Blogger's Quilt Festival- Throw Quilts - Batik Arrowheads

 My entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival Throw Quilt category is Batik Arrowheads.

I started this quilt in late March as a class project from Anita Grossman Solomon's Craftsy class, Traditional Blocks Made Simple. At about that same time, a family friend was hospitalized and in need of love and prayers. This quilt soon became his.

I really enjoyed diving into my batik stash to find the most guy-friendly prints and colors. We shuffled the blocks around several times before settling on this warm/cool arrangement.

 

The backing is nothing to write home about. It gets the job done. The quilting is simply straight lines in the ditch. I loved how it looked on the back of my brown sofa.

 

My mother tested out the quilt at a Marine Corps function for enlistees. 

 

Again, many thanks to Amy for making this all possible!

 

Settle in with your favorite drink and enjoy the show!

Blogger's Quilt Festival- Scrap Quilt Entry- Emerald Selvage Spiderweb

 I chose my Emerald Selvage Spiderweb as a Scrap Quilt entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

The selvages were pieced on a foundation of painter's masking paper that comes on a roll in the hardware store. I just cut it to the sizes I needed for the blocks and borders.

 The green is Kona Fern, that I thought was pretty close to this year's color of the year, Emerald. A few more selvages were used to make the back large enough.

 I really had fun quilting this!

Motifs in the green spaces and mums in the spiderwebs.

This was my first time making a double sided binding.

This is my favorite quilt of 2013, so far!

Amy has done an amazing job of coordinating all the prizes and setting up the linky parties for all the categories. Head over to browse and vote (next week) and send Amy some love!

Enjoy the Blogger's Quilt Festival! 

A Quiet Saturday

 There's not much going on around here today, but I felt like posting, so here goes nothing.

I started hearing the Baltimore Oriole in the yard this week. Minutes after putting the orange out for him, he flew over for a nibble. He looks a little slimmer than the males we've seen in the past. I wonder if he's a young one.

I finally put labels on the Ninigret Quilters' donations to Project Linus. It was time to move that pile out of my house!

 I was planning to just go into the LQS to drop off the quilts. Then I turned around and saw these! How could I resist? I love how these fabrics look like Malka Dubrawsky's hand-printed work. My LQS owners are at Quilt Market. I can't wait to see what new goodies they bring home!

(In the background, you can see the lilac is in full bloom. That's about as close as I can get to it. Allergies.)

 In family news, Pete submitted his Eagle Scout application to BSA today. Phew! If all goes well, he'll have his board of review in a few weeks, and then we can plan a ceremony.

Enjoy the day!

Quick Pic

Is it just me or is sewing more fun with cute nail polish? My new summer color is Sally Hansen #400, Get Juiced.

My part of the super secret project is complete. Hmm. What's next?

WIP Wednesday

Hello, blogland! I didn't mean to disappear for almost two weeks. I've been under the weather for the past week (allergies/virus/ear infection), but I'm finally starting to feel better. In the middle of all that, I picked up Julia from college for the summer. Yay!  We will be quilting a lot together in the next 10 weeks, so stay tuned!

No finishes to report. Instead, I'll show you my lovely Mother's Day gifts. Gorgeous roses from hubby, a peach bellini scented candle from Julia (we have a thing for bellinis!) and a bracelet from Pete.

I didn't even know this Alex & Ani Marine Corps bracelet existed. I love it!!

In Progress:
Our guild nine patch swap started last night with round 1. Twenty six quilters each swapped sixteen blocks. It will be fun to see what everyone does with them! This is my pile...

and this is Julia's. The blocks we made are at the bottom left.

Here's a peak at a secret project that I need to get moving on, like now! The colors are so yummy.

I pieced this Dory for Julia before she came home. I plan to embroider "Just keep swimming" on the border and make a little wall hanging for her dorm room. The pattern is from Fandom in Stitches, which is a really fun site.

Buyer beware: sometimes, you get what you pay for with free patterns. The eyes were just wrong. I caught one mistake before I started (a line missing at the top of the right eye), but that eye on the left was way wrong. I had to redraw and piece a whole new section to replace it.

I bought some fabric on sale at Fabric.com so I can add a few more things to the to-be-quilted pile. I knew this Martha Negley print would be perfect for the back of the magenta top, but I had no idea how big the grapes would be. Fun, right?

I also purchased a big back (108" wide) for the back of the three by three top. After a good press, this pile will be off to the quilter, Pat at Ocean Waves. I picked up the batting from Ryco with a 40% off coupon. Gotta love those!

I guess my sick leave is over. We'll be back to the machines tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be browsing the WIP Wednesday entries.

Birds for the Bee

 Sue asked for these cute birds for her month of May in the Modern Stash Bee. I guess I didn't follow the instructions very well on the first blue bird, and his legs were a little off.

Riiiiip, and resew. Better?

 

Sue asked for low volume or text print for the backgrounds, so I used one of each. This text print is so busy, I needed the bold red to stand out against it. I wish I had made his beak yellow.

 

The birds and bees are certainly busy now that Spring has finally sprung. I'm looking forward to the return of the Baltimore Orioles. I might need to make one of those for Sue, too!

Love and Hope for Boston

 I've been sewing for Boston today. First up, a flag for "To Boston With Love." This initiative is being lead by the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild.  The goal is to bring messages of peace and love to Boston. Rhode Island has an anchor and the word hope in the middle of the state flag, so I chose both for my flag.

I paper pieced the wonky letters. I didn't trust myself to free piece them and have them come out the right size, so I drew out the paper piece blocks.

For the back, I used freezer paper stenciling to paint the anchor. I'm not happy that the front shows through, but they asked that no batting be used so the flags can fly free.

 

Click on the button for details, and be aware that the deadline has changed to May 21. The flags will be displayed during Memorial Day weekend.

 

Next up is a block for "Quilts For Boston" by the Boston Modern Quilt Guild. I had just signed up for Jacquie Gering's new Craftsy class, so I watched a few lessons and made a mini swirling stars block. The yellow star looks more like a diamond, but I'm OK with it.

Click the button for details:

This is what happens when I can't find the right vase! Beer bottles are the perfect size for a single rose (from Pete's senior night track meet).  And an aperitif glass is perfect for a bunch of stray grape hyacinths, picked out of the lawn before mowing.

Up next, a couple of bird blocks for the Modern Stash Bee.