Merry Christmas Eve!

It's that last minute time--DH is out shopping--he loves to wait until the last day--and I am baking:  blackberry cobbler, gingerbread Santas, Harvest Cinnamon Buns, rolls, Cranberry Chutney, and Sweet Potato Casserole if I get to it.

Here is what I did last week as small Christmas gifts for my 2 best quilting buddies:

These are about 8" square and are made from silk strips created from recycled silk saris.  I came upon these silk bundles in Houston last year and have been finding ways to use them.  As most are less than 1" wide, it's tricky.

Check out Judy L's Design Wall Monday to see what others have been hurrying to finish!

A most happy and blessed Christmas to all of you! When all the excitement is over: Let's quilt!

Barbara

December Doll Quilt Swap

Denise and I swapped doll quilts at our annual guild Christmas party last night. Because we are friends and see each other at least each month at guild meeting, this was a great way to swap without going to the post office and to see the other's reaction to our quilts.

Here is the great Shoo Fly quilt Denise made for me:

Isn't it terrific? She used beautiful metallic thread for the quilting and all the fabrics are super. It's 16" square, with 6" shoo fly blocks. Thank you, Denise, for a great Christmas quilt I will use and enjoy for years to come!

As she had posted a few "hints" on her blog earlier, I had a suspicion about her quilt design for me. So I made her a little shoo fly, as an extra Christmas gift. The white and red fabrics were leftovers from my Just Takes 2 Red and White quilt I just finished:



Mine is 8.5" square, with 3" shoo fly blocks--I love shoo fly blocks, so cute and perky!

The quilt it is sitting on is the 12 Days of Christmas quilt I made for Denise as her December swap quilt. There are 12 blocks, each has the number of pieces in the 12 days--1, 2, 3, etc., all the way to the 12th day which has 12 pieces. The pattern came from Temecula Quilt Co, December 2011 posts. 

I've a made a couple other little quilts this week but can't show them until tomorrow...

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Sneak Peek for Denise

OK, Denise is padding her blogs to make a specific count on by December 31.  Today she posted  asneak peek for me of the Doll Quilt she made for me as part of the Doll Quilt Swap.  (EDIT--I goofed--Denise posted on the Doll Quilt Swap blog, not her personal blog--I posted on both so I am, apparently, padding my blog!)

Here is her sneak peek:

Or is it this one?

She'll just have to wait for tomorrow night at our guild holiday party to find out!

Sneaky, yes?

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Just Takes 2 Done!

I worked all week on it, and got the borders on my Just Takes 2 quilt top:

I spent a good bit of time figuring out the measurements for the floater borders so the pieced borders would fit.  They did.  It got pretty big--about 91" x 108".  It will be sent off to California for quilting--I know it will be super when it's done. 

Another look at the borders:

Now I can move on to all the Christmas stuff that has to get done this week.  My guild party is Thursday and I still have things to get ready for that, plus shopping and shipping and baking... You get the picture.

Check out Judy L's Design Wall Monday to see what others are doing.

Have a great week and let's quilt!

Barbara

Just Takes 2 is Done--Almost!

With all the patterns and the final construction instructions in hand, I got the Just Takes 2 red and white quilt top assembled.  There were several places to join with partial seams as there are no complete rows in the whole top so it took a little while to join it all together:

 

Now I am working on a pieced border to finish it off.  There are 2362 pieces and 59 different fabrics in the top.   It will be quilted by a longarm wonder woman.  I'm thinking of using red for the back--what do you think?

 

The only other thing I got done this week is the next block in  the Grandmother's Choice block of the week, which honors and educates us about the women's suffragist movement of a century ago.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what other's have been working on. 

 

Have a great week and Let's Quilt!

 

Barbara

 



Design Wall Monday December 3, 2012

It sure got to be December in a hurry!  My son, Andy, turned 32 yesterday, so it must be December.  We enjoyed having dinner with he and his wife and her parents and brother on  Saturday night.  At a sports bar--we were there for the last 15 minutes of the SEC championship game between Alabama and Georgia--wow, was it LOUD when the game ended with Alabama's victory!

Here's what I got done this past week:

The first 2 rows of Grandmother's Choice, the story of the woman's suffragist movement.  The blocks come each Saturday and if I don't keep up, I'll never get it done.  I'm using the tradtional colors of the English movement--I didn't know it was a world-wide struggle.  See Barbara Brackman's blog for more information.

Here are the Just Takes 2 blocks I got done last week:

 There is one applique' basket block I don't love so I am replacing it.  Thought I would put four 6" heart blocks together to fill the 12" space until I had the first one almost done and realized I had not put the heart on point.  So, back to the drawing board--I'll find something else.

The final blocks have been printed and I'll finish those this week and complete joining all four quarters into a top.  I plan to add a pieced border--will give some thought to that after the top is done.

This is my last burst of "pre-tax season" quilting time.  Have to get as much done now as I can since my quilting time will be seriously curtailed from January-April.  I'll get a few hand projects together so I always have something I can pick up at night--when I have the energy. 

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what other's have been doing.

Have a great week and let's quilt!

Barbara