Tasting Table Tuesday - Two Finished Quilts and a Challenge

The two memorial quilts are finished.

Labeled and bound and ready for delivery.

It was an honor to work on these special quilts, and I'm sure the recipients will find great comfort when they snuggle up in them.

Coming up next is a quilt I made for a challenge at my LQS.

Tracy, at Needles, challenged her customers to make a project featuring this fabric from the Luna Lounge collection from Andover.

Here is a portion of my quilt.

The challenge fabric appeared to be all neutrals, but when I paired it with a soft green and lavender, it seemed to take on those green and lavender hues - almost a chameleon effect.

My design consists of Ohio Star blocks, curved piecing in the sashing, and hourglass-in-a-square cornerstones.

I quilted it with soft, flowing curved lines from side to side, like waves.

This quilt, along with the other entries, are on display at Needles Quilt Shop in Wellsboro PA.

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - 2 New Quilt Tops

I spent the "best-est" long weekend quilting with the "best-est" of friends at our annual quilting retreat.  Amongst the singing, laughing, eating, etc...  I managed to get some sewing done too.

Last week I showed you the shott cottons that I had cut, and here is the finished quilt top.

A Modern Churn Dash.

I absolutely love these shott cottons.  The colors change, depending on the angle you view them from.  It's hard to illustrate in a photo, but take a look at this block from straight on...

See how the background color changes when you view it from an angle?

It's all one fabric, but the warp threads and weft threads are two different colors - burgundy and turquoise.  It's really quite magical to see it change as you move around the quilt.  I'm so excited to quilt this one and see how the texture of the quilting stitches add to the effect!  Can't wait!

Now I just have to decide on a quilting design...

The other project I finished assembling was this circle quilt.

The blocks are made from this huge pack of Dimples Charm Squares that I won in an Andover contest a couple of years ago.

I'm not sure whether to do some free-motion quilting on this one, or maybe just lots of straight lines to offset all the curves in the piecing...

At least I've got a couple of projects to think about when I can't sleep at night.

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Bee Happy!

Before I show you Today's Tasting Table project, I have to share just one (ok - maybe two) family pictures with you.  My granddaughter LOVED all the little gifts I made for her 2nd birthday.  It was so fun to watch her open everything and play with them.  She put the apron on all by herself (yeah!)...

...and gave her mother and me a lesson on how to diaper and dress a baby doll.  So cute!

Now for Today's Tasting Table post...
Another finished project!  Woo Hoo!  I'm happy to say that I'm totally thrilled with my new quilting rulers!  I finished quilting the entire quilt using gray thread to match the background fabric, but still thought that the four gray pinwheels in the center needed more movement.  I really wanted them to look like they were spinning, so I got courageous and added some more curved lines using (yikes!) gold-colored thread!!!

It took a lot of nerve on my part because I never use contrasting thread for free-motion (too afraid my hiccups might show), and I didn't use the rulers for this last bit - just freehanded it, using the previous gray curves as a guide.  But I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out - it might not be perfect, but it suits me just fine.

And I used a cute bee fabric for the back, which explains why I've named this quilt "Bee Happy".

Listed in my Etsy Shop here...

Now I'm on a mission to make a new purse for ME!!!  Check back next time for more details on that!

Cheers!

Contest Results

Firstly...  I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me in the Your Andover contest.  I really appreciate everyone's support.

Secondly...  I didn't win.

BUT - I'm deeply honored to have been chosen as a finalist, and best of all - Andover still sent me a prize - even though I came in LAST!  How amazing is that!  The 1st and 2nd place projects were so close together, that Andover actually decided to give them both the first place prize, so they are obviously very generous with their fabric giveaways!

I received another box full of gorgeous charm squares and Andover fabric tote bags.

But the most exciting was a pack of charm squares that contains every one of the 135 colors of Gail Kessler's Dimples collection!!!  (at least I think there are 135 - I haven't counted them yet, but it sure looks like the whole collection!)

I'm in heaven!  I have a couple of ideas already of what to make with these, but I'm sure I'll dream up several more ideas before I make my final decision.  Maybe I'll just let them age a little on a shelf in my Cotton Cellar and enjoy looking at them a little longer...

So if you ever make anything using Andover fabrics, don't be shy about entering your project in their Your Andover contests - you never know what you might win!  Good luck!  And THANK YOU ANDOVER!!!

Cheers!

