Broken Heart

I've not been a very productive quilter the last couple weeks but finally I've got something to show you.

This Broken Heart block is for Margaret-one of the August birthday girls in the birthday block swap.

This little block just didn't want to go together for me- I ripped and sewed, ripped and sewed and finally got it right. Lol-but I don't think I'll be making another one anytime soon!

I've also been working a little on Shawn's rows for the row robin swap and hope to have them finished this week so they can go home to here-I'm sure she's anxiously awaiting them!

Two more birthday blocks and my secret shame

This blue block is for Diane-she requested vibrant blue stars to make a quilt for a friend who lost her home in Katrina. It's the Florida Star pattern from quilterscache.

This sleepy little kitty is for Nell-she requested pet blocks-won't that be a fun quilt!


Ok-now brace yourself-I'm about to show you something ugly, really, really ugly. This is what my sewing space looks like right now.

You may be asking yourself-how can anyone even sew in that disaster area? Trust me you can't. I can't find anything and every time I try to do something I end up knocking something over. As you can see it's even spilling over onto the floor.

This weekend DD is going to her Grammy's house with Grandma so I've resolved to get my quilting space tidied up. Wish me luck!

Speaking of luck send some Itty Bitty's way-we're going to try to release her back to the outdoors this afternoon.

Morning glories

This is the block I made for Christine in round 2 of the birthday block swap. Her theme was "In my Garden." I absolutely love appliqué so I couldn't resist this lovely morning glory pattern.


The pattern finishes at 7 inches. I always cut my background fabric a little larger and I decided not to trim this down-Christine doesn't have any size preference so I figure that leaving it untrimmed will allow her to pick a size for it to end at and give her a little more flexibility when she puts her quilt together.

I also like to have a hand piecing project to take with me when I'm on the go-usually something fairly brainless so I don't have to do to much thinking and can just slap my patches together and sew. My new hand piecing travel project is a Thousand Pyramids quilt-I have no idea how big this will be-I'll just work on it until I'm sick of it and see what I end up with. I haven't got much done on this-I took it to my mom's house over the 4th but didn't spend a lot of time piecing.


It feels like I've cut a million triangles for this quilt but I'm sure there's going to have to be more scrap bin raiding before this is over. I've been scrounging for lights in my scrap bin- some of my lights are actually darks flipped over to the back because I'm definitely lacking in lightness.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have another completed birthday block to show you however DD wants a quilt for her stuffed T-Rex and is rather insistent that I work on it so I may be showing you something else entirely.

Birthday Beauties

I've been pleasantly productive today. It's a rainy, dreary day here and DD has been content to play on her own and watch some movies so I've been putzing around doing little odds and ends of quilting. I attached the binding to my postage stamp quilt and have it sitting on the couch to hand sew the back. I also marked the quilting design on the tiny 9 patch and got it sandwiched and pin basted so it's ready for quilting and did some embellishing on my crazy quilt blocks.

Last year I participate in the first round of the Birthday Block swap that Kate hosted. I was in two groups-in one group my theme was Halloween-I requested stars in any size divisible by 3 with black backgrounds. Here's a pic of the blocks I received.


The second group I was in I requested a chocolate covered cherries theme-I asked for chocolate browns, burgundies, and soft pink stars on cream backgrounds and this is what I received....

I was a little worried with the cherries group because when the blocks started coming in they were all so different I wasn't sure they'd go together in the end but once they were all laid out I loved them. I'll probably make a few more to tie them together. The Halloween blocks will be a quilt for the couch-I'm pondering settings for it- I was thinking maybe staggering the rows so they aren't lined up all matchy matchy.

Land of the Littles

I was so good yesterday and worked on lots of things I needed to do-really yucky stuff like cleaning the kitchen and some fun stuff like cutting out pieces for the next round of the the birthday block swap. See my little tub of cut out blocks-I actually have patterns picked, fabrics selected, and even some of my fabric cut for about half of the blocks and I even made one this weekend-not because it was the first one due but because I just had to try out the pattern. You won't have to wait too long to see it-I think it's one of my August blocks.


This morning I got up and was really in the mood to make a little quilt so I dug out my tub of 2.5 inch squares and this is the result.

It's about 16x18 inches. Since my tub of 2.5 inch squares is overflowing it was nice to use up a few of them-although 42 squares doesn't make much of a dent. I just randomly picked out a bunch of squares I liked and then played with the layout until I found one I liked. It took awhile to find a border fabric-I finally picked this one-18 of the 42 squares had some green in it so I thought the green border tied it all together nicely.

I found a piece of muslin for backing and after a short hunt through my pile of leftover batting pieces I got it sandwiched and did a little hand quilting on it. It's just the right size for hand quilting in the summer-it's far too warm to do anything that actually covers my lap.

My little postage stamp top only took an hour to make-I made it while I was watching Diagnosis Murder. (Yes, I know, it's a show for old people and it's cheesy as all get out but I can't help it I love that show.)

Since I was still in the mood to make something else I dug out my brown and pink strips and put this together while I watched a 2 hour Matlock movie. See about note for Diagnosis Murder-all I can say is my grandpa watched me a lot when I was a kid and I have the TV viewing taste of an 80 year old man.

This one is about 15 inches square-the 9 patches and solid blocks are 3 inches finished.

I'm still brainstorming ideas for my quilts for the Miniature Booty Swap-I think I've found the pattern that I want to use but I'm not off the fence yet.

Look at me go!

I was all set today to show you my progress on my mini quilt for the ALQS swap I'm in but in a fit of productive energy last night I finished it! Ok, ok, I still have to write on the label so 99.9% done.

Here's the top...


Close up on the quilting...

A look at the little hanging tabs on the back.

This is the first mini quilt I've ever made and I found the process to be quite enjoyable. Good thing too since I've already signed up for the next round of the Miniature Booty Swap. We should be getting out partner info for that swap soon.

I learned a couple things from this swap-one is that it's nerve wracking trying to make a quilt for someone else! I really hope my partner likes this.

I think the next one I make I'll choose a block where there's not so many seams meeting in the corners. The points where 4 star blocks come together were definitely bulky even using a smaller seam allowance and it was definitely a challenge trying to get those points to match up.

DD is going to Grandma's this weekend so that means some lovely quilting time for me so hopefully I'll be showing you pictures of my row for the Row Robin I'm in either tonight or tomorrow.

I also signed up for the Birthday Block Swap Round 2 so hopefully I can work on a couple of those blocks with weekend. Not really because I need to but just because they're so darn fun. This is one of my favorite swaps. Last year I was in two groups-one theme was Halloween stars and the other was Chocolate covered cherries. I got gorgeous blocks from each of those. This year I'm in one group but it's a big one so I'll get as many blocks as I did from the last swap where I was in 2 groups. Instead of picking a theme I picked the Brasstown Stars block done with batiks on black backgrounds. I can't wait till September when I get my blocks!