What's on my bed?

Oh this is perfect timing since I did wash the sheets and put a new quilt on my bed just the other day. Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville's Quips & Snips! is hosting a linky party showing what is on your bed. Here is my entry....

this is my just back from the long arm quilter, bound and washed Giant Vintage Star from the In Color Order blog. A tutorial for this quilt is here.

Here is a little better picture I took in my backyard (ignore the dandelion - I thought I had picked all of the ones that would show up in the shot but I missed it- sheesh- I'm not the lawn guy - LOL!)

The fabrics are from the happy mochi yum yum line by Monica Solorio-Snow - the Happy Zombie- by Lecien. I think it has a sort of vintage sheet feel to it. Here's a close up of the quilting too.

It is a lovely all over design done in a pastel variegated thread. I love variegated threads! It finished around 83" square. A bit small for my queen sized bed with its puffy mattress, but I'm planning on getting full size bed in the near future so it will be fine. This was a super simple quilt to make, and after quilting for over 25 years every now and then it is nice to do something easy. It has such a lovely "Spring-y" feel about it. I really love how one simple, single (albeit very large) block has such an impact. It makes me smile.

Hop over to Bonnie's blog and check out the other entries - there are some wonderful quilts!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

How assumptions determine quilt decisions on Design Wall Monday

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter. My plans for a big meal at lunch time were altered to a big meal at dinner time so my oldest son could go into work for couple of hours. The beef tenderloin was lovely and we had lots of tasty side dishes. By 6pm everyone was napping which I take to be the sign of contentment. Life is good!

So yesterday afternoon I had a little time to play and I decided to get out that lovely Phillip Jacobs cabbage print and whack it!

I had decided to do 4 repeats since the square gives you 4 different possible design combinations and I like possibilities. So I examined the selvedge edge and marked off 4 repeats. As I went to cut them apart it I thought "Wow, these are big repeats. Maybe I should measure them." Oh noooooooo...... the fabric isn't an 18" repeat it is a generous 24" repeat. I figured out how much fabric for 8 repeats based on 18" and if you do the math correctly with 24" I am over a yard short- acckkkk!!!! Well, my totally inaccurate assumption on the length of the pattern repeat has made the decision for me - any quilt made with these fabrics will be no more than 6 repeats. So I sighed and measured and whacked and I got 30 blocks out of 4 repeats. Not bad at all.

And I think they are wonderful! It doesn't look like cabbages, it looks more like roses and that plant with the pretty leaves - begonias I think. Here are a couple of my favorite blocks so far -

My first thought was this would need a aqua-y green sashing, but after putting them on the design wall I'm thinking another color would be better. You know where I'm going, right??? Yellow- yellow sashing would be lovely and a pale mottled yellow for the setting triangles. Oh I'm loving this plan. I'm not sure about the border. I'd love to use the cabbage fabric but I won't have enough of it unless I piece it. I need to see what solution I can come up with. I hope to have some time later today to whack the other 4 repeats.

Well off to do the Monday driving event. No guild meeting tonight so that cuts out some miles and gives me more time at home. I love the time I spend at home. Check back this week. I have some socks that are almost finished and I started a new sampler that I need to take some pictures of. It is a very different style from the BBD's I've been doing.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Happy Easter from the Polka Dot Chicken!

Hope you got a basket full of goodies!

carol fun

Fun on Friday with fabric

I had time yesterday to go and visit my favorite fabric store, Fabric Shack in Waynesville Ohio. I know that some of you have shopped at the store and online and know what lovely fabric they have along with great prices too. I look at their website every day to see what is new and about a week ago brand new Kaffe Fasset and Phillip Jacobs fabrics appeared and I was wiping drool from my computer screen.

I was totally enthralled with the Phillip Jacobs petunia print. Petunias are my favorite summer flower because they remind me of my 2 great aunts, Lucy and Kate, and my dear Grandma, who all planted lots of petunias in their yards every summer. As I looked at the different colorways I knew that I wanted yardage to do Stack N Whack but I needed to see the in person to pick just the right one.

And this was my choice-

Oh how I LOVE this print!!! The petunias are HUGE - that purple one measures 5" across. And I love the stripy ones too. I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a SNW with 4 repeats (squares) or 6 repeats (triangles) or 8 repeats (diamonds). And I'm still not sure exactly which shape I'll pick, but I went ahead and got enough for 8 repeats - 4 1/2 yards. That's more than I actually need, but this is a big repeat - 18" - and we all know that we rarely complain about too much fabric but lament when we didn't get enough...and as my stash shows, I always want to have MORE than enough - LOL!

