back-up beeps . . .

I realized that before I could share more about my quilt shop adventures, I had to have pics of my purchases, which I haven't taken yet.  Mainly because I've been going pretty much non-stop since I got home from California!  Then I also realized I wanted to share my quilt-related Christmas haul, and that I could also share some quilt finishes (of which I had FOUR in December)! So let me start with those . . .

All three girls were super happy with their Christmas quilts! They're so sweet! ♥ 

Leia even got in there and tested its catability. It passed with purrrrfect marks!

I did all the labels the same . . . the names were changed accordingly. *wink*

This is Olivia's finish . . . 

I can't believe I didn't think to get a picture of her with it. Doh! She was thrilled with it, though!

I really like being able to print a label, press it on, and blanket stitch around it.  

Here's my Christmas morning haul . . .

Didn't my family do good??!  I was thoroughly tickled!  There was one more book, which came in late, from Todd. 

It was Art to Heart's I Believe.  I love those Art to Heart books! 

He also got me the updated All-in-One Quilter's Reference Tool on Kindle.  This is a fabulous tool for quilters and I'd consider it a "must have"!

Then there was one more quilty-gift.  A class!  My mom has talked about taking a beginning quilting class for a year or two and I told her I'd take it with her.  Todd gifted me with that!  The class is taught by Barbara Black, who is a sweet friend, and I know that I'll pick up some good tips and learn a lot!  This is the quilt we'll be making . . .

Our first class was on Tuesday, and she walked through supplies and fabrics.  And then we shopped.  Tough class, eh?!  Baahaaahaaaa!  So we were supposed to pick a focal fabric, a fabric for the sashing, a background fabric, and fabric for the inner border.  Then were were to pick three groupings of colors with a light, medium and dark value.  Then we needed a "pop" color.  So here's what I ended up with:

This is my first four.

Here's grouping one:

Here's grouping two:

Here's  grouping three:

Here's my groups with the 'pop' color ... it's pretty easy to spot, eh?!

And here they are all together!

I think this will be a fun quilt.  It finishes at 49" square, if you leave the borders as is.  Not sure what I'll do yet.

I also saw this darling folksy animal print and decided I *needed* to have some of it, too. 

It reminds me of a Hungarian Camp MACOBA scene, with all of our little animal friends!

So there it is.  Not sure what this weekend holds.  Our guild (the membership committee) is hosting a New Member Tea that I'm helping with, but we also have severe storms/tornadoes/flooding in the forecast for Friday evening and Saturday.  It's been such a crazy winter here in North Alabama!  I do hope to get in some stitching time, though!

Have a terrific weekend!

:)

design in mind . . .

Because that's where most of my designing is taking place this Monday. In my head. First I've been kind of playing around with a design for a pre-printed label to order (or maybe to print on fabric -- I haven't decided yet) and have on hand for a quick and easy way to label any craft project that I do, particularly if I'm giving it away.

I'd only use the copyright/year if I was printing them myself! If there was a way I could incorporate a smiley face in there somewhere -- perhaps in place of the year? -- I sure would. I feel like that's kinda me. :)

Finally, I finished hand-quilting the big holly leaves in the corners (and the grouping in the center) on this Christmas table topper!! Do you know when I started this thing?

It was Monday, August 30, 2010, that I first posted a concept drawing of this bad boy. In fact, it was this design that got me seeing the benefits of quilt designing software, specifically EQ7, and I ended up getting that great software for my birthday, less than two months later! I created the block and got to sewing, and long before Christmas, this was pieced.

Yes. That means it's taken me nearly eleven months now to hand quilt this a little here and a little there. It's still not finished, but all I've got left is to stitch-in-the-ditch around the two borders. I'm going to use Sulky's green holoshimmer. It's what I used to stitch-in-the-ditch around the green blocks in the center. It has a pretty wonderful effect . . . you don't outright see HOLOSHIMMER GREEN shouting at you, but you catch glimpses and whispers of it, and I like that effect. I may will finish this up this week. Then all I've got to do is decide on a binding. Any thoughts? All that's coming to my mind is to use the dark green that I used in the piecing.

The good news? I think I'm starting to like it again. There was a good piece of time I didn't. Phew, glad that's over!

Aaaaand I've got these cute little redwork patterns from Sew Happy Me all printed, ready to trace and stitch. I missed downloading week 2 -- I couldn't figure out how I missed it until I realized it came out the day after my surgery. I'll cut myself a little slack on that one! (I think she'll have them for sale in her shop in November -- I may try and get it then.) Anyway, she's been sharing a new design every Friday. There are two more left and she's shared that she's saved her two favorites for last!

They're so dear -- I thought it might be kind of fun to mix and match these with some of the stars from the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along (gosh, that's a mouthful, isn't it?) over at Moose on the Porch Quilts. Since there are seven total of the embroidered blocks and I missed one (leaving me with six), and since I'm doing the FQSQA in Christmas fabrics (there's twelve total blocks of that one -- I'd just use six and save the other six for something else), perhaps I can mix and match these two "alongs" and have something pretty and unique. I don't know for sure -- it's just a thought, but I like the idea of it.

So, as I said up front, today it's all in my head. Now if you want to see some pretty fantastic concrete, real-as-it-gets designs wall, head on over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times.

Happy, happy Monday!! (And look -- NO PUMPKINS!)

:)