Quilt and Stitchery

I wish I could say I've had a busy week of quilting....not. My sewing room has NOT seen me all week, the first part of the week is a blur and the last couple of days I spent working at the quilt shop. I was going to show you a "thimble quilt" that I just finished. I took it to the shop yesterday and now I can't find it this morning, I must have dropped it or something. I hope it's there somewhere. So instead, I'll show a quilt I did last year as a swap with Darlene, we swapped the 9patches until we had enough to make a lap quilt. Darlene can you spot the blocks you made? When I showed it last year the quilting wasn't done. I love this quilt and I had a wonderful time making all those 3" blocks. I use this quilt for my occasional naps.

I did some stitching this week, a finish for Feb free BOM (link is in my side bar). I think this will be a very sweet little quilt, I'm looking forward to March block coming soon.

I'm going to a retreat next weekend, so I'll need to get ready for that. I've decided not to bring too many projects this time and instead focus on one or two quilts I have in progress and maybe I'll come home with something finished....woohoo.

Nine Patch Swap and Doll Quilt

I feel a little slow sometimes. Darlene and I have been trading 3" nine-patches for months, I had my alternate fabric all picked out and most of the top completed way before Darlene had found her alternate fabric of double pink or even started on her piecing. I only had one corner of 20 patches to sew but there it sat until last weekend. As you can see this one was done weeks ago. It was time to get mine finished before a few more months go by, so I was determined to get it done. Thanks Darlene for your wonderful nine patches, I cherish this friendship quilt made by 2 quilters miles apart.
Then I got on a roll and with the left over nine patches and got busy making this small quilt. All these nine patches were made by Darlene except for one. You can see one corner seems a shade darker, well I know better than to leave my quilts on the floor with a cat around. Sometimes they have little hick ups in the middle of the night. If that happens it will almost always be on my quilt if left on the floor. That'll teach me to pick up my quilts. As you can see I also didn't continue the border all the way around. I think it adds character to the quilt. Antique quilts will not always symmetrical and were finished when they ran out of fabric. Hubby doesn't think it looks finished. What do you think should I continue with the border all around?

Progress on 9-Patch and Winner

This seems like it's been a long week, that could partly be because I've been suffering with migraine headaches for a few days. This usually means I haven't been drinking enough water. It's easy to forget how much water I've had or not had in a day, most of the times it's not enough. My migraine went away for my Sat stitcher's meeting...WAHOO. We had a fun time as this was the first meeting since out Christmas lunch. Our hostess (Andree) made a yummy beef vegetable soup and we had several kinds of cheese and an assortment of crackers. Gillian brought a delicious cake made with orange marmalade and whip cream. Agnes went to Korea and Japan in late Nov and brought back some wonderful books and fabrics which she showed us at the Dec meeting. We spent lots of time drooling over what she purchased. We found a really cute sewing case in one of her books and fell in love with the appliqué and of course the fabrics. Agnes generously offered to make each of us a kit and she would show us how to make the sewing case since the instructions were all written in Japanese. I'm very excited about our little project and can't wait to get started.

I've been working with the 9 patches which Darlene and I have been exchanging. Here is my progress so far. I discovered that I'm a short on the number of 9 patches and lucky me Darlene is still game for a few more exchanges....I'm so excited....I love how this quilt is coming together. I hope to have enough to make this quilt about 55"x 63" (I think). I've also finished the punchneedle "wings of love", still need to make it into something and I'm starting on my second block of Polka Dot Girls.

What a fantastic group of bloggers....thanks for stopping by to visit my little part of the world. I didn't have the energy to write everyone's name on a piece of paper for the draw, so I did it the high tech geeky thing by using a on-line random number generator. It's pretty simple and does the job quickly. Here it goes....drum roll please......#34 was selected. Pam please send me your snail mail address and I'll get your package of goodies sent off to you.

Some Surprises....

As you can see a few chocolates have already been devoured, don't want to waste time just looking at them...teehee. When I got home from our island holiday these are the goodies awaiting my arrival, it was worth the wait. These yummy sweet chocolates Annie sent me all the way from Australia. Thanks so much Annie for a wonderful box of handmade chocolates. And Thanks Sharon for organizing a fun and yummy swap.
This little pink quilt is for a swap with Karen, we talked about doing a swap some months ago but with Karen's house tour which involved redecorating an entire room "you go girl", we decided to put it off until now. I'll show you what she has made me when I receive it, I don't even know what she will send, we promised to surprise each other. If you haven't seen her beautiful house it's well worth a look. Karen has excellent eye for colour and decorating. I wish she could visit me and redo my house...LOL
Here is a close up of the quilting.
More about swaps. Darlene and I have been swapping 9patch blocks for a few months and I've been having a blast exchanging with her, thanks Darlene, I might be late this month...sigh. See my sneak peek post here. Sometimes we send each other little surprises, oh my is it ever fun...teehee. When I told Darlene that I was making the PDG's she offered me some seaside rose fabric. What a great surprise in store for me. Here is my first block done sitting with a gorgeous collection.. I wasn't sure about how the embroidery colours were going to work together but after seeing this picture I think it will be a wonderful combination with the fabrics.
Even more surprises when I got home, does it ever end....oh gosh... don't get me wrong I'm not complaining a bit...lol. Caroline was so sweet to send me this heart pincushion, little strawberry and red trimmed crocheted doily. I love them all, I think the buttons are vintage and the purple lace is hand dyed. Thanks so much Caroline, this certainly is a wonderful package of treasures. Big Smiles from ME!

I feel so lucky to have met these wonderful ladies and I cherish their friendship.

Happy Stitching to Everyone.

Star Bright Progress

I've pieced all 26 star blocks. I only need 25 for the quilt, I guess a matching pillow will be nice. I still need to square up all the blocks and add the sashing. I sewed the light and dark 1 1/2" strips of sashing fabrics together and now the task of putting it all together. This was a very quick block to make....well for me to have a big quilt almost finished in 2 weeks, is a really big accomplishment. I hope the sashing will be just as quick to finish...ya right!

I've been having so much fun exchanging 9 patches with Darlene, her post today included the 9 patches I sent last month. We send 20 each month until we have enough. I think Dec we'll be done. Another quilt in progress...no self control...LOL. I plan to set the 9 patches on point with an alternating red fabric in between. Here is a sneak peek....stay tuned for more on this quilt.

My list for this week is to finish more 9 patches and My Chocolate Swap to mail off as well.