Almost been a year!!!

Really neglected this blog....I blame Instagram! It's just too easy to post there....also our computer bit the dust and we are using a hand-me-down from our girl.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!:)

Ok..since the last post I did back in March 2016 was about the Mini Mania Challenge let's just start there!  Do you remember that this is a monthly challenge to sharpen skills and take us out of our comfort zone?  Come join us!:)

Here we go....

Challenge #14 Drunkards Path

Yes...it's tiny!

#15 Cathedral Windows

The letter "D"!:)

#16 Seeing Stars

Smorgasbord!:)

#17 Seminole

Another tiny one....I was lazy!

#18 Dresden Plate

Love that ombre background!

#19 Flying Geese

Be on the lookout for this one again!;)

#20 Joseph's Coat

Ticker Tape style!

#21 Applique 

Used a lot of leftover EPP shapes.

And now getting up to date...

#22 Our House...

...or a wee village of them!  This mini flew away to New Jersey as part of the first ever 

Modern Quilt Guild Swap and I'm excited to say....

I'm going to QuiltCon East 2017 in Savannah, Georgia!! 

WoooooooHoooooo!!!

Ahhhhh....glad to be back!

~d

For my Heart....Mini Mania Challege Lucky #13

Oh my goodness....the Mini Mania Challenge #13 put to us this month with a 

British history lesson was a thinker! 

This was the challenge...

"It is 950 years since the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and 350 years since the Great Fire of London in 1666 and so we will be working on these numbers only; 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9."

Hmmmmm....

Ok....how about some strategic dates in our family?

1959 hearts 1961...Roman numeral style!:)

This is a birthday present for my honey!

Here was another challenge put on by the Franklin Park Arts Center.

"Which came first the chicken or the egg?"

I said both...can you see the feathers?!:)

Always working on some hand stitching project!

Changed our minds about purple!!!

~d

Wedding quilt for a London couple

"Mom...I need a wedding quilt for my friend Jen."

"You know...the one that lives in London."

 "She's getting married in Scotland and I'm a bridesmaid!!"

(Bride went to West Virginia University, Groom to Purdue)

"I know you can think of something!"

Think,...think...think...lightbulb!

 (Thanks for the tea towel Lynz!)

The fun is this weekend!

Quilting by my pal Kathleen of "Life in Pieces"

Pillowcase for easy quilty storage!:)  It's not easy finding a background fabric that

 looks good with WVU and Purdue colors!

Books brought our girl and Jen together....she's the reason for her going to Oxford Brookes for her masters and staying in the UK for 3 1/2 years!

Leftovers.  The End!

Still haven't touched this yarn...one day!

~d

The Parents' Quilt

(Batiks bought at our own Webfabrics.net booth!:)

While wandering around the Hampton Quilt Show I found this awesome seaglass fabric. Mom loved it and picked these batiks to go with it and thus began my year long adventure!

Made a bunch of big log cabin blocks cutting them into quarters and the agony of block placement began.  Had over ten different choices and settled on....

...this one!  Backed, basted and hand quilted it definitely needed to be bigger to fit on a queen sized bed!  Decided to put it on point and add corners...big corners!!

Once the front and back of the corners were on it was time to pop that batting in and do some more hand quilting! All this is using the Quilt as you Go (QAYG) method.  Love that!!

 (Color is wacky in all the photos because of the lack or abundance of sunshine!:)

A big old sun in each corner....but still not big enough!

Solution...borders.  Added one side at a time....pinned quilted part into our rug, pushed back top and taped down backing.

Added batting, smoothed down top and pin basted....easy peasy QAYG!!

Not very impressive on our double bed!

Much better hung over the back deck at my parents! 

The best place though is on their bed....one year after purchasing the fabric!

Hmmm....that stool needs recovering....there is leftover fabric!:0

~d

Mini Mania Challenge # 12....February Craziness

Those ladies over at the Mini Mania Challenge on Flickr put their crazy hat on for this month!

A three inch foundation pieced pineapple block from a free template by Little Mushroom Cap!

Do you know how many pieces are in that one three inch block?

THIRTY-THREE!!!

We were instructed to make as many as we wanted as long as the mini was no more than 24"....

....so one was enough for me!!!:) It's only 12" so challenge complete!!

When my eye-sight cleared a side swap at the Mini QT happened.  A zippy pouch for Sabrina....she has two white bunnies!:)

We both like the same thing....

(What Sabrina sent me!!:)

...so we ended up using the same color!!

Over at the PIPs round robin an addition was needed for Susan from OZ. Top left was Susan's starting block.  Underneath that was the sweet potted plant by Jan from the UK.  Then keeping the theme Ethne from the UK added the half pot in the center.  Onward to Scotland where Lynz added the four wee succulents.  Of course the theme had to continue so I added the "window mullion" and the other half of the pot and a wonky cactus.  Didn't mean for it to be wonky....stuff happens!;)

More happenings....finished pack #2 in the Glorious Hexagon Sew-Along. Phew!

Weather keeps happening too.  We still have snow on the ground from the big blizzard last month! Yesterday we had a huge thunderstorm...one inch of rain in half an hour....and a rainbow!:)

~d

New Year, New Mini Mania Challenge #11

Hmm...what to do for the Mini Mania Challenge?

 Had some scraps.

Leftovers from this quilt. 

 Which was in this book.

Challenge 11 was to make a sampler....with nine blocks.

So I did....eight around the border and one big one in the middle.

 A bit of hand quilting with perle cotton to finish.

I love the stripe stems....and everything else about it! 

So glad I get to keep it!

In the meantime we had a Blizzard...

...a really big Blizzard with over 30+ inches of snow.

 There was loads of time to do some English paper piecing.  The Glorious Hexagon quilt pack #1!

Of course that was after we did some shoveling!!

~d