Wow!

I've been nominated for the MQX 2010 Machine Quilting Teacher-of-the-Year award!

They are accepting additional nominations through Tuesday, February 1. Head there immediately.

Sunday Stash Report

fabric purchased this week: 0
fabric purchased this year: 0
fabric used this week: 23 yards
fabric used this year: 31.75 yards

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday finish -- Mom's bedspread

You probably remember that I've made my mother a lot of tablerunners. What I haven't made for her are a lot of bed quilts. Over the past 25 years I've only made her three and I think she should throw one of them away -- I scissor-cut the squares from my leftover clothing fabric, sewed it with 5/8" seams, backed it with a cheap bed sheet, and tied it with embroidery floss. It's the first quilt-type-thing I ever made. It's falling apart and I'm embarrassed by it. Shouldn't she throw it away? Leave your vote in the comments.

So last fall Mom sent out some serious hints that she wants a new bedspread. She likes bright colors. My solution to Mom's shocking lack of bed quilts:



I used my Dream a Little Dream pattern. It can be made from layer cakes, fat quarters or yardage, but I made it from bright fabric scraps that I had on hand. It is 99x98 inches, very easy to piece and slightly time-consuming to bind (it's a huge quilt!).

(If you look at the background of the photo you will see patched drywall. Yes, that's my bedroom. It's seriously under construction.)

I entered this quilt at Gen X Quilters. Check out the other entries:



Check out some other great finishes at

Sunday Stash Report

fabric purchased this week: 0
fabric purchased this year: 0
fabric used this week: 3 yards
fabric used this year: 8.75 yards

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday Finish -- Sharon's Shams

Last fall my sister let me know what she wanted for Christmas: new pillow shams to match her quilt. Well, I made her quilt BB (before blogging) so I don't have a photo of the quilt. I remember that it was made with 30s reproduction fabrics, though.

I had a notion of sewing ruffles to the pillows and after a lot of work, here are the shams:



The ruffling process went something like this:

1. Borrow ruffler sewing machine attachment from friend.
2. Spend a few hours figuring out how it worked.
3. Spend another few hours trying it on the actual fabric.
4. Decide that I didn't like the look of it.
5. Attempt machine gathering with a basting stitch.
6. Realize that the fabric was really thick and the thread was just going to keep breaking.
7. Thread a needle and start making the ruffles by hand.

So simple, even a child could do it!



Check out some other great finishes at

Sunday Stash Report

Fabric purchased this week: 0
Fabric purchased this year: 0
Fabric used this week: 2.75 yards
Fabric used this year: 5.75 yards

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday finish -- Sweet & Sassy Bag

Last summer, my daughter-in-love and I started making quilted tote bags. We worked on them for one or two days and then life got busy. For Christmas, my daughter-in-love got a new sewing machine (from whom, I wonder?) and we promptly resumed work on our tote bags.

Although both of us finished our bags, only mine is shown below:

The pattern is from Quilts and More Spring 2010. I tweaked the pattern a bit to secure the outer pocket, add inner pockets and simplify the handles.

Whatever shall we make next?

Roll Roll Cotton Boll, clue 7

I'm making progress on my Roll Roll Cotton Boll, Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt.

For clue 4, I made log cabins instead of string blocks. I think they turned out quite well in this nearly-finished quilt:



Next step: piece the outer border!

Design Wall Monday

When working with applique, the changes in the design wall are subtle.

Progress on Meadow Breeze:



I finished the applique on the inner white border. Next step is another white corner block.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else is doing.

Sunday Stash Report

fabric purchased this week: 0
fabric purchased this year: 0
fabric used this week: 3 yards
fabric used this year: 3 yards

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Friday Finish -- for Jean and Victoria

More Christmas presents:



The bag is Terry's Tote from Happy Hour and the wallet is a Wonder Wallet.

If I had more of this fabric, I definitely would have made a set of these for myself. Is this one (or two) of the cutest sets ever? Or is it just me?

Design Wall Monday

You may not notice the change, but I did make progress on my Meadow Breeze quilt:



Did you know that there are 87 separate pieces of applique on that white border? I have only 8 more pieces on that border before I start to work on another corner or side block.

Slow progress is still progress!


Head on over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else is doing.

Sunday Stash Report

I'm starting this year with a whimper:

Fabric purchased: 0
Fabric used: 0

I'm only going to count the fabric as used when the project is complete and I haven't officially finished anything this week.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.