Found this wonderful magnet at Festival! It holds my scissors while at the sewing machine or Longarm or ...

Brought this for my class with Hollis Chatelaine on Quilting as a Third Design Aspect. 

The George Brown Convention Center

Have shopped and shopped the last couple of days, but this morning  starting out with a lecture with Judy Coats Perez!
 

I had so much fun today! Took class from Esterita Austin and learned to work with organza, tulle, Misty Fuse and Lumiere Paints.

Made it to Houston!!!

Heather's Mystery Quilt

I'm participating in a new Mystery Quilt!

Heather Spence is hosting a mystery to raise funds

for her Mom's  stem cell transplant surgery.

Read more about it here! and consider helping out.

Have a blessed day!

On my design wall today...

On my design wall:

Christmas Runner ready to be quilted. I will be stitching down the applique as I quilt it, then adding Swarovski crystals to the flower centers. This is our 2011 Cherry Blossom Quilters Christmas Project.

Of course, I had to make this cute little fall runner. Got the pattern from this magazine:

And off the longarm is Mary's beautiful quilt:

Coming up, I will be giving away a software copy of:

stay tuned...

For more design walls visit Judy's blog.

Have a wonderful week!

Cherry

Block One Completed!

I'm starting my Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along
with Moda's Flurry by Kate Spain

Pat Sloan shared this wonderful basket for the quilt-along first block,

and here is mine! Isn't it so cute?

Starting something else...

Why is it soooooo hard to resist??? Here I go again starting another project!!! I love these designers and really, I don't have to make everyone of the blocks :-) Plus, there will be some great deals...and who doesn't want to save a little...

Another finish....

I'm so excited to have finished this large quilt - king size!!! These take soooo long to complete, but what a great feeling when they're done. This one is a very easy pattern called Happy Hour by Atkinson Designs. I also made a throw for my sister using turquoise and brown fabrics, and it turned out very pretty. 

I love the circles in this pantograph:

and here's the back

and now I'm rushing to finish #6. The PHD Challenge organized by Myra, started in January and today is the deadline! I committed to finish 9... yeah, what was I thinking?

Design Wall Monday!

On my design wall: a finish for Myra's PHD Challenge...

See more Design Walls here!

On my Design Wall this Monday...

Chicken Soup! Working on stitching the appliques down with a tiny blanket stitch, using matching thread. Next comes hand embroidery. Love, love this quilt and can't wait to have it finished!!!

See more Design Walls at Judy's.

One more finish for Myra's UFO Challenge!

Oh my word, I can't believe I finally finished this one. I had to add to the side borders to make it fit my king size bed. The quilt is so long, I can wrap my pillows twice - kind of an odd size. I have so much fabric leftover, I could probably make another one, perhaps not as large, but enough, ha! I made 2 pillow cases with some of the leftover fabric. I'm not too crazy about the fabrics, but it will be great to sleep under. Funny how our tastes change with time - I started this one several years ago to help with a shop project for the quilt shop I worked at. Now on to the next one!!!

Almost there...

Wow, it has been a long time since I've posted anything, just been supper busy, and one of the things I've been busy with is the mystery block of the month quilt I've been designing for my sewing group since January 2010, okay, so it turned into a 17 month project!!!  Here is the center, and I just have to finish sewing the border - yeah, it took me a while to get the measurements right for the pickets, and then the light bulb went on, and voilá, I figured it out - turned out 2 1/2" wide pickets worked perfectly - okay, I'll know for sure when I put it all together. And while doing this, I had to sew the blocks a second time to make sure I didn't lead my girls in the wrong direction, but that one, well, it's going to take a little bit to finish, even though I love the Kaffe Fasset fabrics I'm using on it.

Myra's PhD Challenge Second Finish!

I am so happy to have finally finished this little quilt I started back in 2006. My LQS where I worked needed an applique class, so I gladdly volunteered; of course, I got the top ready for class, but it never got quilted Ha! I've been longarm quilting since September 2007 and finally learning to reserve some quilting time for my quilts!

