Another Top Done and A Log Cabin Mystery Solved

I have had a very lazy, enjoyable Memorial Weekend, in fact, I haven't left the house ( well, I did go into the backyard ) for two - yep 2! - whole days.. My kind of weekend!... Drives my husband nuts, he has to go SOMEWHERE every day.
What did I do during my two day 'hide away from the world' you might ask? I browsed around on the Quilt Festival -- I am so! inspired by what everyone is doing... If you haven't taken time to surf the blogs,, please do - truly amazing ( thanks Amy for doing this for us! )

I wasn't a complete slug ( yes, I showered and brushed my teeth and even sorta got dressed :) ) and I was busy - I got the southwest quilt top finished - and I like it!

I took this picture during one of excursions to the back yard today - :) I'm happy with how it turned out,, I really wasn't sure when I started it, but I had the pattern, all the fabric is from my stash ( give me 'high five' for that! ).. it's a Judy Niemeyer pattern and I love her stuff, so why not work on it ( mindless paper pieceing ) and if I like it, cool - if not, I know a good charity.

Now the fun part,, all the paper is still on the back! Guess I need to put in a good movie and start tearing,, I could use some help?! Do I hear any volunteers?? gee, it's awfully quiet !!! just one volunteer??

I also played with my blocks from Judy B/Virtual Quilter who had a mystery log cabin that just ended. I had lots of fun following along and making the blocks. She did really well, too, cause she spaced the blocks out just right. I could keep up and manage to go to work ( I would much rather have stayed home - is ther such a thing as 'calling in quilt'? like calling in sick??).
Judy also challenged the participants to come up with what we thought was her mystery design. I did that HERE. Nope, I didn't guess it.

This is Judy's solution (using my blocks on the design wall ) - I really like it...

Now this is my solution, again using my blocks on the design wall I like it, too.

And, oh my, there are a bunch more layouts that she gave those of us who did the mystery - so I can make more blocks and more quilts!
What do you think? I just can't decide which way to sew these together - help me out, ok?

I hope everyone had a great weekend and spent lots of time with family and friends.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Amy's Creative Side is having her Blogger's Quilt Festival - this festival is made up of bloggers showing off our favorite quilts.
So, what makes a quilt be a "FAVORITE"? Is it the fabrics, the colors, the pattern, the technique?? I say YES to all of those. But isn't your favorite quilt the one that has the most memories? THAT quilt that brings back a moment in our lives - whether good or bad - but that one special moment that stays with us?

All my quilts are my favorites - for that moment but this one is special to me. ~~~~~~~~
I challenged my friend Tirane to make a quilt with me - well not WITH me but to make the same pattern at the same time. We used a pattern from Bonnie Hunter but made it each our own. I had such a great time colaborating on this ( I understand why there are quilt partners like Gwen and Freddie!).
You need to go HERE to see the differences in our quilts - I love hers, I love mine! But there is a difference - a big difference! Check them out, you wouldn't know it is the same pattern.

Tirane has a long arm and she quilted this for me, too! I never tell her what to do, she just "knows" ( ain't it great! ) Go HERE to see the quilting,, she picked up the apple motif and made the border look like apple pies ( reminds me of my Mom's apple dumplings - OMG they were so! good! ) and there are little curly cues and leaves and -- oh! you really have to go look! -- it's just really great.

I really love the colors in this quilt. It's happy and warm and gives me the "warm fuzzy" feeling. I love the different patterns/textures in the fabrics, too. But I really like this quilt because my friend and I created it together. I have the memories of our conversations, our friendship. I know there are many more quilts that we will do together.

So, this is my entry into the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Enjoy them all!
Gotta go! I've got lots of quilts to look at! Thanks for looking at mine.

Western Motif

A friend was cleaning out her sewing room and she had a Judy Neimeyer pattern that was hollering my name. I still like the southwestern look ( yes, I know, I need to get into the 21st century ) and I had some fabric that I thought would work great. And besides, I got to use up some stash!

This is the pattern cover,, pretty easy, huh! The directions and the method that Ms. Niemeyer uses in all her patterns makes life so easy when paper piecing - I just love her stuff~

Now this is what mine is starting to look like. My friend had two patterns ( they include the patterns already printed on paper ) cause I guess she was going to make a double size.... so I did too! Might as well use up what you have, right?

You don't see as much variation as you do in the pattern cover,, some but not much. I also need to punch it up,, that will happen in the border I guess..Needs more of the orange!

So far, I'm ok with it,, maybe I should have used batiks!?!

Well, let's see how this ends up.

Mystery Log Cabin Quilt

Judy B at Virtual Quilter has a mystery log cabin quilt going on and I have been diligently working on my blocks ever so carefully! I learn my lesson with my first log cabin - you HAVE TO square up each of the blocks, not just at the finish of the block but as you sew the logs together or else -- well, I have some wonky blocks in that quilt. Not this one! Straight and true each and every one! ( Can you tell I'm proud of myself! LOL )

She gave us a block each time to make, some were only 4 blocks, one we had to make 8 blocks and the last is only one block. Six different blocks in all. Now she has posted an EQ6 file with all the blocks and she suggests that we play around and figure out how they might all fit together. What a tease!

It is going to be another week I think before she posts her "solution" to the mystery but this is one of the designs I came up with

-- so how about it Miss Judy? Is this the design???