You Knew There Would Be Another Swap!..

...didn't you?? :-) LOL

I have been thinking about Christmas, and wanted to do a scrappy-type Christmas quilt. This is a traditional pattern, a 9 inch block, and it is called 'Squares Within Squares'. I wanted to use some 2.5 inch strips I had, so I made it an 8 inch block. These are my samples for the swap. I really like how all the Christmas fabrics look together and I guess my DS does too as he asked~ 'is this quilt for me?' LOL :-)

The other thing I am working on this week is getting some backings pieced, pressed etc. I am planning a trip back to the HQ's to do a couple more tops! :-) Whoohoo!! Wish me luck! Hopefully I'll have some photo's next week. ;-)

Until then, happy sewing!

My Latest String Blocks...

As soon as I finished the blue/yellow string block quilt that y'all saw in July, I joined the next swap. :-) This time my color choice was autumn shades with black centers. Although this isn't a very good photo, you can see the blocks I have received so far. Since each participant gets to choose the colors they would like their blocks to be, I have been searching my stash for some of the choices! They range from citrus ( bright yellow, green and orange) to pastels, to black and whites. The blocks are so easy to make! They are great for those times when you'd just like to do a little 'mindless sewing'. :-) I have 3 more sets to make for others before I can concentrate on mine. I'm planning to make more so I can make a throw quilt for over the couch during the cooler autumn temps.... might be perfect for snagging a nap every once in a while. ;-)

Here's hoping you are snagging some time to sew this weekend too!~

Happy Stitchin'!

Up to my Ears in Flowers! :-)

...or rather, floral blocks! :-) I hosted a 9-patch floral swap recently and spent the weekend swapping out all the blocks. We had a total of 29 swappers who sent in 773 blocks!! WOW! That is a lot of blocks to swap! I had my dining room table with the leaf in it, 2 long tables, a round card table, a TV table and 2 chairs covered in blocks! It took part of Saturday and Sunday to do the actual swapping. Today I am re-counting and bagging up the blocks to go back home to their owners. It will take all of today to finish that. Starting tomorrow I will be making trips to the post office. :-) It has been great fun to see all the different floral fabrics! I hope my swappers all love their blocks as much as I do!

And now I need to get back to work!~

Happy Stitching!

My red/orange mini's came home!

And they are so cute! I really look forward to this swap coming home each quarter. I have had about a million different patterns and ideas for these. I won't be able to decide until I have allll the colors. LOL :-) I think they would just shine in any quilt pattern! What you are looking at is 60 little orange mini-9-patches and 60 in the red family, which included pinks. They measure 3 inches finished. You can click on the photo's for a little larger view. ;-) The next round is greens. My strips are cut and sewn together, but need to be pressed and cut yet.... maybe this week...

Until next time ~Happy Stitchin'!

Autumn Squares all swapped...

...and on their way home! :-) This was my dining room table and another utility table covered in autumn pairs of squares yesterday. I had way over 700 pairs of squares in autumn fabrics~ and the fabrics, oh they were awesome! There are so many fabrics out there, it was fun to see some of them! :-) So many of them were totally new to me. I think stores in different areas of the country get such variety. It was fun ~and now it is done. All the packages were mailed to their homes today. DH was kinda happy to get 'his dining room back'. LOL And I'm happy to get back to stitching!

Have a happy weekend!

Whoohoo!

You may recall when I cut out this quilt top... I think I was just starting the sewing back in March ~yikes! :-o Well, the blocks were all together for quite a while, but other things kept getting in my 'q'. :-) I finally spread it out on the floor and told myself it wouldn't come off the floor until it was all together. ;-) Now that is motivation! I hated walking around it! LOL And it is together! It is called 'Honeyberries' from Evelyn Sloppy's book '40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts'. And it was quick to cut out! My problems surfaced when I was sewing it all together and would have the seams both ironed the same way. Any 'normal' person would just reposition the block, give it a twist, etc and the seams would nest with that turn... but then I'd end up with 2 of the same blues right next to each other! I couldn't have that, so I re-ironed a lot of seams. But it is together and I am happy! :-)) I think it might be the perfect top to go back to the quilt shop with and practice some more on the HQ.... but first I need to get a backing together... Oh well, it is off of the floor! :-)))

Have a good night!

August!

Don't the days/months just seem to fly by?! It is August already! :-o One good thing about a new month is a new gift from my Secret Sister. I joined the HGTV quilting message boards Secret Sister Swap this year. Every month we get a gift from our big secret sister and we send one to our little secret sister. Well, I can't tell you who I send to, but I can tell you about the gifts I get each month. Last month my SS sent me the placemat kit I showed you in an earlier post and a few other neat things. This month she sent another adorable little pattern and kit! This one is for a mini quilt called "Oh My Stars!" by Lori Smith. I am going to force myself to get caught up on a few other things around here before I work on it, but it is calling me! :-) She also sent a very nice pincushion/thread catcher that she said someone made for her... someone from the message board! I wonder who??? :-) What is really nifty about this one is that it also has a little magnetic strip on it for my needle! I like that! I am always losing my needles in among the pins. And she sent a lovely candy dish and butterscotch candies~ everyone here likes those~ I'm having a hard time keeping the dish supplied! LOL ;-)

You can click the photo's to make them bigger...

I'm off to sew!~

Have a happy day~~