Happy Anniversary

 I made a quilt one year to celebrate our wedding anniversary. That was in 1993.

 I should do that again someday.

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

You are wonderful. Even though I didn't make a quilt to prove it. 

Perhaps next year.

Mail Bag

Have you heard the rumor that the U.S. postal service may discontinue Saturday deliveries? I don't want that to happen, so have been doing my part to keep the mailbags full! I made a trip to the post office just yesterday to mail off a few of my Bee blocks before the end of the month.

OUT:

This paper-pieced hexagon Christmas Flower went to New York City for Victoria in the

 One Block Over Bee. She sent the reds and we added greens from our own stashes.

Lynette in Wisconsin gets this March themed house in the Calendar of Houses Bee.I like to add a little selvage to the blocks.

 I didn't actually mail this one, but thought I'd show it anyway. Angela gave us blue and cream fabrics and asked for a six inch wonky star. I was happy to oblige! Angela and I are part of the  MQG Kansas City Scrappy Bee. I'll be seeing her soon, I hope.

IN:

My mailbox has been full with some fun stuff lately too!

I came across some Katie Jump Rope fabrics and decided to treat myself.  You may have noticed that I've already used a couple of them in the Bee blocks above. 

These other items are very special, as well!

The Sherbet Pips charm pack contains some of the cutest fabric I've seen. I keep thumbing through the squares, picking out my favorites and dreaming up ways to use the fabric once it becomes available in April. 

Do you know what this book is?

It's the Blogt2Print copy of the 2010 Lollyquiltz posts that my husband gave to me for my birthday! Wasn't that nice of him to let me  order it! If you haven't seen one of these "diaries" yet, I'll just tell you that it is a fun treat! You can choose your own cover color and design, as well as pictures for the front and back. My dedication reads, 

"To Megan for talking me into starting a blog....and to all of the lovely, invisible and visible quilty friends I've gained because of it!"

(Megan is my lovely daughter.)

This last jewel that arrived in the mail two days ago, is my favorite! You can get a glimpse of who sent it to me on the card packed in the shipping box. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow since this post has gotten a little long already. I'm saving the best for last!

A House for the Birds

Over the weekend, I decided to build a house! Not just any house, mind you, but a pink one with an aqua roof and a purple porch! 

I haven't decided on a color for the front door yet, but for now I'm just using a green paper one. The red-winged black bird stopped by for a visit yesterday.

 I think she's calling the realtor today.  She seems to want to stay!

Thanks to everyone who gave me an opinion on adding birds to the center or not. The tally was pretty close, really. The thing that threw me over to the "yes, birds" camp was the fact that my "partner", who will actually be getting the finished quilt, (but, hopefully, hasn't guessed that yet) left her opinion on the Doll Quilt flickr site when I posed the same question.

I was very excited to find out that she voted to have birds in the middle of the flower, sooooo...

that's what I did.

My gut told me that the whole thing was pretty busy with 3 birds flying around on those dots. (Many of you thought so too!) The eyes really needed a place to land, as well, so hopefully adding a solid colored house with only one bird is the best of

 both worlds!

I appliqued them down yesterday while watching my team lose a

 BIG basketball game.

(There may or may not be tear stains on the quilt top.)

Sunday Something

 "Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,

sparrows and swallows make nest there.

They lay their eggs and raise their young,

singing their songs in the place where we worship."

Psalm 84:3 

The Message

Flanged Exquisite Block Tutorial

On my recent mother/daughter getaway to Omaha I picked up some lovely backing for the Exquisite No Prints Allowed quilt. Only now, I guess I'll have to change the name to

Exquisite One Print Allowed quilt. Or something.

 As promised, here is the little tute on how I added the narrow white strip, or flange, between the corner triangles and the background fabric.

 For each block you will need:

 2 corner triangles

 2 one-inch white strips folded in half and pressed approx. 6 inches long

l background square or rectangle

(*You can make these any size*)

 Start by aligning the triangle where you want it on the background.

(it's easier if it laps over a bit, as shown)

You will then scoot the white strip (with raw edges toward corner) to match the angle of the triangle, over lapping it by about 1/4 inch.

 Remove the corner triangle and lay it on top of the folded strip, with raw edges even.

 Take it to your sewing machine, and using a 1/4 inch seam, stitch the layers together.

 Repeat for the opposite corner. Note that the white strips are in-between the corner triangle and the background rectangle.

 Using a hot dry iron, press the corner triangle up toward the corner of the block, exposing the white folded strip (flange).

