Friday, December 16, 2011

Finish it up Friday

Today's Finish it up Friday quilt is already winging its way to Ohio -- hope it makes it there by Christmas!  My friend chose this quilt while it was in the UFO pile, and I know it will match her bedroom perfectly.  It was the mystery quilt for the Northern Colorado shop hop in 2005, #46 for 2011. Journey Home was designed by my favorite mystery quilter, Debbie Caffrey. The colors are not really so yellow, that's what you get for being too lazy to carry the quilt upstairs to photograph in natural light.


Here is a detail of the lovely quilting done by one of my favorite long-armers, Connie Potter.  This is a new design, and it looks just right on this quilt:





And of course, the label:



Happy Christmas, Other Mother!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

WIP Wednesday

The border print for quilt #52 this year is on backorder, so this may become the penultimate quilt of 2011.  Karen Snyder of Anna Lena's Quilts in Long Beach, Washington hosts a "block-a-day" challenge each season.  Every day you make a single block, and at the end of the season you have 90 or 91 blocks.  The design for Fall is the "hourglass" block.  I'm making mine from Denyse Schmidt's prints for JoAnn fabrics.  Here are my blocks so far:


The background is navy blue polka dots.  Doesn't this just make you want to go on a picnic?  Here's the link to Karen's blog.  She won't start the next block-a-day challenge until January 1st, so don't use the holidays as an excuse not to play!  Anna Lena's specializes in 30s reproduction fabrics -- and really wonderful fudge!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Are You a Follower?

I've been asked how to follow my blog -- here is how I follow (dozens of) other blogs:

I like Google/Reader.  Very easy tool, far better than tracking via Favorites.  Simply go to www.google.com/reader   You'll see a button where you can ADD a subscription. You simply need to paste the url to the blog that you want to follow into the add a subscription box.  And, when you visit Google/Reader it will show you a list of blogs that you want to follow that have been updated (have posted since the last time you've read their blog).

These instructions were shamelessly stolen from SewCalGal.  She also has careful instructions on how to win a giveaway -- something I may be doing next year, so take note.  Thanks, SewCalGal!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Mystery Monday -- Two Steps in One Day!

If this mystery is going to be completed before the holiday, I'm going to have to work faster.  So here are two steps completed today:

Step 5. 


And Step 6.  Why, yes, I am doing my mystery "scrappy."  In case you missed it earlier, here is the link to the instructions.  

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sunday is for Scraps

The very first quilt I ever made was a Log Cabin quilt made from blue and mauve cotton polyester -- it was 1976, everyone was using blue and mauve, and 100% cotton was almost nonexistent.  This was long before rotary cutters, so we snipped the selvedge and tore across the width of each fabric to make 2 1/2" wide strips.  As the strips were sewn together, the excess fabric was cut off.  When all the blocks were made, their sizes sometimes varied as much as an inch.  Thirty years later, Marti Michell designed a ruler just for log cabin quilts.  Using her technique, every block comes out square and the same size.  I've been saving 1 1/2" strips to "someday" make a scrappy log cabin quilt.  And today is "someday."

I wanted a larger center, so it is cut 3 1/2" square.


The ruler is designed so the only markings are what you need to cut each "log" for your quilt.  


I began with size "c" and cut enough "logs" to have three lights and three darks on each block.


Here are the first two finished blocks.  This will be my "leaders and enders" project for the foreseeable future.



My blocks are 9 1/2" raw edge-to-raw edge.  That means I will need at least 100 blocks for a bed-sized quilt.  Maybe I should add a couple more logs to each block!


Pillowcases for Christmas

Last year I made pajamas for Christmas gifts.  Lots and lots of pajamas.  Not wanting to start a tradition that would commit me to making a dozen pajamas every year, I decided pillowcases would be a good project for 2011.  I use a free pattern from Rainy Day Quilt School that cleverly encloses all seams.  After making a few using Jeanne's instructions, I branched out and inserted jumbo ric rac in place of the accent trim.

Here are a few that will go to Ohio:


I love this fabric from Crafty Laine in Monument:


These two are both from stash:






I was going to designate each one for a specific person, but I think I will just send them and let the nieces and nephews choose.

Now let's get started on the Sunday Stash project!