Checking In

You may have noticed that I haven't been around much the last week or so.  

My beloved Aunt Jean went to be with her Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ recently and I've gone home (Back to Missouri) for the funeral and to spend some time on the farm with my parents.  I'll also be attending the Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City, before I head back to Virginia.

There's lots of progress being made on several quilts, but due to a lack of internet access on the farm, I won't be able to post any pictures of the progress or finished quilts until I return back home to Virginia or by some slight possibility I'm able to get into town.


In addition to the quilting I'm at work with, I'm busy working on the details for opening my online fabric & quilt shop and I'm getting more excited about the possibilities with every passing day.


Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement!

Blessings &
{{{HUGS}}}
the Little Pink Rose

Strips

I'm surrounded by strips and strips and strips of fabric. I've now sewn so many strips together that I'm pretty sure I'll be dreaming of fabric strips tonight instead of having sugar plums dancing in my head.

Strips for Simple Pleasures Chain Quilt

On another note, I'm just a bit nervous about the color combination. That Light purple is a little more blue than I had expected it to be and now I'm doubting the selection. I'm hoping when the blocks are laid out together that it'll make more sense visually than it does now.

Sweet dreams all!

Blessings &
{{{HUGS}}}

And the Winner is...

"Black Tie Event"

Last week I put out a request looking for suggestions on what to name this black & white quilt. There were so many creative suggestions that poured in from all directions, it was difficult to narrow down all the possibilities. Taking into consideration the purpose of this quilt (I know.... you all weren't privy to that part) I thought, "Black Tie Event" best described both the quilt and the occasion for it.  I'll be able to show a full set of pictures once it's been delivered. Until then here's a sneak peak.....

A Sneak Peak

Feathers

Next up on the project list is a commissioned piece, I'm using Caroline's Chain Pattern, Designed by Cyndi Hershey and found in the January/February 2012 edition of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting. This pattern uses the Irish Chain Block and utilizes strip piecing to make quick work of the piecing process.

Ready to do some strip piecing.

The fabric for this quilt is from the Simple Pleasures Collection by Debbie Beaves of Violet Patch Quilts. These fabrics play better together in person than in the photo. For this project I even have the joy of working with one of my favorite colors, purple. So much fun!! I'm looking forward to some very productive hours at the machine over the next few days. Hope your weekend is filled with joy, fun and some productive time as well!!

Blessings &
{{{HUGS}}}

Work In Progress {Sneak Peak}

 A sneak peak of this work in progress. I'm hoping to finish it this week. I have high hopes, maybe too high....we'll see.

Black & White Collection

Partial pic of quilt top. 

I've found that I'm not the most creative when it comes to names for my quilts. The pattern name for this quilt is "Gumballs," but it was done in shades of green batiks. In black and white it doesn't seem very gumdrop-ish to me.  Any suggestions?



Today I've linked up to "W.I.P. Wednesday" over at "Freshly Pieced", check out all the inspirational projects going on in the quilting world.


{{Hugs}}

Pattern Testing {Finished}

Doing this pattern test for Bijou Lovely was so much fun!  Of course any excuse to make another quilt is an excuse that makes me happy.  I've blogged about this project here and here if you'd like to see those posts.

You might notice that the orange fabric is not the same orange print pictured in my original post.  I have to be honest, I messed up while I was cutting the fabric. I wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing. Didn't even realize what I'd done until I laid it with the pieces already cut and it wasn't the same. UGH!

I even played with doing some piecing to fix my mistake, but to no avail, I had messed it up in such a royal way, even piecing it wouldn't fix it.  So it was back to my stash to find another piece of fabric to use in it's place. I like what I found and it works nicely with the other fabrics. But, I don't think it's as pretty as the other print.

After spending more time than I probably should have contemplating what type of quilting to do, I went for an allover stipple stitch. In the end I realized that with all the other quilts I have on deck that need to be finished in the next couple of months, I needed to make the quilting on this one something that wouldn't take too long.

Stippling

Close up of "Flower Power" from Hoffman Fabrics - A favorite of mine

For the binding I chose a yardage of fabric that I received at the NOVA Modern Quilt Guild Christmas party gift exchange. It's a beautiful rainbow stripe from Kensington Studio for Quilting Treasures.  The binding is cut on the bias to give that wrap around spiral effect. The backing I chose is "Fizz" by P&B Textiles, another of my favorite pieces of fabric.

I Took the finished quilt outside to get some of the pictures in natural light with the hope that the colors would come out in the picture better than they did in pictures of the top from my last post. Seems to have done the trick. 

Despite the cold temps and clouds I had a great time staging the quilt. Even with the cloudy conditions there was enough natural light that the colors seem to have cooperated much better with being photographed this time.

My favorite of all today's pictures, "Colorblock Quilt" with a mockingbird nest in the tree

Next up on my sewing table is finishing a black & white beauty. Looking forward to seeing this one comes together in the end!  You can see its beginnings here.


{{HUGS}}