Design Wall Monday: The Ugly Christ Sweater QAL

There's a story behind this quilt. Isn't there always?

A long-time friend hosts a cookie exchange each December. And she usually has an "ugly Christmas sweater" contest -- who can find the ugliest of the ugly Christmas sweaters? I've won several times! [And the prize is always a bottle of something delish!]

So when I saw Lorna's "Ugly Christmas Sweater QAL" on her blog, Sew Fresh Quilts, I knew I had to make this quilt!

I have 16 of the 20 blocks made:

This is my favorite block:

I love the way the birds show up in the background.

I cut out all the pieces before I went on vacation last month. That is the way to get a quilt pieced quickly -- I just started making the blocks last week, and I should have all 20 finished by tonight! These blocks are addictive, it's just so fun to see how each will turn out!

Lorna used a wide-long three-step zig zag to quilt her quilt. I've been trying to visualize how to do that as a "quilt as you go" method. I think I'll piece each row together, quilt them, then join the rows. I used this method for "Strip to Shore" awhile back, and it turned out very nice.

What's on your design wall today?



From the desk of your

Sunday Stash II

Here are some more goodies from my road trip to Idaho last month.

First, have you ever seen the movie "Napoleon Dynamite?"  The town where it was filmed is Preston, Idaho. More important (to quilters, anyway) is this: Preston, Idaho is also home to Suppose Quilt Boutique.

This is one of those small-but-mighty shops -- not really all that small, they have a terrific classroom space in the back. And the best selection of modern fabrics since Snappy Quilts in Denver closed!

Here's my score from Suppose.

Have you ever seen these? They are like the red plastic sticks you use to determine the value of fabrics, but in eyeglass form. Much easier to use! Simply lay out the fabric in what you think is dark to light values, then don the glasses. The glasses remove the color from what you see, so it's easy to arrange your fabrics in value-order.

I had bought some of these Robert Kaufman essex yarn-dyed metallics cotton-linens, and wasn't overly impressed. That was before I saw this shop sample in Suppose!  Ohmigoodness! Gotta have it!

I really should have asked to take a photo of the sample, because it's gorgeous! This is one of those "I don't know who it's for, but someone will love it" quilts!

Speaking of which, I know who will love this original design from Suppose using Tula Pink fabrics. Me!

Just can't get enough Tula Pink!

And I found the perfect backing for this Cotton + Steel baby quilt!

Next week: the adventure continues!


From the desk of your