Design Wall-Kian's Baby Quilt

Here's what my design wall has on it today! I am making a baby quilt for an expected grandson due in January. I better get busy! I've made this design before, and it is perfect for a baby quilt. It comes from the Country Threads book "Charm School." The quilt is called Only Babies Eat With Their Fingers, and it's made (as all the quilts are in their 2 Charm School books) using 5 inch charm squares. I purchased 3 charm square bundles and some yardage of Bunny Hill's line called "Ooh-La-La." (If my LQS doesn't carry what I want, I can usually find it at http://fatquartershop.com) .

The charm pack has pink, blue, and greys in it. I've added some soft green and yellow. Yes, this is a soft yellow, I don't know why it looks so "gold" in the photo. I'm photographically challenged.

Don't you love the toile fabric? It has little sheep, a barn, and the pastoral scenes found in toile fabrics. There was an equal amount of pinks and blues in the charm pack, but I'm using just a few pinks as this is (supposed to be) a little boy.

Here's how to make the hourglass block:  Start with 2 dark and 2 light fabrics cut at 5 inches square. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the light background fabric, sew a "scant" 1/4 inch from the line on both sides. (When I measure the distance between my sewing lines, I have 3/8 inch, rather than 1/2 inch.) Cut the square apart on the pencil line, press fabric to the darker fabric.

Now put the blocks right side together, the dark triangle directly opposite the light triangle. Draw another diagonal pencil line, sew on both sides of it--again a scant 1/4"--cut on the line, and press this seam open.

I always trim my blocks before setting them together. These are trimmed to 4.25 inches. When sewn together they will finish at 3.75 inches.

Obviously, I'm taking a sewing break to blog for a bit, Perry Mason is on, and they just had a fabulous quilt on the wall! It was an applique quilt in red/bright royal blue/yellow. The episode is called "The Case of the Grimacing Governor." Wish I had a pix of that quilt! I googled applique quilt but oh my, that could really take you down a rabbit trail!

Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

2 Orca Bay finishes! (well, sort of!)

Do we have any Bonnie Hunter groupies out there? I follow Bonnie on and off (http://quiltville.com) because to follow her ALL the time I wouldn't get anything else done ;-) Well, I let my friend Pam talk me into Bonnie's November 2011 mystery called "Orca Bay." And one year later (and many other projects in between), Pam and I have managed to get Orca Bay to the quilt top stage.

Here is Pam's:

Pam followed Bonnie's color scheme pretty closely, although her colors cover a wide variety of shades from light to darks. She also used tinier strips than I did. Her reds include some pink, and her light backgrounds include a little yellow for sparkle. Pam's favorite color scheme is red-white-blue, and this really suits her, don't you think! Good job, Pam. Be sure you visit her blog at http://pamsquiltspot.blogspot.com

And this is my Orca Bay. I started with a fat quarter bundle of Mary Engelbreit fabrics in bright red, bright yellow, black and white. It has little teapots on it! This color scheme is not my favorite, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with this quilt. My favorite fabrics are civil-war era reproductions. We are both pleased that we persevered and finished our tops. I'll send mine out to a longarmer after the first of the year.

I did the math on this quilt, and it has over 3,300 pieces in it!

I'm excited about beginning a baby quilt next....and yes, we're talking about Bonnie's new mystery, Easy Street. Hmmm..what to do? so many quilts, so little time!

Till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary

Two Quilts finished this week!

I managed to finish two quilts this week. The first quilt is another "Merry Mayhem" mystery quilt. I call it "Kiwi and Friends." This will be a Christmas gift for my granddaughter. She loves pink! and they have a pet Blue Conyer parrot named Kiwi. I hope you can see the birds in the pink fabric.

Here's a picture of Kiwi! Such a pretty bird!

My second finish is "Little Garden" the summer Thimbleberries project. It measures about 58 inches square.  I still need to add the final border to my fall Thimbleberries quilt and my winter Thimbleberries quilt! Hopefully, they will appear on "Finish It Up Friday" real soon.

Although I am trying to finish projects already started, I do need to start a new quilt--this time a baby quilt! For a baby boy! I'm excited about being a grandma again....this will be our 3rd grandchild.

Have a great weekend, and till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

Little Women

I do enjoy our monthly Little Women group meetings. This month, as usual, we had some great show and tell. Here are 2 Pottery Shards quilts:

And we had 2 "Framed" quilts. They are made with little 1 1/2 inch 9-patches.

I know some of you will recognize the Generals Wives quilt below. What you cannot tell from the photo is that Carol made it half size! The blocks are 6 inches, not 12 inches.

Carol also made the beautiful paper-pieced rainbow block above. It should make a fabulous quilt, don't you think!

The funny thing about this meeting was no one brought in the project of the month, which was called Bacon and Eggs. Pam, the instructor for the quilt, left hers at home, and I left mine (top finished but not quilted) on my design wall. Guess we'll have to bring them next month!

Stay tuned for more fun from our Little Women group!

Keep stitchin'

Mary

Wayward Girls

"Therefore we do not lose heart.

Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly

we are being renewed day by day."

2 Corinthians 4:16

I hope you've read enough of my blog to know that the title "Wayward Girls" is very tongue-in-cheek. It makes me laugh because the 3 of us that get together to sew are Christians and we call ourselves Wayward Girls as a joke!

So, there were only 2 Wayward Girls here sewing on Saturday. Wayward #3 was on a quilt retreat (without us!). We had a good time though, and I know you'll enjoy seeing Pam's project. It's from an old Fons and Porter magazine from 2000...the pattern is called Buzz Saw. You start with 3.25 yards of background fabric and 10 fat quarters. The fabric is cut into 8.5 inch squares, draw the diagonal line, sew on both sides of it, and make half square triangles. Press to the dark side, trim to 8 inches, and the cut the squares into 2 inch strips. You mix them all up, sew them back together, and add another strip that is 2x8 inches, and you wind up with this fun block:

Pam used all fabrics from her stash. The background is a Thimbleberry fabric, the other fabrics are all Jo Morton fabrics. It's going to make a terrific quilt, don't you think!

This quilt (above) is my Bacon and Eggs, from Jo Morton Group 11, obviously not done in Jo Morton fabrics. I used a honey bun of Mary Engelbreit's Basket of Flowers. I was planning to finish it, but instead my Generals Wives was calling to me.

I had previously sewn some of it into rows, but with Pam's help I pressed on and got all the top together, including the last 2 borders. I am so excited to have this top together! I do have to go over the backside and make sure all my seams are going the right direction, and I do have to give it a final press. Then I'll piece the backing and send it off to my quilter.

And that's the best part about sewing with a  friend(s). When you're tired and would pack it in, they encourage you to press on for a little while longer, and get the project to "done!" Thank you, Pam, for encouraging me to "get her finished!"

Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary