Going In Circles

 All last week

I was either running in circles,

 cutting circles,

or baking circles.

First,
I finally got a copy of the
 newest Quiltmania magazine, and

I decided to start part 2

of Di Ford's mystery quilt.

I spent a lot of time

 making piles of circles

to applique.

If you want round perfect circles,

there are multiple steps.
I do the steps,

but mine are far from perfect.

Close enough.

I loved Di's suggestion of marking the
individual 48 squares on the background fabric,
appliqueing the circles,
and then cutting the squares apart.

 Here's what part the second border looks like
with all those circles.

Other quilters, doing part 2,
have basted their circles in nice rows,
8 of each fabric in one neat row.
 Well,
this is what happens when

 you try to do this while
 watching  "The Voice".

****

I have one more week at home,
before I leave to 

spend the weekdays in Denver

caring for my newest grand baby for a few months.
There seems to be so many things I
need to do before I go.

One thing on the top of my list was

to invite my "Quilty Buddies"

over for a day of stitching,

and friendship.

Every celebration
needs cake and
I decided to bake something unforgettable.
I don't want them

 to forget me while I'm gone.

I made a three tiered polka dot cake.

If you google it, there are quite a few

sites that can give you detailed instructions.

Sorry my photos aren't
wonderful,
we were all giggling too much!

The best part is cutting into the cake,
and Tah Dah....

 perfect polka dots.

This was just too much fun.

 So my "going in circles" ended as a good thing.

Especially, when you are circling with people

 that you hold dear.

Until Next Time-

Marching On

With the days of March
marching on forever,
I needed to take advantage of this seemingly
long month.

I was feeling a bit guilty,
 like we all tend to do on occasion,
having my long list of WIP's, so
 I pulled out a quilt top
that was so close to being done.

In July

I had started these nine patches
using two packets of charm squares,
Posy by Aneela Hoey
and Cuzco by Kate Spain.

I had even sewn the blocks together,
alternating with a solid white square.

Why did I stop?

Actually a couple of reasons:

I was moving and needed to stop sewing

and pack things up.

(a completely valid reason)

But the other reason was that
 I needed to find fabric for a border,

And I wasn't in the mood to go look.

Well, I've moved

and can cross that off the list of excuses.

So, what was left?

Go fabric shopping!

This is such a simple pattern and it

really gives the feeling of a vintage quilt.

Only the colored spaces are filled in

with some fun modern fabrics,

moving it forward in time.

These simple designs

come alive once they are quilted.

I plan to embellish with 

some rick rack 

( I love that stuff)

and do a gentle swagged border after

the quilting has been completed.

Okay,

I'm closer to being finished,

 no more excuses,

or at least not right away!

Until Next Time-

Spring Will Come

 How do you turn this...

and this 

into springtime?

 By playing a mental game

of imagining these colors and

fields of tulips

and then sewing

Fields of Tulips
50" x 64"

2014

these rows of

spring time colors.

I stitched on the binding Saturday 

as the snow continued to fall.

It may not be tulip weather here yet,

but my rows of colors are done.

I started this simple springtime mood enhancer

a few weeks ago, HERE, using 

strips of fabrics rather than triangles.

The backing fabric
was no gray winter day either,

This is a great print by Riley Blake
called Sidewalks by October Afternoon.
It definitely made me feel happy.

This fast and easy quilt was the 

perfect positive image 

I needed to push the winter doldrums away.
 I'm starting to feel like spring isn't too far off.

Until Next Time-

Spring Break

Even though I know longer

have kids attending school,

and don't live according to the school calendar anymore,

I still love the thought of a "spring break".

My daughter, who is an elementary teacher,

still knows the need to get away just for a few days

to refresh the spirit.

So along with her family

 and

 

 Running Man and myself

 have been enjoying the snow softly falling

at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies

located in beautiful 

Estes Park, Colorado.

We've rested,

relaxed,

watched for animals,

even touched a few,

gazed into the fire

and reflected on life

and the importance of family

while toasting a few marshmallows

to keep our energy level up.

