Miniature Booty Quilt Arrives

Bernadette from Australia sent me this as a part of Toni's Miniature Booty Swap. I was fearing that my quilt might be lost in the mail as it was late, but it arrived on the weekend with a few goodies. She sent several Cadbury bars, which of course we can buy here, but what was fun was they all had indiginous Australian animals on the wrappers...wombats, kangaroos, platypus, etc. My kids loved that (naturally I had already eaten the chocolate!!) She also sent a piece of the fabric I show below that has some of the same animals. This will be most fun to use on a Project Linus quilt. Many thanks Bernadette!
Bernadette claims to be a novice piecer, despite being a professional long-arm quilter. The shot below shows how nice her great equipment can make uniform feathers. I only wish the thread didn't blend so well so that you could see them better. The pictures on her blog are a little better than mine. You can also see the awesome quilt that Rose Marie sent her for this swap - I just love that one!
I got around to hanging a few quilts I received over the summer yesterday. These are all very bright, and though I like them all a lot, I just didn't really know where to put them. Orange is just not my color, and does not really go with my home's decor. I actually wear plenty of orange in the summer; I just tend to decorate in the jewel tones (deep cranberry, purple, various shades of green, etc.). With all three quilts together, the orange seems less bold, and they go together nicely. I had a hard time getting a good shot as this is in my narrow hall/stairway. I am nearing the point when I know my husband will want to know "just how many more quilts will I be hanging on the walls?..."
left-to-right: Bernadette's Booty 2 quilt, Emma's Plant in Full Sun from 4SQS Summer, and the Spring Fling Round Robin 1 quilt.

I am...

...making sweet rows of double pleats in a pretty dress.
...adding a collar and vintage hemstitching to the dress

...whipping (ha ha...it took 12 hours to get my cuts and seams correct!) up a wedding gift.
...practicing free-handed feathers and "water" quilting

...falling in love with my new King Tut threads (not the metallic one, but even that did not sew badly as I expected)

...adding finishing touches on my October Birthday block swap blocks.
...laughing that anyone really will appreciate my turkeys and crows!...it is supposed to depict November....wishing I could actually finish this table runner, started this time last year. Soon I promise!
...and wishing I could show this quilt, which is for my ALQS partner. This is a glimpse of my snow.

In addition, I have 2 mini's awaiting binding to be hand sewn, two dresses in need of much handwork and hemming. I can happily say that I added a 2nd border to my spring Fling Round Robin square, and it is all ready to be mailed to a secret person for quilt finishing. It's a spicy little number...I hope the final owner likes salsa, because that is what the color and desogn of this quilt remind me of. And lastly, I did actually receive my Booty quilt yesterday from Bernadette of Australia. I will post this with pictures later this week. She's a very skilled machine quilter. Makes me drool, and retreat promptly to my machine to practice!

Baby Steps

Progress this week has been mostly in unshowwable items or ones of little to no interest. I have been puttering on the smocking of Sophie's dress in the evenings. Partly I am like a large captainless ship...it is just guiding itself (translation: I try something, dislike it, and take it out). I did find my 1-2mm seed pearls leftover from making a wedding dress and have been casually adding them to the bodice. I really love the look of the bullion flowers, but am being cautious not to embroider it just like last year's dress.
I have also done a little leg-work on this dress like making a tester of the bodice to be sure it fit her before hacking into the smocking and having it not fit. I modified two dress patterns to combine their better features so this step was a must. Today I have cut out the under-dress (cotton lining), it's ruffle, and the sleeves which are a deeper peach so that the entire dress looks more like 2 dresses (under-dress and peach-colored pinnafore). I have drawn all of the gathering threads, but came to a screaching halt when I realized I forgot to get matching thread and a zipper. DOH! Tomorrow's my day off so we will visit Walmart.

Here's a pic of some of my birthday blocks. I say some, because I am still awaiting a few. And 4 of the ones in the picture are not useable as they are the wrong size. Sadly I have also discovered that the instructions I drafted for those that don't like to paper piece had a flaw in a dimension so another 3 of the blocks I received have the wrong size corner triangles. Not a happy moment!...I can certainly replace these corner triangles, but the fabrics will not entirely match. Oh well...

