Another Disappearing Nine-Patch

After I finished my Priority Hope Challenge top on Saturday I decided to cut the remaining larger scraps into 6" squares for a disappearing nine-patch crib quilt. If you look closely you will see a few four patch blocks mixed in because I didn't get enough 6" blocks from the scraps for the whole quilt, but I'm pleased with the overall look and how it turned out.

Priority Hope Challenge

Here is my finished top for the Priority Hope Challenge that Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting is sponsoring. It was my first attempt at free pieced letters and for a first try I don't think it's too bad. It was a little strange to be working without a pattern, but it didn't take too long for me to find out that I really like the "if it's too long, cut it off and if it's too short, add to it" method! Once I finish this quilt it will be donated to Ami Simm's Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. If you would like to try free piecing this is a great starter project and it can then be donated to a great cause! The deadline for the challenge is November 20th, so there is still time to join in.

We Need To Do This More Often!

I think all of the ladies who attended yesterday's MLQG Mini-Retreat had a wonderful time...I know I did! It was fun visiting with everyone and seeing all of the different projects that they were working on. The pot luck lunch was out of this world...I think we all know that quilters are the best cooks! The 2 1/2" noodle swap went well too. As you can see by the photo, I now have a nice selection of batik strips for a yet to be determined project. There were several requests for us to have another mini-retreat this winter and I have to agree...I think it's something that we need to do more often!

Back To Sewing!

Our son and daughter-in-law have gone back home to North Carolina and now it's time to get back to sewing. I can't think of a better way to get back in the groove than by spending the whole day at a mini-retreat with my quilty friends! I have several projects packed and ready to go as well as a plate full of cookies to share with everyone. We're also swapping 2 1/2 inch batik noodle strips. The batik I chose to swap is shown in the photo...it was brand new at our local quilt shop and the first cut off the bolt, so hopefully it will be different from all of the others. It's going to be fun coming up with a project for this batch of noodle strips!

The Quilt ~ Joshua Creek

Today I Am Eating Cake!

Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake!

Busy, Busy!

October usually brings perfect weather, beautiful fall foliage and a lot of visitors to our part of Pennsylvania and it is certainly true for us this year! Our youngest son and daughter-in-law are visiting this week as well as my mother's sister and her two daughters, so needless to say I am very busy with family activities. If you don't see a lot of blog activity from me over the next week or so don't worry...I'm just off having fun with my family!

Cowboy Quilt Top!

The top of the cowboy quilt is finished! The job of removing the foundation paper from the star blocks wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated thanks to Carol Doak's foundation paper. The paper came out easily and didn't leave those annoying little bits that require tweezers to get them out of the seam. Tomorrow is the baby shower, so I will wrap the top just so that everyone can see it. I would have liked to have had the whole quilt finished by the shower, but life does get in the way of quilting sometimes and my daughter-in-law understands. Next week I will work at piecing the back and decide how it should be quilted and I have promised that it will be done long before the baby arrives!

Do You Selvage?

I discovered Karen Griska's Selvage Blog awhile ago and my life hasn't been the same since! I never used to cut the selvages off of my fabric before cutting it...I would just trim the little end pieces as I cut, but now I make sure to cut the selvage in one long piece first and rather than tossing it in the trash, I fold it and add it to a basket of other colorful selvage strips. Who knew that there were so many things to make with selvages and why did it take me so long to realize that I was wasting valuable fabric every time I tossed a selvage into the garbage?

Recently Karen posted photos of a selvage key chain that one of her readers had made. Right then and there I knew I had to make one for myself! I found the plastic key tag next to the photo frames at WalMart, added a couple tiny pieces of selvages, a few minutes at the sewing machine, some careful trimming and presto...a unique quilter's key chain!