The Local Quilt

This is my Local Quilt binder which contains all of my house patterns and details of each block.  Around the 1st of the year Jaime David, "The Patchwork Architect" put out a call for a BOM group to make this fantastic quilt. 

A goup of us from the Kansas City MQG jumped at this chance to gather with friends and make this quilt.  We agreed to meet monthly despite our busy lives and work on this quilt.  We also worked on chatting, eating and drinking a bit of wine and beer!  All the elements needed for a great quilter's gathering.

Jaime formed a private group on Facebook for us to share our accomplishments, failures and frustrations.  We even had someone (a former KCMQG member) from out of state that shared our gathering through Facetime.

 

We are getting ready to finish up this project

and plan to reveal our finished, quilted and bound quilts at the January KCMQG meeting.  It has been so much fun!

 

This group has been such great fun.  We have found good friendship and enjoyed each other's company!  Bonus at the end will be a great finished quilt!  This quilt pattern is paper pieced and designed by Carolyn Friedlander.

To Blog, or not to Blog...

That is the question.

How much a part of your day are blogs?  Do you find creative inspiration in blogs?  How often do you comment on blogs?

I do...all of those things, enjoy reading blogs, find inspiration from others creations, I comment fairly rarely.  I love to read about the journey that quilters take to get where they get!  I love the stories that end up as quilts.  I should probably comment more and let those bloggers that I read know how much I enjoy their adventures.  I love the bloggers that organize the online Quilt A Longs...and sometimes I join in.

Just wondering how much a part of your quilty life blogs have become.  I enjoy blogging, sharing my creations and my occasional thought!  I should come here more often.

What do you think about blogging?

Here are a couple of photos, because I too believe that no blog post is complete without photos!!!

Busy-ness!

I have been busy, finishing, starting and just doing different projects.  I finished up the Averie quilt,

I used some great Valori Wells flannel for the backing.

I joined up with Doll Quilt Swap 13 a while back and ended
up with this quilt, based on a quilt from the book "Quilting Modern".

Hope my partner loves it!

 

I finished up a couple of quilts for a special boys third birthday.... a super flannel quilt that matches his grandpa and brother's quilt, and a Funky Monkey garden fence.

Last but not least the largest change in my life has been this;

 

 

 

Isn't he precious!!!  Right now he is taking up a little of my sewing time.  soon he will be a quilting dog too!

 

Have a great week!



 

Twins and Other Things

I've been busy making this and that.  I finished up my Operation Kid Comfort quilts, November and sent them off.  It is such a busy time of year.

Last year I met a new friend through work.   It was uncanny how we bonded immediatey.  Have you even met someone and you knew immediately they would be your friend for life?  We determined that we were brother and sister just different parents!  My brother from another mother, told me a few months ago that he and his wife were having twins.  What a blessing in his life!  So of course I then procrastinated on making those babies their own quilts!  With about a month to go I had to get busy.  I ended up with this,

 

My brother f.a.m. (from another mother) ended up with this,

They are so precious.  Their quilts were fun and special to make .  Can't wait to see them crawling around on them!

 



 

 

A couple other folks I work with have babies due in January and their quilts are works in progress.  One will have a little girl and I made this for him and his wife.....found out yesterday that I need to add another e at the bottom!!

 

This one is obviously a work in progress for a little boy....Puppy Park, by Riley Blake.  Love it. 

 

I did hit the mall on Saturday after Thanksgiving...no one was there and that made it tolerable!  How's your Holiday prep coming along.  I don't want to think of it. 

 

I just want to sew!!!

 

 

 

DQS 13

I did it...I signed up for DQS 13.  It is not a given that I will get to participate but I have thrown my name in the lottery!  I have stayed away from the swaps so that I could get some projects finished and I have done that.  These are my sent and received from DQS 12.

What fun..

DQS 11...sent.  This was really fun.  It even had a few spiders on it. 

 

This was my first DQS...# 10.  It was probably the mini quilt I am most proud of.  It turned out well and I had such fun creating it.

 

I hope I get to be a part of DQS 13.  I will wait with great anticipation the email that should come before Thanksgiving telling me if I am in or out. 

Just messing around....

Sometimes you just want to sew,  just want to finish something, quick, easy, and pretty!  Some of us in the KCMQG have been working on our sewing machine covers.  I love Empty Bobbin's pattern because you make your cover to fit your machine exactly.  It was fun and quick and easy and I think pretty!

This fabric is "Groovy Leaves" from Adornit.  Great fabric.  I am really pleased with how this turned out and I am hopeful it will keep my machine healthy.  I liked it so much that I decided I needed to make a mini for my little featherweight.

I found some lime/acid green Alexander Henry owl fabric with a little Kona and ended up with this

I love this little thing!  The pattern included a tip on how to adapt the cover for a small machine.  I made a few changes myself but it turned out great.  Now I can get this machine out of the stinky old case it usually lives in.


Art Gallery fabrics, one of my favorites, has developed the "Fat Quarter Gang".  You can read about them on the Art Gallery Fabrics blog and in their goup on Flickr.  Each member of the gang develops a tutorial of a project that is made with AGF.  Maureen Cracknell Handmade posted her tut on quilted pillow shams and I just had to make it.

Maureen made hers out of the new Lillybelle collection but I don't have any of that.  I have a tub of AGF in my room so I dug in there and came up with 12 coordinating fat quarters, some batting remnants and muslin and I was ready to go.

How easy to add some color to the couch or your bedroom.  How fun to make a couple of these to go with that quilt you are giving as a gift?  Only 10 fat quarters to make two shams.

So these were my weekend finishes.  Fun easy projects that I could finish in a weekend!  Hope you made something fun this weekend.

It's Sooo Hot....

It has been so hot and so typical Kansas City in July!  I am not certain what has kept me away from the blog but I am still here and I've been sewing!  I feel like I have sewing A.D.D.  I have been great about starting projects but not that great about finishing.  Sometimes I do better than others.  I started sewing this together 

I got a few rows done but then got distracted......by this project

and it is not yet finished either!  I took a class from one of my favorite people, Jacquie Gering while she was in KC and began this "SuperNova' wall hanging from her book "Quilting Modern".

Moving on......................................

It was time to start a project for July in the My Precious QAL on Flickr.  I decided to use these precious fabrics..................a little Tula Pink oldie but goodie!

Which will soon turn into these;

This is the Thimble Blossoms pattern called Spools.  Can't wait to see this one done.




This morning I finished up a cover for my machine.  I have had the "Cover Up" pattern from Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio sitting on my machine for months and months.  Carol posted photos of her Cover Up on the KCMQG Facebook page and I decided I needed to get one done for my machine.  The dust that gets into my machine cannot be helpful!  So I have managed to finish this project.

I love it! and so does my Bernina.

For future projects I got these goodies.....I am absolutely in love with Riley Blake's Ombre DOTS!  They are big dots.  I got these from the idontdodishes etsy shop owned by fellow KCMQG'r Caitlin McIntyre.

I have a project in mind for these...........coming soon  And another bit of fabric that graced my mailbox this week.....

I love this bright orange and gray together.  I have a plan for these two also!  No shortage of ideas around here, just need to make these weekends a little longer.

I'll be back soon with a few more finishes and a few less starts!!