Distraction Sewing

 Stephanie's block for the Mid-Century Modern Bee took a little bit of time, but the end result is this Gorgeous Gertie designed by Lily's Quilts.

 The little parts all come together precisely with paper piecing. It's even neat from the back!

 I love the block and am looking forward to seeing all twelve together. You can check out some of the other combos here.

 The truth is, it felt good to be sewing again. I've been pretty distracted by news from Nepal as my son helps with relief efforts there. He has been interviewed several times by Skype for local stations. It's been wonderful seeing and hearing him! Lauren and the children have left Nepal and will be coming back to the U.S. soon...so happy about that. 

You can read a couple of Drew's latest blog posts written since the earthquake here and here. Thank you for praying for Nepal.

Happy National Quilting Day!

 What are you doing to celebrate National Quilting Day here in the USA?
I've been working on this....54 quilt entries from my guild into the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival this summer. After hours of pouring over the quilts, begging for more and using our superior math skills, Vicki and I have finally drawn up the schematics for hanging all of the quilts. We have made lots of lists, measured twice and are ready to turn everything in. Whew! It's going to be an awesome display...hope you can make it!

 My sewing machine has been collecting dust for the last month it seems like, but I have been making plans....

 Spring is finally here...so why not start a new project!

 It's also time to begin a new leader/ender quilt so I've spent some time cutting squares and rectangles from my boxes of scraps and strips.

 I sewed up a few to get an idea of how it will look....glad I did because I've ended up deciding to tweak it a bit. I'll be gifting this scrappy quilt to one of my grand daughters when it's finished. It will be awhile!

 Another project on the horizon is turning these delightful confections into a quilt. The members of the Mid-Century Modern Bee baked up some yummy cakes for me in February. The last one arrived a week ago and I still need to add one made by me... I'm thinking maybe grape cake with lemon icing. We'll see. Ideas for some other fun additions to it are simmering in my brain too!

Happy National Quilting Day, America!

Randomness

The Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild had a 5 year birthday celebration last week. Shea's sewing machine cookies were a huge hit. Some people couldn't bear to eat theirs because they were so cute. But I did!

 And on the subject of baking...The gals in the Mid-Century Modern Bee are turning out some awesome cakes for me as I'm the queen bee this month. Three arrived this week...I'm so excited!

After several months of gathering dust, my quilting frame has been seeing quite a bit of action. I think this UFO is going to be so happy to finally become a real quilt!

 I also have made a decision to topstitch down the seams on the back of the Spider Web quilt to use it as a tablecloth. I'm hoping to finish it up at the KCMQG retreat this weekend...aptly named Quilt-Non since it's taking place the same weekend that many are enjoying Quilt-Con in Austin. We have some fun stuff planned! Stay tuned for more on that.

 One plan is to make some blocks as a group to be used in a charity quilt. We'll be using the Quilt-Con colors in a simple design. The fun will come in setting them together creatively.

And speaking of creative....look at the great stage make-up Haven wore last week in her 3rd grade play called "It's a Jungle Out There". 

Isn't she the cutest cheetah ever!

On the Fence

 Two years after it began, Juicy Fruit is finished. And she's a cheery darling!

 With excellent help from members of the Mid-Century Modern Bee, Juicy Fruit is made of 200 six-inch churn dash blocks, 5 twelve-inch blocks and one large 18-inch churn dash. I collected them on two different occasions when my month as queen of the bee rolled around in 2013 and, again, in 2014.

 Starting out with red, pink and orange, I'm super happy that I added yellow and white to the color combination in 2014. Square Elements, in black, made a great contrast for the binding on the queen size quilt.

 With all the seams making up the quilt top, I decided to go with a 108" wide backing this time. The neutral grey/white polka dot tones down the front a bit. (If that is even possible!). I top stitched some extra six-inch blocks and the signature blocks onto the backing before I quilted.

 The postman was kept busy delivering pretties from as far away as Australia and Canada, as well as Florida, Washington, Texas, California, Colorado, Minnesota, and Ohio. I'm so privileged to be a part of this group of excellent quilters! Thank you, ladies, for helping with this wonderful project.

 My quilting is never fancy. I call it utilitarian, actually. This time I free handed leaves and vines all over the top thinking that leaves went well with the "Juicy Fruit" name.

 As I quilted, I again admired all of the bright fabric combinations included in this scrappy style quilt... my favorite kind. Oh how I love it so!

 On a cold winter day, with not a green leaf in sight, it brought much sunshine to my soul as I snapped photos of this white fence near my home in the country.

 Now, I just hope that the bright color scheme doesn't actually glow in the dark and keep us awake at night!

Let's Eat Cake

 I made a cake for Elizabeth today! She's the January Queen Bee for the Mid-Century Modern Bee. We're beginning our 3rd year of sewing together...saying good-by to a couple of gals and hello to some new ones. I'm looking forward to lots of great projects with this talented bunch of "mid-century" ladies!

