Scrap Attack Quilt Top Finished!

I just finished up my "Scrap Attack" Quilt!  I made it as part of "Stitched in Color's "Scrap Attack Quilt Along".  Next week is the final week, and there will be prizes given away, so if you haven't made a scrap quilt top yet, you still have time to get in on the fun!!

I used up a lot of my batik scraps, which all live in the same box together.  I cut up everything I had into 3 inch squares and just created 12 different 5 by 5 blocks.  I was going to use the same white sashing and border, but ran out of fabric.  I had a nice big chunk of solid black though, and after the "audition", I decided I liked the black better.  Since I wanted a bed-sized quilt, I did fill it out a bit with the sashign and borders.  It's 60 inches by 78 inches.

I love scrappy quilts, and the colors and fabric in this really make me happy!!  One of the best thing about this quilt is that the only fabric I had to buy for this was the white.

Thanks again to Rachel, of "Stitched in Color" for hosting this.  Be sure to keep an eye out for her "Festival of Scrappiness" next week!

Simple things

Yes, I've totally caught the granny square bug!  I must admit that I was smitten as soon as I saw my first one! A granny square quilt has been on my short list for the last several months, but I finally seized the opportunity to start making them this week-end.

I participated in a local charm square swap here in town, and we got to pick up our final assortment of charm squares on Friday!  Each person bought a yard of an assigned color, and cut them up into 5 inch charm squares.  We had a picture of a piece of art to base our colors on.  It didn't take me long at all to decide that these were going to become granny squares!  All I had to do is cut the 5 inch squares into 4, 2 1/2 inch squares, and start arranging and sewing!  I already have 2 more in the works!!  I can not believe how such a simple design can be SO MUCH FUN!!!

I also finished the last of my scrap attack quilt blocks.  This is also a simple quilt, but the 3 inch squares I'm using have been taking up precious table space in my house for way too long, so I HAD to get it done!  All I need to do now is to cut and sew in the sashing, and borders, and I'll have another top!!  I couldn't resist making a "bar graph" block as my final block LOL!

Finally, I got a rubber stamp off Etsy to help me make my postcards.  It came in the mail Friday as well.  I found an ink pad at a store I went to yesterday, and used it on my first postcard!  It's another simple thing that makes me very happy, although I'm not sure I like the ink yet.  It smudged, even 15 minutes after stamping, despite the recommendation of the craft store employee.  Do any of you use stamps and ink on your fabric?  What do you use?  Maybe I should have heat set it?  I'd love to hear any ideas or feedback!!

I'm linking up for the first time with "Sew Happy Geek" (love the name!) and her Manic Monday link party.  I've started following her and some other quilts on Twitter, and while it is fun, I must say that I feel more like a slow penguin on twitter, rather than a quick little bird!

I hope you all are busy enjoying the simple things in life, as I have been!!

WIP Wed: Stars and Squares

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed to tell you what I've been up to lately.

I am very happy to say that my "Solstice Star Series" Quilt is almost done!  I still need to trim up the bottom, and do a final iron, but then it's be ready to quilt!

The stars are blocks I made during Faith of Fresh Lemons Quilts' Solstice Star Series.  In her final post, she challenged us to create a quilt with just the 5 blocks, set in a non-traditional way.  I knew quickly that I wanted to do a quilt based on "Prairie-Style" or "Frank Lloyd Wright" designs.  I've been wanting to make a quilt like this since we lived in Michigan, 3-4 years ago.  My husband was raised in Chicago, and still has family there, so we are regular visitor to the windy city.  Not only is my husband from the Chicago metropolis, but more specifically, he grew up in Oak Park, the same suburb where Frank Lloyd Wright had his home and studio.  I've long admired the clean simple prairie style designs and architecture.  I know Faith is also from Chicago-land too, so it just seemed "right" to make this quilt.

I must have changed my design a dozen times, but finally settled on this one.  I think it's pretty funny too that only 5 blocks morphed themselves into a queen sized quilt!  Those star blocks are 12 x 12 inches, making the quilt a final 7 feet by 8 feet!! It took both my husband, and one of my boys to hold it up for the picture! The back of this quilt will be a real stash-buster!

Over the week-end, I quilted my "Children's Delight" quilt.  This is the first quilt I ever made using pre-cuts (charm squares).  It has been waiting to be quilted for 2 years now, and it feels great to have it almost done!  I just need to get the binding cut out and sewn on!

