Sunday Morning

"All scripture is breathed out of God

and profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction, 

and for training in righteousness, 

that the man of God may be complete,

equipped for every good work."

2 Timothy 3: 16, 17

Q3 UFO Finish-A-Long List

Six seems like a good number of UFO's to list again this quarter. Four of these are holdovers from my previous lists and, hopefully, this is their last time to share in that distinction! Here we go...

1. Farmer's Wife: I was so close to declaring this finished last quarter. But, close just doesn't cut it, in this game! The binding is made and the only thing left to do is attach it and hand sew it down. I'll be working on this one first, for sure, as I'm very excited to see it completed! Isn't the quilting luscious?

2. 1600 Inch Race: The backing and binding are ready. This one just needs quilted. Still. The top was pieced in only 45 minutes in May of 2012 during a guild retreat! (Are you sick of seeing Flea Market Fancy on my blog, yet?...I almost am!)

3. X Marks the Spot: The blocks, many made by members of the KCMQG Bee, are mostly finished and ready to set together. I love the colors and design. Why is it a UFO!!?

4. Wonky Birds: I need to think of a better name for this quilt. Again, the blocks were made during a Bee with 12 online quilters. I hope that I have enough blocks to set it together and geterdone already! It's going to be so cute and colorful! Did you know that I love birds?

5. Juicy Fruit: I decided to add my orange and pink churn dash quilt, with blocks made in January by my Mid-Century Modern Bee mates, to the list this time. I really would like to have this finished before the year is over. Wanting the quilt to be twin size, I've got lots more churn dashes in my future, if you get my drift! Yummy!

6. Posy Patch: Rounding out the list is another new addition. This table runner is one of my oldest UFO's, begun in 2005, I think. Sigh. It will go so well with my blue and white dishes that I'm looking forward to having it on the table soon!

There you have it. Wish me luck! I'm linking with Leanne and the 2013 Finish-A-Long.

My Random July 365 Photo Challenge: Week 1

I'm beginning the second half of the 2013 photo challenge with quite a varied collection of shots. I cheated and used one from our Colorado trip two weeks ago. No one will know, right! Here's my week in pictures:

Put It On A Plate: I first saw directions for these cute rice krispy treats, painted like flags, on my daughter's blog, Homemade Ginger. These didn't last long at my house on the 4th of July!

Fireworks: Bee Balm always reminds me of fireworks exploding in the air. How fun is it that mine is usually blooming on Independence Day!

A Source of Happiness: Blacky, the tire-swing horse who lives under the tree in our backyard, is a favorite around here. Can you hear the giggles?

Whiskers: This wild cat, called a Serval, is not one of my pets, in case you wondered. The Cedar Cove volunteer that's petting him claimed he's as tame as a kitty, though! 

Remote Control: No explanation necessary.

A Contrast: The darkness of the window against the sun-bleached wood of this cabin is my favorite snapshot this week.

I Spy: As I was washing dishes at the kitchen sink, I noticed this little guy on the side of clay pot in the window. I'd left the plant outside, where it would get watered while I was away on vacation, and Mr. Snail decided to climb aboard!

As always, thanks for taking the time to look over my picture-a-day project. We're on the downhill now! I'm linking up with Cindy's Really Random Thursdays.

Wonky WIP Wednesday

Instead of working on more UFO's, I've been doing some patternless sewing...

creating a new wonky cross quilt...

for an upcoming workshop I'll be leading on liberated piecing.

Stay tuned!

LInking with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

Celebrating Friendship

I'm fortunate to be blessed with a number of deep friendships. I don't take that for granted. The quilt that I'm showing off today was created in partnership with one of those bosom buddies: my friend, Vicki. Her quilt isn't quite finished yet so I'll show you that another day.

In between the holiday eating...

 the baby snuggling...

 and more eating...

I managed to sneak off for some quality time with this lovely I'm calling Fortunate Friends.

The pattern for this cleverly pieced quilt is called Good Fortune by Kate Spain and can be downloaded, free of charge here. Vicki and I began our friendship project over a year ago, and as mentioned before, only sewed on it when we were together.(That's our excuse for taking so long to complete it!)

I used the complete line of Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, complimented by Kona snow for the background. The quilting design was fun to do and was really just a form of doodling with the sewing machine needle! I used an off-white 50 wt. Star thread.The quilting idea came from a book called Doodle Quilting by Cheryl Malkowski.

My favorite aqua Flea Market Fancy fabric, surrounded by Kona snow, makes up the simply pieced backing. My idea was to emulate one of the pieced squares from the front design.

There were quite a few 2.5 inch fabric strips left over from the front, so they became the obvious choice for the binding. I usually cut my binding strips at 2.25 inches wide, but I decided to just go with the wider width, thinking that the extra width would add more accent color to the back of the quilt.

I've used Flea Market Fancy in two complete quilts now plus several little girl's dresses and skirts. There is still some left in my stash so I'll be enjoying the fabrics for quite awhile longer! I admit to getting a little carried away with my online purchase!

One caution for outdoor quilt photography, especially with white ones, is that they might get a little soiled . When I removed Fortunate Friends from the wire fence, I spied a little bit of rust. Oops! Into the washer it went with a bit of Zout on the stain. The quilt is clean and perfectly crinkly now!

I'm looking forward to wrapping myself in this memento to friendship and enjoying it for many years to come. It's my hope that you have a good friend to share life's ups and downs with, as well.

Thanks for stopping by and viewing my blog about quilting and my creative endeavors. It's my online friends that keep me writing every week! You're the best!

Amazing Mazed!

Photographing my new quilts is almost as fun as making them, I think. So when I'm hunting for a good spot for a photo shoot, I carry the quilt with me wherever I go!

Over the weekend, my latest finish, Mazed, traveled with us to Cedar Cove, a feline conservatory for rescued large cats.

My grand daughters, Haven and Maelie, both animal lovers, went with us. (That's Haven sporting her new dinosaur hat!) 

We learned so much and were amazed at how tame this white Bengal tiger was!

On the way home, we happened upon an amazing rock fence. I hopped out of the car with my quilt while Grandad and the girls waited. Meet Mazed...

As I mentioned yesterday, all of the blocks for Mazed were created using the leader/ender system that I love so much.The pattern, by Kristy Daum, is very well written and can be put together into several different settings. I'll definitely use it again.

A layer cake of Bohemian Festival, snagged for me by Cindy Wiens at Quilt Market in Kansas City a year ago, was the perfect combination of colors for this scrappy design.

I managed to stretch a few yards of a favorite flower print by Basic Grey by piecing a "maze" with Kona white for the backing.

Michael Miller chevron print in aqua made the perfect binding.

A simple, wavy-check quilting design using Connecting Threads light yellow thread was quick and easy and made for a very soft-handed quilt. I love the way the uneven quilting lines adds to the "maze" idea.

The quilt is lap size and will get lots of use by my grandies, I'm sure!

Tomorrow I will feature the "beauty shots" of my 3rd UFO finish: Fortunate Friends. Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

Sunday Morning