Saturday, February 26, 2011

Year of the P.I.G.s !!!

Year of the PIGSThis is the Year of the Pigs over at Jills Ramblings. I have added a button here to make the link quick and easy for you.

I also have one on my menu on the left (just scroll down and you'll find it) - so it's always easy to find later. 

So Just what is P.I.G.s?  It stands for 'Projects in Grocery Sacks'.  Mine are in those little plastic grocery baggies, and in pizza boxes - lol.  Every couple weeks Jill asks some questions to bloggers and non-bloggers to answer.  And every month she will pull a name from Mr. linky posts to announce a winner of a prize.  It's all in fun and hopefully it will help me to finish some of those projects I still have in my grocery bags.  I am particapating in the UFO challenge as well so am combining the challenges together.

February's question was "What are you working on and what have you finished"?
My answer is that I'm working on my January UFO "Buffalo Ridge" - which wasn't even cut out when i started and I'm still making changes to the embroidered blocks so it's going to be another month probably before it is in the 'flimsy' stage. LOL
I am also working on my Fab. UFO - which just need to have the quilting finished and then label and binding.  It is a small table topper/wall hanging so I should have it done in a few days. 
Another project I'm working on is the Monochromatic Challenges.  January's is mostly cut now, but waiting on some more yellow - pending my next trip to the fabric store.
My Feb. is in the flimsy stage as well, but now ready to layer and quilt.
I did the RRCB mystery put on by Bonnie Hunter and it is now squared and ready for the borders.
This is my biggest quilt ever - and I'm not rushing on it.  Just love doing this quilt.
I also am doing several bom project, the Brown Bag Challenge, and some other mystery's. LOL
What have I finished?  None of them yet - sorry to say.  They are all getting closer, but I have planned to do them in stages.  All my piecing to the flimsy stage, then set aside a couple weeks to just quilt all the flimsy's I have done up to that point.  I think I'll do that sometime in March, and then maybe every other month after that to keep the process going.  Because I have to move from upstairs to downstairs to pin my layers, it is easier for me to just set everything up at once for that next process. Then go back to cutting and assembling flimsy's for a few weeks. 
Hope more of you will join in the PIGs fun.  And share here what you have been doing along with your link so all visitors can go see. : )

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Mystery Quilt Weekend

You know I LOVE Mystery's.  All kinds of mystery's from mystery's on TV to treasure hunting and especially Mystery Quilts. 

Now a new mystery is coming to town.  Cathy Carter's Spring Mystery Quilt will be held March 12th and 13th.  But you don't need to wait any longer for gathering up your fabrics and the instructions on the first block construction.
Click on the button to the left to go to her blog and download all the information you need to get started.

I'm going to take a trip to the goody store and buy some special treats, then put on some of my favorite "Sewby" music, And if it's cold outside, Hot Coco might be nice too. LOL   Ohhh, I can just smell the sweet coco in my sewing room now. : )  Hugs and have a great and creative day.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

New Mystery Quilt Coming in March

There are some new mystery's for quilters coming up or just started.
If you haven't checked in on my Mystery Quilts & More Link page recently - you might be surprised at how many fun activities are going on for quilters right now. 

More new Mystery's are The Happiness Key Mystery  from Pat Sloan - Starting this month;
Hearts Desire - Applique Mystery - BOM  from Ester Aliu ;
And  Mystery Quilt Dash #13. 

Become a follower to keep updated to what is happening, and check my link page for what you've missed. : )  Have a good day!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Weekly Quilting Updates

I have had several quilt projects going at once this week.  I kept the embroidery machine busy, doing blocks for "buffalo ridge" (which needs to be re-named).  Here are two layouts with the blocks so far. This is my January UFO Challenge quilt.  And there is still a long long way to go to getting this one finished.

While the embroidery machine was working, I cut out my brown bag challenge blocks.  Here is what I have cut so far.  More to come next week on this project.  It is another log cabin type of block so should go together rather quickly.
And I was cutting out and sewing together (in-between hoop changes) my rainbow scrap challenge blocks.
I had to play catch-up as I missed the January (blue) blocks.  So here are both the blue and February (red) blocks.  I used the Civil War block patterns - even though the fabrics are not to that era. LOL

I also started cutting out my January Monochromatic Challenge blocks, and added borders to my February Monochromatic Quilt ( which is also the Superbowl mystery quilt).  I even managed to square up RRCB so it's ready now for it's borders, and cleaned up my room before quitting tonight. : ) 

Oh and before I go, check out the Dot's quilt project button at the bottom of the page.  This is going to be another very fun quilt to do.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Quilt Mystery Challenges, Inspiration, and More...

