DESIGN WALL MONDAY

I finally dusted off my camera and took some pictures of the baby quilt that I finished last week.
It began as a panel, called "A Beautiful Day", designed by Jacqueline Steves.  I decided to make it a bit larger, so I added two borders.  The small lime green border was made from a fat quarter - the only matching green that I could find in my stash.  The final border and binding was made from fabric that I bought from Connecting Threads - the colour was perfect, and the swirls in the fabric echoed the swirls in the panel design triangle border.

 I outlined the centre panel, using monofilament (invisible) thread.  I decided to outline all the designs, and not add any extra quilting, as the design is cute and busy.  I stitched flowers and leaves with curlicues in the plain pink area, wiggles in the lime green and curls in the final orange/gold border.
This quilt will be donated to our local hospital by my community quilts group at my guild.
Now back to my machine quilting.  I have to take advantage of the time I have today, as we have company arriving again tomorrow!

Check out all the creativity shared at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

ANOTHER SMALL FINISH

This is the second "blue dog" baby quilt made from leftover panel parts.  I finished the binding just before bed last night.

We went out for dinner to friends' home yesterday evening.  She served a delicious salad of spinach, beets, avocado, and feta cheese, with a balsamic dressing - delicious!  

The whole meal was delicious, and we had a great time, talking, laughing, and enjoying our friendship.

FINALLY ....... A FINISH!

 

I finished "Ten Rubber Duckies" on Thursday.  I followed the pattern from the manufacturer of the fabric panels, using 2 of them, along with the border print.

I added the red, gold, green, blue ocean waves, yellow sun, light blue anchor print, and the dark blue fabric from my stash.

 

I had to use three different flannel prints for the backing, as the two outside pieces were added to the stash quite a few years ago, and weren't long enough. 

Most of the quilting was "stitch in the ditch", and the final border and the "anchor" border were stippled with monofilament (invisible) thread.  I also outlined all the main characters in each of the blocks.

I stitched some ocean waves in the dark blue border that goes around the whole quilt.  I used a variegated polyester thread with several different shades of blue.

The green border was stitched with a green "twist" thread.

 

  I had to add my favourite feather hooks in the smaller dark blue frame around the first of the blocks that tells the tale of the ducks who go overboard.

STASH REPORT SUNDAY

Used this week  5.5 yards

Used year to date  193.25 yards

Added this week  0 yards

Added year to date  121.875 yards

Net used 2012  71.375 yards

I finished two more "panel" quilts this week.  I needed something mindless to work on, and these fit the bill.

The first was this cute baby dinosaur panel.  The colours are very pastel, and I chose binding to match the pinky-mauve dino.

I used this flannel from my stash, although they really are dragons (tiny wings), but the colours went well with the top.

This panel had great bright colours, and I loved the red fish in the sea and the border.

I used a bright yellow fabric the coloured dots for binding. 

I had this cute flannel in my stash with bright coloured fish.  It made a great backing!

Head over to Judy's blog to see how others are doing on their weekly stash report.

MORE ALIENS!

I decided to tackle the more difficult panels today.  Both were of the narrow variety - one had two large rectangles, and the other had six squares with a border design on each edge.  I wanted to use as much of the fabric as possible.  I drew a rough plan using EQ7 to estimate the yardage.

 I added some lime green strips to the top and bottom and between the two large rectangles.

I used the border design to separate the centre of the squares, then added some more of the bright squares with space designs to make the side strips the same length.

I found some bright yellow with dots and triangles for the binding too!


Now I guess it is time to pin-baste both small quilts.  The purple alien in the top left square is holding a sign that reads "Galaxy Peace" so I think that will be a great name for this quilt.....

FUN WITH MY STASH

Although I'll be the first to agree that I have too much fabric, it certainly helps when you are in the mood to sew!

Today was community quilts day - a sewing day at the convener's home with a pot luck lunch.  Unfortunately, I had a dental appointment right in the middle of the day, and it wasn't going to be productive to attend for such a short time.  I decided to work at home instead.

One of the panels I found at the local quilt shop recently had a cartoonish spaceman theme.  Unfortunately, like more and more panels, this one wasn't a full yard.  I rummaged through my stash to find this....

I also checked my stash of flannel bought for backings and found this..

Then with the addition of some blue fabric for more borders and a red for the binding, along with a few minutes with EQ7, I designed this...

 
I managed to get all the border pieces cut to size before my dental appointment, and then finished the top when I returned home.

During my hunt I found two more "space" themed flannel pieces, along with another small panel - this one has two large square designs, and the coordinate has 6 squares @ 9 1/2 inches.  Now I have to come up with a good design and some coordinating fabric.

Time for tea......

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

We are enjoying sunny clear weather in Kingston this Canada Day.  The air is clear and a bit cool, but none of the dreaded humidity!
This is a tiny quilt that I made when we were living in Florida, while DH was posted to Tyndall AFB.  I used mini Christmas garland and sequins to make the fireworks.  I hang it on my front door every Canada Day!
I had a productive day yesterday.  I began by making 6 jars of strawberry jam.  I make mine in the microwave.  You can only make 2 jars at a time, but it is easy, and I can do other things while it is cooking.  We are not big consumers of jam, so this method works really well.

Then I headed to my studio and pin basted all 5 baby quilts!  I managed to do it with the queen size batting, that was provided by the guild, even though I had to piece it for the final quilt!  All the backing fabrics come from donations, so the two ladies do a great job of matching them to the tops.  I'll begin quilting today.

Design Wall Monday

I was putting away all my new fabric after giving it a quick press, and found a cute panel that I had picked up last summer.  Decided to use it in the centre of a quilt.

Since the blue and white print area is tiny sail boats, I hunted through my fabric for some that I had bought many years ago!

One print is all-over coloured anchors, and the other shows light houses - a perfect complement to the theme.  I decided it needed a splash of red, and the whole thing came together quickly.

Look for more links to Design Wall Monday on Judy's blog.