Finish It Up Friday: Schnibbles

Hooray!  Finally, I have a Schnibbles quilt completed in time to be in the Schnibbles parade.

This is my "Bibelot."  I used 5" batik squares from my 5" squares scrap bin -- only 49 squares, so no, it didn't make a dent in the collection. But I also used a batik from my collection for the background, so this is a "free" quilt.

The DH is holding it up for me to photograph -- he likes it, he really likes it!  I'm eager to see how others quilt their Bibelot quilts.  I think I'll save this one to quilt on Meggie!

WIP Wednesday: One for Martin

My design wall is full this week: the Twin Falls, Idaho quilt is still hanging in there (haven't worked on it for more than a week) and this quilt fills the second half of the wall:

It's my "Another Year of Schnibbles" quilt for March.  This one is "Bibelot," and I am determined THIS month I WILL have my quilt finished in time for the Schnibbles Parade!  I'm using batik 5" squares and a rusty-brown batik background.  If it works out, it will be the backdrop for my DH's office.  His company is using Skype meetings now, and he needs something to hang on the wall behind him that will be more interesting than the plain blue wall.

My friend Ann convinced me to take the "Crazy for Wool" class at High Country Quilts.  Each season we will make a wool applique' table topper.  I'm actually making pretty good progress, I have all the houses applique'd, just need to do the corners and quilt this little goody and it will be ready to be a hostess gift for my trip to Ohio next month.

The center of the quilt is 2 2/1" pinwheels.  I'm glad Ann suggested doing them scrappy, I think it looks better.

Here is the "boarding house" and the train station.  The train station will have a clock and a "RR Crossing" sign and there will be a railroad track embroidered in front of it.  Personally, I think the boarding house looks like an Idaho Mormon house -- lots of bedrooms, and built sturdy of brick.

Here is the church and the "town house."  My house here in Colorado used to be this color blue -- now it's green.

The are lots of little details to add:  embroidered flowers, a bell charm on the school house and the church, apple blossoms (French knots) on the tree next to the school, and more.

Now who do I know in Ohio that would like this quilt?

Linking up to WIP Wednesday:

Make-a-Mosaic

I'm a ginger monkey is hosting a contest in conjunction with Pink Castle Fabrics to see what custom fabric bundles their readers can create.

Mosaic Maker from BigHugeLabs is easy to use, but deciding on twelve fabrics for a bundle is tough!

I started mine with "Sea Garden in Summer, Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda" because my friend Ginny bought a length of this from Ruth's Stitchery.  She couldn't decide what to do with it, so I thought I would show her my mosaic and maybe inspiration will strike!

Fabrics include, left to right in rows from top to bottom:
1.  Sea Garden in Summer, Salt Air by CosmoCricket for Moda
2.  Moda Bella Graphite
3.  Metro Living Latice in Garnet for Robert Kaufman
4.  Fly a Kite Solid in Seafoam by October Afternoon for Riley Blake Designs
5,  Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda, Tiny Bubbles in Summer
6.  Dumb Dot Charcoal Gray by Michael Miller
7.  Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda, Waves in Sunshine
8.  Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda, Fish Tales in Mist
9.  Bursts in White - Fruit Slice for Anthropology Fabrics by Khristian A. Howell
10.  Moda Cross Weave Woven in Coral Crossweave
11.  Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda
12.  Ta Dot in Sunny Yellow by Michael Miller

I specifically tried to use fabrics from different collections, because as Jinny Beyer warns, "don't over-match!."

As  for a pattern?  I think Daisy Janie's Garden Ladder quilt would look terrific in these fabrics.  The pattern only calls for eight fabrics, but it would be easy to add a few more columns.

Whaddya think, Ginny?

Sew Modern Baby Quilt

Lizzy House is one of my favorite designers, and "Outfoxed" is a favorite design.  This baby quilt became over-sized because I couldn't resist using every fabric in the colorway!

This fun quilt is for the new baby of My Little Sailor's supervisor on the USS George Washington (go Navy!).  The baby is six weeks old, but this is more of a crib, or even youth-bed quilt than a baby quilt.  See the teddy bear?  My oldest brother brought him back from Germany, 50 or so years ago! 

Can you see the patch of bright color under Ted's right arm?  That is three hand-knit baby washcloths, made to match the quilt by my friend Deb, of The Artful Yarn.  (Psst, she sells patterns and is writing a knitting book!)

I should have dragged out the lightbox to photograph these, because it's hard to see the detail.  This one is a lovely chocolate brown, and depicts a baby bottle:

Here is a purple rocking horse:

And of course, a sailboat! His Daddy is a sailor, after all.

