Scrappy Tripping Around the World!

Monday evening, I went to hear Quiltville's Bonnie Hunter speak at the Walnut Valley Quilter's Guild in Winfield, Kansas. She's a great speaker and I loved her Fabric Food Chain quilt since I'm really trying to use up 30 years worth of fabric!

Here's Bonnie with her Virginia Bound quilt which is another quilt I'd like to make "someday". In fact, I'd like to make 3/4 of the quilts in her latest book Scraps & Shirtails II.
Here's her version of Scrappy Trip Around the World. I got to take her workshop for this quilt on Tuesday! She's a great teacher so if you have a chance to hear her speak or take a workshop with her, be sure you do so!
Below you can see the blocks I finished in class. I made mine with 2 inch strips and set 9 strips in a row.

Its a lot brighter than I thought it would be and I'm not so sure I like it. What do you think I should add? More prints or more greens or blues? Can you tell I have a lot of pink and red fabric to use up? I'm working entirely from my stash so I'm somewhat limited. A big problem I'm having is that the strips need to be 18 inches long. Quite a bit of my fabric stash is not that long or is yardage I'd like to keep for backings. Any suggestions?

Flopsy, Mopsy & Peter

Look what I found next to the hose reel this morning!

Can you see them? Flopsy, Mopsy and Peter Cottontail. Click on the photo to see them better if you need to.

I hope I don't regret being a foster home for baby rabbits! No garden this year and no dog right now but we do have a cat and the occasional sighting of a black snake. Eeek.

The line up

First came this mini wedding ring quilt on its own quilt rack. It was a gift from a ladies group to me for speaking about what I'd learned from making quilts. I probably should have made that a really short presentation because the more I quilt, the more I realize I need to learn a lot more!

This summer, Karen Griska surprised me by sending this cute little cupboard of "quilts" just because I let her borrow a quilting book. It joined the quilt rack on our fireplace mantel.

Last night at the Prairie Quilt Guild's last board meeting for the year, our President Jan gave each of us a one of a kind pincushion. Later as I walked into the house with mine, three people turned, looked and after a pause asked, "What is that!?!" Of course, they are kind of used to me liking things with a bit of personality but this one stumped the guys and my nonsewing daughter.
Personally, I think it looks really good with the wool wallhanging in the background!

30th. Birthday Signature Quilt

Here it is - my daughter's 30th. birthday signature quilt top!

The quilt blocks were signed by women in our church who also added a favorite Bible verse reference. I embroidered their names and the reference saying a prayer for each one as I worked on their block. At first, I thought the quilt might be a throw or lap size but it grew to be a full size quilt!

Micaela chose the mostly Jo Morton fabrics with a few other reproduction fabrics thrown in. She likes scrappy quilts so I tried to mix up the fabrics as much as possible.

This morning, I delivered the quilt top and backing to the machine quilter. I think it turned out well and am looking forward to seeing it quilted and bound. The machine quilter's waiting list stretches all the way to the end of October so it will be a little wait!

For some reason, our cat, Charlie, took an even more "like" to this quilt and especially to the border strips as I was laying them out. He didn't really care for the Picket Fence quilt I made last year, the RRCB quilt was good enough to sit on but this one, he made himself right at home on!

Pedal to the Metal, oh yeah!

Pedal to the metal .... ummm, pedal to the carpet? That just doesn't sound very exciting and hey, it doesn't rhyme either! I guess you all know I don't have a metal floor in the sewing room. Please ignore all fuzzies, threads and ??? on the floor. And yes, I do store my little box of batik fabrics underneath on my sewing desk shelf. What else would I store there?!?

After a week of no time to sew, I'm determined to not be interrupted and to not find something else which needs doing! Plenty of that around here, unfortunately. I'm determined to get the last of the signature blocks pieced and maybe even cut the setting triangles this afternoon.

M&Ms have this effect on me. With all the unfinished projects around here, I need to buy a case or two of M&Ms to keep me on track!

A birthday quilt

Hmmm, I obviously took a blog holiday.

Its been really difficult to get motivated in the heat and drought in Kansas. The other day it was 112 degrees here and everything is drying up (except the weeds). I water my flowers, shrubs, trees and our yard almost daily just to keep them alive. Last night we finally got rain - a little over a half inch - but the straight line winds that hit Wichita missed us. I'm very grateful for that!

OK, what have I been doing? My big quilting project has been and still is the signature quilt I'm making for my daughter's 30th. birthday. She's convinced I won't get it done for another ten years but I have all but one of the blocks embroidered and am now piecing the blocks. My dd chose a scrappy look made with Jo Morton fabrics. The on point blocks will have sashing between them so obviously not even sewn together but here's a sneak preview:

I was surprised how much I'd missed embroidering so there may be another crazy quilt or embroidery project in my future. In fact, I'm pretty sure there will be a traditional crazy quilt start up soon. I have no idea why they attract me but they do.

I'm also still working on my clamshell diamonds and the selvage quilt. One of these days (soon?) there's got to be a finish to show you!

Finally, a blog update

A week ago: "Today I'm going to update my blog."

A few days later: "Today I'm really going to update my blog."

A day later: "I really need to update my blog!"

Yesterday: "I really want to update my blog!!!"

This morning: "I'm going to update my blog today!!!"

Tonight: "NOW!"

I thought that once the quilt show was over things would slow down a little but not so far. I do have hopes of more free time next week though.

My daughter's turning 30 this week and our church's ladies ministry is having a decade party for her. I've been involved with some of the preparation for it and since dd reads my blog, I can't share anything about the party. Ha!

However, I can tell you about the signature quilt I'm making for her. I asked the ladies at church to sign a block and include a favorite Bible verse. So far, 38 blocks have been turned in with just a few left out there. I'm grateful to everyone who wrote large because my embroidery looks pretty good on those blocks and I'm grateful to those who wrote small for providing me with a challenge! My embroidery skills are improving and small cursive letter e's no longer look like blobs. I have over half of the blocks embroidered and will share more about this project later.

Its really hot and dry here in southcentral Kansas but with consistent watering, I've managed to keep my flowers blooming! This is the hibiscus plant I accidentally brought home from my mom's flower garden. The bees love it!

I like sunflowers and I even like daylilies even though they're starting to spread a little too much. I think this fall I need to dig and move a few plants because somehow they're growing nearly on top of each other! The birds help me plant the flower bed each year by dropping in sunflower seeds they get from the bird feeder. I'm no better a gardner than they are because I seem to have planted the tall flowers in front of the shorter ones.

PS - I like sunflowers so much that I deadhead them!