Stringing you along....

I have a quilty friend who just does not like string quilts.  I am always a bit surprised by that because she loves loves loves scrappy quilts.. the scrappier the better.. and to me a string quilt is one of the scrappiest!  Oh well... my mom always says "If we all liked the same thing it would be a dull world."

I, unlike my friend, love string quilts.  I think a lot of it is the resourcefulness behind them. The frugality in using up scraps. Granted, many today are made with fabric purchased specifically for that project, but the original intent was a frugal one. I also like the simplicity of making a string quilt. It is pretty difficult to mess one up!

There is a quilting group in a town an hour south of us who have a show each March called Pieces and Strings. Many of the quilts there.. most in fact.. will  be string quilts.  This was the first quilt show I ever attended and I look forward to it each year.  I was inspired several years ago to make a string quilt.. I got the top made (I used the String X pattern found at Quiltville ).  And then the top sat in a closet with all the other UFOs that have been popping up here lately.  Hubby decided to quilt it this year.... no there isn't a picture yet. It would be UFO#7 for him (yesterday's Sailing Quilt is #8). It is quilted.. just needs to be bound and I will get it done.. soon.. in fact, real soon. We are going to enter it in the show!  I don't expect a prize.. don't even care about that. But I love the idea of it hanging in a show and the fact that I pieced the top and hubby quilted it is wonderful... a collaboration of this quilting couple.

Here it is folded on a chair waiting patiently for me...

Hubby, tired of quilting and UFOs, decided to play with some strings himself.  He is making up scrappy blocks from various size strings we have saved from other projects.  Here are some of his blocks...

Here is his stack of strings.. notice that they are rather neat and tidy....

I have been playing with ideas for a quilt for a friend's daughter who graduates high school this year. After seeing hubbies string blocks and seeing all the strings we had, I decided to make her a string quilt.  It is scrappy, but I am controlling the colors a bit. I'm using pinks, greens, purples and teals (or blue-green or whatever you call that!) and some white thrown in.  I love how the blocks are looking....

Had to show my workspace... I am not quite as tidy as hubby! (see my GFG sneaking in the photo?)

String quilts are a bit mindless.. and right now that is great for me!  Sometimes I just need to create and not have to really think about it a lot. Know what I mean?

Off to do some stringing.... "Belle"

Sailing Away....

Hubby surprised me with a completed UFO for Valentine's Day. This is a top he made a few years ago. He knows I love blue and white together. I love how they play off each other.. the richness of the blue making the crispness of the white pop.  My friends would look at this quilt and say it doesn't look like me. I am a pink girl.. especially pink and green or pink and purple or all 3 together... and I love bright colors and scrappy quilts. That is why I snitched a UFO he finished earlier that has lots of bright colors including a wonderful bright blue border.

But there is hidden meaning behinds elements of this quilt.. things that might not click with others, but do with hubby and I.

I grew up on water... the Muddy Mississippi is one of the most amazing things to see ... it is home for me. I can watch it flow and ripple all day along. And oh a sunset from the bluffs of my hometown, Natchez, MS is amazing. No way can you doubt God when you see it! I spent a huge portion of my growing up years on various lakes.. fishing with my dad (or attempting to get a tan while he fished)... skiing with buddies...swimming.. boating.. and sailing!  Ahhh sailing... how I miss it!  My best friend's dad and grandpa were into sailing and we would crew for them. Tiny boats.. Flying Scotsman.  There were races each month on the lake. It was so fun!  If you look closely you will see that one of the main fabrics used in this quilt is of plans for building sailboats. Thus the reference to one of my loves from days gone by.. sailing.  And as for the plans.. the blueprint look to the fabric.. well my sweetie is an architect, so that ties 2 of my loves together!

And if you wonder what I gave him... well, we were not supposed to swap gifts (Hubby never minds me in that! LOL!)  so he had nothing to open that night BUT I am safe... I gave birth to our first child and only daughter 23 years ago on Valentine's Day... that pretty well takes care of all Valentine's Day gifts for me forever! LOL!

"Belle"

2 more bite the dust......

Hubby, a.k.a. the Mad Quilter, grabbed 2 more tops that have been lying around for a while ... we sandwiched them up.. and off he went.  They are now both quilted and bound and ready for someone to use to keep warm and cozy. 

As I have mentioned here before, Hubby is an architect (the best in my opinion), so linear design is something he does very well... and it is showing up in his quilting lately. He had fun creating designs when quilting these 2.

Here are some pix:


UFO #5

UFO #6:

There are 3 more UFOs ready to be bound here. Another top pieced and quilted by Hubby... one pieced by me and quilted by him... and one pieced and quilted by me. So there will be more pix coming soon!

I guess 2011 is the year of UFOs here.

"Belle"

It's a Girl!

A young couple at our church are expecting a wee one soon... and It's a Girl!  I love making baby quilts and especially ones for Baby Girls. I just love the colors used.  This girlie has a pink and green nursery (I LOVE PINK AND GREEN!).  Before I knew the nursery colors, I found this cute purple with pink flowers fabric in the sale bin at Hobby Lobby and snatched it up. I knew it would make its way into this quilt. So I added a bit more pink and green and purple.. and a touch of white.. and here you have it!

I found this cute green polka dot after finding the purple fabric and knew it would perfect for the backing... love how the thread color (Petal Pink Essential Cotton from Connecting Threads) looks on the back.

