"Indigo Crossing" for Indigo

My great-niece, Indigo, was born in December. She lives in Guam. I was looking for just the right fabrics to make her a quilt. Recently, I came across a line of fabric by Moda called Indigo Crossing. I HAD to buy it & make the quilt. I started out with a 4-patch, thinking I'd just make a simple 4-patch quilt. But it just didn't suit me so..went online & found Indian Star made from a 4-patch base.This is the result. I love it! Now to pack it up & send it off to little Indigo.

My "Galaxy of Stars" quilt

I had recently purchased the "galaxy" fabric just because I liked it. You know how that is :) A few weeks later, I saw this quilt on the cover of an old quilt magazine that I got from a free magazine swap at my local quilt store. I HAD to make it~ The colors are deeper than the photo shows.I like the deep blue stars & swirls fabric I found as the large border.  Almost wish I had made it a little bigger. But this will be a nice kids quilt.

a Firefighter quilt

I've had these firefighter prints for many years & finally decided to do something with them. Just a small kids quilt . Simple fleece backing & diagonal machine quilting.

A Christmas cross-stitch sampler

This is a Christmas Sampler from the same company, Stoney Creek, that I'm using for the Christmas stocking( previous post) . I thought I did it just a couple of years ago. When I got it out, I saw the year 2007! My, how time flies! I will be getting this framed this year so it can go up on the wall THIS Christmas.  You can't see it in the photo but many of the stitches have a gold thread added to the DMC floss.

Quilts & Cross-stitch..a beautiful day for pictures~

A beautiful day to take pictures of some of quilts & a cross-stitched piece. A cross-stitch Christmas stocking in progress ( it's only been abt 2 yrs now..half way there!) A Firefighter's printed quilt. I'm seeing Fire Engine Red!! Another I Spy for Jax( see previous post) . One for MeMom's house & one for "naptime" at preschool.

I Spy quilt for my grandson

This quilt will stay at MeMom's. I've made my grandson several quilts but this is the first I Spy. It will be for him snuggling here with me or his P-Pop. Jax loves fleece so that's what a backed it with.I had it on the couch when he came over. He saw it & said" MeMom, you made me another quilt!" Love my little guy!!

Springtime in my sewing room

Pineland Treasures ,Barb & I got together this week & cut the last step to this wall hanging called SPRING. I was able to finish mine & embellished it with some butterflies & put a border on it. It's really too big for any of my walls in my house( except my design wall) . I think I'll add another border & make it a throw. Barb's SPRING is also shown but without the last step sewn. It was fun to audition fabrics for this project. Now we have to look for something else to work on together.

a "Spring" update

My neighbor,Barb (Pineland Treasures) & I are working on a new project. We get together to audition & cut the fabrics & then go to our own sewing machine to sew at our leisure. It's fun.Yesterday's section # 6 (not shown in this photo) took us abt 2 hours . Small detailed pieces to cut & of course a lot of chatting goes on. We first did this when working on the All Roads Lead to the Sea quilts. It's been awhile & we missed working on a project together. My quilt is the top one. Barb's , the bottom. Except for the pattern it's self, we are totally doing "our own thing". Mine is more tradtitonal looking fabrics. Barb's is very whimsical.

A cozy log cabin

First of all, I don't have floor space big enough to display some of these large quilts.Sorry it's not totally flat. Need a bigger house. LOL This cozy log cabin quilt top(measuring 88" X 116")is complete, I think? My friend has asked me to make this for her bed. She has double-size bed but with lots of extra mattress layers. Almost like the "Princess & the Pea".Well, maybe not quite that big. I started out with making it a queen size but...not big enough. I'll see her next Saturday to lay it over her bed. Here's hoping it's big enough. I already put one border on it. Guess I could always put a few more borders if necessary.

Easy Street top completed~

Yesterday I completed the top of my Easy Street. Thinking I might just put a binding on this. No borders.Going to think abt it for a bit. Other projects to get to.....

Easy Street...everywhere!

Easy Street has taken over my sewing room~ But I see the end in sight.

Our Wednesday stamping girls

Today we celebrated our friend's 92nd birthday( actual BD Jan 2nd) .Pictured here is our usual group of girls. A few girls have come & gone but Miss Billie,Del,my mom( seated in blue shirt) & I have been stamping on Wednesdays for over 16yrs.Our friend, Hope, has been with us for several yrs now .We missed a few Wednesdays here & there but pretty much a sure place to find us ,around my kitchen table, every Wednesday.Lots of fun & great fellowship. We stamp from 12:30-3 & always have a break abt 2pm for tea & a snack. An interesting tid bit.. Miss Billie was my Sunday School teacher when I was a little girl.Of course, then I called her Mrs Layton.

My first T-shirt quilt

This is the t-shirt quilt I made for my brother-in-law( pictured). He's a retired Casper,Wy firefighter. All the t-sirts were either dk blue or black & most said the same thing. There were a couple that had a fire school he'd attend every couple of years. One t-shirt shows that he was captain. But most just said Casper Fire Dept or had the emblem on it.  I had to fill in with 2 extra blocks so I added the year he started & the year he retired. I backed this with a light blue fleece that had trees & moose( is that the plural more more than one moose? lol) It was a surprise for him & my sister said he was thrilled. Yeah!

In between "Easy Street" Fridays

When I'm not sewing Easy Street clues, I'm working on this log cabin queen size quilt for a friend. I have to make 24 blocks. 5 more blocks to go. I didn't give her a date as to when her quilt would be finished.  But the log cabin is an easy pattern & is going fast. I also talked my friend into having it long-arm quilted instead of me hand-quilting it ! That way it will be on her bed much quicker.

