Aqua Strings

Aqua Strings

A rare occurrence this weekend; I had almost an entire day to myself on Sunday!  My husband had an event and took our daughter, and my son had to work.  After I dropped my son off at the Zoo where he volunteers, I stopped off at the farmer's market for a short while, then headed home and began sewing.  Taking a few short breaks to eat, watch a little Clean House and do some chores, I was able to finish piecing this quilt and also the back.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Summer '10

I'm honored to participate in this years Blogger's Quilt Festival and very excited to have new viewers visiting my blog.  It would mean a lot to me if you would leave a comment so that I know you've stopped by.

Edited to add:  I cannot guarantee links on archived posts.  Very often these can change.  More information about past Blogger's quit festivals can be found at Amy's Creative Side Blog http://amyscreativeside.com/bloggers-quilt-festival/.  Again, no guarantee that this link will work forever.

Additionally, I strive my best to answer every question I receive on my blog but I cannot respond to inquires with no return email address noted (i.e., anonymous).

For the quilt festival, I'm sharing my last completed quilt, which is something I whipped up for my daughter's school auction last month.  Per my usual procrastination, it was a rush-rush project.

Quilt pattern is adapted from the Corner Store pattern from the wonderful book "Material Obsession". The designs are hand-quilted (in other words, stitched through all three fabric layers of the quilt - top, batting and backing) in Pearle cotton.  You can read more about the making of this quilt on my blog here:  http://couchpotatoquilts.blogspot.com/2010/04/charity-quilt-is-done.html and here:  http://couchpotatoquilts.blogspot.com/2010/04/charity-quilt-for-school-fundraiser.html. 

My purpose wasn't to make something artsy or trendy, but to make a pretty quilt that would hopefully appeal to the general buying public.  I chose cheerful fabrics from my stash that weren't gender specific and managed to use what I had on hand with the exception of the backing fabric.  The hand-stitching of the motifs while time consuming (maybe not the smartest choice for an auction quilt) is something I really enjoy.  The motifs are traced in pencil - I used a window - before the quilt is assembled and then stitched by hand after I had stitched in the ditch around the blocks with my sewing machine.  Despite being in a rush, I really enjoyed the process of putting this little quilt together.

Sunday Stash on Monday

new fabrics

I made good progress this weekend on the string quilt but wasn't smart enough to take a picture.  I have 36 blocks completed so far. The Joel Dewberry fabrics pictured above from his Modern Meadow line have been cut into strips and incorporated into the quilt. 

To prewash or not, that is the question

various prints and batiks from my stash

Why bother prewashing fabrics these days?  It appears that more often than not, quilters are choosing to use fabrics without prewashing.  I have two quilts in progress (snowball and color block) in which I decided to throw caution to the wind and not prewash.  I'm holding my breath ... fingers crossed that I don't get any bleeding or excessive shrinking. 

A Happy Mother's Day

Some lovin' from my kids and a wonderful show. 

With so much going on this weekend, working on a large project seemed like too much to tackle. 

I decided to supplement my Mom's present with some nice homemade napkins.

 

I used some Alexander Henry fabric I had stashed away for a couple of years.    One yard of fabric yielded 4 napkins on the smallish side.

The mitered corners adds a nice detail and gives them a little more heft.

Last night I decided to whip out another gnome house block for the Shrinking Quilters' Bee.  Instead of planning this one, I auditioned the fabrics and quickly cut and sewed up a house.

I actually like this one much better than the earlier block that I had so meticulously planned out.  Ha! 

******

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

New Quilt for my Daughter

This week I've pulled from out this old project and have made good headway in just a couple of days.  This strip block pattern utilizes the Strip Tube ruler from Cozy Quilts. 

I had hoped to give my daughter the snowball quilt, but she's decided that pink is no longer a *cool* color.  She loves greens and blues now.  I'm using a mix of various designer lines including Amy Butler, Anna Griffin (I think?), Annette Tatum House, etc. You can tell this is an older WIP because most of these fabric lines are no longer available. 

I'm having fun piecing this one.  The ruler makes the task go fairly quickly.

Bee block and a little self promotion

I finished a very simple 6x6 square block for the Incredible Shrinking Quilters' bee for the month of May.  Yes, it's the 3rd of May, and I'm done.  This one required zero creativity in terms of design and fabric but it was a nice opportunity to handle fabrics in the Hope Valley line.  I can't wait to see Alison's finished quilt.

My 9-year old daughter requested some stitching on one of her brother's old shirts.  She stitched a little on the word "Wish" and the moon pictured below before she lost interest and Mom finished it up for her.  Not pictured is a star and a sun sporting sunglasses (my daughter's own design).  Iron-on patterns are from Sublime Stitching.

*****************
And, now, some self-promotion.  I started this blog last year to have fun sharing my passion for quilting with the online community but with at tops, maybe 10 regular readers, I've been considering some ways of boosting my readership.  I decided to add my blog to Quiltersblogs.com.  You will see the green and pink button added to the right-hand column of my blog.

New readers, please leave a comment in the comments section (Comments are always very much appreciated!!!, and if 10 new followers join my blog , I will arrange a great giveaway.  My first...*hint:  look at the dog fabric in an earlier post.  Details to follow soon, so don't forget to check back!