Snails, Orange Crush and a Party

How's that for a title?! LOL! It has been a productive weekend here.

Hubby has started a new quilt and as always is making progress at the speed of light! He is making a scrappy Snails' Tail quilt in all blues and yellows. Here is a sampling of the blocks:

I continue to work on my Orange Crush Quilt (which is not orange!) in amongst other projects. I am finishing up these blocks:

I will have all the square blocks done then. I am not planning on putting this on point. In fact, I am not sure how I am going to put it together. Once the blocks are all done I am going to lay them out and play with various options until the right one hits me!

And lastly I made another Charm Party Tote. This one is for a dear friend (a surprise!) and I so want to keep it! (Isn't that the way it goes?). She loves green... I tried an all green layout, but it seemed blah. She loves purple and green together, so I added in some purple and voila! I think it turned out great. I changed one of the inner pockets a bit.. the divided one. I made it a bit shallower and wider. Here are some photos of the outside and inside:

I still have some fabric to cut up for a charm swap and some birthday fat quarters... so off to get that done and then I am thinking ice cream! Yep, I thinking after all this work some ice cream is called for... ok, I'll be good and stick with peach yogurt.. the real stuff, not frozen. But I really want Rocky Road from Baskins & Robbins!

"Belle"

Finally! Some Time to Sew!

I have been running in circles lately... going here... going there... doing this... doing that... and all this busyness has taken over my sewing time. But this morning I was able to jump into sewing central (a.k.a. the dining room) and get some things done. I worked on 2 projects.

I am working on a tote for church (I want to be able to take 1 bag... no purse... with all my stuff in it!) using the Charm Party pattern I bought a few weeks ago. I swap charms each month with a group on online friends, so I have lots! I planned to use black and white charms, but as I was digging through my charm stash I came across a black fabric with bright pink flowers... I love this fabric! and I am such a pink girl! So I decided to toss some pink into the mix. I have pieced the front and back panels for the tote (they look the same) and I have the inner pockets pieced. And now I am on hold. I need some fusible fleece for the next bit. I will get that on Friday when I am across town near Hancock's.

I have also jumped back into the Quiltville Mystery Quilt... Orange Crush. It isn't a mystery anymore since all the steps have been posted, but still... there is a tad bit of mystery in not knowing how my fabrics will look when all is said and done. I am working on the blocks created in step 4. I have 2 done... 28 to go! The "red" fabric isn't reading true... it is a dark magenta. It really pops in the HSTs with that bright tealish blue.

I realized today that this quilt is a tad reminiscent of some I have from my great-grandmother. She didn't buy fabric for those quilts. She used what she had on hand (usually from clothes or other sewing projects or feed sacks). And she made them for use... utility quilts. This quilt will be a utility quilt. Both my kids travel several times a year with church groups and such to camps and we need some quilts that can be hauled off with them. And all the fabric in my orange crush (which is orangeless) is from my stash. I might purchase fabric for the back.... or I might try my hand at a pieced back... I'll decide that when the time comes.

Back to the sewing machine.... "Belle"