Travelin’ Wednesday

I went on a mini-road trip today and had a great time.  I met a fellow Sunshine Quilter (we make children's quilts to donate) up north of Tampa at a new quilt shop, Sweet Darling Quilts, and then we went for lunch.

Oh, did I skip over the part where I went wild in the new quilt shop?!  I had taken a few fabric samples to match for my next venture and I found exactly what I had in mind.  I have some half-yard pieces of a fabric line that has strangely different colors (for me) and a really different design.  The design concept is computer circuits and robots and zigzags, so I’m going with the simple attic windows pattern.  I’m not showing it yet because it’ll look weird, I’m sure, with just the fabrics lined up  – here's hoping that it turns out!

Then I found their sale area and, of course, had to snap up a bargain.  That's just astute shopping, not splurging!

And then, *B* and I went for lunch and she brought her “show and tell”.  She had the neatest stuff – two scrappy baby quilts that were just darling.  I wish I'd remembered to take pictures of those.  And she brought me my Round Robin top that she was assigned to do the last round on.  I think it turned out great!  It’s going to one of those that will be hard to let go!

That's *B* holding my finished top

And lastly, I stopped by another quilt shop by me and gave this top to the lady that donated all of that fabric to me.

Not a 30s print backing, but it's what I had on hand

Her shop collects quilts for Project Linus and she’s going to donate it to them.  I wanted her to donate it in her name since she was kind enough to give me all of that fabric!  I loved this one, too.  I think I’m becoming attached to these quilts … so easy to do!

Saturday Sewing

I recently was given a fantastic gift.  I am NEVER lucky – I never win at casinos (I don’t even bother to go) – I never win drawings or door prizes – but I must have been in the right place at the right time one day last week.

I was shopping the pre-Thanksgiving sale at my LQS and talking with the lady cutting my fabric about the children’s quilts that I make.  I told her all about Wrap-a-Smile and Wrap-Them-in-Love and all of the great work that they do.  And then she asked if I wanted some fat quarters that she had been carrying around in her car just waiting to give them to somebody!  Of course, I said yes – I was expecting 3-4 FQs.

And this is what she brought me – that bag was HEAVY!  It had fat quarters (on the left), a layer cake (in the middle) and some yardage (on the right).  I was stunned!!

So yesterday and today I worked up this sweet baby quilt from the layer cake pieces.

9-Patches (sorry about the sewing room mess!)

More 9-Patches

Still more 9-patches

Square in a squares - set on point

Coming Together!

And the final top - it is just too sweet in person!

The pattern is called Fiona and it’s from this book by Me and my Sister Designs:

I’m going to try to quilt it up tomorrow and take it back to show her my appreciation on Monday and give her a thank you note.  What a nice person she was!

PS  The fabric I bought that day had to be put away for Christmas – I wasn’t allowed to play with that!

Fibonacci Day

Today is Fibonacci Day because the numbers corresponding to this date fit into the Finbonacci Sequence (Nov 23 = 1,1,2,3).

It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about the Fibonacci sequence.  I’ve always been fascinated with chambered nautilus shells and the spirals found in seedheads of some flowers such as large sunflowers or coneflowers:

Chambered Nautilus Shell - Image by Jitze

 Coneflower - R. Knott - Univ of Surrey - UK

Leonardo da Pisa (nicknamed Fibonacci), a mathematician, was born in Pisa around 1170 AD and is best known for a simple series of numbers called the Fibonacci sequence.  The series begins with 0 and 1.   After that, it uses the simple rule of adding the last two numbers to get the next:  1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, etc.

The Fibonacci sequence appears consistently in nature in various ways – such as in seeds, flowers, petals, pine cones, fruit and vegetables, among others. Some plants branch in such a way that they always have a Fibonacci number of growing points. Flowers often have a Fibonacci number of petals, daisies can have 34, 55 even 89 petals.  Seeds of a sunflower appear to spiral outwards to the left and to the right - and there are a Fibonacci number of spirals.  This arrangement keeps the seeds uniformly packed no matter how large the seed head.

Someday, I’d really like to make a quilt based on the Fibonacci Sequence – it would be quite easy:

To learn more about the mathematical concept, check out these great sites:

http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/fibonacci-sequence.html

OR

http://www.decodedscience.com/the-fibonacci-series-phi-shapes-and-numbers-sacred-geometry-in-nature-and-culture/3245

It’s Thanksgiving!

