SFRR completed

I am pleased to have finished the quilting and binding on my spring fling round robin. All the pieces I have received to work on have been beautifully crafted, and this was no exception. I'll only post a peek of a photo until it is received by its new owner. I was glad to find some fabric in my stash that was just the perfect color for the binding ... I knew buying that fabric on impulse would serve some good purpose!

I just saw that Margaret is hosting another of her wonderful swaps - four seasons quilt swap number 5. Now that this little quilt is checked off my list, I'm signing up for another fun swap!

Where did November go?

As I enjoy reading other quilter's blogs tonight, I realized I haven't posted in weeks. Where did November go? I have finished up several tops and quilts for my Linus group as we give a 75 Christmas quilts to a group that has a special Christmas party for sick kids.

I have also been teaching a kids after school sewing class, so every Sunday night I dash around madly getting things together for Monday's class. It's a great group of 7 girls, one of whom has taken every after school class I've taught. She always finishes quickly, so I need a spare project to keep her going and inspired, although she likes "free sew" as well.

I need to finish the quilting and binding on my SFRR quilt ... I started with some folk-style hand quilting, but I've pulled that out since I think some machine quilting might suit it (and my time frame) better. After I finish up Thanksgiving dinner for 16, I need to get back to that project! To add a little photo interest to this post, here's a picture of my variation of Bonnie's Tobacco Road. It's a cozy couch quilt, and a fun way to use some of my browns and reds. I finished up the binding last month.

Finally, some photos!

I finally finished the binding and snapped a photo of my crayon box quilt. I love the bright colors and memories that a lot of the fabrics hold. Although my mother is not a quilter, she always saved all the edges from clothes she sewed for me or others. I can look at this quilt and remember dresses from my childhood or those my mother wore. Thanks, Bonnie, for another great pattern!


I also finished the binding on a bento box quilt I finished for a friend who recently got married. I just have to figure out how to send it to her in the Bahamas, and it's only 2 months past the wedding! This is a fun pattern I may do for one of my Linus quilts soon.

sewing but not blogging

I've actually been getting things done in my sewing room, but don't have many photos to show for it. We got out the Halloween placemats at our house, and I love the freestyle letters inspired by Tonya that I added to this one. Our guild is having a song quilt challenge, and I hope to make something with freestyle letters for that. Speaking of Halloween, I have a fuzzy black dog costume and a shiny red robot costume on the top of my to-do list. I have the dog almost complete, but the flying fuzz makes me sew with the vacuum by my side.


Here's a photo of my finished quilt from our guild's Throw Me A Curve mystery workshop with Mark Lipinski. We all made the same blocks, and then saw many different quilts created with the varied arrangements. A fun idea! He suggested I over-dye it with tan, add fluffy batting, tie it and embellish with buttons. Since I was not wedded to any ideas, I decided to do it a-la-Mark just as he suggested. It's a nice snuggly quilt, but not my favorite. But it's done, so I can share it with the other workshop participants at our next meeting.

Playing with strips

Not that I needed another project, of course, but I had been wanting to try the Crayon Box pattern from quiltville for awhile. I've been making some placemats for a town harvest festival, but was a little bored with the repetition, so I dipped into my strip bin and played. It's so bright and unmatched, but it makes me happy!


There are lots of little bits of fabrics with great memories. Even a bit from a dress my mother made for me in high school. I think I'll add a dark pink border, and quilt it on my friend's gammill with simple swirls and such. It will be a nice cuddle quilt for the sofa.

Lots of Irons in the Fire

I always seem to have so many more ideas swimming around in my head than time to actually create these ideas. But, I keep squeezing in some stiches whenever I can!


In a huge box of quilting fabrics and unfinished project donated to my Linus group there were 10 sunbonnet sue blocks all prepared for applique. My 8-yr-old daughter loved them and I told her to pick her 4 favorite. The other six of them I machine appliqued and made into a Linus donation quilt. The 4 I kept I hand appliqued, and now I'm adding this and that to make it into a throw size quilt for my daughter. When I had all my 30's scraps pulled out for the spring fling round robin and my 30's crumb blocks, I found a bunch of 2.5" squares and triangles that would be perfect for small flying geese. I added them to the sue blocks, and now it's mellowing on my hanging quilt rack. I'm thinking of adding 4 basket blocks to the corners and then something else along the edges. My daughter keeps stopping by my sewing room to see how it is progressing!



I finished up a simple rail fence variation quilt at my guild's comfort quilt workshop this week. Glad to have a top ready to be loved by someone in need.

I attended my guild's Mark Lipinski workshop last week, and I'm finishing up the "throw me a curve" mystery quilt. He was very entertaining and I think everyone had a great time at the lecture and the workshop. I'm also sewing together some bricks and 4-patches to create my own variation of the Quiltville Tobacco Road mystery quilt. I'm just not inspired right now to make all the pinwheels in her design, although they do look really terrific!

Round Robin and Playing with Scraps

I've finally made some decisions about my additions to the lovely center square I received for the SFRR swap. I must have pulled out dozens of fabrics to give them a try, but I've come up with something I like and I hope the recipient does as well!


While sifting through my fabrics in my sewing room, I found a bag of 30's scraps from a quilt I made several years ago. I decided to make a few maverick stars with the triangles and crumb blocks with the other pieces and I like what I ended up with. I might just keep it this size for a small runner, or perhaps I'll add some more if I have another inspiration.