What A Slacker!

I didn't post last week. I was at the beach. And I'm not posting much today. The slacker comment? I'm not getting any finishes! June! June will be finished only!

In the meantime, I did three baby quilt tops. Yes, unfinished! But now that our TOPS group has voted on one, it definately will be finished quickly. The group voted for "brights" and I made, and presented three choices.  The cow print won. We do live in an area that enjoys lots of horses and cows.

Here are the three:

Maybe next week I will have a finish.


Enjoy!
Toni

Sunny Monday~May 14

Another gorgeous day in the Pacific Northwest. Of course all the sunshine means I don't sew as much but it does make everyone happy!

Why do we love our local quilt shops? Product knowledge! I'm lucky to live about 20 minutes from "Let's Quilt" a quilt shop in Oregon City. Last week I showed you the Twister quilt that I didn't like. I went into the shop to look for a blue that "read" like the blue that I had on that quilt top. I was going to replace it all. Francie didn't have anything that would work but she said "that's an older Jinny Beyer palette, I'm sure you can find it on line." What? Jinny Beyer? How could she remember that? Wow! See this was a scrap and there was no selvedge so I for sure didn't know who or what it was. Anyway, Francie was right. The second place I tried had it in stock and in three days I had it. See the top now.

And who doesn't like surprises? I got the fabric from "The Fabric Shack" in Waynesville, OH and the surprise was they included a free gift. A couple of bobbins. You gotta like that!

Gonna leave you now. I'm working on another baby quilt top. I've volunteered to do a quilt for a club member but I'm doing three tops and letting the other members vote on which one I should finish for Amanda...our young pregnant friend.

Hi Joanne! (my sister says I don't mention her enough!)

Enjoy!
Toni

Monday Monday~ May 7

It is so nice here in Oregon today so I'm not writing a very long message. We have to enjoy sunny weather while we have it!

I did finish my Hopscotch top.

And I bought a new ruler...and I'm kicking myself for doing it. And I'll tell you why in a moment. Those of you who have either version of this ruler will know the name of it as soon as you see this lay out.

Why am I sorry I bought it? I love the simplicity and speed of the technique and the outcome of the blocks but...you waste alot of fabric. You end up with lots of pieces from which you can cut 4-4 1/2 inch blocks. It even tells you this on the ruler packaging. I didn't think it through. And they are bias squares. I bought a book one time that promised easy stars without any Yseams. And it too was fast and easy but....it used too much fabric. I guess I didn't learn the first time. You really CAN'T have it all.

So here it the quilt top....please don't go "Yuck". I've already said that.

I didn't have enough of the blue fabric so I thought "why not use blue on the top and bottom and green on the sides?" This might work in some quilts, in an "artsy" way but it does not work on this quilt, with this technique. Sooo, I will be buying another blue fabric and unsewing and resewing the sides. I guess I really didn't save any time with my timesaving ruler.

Anyway, wherever you are...enjoy your day!
Toni



Another Monday~April 30

Good Morning!

Where was I last Monday? At the beach! And really, as I'd not been too productive I didn't feel too awful that I wasn't posting.

I'm still not being productive. I've got the time but I guess I'm kinda' in a slump. I mean I'm not even finishing the doll quilts which were going to be my salvation. As in play with colors, fabrics, design on a small scale. Anyway, I won't bore you any longer. I am going to share this picture of my Hopscotch quilt. I actually think I will have this top finished today. I wish I could have only used "Tilly". I much prefer the orignal blocks that I made just using "Tilly". Remember when I won the fat quarters from LiMA Sews? But there wasn't enough for the whole quilt and I am trying to use stash.

It's raining here. I love Oregon weather for  quilting! If it's raining I don't have to feel guilty about not being outside doing something on these seventeen acres.

Enjoy your weather, whatever it is!
Toni

Another Monday~April 16

Eeek! She’s at it again! Creating more UFO’s! But at least they are little doll quilts and I really think I can have them all done by the end of the month. They’re great fun!

This wool doll quilt from my friend Dianne and is what got me started.

For a couple of years I’ve had “doll bed” on my Christmas list with no results. Obviously it wasn’t that important to me or I would have purchased one before Mom bought me one last week. But now that I have, I don’t want to stop making doll quilts. Or maybe I should say doll quilt tops.

Being fair to myself, I am being resourceful. The following Bowtie quilt was made from leftover bowtie blocks that I cut down to a smaller size. There is distortion in this picture. Believe me when I say each square of the bowtie is equal in size.

And this one is from leftover square stripped blocks. I just cut sections from different blocks and sewed end to end to make strips. So I am using leftovers. 

Enjoy!

Toni 

Enjoy!

Joining A Quilt Along

My goodness! Three posts in one day! I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to join the Finish Along. http://www.flickr.com/groups/finishalong/

One of the rules, we need to keep everyone honest, is that we post pictures of the projects we are committing to finish this quarter in the "Pre Quarter Signup". These are my four with notes.

The Halloween Quilt. I call it this as the backing is a Halloween fabric. To finish I need to complete the machine quilting and then bind it.
 

The next one is this Rainbow Quilt. It is basted. I need to mark it (I want to try Baptist Fans), machine quilt and bind it.
 

The third one is the Granny Square quilt. Only the top is finished so I will need to layer, baste, quilt and bind.
 

And the fourth, yes, I'm trying for four in this quarter, will be this thirties, pastel top. Again, I will need to layer, baste, quilt and bind.
 

I love making a public promise, to try my best, to finish all these, this quarter. I'll keep you updated!

Enjoy!
Toni

Whats on my Bed?

Bonnie Hunter asks! We currently sleep with all three of these quilts. The basket quilt, for whatever reason, was never one of my favorites. I usually keep it on top as we do allow our dogs access to the bed. If company is coming, I let the Seven Sisters shine. It actually "goes with" the colors and accessories in the bedroom. The Spiderweb is probably the first full size quilt I made. Do you see the large borders? I had to make it large enough to fit! And it was the first quilt I had machine quilted by a professional. It is at LEAST 20 years old and getting faded but still well loved.

Enjoy! Toni