Crazy Cravings in September - Part II

 I'm a participant in the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2013. So far I've made 1 block each month. I've made 3 blocks this month for my Crazy Cravings lap quilt.  I want to have 20 blocks so need to step things up a bit if I want to finish a lap quilt in January 2014.    This is the second block for September. The first was blogged a couple of days ago and the third will be blogged within the next couple of days. 

Yummmmmm. Hot Chocolate.

On this seam I made stitched some buttonhole wheels in 2 strands DMC and outlined them in metallic gold chain stitches. I thought it kind of mimicked the gold outlines on the little pastries in the fabric. 

 One seam has fly stitches and on the other I used some pink trim and attached it in the loops with straight stitches on each side.

This seam has brown/white trim attached with pistil stitches and french knots in perle #8 and a yummy cupcake button. 

Feather stitch with lazy daisies done in 3 strands variegated DMC.

Buttonhole stitch topped with some stars.  I used one strand brown DMC and one strand of metallic together.

And finally I added some trim I picked up at the thrift store a long time ago. (Up close it looks like it might be falling apart). I attached with lazy daisy stitches and french knots.

And now I'm on my way out the door for a 4 hour trip to a wedding. My niece Genevieve and her groom will be getting a double four patch quilt from me as well as kitchen set consisting of a hotpad, crocheted dishcloth and embroidered dishtowel.

There's a Hole in the Barn Door

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Hole in the Barn Door

I used up some 6.5 inch squares I've accumulated over the years from various I Spy swaps. 

Quilted with spirals on my plain Jane DSM.

It will go to Wrap-a-Smile  which provides quilts for kids quilts for kids undergoing cleft lip/cleft palate surgery. 

Unfortunately I forgot to put Color Catchers in the laundry when I washed the quilt and some of the reds ran on to the back.  I have read some places that they can be re-washed with Color Catchers after it has run and sometimes the reds will come out.   I will have to see.

Linking up today to Confessions of a Fabric Addict...Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?    You may want to see what everyone else is Whooping about this week and Sarah is having a Giveaway. You won't know what it's all about if you don't visit her blog!

Crazy Cravings in September - Part I

I'm a participant in the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2013. So far I've made 1 block each month. I've made 3 blocks this month for my Crazy Cravings lap quilt.  I want to have 20 blocks so need to step things up a bit if I want to finish a lap quilt in January 2014.    This is the first block for September. The other two will follow in posts in the next couple of days. 

Start with a bowl of chocolates...

...on one seam stitch up a few bullion star chocolate candies...

 ...on another seam add a herringbone stitch in 3 strands of blue DMC and then in 3 strands of variegated pink DMC and below it add a little lace (actually I think it is hem binding) bordered by chain stitches and french knots.

This seam has some entwined feather stitches in brown and in white perle #8.   Inside the circles I kind of imitated the coffee beans and leaves in the fabric with some lazy daisy stitches and french knots. 

And finally I added buttonhole stitch on one seam and some leaves, lazy daisy and french knots on another seam.

QOV part II on the Design Wall

Yesterday, amidst the making/canning of spaghetti sauce and catsup I managed to make a 10 more 6 inch Twinkler blocks  with blue backgrounds for a QOV quilt.  I need 10 more blocks with blue backgrounds and 20 more with red backgrounds and I'll be ready for assembly. 

Quilt will alternate red and blue background Twinklers and have some Wonky Tall Stars (this month's Block Lotto block) for a top and bottom border.

I also used up some red and blue strings for 5 blocks for Alycia's Big Blowout Block Drive.   Add to that the 35 blue/yellow blocks I made for the drive and I'm up to a total of 40 blocks now! 

There's some gorgeous projects up on Design Walls linked up at Judy's Patchwork Times. Go visit!

Still Seeing Red

For this week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (color red), I used red scraps for the background for Wonky Tall Stars - this month's Block Lotto block.   I've already made 9 blocks for the lotto. These will be used in a border for a Quilts of Valor quilt. 

And I finished some red (well, a couple of them aren't red) 3 inch spools.

I still have some larger red scraps left over and since there's still one more red Saturday in August I'll hopefully get those used up.

For ideas on what to do with your red scraps check out Scrap Happy Saturday at the SoScrappy blog. 

Oh My Stars !

Birthday Stars

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I finished quilting and binding my Birthday Stars.  I participated in a Birthday Block Swap last year and for my block I asked for any 12 inch star block in jewel tones on black background.  With only 12 stars I wanted a little large quilt so I added 5 inch sashings and in some spots I added little 5 inch stars I made as the cornerstones. 

 Since most of the blocks seemed to have some purple in them I used purple as the backing - (shhhhhh....it's a 100 % cotton sheet from the thrift store).   I had some variegated purple thread so used that in the bobbin and on the front...

 ...I used black thread.   I was a little leary about quilting in black in the lighter colors but I guess it looks okay now that it's finished.  I quilted on my DSM - no fancy machines here - in loops and stars. It's better that it's finished than sitting around as a UFO for several more years.

And, about those five inch stars....I thought I had enough of that swirly multi -colored jewel tones fabric for stars all around but I didn't.   So, stars are randomly placed here and there.

Getting this quilted and bound was my August goal for Lovely Year of Finishes. 

I'm going to go Whoop, Whoop it up now at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and then see what everyone else is Whoop, Whooping about. 

And, finally...a question...What color of thread would you have used on top?  I'm still not sure I like the black.  I need advice because I have another jewel tones on black UFO I hope to finish up soon. 

Slow Stitching Sunday on Crazy Cravings

I'm just going to relax today and hand piece 3 blocks for my Crazy Cravings lap quilt.  Grandkids were here for the weekend and I think they left me with some nasty bug.  I'm drinking Pepto Bismol and popping Tylenol and hope all is well tomorrow before the alarm for work sounds at 4:00 a.m. 

