a story book village

Have you ever seen Super Why?  I guess that is what I had in mind when I started this quilt for some friends of mine expecting their first baby.  I have a number of fabrics with letter and words on them, and I think they are fun to play with.  Each house on this quilt uses some form of text prints. 

Each house is free pieced...no patterns...just piecing, and having fun.

This house has some great Cosmo Cicket alphabet roof and awesome japanese fabrics for the door and windows.  (Im not sure about these fabrics, they were a gift from a friend)

This house is made up of V& A fabric, Sunkissed by Sweetwater, and a few other bits and bobs.

And a funny tangent...when I showed my daughter the flower, she asked me why I wanted to put a lighthouse on the baby quilt...so I will never look at this flower and think of it only as a flower!!

I had a local long arm quilter quilt book titles into the quilt.  I gave her a list of about 65 books the kids and I love, but she was only able to fit about a dozen on the quilt. 

The quilting was done so that it is legible from the back of the quilt.  Mostly solid, with the word SLEEP pieced on the bottom.  I think Denyse Schmidt has a pattern in some magazine with this pattern.  I didn't find the magazine/pattern, but used Tonya's patterns from her most excellet book, Word Play Quilts.

folding finished!

What a big job this has been~  folding took me longer than I thought, but I am glad it is done.  Doesn't it look nice?  Now fingers tightly crossed that I can keep things in this great looking shape!

and before I go...I have a winner to announce from the book review I did earlier this week.

Angie, you win!  #9. 

I sent you an email thru your most recent blog post.

Have a great Sunday everyone.

book reviews

I have been lucky enough to meet a few people over at DRG and was asked to review a few of their new quilting books. 

Of course I was immediately drawn to the bed runner on the front of the book and the pattern is well written.  I'm thinking my husband won't be thrilled with the idea of a bed runner, but a washing/drying machine quilt cover would be perfect for us!

I thought the bed runner on page 42 also looked interesting, the example is made with velveteen, but I think some shot cottons would be gorgeous!

 I was very curious about the Charm square book too.  I have a number of charm squares that just sit on my shelf!  The patterns found on page 26 and 57 are my favorites!

If you would be interested in winning your choice of these two books, leave me a message telling me which one you would like, and Random.org will pick a winner this weekend.

abstract quilt in solids

Its done!  I finally put on the sleeve and hung it in the living room.  Never considered our wall color, but I think it works just fine.  This is the quilt I started in a class with Gwen Marston in November.  The class was called Abstract in Solids based on one of her books.  If you ever have the chance to spend time with Gwen Marston, don't hesitate.  What an amazing week!

Krista Withers did the quilting for me.  We went with organic lines and I have really learned a lot about organic quilting just by studying Krista's work on my small quilt.

And here we have 2 round robins Im participating in.  The top one is from Hollie, and right up my alley.  The bottom is from Fiona and Im scared to death.  Obviously I need to learn how to applique within the next few weeks! 

Vintage

I love vintage quilts.  Trouble is...if I can afford them, they usually have a big hole in the center like this beauty hanging on my dads clothesline.  It does make me happy to know that someone used this quilt alot.  Its very worn, a number of stains and as said earlier, hole in center.  I hope the quilts I'm making will one day show as much wear and tear and love ...

I need to wash this, but will probably have to use the bath tub since it is rather fragile.  So I think Ill wait until it is warmer and can dry outside.

Would you all be terribly disappointed to know that I bought this quilt with the intention of cutting it up and making new Christmas stockings for my family this year?

I continue to fold fabrics.  Will it ever end? 

My starter block

The ladies from my quilting bee, A Dozen Quilters, and I have decided to do a round robin this year.  I think there are six of us joining in.  I plan to send this block out.  I originally made this flower for the baby quilt I just finished, but it was too big.  It will be fun to see how this one grows!

I just finished my first round of Around the Bend and Across the Pond! round robin on Flickr. Ann sent out the center square and indicated she would like a quilt of stars.  This is what I came up with...I really enjoyed this process.

And...lastly, I continue to fold fabric.  I think it has become necessary.  I adore the look of the folded fabric on my shelves, and it's been quite an eye opener for how much fabric I own...and, as it turns out, how much fabric I have bought multiples of!!  I have 2 very large pieces of Erin McMorris's Wallflower print from the Wildwood collection.  Evidently, I loved it enough to buy for backing TWICE.

Valentine's day craft for school

I volunteered to supply a craft for my daughters Kindergarten class for the Valentines day party.
All the while, I had Jenny's inspirational heart garland running thru my mind.

And then I got an email...reminding me that our class was hosting BOTH Kindergarten classes.  So...that doubled the number of kids I needed to supply a craft for.  ugh.

Thank goodness my mom was free this afternoon and willing to help me cut out over 300 hearts, glue them wrong sides together, and then cut 2 slits into those hearts so we could run ribbon through them to hang in a doorway.

Not quite as lovely as Jenny's garland but I think the kids will have fun, and I burned thru a few yards of fabric! Yay for using stash!