I'm also working on the new Project Quilting challenge, which is "Where I live", very similar to my last postcard challenge "Where you are" LOL  I was about to make a bigger duplicate of my Oregon postcards, but last night I got an idea that I love even better! 

I also have a few more blocks to make for my "Scrap Attack" quilt.

As the weather is getting warmer, days are getting longer, and signs of Spring are popping up all over the place, I have a feeling that I'll be spending less and less time at my sewing machine...  I hope Spring has sprung in your part of the world as well!

WIP Wed: Block and Cover ;-)

It's Wednesday, so once again, I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed.  Come see what others are working on!

I finished up another block for the Solstice Star Series.  I also made another block for my "Scrap Attack" quilt.

Mostly, though, I've been working on some new Kindle covers for my Etsy shop.

Other non-sewing news is that our main computer, with all of my pictures from last week back crashed over the week-end.  Luckily we have another computer.  It's super-slow, but it's better than nothing!  I'm hoping that we can get it back soon, and that the tech will be able to save all of our data!!  It's backed up, but of course it'd be best if all can be fixed.  Wish us luck!!

WIP Wed: More scraps....

I'm afraid I've been busy the last few days dealing with car problems.  We have a hybrid car, and the main battery pack bit the dust, but we're hoping it'll be covered in a warranty extension (fingers crossed). I did manage to get a few blocks sewn, including the first star (above) in Faith From Fresh Lemons blog's Solstice Star Series.  She sure savors "s"'s!  I did the Summer Sampler Series too last summer, and love her tutorials!  I also got another Scrap Attack block done (below), and am trying to design a quilt for this week's Project Quilting that needs to be based on a song title.  I'm keeping it under wraps, mainly because there's really not much to show yet.  Stay tuned.  My Etsy shop has some new Kindle covers, and I'm also hoping to show you how I did my block for breast cancer, so I can get a tutorial of my own up here soon! As usual, it's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed.  Come join us there!

2012: The year of the Quilt-a-long?

Gosh, I think hosting a quilt-a-log must be on the top of a lot of quilt blogger's lists!  I can't remember ever seeing so many quilt-a-longs as I have the last week or so!  I LOVE quilt a longs, and already have a growing list of ones that I eventually want to make, but alas, there's just not enough hours in the day!!

How do you choose?  There are many that I want to do, but I had to narrow the list somehow.  I'm already involved in my postcard swaps, and then there's the Etsy shop...  I finally decided to narrow it down to a scrappy quilt-a-long and an artistic challenge.  I'm joining up with Stitched in Color's Scrap Attack Quilt Along, and Kim's Crafty Apple's "Project Quilting".

Both of these QAL's involve no pattern at all.  I love the freedom involved in these.  Don't get me wrong, I love patterns too, but more and more, these projects that have a theme that you build your own quilty project around have become my favorites (the postcard cottage works much the same way).  Both are new or almost new blogs to me as well, so it'll be fun to get to know these bloggers!

I already had a pile of 3 inch batik squares laying around from extra fabric that I cut but never used in Lee's Supernova QAL.  I dug out my box of batik scraps, cut what I could into 3 inch square, and now I'm happy to say that I no longer have any batik scraps that are larger than 3 inches.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the little ones left, but they do make great postcards...  Stay tuned to see what I have planned for these.

 I don't know how I missed the first 2 "Project Quilting"s, but as soon as I saw this challenge, it grabbed me like few others have!!  I just LOVE this challenge.  The fact that we only have a week to do it is a bit intimidating, but I love challenges too!  This week's theme is to use an architectural element to make any size quilt.  Considering my New Orleans roots, I feel like I have a head start though.  New Orleans is one of the most architecturally interesting places I've ever known, something I took completely for granted until I moved out West in my 20's.  It didn't take long thinking about New Orleans and quilt design before I decided to highlight the Creole cottages and Shotgun houses' distinct style that you see all over New Orleans.  I got even more excited when I remembered that I still have a stack of Kona solids from Gen X's Kona solids swap that I did last year.  I'm SOOO excited about this project!!  I tried to design it on my new QE7 computer program, and quickly got frustrated, but I did manage to get a template made, and used  pencils to scribble out the rest....

Gosh, I'd better stop writing and go sew if I'm ever going to get this done!!  More to come...