Penny Candy Quilt

I finally finished one of the projects I started at retreat a few weeks ago, and took advantage of the bright weather today to take some pictures and write up my Etsy listing.  I'm really thrilled with how this small quilt turned out, and part of me will be sad when it sells and I have to ship it away to a new home.  But I have to pay for my fabric obsession somehow, so that's just the way it is...

I made this using two of the charm packs I won from Andover a couple of months ago - Lucky Penny - so I've called the quilt "Penny Candy" - because that's what the fabrics remind me of - candy!  A piece in every color and print you can imagine...
The gray chevrons are Kona Medium Gray.

The colored chevrons are quilted with mocha thread, and I used white and a single row of red in the gray chevrons.

The backing is from Lotta Jansdotter's Echo collection and is one of my favorites.  The binding is Moda's Bella Solid in Tomato Soup Red.

"Penny Candy" is for sale in my Etsy shop - here.

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Trip Report

I don't know about you, but it seems like I've been running full speed throughout the holidays, and things are just now starting to feel normal again.  I found the perfect cure for my annual PHS disorder (that's Post Holiday Stress).  It's called RETREAT - and it's WONDERFUL!

As I mentioned earlier, I had never been to a retreat before.  It always seemed like it was a lot of work to pack everything up and set up somewhere else to sew.  I didn't get it...  But now I understand.  I'm sure those of you who go to retreats know what I mean.  Yes - it's a lot of work to pack, but there's just something about spending four days with a group of great women who share common interests.  And I mean it when I say "great women".  Everyone got along beautifully and we thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.  Thanks for including me, ladies - I love each and every one of you!

Here's the whole gang, with each of us holding something we were working on.  Isn't Leisa's quilt in the background gorgeous?
We had oodles of great food (and are now in the process of sharing all our recipes), had lots of fun and interesting conversations, watched a great movie, and we sewed - and sewed - and sewed...  then sewed some more - with lots of laughter thrown in, of course!

 Here are two more beauties on the design walls, ready to be assembled - Megan's on the right and Ann's on the left.  Stunning!
And here are the projects that I worked on...

I still have to add gray borders around the sides of this quilt.  It was so much fun to have everyone's input while we played around with the color placement!  I'm really happy with our final decision.  I know the picture is a little fuzzy, but it looks better in person.  I used some Andover Frippery charm squares and paired them with dark gray.  I hope to do some special quilting in the gray whirlygigs in the center.

This one is also made from Andover Lucky Penny charm squares, paired with a medium gray this time.  All half-square triangles, arranged in a chevron pattern.  Not sure if I'll put a border on this one or not - I'll see how it looks after the blocks are all sewn together.

Next up is a little AAQI quilt.  My regular readers will remember that I made a personal commitment to make and donate a matching mini AAQI quilt each time I sold a quilt in my Etsy Shop.  I sold two quilts in November and I thought that Retreat would be the perfect place to work on these mini quilts.  This first one is made with Tula Pink's Neptune collection.

And here is a picture of the original quilt that was sold.

And this is the second mini-quilt, made with Bunny Hill's Puttin' On The Ritz fabrics, in gray and cream.  I like how the words "Baby" and "Dream" appear in some of the cream squares.  That was lucky, because I have absolutely none of this cream fabric left - only scraps of the gray - it was close!

And here is the quilt that inspired it.

Last up is yet MORE blocks made using Tula Pink's Neptune fabrics.  I've made two quilts, a huge patchwork duffle bag, several purses, the mini quilt above, and other little odds and ends with this fabric and I still have lots MORE!  I still love it though, so I'm sure I'll keep on using it.

So that's it for my trip report.  Now I have to unpack all my sewing stuff and settle back in to my Cotton Cellar to get some work done.  And I don't care how much work is involved - retreat was FANTASTIC!

Edited to add:  Thanks for all your recipe suggestions!  They all sounded great.  I finally settled on two recipes I found on Pinterest - an egg, sausage & cheese casserole, and a yummie fruit salad.

Cheers!

My luck is changing!

I've never considered myself a lucky winner.  Door prizes, raffles, you name it - I seldom win...  (except for the time I won a 2-ton hydraulic car jack - twice! - but that's another story...)

Anyway, I finally won something!  Remember this hat I showed you a few days ago?

It was made entirely with Jo Morton fabrics from Andover, and Andover gives a weekly prize for projects made with their fabrics.  I thought - what the heck - I'll never win if I don't submit it, so I did - and I won this week!  Here's a link...
My Andover


Now maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...