Hubby wanted to have a part in the gift also, so he did his quilting magic.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, he is having fun experimenting with various straight line design ideas.

I have another baby quilt to start soon.. this one for a little fella on the way. Bright colors and a jungle theme.. should be fun!

"Belle"

In my mail....

I love receiving packages in the mail.  They almost always have something I want or need in them. Lately the only packages arriving here have contained books for college classes... the college student in resident doesn't really want them and neither do I! LOL!  But yesterday a better kind of package came... one from Connecting Threads!

I love Connecting Threads.  I especially love their Essential Cotton Threads. Last weekend hubby asked if I would order some more of a color we had tried out.. Dark Honey. He loves it!  So I popped some in the shopping cart and I tossed in some Natural (we always keep that one hand) and then we just played a bit... ordering several other colors including some on clearance.  I think our array is lovely...

Then I decided to look through their clearance fabric.  I have bought a good bit of fabric from Connecting Threads and been very pleased with it.  Found a really pretty green... it is a bit brighter in real life, almost a light lime.

These swirls were so cool had to have some of each color offered.... the orange is a bit more of a yellow-orange in real life.

Then I found 2 fat eighth samplers. The first is from their fabric line called "Cheap Talk".... 16 F8ths

And then 24 from their "Sip of Summer" line... I LOVE these and they go so great with the swirlie fabrics above. I even have a quilt idea for them already.

Last but not least are 2 blocks I made for a swap. This is the Prairie Flower block from Quilters Cache.  I love pink and green, so I loved these!

Mr. Mac wanted to go outside and romp in the sunshine terrorizing birdies, but I was taking photos.  I had to snap a shot of him waiting patiently.  Such a good quiltie boy!

"Belle"

More Journals... another one bites the dust via the Mad Quilter... and a UFO challenge for me!

I whipped up some more journal covers a while back... you might notice that one is button-less. I forgot to include the stretch band for the closure!  Oh well... a sweet young lady loved the fabrics and took it just the way it is! The wild pink and purple one is mine and the other I made for my daughter. I like hers too!

The Mad Quilter (a.k.a my hubby) continues to work through finished tops that have stacked up over the past few years.  The latest one is a joint effort. I made the blocks... pieced them into rows... and then pushed them aside as I went on to bigger and better things. Hubby found them and put the rows into a top.. added a flange and borders... and then set it aside with a zillion other finished tops. Last week he pulled it out, we got it sandwiched and away he went with the quilting.

He does straight-line quilting and he has been having a blast trying new patterns.  He is an architect and it is showing in his quilting! I love the cranberry thread color.. looks so good.

Some online Quilt buddies and I have set a UFO challenge for ourselves for the first 3 months of 2011. I have "entered" 3 of my UFOs knowing full well that it will be a miracle if I get 1 done!  I have several new projects that have to be done, as well as my mom's GFG I am doing by hand that is running behind!

Even if they aren't all done by March 31, I hope to finish all of these by the end of 2011.

This is a Mile-a-Minute quilt I did a number of years ago. I attempted to quilt it. I failed. So heavy and so many seams... I only have a regular sewing machine... so I decided to tie it. Got bored after getting about 1/3 of it tied.  I need to start tying again!

I have this wonderful Fall Quilt top that is essentially done except I am adding some hand embroidered touches (leaf veins and such). About 1/2 done on that.

And lastly a redwork quilt I started years ago from an online free BOM called Child's Play. I have 11 of the 12 blocks embroidered and about 1/2 of the 12th one done. I even have fabric for the block borders and sashing and such.

The goal in the challenge is for them to be completely done.. quilted.. bound.. the works! I am shooting for the moon... hope I at least break the ozone layer!

"Belle"

Fabric Finds and 2 More UFOs done

Late last week hubby and I ran to get some quilt basting spray and just happened to peruse the fabric while shopping. We  bought a few goodies.  Actually we were very restrained!

We found some lovely Christmas fabrics to add to our already packed boxes of Christmas fabric... but it was marked down so low, how could we resist!

A love red on red and this gorgeous poinsettia print:

These 3 Kings are too cute!

The blue fabric in this picture was also labeled a Christmas fabric,  but it isn't headed to the Christmas stash. It doesn't look distinctly Christmassy to me.  I think it will be cute in a quilt for a little boy or girl. The cream TOT next to it was another great buy and there is always a need here for neutrals!

I have 2 baby quilts to make. One for a little boy whose nursery is Jungle Themed in fun bright colors. I think this jungle fabric will be just the thing for him. So fun!  The other is for a little girl whose nursery has no theme, but is done in pinks and greens. I don't think her mommy will mind some purple tossed in. I will begin the girlie quilt soon as she has a shower at the end of January.

The Mad Quilter (a.k.a. my sweet husband)  has been busy at work. He finished up 2 more tops that have been sitting on a shelf for 2 or 3 years. There is a cute coin quilt with a fun bandana fabric border. And some very fun quilting. Hubby has been having fun while working on UFOs.

And there is this mammoth quilt... ok, it isn't really mammoth, but it is big!  He used a gold thread and once again had fun with the quilting.

I haven't done as much sewing as I need to.... can't get motivated. I work part-time... deal with finances... the end of a year is not a lot of fun for me and it doesn't end on 12/31.. but soon!  Plus there is a baby quilt to start... I love making baby quilts!  No doubt that will motivate me. I have worked on some more fabric covers for journals. I will post pix of them soon.

"Belle"