Rick Rack Paddy Whack--Blogger Quilt Festival

Hi Quilting Friends!  Welcome to the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival put on by Amy. My entry is a fun quilt that I can actually say I designed myself for my LQS, Harper's Fabric and Quilt Co., and their popular Strip Club! Now before you get too excited, Silly Thing, the Club isn't in Los Vegas or anything. (Had you going there, didn't I?) You can join The Club monthly by purchasing a custom made jelly roll from Harper's, which is actually in a suburb of Kansas City. On the last Sunday of each month, an original pattern is revealed to be used with that particular jelly roll. It's all great fun........and addictive!!

Rick Rack Paddy Whack hangs at the top of the stairs in my house.  I love seeing it there every time I trip  walk up the stairs to my sewing room/extra bedroom. It's made using mostly Heather Bailey fabrics with a little Amy Butler and Kaffe Fasset thrown in. As you can see, jumbo rick rack separates the lighter squares from the darker rectangle strips in the design.

 While I enjoyed the process of creating a special quilt for the Strip Club, I did learn a few things along the way. First, it's really  fun to choose fabrics to make up a jelly roll, especially if you are not the one who has to cut the strips yourself and roll them up! Second, it's really, really hard to write up a pattern and get all the math right for several different sizes of quilt tops! Third, it's really, really, really hard to make a quilt and turn it into a pattern while at the same time packing up a house to move...especially after living in said house for 16 years! I get the hives just thinking about it!!

I love the quilt, though.  Isn't that rick rack cute? Now, go get your coffee pot going and break out the pumpkin cookies because your going to want some while you visit the other quilts on this wonderful Quilt Festival. Have fun!!
                                                                          

Hexagon Quilt WIP

Hexagon fever has hit the last couple of days! Really wanting  to finish up a WIP, I hauled out my Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-Along project from a while back. The colors are fallish, I think, so it's a great quilt to be working on with all the color going on outside my window!

I'm wondering if I might want some sort of border on this lap size quilt. There are several pieces of the Hope Valley fabrics left, so that would certainly be doable.

Putting this quilt together is a little different than most quilts that I make.  Each hexagon is put together one half at a time and then the rows will be sewn together so that the hexagons are completed.  I like the way the hexes are off set with this setting.

Julie, from Jaybird Quilts, was the brains behind the various hexagon designs. She did a wonderful job of leading the quilt along.  I have no excuse for being so late in getting it done...I hope to have a finish to show you soon!
Next up.......cutting into the Anna Maria Horner fabrics using the Serendipity pattern by Jennifer, from That girl....That quilt.  Hattie is getting impatient!!

Spotty Hexagons Wordless Wednesday

Scrappy Greeting Card

Fancy cards are so expensive. Here's an idea for a quick and fun card that every quilter with scraps can whip up for next to nothing! I got the idea and instructions from a very special and creative blog, homemade ginger. (You might recognize the author as my daughter!)

I picked up an inexpensive greeting card with the sentiment that I needed and went to town ripping up some fabric strips to sew onto the card. To decorate the matching gift card sleeve I added a little gathered ruffle. There are so many possibilities...look here and here.
Go ahead....give it a try! 
*Warning: Making these can be addictive!

Experimenting

Cherri House was our guest speaker at the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild last Thursday night.  It was so inspirational to see many of the quilts from her new book City Quilts up close and personal!  Cherri shared how much quilting and creating her own unique designs has enriched her personally and healed her emotionally.  I went away hoping that some of her creativity and experimental attitude toward quilting would rub off on me!


Within the KCMQG, there are 12 of us who have joined together to exchange blocks each month.  Jaime handed out scraps from her lovely clothing construction adventures and asked us each to create something with circles as the theme for her October blocks. Oh, boy! No grass grew under my feet in wanting to stretch my creative side and experiment with circles.

I discovered this book at a used book store a while back and decide that it might spur me on to experiment with some techniques I haven't tried before.  There are lots of great pictures and clear instructions for some modern curved piecing including one block that looks circular...but really isn't. Since it was about 2 a.m by the time I finished "experimenting", I thought that the quilt block's name was very appropriate!

Being quite a little afraid to cut into Jaime's fabric, I decided to do the chicken right thing and create a experiment  sample block first. Kaffe Fassett would approve, I think!

Since it turned out so well, I have a special person in mind for my experimental block. The dressmaker scraps weren't really large enough to make Jaime's block just like my first one so I had to do more experimenting and added two grey solids and a dusty grey-blue polka dot to the mix. Here's what I came up with!  

I have to say that I am hooked on making this block and see more in my future!! Stay tuned.
Thanks, Cherri House!

The Housing Market

 There's been some building going on in my zip code! Hope the owner likes what the builder has been doing.  That blue paint is all the rage, I hear.

It looks like some landscaping has even gotten done.  The blackbirds better not eat all the grass seed! I'll have to send Marbles out to shoo them off!

Whootie Owl brought his family to have a look around during the open house yesterday.

They must have liked it because, I saw then moving in today.  They already had lots of Halloween candy ready for the trick or treaters in a few weeks. I love their priorities!

And the guest cottage out back looks comfy enough for a few extra, just in case you'd like to come for a visit! 