I am going to a Project Linus Blanket day this weekend and will bring some of these squares and border fabrics in hopes of getting this quilt knocked out. I have also pieced another top for finishing Saturday while there, as well as yet another that is cut out in pieces. I am fairly speedy when I don't have three kids driving me NUTS so I stand a good chance of completing much of this. BTW...are you sure it is NOT legal to strangle one's kid if he is truly being a pain in the ass?? ...middle children ()

The binding is on my unicorn quilt. Maybe I will sew it down this evening.

I am trying to wrap up some of my projects because I have been a very bad girl (perhaps not as bad as Emma...who buys WAY more than I...what does one do with nearly a kilometer of material??!! ). I have a few yards of some very pretty batiks coming my way to make a wedding quilt hanging for a friend of my husband. I have a month to complete this, which ought to be enough time. I am doing a heart design in the storm at sea pattern. I have also ordered some Superior thread, which has come very well recommended (to which I say it ought to be like gold - three 500yd spools for nearly $30) - Yikes!!

I started machine quilting my ALQS mini this morning. I really like the top, but there are definitely some things bugging me about it. I have a love-hate relationship with it. Part of me really wants to keep it as it is my colors, style and despite it's flaws, I'd love to display at Christmas since I don't have such a thing. The other part of me is slightly bothered by places where there should have been an orthogonal edge, that wasn't, or places where the fabric looks a little "thick", and should have been trimmed more if this was really possible. I am something of a perfectionist, so the little things bother me. I think that the recipient is somewhat this way too, so these things bother me that much more. I hope she is understanding, sympathetic and well-spirited. Afterall, it only has to be displayed 1 month of the year! Joking aside, it is really a nice piece, unique and well-conceived (kind of like my three wild things); I am sure she will like it. Soon enough I will post a picture or two.

And good (promising) news, I am told my Miniature Booty quilt is "in the mail". It could arrive anyday. I'll disregard that Toni violated the cardinal rule of swap ettiquite and actually told me who mailed it! I hope to post a picture later this week (because it will not force me to actually create something of my own to show too!)

Swap Quilts

As challenged by Toni to show what swap quilts I have done and received in the past year...Here goes (I'm down to the wire, as today is the last day!)

Here's My Four Seasons quilts...
I made this for Linda last Fall, entitled "Fall in Love with Fall".


and received this from Luisa. It remains my all time favorite, being hand appliqued, embroidered and quilted. It just flows.


I turned around and made this for Luisa pf Portugal for the winter. It has a snowflake quilted into the design. "Let it Snow"


For the winter, I received this from Maria, of Brazil. It is more lovely than the picture, entitled Birches in the Snow.


I made this for Tami in CA for the spring. It's one of my favorites that I made, all hand embroidered and hand - quilted. "First Blossoms"


I got this from Janice in New Zealand. It's gorgeous raw-edge applique. This quilt whet my appetite for trying that techinque om my summer quilt. "Spring Tulips"


Here's the summer quilt I made for Ginger in IN. It is raw-edge appliqued, and reminds me so fondly of my home, Maine.

I received this "Plant in Full Sun" from Emma of Adelaide Australia for the summer.
For the Miniature Booty Swap 1, I made this for Lisa. My partner was a flake and did not make anything. I received the quilt that Jan sent to her (but I dont have a picture of it). This is Lucky the Turtle.

I made this for Marlene for Miniature Booty 2. It is hand sewn, appliqued and quilted. I absolutely LOVE this piece! It is named "Stop and Smell the Flowers". I have not yet received my Booty 2 quilt.
FOr Kate's Another Little Quilt Swap, I made this in May for Lynda of the UK. I called it "Frog in a Blender" because the red and greens. The name may be a little sick and twisted, but I thought it fit the quilt perfectly. It has some fantastic green fabrics Janice sent me from New Zealand.


I received this bold lovely from Kate in return.
I did the Doll Quilt Swap 3 this past spring. This top was initially pieced for my partner, who has 2 young daughters adopted from Asia...the angels represented them, whereas the red hearts represented China. She bailed from the swap so I finished the quilt for my neice.

Though not a swap piece, I finished this for my other neice. The one below is what I actually sent to my partner in the DQS2 - Marianne. It's called "The Lazy Lily".
Here's the piece I received for the Spring Fling Round Robin Session 1...made by Julie, Tami, Jeanette and Marisa.

