Blogger's Quilt Festival

I just joined in on the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  I just have to share my Mariner's Compass Quilt that I made for my husband.  It is my favorite for several reasons.  But first let me show you some pictures even though you may have seen it before.

It is one of my favorites because I challenged myself to make this quilt for my husband when I didn't feel confident with all the points, paper piecing, etc. I was a bit overwhelmed but I really love the way it turned out!  So does my husband!

This quilt is also the reason that I started blogging.  It was shortly after seeing the movie Julie & Julia where Julie starts a blog to chart her progress as she cooks her way through Julia Child's cook book. I decided that I would chart my progress in making this challenging quilt.  You can read about it here if your interested. Since then I have found so much inspiration from so many quilt blogs.

Each of the 12 compasses has 77 pieces [not including the sawtooth border]. The compasses are 20" in diameter!   

This quilt also won a prize over at the Quilting Bloggers weekly quilt contest.  That was the first time I ever showed any of my quilts publicly [other than on my blog]. I was extremely thrilled that so many voted my quilt as their favorite that week!

I learned so much making this quilt, gained confidence and found a whole lot of creative quilters around the world!

Now go on over and check out all the quilts and their inspirational stories!  There are many to see.  Just click on the button on my side bar.

Another finish!

Today I finished the pinwheel baby quilt! It was fun and quick to make!  Made in primary colors - it is very bright and cheerful. What do you think? I'm pretty pleased with it! Love the backing with the different sized primary polka dots!

Then another little finish...can you guess what they are?  

Have you made your guess???

Here's are some pictures with them in use. 

Did you guess right?

Yep, little pot holders that really work great.  

Stay tuned for a chance to win a pair.  

We Interrupt This Regular Scheduled Program...

I am putting aside my daughter's wedding quilt temporarily to start on a baby quilt for my nephew and his wife.  There is a possibility that the baby shower may be sooner than I expected.  I kind of felt that panic feeling.  Will I have time?  So I started on it last night but not before I finished all 48 blocks for the wedding quilt.  That's 1392 pieces!   Here is what I have done so far.  

I'm using the method for pinwheels that I found on a tutorial at the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  It is quite unique way of stitching pinwheels! It is fairly quick and very accurate.  The downside is the pinwheels are cut on the bias.  Here is a link to the tutorial.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the fall...our honey harvest, fall fest, another fall texture picture and a visit from my DD3!

A DAUGHTER IS A DAY BRIGHTENER AND A HEART WARMER.

                                                                                                      unknown author

Edit: Something I forgot to mention.  I joined in on the Scrap Along over at Pleasant Home.  Just click on the Sew Scraps tab or see the button on my side bar. There are some great organization ideas, the start on the first scrap project and links to some giveaways!   Hop on over and join along. 

More news soon!

A numbers game...

Last night I participated in the FNSI sponsored by Heidi and Bobbi.  I love this night devoted to sewing.  I worked on the blocks for my daughters wedding quilt.  Since I can't show you pictures [I did give a little peek here], I thought I would tell you the number of pieces I stitched.  

The quilt will have 48 blocks and each block has 29 pieces for a total of 1,392 pieces.  I had a little over 1/2 of the blocks finished already [783 pieces pieced]. I am now 3/4 finished! That's 1,044 pieces done and 261 pieces pieced last night! YAY! It was a good night! Thanks Heidi and Bobbi!

I'll be blog hopping to read what everyone was up too!

And now for a giveaway note.  Head over to Deb's blog Quilt Gal to learn all about it!

Friday Night Sew-In, Finishes and ....

So tonight is October's FNSI! I will be working on wedding quilt blocks!  I am over half finished with the blocks.  After a few little diversions from them, I am ready to get back to them!  I'll let you know tomorrow how I did!  Will you be joining me in the fun?

I have a FINISH!  During the Charming Girls' Quilt Club's Christmas in August Sewing Party (here), I started the Frosty Flakes BOM by Dawn Hay at As Sweet As Cinnamon.  It is now finished!  This little quilt encompassed 'sew' many techniques:  hexies, applique, embroidery, beading, piecing, free motion quilting!  What fun this was to make and the best part is that it was made entirely from my stash! It matches a Christmas ABC quilt I made several years ago.  Thanks Dawn for this little quilt pattern!

Christmas quilt

I also wanted to show the finished wristlets I made for a friend's wedding.  I started them on the September FNSI but was waiting the hardware.  Here they are...all 12!

And I'll leave you with some more color and texture pictures from the Fall O Ween challenge!

Tomorrow I'll be back to update you on the FNSI results!

Blog Hops and more!

The past week has been full of blog visits!  There was the blog hop sponsored by Pat Sloan featuring her new rulers. Did you know there are marshmallow fields around?  Several of the hosts spotted them!

Then the Fall O Ween blog hop featuring 10 designer! This hop is sponsored by Gudrun. What fun this has been! Tomorrow is the last day!  Projects and recipes and challenges!  Here is a little of what I've done.

I have managed to make one of the projects but plan for more!

And I took on the challenge to take pictures for inspiration! Love orange!! I have a few more I'll be sharing later!

And I couldn't resist making the Apple Pizza!  It was yummy! Many more recipes to try!

Another blog hop going on right now is the Fall into Fall Giveaways! You can go here to get the list of participating blogs! Hop on over to get your chance to win some amazing prizes!

One of my projects have been to make these mittens out of recycled wool sweaters. I felt the sweaters, cut and sew them together. Lined with fleece makes them very warm!  I made several pairs last year.  My DD2 and future SIL requested these.  

This weekend we head up to Door County, WI to camp, hike and enjoy the fall colors! More to share when I get back!  Happy Fall!