Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Supernova Colors

I'm still pondering on color choices for the Supernova quilt along.  All of my blocks have been cut.  I have a feeling once I see the layout on Thursday that I will be getting my rotary cutters out again.  Hopfully the beginners quilting class I plan to take this summer at the local quilt shop will address my color blindness needs. 
This isn't exactly how the block will look, but it gives me an idea of what I will need to change.  Hopefully the Supernova block will take away from the fact that I have chosen "McDonalds" colors.  LOL.

But I do have to say that I LOVE "my" picnic ants.  I have looked at this fabric every single time I have gone in to the store and could never figure out what I would do with it.  Well, I needed at least 1/8 yard for this project... I bought 5 3/4 yards because it was all that was left.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Supernova Block Colors

Today I was so excited to start Lee's Supernova quilt along!  I worked midnights and knew I would be one of the first to see her cutting instructions post... so I thought.  I waited and waited and waited.  I was bummed that I had to take my son to an appointment at 9am and didn't get to see the instructions.  You see, I left my computer on so that I could keep on line.  Had I only hit the refresh button I would have seen it.  Oh well.  I got the instructions so that I could read them while in the waiting room while my son was it his appointment.  I cut 3" strips and played with fabric almost all day while he was in school.  I'm a happy girl!

Here's some of my color ideas.  I'm not even close to making a final decision, but I am pretty happy with using my reds, by adding some blacks and  yellows. 








I don't think I like the way the yellows are in the 4th one.  I need to sleep on this and look at them tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Finally found the right star without cutting diamonds!

Thanks to Cathy's blog, http://cathy-mysewingroom.blogspot.com/ , I finally found the perfect star pattern for those red's that I have built into my scrap stash.  Now whenever I cut from my red stash I know to cut several triangles (actually half squares) so that I can make stars!!!  This will be a project way in the future, but it seems like I am always getting in to those reds these days with other current projects.  I will cut the triangles and add them to a special box for just them...  I have been wanting to do a star quilt for quite a while now and I just didn't want to cut those tedious diamonds!  I can match seams and I can cut.  This one is perfect!  I did get a piece of graph paper out so that I could plot it a little better in my mind.  It goes a little like this:
I'll have to see how my prints come together when I start cutting.  I know I have seen this block over and over, but it all made sense after visiting Cathy's blog.  Thanks, Cathy.

I am also super excited to get the cutting instructions tomorrow for the Supernova quilt along!  I will have the reds out and ready.  Thanks, Lee!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Five more D4P blocks

Today I feel like I finsihed a small project.  I completed five more D4P blocks for the Block Lotto. 
Today I also joined the Wednesday weigh-in at http://a-ditchin-time-quilts.blogspot.com/search/label/Wednesday%20Weigh-In
Can't wait to healthier!  I made a perfect pan of cornbread and some high-fiber, low calorie creamy ham and bean soup in the crockpot.  What a great day!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Irish Chain Baby Quilt

This will be my first attempt at a Double Irish Chain quilt.  I'm excited that my niece is having her first baby.  It's a girl!  The neat thing is that the baby was "made in Ireland" while my niece and her husband were traveling.  I thought it would only be fitting to do an Irish Chain in greens...  Here's my color selections.  I'm pretty happy with them right now.  The larger flowery print will be the backing.  I'm not sure which will be the double chain and which will be the chain.  I'll have to play with that.  But the kicker is that I ordered Bonnie Hunter's book Word Play Quilts and plan to put Brianne's name on the front of the bottom of the quilt in the yellow.  We'll see how that goes.

Why so many reds and whites?

I don't know why I started my quilting with reds and whites.  I am going to have so many red/white quilts I won't know what to do with them.  Sure hope those color catchers made by Shout really work.  Anywho... I found these cute little fat quarters in our local Half Off store today.  I was really looking at using a couple of table napkin linens as fabric choices, but accidently found these in the bin.  They were cute and cheap!  I guess they were meant for me.

Black & White Stash builders

Here's two finds for my black and white stash.  These were on clearance at Walmart today for $1.50/yd.  Guess you can't beat that for a beginner quilter.  I'll be using them in the Supernova Quilt Along.  I think I have dedided to use some of my huge stash and red and whites.  My Supernova Quilt Along quilt will be made up of reds and white prints, black and white prints, white backround, and just a little yellow to make it POP! ...and that is my final answer.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Simple Sunday

Sunday mornings are reserved for my mom.  She doesn't get around very well and needs someone to help her in the mornings and nights.  Sunday is my day to help her with her bills and checkbook and any odds and ends she needs done.  It's also family day in which I try to spend a lot of time with my son and husband.  I normally don't get to sew on Sundays, but today I snuck a little power chaining in during Owen's nap time.

