I need your opinion

I am working on a swap block for someone in one of my Bees.  I have created a pattern based on the requirements of the person I am swapping with. This is my sample block, but don't look at the misaligned corners.  I realized I had the wrong measurement for one of the pieces in the block.  I corrected it in the pattern.  Please tell me your opinion.  Are the colors balanced enough?  Do you like it?   

I call it 'Flor _____' - Shhh, Im trying to keep it a secret.

Keep dreaming…Colleen



My geranium growing warm and cozy in side, with the
Christmas snow hanging heavy in the trees outside.



Va treasures

 Today is a welcome holiday after a long work week last week(not).  Mom, Dad, and I drove up to Fancy Gap, VA.  Our first stop was the Pottery and Fabric Outlet.  This is an immense place.  I was focused on the fabric and notions building.  Unfortunately as Dad was along I knew I had to shop fast.

 

The aisles were endless. 

 

 They carried many kinds of fabric.  Right inside the door mom spotted these great Valentine's Prints.

 

Then we saw boxes of fat quarters-look at the price!

But there was no time to look at them.  Dad went to look at the garden/country decor building and I knew he would be back too soon.

So I started looking at these beautiful fabrics.  Did I mention Henry Glass, P&B, Cranston, and $3.99 a yard?

 

I bought half yard pieces of some great halloween prints for my ongoing collection.  Some day I will make a great quilt.  The skeleton was the end of bolt so I bought one and a third yards.

 

I bought half yard pieces of these fabrics. 

The mushroom and the houses print may be used as part of a picture/landscape doll quilt I am thinking of making.   This green actually has verses from the bible telling parts of the Christmas story! 

The rainbow fish was just neat, as was the green snowflake print(I mean MY green!)The polka dot also had my green in it!  The stripe I was lucky to get for only $2 a yard so I bought 2 yards!  It will make great binding!  The stripe had some sort of tiny spot in the print run, that you could barely even see!

 

I will definately have to come back here again. They also have a 20% discount for verified wholesalers. 

 

We stopped at a few antique places on the way back down the mountain.  At Faye's Antiques I bought three packages of vintage ric rack for $1.  She tried to give them to me but I insisted on paying something.

 

At another antique store I found this wonderful block  for $1.50.  It is made up of 2.5" squares of vintage fabrics.  I love these prints and colors!  I may have to frame this.

 

I also found these great buttons for $1.  I wanted the green as I dont have a lot of light green buttons.  I got the great red buttons and others too!

 

The last stop we made was in Cana, VA for Mom and Dad to buy apples to make apple sauce.  I bought a few fun snacks I don't usually buy.  Dried apples, gummi butterflies, and rock candy.

It was really a great afternoon.  Snow lay on the ground in some places yet.  Frozen icicles hung from rocks where water seeped through.  And we stopped for some good food at Liberty restaurant in our town. 

 

Keep dreaming…Colleen



This quilt top was in an antique shop.  I loved the colors and the pattern and thought the way it was put together with the white sashing and orange squares interesting.  The dark color is a deep plum.



Happy Birthday Mom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Today my mother turned 29, again.  Really.  She has an apron and everything to prove it.  I t says-"29 and Holding".

So in addition to the yoga mat bag I posted about yesterday I gave her a few other things to go in it.

Two towels and a matching bag to put her yoga strap and other odds and ends in the bag.

I also added one of the two needle cases I made from the Be Mine Blog tour.

I made two because of printer issues I had to hand draw my patterns which ended up smaller then the original. 

I loved the large red buttons I found in my button stash.  Most are form my grandma's house.  Mom thinks they may have been on a little red coat.

I used a little chick retro print and added some cute heart pins.  My new little Gingher embroidery scissors fit perfectly.  I gave mom a pair for Christmas. 

I still have some Gingher embroidery scissors in 4 different styles in my Etsy store if any one is interested.  Use the coupon codes BMBT2010 for a 20% discount.

I also finished the pillow from the blog tour.

When I posted my pics in the Be Mine Blog flickr group I saw Kim's Big Quilting Adventure had posted a pic of an awesome Valentine tree skirt.  You can find pics and instructions for making it here.  One more thing for my list to make.

Tomorrow hopefully we may take a day trip and antique along the way and may be a quilt store too!

Keep dreaming…Colleen

My patio in the Christmas snow.



 

DQS10!! & odds and ends

 I'm so excited to be chosen to do the Doll Quilt Swap 10 (DQS10)!  The quilts people made for the last swap were some of the first I was fascinated by this summer when I started blogging.  I can't wait to get my partner and start planning my quilts.  I will blog about the process.

Now on to the birthday gift I made my mom.  Mom wanted a yoga mat for Christmas.  She zumbas, quilts, and does yoga at the Y each week.  Well I already had made/bought too much for Christmas so the plan was her birthday just a few weeks later.  When we went to IKEA and I was looking at the home decor fabrics she picked this

So I knew that was what I would use for her bag.

I found a coordinating quilting weight print for the lining and used this great yoga bag tutorial. 

As you can tell from the picture below she loved it! 

Inside I filled it with a yoga mat, two yoga blocks, a yoga strap, and that cute coordinating water bottle holder I made with this tutorial from Pink Chalk Studio.  She is holding it in her hand.  It actually has a small reusable water bottle in it that matches the color of the bag.  It also has insulated batting to keep the water cold.

I was very proud of my self and really like this bag.  I may have to find some home dec fabric and make one for myself.  Mmmm...maybe a trip to IKEA?

Check out how beautiful this quilt looks on my sister's bed.  This was one of two quilts I made for her this Christmas.  I hadI mean how was she this good?

Last but not least are the pictures of my finished Valentine's tree.

This shows the long pearl necklace that belonged to my grandmother.  I rediscovered it in a drawer and realized it would make a perfect garland for the tree.

I wrapped this white eyelet lace edging around the bottom of the tree.

So here it is all finished.  If you haven't been to any of the blogs on the  Be Mine Valentine blog tour, check it out the projects are all awesome!  I'm still working on the pillow and the other runner and the needle case and the garland and maybe the place mat.

Keep dreaming…Colleen



The birds had to clear off the snow before they could eat.



Quilting back in time

I was excited today to discover the weekly history blog Civil War Quilts written by Barabara Brackman.  Every week she gives the pattern for a Civil War era block and a story from that era.  She is a designer for Moda who designs Civil War reproduction fabrics. It is only the second week so only two blocks have been posted.   I realized when I sorted my stash that some of the 90's fabric is repro from around that era-I think they were Smithsonian collection?  This could be another way to bust my 90's stash.

I also found a stash of HST already sewn into squares with white on white prints that have the same old feeling.  I decided not to worry about size and went ahead and quickly sewed together the two blocks.

This first block is called 'Catch Me If You Can' in honor of the Underground railroad.  Notice how authentic I am using slightly different prints when I ran out.

The second block is my favorite star block with many names but on the blog is called 'North Star'.  You have to go read about the 1856 baby quilt in this pattern made for an abolitionist fair.  I put a little twist on it by not using a solid center.  I used the hst I already had cut.

I have been working on other projects.  Including finishing my Valentine tree and other projects from the Be Mine blog tour.  I also found this fabric in my stash hiding with the fat quarters to use with the charm squares in the other projects.  However they were put on hold as I was finally able to work on Mom's birthday gift for Sunday.  Sadly there are no more Sew Days this week as we are back to school tomorrow.  Of course we do have a vacation day Monday, so THREE DAY WEEKEND!

More pics to follow.

Keep dreaming…Colleen

Christmas snow and geese on the lake at Mom and Dad's.