A Quilt for S.

Thank you everyone who sent get-better wishes to me and my hurt foot.  Foot is better and I figured out a couple of things I need to watch out for when standing for 8+ hours a day.

A while ago (last year maybe?), I started a quilt for S. nicknamed "S.'s Mad Men quilt."  When David Butler aka Parson Gray aka Mr. Amy Butler came out with his first line of fabric "Curious Nature",  I knew it would be a perfect quilt for S., who admires modern design.  We are big Mad Men fans and this line reminded me of the hip 1960s designs from the show.

I finished the 63 (!) blocks (last year?) and they sat around for awhile.  After getting Cameron's quilt together, I decided it was high time to finish up S.'s quilt.

Last week, I laid out the blocks and for the first time successfully "stacked" a quilt and sewed it all together without getting the blocks out of order.  Pat is going to be so proud of me!  Am I the only one that has problems with this?  Do y'all "stack" quilts after laying them out?  I know most of my sewing buddies at Silver Thimble Club do.  Maybe there is another term for it, but basically you sew all the blocks together (this is for not-on-point quilts) in rows vertically without cutting threads and you end up with the quilt blocks all sewn together. You then sew the horizontal rows.  And voila, a quilt top.  I will post a tutorial if y'all haven't tried it.

One great thing about "stacking" a quilt is when you have cats that want to rearrange your quilt blocks, like so:

The blocks are sewn together and rows are in order so Edgar Poe is foiled in his attempt to rearrange this quilt.  Thank you Edgar Poe for the demonstration.

Here is the finished quilt top.

The pattern is "Snapshots" by Atkinson Designs from the book Happy Hour. I made the twin size, which fits the guest room/S.'s sanctuary perfectly.  It's a bit too big for me to quilt at home, so it will sit for a little while more until I can get it long-armed.  S. loves the quilt--the design and fabric.  Maybe I'll get it finished in time for the next season of Mad Men to start this spring.

Couch-Bound

I've been couch-bound these past couple of days with a hurt foot. Don't know what I did to it, but I must have pulled a tendon/ligament/muscle or combination.  So I basically hobbled through working all weekend and came home and put my foot up with a heating pad on it.  I missed Silver Thimbles Quilt Club Friday night and haven't sewn since Wednesday.

Now you know it was bad.

Today it's better and I'm no longer shuffling around like the walking dead.  (Mooooooannnnnn)

Hope to have some photos of a finished project soon.  Until then, here is a gratuitous cat photo of sleeping Gomez.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Or as I like to call it, Eating Sweets for Breakfast Day. (PS: Thanks to my dad, I had a box of candy to dig into with my coffee as I headed out the door. Love you Dad!)

I made some homemade cookies to take to Starbucks for the gang. Nothing fancy, just good ol' sugar cookies with quick buttercream. Same recipes I've been using since forever. Yum!

More Blocks of the Month

I hope everyone in the Northeast is snug and warm and/or digging out after the big blizzard!!  I've been looking at photos of the amazing amount of snow dumped on you in  just a few hours. Up to 30" in some areas WOW!

I spent yesterday afternoon working on some 2013 blocks of the month from blogland.  (Like I need to add more to the list...)

Remy was an excellent supervisor.



Country Threads is celebrating their 30th year in business this year with a free online quilt sampler. Their designs were some of the first that I made when I began quilting in 2001.  In keeping with my theme this year of joining in on too many blocks of the month using up fabric, I got out my bag of Jo Morton fabrics and am using those for most of these blocks.  For this sampler,  a 12" and 6" block is made each month. For a color theme, I'm picking colors that remind me of each month of the calendar.  Here are January's blocks in blue; January is either dreary and cold or clear skies and sunny so to me, that says blue.

I also think this sampler would be great in solids or bright modern fabrics (I'll just stick with making this one version though).






February's blocks are red for Valentine's day.

I also finally decided on the fabrics for Barbara Brackman's 2013 Civil War block of the month, Dixie Diary  I have a fat eighth bundle of Barbara's Metropolitan Fair line.  Does anyone remember why I purchased it?  I couldn't remember so I decided to use it for this quilt along with some assorted other reproductions.  I decided to make the 12" versions of the blocks and use the recommended on-point layout to make a full-size quilt.  Again, trying to use up that stash.Here is January's block.  

And February's block.  I am making only stars for the appliqué (not a heart-kinda girl) and decided to do machine-applique, figuring I was more likely to keep up with these blocks with a quick appliqué method rather then needle-turn.  I also found fabric for the setting blocks and triangles in my stash. 

More shopping in my stash and I have the backings and bindings for two quilts that I need to get basted and quilted on my days off next week. Hooray for a productive Friday.  Today was a long, busy day at Starbucks and I got nothing done this afternoon except a taking nap and watching The Walking Dead marathon. 

Blogger Girl BOM block 2

Block 2 from Monique Dillard's Block of the Month.  

This was a fun block to construct.  I liked Monique's method for making this block. 

Here is block #2 variation.
Thank you so much to Sarah who commented last month on my choice of blue fabric.  Sarah inspired me to make this a blue-themed quilt.

I was also inspired by the "Message in the Bottle" quilt Nicole is making on her blog. 

Best thing about the Internets is all the wonderful inspiration out there.









Remy is making sure he has one or two or ten cat toys ready to play with at all times.  Even when he is napping.  Here he is with seven toys! Spoiled Remy.

News from February 2nd

Forget the stork.

This time the groundhog delivered the baby (as well as the weather prognostication).

Groundhog photo from Wikipedia 

My nephew Cameron was born very early in the morning on February 2nd.  I was so happy to get the call before I left for Starbucks that everyone was fine and healthy.

Welcome to the world Cameron!  Your aunt has great plans for spoiling you too!

I love being an aunt.

Can't wait to meet Cameron in real life in March.  And take lots and lots of photos.


You have to believe me when I tell you he is a little cutie (much cuter than a groundhog).  Until then I did get to Skype with the happy family.

Tomorrow is my day off and a staying-in-pjs-and-sewing-day.  Hooray!

My Favorite Schnibble Parade Entry

It is so hard to pick a favorite Schnibble quilt.  Usually it's the one I've just finished working on.  Since I *had* to choose for this month's parade, I chose "Doc."

These photos just don't do justice to the wonderful colors of Kate Spain's "Good Fortune" fabric line.  I used Moda Bella solid in Zen Gray for the background.  My favorite neutral, hope Moda keeps this color in stock.  The colors are just perfect for my living room and I hope to get this quilt professionally quilted and  hanging on my wall sometime soon.  

Here's another view outside last May.

Can't wait to see all the other favorites on Sinta and Sherri's blogs.