Is it really "finished"?!?

That's what I'm asking myself. Am I sure its really "done"???

It seems like so long ago when I started with this stack of scrap fabrics. I believe it was only back in December but it seems like much, much longer.

This was the beginning of my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2010 mystery quilt, Roll, Roll Cotton Boll! (AKA Peppermint Hot Fudge Brownie Delight and today I feel like I really need one of those even though its chilly out!)

I sure went through a lot of learning experiences working on this quilt. Let's just say that my new seam ripper got a good work out. I remember nearly giving up when I found out shortly before Christmas that the quilt needed 600 HSTs! When I finally had it all pieced together, I didn't think it was big enough for our bed so I added another narrow green border and a brown border too. I was concerned there'd be some shrinkage because of the machine quilting but I don't think it would have been a problem.

Here's the quilt on our extra bed. My bed has a taller mattress so the quilt won't seem quite so large on it. So ... I thought my version of Bonnie Hunter's RRCB was finished. I even made a quilt label for it and hand stitched it on. I should have known that it couldn't have really been over. Unfortunately, the quilt had to go back to the machine quilter for some touch ups. These were done quite quickly and now ...

I'm happy (very) to say that RRCB/AKA Peppermint Hot Fudge Browne Delight is done, done and done! Time to move on to some of my Works In Progress of which there are many.

All done, I think!

Its done, its finally done!

Yes, I've finally finished my "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll" AKA "Peppermint Hot Fudge Sundae Delight" quilt top! I've been working steadily on it for at least six weeks and have done a lot more picking out on this quilt than any other project in recent memory. I'm pretty sure that was because of my own lack of quilting skills and "let me do it my way" attitude!

I may add a label to the backing before I take it to the machine quilter. I've always wanted to do that but usually don't. For some reason, I always wonder if I'll get the placement right and the label will be half on the quilt and half off or if the machine quilter will get it straight. Not sure who would notice if the label was straight or not when the quilt's on our bed!

So yesterday when I finished sewing the backing together and pressing it, I felt a little adrift. Kind of like "Its done so now what?" Believe me, it isn't like I have a shortage of projects to work on so its on to my next UFO or PhD project, whichever initials you prefer! And that project is the selvage spiderweb quilt.


I'll be delivering the quilt top and backing to a machine quilter next week when its supposed to be a little warmer and will probably not get the quilt back till late March.

Heat wave here today with an expected high of 20 degrees! Much, much better than yesterday. I hope all of you who were affected by the storm are doing OK and staying warm!

Jewels in the Crown, Sweet Fellowship!

Just checking in to let you know I'm still alive and well, still trying to get my added borders sewn on to the RRCB quilt and, no surprise, have started a new project! Who was supposed to be in charge of keeping me from doing that anyway?!?

This is the January block for Morning Glory Designs' free BOM called, Jewels in the Crown. If this pieced BOM looks like something you might like to make, don't wait too long before going to her blog for the instructions. I like it because it reminds me of a stained glass church window. My goal is to use up some of my batik fabric scraps on this project.


I did finally get the pieced border to fit right on my RRCB quilt but have decided to add another border to make the quilt a little larger for our queen size bed. I hate it when quilts aren't large enough! Of course, part of the problem may be that one of us likes to hog the blankets at night, ahem. Anybody else know what I mean? OK, enough personal information!

Yesterday we got together with several other families at a church fellowship meal and several of the ladies there found out about this blog. If you were there last night and decided to come check out my blog, thanks and come back again! Thanks to everyone else who comes by here too!

Also, I took a dessert to share at the meal last night. Kind of nervy of me since I'm trying to lose weight, right? I made it through the evening without splurging but I'm wondering how many parents had to scrape their kids off the ceiling last night because my dessert definitely fell into the "SUGAR" category. I know one or two ladies were wondering about the recipe so I'm going to include it in this post. It made the rounds on some blogs last year and I'm not sure where I saw it first so I can't give credit to the creator but I printed it from Pioneer Woman's blog. Enjoy!

Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples, or whatever apple you have available

2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

cinnamon

1 small can Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each crescent roll triangle around an apple slice. Place in a 9x13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream and spoon some of the sweet sauce from the pan over the top.

