Finished up with this years round robins

This is Rebecca's quilt top. The last border is the one I added and now it's off to the last person from our group. This was a JOY to work on... such pretty colors and fabrics! I found lots of pinks, burgandy, teal and browns to use with it. Hope you like it, Rebecca!

Halloween Quilt

Here's a little SNEAK peek at my halloween quilt. I appliqued some spiders onto the top and this one block. Don't you just love him?!

Update 5-1-12: This spiderweb fabric is available at Hearts to Holly Quilt Shop in Charlevoix Mi. Contact Sue Miller- heartstoholly@yahoo.com 
She has the black fabric with the eyes on it ... the eyes glow in the dark!
Some of the other fabrics are a few years old and not available anymore.

Batik Pillow Pattern

Thought I would show you my newest project. I just finished making a pillow that will be a class and a pattern. I took a break from some of my current projects to get this done so that the shop could have the sample. Now it's back to working on round robins and a Halloween quilt (hope it's done for THIS Halloween!). BOY, you should see the MESS in my sewing room... a disaster!!

Working on blocks and pillows

Finished up a block for BC. This is our October block swap and I really should have been done with the two blocks by now... but... I had a bit of difficulty with this one. UNTIL I read something online about how to do curved blocks. Pie goes on the bottom, crust on top... Curved pieces fit together MUCH better if you follow this rule. The piece that looks like the pie goes down... and the other fits in nicely on top. Glald that's done!!

Quick and Easy Placemat Pattern

Here it is.. my first pattern! Hearts To Holly Quilt Shop (231-547-2729) has them for $6 . You can also get them directly from me.. my email is on this blog. We sold 3 the first day... I'm so excited :)
If you look back a bit on my blog you'll see them on my kitchen table. I made 4 of them for Thanksgiving but since then have made 8 for Christmas and 4 for spring. They're SUPER easy. I use one large "focus" fabric (I fussy cut part of it) and then lots of leftover strips and squares. The only quilting I did on them was around the edge... wanted them to have a more contemporary look (and make it easy on myself!).

Check off another finished project...

The bathroom wallhanging is finished!! YEAH! All quilted and bound and ready for hanging. I'm still working on the crocheted rug but it's almost there... Just needs to be about 6" bigger. I've decided to do a white shower curtain with blocks of color.. plaids, solids and prints that are in the wallhanging. It's going to have a large sashing of white... kind of like "happy blocks" but bigger. I think this will give it a more modern feel but still cottagey (spelling?..is it even a word?).

Finishing up some LQS samples....

So the other thing keeping me VERY busy is working and making samples for the shop. I have quite a few samples to finish up but I thought I would take a picture of two of them. These were quick and easy. The gingerbread pillow is called cookie time. I found the perfect brown at the store that looks just like gingerbread cookie dough. We're going to sell the patterns and some kits. And these placemats are a class I'll be teaching. One large D9P (disappearing nine patch) plus some strips make these very quick. No hand sewing AT ALL! No binding! I could make dozens of these... but lots of other projects waiting to get finished up. Sew, I'm off to the sewing room again!

Working on the bathroom extras

Al is determined to list our house this fall so I need to get the bathroom finished up. We painted it a nice neutral medium beige/tan and are installing a new mirror. This mirror is much larger and will make the bath feel bigger and brighter.
The wallhanging is going on one wall above the towel shelves. This rag rug is going in front of the sink but since it's only 1/4 of the way done, I've got to get going on it! I also have to make a shower curtain... something to go with this cottage look. Haven't decided on the perfect one yet... any ideas? I might bring in the bright homespuns... I know for sure that I want it bright with lots of white.

Busy finishing up the cupcakes

Well, Mom is having her tea party in October so I thought I better finish up the last of the cupcakes she'll need. She's putting one at each place for a nice take home gift. I sent her 3 already and just had 5 to do... so with the help of my daughter, we finished up the last 5. Now to get them in the mail. These are SO simple. The pattern is called Hotcakes... not sure who puts it out. The hard part was finding the round buttons for the "cherry on top". Mom got lucky and found some downstate... we are out of them up north. Now I'm on to my next project which is to finish up the wall hanging for one of the bathrooms. We're repainting it and I need to get this quilted and done so that I can take it to the paint store... need a color that "pops" it... but nothing bright. I'm thinking a light or dark tan/beige. The bathroom only has one small window so I don't want to darken it up. The wallhanging is nice and bright with a tan border. I'm also working on a croched rag rug to use in there. I'm cutting all my selvages and scraps into 1/2" strips and with a large hook, I'm crocheting an oval runner. So far so good... I worked on it last night for a few hours and got a good start on it. Just need to cut lots more pieces. My hands are a little sore today so I'll give it a few days before getting back to it. I'll post a picture in a couple of days... forgot to take one.

Southwest Round Robin Quilt

My quilt top came home today and IS IT BEAUTIFUL!!! Al and I just love it. All the ladies in my group need a HUGE pat on the back for such nice work. I can't wait for the next Round Robin.
Al and I are taking this down to the sewing room to start planning the next few borders to bring it up to queen size. This will be a quilt for our bed in Arizona.

The next projects to finish up...

So now that one little project is finished up, I need to get going on three others.

First one that needs finishing is the last rows on a strippy scrap block that goes to someone on block central. I sent the block out to her but cut it a 1/2 inch short... THAT'S NOT GOING TO WORK! LOL

Then I have 2 purple and cream blocks to do. I'm making the "Rob Peter to Pay Paul" blocks. This is for the BC October Favorite Block Swap. During shop hop, I bought a template to cut these out quicker. It makes a 6" block so I need to make 8 of them so that I end up with 2 - 12" blocks. When I was digging through my civil war fabrics today, I found the perfect purple and cream.

The final project that needs working on tonight and tomorrow night is a gift for a friend that lives in Arizona. I found some cute oriental fabrics (some vintage, some more recent). I'm going to make her a surprise using these... just haven't decided if I should make a small wall quilt or a pincushion. I'm leaning toward the wall quilt since I have a cute pattern in my latest two copies of Quiltmania. I know she love oriental fabrics, so either will probably be good for her.