On my Design Wall

With tax season, there hasn't been time for much, but I've pulled out this little quilt to finish up. The blocks are 6" finished and I need 15 to set them on point. This quilt is from Eleanor Burns and Sue Bouchard's Underground Railroad; I started it in 2007! It's time to get it done, don't you think? The blocks are difficult but so cute when finished; I think everything looks so neat when it's smaller - okay, I must love punishment... ha! I really want to make a few more miniature quilts - so far I've only made two, but have a kit I bought for Storm at Sea that I bought from John Flynn, and it finishes at 14.5" x 18"; the blocks are 4.5"!!!

Underground Railroad

Storm at Sea Miniature

See more Design Walls at Judys!

Design Wall Monday

Yesterday, I made this case for my husband's IPad from an old pair of jeans.

I used the pant's label to make the little pen holder.

See more design walls here.

Design Wall Monday

Today is Block of the Month day at my sewing group and we will be working on this little basket:

Isn't it cute? and the best part is how easy it turned out to be!!!

but...on my design wall is the quilt below, which I hope to finish assembling this week :-)

See more design walls at Judy's

FNS - the morning after...

Last night was Friday Night Sew-In at Heidi’s and I made a lot of progress on my Paper Roses quilt. I started the night with lots of caffeine and the sweet romantic movie on Netflix, Listen to Your Heart, about a young musician that falls in love with a privileged girl who lost her hearing in childhood. Later, I listened to an audio book on my little IPod by Francine Rivers, Her Daughter’s Dream.

The quilt is made with a Breakfast at Tiffany’s Moda Charm Pack and additional background and borders fabric. Both the pattern and fabric are designed by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree & Co.

I started out by sewing 18 pinwheel blocks – I still have a little trouble with the pinked edges in precuts, but love the scrappy look I get without having to spend a lot of time (something in short supply these days) gathering fabric.

The sashings and cornerstones are all 1 ½” wide, so I pulled out my wonderful Go! Fabric Cutter and in a matter of a few minutes, cut everything; especially the cornerstones, I’ll bet it took no more than 3 minutes to cut all 31 of them!!! Yes, I am a fan…

The setting triangles (cream) and first border (green) are cut, and once the middle is assembled, I will measure and cut the second border (floral) – I bought enough fabric to cut them in one long strip, so there won’t be a need to match anything. The fun polka-dots are for the backing - love, love dots.

And here it is, on my design wall...

                                      ...I can't wait to get it finished and on the longarm!

Thanks Heidi, for this fun and inspiring challenge, I had a great time and was able to relax after a long day at work. Now I’m off the work on the garden; yes, a little late start, but better late than never, right? Check out other FNS blogs at Heidi’s.

Quilting Gallery Mug Rug Swap

Guess what was in my mail box today? This wonderful gift from my partner in the Quilting Gallery Mug Rug Swap. Wasn't she generous? I love the detail in the mug rugs. She made the beautiful doll pin and is the author of all of the quilting patterns she included. The cards are made by her sister - love the colors! Thank you Birgit, I love it all!

FNSI

Bobbi and Heidi at Handmade by Heidi are holding their Friday Night Sew In next Friday, March 18th, and I plan on drinking lots of java and sewing the night away. What should I work on?....

                                                          ...I should finish this quilt top!!!

Embroidery help

I decided it's time I improve my hand embroidery skills, and while surfing the net, I found this great blog by Mary Corbet. She has lots of great videos, articles, and free patterns. Check it out here!

What have I been doing....

...been quilting, quilting, quilting.... 

... and here are a few pictures of the last quilt I worked on. I think the name of the pattern is Stars Over Bali.
This was for a lady in Dallas.

Quite a large quilt: 81.5" x 91"

...and she loved it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

More Mug Rugs

The madness continues...  these are Christmas IOUs!!!

I used one my Go! dies for the flower

Embroidery design from Embroidery Library