Flip the block over and trim the protruding corner triangle even with the corner of the background rectangle.

Turn the block back to the right side up and

Folding the corner triangle back down, trim away the background behind it.

 Repeat for the triangle on the opposite corner. You're done!

Now make a bunch more. The are fun to make.

 Set your blocks together in a pleasing manner and add a border like I did, if desired.

Find a great background and don't wait tooooooooo looooong to quilt it!

Doll Quilt Swap Almost Wordless Wednesday

Do you like the birds in the middle?..... cause they ain't sewed on yet if you don't.

Let me know what you think, 'kay.

Beginnings

For the last few days, when I'm not staring at these...........

I've been sewing away on this...............

 Even though I can't give you any details yet, I'm excited to say that I began quilting a project that I've been working on for a few weeks now with Oh My! fabric by Moda. Some of you guessed that I've become a chef for the Moda Bake Shop....and you may or may not be correct! Let's just say, that I'm getting anxious to get to show you. Here's a sneak peek...

Last night, when I went to bed...I just laid there with my eyes open. I don't know what you do if that happens to you, but I get up and sew for awhile and then try again. Soooo......here's the beginning of a dolly quilt that I started last night (and couldn't stop working on!). It's my entry for the Doll Quilt Swap 10 and I'm loving it so far. 

 I'll show you more tomorrow. Right now, I better get to quilting before I crash and burn! And welcome to the readers who have joined me over the last week during my blogiversary.Thanks for coming along for the ride! Congratulations to" Badlands Quilts", "Live, Laugh, Quilt", and "Free Indeed" , the winners of last week's awesome giveaways! I Thanks, everyone for entering...wish I had a prize for each of you! I hope that you enjoyed visiting Mary, Kelly and Cindy and ogling over their lovely creations.

Sunday Something

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14

A Colorful Life Giveaway!

Hello!  Welcome again to my week of special posts and giveaways in celebration of one year as a blogger! You all are the best and have kept me smiling all week long! Today you are in for another treat. I hope that your heart can handle the palpitations from looking at more pretty quilts, but don't say I didn't warn you if you suddenly faint or something! I'm cuckoo for cocoa puffs over Cindy's blog,  Live A Colorful Life, and want to share her talent with you.

Cindy professes to have a fascination with color, fabric and selvages. The quilt above is one she's making in collaboration with her daughter-in-law who appears to have lots of talent herself...it knocks my socks off! Cindy shares her creativity as well as her heart with her readers. I love that!

Cindy and I feel like we may have been twins separated at birth somehow, as we have similar tastes in fabric and quilts, were born the same year, have been married the same number of years and both even have red hair!  The wonderful quilt above is one Cindy is designing based on an antique.  It just so happens that I am also working on a similar pattern. What are the chances?! Must be those quilting genes!

I get really excited at seeing the lovely handwork and detail that she adds to her quilts. I feel like a spool quilt may be in my future after following Cindy create this beauty!

Not only does Cindy use selvages in her quilts but she also makes and sells darling pin cushions made from saved selvage....you may have seen her tutorial in the International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene magazine on how to make them. Cindy tells me she is very particular when it comes to organizing her selvages. That's another way that we are alike...here's how I organize mine!......................................  LOL!

I know that you will want to visit Live a Colorful Life, so click on over there now and see what  projects she's working on and enter the giveaway she is sponsoring to win this adorable Four Seasons themed selvage pin cushion. Isn't it so cute! Go on. Off with ya! Bye now.

Oh, and there's still time to enter the jelly roll giveaway contest from yesterday, if you haven't yet. Visit Pinkadot Quilts for the rundown. 

Pinkadot Giveaway!

Happy St. Paddy's Day! 

I showed you this fun green I Spy quilt last St. Patrick's Day. I just couldn't help myself, so here it is again! You can read about it here. 
Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to another lovely blog that I've been enjoying lately. Kelly blogs at Pinkadot Quilts and makes my day happier every time she posts about her lovely quilts, many of them hand appliqued. There's lots of eye candy, I assure you!

Kelly's quilts display her great sense of color and creativity.

Looking at this beauty makes me want to become friendly with handwork!

Freeform machine quilting adds so much texture to her projects.

Kelly is helping me celebrate the one year anniversary of Lollyquiltz with an awesome giveaway. Wouldn't you love to win this Swanky jelly roll by Chez Moi! 

To enter the giveaway, hop on over to Pinkadot Quilts and look around. You will enjoy the visit and can leave comments on Kelly's blog to win.
A special welcome to my new readers...thanks for stopping by!