Start Quilt Along

Here are my stars. I finished the most recent but it is not in the picture yet. I've been working on the background blocks.

Yesterday I had the most fun with my mom. We saw a great quilt in the Spring/Summer issue of Quilt Sampler. They featured a Shop Hop with 10 shops. One shop in particular had a quilt that caught my mom's eye. She called about the kit but they were sold out. She spent some days looking at local shops to see if they had the fabric, no luck. We called the shop in Kansas
Lillies Classic Quilts and they were very helpful about the fabric they used (Simplicity by 3 Sisters for Moda - I was going to include the link but it takes FOREVER to load) and wished us luck.

We did an internet search and came up with several sites that had some, but not all of the fabric needed. We needed several different fabrics within that line and were trying to match the pattern in the magazine. It took 2.5 hours but we did it. We found a shop in North Dakota that had 90% of the fabric we needed. We called and were helped by a very patient salesgal. For the remaining 10%, we found another on-line shop in NY and ordered the last bit. My mom is so excited to get her packages! Isn't the internet amazing? I am pretty excited about my mom's new project. Maybe she'll let me post pictures of her progress.

Blogging for prizes, robin update

I read about Canton Village Quilt Works giveaway on Polkadot Quilts. I would LOVE to win some longarm quilting so here's the link for others to follow.

I have been on vacation this past week. I got some quilitng done - mostly cutting out squares and rectangels for Amanda Jean's Quilt A Long. I started the background blocks too. My niece was fascinated by the cutting out process and helped me cut some squares. I think she liked the rotary cutter and cutting mat. I will post a picture of my progress soon.

As a follow up to the robin's nest post, we saw a cat in the tree and the robins were going nuts! We shooed the cat away but sadly the next morning we found a baby robin on the walk. It was alive but barely. I picked him up with paper towel and put him back in the nest. Some hours later, we found a dead baby robin in the grass under the nest and a live baby nearby. My DH looked on the internet to find what to do. We found a new home for the baby robin at Wild BIRD in SE Denver. It is a non-profit dedicated to rehabilitating abandoned and injured birds. The small private home was staffed mostly by volunteers. The chirping noise was nearly overwhelming. My little robin heard all the chirps and started in himself. He was hungry! The staff took him to an incubator and presumably gave him some lunch.

The next morning, we found a second baby robin on the side walk. I took her inside and put her in a shoebox on a bed of paper towels and a ziplock filled with warm/hot tap water. Soon she was chirping and asking for food. We made a second trip to Wild BIRD. I checked the next to make sure no more siblings were waiting. The adult robins were nowhere to be found.

Rules, Schmules...

Breaking my own, self-imposed, rule to only have one quilt going at a time, I started this one. My DH gave me this kit for Christmas after I saw it in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Quiltmania. I loved it! This picture does not do the turquoise/brown contrast justice. The one in the magazine is even more engaging.

I am almost done with the quilt top. I must have mis-cut the dark brown because I was short 4 of the side rectangles. Rats! I ended up ordering more fabric directly from Japan, with the help of a dear friend. I am anxiously awating the delivery of this cloth. Then I will complete the top.

The quilting is a simple nested curve design that I will try to do on my own. I am still happily working on the Star Quilt-A-Long. I am unhappy with my selection of blues for my color scheme so... I must go shopping!!

Nature, Trip and QAL

We found a robin's nest in our oak tree in the front yard. This rainy morning, it looked like the dad-robin was watching over the eggs while mom went out for food. I hope there are eggs - I don't want to get too close. You can just make out the yellow beak and part of the red breast. This nest is surprisingly close to the street and our neighbors drive way.

I am going to Houston next week on business. I will be staying in Katy with meetings in Brookshire. Does anyone know of quilt shops they can recommend I visit? I hope to have some free time in the evenings.

I am making progress on the Star QAL. Last night I finished two more stars. I am determined to use stash fabric! I have some scraps in strips that are too narrow for the recommended size squares. I was thinking that because many of the squares are then cut into triangles, if I am extra very careful, I might be able to use the strips and therefore my stash cloth. This might be a frustrating evening of do-overs but I will give it a try. Am having a lot of fun with this QAL

Star QAL

Voila! My stars from weeks 4 and 5. I don't know why I went in reverse order. I've always wanted to do a blue and white quilt. Looks like here's my chance.

Quilted Purses

This weekend I finished two more quilted purses. I made some for my girls (top, with butterflies) and they love them! They like to dress up, put on a hat and sunglasses and carry their purse around. I made the bottom two for my friend's girls who are 6 and 2. I need to get them in the mail soon.

The purses are easy to make using scraps cut into strips and sewn together. I used rickrack on some seams. I used webbing handles on the top two purses. I used ribbon sewed to muslin with a light interfacing on the green one and flower eyelet sewed to cotton on the other. I quilted them using scraps of batting using stitch in the ditch and simple lines. No interior pocket or closure. The purses generally measure 8.5 x 11 although you can see some variation.

My girls turned 2 yesterday! My DH also had a birthday
yesterday. Quite a day!

I also got started on AmandaJean's Quilt-A-Long! I cut out the pieces for weeks 1 to 5 and sewed stars from weeks 5 and 4. I will post a picture soon. The photo instructions are super clear and easy to follow. Thanks so much AmandaJean for a fun early summer project!