Thursday, March 31, 2011

Spring Surprise

By now you know that I like reading quilting-crafting-cooking blogs. Recently, one of my favorites mentioned the Quilter's Newsletter blog. Naturally I followed. I used to subscribe to Quilter's Newsletter Magazine many moons ago. Then, when I went back to school, almost as many moons ago, and temporarily gave up all things handy, I dropped my subscription and really just kind of forgot about QNM. Well, not anymore.

The QNM blog entry on the day that I happened to check it mentioned a give-away for spring fabrics. Fat quarters. I, along with 200+ others, dutifully entered a pleasant comment in the hopes of winning some brightness for this never-ending winter. A few days later, I received an email telling me I had indeed won a collection of fat quarters. Honestly, I thought it might have been a scam. You know, like one of those Russian investment emails. Or the recent one telling me that my name was chosen as a potential investor "out of desperation." But seriously, could there really be a fat quarter scam? As illogical as it sounds, I was just a bit nervous and frankly didn't even remember if I had really entered to win anything, so went back to the blog, found my pleasant comment and Woo Hoo Baby, it was real. I really did win. Nine fat quarters of lovely spring colors ... I received them today. Frankly, I don't know how lottery winners control their blood pressure. Winning is so exciting!
They are very pretty and will find a home in a special little project as soon as I narrow down my current 39 thoughts to just one or two. The colors are perfect for my someday-sewing room, so whatever it is that they will become has already found a home. Now it just has to come to life!

And the QNM blog? It's bookmarked. And the magazine? I sent in my subscription.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Cutting for a queen


There used to be two of these little bins filled with 1930s prints. Soon there will be one -- still heavy in yellow -- and one queen sized quilt. It's been a good cutting day.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

One small treasure

Karen and I went treasure hunting today. Not much luck, with the exception of this little beauty, which will be repurposed into another little treasure at the appropriate time. For now, however, it will just be a cute little pink cup and saucer.
Lovely colors are the drawing me in lately. Maybe it's the additional 6 inches of snow on Monday and Tuesday. Maybe it's the 5-degree morning temperatures at the end of March. Whatever the reason, spring colors are calling and I am answering in patchwork.

A quest to use up my 1930s prints has turned me into a piecing wild woman. I blame Alyssa, of course. If she hadn't asked for a yellow and white quilt, I never would have started collecting these. Yup. Entirely her fault. I have to admit though, these spring flower colors do brighten up a dreary day. As soon as the snow melts enough around the clothesline, I'll get them all hung out for a little show. Maybe I'll even have some of the quilting finished by then.

For now it's off to bake banana bread. And just in case you think that is not related to quilting, I'd like you to know that the absolute best banana bread recipe ever is from Autumn Gatherings, a beautiful book filled with delicious quilts and recipes from Lisa Bongean and Carole Charles of Menasha, WI. Yum.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Mellow yellows

I have tons of yellows left from Alyssa's quilt, but thanks to this tutorial posted on another of my favorite blogs, Cluck. Cluck. Sew, I spent a few hours this afternoon cutting blocks for what promises to be a very pretty little quilt. For what, for whom, how big? Not a clue, but it will be cute.
First I cut strips 2-1/2" wide. 1 yellow and 1 solid white. These were sewn together, pressed with the seam toward the yellow and cut into to 1/4 square triangles. (Cluck. Cluck. Sew shows you how to make your own templates, but since this groovy ruler makes its home with me, it was put it to good use.)Looking at the picture of the finished block shows how to assemble the pieces. One strip usually yields two blocks. It doesn't get much easier. Really.
These blocks will finish at 8", which is a nice size to work with. It might make a good baby quilt, or just a throw. It definitely has me humming Donovan tunes.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Just One Star

I follow a few quilting blogs. It goes along with the same line of thought that if you want to write you have to read. At one time, I wanted to write. I still read a lot. I also quilt quite a bit, so it only makes sense to follow the blogs of quilters I admire. One such blog is Minick & Simpson where I learned about the Just One Block project. Quilters are asked to make and donate just one star block to this great project. The goal is to produce 100 star quilts by Flag Day for wounded soldiers. The guidelines are pretty simple: medium blue or red and cream. Here's my block:
You can make one, too. Go to Minick & Simpson's blog for a nice tutorial and here's the link to Moda's blog for the explanation of the project and a PDF of the pattern. It is a quick little number to make (you don't even have to trim the block!) and cute as a button when finished. Mine will be sent off tomorrow. Hope yours can join it soon.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Whew

It's such a bitter day today. My way to book club this morning was marked by sliding through the intersection when arriving in Stevens Point. Good thing it wasn't a weekday; my car (and probably me) would have been toast at this normally busy intersection. Whew. Another good book club meeting at the Wooden Chair. The book was disappointing, but the company and the breakfast were great as always.

Another Whew to report as well. The guys started tapping on Thursday. Today's cold and wind will not last forever and the maple season will soon be in full swing. But, before the first tap went into the first tree this year, I managed to complete this yellow and white quilt top. Whew. Made my goal. At last ...
It took me a long time and lots of false starts to decide on the borders. While draping it over the couch doesn't give the best view, you do get the idea. It's off to Yolanda for quilting tomorrow. The borders are on the sides only, which is something completely new for me. Of course because I was afraid I would not have enough triangles somewhere along the line, I had lots of extra 2" triangles so decided to place some of those as 4" triangles sporadically in the border. They add nice bit of quirkiness, don't you think?
Now I have a lot of 4" yellow triangles left over, but that's a concern for another day since today's mail delivered these beautiful solid 5" squares. I just had to dig in and start marking.
Never a day without a project. Whew!