Easy Street part 2 & 3 complete

Part 3 completed and it isn't even Thursday night. Part 2 was completed before Dec 7th. Just didn't post a photo. So you get 2 for 1  :)  So curious as to what this quilt is going to look like. Enjoying this one so far~

Easy Street part 1 completed

So far this quilt is living up to it's name "Easy Street". Of course it's only step 1~

Starting Easy Street

My cousin, Donna, & I officially started the Easy Street Mystery quilt. Almost all of the grey, black & white pieces are cut & ready to sew.

My solution to "not enough fabric"

In a previous post & also on Facebook, I asked my friends to see if anyone had some extra fabric I needed to finish a quilt. Many people checked & even looked in Lancaster for me, Thank you all! The  print was not found .  I went to plan "B". I thought,  If I was in a 3rd world country, I'd use every bit of the fabric I had, not just throw away the scraps. I dug in my "throw away" basket & found enough pieces to make it work. I had to make 5 of the 2 1/2" corner blocks. Yes, They were "franken-blocked" .It was around the same time as the Franken-storm, Sandy, was about to hit our NJ shore. The reason for the name Franken-block. I also thought, since it was for my mom who lived during the Depression, she would appreciate my frugleness.I showed it to her yesterday & she didn't even see the blocks at first.  Hoping to have the hand quilting finished for Christmas.

A "total finish"

Well. It's been a couple years in the making, My Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt is totally finished. I hand quilted this . That's what took so much time. But now I can say ..wow, I did this!

Looking for a little bit more of this fabric....

I posted a message on my Facebook page but thought I'd try here too. I'm working on a quilt for my mom with this fabric as the main piece. I bought this back in the summer when one of my local quilt stores was going out of business. Didn't know what I was going to do with it at the time so I only bought a yard. I need a "tad" more. Anyone out there in "quilt blogland" have a little bit they would be willing to sell me. It's a Robert Kaufman Imperial design . I need a less than a 1/4 yd.  I've tried the internet. Can't find it anywhere~ My cousin went to Lancaster & she checked out the stores there. It's such a pretty fabric & just the right colors for my mom's livingroom. Thanks for checking your stash!

Not just a quilt

I made this quilt  many years ago. I have fond memories of my friend, Beth & I each making a quilt after we saw the pattern at a quilt show. It was done in Fall colors & leaves.We decided to change it to blues & flowers. What a job ! But we loved the finished quilts . Often when my grandson comes to visit, he uses this one as a fort. The quilt on my bed has sashings that he uses as roadways. No...not just a quilt~

Irish Chain quilt

A "finish"! This summer, a friend asked me to make a double -bed size quilt for her son's 26th BD. His BD was last week. Only a week late, not too bad. I hand quilted on the diagonal.

A cute felted birdhouse

Should have posted this back in May.The birdhouse & flowers were Mother's Day gifts from my kids. The flowers are still blooming although they aren't as full as they were in this photo. The birdhouse is all felted. I thought of my friend, Pineland Treasures Barb, as she likes to felt. The instructions say it's good for outdoors.It's so cute.  No birds took up residency this year. There's always next year~

A special Birthday "card"

      A friend made this very unique & beautiful "card" for me .

Summer Fruit Table Runner

My friend &  I saw this table runner made up at my local quilt shop. She's getting her kitchen re-done & loved the "fruit" theme. She's not a sew/quilter so I had fun making it for her.  The runner is a simple pattern & sews up quickly.

Friday's "stamping with a friend" day

 This card was fun to create. Shutters & window & butterflies are die cuts from Memory Box. The cat is from Kate's ABC's cricut cartridge, the lamp( ? )  The brick is from a cuttlebug folder.

The ice cream cone was an idea from a Cricut magazine. We used the Indie Art cartridge.

Big Blossom Trio quilt

A completed quilt~ yeah! This pattern is called Big Blossom Trio. I think the fabric in this quilt is so pretty. I don't think it shows in the pictures but the fabric has silver threads throughout each  print. I hand quilted in the ditch & also used a flower template for the middle of the big blocks.This quilt is 48" X 54" . A nice lap size quilt.

Morning Star block quilt

I was browsing through quilterscache.com & found this interesting block pattern called Morning Star. It's a 1914 block -that-isn't-a block. The design is named for it's sashing, which forms the stars. It was interesting putting this together.I hand quilted around the stars & the green sashing.  The fabric is something I bought years ago. Finally got to use it. In an earlier post, there's a picture of this print being used in a fabric basket for my sister that lives in Wyoming.

Flip n' Fold pillow

I made 2 of these Flip n' Fold pillow covers in abt 1 hr! The pattern is from Happy Hour book by Atkinson Designs. A great book to have in a quilting library.

A new table runner for my kitchen table

One would think that if I sew, I would have a different table runner for every occasion, season, or whim. But this table runner was made in 2005 & except for the times when I have a tablecloth on the table, this has been the runner. It has special memories. Three friends, sitting around my table with our sewing machines , each of us making a runner with the same pattern but different fabrics.The the runner will always be special but I think it's time for a change.....I've been collecting apples & other related fruit design fabrics to match my kitchen light. I had enough to make 2 runners. The first is the French Bread pattern. The other is Moda Marbles Stars . I like the French Bread pattern the best for these prints. I think the Marbles Stars pattern gets lost in the busy print. My original runner will still go on the table once in awhile.