Every Morning, after breakfast, my honey goes upstairs to my sewing/quiting room and starts the portable heater to get it warmed up for me.  After two days of hard wind, then rain/snow this morning, it really is quite cold up there.  So while it is warming up, I spent a little time (to much time probably) searching the Internet to find out what is new, and if there are any new mystery's challenges, BOM or BOW, and so forth in progress or starting up that I can add links to from my pages.  So here are a few sites to share this morning:

Happiness Key button smallPat Sloan is having a new mystery challenge.
It's called "Happiness Key" and it just started so there is still time for you to get in on the fun.  Emilie Richards has the first two chapters of the story already posted for you to read.  Her link is posted from Pat's Page. I'm not totally sure of how all this works, but I am thinking you need to read the story by Emilie for some clues to this mystery quilt.  I suggest you check out Pat's page for further information.  I'm going to try to take time tonight to read through it all again and Emilie's story.  This really sounds like a lot of fun. But then I'm a mystery addict I think, so anything mystery is appealing to me.

If you haven't checked out Quilt Inspiration lately or if you never heard of this site - It is really a must see.  Not only does this site feature a huge selection of inspirational quilts, but it has a very nice selection of free patterns, tutorials, and more. 

I ran across Jane Sassaman's site this morning - linked from another site I was on, and have spent some time on it looking around and admiring her work.  She also has a free pattern page with quite a few wonderful patterns available.  I love her "Tree of Life" pattern. : )  Another one that I'll have to try to fit in this year. LOL

Well, my sewing room should be all warmed up by now - so it's time to get off the Internet and get to work on some of my projects.  Have fun creating today and I'll try to write some more tomorrow.

Monday, February 14, 2011

New BOM Starting Tomorrow - Feb 15th

Ester Aliu is starting a new Mystery Applique BOM tomorrow (Feb. 15th, 2011) called "Hearts Desire".  If you've admired her "Red Delicious" from a Past BOM  - Your sure to enjoy this one as well.  "Red Delicious" was an awesome challenge and it looked good in any color combination it was made in - including black/white.  Check out Ester's Blog now to find out how to join in on this wonderful BOM Mystery.

Consider The Lilies BOM

Free Quilt PatternI ran across Val Laird's Beautiful "Consider the Lilies BOM" (Block of the Month) today.  I have added the link to my 2011 Quilt Challenges and More page.  It is just one example of the many many fun quilting activities going on right now.  Humm wonder if I can squeeze this one in?   I am sure going to try. : )

Hey, while your here, why don't you share my blog with others and encourage them to sign up to follow along?  The more the merrier I always say.  Have a fun creative day. : )

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Guravlik Blogspot

I ran across this wonderful blogspot yesterday called "Guravlik" - Tranlated "Crane".  It is a Russian site so you will need to translate, but it is well worth taking the time to browse around.  I fell in love with her "World of Birds" lessons.
And check out her trapunto pages.  All I can say is Fantastic!
And there is more!!! For those of you who love to strip quilt - you have to see her "Zharptitsa" Quilt. 
What Talent! Her blog has lots of lessons and lots of wonderful techniques.  I've spent hours browsing through it this morning, devouring the wonderful information.  Ohhh EEEE, what fun this blog is.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Superbowl Mystery and Monochromatic Challenge

I decided to do the Mystery Quilt Challenge "Squares the Center" offered by Planet Patchwork on Superbowl Sunday.  I also decided it would be fun to do it in this months Monochromatic challenge colors "Violet".  I had no idea on how this would turn out, but just had to try it to find out.
Hereare the colors I chose.  I had one neuteral "gray", but all the other colors used are various shades and hues of Violet, from dark to very light.

My camera takes horrible indoor photo's.  
Still lacking two more borders, but all pieced - I am pleasantly surprised on how nice it looks in monochromatic.  I've never made a quilt that is like this before, so it was a nice change.   The photo defiantely does not do it justice.  Once I get my borders on, I'll take some photo's outside and share so you can see it more true to what it looks like.
Have a great and creative day!

Brown Bag Challenge

I received fabric from my swap partner last week and wanted to share photo's of the lovely fabric's. 
I LOVE earth tones so these are right up my alley.  Now to design my pattern and gather up the rest of my fabric to finish the project.

Grass Hopper enjoyed the paper that came wrapped around the fabric.  LOL




Now that was fun!!! 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

New Links Added

I've added a new page to my blog (see tabs above) called Challenges and More.  There you will find many links to fun quilting challenges, BOM, BOW, Quilt A-Longs and more.  I also have updated the Mystery Quilt Page with more links.  You'll have to check them out.   Wow, What fun I'm going to have this year.