Placemats

It just occurred to me that I never showed you the finished placemats I made for my daughter. (They only took me all of last week.) Who knew that 8 placemats would be such a project? I must admit though that lately I'm not moving too fast on quilting and projects. It's finally nice where I live and I did have to get to my planting too. If I didn't get those tomato plants in as soon as possible, I might not get any red tomatoes by the time the cold weather comes back. Last year I think I was stuck with 10 lbs of green ones and we're not great ones for "fried green tomatoes"!

Anyway, here are the placemats. I'm not sure if she really liked them or not. She said she did, but she's nice that way anyway!

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I'm sure you've heard about the spring bloggers quilt festival hosted by Amy from here. She's such a dear and does this twice a year. Last year at this time I didn't have a blog and couldn't show anything and last fall I posted a quilt I made in the spring. This time though I want to show you something really near and dear to my heart. I made it last year after it was in my head for months and once I showed it on flickr, it was wonderfully accepted and many suggested that I publish a pattern. Now, I really had no intention of ever doing that when I first made it, but then a lady I know through another sewing forum commissioned me to make one for her and because of that, I wrote down all the measurements and wa-la.......the beginning of a pattern. Who would have guessed at my age that would happen? Actually, God was looking out for me because my husband lost his job right around that time and the little $$ that I make from this has helped out already. I guess you just never know what life has in store for you, right?

More Placemats

Darling daughter asked me a few weeks ago to make her 8 placemats, and she wanted them all the same, but different! (Funny thing is that I knew exactly what she meant.......! LOL) I guess that's because the leaves don't fall that far from the tree, huh? Well, she told me that she didn't care what I did, but she wanted to use them in summer. I knew the "Rainy Days and Monday" fabric by Riley Blake would be perfect because this is my kid who always would love to play in the rain. I showed you some of that fabric a few posts down.

Well, I have one to go and I'll certainly show you all of them all finished, but for now, I'll only show you the last one. Since she is my star, I had to make an appropriate one just for her!

Love it!

Do you remember this:

It was one of my all time best Explore pics...and my latest swap placemat to Terrie. Well, because I was so inspired with everyone's cross quilts on flickr and then eventually making that placemat, that I just couldn't quit. I HAD to make a big one for me too and since I already had so many reds and off whites, I just continued in a bigger vein.

And then the trimming process:  (I just love seeing all those fabrics all smushed together.  it makes for such a fab pic!  No fair yelling at me for dumping those bigger pieces!!)
I just got it back from the quilter on Thursday and bound it right away.  I ALWAYS have my bindings ready to go right after I finish a bigger quilt since I know I'll be involved in another project later and would hate to stop to decide what to put on something I already did once I got it back.  That's just me though.....

And the back.......see the tiny one on the bottom right? That piece was left from the placemat, so I just appliqued it right on there! Cool, huh?

The mail hath cometh!

It's been real exciting around here every afternoon lately when the mail comes.  Either there are tiny little envelopes with 3.5 mini blocks for the QT Mini swap (and you'll see those when I get them all), or checks from wonderful ladies ordering Christmas Tree skirt patterns (I had to get that in, you know), and also things from other swappers to me.  The latest was from a very talented artist, Kim, or "bahamadawn".  Funny, but I always thought her name would be Dawn until we were swappers.  LOL  She's actually from the Bahamas though and I suppose the dawns there are wonderful....anyway.....you must see her talent:

Not only did she send the lovely mini quilt which she hand painted, and hand stitched, and I believe made the copper labels for, she also made me a gorgeous journal cover (and journal) as well as a darling home made card to match. You must see her things.......go look now! She even makes jewelry and paints pictures.  

Then, on the same day, if you can believe, I got the most wonderful package from, "marblesbestfriend", Debbie. She had my name in the ORBC (I think those are the right letters???) swap. This girl was GOOD! She stalked me and discovered that I should receive this:

Funny thing is that "Rainy Days and Mondays'' is my latest passion fabric (other than some I haven't ordered yet) and I hadn't even showed my hoard to anyone, nor had I even started a project with it yet. I do have something in mind though, so it won't take long. Thank you Debbie! You are a MARVELOUS stalker!! I am touched by your insight.

So, that's it for this week so far. There are a few more things coming and I am working on a few things too. So stay tuned....

Jacques

You ask, who is Jacques?  Well, you'll soon meet, trust me!  

A few weeks ago, when the QT Mini Swap announced that their theme for May would be black and white plus one other color, not square or rectangle,  I knew immediately what I would do.  Now, I have a ton of black and white fabrics and in fact, even went to the fabric store and bought what appeared to be dalmation fabric, but when it got right down to it, I used just plain white Kona with black plus my one other color (and I was naughty and didn't give my partner a chance to pick it.)  You'll see why in a minute.  I must tell you that I had a ball making this and it was probably my most fun quilt that I've ever made...I mean EVER......especially when I knew who my partner was (hectichousehold).  (If I knew how to link...I surely would!!)  You see, Jess has a big family and I knew her kids would go nuts.  First, of course, I had to draw him:

Then, even before I started making him, I had to go to the bead store for a charm.  I knew that it had to be special, and I was thinking of a bone, or a heart or something, but when I saw the one that said, "Top Dog" I knew it was perfect for the collar that he had to have.  Well, if he had a collar, he had to have a leash too and I was going to make his leash out of fabric, but as it turned out when I was at Joanns, they just happened to have some thin twill in the exact right color.  I was one happy girl, believe me!

Then, it was a matter of execution and I thought long and hard on how to do it.  I really didn't want to bind him, but since the sides weren't identical, turning inside out was not an option.  Then, I thought of quilting the front on batting and the back on batting and turning over the fabric and joining the two by hand but didn't work either!  Too floppy!  Instead, I cut a piece of timtex to size and joined the whole mess with black bias binding and that was a trick in itself because of the thickness.  Oh.....I forgot to tell you that his tongue is 3 dimensional.  I made that before I appliqued his head and enclosed the tongue with the black stitching.

Anyway, it's time that you meet Jacques.  That's his name given to him by his new family!  I'm sure he loves it!  From what I understand, they're already trying to make him heel. 

And the pics I posted on Flickr:

And the back:

I put the label information on his tail. LOL

Elmo?

Just so you don't think that I waste everyday quilting, I have to show you something that I made the other day.  Actually, I didn't make the shirt...it was purchased from Target and a friend graciously machine embroidered Elmo on it for me.  I made the matching shorts.  Whooppee!  I have someone in my life who eats, breathes, and lives Elmo and I am dying to give her this outfit.  She and her mom are stopping over tomorrow, and I'm excited.

In the meantime, I'll continue to bug my postman and wonder where the stuff is that I'm awaiting and so anxious to show you.  Everyday I go to my mailbox with anticipation, I can hardly stand it!!

Meow

While I am awaiting things I should be receiving soon from the swaps of April, I needed something to occupy myself while waiting.  I decided yesterday to join another little segment of the QT Mini swap for May.  I joined round #2 of the 3 1/2 mini blocks.  There are 9 of us in this round so 9 little 3.5 identical blocks are required.  My chosen color was hot pink.  I first was thinking of blue, but hot pink it was.  That color needed to be combined with black and white.  Today I got going and finished all 9 (thank goodness.)  They were really fun!  I combined my love of drawing, applique, and hand stitching.  All the white on the faces (other than the whites of the eyes) were hand stitched and I really think they have their own distinct personalities:

And here is a close up of just one so you can see it better.

Stay tuned to see my incoming goodies (one of these days). I can't wait!!