This is a quote from the recipe I printed out,
"WARNING: PREPARE THIS DISH AT YOUR OWN RISK. IT IS BEYOND IMAGINABLE."

It was definitely a time of sweet fellowship last night!

I guessed! I won!

Look what came in the mail for me!

I won Staci's giveaway and she sent me a fabric bundle of linen/cotton blend fabrics from Canton Village Quilt Works. I still can't believe I came close to guessing how much her scraps weigh but who am I to argue?!? I needed a pick me up of colorful fabrics so Thank You again Staci!

I should have learned by now not to predict when I'll finish a quilt as I did in my last post. I'm finally ready to put the borders on my RRCB aka Peppermint Hot Fudge Brownie Delight quilt. No pictures yet but they're coming soon. It really is a pretty quilt and I'm looking forward to having it machine quilted and on our bed!

I've already started thinking about my next PhD (Projects Half Done) - the selvage spiderweb quilt. I laid out the pieces I've already finished and here it is.

I would like to make it a bed size quilt but how large it will be depends on how many selvages I have. I do know that there are selvages everywhere in my sewing room and when this quilt is finished, I'm planning a big clean up job in there!

Full Steam Ahead!

Progress on Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt,

"Roll Roll Cotton Boll"!

All of the blocks are pieced and this afternoon I started sewing the rows together. Since the quilt is large, it needs a lot of space and so here it is laid out on our living room floor.

I'd like to get the rows sewn together tomorrow, square the top and start looking through my stash of green fabrics for possible border fabrics. I may not have enough of one fabric so do you think a scrappy narrow border would look good? No problem if I have to go to the quilt store as I need backing fabric for it anyway. I'll brave the really cold wind chills we're having for a trip to the LQS for some show and tell and shopping therapy!

Of course, there's one more step to this mystery quilt - the pieced final border. Its definitely going to take me some time but if I'm really dilligent and nothing happens to keep me from my sewing machine, I might be able to finish the quilt top by the end of the week. I am certainly hoping so anyway!

Bonnie Hunter has named this quilt "Roll Roll Cotton Boll" but today whenever I looked at the colors, I kept thinking "Peppermint Hot Fudge Brownie Delight", a hot fudge sundae made with peppermint ice cream served on a warm brownie. Mmmmmm, my favorite! I think I can identify better with a hot fudge sundae than a cotton boll so maybe a name change is in the works for my version!

Disappearing HSTs

I'm working, as I can, on Quiltville's latest mystery quilt, Roll Roll Cotton Bowl and thought I'd give you an update. Actually the reason I'm posting is I'm probably just procrastinating getting started on it today! You've heard of the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern? This post is about my disappearing Half Square Triangles.

Here's one of the finished blocks from the step released last week. Don't be too impressed because I only have 3 of them done! I've finished parts of several steps but I can't seem to totally catch up on all of them. I have no idea why I'm struggling with the neutral string blocks but I'm way behind on them. Tomorrow, Bonnie Hunter will release the final step which may be a pieced border. What else would you do with 172 parallelograms from Step 6?

Okay, here is what my ironing board looks like today. Well not quite true, I've artistically covered the water stains my iron has left behind but otherwise, this is what's on it. You can see Half Square Triangles sewn into groups of 5 and a few stacks of groups of 4 which should be 5, more red/neutral fabric plus the triangle paper. Guess what that means?

This afternoon, I'm going to solve the mystery of the disappearing HSTs. A few days ago, I determined I was short a few of the red/neutral HSTs. Then the number ballooned up to being short 20 and last night I decided that even though I was really sleepy, I'd recount because that number couldn't be right. I was right it wasn't correct. I now need 37 more red/neutral HSTs! I even got out my trusty old calculator and rechecked. How could it be an odd number? Where have they all gone to? Are my math skills that bad or am I having a senior moment?!? I do know I better make those 37 HSTs and sew them into blocks before I'm short even more.

Part of the problem may be that I didn't get started on the RRCB step to make the red/neutral HSTs until almost Christmas Eve. When I saw that the quilt needed 600 HSTs, I nearly threw in the towel. I'm glad I hung in there but its kind of disappointing to think you have enough made and then have to go back and make more.

I used to think I'd like an entire bed quilt made out of HSTs. I'm rethinking that but you know, I have a short memory so who knows what my quilting future will hold?!?