Welcome 2012!!

Happy New Year !!

2012 New FO plan

Who wants to finish OLD projects - Not ME!  That's why they are old, cause I didn't want to finish them in the first place :) So, I'm joining CATPATCHES 2012 New FO Challenge - start a new project once a month. OY, I must be crazy

.  See the button on the side of the screen?  Click and you can join in, too!

So, here are the 12 quilts/projects that I want to start in 2012.  Drum roll please. And in no particular order

1.  Black and White Stack n' Whack - I have some great black and white jungle fabric that I've been planning on doing as a stack and whack - this is the fabric   Pretty cool - see the gold in the eyes?  Anyway, I've been saving this so I'm gonna do it!

2.  I found a pattern in a magazine that was Blue and White Churn Dash - the dashes are dark blue/white and the background is white/blue.  I had several pieces of dark indigo so I've been gathering white/blue and I want to make that one.  I'll find the magazine and picture and post later. ( I'm at work right now and, well, the magazine is home :) )

3.  Falling Leaves - omg, I've have this pattern for so long and have had fabric pulled for several years.  Now I have a terra cotta colored kitchen and a perfect place for this quilt ( hanging on a big wall in my kitchen ) ( another one I have to get a picture of the pattern )

4.  Kaffe Fassett has a cool pattern of houses - always wanted a house quilt - only this one is made of fabrics with circles on them.  I've collected all the fabric and now it's time to make the quilt!

5.  A French Braid Quilt!  this one in black and white prints ( cause I have them )

  I have been wanting to make one of these quilts ever since the book came out.

6.  Turning Twenty - in purple!  one of my favorite colors - and, guess what!  I have the fat quarters already, too!

7.  Spa Quads Quilt - I may have the name wrong but I'm at work so that's ok.  I'll fix it when I get home.  But it's a cool freebie pattern I found on the web, and yep, I already have the fabrics!  I did find another I like that the fabrics would be great with - so I'm going to take the liberty to make up my mind later. The other is Birthday Cake Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman at www.ohfransson.com.

     8.My friend tirane and I have always talked about making a Hunter's Star - I'll do mine in blacks and whites and she is going to use colors ( she is getting so much better at using color! )

 

9.  There is a green scrappy quilt that I saw in a magazine a few months back - I'm going to put that quilt on this list, too. Found it!  It's called "How Green is My Stash" and I was drawn to it cause I do have a lot of green!  McCall's Quilting, Sept/Oct 2011

10,11,12 - I have to leave room for donation quilts.  Those will be finished, not just started.  I have lots of fabric and there are lots of people who need quilts.

SO, there is my list ( I'll come back and edit with some pictures of what I want to do ).  The cool thing is no pressure to FINISH!  Just to start them!

Want to play with me?

The Last Quilt of 2011

I took a day just for ME,, and got the top finished on 9-Patch Agony.  and I think my borders are even steven on this one ( I usually have problems with pieced borders, they are just not my thing :( ) but I think this time they came out pretty dang good!

I like it.

I like how the dark border gives a good finish to the top.  Fabrics all came from my stash --  a new reason to go shopping, right?!  no no no, I'm just tickled that I had fabrics that I could use up.

and yes, I took this photo today - it must have been about 60 degrees outside, bright blue sky - absolutely beautiful for Dec 27.

So this is the last quilt of 2011.

and I like it.

No UFO Challenge for ME!

Nope, not going to join a UFO challenge for 2012.  Couldn't guarantee that I would get something finished in a month anyway.  My sewing is too sporadic to guarantee that.

BUT

I can join CAT PATCHES Challenge!  She has a NEW FO Project challenge starting.  Just start something!  LOL I can DO that!  Check out her blog and see what it's all about.  I figure this will commit me to pulling the fabrics ( I wish my stash looked like this! ) that I bought with a particular quilt in mind cause right now they are just languishing in my fabric closet being lazy, taking up space .  And Maybe, just MAYBE, if I have them pulled and cut, I might actually get them made.