I did the quilting on this quilt in that RR, (also sewn by 3 others) - It went to Dorian.I participated in Ginger's About Forum Doll Quilt Swap also this summer. I made this for Christine in Florida. It is all of 1930's and is hand quilted. I named it "Memories of Summers Past", as it felt very nostalgic and old fashioned.
I received this sweet number from Ginger. Hand quilted, it graces my daughter's pink bedroom beautifully.
Most of these quilts are hung up my stairs, except for Kate's which is in the dining room, Ginger's that is in my daughter's and a couple other's that just are not up yet! I use straight pins in the corners and dbl stick tape to hang.

Stop and Smell the Flowers

Much to my sadness, my Miniature Booty quilt is packaged up and is heading to the post office today. This is a bit of a bittersweet moment for me, as I really love this little quilt. It is very much my colors and style. Plus it looks great in my house. The last quilt I made and really loved was easier to send away because I knew something about my partner, and I felt very connected with the idea that the quilt was being made for her. The same is true about Lucky - I knew it was loved before it was sent. This is unknown territory since the only thing I really know is that my partner likes red, so hopefully she will appreciate it too.
It has an assortment of free-form flowers in many red fabrics - some batiks, some Kaffe Fassett, some oldies-but-goodies (AKA Gramma's fabrics). Same for the leaves. When I look at the flowers and leaves, I am fondly reminded of each of the many projects I made with the materials. The heart is out of one of my all time favorites - it's from the Moda Dandellion Girl collection. I just love it! It is all hand needle-turned applique applique and hand quilted.
Here's a close up (and blurry!!) shot of a ruched flower. I was trying to utilize the pattern of the red batik.
Little embroidered swirls on the leaves and stems...
Here's a look at the label. It's actually made from a piece I'd cut for my daughter's dress collar! It reminded me of a flower when I saw it. Sweet quilt, I hope you love your new home with...

Booty Teasers

I have not posted anything about my Booty-2 quilt, which is not due until September 1. I have been appliqueing in in between my other machine sewn projects (which I am vowing to have all pieced before we leave on vacation in 3 weeks). Here's a little look-see (look thru the basting) ...

As for what I did the rest of the week... Well, despite offloading my boys to my moms for 2 days, the list of accomplishments is short. Having our power out for 7 hours yesterday certainly did not help either!

- added borders to the Big Bear Little Bear quilt top. It's ready to sandwich and quilt
- still sewing on the top of the Simplicity (queen sized bed) quilt - aim to finish top part this weekend, and begin cutting material for the borders this week
- hand quilting on the Booty-2 quilt. Has a bit to go still.
- Closed signups on the Spring Fling Round Robin-2, and have begun to send out partner emails. This stage of swaps sucks deeply into my dwindling sewing time!
- Sewed two of my birthday block swap blocks that are due in August/September. And am trying to sketch out Julie's fabulous house block (or will it be fabulous!!??) Will show soon-

Twelve Hearts

I now have finished all 12 of the 18" hearts. I gotta admit, I start things really well. Following through and finishing is so (sooooo...) often a problem. So, this does feel great to have it this far. Will it be done by Christmas ("ha ha, silly girl", the voices in my head say to me)?? Time will tell. I still plan to add scrappy yellow borders around each block, but that fabric is not washed or cut yet. Next week...

Other notes for the week:
- Need to put in a zipper in the dress I'm making for my soon-to-be 2 year old's upcoming birthday. Her dress is cut out and started. Not a fancy smocked number this year, but something cute and colorful. Turning two should be fun.
- I have already made my July Partner Diane's blue & white star block for the Forum Birthday Block swap.
- For the same swap, I have sketches for a NYB and Mariner's compass, both of which I oughtta get sewing on, as they may test my patience a bit. I've never made either block, but they don't scare me!...
- I have my Booty swap partner now so I can brainstorm on that mini soon too.
- And for those of you sending such nice comments about my summer quilt, thank you. I have gotten much of the 2nd quilt pieced and really cannot tell which of the two I will send!! Oh, such troubles :-) They are both very "Summer in Maine". I hope my partner actually likes the beach...

Have a great weekend-

Calling all Booties...