Are you Slow Stitching today like everyone else linked up at Kathy's Quilts? 

QOV

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is red.  For this week's Scrap Happy Saturday I've made up 19 more Twinklers to add to the collection. I now have 30 blue and 29 red 6 inch Twinklers that will go toward a Quilt of Valor.   To see what others are doing with their red scraps this week visit the party going on at SoScrappy's blog. 

 

Here's an idea of how I am going to alternate the red and blue blocks.  And at top and bottom I will add some of the Tall Stars blocks we are making this month for Block Lotto.  

There is also a Big Blowout Block Drive for QOV going on at Alycia Quilts.   You get your choice of two blocks. I chose the blue/yellow block so I didn't have to use a foundation. I've been saving my foundation fabric for the Heartstrings challenge that is coming up soon - black and white string quilts with your choice of center color if you are making the entire quilt.

So far I've made 35 blocks- 7 chances at winning some fabulous prizes being offered! 35 is probably my limit but you never know...there's plenty of time to make more. Deadline is Oct 30. 

Now I think I'll be canning tomatoes and spaghetti sauce all day and may also get some green beans frozen.  And tonight the grandkids will probably beg to play some games. I don't think I'll get much sewing done. 

Crazy Cravings in August

I've finished my August CQJP 2013 block for my Crazy Cravings lap quilt. Details follow.

This is supposed to be braid stitch. I wanted it along the seam to kind of mimic the white icing on the cupcakes. I need a little practice at this as it is sure kind of wonky looking.  A Bella Online article with a picture of what this stitch is supposed to look like (last on page) says it takes lots of practice to get this right.

I embellished another seam with some lace, herringbone stitch and some bullions and french knots.

Another seam just had running stitch and lazy daisies and french knots. And in the chocolate swirls I used a strand of metallic and a strand of brown and chain stitched in the lighter parts of the chocolate. 

Here's another wonky seam. On one side my spacing of buttonhole stitches is farther apart than the other side. 

Another seam has some ribbon and lazy daisy stitches on it and finally I added a piece of painted lace and a cupcake button.

So far I have 8 blocks completed. Here's the August block along with 3 others. My design wall (cutting mat propped up against wall with left over piece of batting on it) isn't big enough for all 8.    I've got a long way to go yet. I think I want at least 20 blocks.

Slow Sunday Stitching

For the next month of Sundays and evenings I will probably be adding some embroidery to dishtowels. 

At Christmas I like to give everyone in this large extended family sets consisting of a crocheted dishcloth, ( I made four of these while on last month's camping trip but finished other last night and wove in ends on all) dishtowel, and potholder. Maybe this year I'll add a microwave bowl or bread cloth or placemats...who knows.  And sometimes I give the crocheted cloths along with a specialty soap.   My husband is retired (not me) so he's in charge of washing up the pots and pans and he loves these crocheted dish cloths (or at least he says he does and doesn't use anything else). 

And, if there is any time left in the day today (I just finished pickling beets and made a blackberry cobbler- both made with our own homegrown produce) then I might hand sew the binding down on my August goal for a Lovely Year of Finishes.

What, you ask, are others Slow Sunday Stitching? Visit Kathy's Quilts and see. 

Big Stars

I made four 12.5 inch red crumb blocks for last week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge and this week I made 2 more 12.5 inch crumb blocks for a total of 6 large crumb blocks.

The 6 large crumb blocks then turned into 24.5 inch stars.

I didn't think I had enough crumbs for those large star points. And it seemed ridiculous to cut up some reds only to sew them together again to look like I had red scraps galore. So I used up some smaller pieces of different reds for the star points.  And, I has a large piece of blue in my stash...

...so I used that for background and now I have a quilt top approximately 60x80 (believe it or not) that, when quilted, will be a donation to Quilts of Valor. 

To see what everyone else is doing with red scraps visit Scrap Happy Saturday at SoScrappy. 

And...believe it or not...I still have some red scraps left! 

What Are Little Boys Made Of?

Snakes, Snails, Puppy Dog Tails !

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I gathered together a bunch of 6.5 inch squares of bugs, frogs, snakes, dogs, spiders, bees, cats, crabs, etc. from scraps or that I have acquired from various swaps over the years.    It has been a flimsy (UFO) since last July.  I followed a video  for a 10 minute quilt block  

I finally dug it out of the UFO pile to quilt because I wanted to practice some spider web quilting. I'm working on a bigger project I want to quilt with spider webs so why not practice on a baby quilt. 

I don't have a longarm....just a plain Jane Janome DSM and my fingers sometimes don't work right and my eyes don't see right but I usually end up with an acceptable end result.  I tried to interconnect all spider webs and when washed it gave the little quilt just the right amount of soft puffiness that I love in a quilt.

Sometimes I didn't back track along all lines well enough.  (Poor kitties stuck in those spiderwebs.)

And sometimes the web went a little past where it should have connected. But what little boy is going to notice or care?   And, I got in some spider web free motion quilting practice and a finished quilt.

I used this wild fabric from my stash.  I probably found it on sale somewhere since that's how most of my stash gets here. 

I was going to give it to my 4 year old grandson but instead I think I will put it in the baby-to-be box for the next boy baby to join the extended family.  I'll be ready for a change!!!!

(Actually, one of my 8 year old tomboy granddaughters fell in love with this quilt. I gave her some scraps and crumbs to work with to incorporate into something of her own. )

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict?  And why not give a few others a Whoop Whoop while you are there.  (Oh, and what a surprise to see my last week's finish as Sarah's fav of the week!!! I'm blushing.)

And, since I've got another UFO finish I'm going to link up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.