Just in under the wire.....

I've said it before and I'll say it again because it is soooo true... if it wasn't for the last minute I'd never get anything done. Here's my entry for the July Schnibbles parade. This is Four Corners done in Verna, an older collection from Kate Spain.

I had pieces of this in a plastic bin, patiently waiting for me to release it and finish it. I have no clue why I put it away when it was so close to being a top.

I love this line. I've made a table runner from it and I have a bunch of blocks I started with this fabric, which are also in the same box. Their time hasn't come yet. My favorite print is those tulips on yellow - LOVE IT!!

If you look at the original pattern it is a very scrappy quilt much like this version I made with Fall fabrics from Sandy Gervais.



Isn't is interesting that by just making a little change in the fabric placement you can get a very different look from the same pattern - I love that about quilting!

Okay I need to get this sent over to Sherri or Sinta - can't wait to see the parade this month!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Working on Wednesday

Well it has been a very productive Wednesday and so was Tuesday for that matter. I got 9 more Butterscotch Scrap Jar Stars sewn, for a grand total of 14. Woo hoo! I'm over half way done!

Darlene remarked that she got obsessed/possessed when she was doing these blocks and I totally understand what she means. It is hard to walk away from them. Karin left me a comment and I quote "Ahhaha! My evil plan is working! The Scrap Jar Stars fumes are filling blogland." I'm pretty sure I heard an evil cackle too. Anyway I'm loving these blocks. Did you notice the perfectly framed chicken in the block above? Total accident. I whacked some squares and turned the fabric over and there is was... you can't tell me God doesn't want me to have chickens. LOL!

And I got a bit of cross stitching done last night while I listened to the Reds ball game. I rediscovered this little gem when I was rooting around my stash.

It is a Ewe & Eye & Friends from waaaaaay back. I finished up the border and now all it it needs is a tree on top of that skinny trunk. The tree is suppose to be a piece of felt, and I'm sure when I bought it the felt was with the chart, but it has long since disappeared. Luckily I have a small humongous stash of felt so I think I can find something to finish this.

And the other day as I was wandering the blogosphere I stumbled upon this book on someone blog, but I don't remember whose. Usually I like to peruse a book before I buy but this one just spoke to me. It said, "Go directly to Amazon and buy me." So I did.

Here I'll make it easy for you, click here. And in my humble opinion this is a great book!

I loved the tree on the cover with the squirrel lurking in the branches. She has that one and others all graphed out.

And pages of wonderful borders like these plump tulips!

And this was totally unexpected but I took it as cosmic certainty that I should own this book......CHICKENS!!!

There is even a polka dot chicken!! See when books and fabric and yarn and beads and stamps and pretty papers talk to you, you should listen!!

Now I'm going to go sit in my happy stitching chair and watch some more baseball and all will be right in my little world.

Don't worry, I'm properly medicated - LOL!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Brightening up the backyard

My Kaffe Fassett Polka Dot Chain quilt was ready for its glamour shots yesterday afternoon. Here we have it lounging on the dead lawn in the back yard. I cropped out as much of the brown and bare spots as I could.

Here are a couple of close-ups -- notice use of the creative angles!

And finally, artfully draped over the rotting back deck (yes this back yard needs help).

I will say that this quilt certainly brightens up the back yard. But then it is so bright that it would probably brighten up a cave! Anyway I'm very happy with how it turned out. It is big - I know you're not surprised - it measures almost 90" square. I was able to pick up a king size batt at Joanns yesterday for 50% off and I ordered a bright yellow back (108") from Fabric. com. It was on sale and 3 yards cost me less than $20 - a real bargain. Now I want to get the binding made before I send it off to my long arm quilter. Then when I get it back I'll be ready to get it finished and it will sit for about a month before I actually get around to it -- just keeping it real here - LOL!

Hope you are staying cool - more hazy hot and humid here in Ohio. I've already thanked the Lord for the AC and Duke energy for keeping it running!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Sucked into the Scrap Jar Stars vortex on Design Wall Monday

Resistance was futile! I couldn't stop myself from starting a Scrap Jar Stars quilt. Really I was just sucked into the vortex, I'm very light on my feet dontcha know? LOL

I am loving these blocks. Those fall colors make me happy happy happy and of course that butterscotch Moda Grunge background fabric makes me hungry.... for butterscotch pudding. Oh was a lovely childhood memory - oh wow, back to the present.

This is one of the five blocks I have sewn together. Only 20 more to go!

I have all the fall fabric pieces cut out and I'll cut the background as I progress. I like doing scrap quilts this way, where I put my blocks up on the wall and decide block by block and row by row how I want it to look. I go back and forth between sewing the HST units and square units together, to trimming a bunch up and then sewing a block or two. Even though it might be quicker to do things in a more assembly line fashion, I
like the mix of different tasks. I find it keeps me from getting bored.

