Valentine Mat and Block Jack

Recently, I got this fun kit from Sweetwater on their Etsy site. It was really fun to make. I do need to practice sewing around those tight curves. I even referred to my Fons and Porter magazine on binding inside corners after unpicking the binding. It went on much smoother after that, however, it just pulls around the edges. I guess that takes practice, but look how sweet it turned out...Love it.

Quilt guild is on Wednesday night of next week. Because I won the previous block jack, I am obligated to participate for at least 2 more block jacks. So....I sewed these 2 blocks today. The block jack is called February Flakes and has 12 different designs you can make. I'm excited to see this one put in a quilt because it is so cute. I tried to get my pieces lined up just so, but they are not quite perfect. There was no template or anything but a small picture to go by so I'm a little off--but hey--they are cute enough that I want to do more of these!!

New January Mini Quilt...

Meet Flaky, my new January mini quilt. I'm a little behind schedule, but I'm trying to catch up!!

The finished Valentine pillow. Way fun project. Quick and easy to make!!

Lucy Magillicudy

This is sweet little , Lucy. She is almost 5 months old now. We got a good snow yesterday so I took her for a walk with her new stylin doggie coat--I quilted it from Sandy Gervais' L'amour Valentine charm pack. She was excited because she knew what was next....

Playing in the snow....She had a blast.

Fun Projects for the Blahhhhhhh January!!

I got an email from "You Can Make This", a pattern company that sells embroidery, quilting, sewing, crochet....patterns. It said if I took the survey, I would get a free download pattern. Well, here it is partially done. You paper piece the hearts, sew them together. Put a couple borders around them and add a back and it makes a cute long pillow--just in time for the L-O-V-E holiday. If you are like me, I love holidays and holiday quilts, pillows, etc. for decorating. This has been a fun project so far.

There is a fun blog called, "Kris Knits" on my sidebar. She designs all these cute things for knitting. This project is a knit along or KAL. If you go to her website, you can start up now because we are not too far along and you can catch up real quick. I wanted to show you the project without showing the design so it won't spoil it for you. She is going to do a dishcloth each month of the year as a knit along. Come join in on the fun. I had a blast doing this much!!

Baby it's cold outside....

Appropriately named Brrrr....this little snowman was a joy to make out of the Sandy Gervais Crazy 8 charm pack from her winter collection. Unlike making the real thing, my hands didn't get cold once in the process. If you haven't tried one of her charm pack patterns, you're missing a real treat. It is fun, quick, easy and you can make it start to finish without having to involve a quilter....Give it a try sometime...

ChooChoo Train Quilt Pattern

The question was asked where did they get the pattern for the train quilt. It actually is a Fons and Porter magazine publication called Baby Quilts. Good luck
Mary

Patchwork Friends Quilt Guild

This baby quilt is in the process of being quilted. She uses tissue paper or that artist paper to draw on the design or motif and then stitches it in the plain blocks.

Cute baby quilt for a new grandbaby.

Embellished dishtowels using an old fashioned cookie cutter for the applique.

Quilt pieced at a quilt retreat. She put plain blocks in between the pieced ones to break it up and create a new design.

These next two quilts were made using our exchange blocks of snowmen or snowflakes from last year. So very cute. Maybe I'll have to get mine out and set them....


By the way--I won the block jack so I'll be making the "free" denim quilt soon....

Block Jack

In our quilt guild, each month they do block jack and pick a block. We have the option of whether or not we want to make it. This month, our block jack block is this denim block inspired by the Free Quilt by Country Threads. You take a 6 1/2" denim block and sew 2 1/2" blocks around it. When sewn together, you have all the fun scrappy sashings. This would make a really fun picnic quilt or dorm quilt and is basically "free" because it is recycled denim and scraps. This is the first block jack I have participated in, because if you win the blocks, you have to make all the block jacks from that point on throughout the guild year. All the blocks are put together and they draw a name for the winner. She will basically have a quilt when done if there is good participation.

Finished!!

I just put the last border on today and I will take it into the store as well. Fun fun project and fabulous fabrics to work with. This sewed together really well and I think you would enjoy putting one together for your Valentine. It measures approximately 70" x 85" so it is a good double bed size!! Remember, it is a Crazy Old Ladies pattern called Heart Attack. They have a blog as well--crazyoldladies.blogspot.com.

Teddy Bear Afghan

My sister got me this pattern some 18-20 years ago. I only received a xerox copy of the pattern and have no idea where to find the book... It is a filet crochet baby afghan with little teddy bears. Over the years, I believe I have made this afghan at least a dozen times and it was one of my children's favorites. I am making this afghan as a request for a little baby boy. I chose this red tweed yarn that is really soft and fun to work with....

This motif will be repeated 3 times more for a total of 4 rows of bears. So what do you think?

Spider Web Scrap Quilt

I got the idea to piece this spider web quilt from A Latte Quilts. She is a quilter who uses a lot of scraps in her quilts and I love the look and feel of them. She is currently working on this same quilt and so I thought it would be a great thing to do in 2010--try and use up some of those boxes and boxes of scaps. The pattern is found on Quilters Cache--a free download. It is called the Spider Web quilt. You paper piece 7" blocks and then sew them together to make a 14" block. I look at this as one of those great scrap busters. I have a bin of 1 1/2" strips that I use for the darks and have collected a number of neutrals for the lights. If you are overrun with scaps, you might want to give this a try.