Christmas is coming, right?

And since it is, I can't show a lot of the work I'm doing. Between Christmas and the round robin my online quilt group is doing, there's not a lot I can show. But there are a couple things.

I may have posted this block before, but this is the display for the October SBS.

I finished my Dolly Days wall hanging. When I first saw this pattern, I was in love. I knew I would only make a wall hanging because I wanted to embellish it and I didn't want to have to worry with washing all those little things on a quilt. So here it is with a couple of close ups of some of my favorite blocks.

This is probably my favorite. I put a little handkerchief in the pocket and was lucky enough to find a yellow flower button that was just perfect for the fabric.

I loved doing the beads on this to frame the flower like a cameo. And since pink and green are my favorites - it's just perfect.

And I loved using beads to look like buttons on this one too.

And my next finish is this year's Christmas quilt. I used a pattern my quilt guild used last year to make lottery blocks for our Christmas party.

I wasn't finding a backing fabric I really liked so I decided to make a charm quilt with the leftovers from the blocks and use that for the backing.

I looked over my quilting goals for this year and I'm really doing a good job. There are a few things I know I won't get finished but on the whole, it's going well. So well in fact that I have started working on my goal list for next year.

Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Jody

Quilt-a-thon

I've actually had a few mini quilt-a-thons in the past few weeks. Any time I had my two days off in a row I made sure one of those days was spent basically on quilting.

So here are a few of the things I've accomplished lately.

The first is a finish. This is a bow tie quilt that I still haven't named. I'm toying with Simple Romance.

Next is the center block for the round robin for my online quilt group. I had posted a while back a picture of the fabrics I was going to use and you might notice this block doesn't use a single one of them. There will be more about that later.

This is the block I'm sending on to my friend Joyce - hopefully this week:

And speaking of my friend Joyce.....This is my August SBS block. The delicious looking soda in front is the pin cushion Joyce sent me in our recent pin cushion swap.

I've been working on this year's Christmas quilt. Here are the first blocks:

And finally the story behind the post of my round robin fabric. I found something online I really, really liked. As I worked on the block I started to form ideas of what I would do next and what I would do after that - and after that. The ideas just came coming. I'll be honest - this is not the first time I have worked out a quilt on my own. But this is the first time it came to me so quickly and easily.

So here is the center:

And then the next round:

And the last round that I have a picture of:

Now if you took notice I said the last round I have a picture of. I have two more rounds on it. The last round needs a bit of embroidery to complete it. I still have two more rounds to do but I'm getting close to getting it done.

That's it for now. Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

Round Robin!!!!

Now those are two fun words. Lol. My online quilt group is doing a round robin. I've worked with these ladies before - I know I'm in for a lovely quilt. So here's what I'll be using to begin my center:

Can't wait to get started!! Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

Quilt Show

The long awaited day has arrived - my guild's quilt show.

There were some very nice quilts but nothing that just simply took my breath away like I have seen in past shows.

Here are some of my picks:



I love the way the quilt maker fussy cut fabrics for in the windows of these houses.



This one has a lot of ribbon and lace and buttons and beads. I love that sort of embellishments.







I have more pictures but either Blogger or my computer are being hard to get along with. It's taken me more than half an hour to get these few pictures up so maybe I'll try later in another post.

I do have one last picture - "The Haul" - lol.



I got two one yard cuts of fabric. A small package of beads - they will be for my Dolly Days quilt (that I actually started working on last night). A really cute triple frame and a pattern to use with it. My show pin of course. And something I'm really excited about - a flyer about a shop hop in Maryland and Northern Virginia. It's probably way out of my price range, but it's the first one I've heard about anywhere in this area so I'm going to check into it.

Well since blogger and the computer aren't cooperating and there is thunder outside - I guess I better say

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A Quilt Show

I just realized I never posted pictures of my December SBS block and this year's Christmas project.

So here's my December SBS block:



Every year Tasha and I make a Christmas project. When there is time and money, we make them for everyone in the family. This year, she made one (well, she's still working on hers) and I made one.



Now on to the quilt show. This weekend was the annual Mennonite Central Committee quilt auction preview. Lots of beautiful quilts but not lots of space. So a good portion of the quilts are folded and hung on racks - racks that are pretty close together, making it rather hard to get a good picture but I managed to get a few.












This is something I am considering for a Christmas quilt for this year:



This is my pick for large quilt:



This was my pick for wall hanging as well as my inspiration quilt:



I always find at least one quilt I want to make for myself. This is a concept I have worked on more than once. Start with a schoolhouse block but instead of the house section with the windows, replace that with a traditional quilt block. I started it in Civil War repros, I started it in shades of blue. Neither time did I like how it turned out. But I am inspired to try again. I have a different idea of how to make it work and hopefully this will turn out as I want it to be.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Christmas Presents - Finally

It's been quite some time since I've had anything to show for my efforts. Mostly because working retail, December does not leave a lot of time for quilting. But also because what quilting I did have time to do was for Christmas presents. More specifically, Christmas presents for people who use my computer. lol.

Every couple of years I make quilts for the kids. And based on a comment my oldest son made - he's been staying with us and when I asked him one night before bed if he needed an extra quilt he said something about being fine with the 37 or so quilts I've made for him - I kind of thought maybe I have made too many quilts for my darling children (if there actually is such a thing as "too many quilts" - and I personally am not sure there is).

But my middle son asked for a quilt this year and then the youngest chimed in with a request of his own. There's apparently an issue with the fact that they are getting too tall for the previous quilts to cover their feet. What's a mom to do? Other than stop feeding them - I did suggest that to the youngest one. But he thought a new quilt was a better idea.

So for my football fans. Joe got a Ravens' quilt:



Tim got an Eagles' quilt:



Tasha got a Transformer's fleece (which I did not take a picture of) and a Kindle cover:



She has abandoned her long love of purple and moved on to black and red. Snowmen are also favorites - so I was thrilled to find red and black fabric with snowmen on it.

And don't you know that Christmas morning the oldest child (the one who would just use the 37 or so quilts I've already made him) asked why he didn't get a new quilt for Christmas? lol.

On to 2012. The first finish of 2012 is a big one. It's big enough to cover my queen size bed - one of the few large quilts that I have completed. I hand quilted it - which is why it took over 2 years to finish. I even did a bit of decorative quilting - there are butterflies quilted on the borders. It was to be my first entry into a quilt show (my guild is having a show this spring). Alas I don't think it's to be. It has a couple of places that the border is a bit puckered. I'm happy with the results - for me - but not so much to put on display in a quilt show.



I have made a list of my quilting goals for 2012. Though the list is modest, the results (should I actually finish them) won't be as more than half the list are tops ready to be quilted and they will be mostly hand quilted.

But the list will need to wait for another day. I am being kicked out of my own living room by the Ravens' fan. He wants to watch the play off game and just because they seem to lose whenever I'm in the room, he thinks that's my fault. Go figure. But since I love him (and want to see the Ravens advance) - I will go. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody