Thursday, April 19, 2012

Something Old, Something New, & A Mystery

I pulled out some old quilts that I had downstairs... they are my husband's quilts, but they are made by his grandmother & his grand-aunt... but aren't they just ever so lovely???
The more I quilt, the more I really appreciate the older quilts and all the work that was involved in making them... everything from recycling old clothing, cutting the fabric pieces by hand and hand sewing.  
Looking at old quilts makes me appreciate my sewing machine!!!
This quilt was made by my husband's Grandma

Quilt made by Auntie Mildred in her younger days (she is now in her 80s)

I finished my "Origins" (by Basic Grey) table runner. 
White backing, brown binding.

I made my first "sun dial" - 4 quarters sewn together.
This is "Block 0" for New York Beauty Quilt Along.
There are a total of 10 different patterns for these sundials, but I think I am done.
It was fun trying it out, though!

I now have to decide if I'll quilt this quilt top (24" x 24") or if I should add some more borders or stars.


I finished up this month's 2 blocks for Freebie 15.
This year's theme is "Sand & Sea Glass"

Freebie #7: The Boardwalk

Freebie Companion #7: No Diving
I had to do some tweaking with the companion block because the quilt kit had white for the starfish (that's what I call them) but I wanted them brown, so I swapped fabrics and then was short some fabrics within this kit... but I made it all work.


And finally... I have signed up for a Mystery Quilt with Heather Spence Designs!


Heather Spence has designed a mystery quilt and the pattern is $10.  
The $10 is given to a cancer patient who needs financial help with their medical bills.
You can find more information about Heather's Mystery Blog here.
On April 27, I will receive an email with the first instructions to the Mystery Quilt, and these emails will continue once weekly for 5-6 weeks.

I have 2 of the 5 required fabrics, so I will have to go shopping yet for some more fabric.

I know I wanted to take it easy in the quilting department, but I just couldn't resist this quilt along, and it called out to my heart strings... and since I had 2 meters of fabrics at home that I didn't know what to do with... I'll now coordinate some new fabrics with that one fabric to make this lovely quilt.

I love Heather's last mystery quilt (Autumn 2011) so I am sure this quilt will also be lovely.

If you're a quilter, come join the Mystery Quilt fun!!


Tuesday, April 3, 2012

One-Quarters Through 2012!!

Wowie... time is just flying!!  It's April already!  I love it!  Spring is in the air and so it the nicer weather (although I really can't complain as it has been such a mild winter).

My projects in the last week and a bit have been fairly low-key... finishing up some quilt blocks.



Heart in the Sand - Freebie 15 (March 2012)

Footprints
Freebie Companion
This pattern called for templates in which there were about 36 little bird prints on the sand... but I just couldn't stomach doing such little blocks... so I did these 6 pairs of foot(bird) prints instead.
(Hmmm... looks like I got a few crooked lines again!

March Freebie & Freebie Companion & little hourglass blocks (12 in total)
For the 6 months of this quilt along, I now have 72 little hourglass blocks!!!

The first 6 months of the "Freebie 15" blocks.
This is going to be one very nice quilt when it's done.
If I had a ocean/lake cottage, this finished quilt would live there.  :)

These 2 blocks are for Jovita.
Jovita was one of the block designers for the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along, but recently she lost both her twins at 20 weeks.  Konda, organizer of the FQSQA, asked the quilt-alongers if we would sew a heart and a 9-patch for Jovita, and Konda will have all the blocks sewn into a quilt.
Now, how nice it that???  :)
Such a beautiful keepsake for such a heartbreaking loss.

I decided to make more hearts with the leftover scraps from the Freebie 15 fabric... and now I have green, blue, brown and pink hearts (6.5" square each) which I will incorporate into a quilt somehow, one day.

I "stumbled" upon a newish quilt along... New York Beauty Quilt Along.
This photo shows 2 of the first block of the quilt along.
This is my first EVER block in which I have had to sew a rounded corner... I think it looks ok so far, eh??
These blocks look like a cappuccino sun (not anything New York).