Almost Finished Pinwheel Party Quilt

I have sewn all the blocks together with little pinwheel cornerstones and sashing. There is still another border to go around the quilt with little pinwheel blocks in each corner. Then it will be completely finished except for the quilting. But, wouldn't you know, I'm about 1/4 yard short of fabric for the last border. I really liked this when I started it a few months ago, but now I am not too sure. I love the 30's fabrics but there is just too much white background. I've wanted to make a quilt out of 30's fabrics for a long time, but this one isn't it. I will probably just finish it up and try to sell it.

I've got ideas for about 4 baby quilts for little Anna who will be here before we know it! And I need to get on to making a diaper bag, and bumper pads for the crib. So this will get put away for a while...

Pinwheel Party

Here's my 12 finished blocks from Playing at the Pinwheel Party. I really like the 30's fabric with the Kona snow. This is not the finished quilt. There are still cornerstones and sashings to be completed, something like 48 half-square triangles that finish at about 2 inches--itty bitty work which I'm not too fond of. I was going to just sew all the blocks together and put a border on it, but I think I will go ahead an do it by the directions. I think it will look better. So, stay tuned...hopefully by the end of next week I'll have this top completed and be able to move on to other PHD's.

Hoopsisters Quilt

This is Month One of a block of the month class I'm doing this year. Its a Hoopsisters design called Textures and New Techniques, TNT for short. Each block is totally done in the embroidery hoop...piecing, quilting...all of it! It is so easy and very fun. I'm using batiks in greens and blues and my accent color is purple. The blocks are only 5 inches and the quilt will be pretty small--have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but its a neat little project. Stay tuned to see the progress each month.

Baby Quilt

I don't think my neighbors read my blog, so I'm pretty safe in posting this. Their first child is due next month and its a boy! I embroidered a bib and some burp cloths that I'm going to give them.
And I also made this cute quilt out of baby flannel and baby fleece. I embroidered the fleece squares with designs from Anita Gooddesign's Nursery Quilt. It was really easy and turned out pretty nice. Its soft and cuddly, too.

Wedding Gown and Quilt

I have been a busy little bee since I last posted. I made my daughter's gown for her June 12th ceremony, my jacket, and the quilt which hung at the reception behind the cake table. I loved making these and am very proud of how everything turned out. My cousin took lots of pictures and some were published in Martha Pullen's newsletter! You can see it at www.marthapullen.com. Look on the left for Martha's Newsletter, find the one for June 28, and scroll down to From Our Readers. There we are!! Thanks, June, for some great pictures!I found this quilt pattern in Quilting and Embroidery magazine. It was designed by Jennifer Gigas, a Bernina educator. I used the fruit of the Spirit as the words in each heart block. Since there's 9 fruit of the Spirit words, I had to add a couple extra. This is the jacket that is on the cover of Fabulous Fashions. I made it out of silk organza and used designs from Zundt Designs Vol 1. I have always wanted to make it and my daughter's ceremony gave me the chance. I love wearing it.

Back to the Party and the Civil War

Now I know why Bridal Lace is so expensive--it has stitch counts in the thousands and takes forever to stitch out. So while one machine was busy stitching lace in the hoop, I went across the hall to my other machine and finished up these quilt blocks.

This is the 5th block in the Pinwheel Party. Very easy and fast. Next week is the halfway block.

And then back to the Civil War Tribute...

I wonder if I can secede from the union of Civil War Tribute quilters? After all, I do live in the south...and like the majority who were tired of the war after the first 3 months, so I am growing weary of this...

I did not like this block. I don't think the directions are all that easy to follow and nowhere could I find what was supposed to be the fiished size of any of the half square triangles or the weird trapezoid shapes. Anyway, I stayed consistent throughout--I stretched all the bias edges and chopped off almost all the points!! And, lo and behold, it came out the correct 18 1/2 inches! Whew--now I have to do one more block this size and 2 12 1/2 inch blocks. The big pieces were hard enough to work with, now I have to make smaller ones???

Lace Making and EZPZ zippered bags in the hoop!!

Had to take a break from quilting to start making some lace for the bridal gown. The scalloped piece was to go around the train which will be silk organza--I think it is a little too heavy for that, so its back to the drawing board to try to figure something else out. The other little pieces are going to be zig zagged together to form a trim to go around a part of the jacket I am making for me. While making the lace, I just had to take a break to make these cute little zippered bags. They are completely done in the embroidery hoop--yes, even the rick rack. They are so much fun!!

This one holds my Little Quilts receipts. It is always with me because you never know when an emergency will hit and you have to head to the fabric store and there just might be enough receipts that will add up to one free yard of fabric!!

This one will hold all my weight watcher trackers--there's none in there now--I haven't been doing too good on that.

Check zippy's website for more cute in the hoop project ideas. http://www.zippydesignz.com/