WIP & Sneak Peak

This week I'm working on a couple of Cathedral Window Pincushions. This one is ready to be filled with the crushed walnut shells. There are a couple of little things I don't like about this one and being a bit particular about the details, I'll be making another one of these to see if I can change the things I don't like.

Cathedral Window Pincushion in Aqua

Then it'll be on to cutting up this "Honor & Glory fabric by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics." I'm hoping to finish this quilt before the 4th of July, but with a mission trip to Joplin, MO on the schedule I'm not sure that it's a realistic goal at all. Maybe I should just start by setting the end of July as my goal to be finished by.

Honor & Glory Fabric

I'm really excited about this quilt and once again, can hardly wait to see how it turns out!

Blessings & Happy Stitching,

Stars & Strips

Edited to add:

The pattern is available through Fons and Poter's Love of Quilting magazine here: https://www.quiltingcompany.com/store/three-tours-digital-pattern

Surrounded by stars and strips  - good progress is being made on the Quilt of Valor.  

I've set myself an almost unreasonable deadline to have this completely finished, by Thursday.  Seeing some late nights and early mornings in store for me this week! 

Lots of Chocolate Fresh Veggies and Cherry Coke Crystal Light Lemonade will be needed.

Blessings!
Marcia the Little Pink Rose

Aches & Pain

Oh, I had such grand plans for today..... I'd start off by whipping through the cutting of the Quilt of Valor before lunch and dive right into piecing, with the hopes of having a good portion of the piecing completed by suppertime. Sadly this was not at all how the day proceeded.

I went to bed last night with painful lymph nodes and a general achy-nes. This morning I drug myself out of bed feeling even worse. So far there's no fever or coughing, just feeling like I've been hit be a Mac truck. Uck!

Being so achy and generally feeling horrible has really slowed me down, though I did manage to get all 680 pieces cut out.

680 pieces cut and ready to be sewn together.

I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't able to accomplish more, but at the same time I am thankful that I was able to finish the cutting portion, I wasn't sure even that much was going to be finished today.  Tomorrow is a new day, praying the aches and pains are gone by then! I can hope!

Blessings,
Marcia the Little Pink Rose

Quilt of Valor

Edited to add:

The pattern is available through Fons and Poter's Love of Quilting magazine here: https://www.quiltingcompany.com/store/three-tours-digital-pattern

For several months now I've been seeing different Quilts of Valor and have been intrigued by the idea of making quilts to honor our service men and women.  I've discovered that all (or at least most) of the Quilts of Valor have been inspired by the Quilt of Valor Foundation, created with the purpose of honoring our men and women who have been touched by war. 

Opening up the latest issue of Fons & Porter's "Love of Quilting" (March/April 2012) I discovered a quilt named, "Three Tours," designed by a man in honor of his nephew who had served three tours of duty (two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan).  Seeing this quilt I went from just being intrigued to being inspired.

Quilt of Valor Inspiration Pattern

Have you ever been so inspired by something that it's almost all that fills your mind and you know you have to follow through and act upon that inspiration? This is that kind of inspiration for me.  Since being inspired I've had to force myself to work on other obligations (home and sewing) before diving into this quilt. I'm so excited about this project that I'm sure it will consume me once I start and I may not leave my studio until it's finished.  If you don't hear from me for a few days, send in some chocolate and cherry coke zero.

Quilt of Valor Fabric selection

So, today I begin a Quilt of Valor for a soldier who is dear to my heart and I hope will be honored by it.

Blessings,
Marcia the Little Pink Rose

Animal Print {Coming Along}

Today's progress on this quilt included piecing the rest of the blocks, squaring and trimming all 36 blocks...

...laying them out "randomly".  (I've found that a random layout really isn't so random - spent an hour arranging and rearranging blocks for the right balance) and sewing the blocks together.

 Once it was laid out,  I just stood there and smiled. All my hesitation and anxiety over the colors I'd chosen melted away.

36 perfectly trimmed blocks

When dear hubby arrived home tonight it was still lying out in the living room floor. Seeking his opinion I asked him what he thought.....
His first question, "Are you making that for me!?!"
"Why?"  I asked.
"I want it, I love the colors!"

Sadly for him, it's not his. But, I do enjoy having his stamp of approval!

"Animal Print Quilt" isn't a very creative name for this beauty.
Any thoughts?

I do need a better name for it than, "Animal Print Quilt," but so far that's the best I've come up with. Not very creative at all. 

A thought just hit me............what do you think of, "Safari Explosion"  as a name for this quilt?

I have fallen head over heals in LOVE with this quilt!!

