Two More Finishes!

This is not a good picture of my completed journal quilt but it is proof that the quilt is done! I'm calling it "Summer Love" because it represents a place and a time of which I have very fond memories. The beads in particular don't show up well in this photo. There is a circle of beads in the center of my X/sun and a ray of beads extending down each leg of the X. That was the part that had me stumped for awhile, in spite of the fact that I thought that would be the part I would bead first! Ya just never know how things are going to develop.

When I finished the journal quilt I still had some energy left for more creativity. I dug around in my pile of UFO's to see what would fit the bill and came across yet another preemie top! I must have pieced it and not had time to assemble it right then. So yesterday I backed and turned it and quilted it. Ta daa!

That makes 5 preemie quilts to turn in so today I'm working on a sixth one to make an even half-dozen!

Finishes

Okay, I have to apologize to Blogger. Apparently some of the problems I was having getting my pictures to load was the fault of my computer, not Blogger. Live and learn :- )

Y'all are going to think I spoil my DD. I really don't; she enables me! I can't help it if she's having babies and needs quilts for them! It's not my fault that Baby Susan is a "juicy baby" and goes through blankets and quilts more quickly than her big sister did! Anyway, I finally finished the first crib quilt top I made out of orphan blocks:


I was very surprised at how much brighter and happier the top looked when I got the binding sewn down and put embroidery floss ties in the Double Pinwheel blocks. (The rest of it was machine quilted. The Double Pinwheel blocks just needed something to hold the layers together in the middle of the blocks and I didn't feel like quilting them all the way.) I don't know if it's because it had been awhile since I'd last looked at it or whether the blue binding made that big of a difference, but I like it a lot better now.

You may remember that DD requested a Halloween baby quilt too. That was right after I'd come across this Basketweave top I made a few years ago:


At the time I put it away because I thought I wanted to add a border of some kind but couldn't find what I liked. When I pulled it out last week I realized that it could be finished without a border and would be just fine. And it was the perfect size for a baby quilt! DD prefers tied quilts so I used a size 5 purple perle cotton to tie this one (two strands in the needle). Now I have a pile of goodies to take to her this week: two baby quilts and three placemats! I love being productive!! The challenge will be in going back to the projects I abandoned to play in the Halloween fabric ;- )

Playtime

I've been having trouble with blogger not loading my pictures again. This would have been my second post since the last one (!) if blogger had co-operated. I understand now why some folks have chosen to move to other platforms.

As you may recall, I got out my Halloween blocks and bits earlier in the week. From one of the orphan blocks I created this placemat for DD and DGD:



Then I went on to play in my Halloween scraps...

I started with a couple of oddball four-patch blocks and interesting scraps and added strips to make several units of varying sizes and shapes. Then I played around with them on my pre-cut batting to see what I liked together. A few more strips to fill in the empty spots and voila! On this last one I used a small panel from a piece of cheater cloth and went with a pumpkin theme:


I also unearthed a top I'd begun some time ago. The blocks were made from fabrics I'd received in a fall charm square swap. (Everyone in my guild cut 6" squares from an autumnal print and we swapped them out so that everyone went home with the same assortment of prints.) The center panel is fussy-cut from a large scale print. It only needed wider borders to make it preemie sized so I took off the skinny ones I'd put on for some reason and replaced them with wider ones of the same fabric. Backed it with a cozy flannel, turned it, topstitched and quilted it a bit, and it's ready to go to a neonatal intensive care unit.

There are more Halloween goodies to come. :- ) I haven't yet quilted my lime green and black doll quilt. That has been upstaged by DD's request for a Halloween baby quilt. I just happen to have a top already made but I'll wait until it gets tied and bound before I show it to you...

The Magpie Who Is Otherwise Known As...

My pirate name is:

Red Anne Roberts

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. Two things complete your pirate persona: style and swagger. Maybe a little too much swagger sometimes -- but who really cares? Arr!


Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Ahoy Me Hearties!

Arrr, sure enough, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Behold my skeleton crew (most of them anyway):

These are the swabs what accompanys me on me raids up and down the west coast, pillaging quilt shops and bead stores. "We named the monkey Jack."

And look what I found in the bilge:

More orphan blocks! More significantly, Halloween orphan blocks! Probably not enough for a quilt, but maybe enough for a placemat or two for DD and the DGD's. DD even asked for a Halloween theme quilt for the baby. Apparently she doesn't have enough quilts/blankets already. (She's just starved for some Halloween like her mommy. Halloween is our favorite holiday in this family.)

I have layered and pin basted the black and lime green top. I believe I even know how I'm going to quilt it. But first I may have to make me inner critic walk the plank, arrr!