Celebrity Rose

My dog, Rose, has been featured as a Monday, Pets on Furniture at the blog - Desire to Inspire. Of course, the blogsters are not looking for pets per se - they are just props to the furniture that's featured in the blog posts.

If you have a minute, check out the designers and architecture they feature - very inspiring even though much of it is contemporary. Occasionally, they throw in a garden, a piece of [$$$$$] real estate, or in some cases, a refinished couch complete with sewing buddy.

The Ghastlies

I'm having difficulty deciding on what type of quilt I want to make this fall - sooooo far behind the rest of you. I had told Jo that I thought about doing an orange and pink combo, kind of a watercolor effect.

But, then I met "The Ghastlies" a line by Alexander Henry. I "don't" have a Halloween quilt.....

FashionableFabrics offers some of the line on etsy. There's a smok-ey color palette, some greens to choose from, but the ones I really like [cough] are the pink-ey toned ones. Here's more fun. Thoughts?

I also just found this quilt for inspiration. I've shown this fabric so much to my sister that I think she'll be joining us in our fall quilt-a-long.

Pondering September - Do you remember that we're going to have Mac do a workshop for us Friday night on September 17th? Along with the potluck, we could also do our fabric (scrap) swap as well. I thought I'd do a few raffles too. So, if you have any raffle possiblities, let me know. It can be sewing books, sewing gadgets, material, etc. I can't wait - it'll be so fun!

Following up on Michelle's post

Here is the project bag that I selected so you can get an idea of the options!

Possible Project(s)?

As all good crafters, during the year, we are pondering the ever-question of gift-giving. The intrepid team of Jo and Holly (in their fabric shopping excursion) found a pattern for delightful pouches. Created by Atkinson Design, I wonder if there is an interest in working on these this fall?

The same design team also offers these tool pouches:

Take a peak at the website, Atkinson Designs, some wonderful eye candy is in store.

Alternative Course

A few months ago, I brought my redwork and toile to work. I just couldn't get the colors to jive together to make the type of quilt that I wanted. With much conversation amongst fellow quilters, there appeared to be a path that I could take but, alas, I was not in love with the fabric combinations. The reds all went back into the cabinet.

Lately, I've been inspired by various patchwork I've been seeing in blogs (particularly other projects here) I resurrected the reds and found a combination that I did love.

Once again, fate kicked me in the shins as I realized that I didn't have enough fabric to carry out the color scheme. Deciding that I would be thrifty and would not purchase any more material (I bought these years ago, the search would have gone on and on, and it wasn't the original quilt that I wanted - it was an alternative), I decided I could only work with what I had.

So, here's one of the alternative squares - a type of 9-patch if you will.

And, here's the final layout. It's not perfect, but I do love it and it sure is scrappy. I think to make it perfect, I would get rid of one of the red squares in the upper left, make it more diagonal. But, I am all out of fabric so it'll have to stay like this for layout. I "could" make just a toile square in the lower right corner. What do you think?

Apart from sewing with red, I've been entranced with watercolors. I have no idea what I'm doing but here's one result:

And, as always, my support crew is never too far from the sewing room.

Kaylee Maxine

I'm just popping in to post a picture of the baby. She gets cuter by the day and we are hopelessly in love. I'm working on updating my own blog with our birth story and some of the billions of pictures we've taken this past week, but I have quickly found that there are just not enough hours in the day for doting on her and getting everything done that I hope to accomplish by the bedtime. Hopefully I'll have a chance to get to it sometime this week...

Ashton Quilt Show

Yesterday I went to a quilt show in Ashton, Illinois (near Rochelle). It was put on by the local quilt guild and held at the home of a guild member as a donation-only event to benefit their local hospice. The rolling, pastoral property provided a lovely backdrop for the event. Quilts were displayed along the long driveway over fences and arranged in vignettes - draped over chairs, wheelbarrows, and other objects. This stroll led down a hill to a wooded spot where the largest group of quilts hung on clotheslines. Beautiful work! What struck me about them was how traditional they were - no Amy Butler, Moda or batiks here. (well . . . maybe a couple with a contemporary fabric/design here or there . . . ) My friends and I had a lovely afternoon strolling the property, chatting with guild members and being inspired by these lovely works of art. Enjoy!

These are just a preview! To view the full range of these beautiful quilts, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/106211041670228925920/AshtonQuiltShowAugust72010

Holiday 9 patch!

Decided to be bold- holiday flannel for my 9 patch!

Lucy's quilt ready for quilting!

Lucy's quilt....thus far

i am really having fun with this pattern! Thanks again, Jo, for helping me select the fabric!

More on piecing and binding

As we continue to create our wonderful quilts I search the blogosphere (thanks for the addiction Michelle!) for easy to do tutorials. I really like this one from Make-it Love it on binding which compares two techniques with a lot of photos for easy to follow directions!

Take a look!