone else has finished their row as well, so we're rolling onward. With 2 down.
My embroidery unit has been quite busy in a bust of free time I began working on embroidering a couple of large butterflies that I'm planning on using in the Sampler quilt that I will be making in 2009. Yes I know I haven't trimmed all the threads on the upper two. I tried to make each on different from the others. Can you see my Black eyed Susan's? The blue fabric much like the green from the label I showed you above came from my Secret Santa, Elle in Spain. It's amazing how a bit of new fabric can inspire us.