When it was time to return home

we all knew

it had been a lovely "spring break".

 
 Until Next Time-

I'm Not Into Mysteries

 I think,

 I tried to do a mystery quilt once,

but I just couldn't follow through.

I must be more of a control freak

than I let on.

I needed to know,
before I started cutting and sewing,
 if the fabrics I had chosen

were really going work out.

While working at the quilt shop,
I had seen too many mystery quilts that
 should have remained a mystery.

Personally, I've always wanted more control,
especially if I was putting all that
time and money into a quilt.

But what am I doing now?

I'm following along and stitching

Di Ford's Mystery Quilt

Mountmellick

 featured in the magazine

Quiltmania, beginning in issue #99.

Why?
1. Because I love her designs,
so I knew I couldn't go wrong.

2.  I surprised myself by already having
the border fabric she had used.

3. I wanted an excuse to buy
some stunning Dutch Chintz.

 

4. And I wanted to try some Broderie Perse applique
and finally join in the fun
of making 1/2" hexies.

It was easy to get started because

this project isn't really a mystery quilt

in the common meaning of the term..

I knew what part #1 looked like,

so I could find similar colors

to match the colors in my Chintz,

and know where they were going to placed

in the quilt...no mystery.

Di Ford has even created 

a you tube video explaining
in detail the steps
involved for this part of the quilt.
  

She shares lots of wonderful

applique information, if you're interested.

I discovered only one shop

in the US that carries the Dutch Chintz

by the yard,

Happiness Is...Quilting

in McKinney, Texas.

 It's all so beautiful.

I went ahead and purchased a yard,

and I'm glad I did, 

despite the price.

My lovely one yard piece

now has lots of holes cut into it.

 If I hadn't gotten that amount,

I might not have been able to find

enough useable repeats of a specific figure.

So now,

there's no mystery about it,

 this is another great project

I've added to my have "fun list".

Until Next Time-

The Royal Rumpus

This past weekend was

not about quilting,

or the weather,

or what was on my 

calendar for next week.

It was all about family.

"'And now,' cried Max, 'Let the wild rumpus start!'"

~ Where the Wild Things Are ~

 

 Despite all the commotion,

the silliness,

and the giggles,

one little boy slept.

Hope you have a royal rumpus soon.

Until Next Time-

Rows of Tulips

 Several springs ago,

Running Man and I went to

La Conner, Washington

to admire and be awestruck

by the beauty of  millions
 of  blooming tulips.

There are thousands of rows

of colorful tulips filling the landscape.

It's like looking at a 

row by row quilt made up
of wonderful fresh spring time colors.

That was my inspiration when I 

gathered some quarter yard pieces

of  bright cheerful fabrics

and decided to make a chevron patterned

"get me out of the gloom of winter" quilt.

We all know, there can be many ways to get 

to the same conclusion.

In this case, in making a chevron design,

I chose to use only strips of fabrics,

no half square triangles 

to get a zig zag pattern.

I cut 2 strips of each of the 19 fabrics,
 each 3 inches wide.

Then arranged them in an order
to achieve some balance

between the colors.

Then it was simple straight strip sewing.

 Crazy Mom quilts

has a great tutorial on how to do use

this variation of a rail fence
to create a chevron.

You can see how the  duplicate strips were 

matched up. 

 

 Each strip was subcut into 5.5" squares

(Don't mix up the order of the strips or 

it gets WAY to confusing.)

Then on my design floor

the first set of blocks were laid out.
By turning set 1 one direction

and the second set turned the other direction

you create a chevron pattern.

I added an extra piece at the beginning of each

row so I wouldn't have to cut off so much

when it came time to straighten the edges.

The  diagonal rows of blocks
 were simply sewn together,

 then the rows were sewn,

and finally the jagged edges straightened.

The quilt top is finished

looking like colorful bands

of springtime tulips.

Until Next Time-