OH another plus, when it's time for retreat, I'll have kits all ready to go!

so have you figured it out --  sounds like my plan is to make kits, not acutally sew them, but just kit stuff up.  No, not such a good plan, but it might be fun to be able to pull something ready to go and get it done.

Ok, making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice  ---  no no no,, that's the wrong song :)

9 Patch Agony

Well, not really agony, but I'm REAL tired of 9 patch blocks. I haven't pressed the seams yet on this top, but I got all the rows together and wanted to see what it was looking like. Darn thing is so big I had to push the couch out of the way to get it all flat -- and, get this! I don't have borders on yet!! Yikes! The borders are about 5 inchs, with MORE 9-patch blocks.

This has been a great way to use up some small pieces of fabric and I really do like it but golly molly, I'm ready to move on to another kind of block.

A Christmas Song for a Saturday Night

Merry Christmas Smiles

We Occupied a Sewing Room!

Our annual Christmas retreat was this past weekend - and as always loads of fun, loads of food, lots of sewing and wonderful company!  I was so busy - eating and talking - that I didn't get everything done that I brought,, but isn't that the idea of retreat? To relax, and enjoy friends?

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

I just finished this wall hanging tonite, got the top all done over the weekend, but finished it up tonight.  Think I'll take it to work and hang it on my cubicle wall --  it's a Kim Schaefer design and was so much fun to do. Everytime I do a fusible applique, I think of coloring books.

Check out this one!  another fusible --

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter and this beauty is all Minkee fabrics - the backing is a beautiful red.  so soft and scrumptious!  I want to make one for me !

check out Shakespere in the Park!  all beautiful batiks - and from her stash!  I fell so in love with this that I ordered the book on line that day.  hhmm, do I want batiks, too?  do I want the blue theme?  I can't wait to see this quilted.

t-shirt quilt - being reworked by a nice mother in law

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I love the fabrics in this one, those big roses!

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

ok, check this out.. see the dime?

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter can you imagine !!??  I don't know how she did this.  I saw some cutting and templates,, but dang!

ok, lets get out the scraps and you, too, can do this!  Now, don't just glance at this,, look close,,  it's not just strips, but squares and squares in squares.  I bet with all the scraps I have, I could find enough to make one like this :)

great snowballs! it has a very modern look.  wonder how she is going to quilt it? wonder what the back is going to be??

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

this is from a block swap we did about 6 years ago.  How many groups of blocks from swaps do you have?

one of the ladies was super busy making rag quilts for grandkids -- she cut and cut and cut ( this is just a small pile of batting squares ) finally done with cutting batting she started in cutting novelty fabrics,, we had more fun looking at those fabrics.  I have to get mine out, get them used, share them with kids!  What good are they doing in the closet.. yep, they need to be shared.  a really cute strip quilt. yep, novelty fabrics need to be shared.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidy season.  I have to get busy!  I just realized that I haven't started Christmas shopping --  yikes!

Mary did you know?

it was the most wonderful weekend --  rainy, cold, and just wonderful!!  I know, that sounds really strange, but I got to stay in jammas ALL weekend!  I didn't leave the house just once and I got to sew, and read and sleep --  I was in heaven!  And my DH was gone most of the two days, too - WHOO WHEE!  not only did I get to stay inside, I had the house to myself!  As a bonus,, ( and gee, it's fun to read other's blogs cause you never know what you might learn ) I was part of the OCCUPY YOUR SEWING ROOM group/giveaway < a huge grin goes here >.  There is a button on the right and you can go here to link to the blog.  There's a giveaway, too!

So what did I do with my time, you might ask?  Well, since retreat is next weekend, I got two kits cut to take with me, cleaned the sewing room a bit, worked on MORE nine-patches for that garsh darn 9-patch quilt.  I also started reading the book HUNGER GAMES and I'm just about finished with it .  The thing I didn't do was cook --  my husband is just the best - he isn't really picky about what he eats so he was perfectly happy to go out and get us dinner last night and have sandwiches and soup tonite.


And since it is Christmas, I wanted to share my favorite Christmas song with everyone.  Enjoy!

went to retreat this weekend --  I think that qualifies for more Occupy Your Sewing Room!