Finished!!

My last post I said I couldn't believe it had been so long since I posted - and this time it's even been longer. sigh.

The issue isn't that I'm not doing anything. The issue is that I'm doing bigger things so it takes longer to reach that somewhat illusive goal of a completed project.

However I have attained the prize!

This quilt started with a pattern that completely intrigued me. My closest friends will tell you "Jody is not a "scrappy" lover". But the fact is, this scrappy pattern pulled at me.

I thought of doing it as a Christmas quilt. There are a few kinds of scrappy I do like, mainly matching fabrics. For example, using red, white and blue fabrics only. Or using seasonal themed fabric. I could envision the quilt in Christmas fabrics. But I didn't have much Christmas fabric - trying to work from my stash. I did however have lots of Autumn fabrics. Autumn is my favorite season so I have many fabrics to work with that.

Quite a few of these fabrics were in my stash basket in 6 inch charms. I'm sure these came from a swap with the lovely ladies over at QWHT. I love fabric I get in these swaps. They make every thing made from them feel like a hug from a dear friend.

I debated how to quilt this. I so want to learn more machine quilting than what I do (which is basically straight lines). I decided to tie this one with buttons. It has 432 buttons on it. I'm thinking at some point I thought this might be the quickest way to get it all together. How wrong I was!

But the work is well worth it. To answer the oft asked question "where were you when ......" - I was piecing this top when the earthquake hit the Washington, DC area this past August.



This next project is not finished. Every now and then the girls and I over at QWHT do a mystery quilt. The clues are all out and it's time to post my picture.

Confession about this quilt. I had all the blocks made and laid out on my bed and decided I thought two of the fabrics would look better switched. So I pulled the blocks apart and remade them with the other fabrics. That is what this top is. And I have to say, I wish I had left it the way I had it the first time. The star pattern of the quilt fades the way I did it the second time. The star just really popped the way it was before.



I also finished my October SBS block. I got the neatest little hanging rack for it. You can get some really cute toppers for the rack - hmmmmm, is that a Christmas idea taking form? lol.



Thunder hasn't made an appearance for a while but here's a new photo. I wonder if he's trying to tell me he's bored with this whole quilting thing?



Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

I Can't Believe

It's been so long since I've posted!

I have accomplished a couple of small projects. I completed another two blocks of my SBS calendar blocks. Unfortunately I apparently haven't taken pictures of them. sigh.

So we'll go with pictures of the tops I donated. Every once in a while I finally convince myself that I will never live long enough to quilt all the tops I have waiting. Rather than let them sit around, I try to find someone who will benefit from them.

These tops have been sent to a wonderful charity called Margaret's Hope Chest. I found out about Margaret's Hope Chest through Jennifer Chiavernini's blog. Jennifer writes the incredible Elm Creek Quilts book series.









Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Quilt Show

Tasha and I attended the annual Chambersburg Quilt Guild show yesterday. It was titled Not Your Grandmother's Quilt and they had some lovely quilts.

Here are a few versions of last year's mystery quilt:






A very pretty offering from the small quilts category:



My "lady bug" with a lady bug quilt:



There were cute little lady bugs on this quilt that I believe were actually earrings.

This one was called Butterflies and Lady Bug and the tag said something about how there were all the butterflies but where was the lady bug? We looked and looked and could not find it anywhere - until we went around the display to the quilts on the other side and discovered the lady bug was on the label on the back. I love how the flowers overlap the fence:



The guild's challenge for this year was "wings". This was my pick of the projects:



This one used hand dyed fabrics:



This one was gorgeous but it was from a previous year (someone from this year was unable to supply the quilt they promised so this was a "filler") so it couldn't be voted as viewer's choice:



It was made by the same lady who made the challenge quilt I liked.

This was a cute one:



Just my style - fall colors and a piano key border (I loooove a piano key border):



These fabrics are right up my alley:



This one just screams ME!! My friend Barb would probably fight me for it. lol. It was a close second for my pick of the show:



Simply gorgeous:



My pick for large viewer's choice:



I've seen it in many catalogs and a lady in my guild made one - just a classic beauty.

My pick for small viewer's choice:



So very tiny - only about the size of a piece of notebook paper.

What a fabulous collection of quilts. Many thanks to the Chambersburg Quilt Guild for producing such a lovely show.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Accomplishments - at long last

Seems like so long since I've had anything finished to blog about. It's terrible when your job, husband, kids, house, etc. intrude on your quilting time. sigh.