God Bless,
Marcia the Little Pink Rose

Work In Progress

Today was a fairly productive day, despite having hints of a headache most of the day, I'm wondering if the pressure is changing and that's what's causing my headache...  Started off the day with pulling out fabric from my stash for a "Quilt of Valor" and moved from that right into cleaning up and rearranging my stash.

I started this morning with just a handful of blocks finished and a pile of triangles waiting to be pieced.  My original plan was to make all of these particular blocks exactly the same. But, after testing several different color possibilities,  I liked all of the options so much and couldn't settle on just one, I thought using a variety of blocks would give added interest to the quilt and make it a bit more unique.

There have been several more blocks finished since this picture was taken earlier this evening and I'm now down to having only 3 blocks left to finish tomorrow. 

The more I work with these fabrics, the more I'm starting to love how it's coming together.  Nervous and unsure of the fabrics and colors is how I started this quilt, but that is no longer the case. I'm expecting to be pleasantly surprised in the end.

God Bless,
Marcia the Little Pink Rose

Stitching Away

Little Pink Rose has had a productive week of sewing.

I was able to finish the {after the fact} additions that I made to my "Next Iron Quilter" entry.  Oh by the way, if you didn't already know, my entry finished in the Top Ten with a 7th place finish!!!

Go here to see the pictures I sent to enter the Challenge. It didn't have a border or even any binding on it yet. Thankfully, this wasn't easily noticeable in the small pictures posted for voting.

Since then, I've added a matching blue border and practiced creating free motion feather stitches all along it.

This backing fabric, full of butterflies, was the inspiration for the butterflies that I quilted over the entire quilt.

I like how the border and feathers give the quilt a feeling of completeness and coziness that just wasn't present before these touches were added.

But, that wasn't the quilt that garnered most of my attention this week. It was a special ordered T-shirt Quilt, with all the T-Shirts being from playing baseball.

Since this is made of all baseball T-shirts, diamonds seemed like the perfect touch for the red inner border.

On the outer border I stitched what would be called piano keys,  except I put them on an angle

The back.

I always a bit fascinated by the back of the quilt. In a unique way, it's its own piece of art. You might be able to tell in this picture that there are several different colors of thread on the back. I know that some quilters always match the bobbin thread to backing fabric {in this case it would have been white}. But, I've found that the white bobbin thread tends to want to poke out and show on the top. To avoid this I've matched the bobbin thread to the top thread.

Just needs some binding. 

 My goal is to finish the binding this weekend and get this in the mail by the first of next week.

The final project of the week was a special ordered 24-slot crayon roll up.

Also spent some time planning some future quilts, but I can't show any of that just yet. Getting excited about the possibilities!!!

Thank you for sharing some of your time with me, hope you were inspired and enjoyed all the pictures.

~Marcia
a.k.a. The Little Pink Rose

The Next Iron Quilter

Just for the fun of it, I'm entering The Next Iron Quilter sponsored by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  The Special Ingredient was Moda's "Summer Breeze" Charm pack, purchased from them. When the contest was announced I made my purchase and then stayed too busy to even begin working on my submission.

With Christmas all wrapped up I've had a few days to pull it together. Thankfully I had already found my inspiration pattern "Trellis Effect" in the Sew Scrappy Quilt magazine from Better Homes and Gardens. I love the colors {all my favorites in one quilt} in the featured piece so much I may have to make this pattern again, in those same original colors.

The inspiration pattern

Charm packs sorted into color piles

To the Charm pack I added Kona white, a marbled sky blue and a yellow butterfly print {not pictured} for the back.

Assembled blocks

 I always marvel at how the fabric is transformed as it goes from simple squares of fabric into patterns and designs that bring out the beauty of the fabric.

Quilt Center

 Love how the small sashing strips in the middle of each block combined with the larger sashing strips that surround each block really do make it look like a trellis.

I'm thinking that butterflies along with some loops or curlicues quilted all over it would make for a nice finishing touch.  Now I'm off to add some borders and do the quilting,  with just 4 days until the deadline for submissions, I better hurry.

Blessings,
The Little Pink Rose
Marcia

Early Christmas Rush

Shades of blue have been stitched into actual blocks. Can you see the star? 

Starting to come together.

Laid out and ready for some sashing and borders

Finally at the quilting phase. Free-Motion Meandering.

We're celebrating an early Christmas with my family when we go back home for Thanksgiving. We'll actually celebrate Christmas with them before Thanksgiving. I know it's crazy and a bit backwards, but that's how our schedules end up working out. I've been working on this special gift for my mom in between other projects, but now we're to crunch time and all other things must wait until after Thanksgiving vacation. As of today I two and a half days to required completion. What do you think, will I make it?