Joint Venture.....

Our daughter moved out a little less than a year ago and she took some things with her including the bedding from her bedroom (But she left the furniture for now).  Since then, we have just had an old comforter on the bed. It is no way matched the room at all, but it served its purpose to provide a cover on the bed.

I guess we got tired of walking past the room and seeing that old comforter, so hubby (a.k.a. the Mad Quilter) and I decided we needed a quilt for that bed.  We have toyed with the idea of making a quilt together for our bed, so this would be a trial run to see how well we work together on a project.  I mean we do things together, but usually it is one of ours project and the other is just assisting. This was different.  We would be working together through each step (OK.. I didn't quilt the thing.. afterall, he is the fast quilter around these parts and much better at man-handling the beasts!)

The walls in the room are a lovely violet.. not bright purple like Barney, more a medium plum or dark smokey lilac color. So we decided to work off that since we both love violets. We chose a simple pattern that would allow us to utilize scraps we had on hand by alternating 5" charm squares with four patches. Hubby determined the layout of the four patches.. using a light white, cream or tan in one corner to create a bit of a chain once everything was together. We also decided not to limit ourselves to violet. We used that for the 5" charms but the four patches have other colors.. greens, blues, etc.  Very scrappy... we love scrappy!

I think it turned out great! This is our first for us bed quilt.  There will be others... hopefully a King-Size one for our room will be on the list for 2013.

"Belle"

Pincushion Swap

I have shared here before that I am blessed to be part of a small online quilting community.  I love these women dearly and only wish we were closer together geographically. We range from Oregon to the UK... from Rhode Island to South Louisiana.. and many places in between.  We chat and share.. laugh and cry... and a few times a year we do something quilty together... swap fabrics,  participate in a Round Robin, have some sort of challenge.. ugly fabric, UFO... this summer we decided to have a pincushion swap. I was thrilled!  I collect pincushions.. my collection is small, but growing. I am picky. I prefer hand-made pun-cushions to store bought ones.

Once we decided to do this swap, I knew exactly what I would make.  I have made several of these over the years. One for myself and some for others. Here is the tutorial I use.. it is great!  Pincushion Organizer

Here are the ones I made for the swap:

2 of the ladies have already received a Pincushion Organizer from me. One as a birthday happy and one as part of another swap. So I made a different pin cushion for them.

I had so much fun with these that I made an extra one for me, as well as that little square guy.  And a few extras to have on hand to share with other friends.  I am thinking this technique would be cute for quilted Christmas ornaments!

Here is the tutorial for these:  Patchwork Hearts

And one final photo that I had to share.. my little furry shadow, Mac. He was determined to get my attention away from quilty stuff and onto him!

"Belle"

Anthropologie... nope just looks it...

My son's girlfriend is an artsy-craftsy kind of girl who loves to make things for folks.  2 of her cousins had babies this year... both sweet little girls... so JJ decided to whip up some baby quilts.  You can see the first one here... Bunting Baby Quilt

The 2nd quilt is simple, but classy. Very modern. Looks like something from Anthropologie. The new mommy and daddy loved it.. pretty sure the baby did too!

Good Job, JJ!

Isn't this birdie fabric too cute!?

"Belle"