red + white

After 13 months, my Virtual Quilting Bee quilt is complete. Hurray!

54" x 72"
Originally, I was going to quilt it in a diagonal grid pattern, but at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to stipple it. I'm so glad that I did! I had my fill of straight line quilting after the square dance quilt. (I know, imagine that!)

I pieced the back using red gingham and worked in the two blocks that I received after I had put the front together. Isn't that a fun back?

I'd like to say thank you to each of the lovely ladies that made a square and contributed to my quilt! I'm so very pleased with the results. You can click here and here to see the block credits.

red + white

Here is my quilt top made from the blocks I received from the Virtual Quilting Bee. It's nice to finally have it assembled!

I thought long and hard how to put these blocks into a quilt top. I couldn't decide what color to use for sashing, so instead, I added a 3" border (3.5" cut) around each block, which made each block 18.5" unfinished. The blocks are HUGE! It was fun to be able to put 12 monster blocks together to make up a substantial quilt top. I much preferred adding borders to each block rather than working with long sashing strips. The colors of the blocks lent themselves well to adding white borders to half of the blocks and red to the other half. The quilt top measures 54" x 72".

Now I have to come up with something for the back. From my stash, of course. :)

I'd like to say thanks to the lovely ladies that sent me such fabulous blocks!

getting things done

I'm feeling very far behind. In reality I'm not-I'm just suffering of a bad case of trying to do too much. (Ouch, it hurts to admit that.)

Things are wrapping up for the Virtual Quilting Bee. Somehow we ended up with 3 blocks to make this month.

This one is for Sarah. She wanted texture. It was a fun challenge.

LOTS of texture. (I wouldn't want to have to quilt this one.)
I am pleased with how it turned out. The fabrics were wonderful to work with.

This is for Grace. We did monochromatic random piecing for her, which is right up my alley. I love this one. It was nice to use up some of my little white scraps, too.

And for Eren. I used some of my grandmother's fabrics in this block. She was wanting a vintage feel for her quilt. Wouldn't a whole quilt like this be fun? I think it's going on my list. :)

And here are a few blocks that will go into a charity quilt made by members of the Virtual Quilting Bee. I must have been feeling vintage when I pieced these. (hee hee)

But wait...that's not all....

This is a block for Stefanie-for the Sew Connected group. I had a different plan for this block, but somehow it evolved into this. I love how it turned out...so much better than my original idea. It must have been dumb luck. :)

I made all these today. And I am tired. If I can muster up any energy after bedtime tonight, I hope to make a few blocks for this.

And lastly, this is what happens when my husband gets involved in making a Valentine's box for my son.

Isn't it fabulous??? I made the name label and did most of the painting, otherwise it was all him. He's a handy man. (I sure love him!) It was a big hit with my son--and all of his class, too.

virtual quilting bee and a call for ideas

The quilt block shown above is for the Virtual Quilting Bee. This one is for Melissa. Yesterday I googled how to make flying geese and I came across this fabulous tutorial. I don't have the ruler, but I didn't really need it. This technique made flying geese construction so very easy. I'm completely hooked. I am planning to start a new spectrum quilt of sorts...one inspired by this masterpiece...using my stash. You know, in my spare time. (Ha!) I don't know how far I will get with it. I'd really love to make a king sized quilt like this, but I will be happy if it only ends up being a baby size. A big thank you to moving hands for posting such inspiring quilts year after year for all of us to see, since it is highly doubtful that I will ever make it to Tokyo for the International Quilt Festival in my lifetime.

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I couldn't decide for the life of me which tutorial to do next for my series. I have several ideas, but nothing that I was super excited to work on today, you know? I plan to come up with the tutorials that have been requested, like a Christmas tree skirt and Christmas stockings, but I am still working on formulating the designs for those. And they will take a little time. Anything else you would like to see tutorial wise? I'm not making any promises, but I'd love to hear your ideas.

15 reasons why I don't need to buy fabric

It's been 46 days since I bought any new fabric, and I am really trying to resist the urge. (It's hard, I tell you!) So, I thought I would pull out some fabric piles to remind me why I am not buying fabric. (It's barely working.)

Each of these stacks of fabric represent a quilt that I have planned...and most of the fabric for already. See how the pile of pink fabric in the upper right hand corner towers over the rest? I love that. (There is plenty more stash where that came from and at least 5 more quilt projects planned that don't photograph well. That doesn't even count any scrap quilts!)


I joined the summer stash challenge in order to help me, but I haven't really started on one yet, because I am trying to get some WIP's finished up first.


In the mean time, I made my block for Erin for the Virtual Quilting Bee.

I love the fabrics she chose. She sent the green floral. I added the yellow and the stripe.

the by-product of my insomnia last night

My contribution for the June installment of the Virtual Quilting Bee.

It's for the one who loves pink.

second time's a charm

Here is my completed block for Jennifer's virtual quilting bee.

It was my second attempt-the first block was just a touch too small, but too big to add another round of logs. So I started over. This one had a bit more wonkiness, which I like. I also like the chenille for the center.

Now I have an orphan block, which makes me think that either I will make 2 of each block throughout the bee and make my own sampler quilt at the end (which would be challenging, but fun, no doubt)...or else I may just make a quilt based on these colors, because oh, my, they are fun.