And I did get my Kaffe Fasset polka dot 36 patch blocks all sewn together. However, by the time I finished last night it was too late to go outside and take a picture and I couldn't get far enough away from it to get a good shot inside. So I will leave you with a little peek.... this is Big Dude inspecting it.

He says it passes! yippee! I'll take a full picture of it outside later and post it.

Have a great week - happy stitching!
carol fun

A sampler that stands the test of time for Sampler Sunday

First, I am waaaay behind in answering comments. I apologize and promise to remedy this situation this evening. Today I have an encore presentation of a sampler that has stood the test of time. This sampler is titled Now Abide. It was designed by Carla Michaels in 1986.

This sampler won a contest put on by Just CrossStitch magazine back in 1987. So this design is 25 years old. I think it has held up well. I tore the pattern out of the magazine and aged it for 10 years before I got around to stitching it. You can see I finished mine in 1997.

I love the flower motifs of this sampler - the blue iris...

the pink peony...

and my favorite, the yellow tulip.

This piece is an anomaly in my collection in that there isn't a house in sight on this one. And while I almost always choose wood tone frames, this one had to have a nice brushed gold one.

I walk by this sampler many time during my day and this verse from Corinthians makes me smile... "the greatest of these is love".

Well I got some quality stitching time in last night while I watched listened to the Reds beat the Brewers - yeah! I was able to finish framing another house on my BBD AoH sampler, and now all I have left is to fill in the roof and the walls - nice mindless stitching. It is a lovely day today weather-wise but hazy, hot and humid are in the forecast for this upcoming week. I will be spending as much time as possible in the basement thanking the Lord for central air-conditioning.

Have a great week! Happy stitching-
carol fun

Butterscotch Scrap Jar Stars

Since the minute I laid eyes on the Scrap Jar Stars at Trish's blog I have wanted to make a quilt like this for me. I've seen Darlene's version and watched Karin and Staci start theirs and each one is prettier than the next. My dilemma was I didn't know what fabrics to use and then it hit me. It was as plain as the nose on my face, or in this case, the fabric laying on my ironing board- Fall colors would be my choice.

These are the fabrics that were already on my ironing board. The butterscotch is a Moda Grunge Fabric from Basic Grey, and the pumpkin-y print is 3 yds. I picked up at Joanns last week. I love the look of these pumpkins - kinda mod retro.

So I sliced and diced and cut all the fabric I need for HST's and the little squares. I haven't finished cutting the background yet, but I'm getting there.

I started with a couple of charm packs from Deb Strain and Brenda Gervais, and added in left overs from other projects and pieces from my stash. Here are the wonderful piles I've been playing with.

And I've gotten 4 blocks sewn together - yippee! I love the way it looks.

I've been able to incorporate lots of different Fall fabrics - pumpkins, leaves, trees and even chickens.

So you ask what is Fall-ish about chickens? Ummmm..... I'm not exactly sure, but I know they belong in my quilt - LOL!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

1,296 squares sewn together for Design Wall Monday

All 36 of the 36 patch blocks are done!!! That makes 1,296 squares sewn together! I've used a total of 54 different Kaffe Fasset/Phillip Jacobs/Brandon Mably fabrics in this design. Those guys really know their fabric!

Ignore the extraneous junk in this shot, I had to get really far back to get all of the blocks in the picture. Now there will probably be some tweaking of which block goes where but not much.

Of the last batch of blocks these are my favorites....

I really like the mix of the aboriginal dot fabric (looks like half of a deviled egg to me) and the large scale prints. I think that deep blue sashing with the pop of golden yellow is really going to make this a technicolor creation.

And I even got ambitious and picked up all the fabric that was strewn on the floor and whacked off some 1 1/2" stripes from all of them. Don't they look pretty??

I have another Kaffe/Phillip/Brandon project planned. A strippy quilt block design with some black and white prints added in. I love projects like this. I've made several log cabin and pineapple block quilts with strips -that mindless sewing of pretty fabrics just makes me happy! Check back to see what progress I make on this one, because.....

there is another quilt I want to dive into. The Scrap Jar blocks - the tutorial is here. Karin of Livin' Life at the End of a Dirt Road and Darlene of Quilting Daze and Staci at The Confused Quilter have all been working on this one and I can't wait to start one for me. I decided on my color scheme and now I need to dislodge a bunch of fabric from my shelves and get to cutting squares - lots of squares- but I know it is going to make a fun quilt.

So there is some driving time needed for today's activities and maybe I can squeeze in some sewing time too. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Happy stitching-
carol fun