December 31, 2011

Last Day of 2011

Today is the last day of 2011 and what a fast 365 days it has been. I am enjoying the blog to share my projects and am thankful for my few readers. Best Wishes to you and your families for a wonderful New Year! 2012 here we come!

December 25, 2011

It's Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a Merry Merry Christmas!
From Bread Boy and Ro-Ro.

December 24, 2011

Almost My Turn

It is almost my turn. I am like a kid in a candy store who just can't wait! January is my month in my Modern 99 Bee.  There are 12 of us gals who are using the book Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers. We are to select a block from this book, send out fabric and instructions to our fellow bee members and "wha-laa" - we get blocks back!

I have learned from experience to always do a test block before sending out.  Earlier this year I had to do an orange peel block and that was hard, frustrating, irritating and just a bad project for me.  I am not sure the hostess had tested it first. Anyway, I digress. So....last weekend I worked on my test block.

Lately I am intrigued by the yellow and gray combinations that I see popping up, but I am not sure that I love them, just am not sure.  So...I like them enough to do one quilt, but with a bit of a pop, and my pop is purple! The purple I am using is Kona Mulberry and it is vivid, most of the reason I selected it.

The block I selected is called "Mondarin" and using all stash fabrics (except for the magenta purple I have on order) I was able to get all the fabrics ready for my 11 bee mates!

Here are some progress shots and my finished block.  I would like to incorporate the purple into the sashing somehow but I have a month or so to think about it.  Perhaps when I have all the blocks I can get a better visual and make a good choice.







December 22, 2011

The Dreaded Dresden

A Dresden plate block, here we go.  One of my bee hive members requested this block this month and having never done one I wasn't sure about it.  Well, it's awesome!  Yes it takes a bit of time but the result is wonderful (and it was a bonus that she was using the Sugar Pop line from Liz Scott, that I adore).  I did it step by step with the tutorial and it is safely packaged and headed back to Australia by now. I'm not afraid of a Dresden plate block anymore and I look forward to more!




December 20, 2011

Finally Finished!

This is the first quilt I made after my initial quilt class.  I had it done last year, except for the binding, which I cut too short so I just stared at it in the sewing room while I did other things.  Well, it was an easy fix to mark off the list so one day I got tired of looking at it and just finished it, not to mention it is a Christmas quilt and well, it IS the season!
I used this tutorial from Moda Bake Shop by Karrie Lynne using a couple of jelly rolls.  Tell me what you think!


December 19, 2011

Love that Mug Rug

So last week we had our December meeting of the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild (FWMGQ) and we had a mug rug swap!  I was a bit apprehensive because mug rugs mean binding and that isn't my strong suit but it wasn't that bad. I found a tutorial that made it a bit easier for me - whew! I decided to make this a dual purpose mug rug, one side that would be Christmas-y (I know that isn't a word, but you know what I mean - right?)
And then for the other side I decided to do something, well modern and fresh and not Christmas-y at all. Now I am sorry for the photo on this one.  The chairs were upside down when I took the photo so I had to rotate it for display and it looks a little funky. 

My number was the first one drawn when we started so I had my hands on quite a few of them, fell in and out of love with a good many of them, but am super excited with the one I ended up with.  It was made by the talented (and recently published) Melanie of Texas Freckles. Isn't that hand quilting just adorable? Thank you Melanie!





December 9, 2011

Even More for the Stash

And yet some MORE fabric with no project attached to it.  I just liked it! The colors are bright and pretty and girly and that, is good enough for me.  Funny thing, when I put this away, I found I already purchased a yard of the pink one (4th down from the top) already. I must REALLY like it.

December 7, 2011

More for the Stash

When buying these, I had not a thing in mind, and I still don't but I like the fabric. That should be a good enough reason to purchase fabric right? I sure think so. Additionally, everyone seems to be talking about this Echo Fabric so I am just going to sit tight until the "perfect" project comes up and says "use me".

December 5, 2011

Stash Addition

Hello! I have been busy shopping. The "pre" Black Friday sales, the Black Friday sales and then of course the Cyber Monday sales. Now that they are arriving I have been checking orders received off of the list, making sure everything is included and putting the new fabrics away in the the respective bin (mostly sorted by color). Here are a few photos of some of the new arrivals!