 Last year, Carla asked us to make blocks for a whimsical sampler type quilt and Elizabeth enjoyed it so much that she wants one for herself. (I wouldn't mind one either!) I decided to try my hand at paper-piecing a layer cake using this free pattern by Ellison Lane.

 After printing off and taping together the five pattern sections, it was time to sew and assemble each layer of my cake. Elizabeth wanted bright colors along with a type-set background. I found lots to choose from among my stash as these are favorites of mine as well.

 Since type-set fabrics are generally directional, I knew that using it for paper-piecing would be a little bit of a challenge. But, because only two of the sections were triangles, it really wasn't too much of a problem if I laid out the fabric parts ahead of time. For some reason the numbers printed on the pattern seemed upside down to me and I got a little mixed up at one point but, all in all, it was an easy block to create. Wouldn't it be fun to have a whole quilt full of layer-cakes to use during birthday celebrations! Hmm...

 My block turned out a a little small for some reason and I'm hoping that it will work okay since I imagine that Elizabeth will be adding sashings to fit all the various blocks together. For good measure, I couldn't resist making a couple of filler blocks to send along in the mail.

 I'm looking forward to seeing what goodness the other MCM members will be sewing up this month.

 It will be delightful, I'm sure!

Dresden Love

Have you been noticing the popularity of Dresden Plate quilts these days? They seem to be popping up all over the place, even in some modern projects. This  pretty aqua, navy and green block is for Rene' who is this month's queen bee for the Mid-Century Modern Bee.

It was enjoyable picking the analogous fabrics from my stash to create the block. If you haven't tried one, you really should as they are fun and easy to make using the acrylic ruler by Darlene Zimmerman. The pattern, one of the most popular in the 1920's and 30's, gets it's name from Dresden, Germany, the center for 19th Century Romanticism movement in art including elaborately decorated plates.

My head has been turned by the lovely pattern in my own quilt making. Remember this? Well, after accidentally cutting all of the blades for my quilt a little larger than my original test block I had an extra block floating around. Needing a sweet dolly blanket for a certain grand daughter's Christmas gift, I immediately thought of my spare block.

 A search through the Lollyquiltz Stash Closet produced the perfect lavender background for my floral block. I quickly backed it pillowcase style and then top-stiched on the dresden, stitching in the ditch along each blade to quilt it as I machine appliqued the block to the quilt.

 The little pine bed came from IKEA and I spray painted it hot pink. At $19.99 it is a great bargain for such a sturdy little bed! The beds must really be in demand as Christmas gifts as they were out of stock and I had to wait for a new shipment! Whew...thank you elves, for your hard work! 

 The bed comes with a little blanket and mattress pad but they really weren't very cute so, of course, I made some bedding to coordinate with the doll quilt. I think that the fabric (again, from my stash) looks a little like vintage sheets, don't you?

Baby bear tested the mattress, pillow and quilt for me and found them to be quite comfortable.

There may have even been visions of sugar plum dancing in his head!

It's Finally a Top!

Honestly, there were times when I wondered if I'd ever finish sewing blocks for this quilt! But, oh, I am so glad that I didn't quit!

 There are a lot of seams, let me tell you. Most are pressed open. Sigh. Enough said!

 For those who wonder, the quilt top is made up of 195 six inch-churn dash blocks, plus 5 twelve-inch blocks and one large eighteen-inch churn dash.

 The bright orange, pink, red, yellow and white scrappy fabrics look stunning and cheerful posing among the fall pumpkins, don't you think!

 Many of the blocks were made for me by my talented bee-mates in the Mid-Century Modern Bee. Begun in 2013, the gals tolerated making the churn dash blocks, not just once, but twice, when my month as the Queen Bee rolled around. I can never thank you enough ladies!

 I can already tell that this is going to be among my top favorite quilts of all time! 

Now, to choose a backing and get the quilting done. Winter is on the way!

Susan and Mary

Just like this pretty butterfly, i was really busy today...

... finishing up bee blocks for Susan and Mary, my mates in the Mid-Century Modern Bee. Susan is planning a medallion quilt with black as the background and has asked us each to contribute a 12-inch star block in bright colors.

 I chose this foundation-pieced Versailles block from the Quiltmaker's 2010 magazine, 100 Blocks. The star should have really been mailed in July, so I am late in getting it finished. So sorry Suz!

 You can view Susan's inspiration quilt here. What a beauty this project will be!

Since I was slow in making my contribution block for July, I decided to get with the program and be early with my sewing for August's queen bee, Mary.

Half square triangles on a background of blush or cream were a nice change from the more fiddly, foundation-pieced star.

Scrappy sewing like this is my favorite kind. 

Both Susan and Mary have become good friends to me through blogging. While traveling a few years ago I was tickled to get to meet Mary in person. I am hoping to get to meet Susan face to face, as well, but traveling to Australia might be a bit more tricky!