Design Wall Monday and a question

I haven't linked to Design Wall Monday in a long, long time, but I'm really liking what's up there right now. Lots of pink, orange & yellow! My colors of Summer 2011.

The two blocks on top are from Sandy and Megan for the Teeny Weeny Paper Piecing Bee. Aren't they great?

And the block on the bottom, Roads to Rome, is my test block for the 4X5 Modern Quilt Bee.


I have a question for you...
How long are your finger nails?

I ran my finger into the needle yesterday a couple of times before I figured out why. My nails are too long! I use my finger tips to guide fabric, and with my nails sticking out so far, I was catching them under the presser foot.

(My fingers look like claws in this photo!)

I was having a really hard time basting hexies, too. As I was turning corners and finger pressing, it just didn't feel right. OK, time for a trim.

Design Wall Monday

I've been working on this baby quilt, on and off, for a couple of weeks. Other projects took priority, but now I can get back to it. I decided to go with the Waltzing Matilda border, so I need to make more whirlies with the bluish print from Fandango.

The sagey green will be a narrow border or binding.


I made His and Hers pillowcases for the bride- and groom-to-be (my nephew) as part of their shower gift. Christopher wanted to use his pillowcase right away, so I think he likes it! He is a bow hunter and picked out the deer fabric when we were shopping for their wedding quilt fabric. They chose a few collections that they liked and I picked Fandango. I love it so much! Which is a good thing, since I'm going to be spending many, many hours with it over the next few months.

I've become the designated bow-quet maker at bridal showers!

I'll show you the wedding ring blocks soon. There are only two done so far. Only 47 to go! And a hand-appliqued border. And hand quilting. Maybe it will be finished for Christmas!

Design Wall Monday

One of my goals for 2011 is to quilt more, so I hope to have something on my design wall every Monday. I use a small portable design wall, made from foam core covered with flannel.

This is will be a New Wave quilt made from Sugar Snap by Melissa Averinos. I'm using a light gray solid in between. There are 4 completed rows on the dining room table!


I had hoped to complete this top on Sunday, but we had a basketball game to go to. Our kids' high school band got to sit in with the University of Rhode Island pep band!
If you look closely, Pete is in the green hat sitting at the drum set to the left of the sousaphones.

It was impossible to get a photo of tiny Julia in the middle of a sea of trumpets.
Unfortunately, Rhody lost the game, but we had a great time!

Visit many other inspiring Monday Design Walls at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall (Floor) Monday

I've been wanting to show you my design wall for months, but this is what it looks like all the time. When Pete moved his drum set in front of my design wall, he was knocking blocks off and getting pins in his back! So all the random blocks were moved to the left and I need to use one of the portable "walls" for current projects.


The last batch of 16 blocks arrived last week from the Three by Three Swap.


I started laying out all 48 nine patches, randomly as they came of the pile.
(The portable wall is a little too small, so I kept it flat on the floor.)


Then I kind of arranged them by color. There's lots of green (which I love), and virtually no yellow. I'm not sure if I'll sew them together with or without sashing. What do you think? Pete thinks it's cool. High praise from a 13 year old boy!


Julia got a little time in with the QOV Heartstrings blocks today. Many more hours to go.


School starts tomorrow! Yippee!
The new Chuck Taylors (and the kids wearing them) are ready to go!


I'm looking forward getting my house back in order!