Apple Core

I have had the Apple Core die for my Accucut for quite some time. I have been itching to try it out, but I have been really lacking time to play with it. I decided to give it a try for a gift exchange that I needed in a hurry. I cut this out last night and pieced it today while the kids were having rest time. It went together very well. I am not pleased with my color selections, but hopefully it will find a happy home.



It still has to be quilted and bound by Thursday. I work better with a deadline. You can even see my new flooring in the background.

Kicking my Bootie!

Have you ever had a quilt block that just won't work out? I have new admiration for anyone who has completed a dresden plate quilt.

I think I went about this the correct way. I started with a pattern (not one of my own). I gave it a go - three times I might ad - and none of the fans came out to a quarter of a circle. I finally wised up and tested the pattern (after I was the queen of the ripper). After taping the pattern pieces together on the dotted lines (alias stitch lines), I discovered the pattern was wrong. At this point I didn't feel like a complete failure.

I ordered the Easy Dresden template. Guess what? I didn't have good results with this either. It was better than the first attempt, but this pattern requires extreme exactness. If anyone has any pointers, just send them my way. At this point I am thinking my summer banner needs something different than a beautiful sun across the top.

Obsession!!!

Yesterday I spent the evening doing a very broad search on quiltshops.com for my stripe fabric. I just can't come up with a plan "b" at this point without a lot of unsewing. It's bad when you start dreaming about fabric. I was dreaming that maybe I saved the selvage.

When I discovered the selvage blog (http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/), I started saving my selvages and dreaming up projects to do with them. In addition, other quilters have been gifting me their selvages. Today I decided to dump them and put the dreams to rest. Did I save the selvage or not?????

First - I found all my hidden containers and baggies (there were a lot of them), then I did the big dump. This is what the pile looks like
I feel bad saving these little strings, but they are so pretty to look at that I just can't part with them. I just love all the things I can create with them. My husband will want to get me some help when he sees the pile. Do you see it in there? The stripe, the dreaded stripe. Let me zoom in for a closer look-



It's there!!! My dream was right. I don't remember trimming that off before I demonstrated the Studio cutter to Bonnie. I hope my fabric nightmares will stop. I now have a name. It is from Alexander Henry 2005 and it is from the line "Super Stripe". It came in several colors. I have found some of the colors on the internet, but not this one. If you find this in your stash or at a store in any amount - I am willing to buy or trade. The pieces in the quilt are 1 1/2" big, so scraps will work.

On a Mission

For the fabric I ran out of to finish the quilt my daughter has been waiting patiently for. I need about 1/2 yard to finish the quilt, but any information on the fabric would be helpful. The fabric I am in need of is the stripe.

Final choices

Subee suggested a light color, so I added it to the design wall with my med green leaf pattern. I am torn between the green and the light. That is probably because the light is out of my comfort zone!

More Choices

Well the orange floral was definately voted out. It will go on the back! Eleanor suggested some more colors. Orange without a design (which I don't have). I don't really want to go shopping, so I pulled some more options from my stash (2 green and 1 purple). I think a nice warm brown would also look nice, but I don't have enough of any of those. Do you like any of these choices? Do you see that huge cluttery mess on my design wall? I think a little fairy needs to come and clean.

What Color??

 

I am not sure what color or pattern to use for the setting triangles. I cut some pieces from fabric that I had so I could use up some stash (and see how it looked). I open to any suggestions you might have. The 4 patches are 8" finished and the sashing is 2" finished. After the setting triangles, I plan to have 2 borders. Please leave me a comment and let me know what color you think I should use.

How Tall

How tall is 100 yards of fabric??? It's not as tall as you might think. This was the first order.


I fell off the no buy wagon right after the first of the year. I should have unsubscribed to those "end of year sale" notices. You knew it couldn't last forever didn't you? I did try to stick to a few colors that I knew I needed.



I also went on a thread buying spree with a couple of gift cards from Christmas. I love how all the colors look together. I wanted to get all the colors I needed for a machine embroidery kit that I purchased a few years ago.

Remembering Cathie

She didn't get to see her quilt, but I know she would have loved it. She's moved on to a better place, but her memories will warm our hearts forever. Cathie was the one that insisted the group must stay together and keep meeting. I'm not sure why she picked me as the leader, but she must have had a reason.