Thank you.

I would like to thank every one of you who voted for Hugo's color wheel quilt and thanks to Gen X Quilters for holding the contest and especially Sew Fresh Fabric for sponsering it.  I won third place in the quilt contest and received this amazing bundle of Anthology fabrics as my prize.  Thank you!!  I adore Hugo's quilt so it was nice to see that others liked it as well!!

I know I have been a bit absent in this space, but we have had countless school delays and school cancellations recently and it has seriously thrown off our groove.

I will be posting at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure on Thursday...so if you would like to check out my experiment with Kaffe scraps...drop by and say hello here.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone is feeling loved today. I  enjoy celebrating the day with my kids and making them feel extra special.  I made them both a doll this year and am so pleased that they actually like them!! 

I used the pattern " I Heart You " from Hillary Lang's wonderful book "Wee Wonderfuls".

The girl doll is green and purple because those are Colette's favorite colors of course...and I used Katie Jump Rope for Hugo's doll because Ive been longing to use some of my KJR stash!  His shorts are from a vintage fabric in my stash. 

These are my first attempt at doll making, and I think I am up for the challenge.  I enjoyed the whole process!

For Valentine's Day I received these:

Well, maybe we just got them this weekend by coincidence...and honestly, my husband has been more excited about them than I have...to me, they just represent 'doing laundry'...he thinks they are a cool new appliance.  Maybe if he did the laundry, he would see things my way??  Either way, I am pleased a queen size quilt now fits nicely into my washing machine!

Happy Valentines Day everyone.
xoxo hugs and kisses

Vote

Today begins voting at Gen X Quilters for your favorite bed size quilt.
I will be honest...I voted for myself...but that was just because I feared I would get skunked...I think my honest true favorite is #23 Yellow and Gray Lady of the Lake...but go check them all out and vote for your favorite!!  There are some real beauties!!

Cross block on my mind

Thank you so much to everyone who has expressed interest in making a cross block for the AIDS walk fundraiser quilt!  I am so excited!  I have made 4 more blocks as well...

And then I thought...since I am making cross blocks...why not another version? 

I plan to make this quilt for Camp Watcha Wanna Do and...maybe this is a horrible thing to admit, but I wanted to practice on this quilt before doing the AIDS quilt.  I want to have some experience with doing a top with different width blocks....with maybe adding solid blocks...or 'equal sign' blocks...I want to experiment with this quilt before the raffle quilt...that is not such a bad thing, is it??

I am really enjoying the 'game time decision' each block presents...I have a mess of orange and blue fabrics out and I'm trying not to create gobs more scraps!

speaking of scraps...is there anyone out there who would be willing to pay shipping for a flat rate envelope full of scraps?  smaller pieces....??

eta...I might have just cleared out a big pile of scraps...but Ill offer again next post if need be!

Hugo's color wheel quilt

Today I want to revisit Hugo's color wheel quilt as part of Love Nest Quilt Contest going on at Gen X Quilters.



I found this quilt pattern in Joelle Hoverson's wonderful book, Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.  I fell in love with this quilt and the challenge it presented to me.  Trying to take my stash and make a color wheel from it.  I toyed with the fabrics on my design wall for weeks.

adding and subtracting fabrics.  I swapped fabric for a few of the Flea Market Fancy prints...and my friend Robin donated a few key prints and the wonderful IKEA print used as the backing.

Finally finishing it this past spring...about the same time Hugo moved into his big boy twin bed.  So in my mind this quilt was always for his bed.  The book's pattern is for a 56 inch square quilt..but I added an extra 10 inches to the top and bottom to make it work on a twin size bed. 

The back...I love this IKEA fabric...I wish I had more.  I used every inch of this fabric for the back.

And the binding...which looks yummy here and was fun to make.

I love looking at this quilt...and often think i will make another.  Here is my sweet boy snuggled under his quilt:

lucky number 21

Just a quick post tonight...
We got M*O*R*E snow this weekend. My family and my sisters' families meet every Sunday at my Dad's house for dinner...well today, we played in the snow.  for HOURS.  I am so tired.
Thankfully the kids were tired too!

Random.org picked lucky number 21 tonight and that belongs to Katy.  I have sent you an email Katy!
Congratulations and thanks for playing!

and also...a BIG HUGE thank you to everyone who has offered to help with a block for the AIDS quilt.  I am so grateful to all of you!  Check out the blocks Lucia has made for the quilt.  Thank you so much!!

Giving Back part 2

February is my month of  A Dozen Quilters and I am asking my fellow bee members to make blocks for a charity quilt to be raffled off at an AIDS Walk fundraiser event.  I am going to copy most of my bee post here, with some extra information at the bottom, and a 2nd chance to enter my giveaway if you wish!

***************************************************

Before I start with what my project is about, let me tell you a little background...I have a best friend. well, bestest friend really...we coined that phase many years ago...I'm sure of it.
Jessica and I decided to be best friends during a bathroom break in 3rd grade and we have never looked back.
We have grown up together and we are the next best thing to sisters...although i have three wonderful sisters and Jessica has...ummm, I forget exactly how many sisters, but lots since she is the baby of 17 kids.
Jessica and I met for coffee this weekend and to catch up. I meant to take my camera for a pic of us, but forgot...but here is my favorite pic of Jessica at around 14 years old.

I love this picture...look at her determination...proving to me that she could indeed to the splits.

Here we are approximately 10 years later. We left home right after college to go to London, England, find jobs and live for about 6 months. Time of my life.
And here is where I should have a recent picture of us, but that doesn't exist.
ANYWAY...Jessica is the most giving of herself person you could ever meet. For the second year in a row she has accepted the leadership role of planning our cities AIDS Walk. Helming this event is practically and second full time job for Jessica, and I asked if I could help. I asked if I could make a quilt for raffle. She loved this idea...every year they bring several panels of the national AIDS memorial quilt to the walk so having a quilt to raffle seems like a good idea, huh?


HERE is a link to the web page giving more information about the fundraiser.

Here are a few blocks that I have made for the quilt.

I would like to do a cross block quilt, much like Lucia did here:

Lucia made this quilt, with the help of Flickr friends to comfort a family friend with cancer. She asked that we make the blocks wonky or straight just as long as they are at least 9.5 inches high (unfinished).



I would like the back grounds to be red.
red red red. No white back grounds...red.
Then the cross section of the block can be made with whatever fabric you like. I am looking for diversity!
Here is a very simple tutorial for making this cross block.
short recap:
red background for block
cross section whatever you choose
no juvenile fabrics please
each block to measure at least 9.5 inches tall unfinished
theme for AIDS Walk this year is Carnivale and Vive La Rouge is the event name.
PLEASE*** please pre-wash your fabrics!!!


I'm hoping to make a large quilt

Now..if you...anyone reading this post...would like to make a quilt block to help me in my quest to be finished with this quilt my mid April...feel free to say so in my giveaway post and consider it a second entry into my giveaway and then I will email you back with my address.  Thank you!

again...please specify that you want to make a block, so that I can send you my address.