The first update is the finished project from the Weird and Ugly challenge from my Yahoo group.

Again, this was the fq I was sent to work with:



And this is what I made:



I had visions of a stained glass window. It was certainly interesting. I don't like to work with small pieces and the little squares finished at 1 inch and have four triangles in them. I'm happy with how it looks and am thinking it may be the center of something larger - but I'm not sure what the "something" will become.

I also did a few small things lately. A friend passed along a link for a bookkeeper - perfect for holding a Kindle. And since I have a Kindle, I had to make one.



The original had some applique but I decided to just embellish mine with a few buttons.

The pattern is a Moda BakeShop freebie that can be found here

Last year for my birthday I got some embroidered Sunbonnet Sue blocks off eBay. There's one for each month. I didn't really have an idea what I was going to do with them but they were too cute to pass up. Finally I decided to do a small wallhanging. I'd like to get a table top scroll stand to hang them from. I finished February and March. I added a bit of seed beads to each.




The February one has hearts quilted into the corners. I can't wait to work on the other twelve months.

It feels good to finally finish something.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Two done and a bit of an unusual project

More than a year ago, I purchased some embroidered Sunbonnet Sue blocks on eBay. I had a terrible time figuring out what to do with them. For one thing, I don't think the colors the lady who made them used all worked well together - but I wanted to use all the blocks together.

Finally I gave up on trying to find a block to center them in and decided the best way to go would be a simple sashing with a fabric that would work with all the different colors and not detract from the beauty of the embroidery.

And this is what I came up with:



In the past year or so, a number of ladies in my quilting guild made lovely bags called Mini Bow Tucks bags. I have made a few bags and decided I would give this one a try too. Of course, being me, I couldn't make it exactly as the pattern called for - the straps were much too short for me. And that really sounds funny because I'm a short girl. But I like my bag to fall about my hip level.

I finished it up today and I'm very pleased with how it turned out:



I've mentioned before the wonderful Yahoo group I am a part of. This year the two lovely ladies who run the group have come up with some interesting challenges for us. I posted about the first quarter's challenge - a UFO challenge.

The challenge we are doing right now is called the Weird and Ugly Challenge. Everyone participating received a piece of quite interesting fabric. We have until June 30 to come up with a project. There will be voting so I won't be posting my finished project here until probably mid July but to whet your appetite - here's a view of the fabric we have to work with:



I have an idea and have even started working on it. So check back in a bit and see what I came up with.

And of course before I go, Thunder wants to show off his Easter basket, um, bone.



Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A couple of finished projects

I finished a couple of things in the past week - which is amazing since I spent so much of the week sick in bed. But I had three tops that were done and ready to be sandwiched and quilted and I managed to get two done.

This is the second quilt that I made for my granddaughter to use at our house.



I have mentioned the wonderful Yahoo group I am part of. At the beginning of the year, we started a UFO challenge. I picked three things I thought I could reasonably expect to get done by the end of March. This is the third project so I got them all finished.



It was nice to have a little gentle push to get me going on finishing up these projects.

And speaking of the wonderful Yahoo group I am part of, it has long been our practice to make love quilts for members who get a new home or who are going through a challenging stage in life. This week I became the latest recipient of a love quilt. Done in my favorite colors of pink and green, this is the beautiful quilt they sent me:



And that's a perfect place to leave things.

Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Jody

Quilt Show!

Two of the most exciting words in the world. lol. The last week of January each year the local MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) hosts the quilts for the years annual relief sale. The quilts are auctioned in April and the proceeds are used to help folks over seas. So Tasha and I braved the bad weather and went up to the show.

The first couple of years I went they just displayed the quilts. The last two years they have had a Quilter's Attic and voting for Viewer's Choice.

The problem they have is a small building - meaning most of the quilts are folded and hanging over rails. You can't look at the entire quilt and taking pictures is rather difficult - the racks they use are pretty close together. But I did manage to get a few pictures.

I was surprised by the number of quilts that had a large portion of embroidery or cross stitch as a main component. Here are a few:







Each group was asked to make a quilt representing peace and this was their offering:



This was my first runner up pick for viewer's choice:



I so love Sunbonnet Sue quilts and an Amish SBS? Oh my. lol.

But I really had to pick this one for viewer's choice:



And look at this close up - check out the quilting - all done by hand and it is stunning:



I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this cool weaving machine (do you like my technical terms? lol).:



So here are a few of the pieced and appliqued quilts:










What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody