if you're feeling extra generous today...

this is just one of those quilts that hit me upside the head, and said "make me, make me! please, make me!"

(you may remember, i blogged about it before, here) there is a monthly contest being sponsered over at the Moda Bake Shop, and lucky me, i finished this quilt just in time to enter!

i love to haunt the moda bake shop for cool, interesting and neat-o patterns. ( but not necessarily in that order!)

the pattern is "Charming Stars" if you'd like to make one for yourself. it was easy, fun and i like the way it's turned out. i'm even thinking of makieng another one with brown stars and the bistro line of fabrics from moda.

yes. it's THAT fun!

UFO challenge: March 2011

this quilt top is now what I'd consider "done"! i finished piecing it, and put the borders on. the plan is to take it to Scraps to Wraps and have it tied, bound and donated to the MCC. if it weren't for the surprise snowstorm we had last Wednesday, it would be totally "finished".

I'll post pictures of the tied and bound quilt after our next meeting!

the project number that was drawn for March is #1. i won these bear paw blocks at my quilt guild probably 9+ years ago. i started this quilt about 5(?) years ago. it's so close to being done: just needs the triangle corners and 2 borders. (both of which are cut!)

spring is coming, and things are really starting to hop around here, so I'm glad that this is an easy project to finish.

that train of thought of course leads to the inevitable question: if it's so easy, why didn't i finish this quilt before?

I'll have to get back to you on that one.

FQ calendar quilt: March

March: in like a lion, out like a lamb.

or is it in like a lamb and out like a lion?


either way, the month of March makes us think of spring. and wind. (but not necessarily in that order!)

this month's block for the calender quilt will be reminiscent of wind- windmills!


here is the paper pieced version from my EQ5. click on the image above, and print out 4. they should measure 6". add a 1/4" SA around the outside. if you have trouble printing this out properly, contact me and I'll snail mail you the pattern.


or,

you can find an on-line version of a double windmill here. it's a paper pieced version, and there are directions on how to paper piece right here. even if you've never paper pieced before, i encourage you to give it a try. when your block is complete, you'll be pleased with how crisp your lines are. and the points- oh, the points. they are so pointy! paper piecing makes it so much easier to get a clean, crisp looking block.

UFO challenge 2011: February

even though February is not yet half over, I'm finished with my UFO project (#10) for this month. it was a quickie quilt, done in flannels. (remember, you can find the pattern here...)

(sorry the picture is upside down, by the way...) i can speak from experience that this is a very warm quilt. i made B one for her birthday, using the blue chicken fabric from this particular fabric line, and it's a very toasty warm quilt.

if, perchance, you know a little girl who would be perfect for this quilt, it just so happens to be for sale... the quilt (100% cotton) measures 40" X 55" and is backed with the green flannel.

it's been pretty cold and snowy around these parts, so i took the time to get started on project #7- meadow in bloom.

this is a quilt kit that i bought on clearance at Joanne's fabrics last year. there are 12 blocks in the quilt, and i just pieced the first 8. the other 4 are applique *she says with a shudder* and I'll work on them when the number is drawn.

UFO 2011 challenge: a head start on #8

does it seem as if I've nothing to do with myself? although there could be nothing further from the truth, it does begin to seem that way...

UFO challenge #8 is a quilt that i started with a friend 20+ years ago. literally. really! we intended to donate it to our local Pregnancy Care Center. however, life has a way of putting aside our plans sometimes, no matter how well intentioned we may be. Marcia and i just got busy raising our families, and i had forgotten all about this quilt until i stumbled upon it again last month.

now i have a new quilty friend, Lorraine, and we love to sew (and bicker) at Scraps to Wraps a couple Wednesdays a month. yesterday i ironed all the pieces (you'd be amazed at how wrinkly fabric can get after being in a bag for 20 years. or maybe, the more amazing part is that the triangles were not more wrinkly after being in a bag for 20 years...)

and today i brought along the pitiful little pile of triangles that was intended to be a potential quilt. together Lorraine and i pieced a few more pinwheels, added some solid blocks to tame it down a bit, and now the quilt is ready to be sewn together the next time we meet.

I'll keep you posted on our progress...

'cause it's winter, and 'cause it just keeps snowing around here....

I've been busy working on my UFO projects that Judy is hosting over here, and I'll have some progress to show you on that front soon.

but for now, I'm really enjoying the slower pace of wintertime here.

you may remember that i mentioned that the Kona cottons in their fabulous array of colors is my new favorite fabric... (that's the fabric that I've chosen to do my FQ Calendar Quilt) well, Cherri is hosting a quilt along over at Cherry House Quilts, and there are 4 colorways to choose from, and they all use the Kona cotton.

it's a simple, small and interesting quilt. pop on over and take a look!

*edited to add:*

now that I've "caught up" so to speak with my quilting, I'm committing to take the rest of the month off and do some scrap booking before the spring garden work hits.

A and B really enjoy looking at the scrapbooks that i have done, and since we've moved here (almost 3 years ago) I've barely developed any pictures, never mind done any scrap booking for the girls.

so in the few weeks of February that we have left, I'll be wading through those *thousands* of pictures, and getting some of them into scrapbooks so the little girls can see themselves as they celebrate milestones in their lives- Christmas 2008, 2009, 2010, birthdays, Florida...

wish me luck. and send tape- lots of it!

a warm flannel (piggy) quilt- perfect for the snowstorm!

Judy drew the next number for the 2011 UFO challenge- and here's my corresponding (unfinished) project: one of those quickie quilts. i love these quilts, since they are so easy. and the flannel is SO warm!

FQ calendar quilt: February

January has sped by, and it's February already!

the block for the month of February will be the Dresden plate. you can find the pattern here, if you don't have a copy of this pattern already. to remind us of Valentine's day, instead of the circle in the middle of the Dresden plate, replace that with a heart
.

happy quilting!

UFO challenge 2011: January

this box of fabric with its partially finished quilt has been sitting around for at least 10 months now. it was a demo left over from a class that i taught at the BF. i certainly had every intention to finish this cute little wall hanging.

someday!

I've known for quite some time that i work better under pressure. what is it about a deadline that makes me work better? (that was only a rhetorical question!) the end of the month is only 2 days away. and look: it's someday. the pink and brown Dresden plate is done!

and remember to look for next block in our FQ calendar quilt! it will be up February 1, so don't forget to stop by again.

you need look no further than our driveway...

our Christmas morning was spent in happy oblivion, sharing gifts and opening stockings, reading Luke 2 and drinking coffee. (Starbucks and otherwise)

little did we know the priceless and precious gift that we were about to be given.

while traveling south to visit family, G, M and N were involved in a serious truck accident.

there were two water tankers traveling north. after failing to negotiate an "S" curve, G's truck slammed into the second water tanker.

it was the quick thinking of those two drivers who quite literally saved the lives of my children: Miriam Elizabeth, Nathaniel Joseph and Gabriel Donald.


G would have hit that tanker head on, except for the fact that the first driver radioed back to the second that the purple pickup was loosing control. the second driver took his foot off the gas, and got all the way over to the right, against the guardrail.




even still, the front axle of the (full) water tanker was broken, although the water tanker was rated for 28,000 pounds. the tanker driver sustained a broken wrist in his frantic effort to avoid hitting the pickup truck.

G was the most seriously injured of the 3, with a shattered pelvis and broken hip. he also had severe lung contusions, and was in the hospital for 5+ days, 1 of those in ICU.


the kids left the house around 1PM. the accident was reported at 1:26. i received a call from the hospital at 2:37.

in those brief moments, while Dave and i were settling in for a quiet Christmas afternoon, God was watching over my children.

yet again, God has shown his abundant, unfathomable and unending mercies for my family.

i cannot even begin to imagine the horror and sorrow that we were spared from on Christmas day.

G has a second chance at life- the chance to seek and discern what it is that God has spared him for. surely God has plans for G- something that only my youngest son can do.

but most importantly- we have our 3 children- healthy and safe. and a visible reminder:

God is a God of inches.

and He loves us all.

you need look no further than our driveway to see that.