The pattern I used is is "Sparkling Cider" from All Washed Up.  With the borders it is 64" X 80".

This quilt be winging its way to Japan later today to wrap around baby Roman and his beautiful Mama!

Linking up with Canoe Ridge Creations Sew Modern Monday:

Sunday is for Scraps -- and Pincushions

The Front Range Modern Quilt Guild met yesterday and we did a pincushion exchange.  I had seen so many cute pincushions on various blogs that I had a hard time deciding which one to make.

My friend Maryann gave me some homemade sugar scrub and local honey in these adorable half-pint retro jars, so I decided the jar pincushion was the one.  I couldn't find any jars around town, wrong season I guess.  Luckily for me, Maryann had some left and she generously donated them (yes, I made one for her, too!)

There are lots of tutorials on making a "Mason Jar pincushion," but this is the one I liked best.

Rather than stuff my pincushion with fiberfill (polyester will dull your pins, beware!), I made a tiny little circular pillow stuffed with crushed walnut shells.  I'm sorry I don't remember where I got my crushed walnut shells, but it was at a quilt shop. Could be any shop between Denver and Baltimore!  A quick Google search shows they are apparently available at Petco to use as reptile bedding. (No wonder I didn't know that.  Reptile bedding?  Eeeww!)

Ann, "a Girl in Paradise," has a tutorial on making your own decorative pin toppers.  I copied her method exactly and they turned out so cute!

You know the most fun part for me was buying little "goodies" to put inside my gifty jar.  I found the cute "quilt block" necklace at Ruth's Stitchery and the jelly bean thimble at High Country Quilts, both here in Colorado Springs.  I use the "contour" hair clips to hold my quilt bindings in place rather than pins -- much safer!  The Goody brand clips come in pretty colors and are smoother than the ones made specifically for quilting.

I received this adorable cupcake pincushion.  My swapper didn't know I collect cupcakes, how serendipitous was that?

Thanks, Eloise!

I Like Green: Happy St. Patrick's Day

Always one of my favorite holidays, because green is my favorite color!  To celebrate, here are some of the green quilts I've made in the last couple of years.

This was the first "all solids" quilt I made.  It looks kind of blue on my monitor, but really, it's mostly shades of green from darkest to lightest.  Fat Quarter Fun Modern is made from a Kaufman Kona Cotton solids bundle named "Poseidon." 

Here is a particular favorite, "Sparkler."  Made from a kit I purchased at Quilt Colorado 2020, it lives in my friend Janet's "Alaska Room."

This one was a big hit with the teenage recipient.  The daughter of my Tupperware manager in Virginia, she was born after we left Virginia.  Josie had painted her bedroom this wonderful green, and was thrilled when I sent this quilt to complement her new room.  She said, "Mom, does she know me, because this quilt is perfect!"

This green quilt is a a "Sunday is for Scraps" effort.  It's called "Over and Under," and no -- didn't make a dent in the green strips collection!

Here is a recent table topper, a Charm School project at High Country Quilts.  It's a "mini twister," made from 3 1/2" squares.  My first free-motion quilting experiment.

 

 I love love love this fabric collection.  Summerhouse by Lily Asbury, this was my Idaho quilt camp project last October.  I hope I get it quilted before I go back to Idaho for quilt camp in May.

 Oh, and I love this fabric collection, too!  Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey, I scored Randi's scraps from freshsqueezedfabrics.  She mentioned on her blog that she was going to list bags of Nicey Jane scraps on her etsy shop, and I said "why don't you just send them all to me and save yourself the trouble."  My first Schnibbles quilt, I.S.T.H. (Insert Snappy Title Here).

And my most recent green quilt, my own design "Square Foot Gardening."  It reminds me of the raised beds in my sister's garden on the Snake River in Idaho.

Here's a blessing for your St. Patrick's day, my favorite song from my Girl Scout days:

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and the rain fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again, someday,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
May the memories that we have shared
linger on and on.

For Lori.

2012 Quilt #20 - Square Foot Gardening

Finish it up Friday today is my scrap quilt from Sunday.  I've named it "Square Foot Gardening," after a gardening book I had years ago.  It reminds me of my sister's garden in Idaho, lots of green and many varieties of flowers.

As a flimsy, this quilt is about 40" X 56", just the right size for a lap quilt. I could probably make ten this size without making a dent in the green strip scrap drawer!   I think this will be the first to be quilted on my new long-arm Mega Quilter, Meggie.  If it turns out OK, I am sending it to an elementary school friend in Oregon who is recovering from surgery.