 I'm hoping my friend, Jodi. from Colorado. enjoys these October houses, too.  (The architect is new on the job, so there may be a few code violations!)

The Heart of the Matter

My daughter-in-law, Kodie, is in love with this poster because her husband (my son, Adam) had open heart surgery on Friday to replace his bacteria damaged aortic valve with this little beauty! Adam is recovering well and we are thanking God for his watch over him through this crazy merry go round ride!

Many of you have asked about Adam over the last weeks after this post about his scary illness and hospitalization. Thank you so much for your concern and prayers for our family.
There's a long road of recovery ahead, but the modern miracles of medicine are definitely on our 'Thankful list' this year.


Between hospital visits, I came home to find the last of the six blocks for this quarter's 3X6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee exchange. 

My colors, green and turquoise,  have been the same for each quarter. Aren't these fun and lovely? Thank you Rachael, Michelle, Tami, Jill, Ellen, and Melissa, for sharing your talent with me.  In just a few months my green and turquoise sampler quilt will become  a reality! 

A Tale of Two Quilts

 Quilting with a friend, or friends, is one of my favorite activities! It's heaven to me...fabric, friends and, usually, food.....The Three F's!! This teapot quilt came about because of a weekend spend quilting with a favorite girlfriend, Jan.

 Jan and I have made so many quilts together over the years. I think the first one was almost twenty years ago now. Usually, one of us comes up with an idea and then we each make two of each block and give one to the other.  This way our quilts come out almost alike, with the exception of block placement and sashing choices sometimes. Sometimes, the whole project may take a year or more to complete because, you see, we live several hours apart and it can be months before we get to sew together. But, it's a lifeblood of our relationship and we both love the extra bond it gives us.

 The pretty blocks for this quilt were mostly finished over a weekend spent at Jan's house, around her dining room table, using 30's prints we both had collected over the years. The teapots were machine appliqued using a blanket stitch and black thread. Mine was machine quilted with some lovely feathers by another friend and long arm quilter, Sherri Dolly.

 The corner teacup blocks in the border were made using paper piecing and remind me of the many cups of brew I have shared with my friend over the years. Do you have a special pal that you enjoy quilting with?  I can't recommend it enough!  Today is Jan's birthday......I wish I was close enough to share a cup of Constant Comment around the dining table and a sewing machine!

Wait!  Is that another teapot quilt in my garbage can? Yep! If you'd like to know why,then join me over at Stash Manicure where I'm a guest blogger today telling about

 "My Worst Quilt Nightmare!"

Hattie's Crush

 This is Hattie.  She came to live with us last fall and sits by my mailbox watching the cars go by.  Sometimes when I walk down the lane to pick up the mail she likes to chat a bit. Yesterday she went on and on about her Innocent Crush on some fabric she'd been hearing about. Word in the pumpkin patch, she said, is that my LQS, Harper's Quilts and Fabric Company, just got a shipment of the Anna Maria Horner fabric.  Now, Hattie is a good friend so i certainly want to make her happy. I love to give gifts to my friends...........see that big grin!  It just makes my day!!

I'd like to make Hattie a fall quilt to keep her legs warm once the air gets chilly.  I hope she agrees.  I might have a little bit of a Crush myself!

After my chat with Hattie today, I spent an enjoyable hour making a block for the Nittany Bee. Freida sent some charm squares and a FQ of cream fabric, asking us to make any block that we wanted. The Christmas themed fabric gave me the idea of creating a wreath of bow tie blocks. Bow ties are fun to make....wonder how they would look in a fall themed quilt?
Maybe I'll ask Hattie tomorrow!

Decorator Fabric Jumper

Sometimes I don't pay attention.  That's what happened the day I made an online purchase of some Denyse Schmidt County Fair fabrics. I was so excited to see this hard to find fabric for sale...at a reduced price even.  How lucky can you get? Upon arrival, I ripped into the package to quickly see that I'd purchased half yard pieces of decorator fabric instead of quilting fabric.  Awww.....that explains it!! Soooo.....I shelved if for a few months. Yesterday, I decided to use these two pieces, Ribbon Floral and Spotted Leaves to try out a toddler size jumper pattern.

 Working with only a half yard of each fabric, I used the ribbon design for facings and a band at the bottom of this very easy pattern. Because of the weight of the material, I decided to skip the interfacing on the facings. You can't really see it in the photo, but the buttons are mismatched antique buttons that I purchased at a flea market a few years ago. I really wanted to snap a picture of Lula in the jumper, but she started screaming when I wanted to try it on her today! Hope that's not an omen or something!! I'm counting on it being cute with a brown long sleeved tee and leggings...I had to quickly gauge the length while she was hopping around like I was torturing her.See those little headbands that look like halos on the pattern? Well, Lula didn't get one of those! Two year olds can be so dramatic!!

 Now that I know the size will work for Lula, I'll cut into the "real" jumper fabric....these lovely pin wale corduroys by Valori Wells. The pattern is New Look 6576. I made size Large for my two year old grand daughter, who weighs about 25 pounds. 

Nest in autumn paisley and aqua birds.... she better not have a melt down about these beauties!!