Challenge Quilts Part II

Okay--here are the rest of the challenge projects..

#5--Drawstring Purse--I know, it's not a quilt, but when I was looking through books to get ideas I saw that this purse required 1 strip 1 1/2" wide from 24 fabrics--how could I NOT include it?

These little blocks used the "bonus" half square triangles I got when making the Stars quilt. They measured out to be 1 7/8", so I just cut the rest of my squares that size. It's going to be an odd measurement, but it's my quilt--so who cares? I have about half of these done. I'm not even sure what this block is called. I have one more quilt to do after this--and it will be a miniature Chinese coins quilt, of sorts. Well, that's the plan. And you know how well my plans have been! LOL So stay tuned to see what I REALLY come up with for those last bits of scraps. Now how is that for stash busting? Does this qualify, since it's relatively new fabric? How long does fabric have to be in your sewing room before it qualifies as stash? Does it have to make it to the shelves first? All I know is my hubby bought it for me at Christmas and it sat on my cutting table in a nice little ribboned bundle for 3 months. I wanted to show him that I really do use the fabric he buys me--and this time in a fairly timely fashion!

Standing up to the Challenge!

AAARRRGGGHH! I just spent 45 minutes typing my blog, loading pictures then when I went to post--it lost it all. So I have to start over! This might have to be in two parts as the first time, it wouldn't let me load all my pictures. I think I need to find a way to shrink my pictures before loading.

Anyway, remember when I did all my Kaffe Fasset quilts in January? I was given 24 FQ's by a friend and I came up with a plan to use every last bit of fabric. Well, when showing another quilter friend, she wanted to play the game too. So we came up with a challenge:
1. Use 24 FQ's--use them all, minimal waste
2. Make at least 1 twin size quilt
3. May add only 2 additional fabrics to each quilt (okay, so we both cheated, on our largest quilt, we each decided to add a third fabric for our border. )
I couldn't wait--heck, this was easy the first time around, why won't it be the same this time? I planned my quilts, making sure to use every available inch of my FQ's. and away I cut.
Here's what I came up with so far (quilts #6 and #7 are still being worked on)

#1-"Crazy Friendships" This used 9" squares. I paired them up and layered them, 2 x 2. The first pair I cut into 9 patches with curves. BEEP! NOT again! So the next ones I just cut wonky into 9 pathes, re-arranged them and sewed them back together. I originally planned to then sew them into 4-patches, sub-divide them again with 1" strips of brown. Nope, didn't like it. Didn't decide that until AFTER I already cut 24 1 1/2" strips!

#2. "Hopscotchin' with Friends". Used 3" squares. Change of plans on this one too! The sashing that I planned on using and made about half, made my blocks disappear. So on to Plan B, or is it Plan D by now? changed the sashing and the setting and now I like it. It's 51" square.










#3. "Stars of Friendship". Used 5" squares. This one didn't get even made into the first block I had planned for these squares. After looking at what I planned, I didn't like it. So, now we are on like, Plan J??. Found this pattern in the "Nickel Squares" book by (? hmm, forgot the name right off the top of my head). I'll add one last border (and will use that 3rd fabric) but it will make it a hefty twin size quilt then.











#4. Friendship Daisy Chain" I wanted to make a larger version of this, but since it was a last minute decision, I was stuck with what fabric I had left. This is 39" square. It's very retro looking and very springy. I really like this one. I planned on using a brown to blanket stitch the flowers, but decided it would overpower the petals. So, I'll just accentuate the petals with my quilting to nail them down. (they were fused)

Close up of Daisy Chain

Doin' more than meandering!

Whew! I'm bushed. I've been trying to catch up on things and have been sewing non-stop for the last few days. I had to get my Tropical Feathered Star done for my new condo as we are going there tomorrow to get it decorated. I was a little afraid to load it on Zoe, (my HQ!) as I wanted to do more than meandering. I finally traced some stencils on it and kind of sketched out my feathers. It made me nervous because I had to do feathers sideways, rather than from top to bottom like I normally do. So be gentle, you long-armers--it was my first attempt! I'm trying to challenge myself to do more than meander, loop-de-loop stuff on the big machine. The machine goes so fast, it's scary sometimes so I fall back into what I feel comfortable with doing. I have a lot more quilts to practice on now.

Baby quilts done!

Whew! I had these baby quilts mostly done for the longest time--including the one for my newest grandson, but didn't have labels on them. I'm a big proponent of labels, so won't let them out of the house or count them as done until a label is on it.
The first quilt is for a client of my husbands who just loves quilts. He and his wife go to quilt shows just to look at the quilts! Imagine that! So I thought I'd be nice and make them a quilt for their new little son.

This is for my grandson, my oldest granddaughter made all the center blocks for this quilt. She was so cute, I was helping her with ideas of what to put inside the blocks and we were running out of ideas. She looked at me and told me to look around the room and just THINK of what we see. What a smart little 5 year old! And to think I'm not even biased! :)

Lots of catching up!

Happy Easter! Life has been hectic around here, as can be imagined and I've missed everyone's blogs. I hope that I can get back into the swing of things as things start to calm down around here. Thanks for all your prayers and nice comments. My heart smiled every time I read one. We have a lot to be thankful for and here's just a few:
1. Daddy Day Care (aka "the office") Kirt is going into work now, shortened hours, but it gives me some time to do other things! Like take care of taxes..done! Yeah!
2. Grandkids are doing great, and the youngest one is the best little baby. Makes me feel better since I wasn't able to help my daughter like I planned. I'm glad the baby is doing so well, making it easier on her.
3. I see sewing time coming back! Yeah! I did get a quickie baby quilt done for the little Liam and worked on a challenge quilt (more later.)
Here's Kirt--enjoying the beautiful Easter day. Still in the scooter (what a G0d send that has been to him AND me!) for a while longer. But he is able to get around pretty well now. It surprises most people that he is sitting and moving around with all his fractures. Especially of the pelvis and hip. But it's the weight bearing on his leg he cannot do.
What a beautiful day for hunting for Easter eggs! Grandkids are the best, aren't they?

Liam missed all the fun! But he was a good boy today and we actually got to see his eyes today as he decided to stay awake for a bit. But we missed it with the camera. Oh well, another day.