Toni (AKA Quilting Pirate) has posted the 2nd round of the Miniature Booty Quilt Swap here. If you are a good, conscientious & creative quilter and think you'd be interested, pay her a visit. She has about 30 spots remaining. Quilts do not need to be completed until September 1, so there should be plenty of time so that this does not interfere with Kate's ALQS and my Four Seasons Swap! Many early, personal invitations were sent out on this swap to highly recommended (& simply devine!) quilters, so there many of the spots are already taken. Don't miss your chance!...

More Blue Hearts & Weekly Dreams...

Here are 18" heart blocks #7, 8 and 9 to go along with the first six already finished. Only three more to do (I think!). I got another package of more pretty scrap blues late last week from Solidia. Many thanks - they will be put to good use! Once I get the last three finished, I will add the scrappy yellow borders to the blocks. At that point I will need to rethink the design a little, as I'm not sure what will happen on the part of the quilt that drops down on the sides of the mattress. The hearts are only on the top of the bed. I have a couple of nice asian-ish blue prints in decent yardage that may encompass a wide border though.

Other quilty projects going on...

~I am hand quilting my piece shown in the last posting for Ginger's swap. It turned out cute, but the blocks have a lot of bias and I hope that there will be enough to hold them smooth. At this point I waffle between continuing and believing all will look fine and ripping out the quilting threads and rebasting the top. Neither option leave me feeling 100% confident!

~I am gearing up for Kate's About.com birthday block swap which is set to start in a couple weeks. I have signed up for 2 groups which means I have to make 3 blocks a month. I am trying to clear several of the other projects I have so I can jump right into that. In the advanced group, I will be receiving a dozen 8" New York Beauty blocks. Maybe I will also make a few. They will be in purple, red and orange batiks. In the other group, I will receive 24 of the Broken Heart blocks (from http://www.quilterscache.com/) in 1930's prints. I am excited to see what blocks the others will be requesting that I will have to make. I just wonder how long I will have to wait until it is "my birthday"??

~Thelast stages of the Spring Fling Round Robin are winding down. 6-8 of the 24 quilts have been finished & mailed. They are so lovely - go have a look (though most of my readers are probably in that swap!). This is such a tremendously talented group of quilters and it has been a fun honor to work with them. I will undoubtedly run another round robin once all quilts are at their end-destinations. Look for a posting sometime next month. This has been a sticking point with me lately, as I learned that one of the other popular swaps started up another session recently with over 15% of their members STILL not having a quilt in their hand. I just don't think that is a very courteous way to run a swap.

~The Miniature Booty swap has ended and I am anxious to see what is coming my way there. Despite my partner announcing accidentally that she is my partner early in the swap, there has been no action on her blog to indicate what she is making. So I wait anxiously...

~I will get back to my 4SQS beach quilt very soon. I've been busy designing this with my scrapbook software so I can add it (somehow!).

Will You Get Lucky??!

I have hesitated to show too much about Lucky the Turtle (OK, get your head out of the gutter!) because it is going to my Miniature Booty Swap partner. But I really don't think that she has been to this blog so I'll post some finished shots. I need to afix the label, but otherwise he is done. Here is the top.
I don't profess to be a machine quilter. I generally hand quilt, and am happy doing that. I also typically do more traditional pieces where hand quilting looks appropriate. I thought this was an opportunity to work outside of my comfort zone, and practice the free motion quilting a bit. The turtle's back was satin stitch zig-zagged before I hand appliqued it onto the background. I didn't want to see the satin stitching on the back of the quilt. I free motioned inside each of the shell's pieces. Very tedious!... I did a tripple-stitch in a satin rayon variagated purple thread around the entire turtle & gave Lucky a simple glass bead eye. Voila!
The circular bubbles are out of some of my all-time favorite spotted batiks. I have barely more than what I used on the quilt left in my stash. I think they give a nice effect.
The dragonflies are hand drawn and then heat-set using sharpie pens. The little bit of pale blue embroidery was not planned, but it's there to cover up where I thought I wanted to draw the trails of the dragonflies. I decided the blue lines in pen didn't look right.
The back is scrappy from a number of my watery or fishy fabrics.
I'm not really sure what my partner's exact tastes are, but she did not request an ocean scene. He's far from perfect, but he is different and creative. I hope she likes it anyways!...

So, my original question...Will you get Lucky?...the quilt that is!

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