Did you Know?

Benjamin Franklin argued that the Turkey should be our National Bird.

He stated that it was more respectable and a native of North America.

Not to be disrespectful, Ben, but let’s EAT!

Drop Everything and Quilt!

There was a cry for help on one of my quilters message boards.  Someone wanted to send a lot of quilts to Afghanistan and she was in over her head as far as the number of quilts she had committed to.  Quilters across the US (and even Germany) jumped in to help, of course.  That’s just what quilters do.  I volunteered to make this one and get it into the mail in about 4 days time.  I just made it (wahoo!).  The pattern is called “Warm Wishes” and that’s exactly what I wanted to send to the young soldier over there.  I hope I get to see pictures when they are delivered in Afghanistan …

And then it was back to the children’s quilts:

Lots of Dots is quilted (in a double bubble pattern!) and all done and into the box getting ready to go to Wrap-a-Smile.

The Monsters and Their Trains is now a finished top – I need more fabric for the backing and it’ll be next on the frame.

I love quilting!

Veteran’s Day – November 11, 2012

Veterans Day is intended to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime.

In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank living Veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty.

If you know of or see a Veteran, a word of thanks goes a long way …

How a Quilt Grows

I had to stop and clean up the sewing room … you know how that goes.  I had just set aside stacks of extra fabrics after cutting and had piles of things sitting on every available surface and it just had to end!

So I took some time to put away the fabrics, stack up the magazines, re-file the pattern directions in notebooks, and even dust.  Yes, me dusting!

And then I got back to growing the Monsters and Their Trains:

 I still have to add a black border all around the outside (I haven’t decided on a binding of purple or blue – I’ll have to audition them).  But it’s starting to take shape and look good!

Tomorrow is my Quilts of Valor group meeting – then a quilt show on Saturday, but after that, it’s back to quilting!

Election Day!

Get some exercise today …

exercise your right to VOTE !!!

I Made Some Progress Today

Despite being confused about what is the “real” time all day, I did make some progress.  I worked on the Summer Winds block and have two almost put together using the monsters fabric. 

I changed my mind from my original idea to have only one block in the middle (sort of as a medallion) and decided to make two instead.  I’ll put them one over the other, since the monsters print is directional,  and put the monsters on the trains in the middle.  I’ll add a little sashing to bring it up to the right size and “poof” it’ll be a top!

And just to show that I really don’t have a one-track mind (no pun intended), I had to lay out those scrappy hearts blocks that I’ve had forever (from an old block swap).  I elected to go the quick route with plain blocks in between just to get it out the door.  I’ll finish this one off tomorrow.

So it sounds like tomorrow’s work is already cut out for me.  OK – that pun was intended – low humor – very, very low! - it must be that time change thing ....

Daylight Savings Time Tonight

I’m still saying it:  “I hate Daylight Savings Time”

And now that I’ve said it, I plan to sew tomorrow, so hopefully the differential between the official clock time and my internal clock time won’t matter!

I’ll be working on this big block pattern:

It’s by Janet Wickell at About.com and it’s called Summer Winds.  There is both a 24" and a 12" option.  These are the fabrics that I've pulled to use:

I’ll use it as the center block since I'm doing the 24 x 24 block and then I’ll add borders to bring it up to a good size for my children’s donation quilts.  Should be cute (and hopefully use up the last of those monsters!).

Nautical Print Fabric

A Reader recently made a nice comment on an old blog entry of mine and asked a question.  Unfortunately, she has her computer set on “no reply” so I could not send a return email.  I left a comment below her original one in case she went back to look there, but there has been no further activity.

So just in case she reads the most recent posts, here’s the answer, just for you dear Reader!

The nautical fabric that I showed was this:

The line is called “Seaport View” and it was designed by Dan Morris for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.  Although it is at least a year old, you can still find some of the fabrics, including this design in two colorways and also the nautical flags, on-line through various sellers.  The Robert Kaufman site is at:  www.robertkaufman.com

Good luck! 

PS  I had pulled two compatible fabrics for this last year and was waiting for the right pattern to strike me …. Lightning has finally struck and I will be making something from the Take 5 book … Soon!