TGIFF Two for Friday

Two finishes this week -- pieced, quilted and bound!

First is the Brick Road SAL from Monday's design wall:

Had to include my quilt-hanger's chartreuse running shoes. They just match the flange on the binding!

I quilted this modern quilt in straight lines. For some reason, Meggie (my long arm Mega-Quilter) didn't like the thread I started with. It was Superior Thread's "Omni," and I've used it many times before, but not for straight-line quilting. I tried two different spools of the same thread, and three different bobbin threads. When I finally tried King Tut on the top and Omni on the bobbin, it worked fine.

Next, I finished this Charm School wall hanging. The pattern is "Tea for Three" by Sandy Gervais for Pieces from my Heart. The fabric I used is a charm pack of "simple marks" by Malka Dubrawsky for Moda.

I had to finish it to go with the cute "coffee" sign friends Kathy and Becky sent me from Idaho. Doesn't it make a charming little vignette? I just need to add one of my Starbucks mugs from China. Or Ohio. Or Ireland!

Here is a detail of the quilted "steam" rising from the mug. Thanks, Beck and Kathy!

Linking up to TGIFF at Amy's Crafty Shenanigans.

Tomorrow is Front Range Modern Quilt Guild. I'll be sewing the October Jelly Roll Party Sample! Can you believe it's  only two weeks until the "unofficial" end of Summer, Labor Day?

From the desk of your

BOM-day and Parade Giveaway

Wow, January went fast!  It's the first Monday of the month, which means it's "Block of the Month" Monday.

One of the new Blocks of the Month at Ruth's Stitchery is "Ryokan" by Joe Wood for ThimbleCreek Quilts.

A "Ryokan" is a Japanese Inn.  I thought since My Little Sailor is stationed in Japan, this would make the perfect gift for him when his tour in Japan is ended.

Each block is a "house," with an Amish-style quilt block on it.  Here is my first block:

The house is made from leftover Japanese Taupes, and the star block is of Moda marbles.

I also made three more Farmer's Wife blocks today.  Marti Michell has written a series of conversion charts that use her templates to make the Farmer's Wife blocks.  SOOOOO much easier than using the templates that come with the book!

I was so pleased that there were 15 entries for the first "13 in 2013" completed UFO parade.  I thought and thought "what should be the giveaway for the UFO parade?"  I didn't want to add to the winner's UFO collection!  I finally decided a Schnibbles pattern and charm square collection wouldn't result in too much pressure for the recipient!

And Moda's new "Love Letters" fabric seems appropriate for February.  Chosen by the Random Number Generator, our winner is #9, Debra.  Remember Debra's stunning "Easy Street?"

Debra, I'm sending you an email asking for your postal address.  Congratulations!

I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see the photos from the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild's weekend retreat.  SOME people got a lot done (but not me)!

From the desk of your

Simply Charming

Lucky for me:

My poor free-motion quilting is not visible in this photo!

This mini quilt is the February Charm School project.  It's a miniature version of the Lil' Twister quilt designed by Marsha Bergren of The Country Schoolhouse quilt shop in Superior, Wisconsin.  Carole Charles of Primitive Gatherings received permission from Marsha to make a tiny twister tool.  It uses 3 1/2" squares and makes a 11" by 12 1/2" finished mini quilt.  The tool is included with the pattern.

I added a 2 1/2" border to make my mini the right size to cover the top of my sewing machine cabinet.  This is a really fun, quick project.  And I'm counting it toward my 52 quilts because I did the quilting myself!

Can you pick out the 4-H fabric?

Charmed, I'm Sure

The Charm School project for this month is from the January/February 2012 issue of McCall's Quilting.  We used a charm pack to make this cute wall hanging, "Heart of Hearts."  The little hearts that make up the petals on the heart-shaped bloom (I think it looks more like a balloon) are traced on two layers of fabric glued together with "Steam-a-Seam" then sewn individually to the quilted background.  I used pinking shears to cut mine, then washed the finished wall hanging to make the hearts look more fluffy.  Michele had the good idea to cut each charm square in half so the front and back of each heart is the same, allowing for a greater variety of fabrics in the hearts.

I'm giving this little sweetie to a sweet friend who gave me a bag of "Kansas Troubles" scraps to add to my log cabin quilt.