Quilter's Garden Row Swap

I am very excited to get started on this new Row Swap. I have never done a swap before and Deana has such a great style that is right up my alley. The theme "quilter's garden" - well how perfect is that?

I will be keeping this one.

This is the first time for a few things for me. It is the first time I needle turned applique and it is my first swap! Here are six blocks that I made. I will be swapping three of them.      

Deana  gave four different patterns to choose from and they are all adorable. I used some of my 1930 stash, I love the retro look for these old machines. 

Keeper

Keeping this one

Here are the three blocks I will be swapping........

This is a swapper

Swapper 

Swapper

Squirrel Superpower

This cute little squirrel has 108 pieces and 15 different fabrics. Quite a piece of engineering. Janeen at Quilt Art Design is amazing! I really appreciate her designs and capability as a paper piecing designer. The "In The Garden" quilt has a Flicker Group - I so enjoy lookin at other quilters choices.

Again I have problems with selecting the best fabrics, relying only on my stash is part of it, I know I should be able to pick better. I know that solids will work but I seem to want to choose prints and work them in. 

I really got a chance to catch up on some old projects this weekend. Lovin' mindless sewing. The Riley Blake Birthday quilt has, I think, only two months left. I finished the cupcakes and the Birthday Banner.

The buttons are just layed there... I need to get 8 red "cherry" buttons to top them off. They do not get sewed on until after the quilting is done so I can shop around.

This will be a cute quilt when finished you can see the full design on the sidebar of the blog.

You might notice a new button on the top left of my blog - Quilters Garden - a new mystery row by row BoM I just joined. Take a look at the link - I can not wait to get started. September 1 is here and gone, and it was Labor Day so, sew, sew sew! Oh boy!

I was hopping on the web and looking at oh so many blogs and I noticed Lily's Quilts, I have been a follower for a little while and she hosts a linky party for small bloggers. What a great idea and a great way to find inspiration and knowledge. Check out the link.

Thanks again for stopping by,

Jules       ...............

Utensils and Orange Juice with Cups

I have now caught up with the Quiet Play Kitschy Kitchen BoM! I did have some problems but it always amazes me how paper piecing comes together - I am so addicted. The fabric selections are not perfect but I wanted the vintage look without running out and buying more fabric. My stash is it, and coming up with something that is half way workable really takes time, it is the hardest part and the most disappointing part too. I hope this quilt look consistent and flows once it is all put together. I am leaning toward a yellow sashing that I have "in stash" - What do you think?

Here is a link to Quiet Play Flicker Group

This is the sashing fabric I am thinking of,

What do you think?  

Here is a link to my Flicker page - if you have one, please send me a link, I would love to see your work. I find so much inspiration in all the talent we quilters share. 

I hope your day is going well.

Take Care,

Jules

Retro Radio Block

In keeping up with Sew Kitschy kitchen quilt I finally got around to the Retro Radio block. I made it a bit larger than the pattern as I am thinking I would like a full size quilt and not a wall hanging so I will probably choose three more of Quiet Plays blocks from her Etsy store and make the whole thing larger. I am going to embroider the "speaker holes" too, details always add to a block. There are a few of the radios on the Flicker Group -

Tulips

Another paper pieced block - tulips. The background reminds me of a Van Gogh painting. This is another of Janeen's blocks from Quilt Art Design - In The Garden. Here is a link to the Flicker Group she runs. 

12" x 12"

Thanks for stopping by,

Jules

Beautiful Bird Block

I was really excited to get some time to work on some of my In The Garden BoM's that I am behind on. Janeen of Quilt Art Design offered this beautiful bird block. I think I honestly must have spent over 6 hours on it. I find paper piecing "sophisticated" and challenging. This block while finishing at 12" square has way over 140 pieces in it. 

I am very happy with the way it has turned out. I was a bit afraid about the background print, whether it would be too busy but I took a chance as it reminded me of the wind. With the bright colors of the bird heads I think you can distinguish the birds fine. If anything the leaves should have been darker.

You can see more on her Flicker Group

Here are four of the blocks I have finished      

STOP HOARDING AND ORGANIZE

I have been hourding scraps ever since I started quilting 4 years ago. I keep throwing scraps under my sewing table in this plastic bin. Needless to say it is over flowing and in need of attention. Before starting the birds above I decided enough is enough and if I organized this bin I could come up with some fantastic fabric for it without cutting into yardage.

Now that is nice and easy to find pieces by color. I should have done this awhile ago.

ALSO SOME CUTE PRESENT BLOCKS

Catching up on the Riley Blake Party Quilt - here are the presents ready to open. Easy pleasy block - mindless sewing

Tonight is the Orange County Quilters Guild meeting. I finished putting the binding on my Amish quilt last night so I can bring it for Show and Tell. Having a reason to finish - really helps me get motivated. 

Freemotion by the River Linky Tuesday

I am a WINNER!! The Row By Row Experience 2014

The Row By Row Experience 2014

The Row By Row Experience is a collaborative effort of 1200 stores in the USA. Each store offers a free row pattern. If you put together eight of them and are the first one to bring a completed row quilt into one of the participating stores - you win!. I AM A WINNER.

Last Thursday I called the Orange Sewing Bee and asked if anyone had claimed the prize yet - none had. So I thought I had a chance at it still. The first time Quilters Garden had longarms available was this morning - I scheduled the time and quilted it this morning, ran home and bound it.
I drove immediately over to the Orange Sewing Bee - but ahhh shucks someone actually turned one in yesterday at 1:00. With the speed of an electric seam ripper I called The Flying Geese in Tustin and asked. They told me no one had claimed the prize yet, I told them I would be there in ten minutes And here is my prize - 25 personally selected fat quarters.. aren't they beautiful. I also got a $20.00 gift certificate.