As I was fondling all the new bolts I realized that I needed some 1/2 yd cuts of some of the other colorways so I got this one...

and this one...

and this one...

And then I saw this...

OMG!!!! GIANT rosy pink and lemony yellow cabbages! I must have some of them too.... but how much should I buy? Again it was a 18" repeat and those rosy cabbages are 9" across. Decisions, decisions..... 4 1/2 yds please! I have NO self control. Which lead to me getting 1/2 yd of this colorway...

lavender cabbages! Now really could you have resisted? Be honest.... yeah, you would have wanted them too!

So now to decide which to whack first and what shapes to cut.... I think I'll sleep on it and play tomorrow. I got a good start on my Easter dinner preparations today so I should have some play time. Right now I have so many projects I want to play with... a Springy pair of socks that's only needs the toe knit, a new BBD cross stitch book, and the dotty chickens are calling from the design wall. Well, they are all fun projects so I can't make a bad choice.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Thoughts for Thursday

April is Autism Awareness Month. I am the mother of a 21 year old son with Asperger syndrome. All of you know someone who is on the spectrum. Think about that person you know who is socially inept, the "odd duck." Those with Asperger's want to connect with others but lack the skills for small talk. They find it nearly impossible to decipher body language that we "normal" people innately understand. I would ask you to be kind, tolerant and accepting of those on the spectrum. It will be appreciated more than you will ever know.

Here is a link to learn more about Aspergers.

Thanks -
carol fun

A little finish and lots of indecision for Design Wall Monday

I'm having a hard time sticking with one project at the moment. I did finish my Schnibble for March -"T is for..." Every T block is a novelty piece with an item beginning with the letter T. Some are a bit obscure. You can check out a list of what I was thinking here.

I quilted it in a wavy grid using a variegated King Tut thread - it has orange, purple, lime green, turquoise - a great color combination. Check out the parade of Schnibbles here and here. There are some wonderful quilts again this month.

So there are projects I should work on like these blocks-.

These are my incorrect Jelly and Jam blocks. I need 16 more and they are all cut out but they aren't calling my name. Now guilt over not finishing them has been talking, but I'm ignoring it. I'm good at that.

This is from the pattern Smitten by Rachel Griffin. I have a stack of bright modern fat quarters that I've been trying to figure out what to do. I like this and I think I will make a quilt with this, but not right this minute. Which leads me to this block...

It is a chicken, a polka dot chicken, and I'm really loving it. It is a design from Country Threads- they have some great chicken patterns. It is a 10" block and I made the 2 on my design wall very quickly. I think this is my next project. I want it to be a quilt for my kitchen so it doesn't have to be the ginormous bed size I usually end up making. I need to go measure that space in the kitchen. I'm thinking a dozen of these dotty gals would be perfect.

But before I get to any of these I need to do my Monday driving event. Today has school, Joanns, volunteer job, a quick dinner at Panera's. and a quilt guild meeting before the day is done. Hopefully, tomorrow will have sewing time. Have a great week!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

A bit of bunny for Sampler Sunday

A piece of the past today which includes a bit of bunny - the Spring Row Sampler from Bent Creek. I stitched this one years ago.

I used a soft green linen and probably DMC flosses. My favorite parts are the bee skep and the bunny in the flower pot.

Sorry these aren't better pictures but it is raining outside and I took them indoors. They do look better if you click on them and enlarge them. I've done several Bent Creek row pieces and and several more in my stash. Right now the Gnome Row is calling my name. And I'd like to get around to the Stitcher's Row some day too. I think I'll brighten it up when I do it -too much gray for my taste.

Well it is going to be a busy to begin the week. My son and I have tickets to see Dralion the Cirque de Soleil show this afternoon. Tomorrow is school (for him), volunteer job (for him), and guild meeting (for me - yeah!). My long arm quilter has both of the tops I gave her last month finished and I can't wait to see them. And I'm getting my act together and taking 2 quilts for Show N Tell - a favorite part of the meeting.

And next Sunday is Easter - really?? Wasn't Ash Wednesday like 2 weeks ago?? Anyway I'm starting to plan a dinner menu. There are request to do a prime rib roast like I did for Christmas and I believe that is the choice to make. It wasn't hard to do, although it took longer than I expected, so I need to plan accordingly for that, but it was delicious. Hope that wasn't just beginner's luck last time, LOL!

Have a great week and happy stitching!
carol fun