The trees and tulips are blooming!

Wow, what a week it has been! April vacation wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Our dog, Serena had an emergency vet appointment, Abigail was sick at the end of the week, and I was sick almost all weekend, and into this week. So not much has gotten done at all. I'm currently working on a hand embroidery piece that will be part of a wall hanging. I'm almost done with the outline, then I'll fill in the colors and start picking fabrics to go with it. I'm thinking of just doing a series of borders.

Got a cranky baby on my hands today so I have to go for now, but I'll try and post some more when I get some time.

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Life has been pretty busy. I had pieced the quilt top together on Thursday and start cutting and piecing the border. The border is made up of flying geese with black as the background color and the different colors in the quilt top as the corners. I'm not working on it as much as I should be, but I guess I needed a little tiny break from that project.

Angela and I have started her rag quilt. I've cut about 180 sqaures so far and sewn X's on a small handful. Angela's scared to sew on my machine so she insists I do the X's...although I'm going to have her try on some scrap fabric and get used to the machine so she can work on the quilt. I don't want to do all the work on it, I'd like her to have some hand in it as well.

On a side note, we have to take our dog Serena to the vet today. We've had this on-going problem with her constantly itching and biting and licking herself raw. We've had to resort to keeping a cone on her at all times, but yesterday it broke off and 45 minutes later she had a giant spot on her back raw and bloody, so...it's off to the vet and hopefully we can find out why she has this obsession. I pray it's not serious. So please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

That's all for now. I do have pics of the quilt top put together so when I get some time, I'll post them.

Much love and God Bless.

So close to the top finish line!

I've completed the sashing on all 12 blocks. Pretty simple when you have the right fabric! I've also measured and trimmed all the blocks down to 14inches square. The next task at hand is to lay the blocks out, make sure they are the way I want them, and then start sewing them together. I'm still undecided on the border. I thought about doing a thick black border, but with the sashing, it might be too much black. We will see once all the blocks are sewn together.

I'll post pics later if I can.

Sashing Adventures

On Monday, I started measuring and cutting my 1 1/2 inch wide strips for the sashing on my blocks. My plan was to cut enough strips to test on one block then cut the rest, 48 strips total. The fabric is black. I chose black because I had 4 yards of it (for free) and I knew it would make the colors of the quilt pop. Well, I started cutting and noticed that the fabric was very stretchy, as mentioned before. I had the hardest time sewing the first strip into place. I starched and starched and not a bit of difference.

I went to my wonderful fellow quilters on quiltingboard.com :) and got lots of feedback on the fabric, and was told I was better off not using what I had, and to go out and get new, 100% cotton fabric. So I did that yesterday. I bought 4 yards, at $2.77/yard from Walmart! They have awesome prices on good quality fabric!

I'm happy to say I have cut all 48 strips from this new fabric and am very pleased with the way the blocks are coming out. I should have all the sashing on within the next 2 days, if not sooner.

Right now, I'm off to Joann's to get a yard of flannel to make a flannel board. I think it will be much easier for me to layout pieces for a block with this and it's so cheap to make! I already have the cardboard and tape, all that is needed is the flannel.

On another note, next week is April Vacation for the local schools and Angela will be off. I've promised her we would work on a quilt together and I've decided it will be a rag quilt. Either Friday or Monday we will head to Joann's or Walmart to pick out the fabric and batting and we'll get started. I will do most of the measuring and cutting, and she will do the majority of the sewing. It should be a fun project together and I can't wait to see how it comes out!

That's all for now...much love to all and God Bless!

The blocks are finished!

I finished piecing the last of the blocks and I am so excited! I've started cutting the sashing to border each block. I'm not too fond of the fabric, as it's pretty stretchy, but it was free, so I'm not going to complain too much! :)

Here are some pics!!

12' Friendship Star

12 Dandy Quilt block

12" Flyfoot

Blocks all laid out in the fashion they will be assembeled...carefully being inspected by 2 furbabies.

Final layout before sashing.

TGIF

It's once again Friday. Normally I don't get too much quilting done on the weekends. I spend most of the time with my husband and my kids. I don't expect to get too much done at all this weekend, but I want to try. I'm hoping I can at least finish piecing my blocks, and start the sashing. I'm really excited to see how the blocks will come out with the sashing on them. I'll take and post pics as I complete them.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

How exciting!!

I am so excited! I'm making great progress on my first quilt. I completed my 9th block last night and started the 10th. I'm doing 12 altogether. I'll then add black sashing to each block then start piecing them together. Here you see the pic of the 9th block, 12" Dewey's Victory (My variation). It's my variation because I pieced the middle part of the block backwards, but decided to leave it instead of ripping it apart, and I think it still looks great! The 2nd pic is the 9 blocks laid out on my living room floor. I was dying to see what they all looked like next to one another! I'm feeling so motivated and excited! I'm really looking forward to the finished top!

12" Dewey's Victory (My variation)
The first 9 blocks laid out.