Hello, Bear Toddler Quilt Flimsy

The quilt flimsy for my great-great nephew is complete - now all I have to do is decide on backing and binding!

The Hello, Bear fabric line by Art Gallery is just adorable.

I added sashing in coordinating fabrics, and this gray and cream checked French Farmhouse by Andover Fabrics made a nice neutral contrast. Sadly I can't find any more of it!

Jack is always in on quilting decisions.

Fall 2015 Quilty Orphan Adoption

In 2010 when I started quilting, my daughter and I made a trek to Hobby Lobby where she chose fabrics for a quilt. She gave me free reign with a pattern, but I couldn't find one that looked simple enough for me, and I was clueless as to how to design one. When I finally made some blocks and arranged them on a design board, I was not satisfied with what I had done and could not find a good block arrangement. The blocks are not square, and I don't remember how or why I cut them that way (what was I thinking?) In the meantime my daughter's life changed and along with it her color choices, so I finally tucked it away for a future project. A chance at resurrection came in the form of Cynthia Brunz's Fall 2015 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event Link Up - yay! I think this is such a great idea and am very happy to adopt out some of my neglected fabrics in the hopes they will find their forever homes.

I realize that Hobby Lobby doesn't sell the finest quilting fabric, but perhaps someone has a use for my fledgling-quilter odd-sized blocks. If you can't use the blocks perhaps you have a charity group that could use them. I also have some Moda fat quarters to add to my giveaway. Leave me a comment letting me know how you might use the fabrics/blocks, and I will pick a "parent" (winner) next week. I would prefer to ship only to the US but will consider an international home.

Here is what I am listing in my adoption (giveaway) - all are 100% quilting cotton. Click on the photo for a larger image:

65 four-patch blocks ranging from 7-1/4 to 7-5/8, and not all are square

15 fussy cut blocks approximately 7-3/8 x 7-1/2

78 - rectangle pieced blocks about 3-5/8" x 7-3/8" - sew end to end and use for a border?

42 inches striped eggplant, cream, mauve, blue, green (has been laundered)

1 yard plus 6 inches olive green with 1/2 inch brown dots (has been laundered)

1 fat quarter in rainbow stripes, pattern unknown - came as a gift with a fabric order

6 fat quarters - Contempo by Moda

2 fat quarters, pattern unknown

1/2 yard Simply Color eggplant and white

* * * GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED * * *

Be sure and check out the beautiful projects and fabrics offered by other "adoption agencies" on Cynthia's linky party!

Little Joys Quilt-Along

Even though I'm behind in the Farm Girl Vintage blocks as well as the Oh Scrap! blocks, I decided to join another quilt-along!

Fat Quarter Shop is hosting this event, and they have a perfectly lovely quilt kit, but I am hoping to use my orphan Christmas fabrics in a scrappy variation.

FQS blog has information about the first block, which is the Trim the Tree block, so I will add that block to my catch-up list for the week!

Click here for the free PDF!

Shelli's Quilt - Finished

My nephew is only 8 years younger than I am. He is my oldest brother's son and has always been so special to me - more like a younger brother than a nephew. His wife Shelli is a delight. She is quiet, funny, kind, and has been a steady rock of sanity in our crazy family. She and my nephew live near the small town in Oklahoma where my parents are buried, and every year Shelli elaborately decorates their graves for me on Memorial Day. This quilt is my small thank you to her for her devotion to a loving tradition.

I like the classic beauty of simple blocks and used a variety of fabrics in shades of aqua, red, white/off-white, and gray - Moda's Flats, Baby Jane, a Yuwa kitchen print, Bonnie and Camille Ruby, and a gray gingham by Studio E.

On the back are Modern Roses by Stephanie Ryan (one of my favorite fabrics ever) and the gray gingham, along with white. I used Jeni Baker's Nordika for the binding.

I love Modern Roses so much - I even think the selvedge is pretty, so I kept it on the quilt

On the back is "The Road to Oklahoma Meets Lone Star", blogged about here

I quilted horizontal wavy lines and added a label.

I mailed the quilt to Shelli last week with a letter (that will make my tender-hearted nephew cry). Hopefully she will like it!

UPDATE: 7/10/15 - Shelli did love it! She said it was beautiful and that she put it on her Grandpa's rocking chair to display it.

Esty Bounty

My kids know me very well, and for my birthday my son gave me an Amazon gift card, and my daughter gave me an Etsy gift card - I could not have been more pleased! I was practical with the Amazon card - loading up on sewing machine needles and replacement rotary cutter blades; but I said a final good-bye to my moratorium on purchasing fabric in 2015 and walked on the wild side with the Etsy card.

At first I pondered many different ways to spend it - Tilda fabrics, Liberty of London tana lawns, Moda Sweetwater and Lori Holt lines. But in the end I caved in to a desire for the jewel tones of Utopia and Pure Elements fabrics by Art Gallery. I was inspired by the Hello Spring quilt featured on the cover of Love Patchwork & Quilting - I could not stop thinking about that quilt. It is available as a kit at Fat Quarter Shop, but I decided to buy the digital issue of the magazine for the pattern and purchase my own fabrics with my gift card.

I found every fabric I needed in the Llama Fabric Etsy shop, where "Chio" readily put together a custom order for me.

I love this fabric - its quirky, like me

Can't wait to get started on this quilt - I am selfishly making it for ME!

Included in my order were some beautiful complimentary remnants

I also ordered a bit of Art Gallery's Fawn Day Fantasy from the Emmy Grace collection

These Kona solids also called my name, and I got a great deal on a Pick 5 Yards Bundle at Figg Fabric Etsy shop.

I ended up spending a wee bit over my amount, but I got a lot of fabric for my gift card. A very satisfying gift, and I will have plenty of sharp rotary blades to cut the fabric and nice sharp needles to piece my quilt.

UPDATE: Mrs. Ducky, who I posted about here, stayed around a couple days, then flew off over the house to parts unknown. She has not returned. We wish her well!

Oh Scrap! - Offset Scrappy Log Cabin Blocks

These blocks are so much fun! I blogged here about finding the tutorial for them on the blog of Cynthia Brunz Designs. This woman produces the most amazing blocks and quilts from scraps, and what's even better is that she shares her methods!

I added these three blocks to the teal block from last week

Cynthia made 24 blocks in several color groups and featured several ways to lay out the blocks here. I love them laid out as wheels of color. I haven't decided if I want to add more color groups or stick with these. Cynthia also added some low volume wheels to her layout, and it looks wonderful.

I guess you know you're having fun when you wake up in the morning and can't wait to start working on a project - that's how I feel about this one! I was interrupted with celebrating hubby's birthday, but he was worth it.

I am linking to Cynthia's Oh Scrap linky party

Farm Girl Friday SAL - Week 8

The blocks for week 8 of Farm Girl Vintage Sew-Along are Farm Fresh Flower and Farmhouse. I started them last week but got interrupted by errands, family visits, yard work, and housework. OK, and yes I received an Etsy gift card as well as two Amazon gift cards for my birthday, so a lot of time was wasted gleefully spent trying to make my choices. This morning I finally found some time to finish these two cute blocks.

Farm Fresh Flower Block

Farmhouse Block

Honestly I can see myself making full quilts from either block - I really enjoyed the process and love the final results. Be sure to go here to Instagram to see many color variations of blocks made by the #farmgirlfridays group and here to see the blog of the author of Farm Girl Vintage, Lori Holt.