I sewed enough triangles together for six of my flower basket blocks.  It's progress!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

AccuQuilt Go! Baby giveaway

Happy national quilting day!  Did you know that there's a cool blog at http://www.sunshowerquilts.blogspot.com/

Katrina is giving away an AccuQuilt Go! Baby and three dies!!! Isn't that awesome?  Wouldn't you love to see me win to see what I could create with it? 

Kathy's four D4P blocks

Hi.  I'm a Newbie posting to the block lotto.  I made four D4P blocks.  Hopefully I will be able to make more next week.

Flower Basket Quilt

For some reason I felt the need for a mostly red and white quilt.  I don't know why I chose white...  Until we move in to the new house we are building, the pipes in the old house make all of our whites in our laundry rust or yellow...  But regardless, I loved the red and white maple leaf quilt that my mom's cousin Betty gave me around 1993.  I hope to recreate that quilt some day.  I am finding little projects in which to build my skills and practice before I do something like that.  Here's some flower basket pictures of what I have started.

Again, the reds in the picture don't look like the real reds that I have used, but you get the idea. 

This is the very first flower basket block I ever made.  I'm pretty proud how everything fell in to place:


Don't you love the antique kitchen table that we have?  I LOVE IT!  We use it every day.

Since I am new to quilting, I am trying to build up my red stashes.  Most of these were purchased at JoAnn Fabrics in February/March 2011.  Just a few of them were from things I made over 10 years ago. 



I need to find a place for the fabric with the roses and checks on it.  It was something that I found in my grandmother's things.  My grandmother passed away when I was about 12 years old.  She broke her hip in her early years and had numerous surgeries.  She walked with a walker.  But this didn't stop her from working in the garden and getting out and about.  My grandmother (Dora) was very talented in quilting, crochet, sewing, and other various crafts.  Each of her four grandchildren have grand champion quilts and tablecloths from the Ohio State Fair.  There were more champion items too!  Her quilts were so special to me because all of the applique were done from scraps of dresses that she made for herself or us.  I was so young when she left this world.  I remember she would ask me what I liked.  If I said "kitties" she would make me a cat quilt...  If I said "butterflies" the following year she would make me a butterfly quilt.  Some day I will have to post pics of these vintage quilts that are packed away for now.  Hopefully I will have sentimental quilts like this as well some day.  She would be very proud of me that I am starting to quilt and loving the art.  Maybe that is why some of my seams match up when they do... because Grandma is looking down on me and guiding me.

Country Kitties

This is the very first "BIG" quilt I ever attempted.  It is called Country Kitties.  It was a free pattern from http://www.free-quilting.com/?source=037FQP  I visit this site every day to see what's new.  LOVE it! The original size of the quilt was supposed to be 65" x 85".  Mine should finish around 85" x 105" to fit our California King bed.  (It's a little longer than what I would have liked, but like I said... I'm just starting out and have a lot to learn.  The colors in the pic are a little greener than it really is.  Again, I'm still new and using JoAnn Fabrics materials for now.  I do like the way the colors look.  I didn't want anything white this time.

This is just the top.  I will pillowcase the edges and knot it soon.  I plan to knot this and the Four-In-Nine Patch quilt around the same time so that I only hae to set up my quilting frames once.  The backing will be the paisley fabric that is in one of the roman coin blocks.

Here's a close-up of what the top looks like.

Four in Nine Patch Quilt

This is the first quilt pattern I have ever purchased on the internet.  I made I made the center from one jelly roll purchased at JoAnn Fabrics and then picked out the orange boarder from the remnant rack and the green border because they were out of the blue I wanted.  The back wasn't really what I wanted either, but that's what happens when I don't get all the fabric I need at once.  Regardless, I'm very happy with it.  I pillowcased the edges because I am still afraid of bindings.  I will knot it some day while my little boy is in pre-school and I have the whole day to knot.

Here's something I decided to add to the back so that I know when I finished the quilt.  It's a little primative and I did it in a hurry just because I was so excited about the quilt.


I need a little work on applique!


Here's a pic of what I made for the block lotto.

For blocklotto.blogspot.com I made these four blocks:

Here We Are

Not only am I new to quilting, I'm newer to blogging.  This is a blog where I will post pics of my current projects.