Friday, September 28, 2012

Remember this?

I have finally finished my quilt from the Celebrate Red, White and Blue Blog Hop! All the stars were paper pieced and sewn together a while ago but I thought it would be nice to do some Big Stitch hand quilting. 


I also added covered buttons to the center of each star.



During the many hours spent with needle in hand, one thought kept coming to my mind...3rd grade flag songs. You may ask what are 3rd grade flag songs? Let me tell you, one of my favorite things about one the schools I work at is 3rd grade flag songs. 
The 3rd grade teachers take time out of their schedule once a week to gather all the 3rd graders together and teach and sing American Patriotic Songs. They learn and sing songs such as The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, You're a Grand Ole Flag, Yankee Doodle, This Land is Your Land, Hall of Montezuma, My Country 'Tis of Thee, the Salutes to the Services and many more. One of the teachers plays the piano and the team teaches the lyrics, tunes and actions to the songs. 


It is pretty amazing how well the kids know the songs and actions after just a few sessions. By the end of the school year, the 3rd graders have a solid knowledge of American Patriotic Songs and the 2nd graders are looking forward to their turn next year. 


What a fantastic way to teach patriotism! If my schedule allows, I try to join in on this fun and educational time. So, I am dedicating this quilt, "Seeing Stars," in honor of 3rd grade flag songs.


Monday starts the Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop. Go here for the entire schedule! Don't miss the fun!


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

and the winners are...

Late Sunday night, Mr. Random Generator and I chose 2 winners from my Dots on Dots comments. I apologize for not getting this posted sooner. The first winner of the Loving Hugs pattern by Geta is:


BizyStitches, who wrote: I'm in love with your blocks and they look charming all together in a quilt. Thanks for sharing your talent.


 And the second winner is:
Ellie Q, who wrote: I LOVE those blocks! What a neat pattern. And I had to chuckle at the ticker tape idea because I have the exact same thing in mind with my scraps. Great projects!

Congratulations to both of these ladies! I will email you shortly and pass on your email address to Geta. Thanks for playing!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Playing with Dots and a giveaway!!

Welcome! I hope you all have been following the Dots on Dots Blog Hop which started last week. There have been some terrific projects with more to come. 
It has been a whole lot of fun so if you missed it you can find the complete list of participants at Quilt Taffy here


A BIG Thank You goes out to Corrie, our hostess for this hop! She has done a great job of organizing and inspiring all the bloggers and of course to Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt for being the inspiration behind the hop and encouraging us all!
Like many of you, I too have a love of dots! They are so happy and cheerful. I am drawn to anything dotted so I jumped at the chance to play along on the Dots on Dots Hop.
I didn't have any trouble finding dots in my stash and/or scraps. I found pin dots in a rainbow of colors, dots in small, medium, large and extra large sizes, multi colored dots, dots with florals, dots with rings, oval dots, etc. Seems I use dots in many of my quilts and since I do use them...a lot...I'm not exactly hoarding them.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Well, you didn't come by to here me chatter...so on to my projects. 
After examining my stash, I settled with one multi-colored dotted fabric and coordinating mono-colored fabrics. I used the pattern Loving Hugs by Geta over at Geta's Quilting Studio. I had enough of the multi-colored fabric to make 12 ~ 12 1/2" blocks. (left over from the back of this quilt)







The first block was a little tricky since you are working with the bias but I got better at it the more I made. The block is so much fun to make and since I have a few baby quilts to make as special gifts, I thought this would be the perfect start. The blocks are 12" finished and the quilt finished at 38" x 50". 
I found this adorable print in my stash for the backing which I think coordinates well.  What do you all think?

I started on another baby quilt which also includes dots (the yellow is pin dots). I used the Basement Window block found in the book 5500 Quilt Block Designs and some repo 30's fabric from my stash. 

Then one day while reading blogs, I came across this quilt. Carol used 100 different dotted fabrics which got me wondering just how many different dotted fabrics were in my stash and/or scraps. 
So I started cutting 2 pieces from each dotted fabric, a 2 1/2" square and a piece for a 1 1/2" circle. I stopped when I reached 100 which didn't exhaust my supply. YIKES! 
I sewed the squares into a 10 x 10 grid, then took the other small piece and ironed on Steam a Seam II to the back. Using a template, I traced and cut out 100 ~ 1 1/2" circles. 
I randomly laid them out on top of the grid making sure they didn't match.  After I pressed them to the grid, I added a 3" Kona white border. FMQ quilted around each circle and straight lined quilted the border. 
For the backing, I used an extra large dotted fabric and the binding is a dotted stripe, both from my stash. I'm calling this A Study of Dots. 


I told you they were extra large ☺
Hope you don't mind, Carol...after all "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Thanks for being the inspiration. 
Do you know what you are left with after cutting all those small pieces? A bin full of even smaller pieces.


I had been wanting to make a Ticker Tape Quilt so I cut some 12 1/2" squares from some grey fabric and started arranging those little pieces. I FMQ around the raw edges using the quilt as you go method. 

I don't know how many I'll make or when but I really like the results. What I do know is that I'm not short of scraps to make many more. 

I did mention a giveaway, didn't I? 

Well, since so many of you commented on this pattern when I gave you a peek earlier, I am so excited to tell you that Geta is offering her Loving Hugs pattern to 2 of my visitors. This pattern is in PDF format and will be sent to you from Geta once I receive your email. 
Please hop over to Geta's Studio and take a look at her fabulous patterns!
To have a chance to win, all you need to do is leave a sweet comment on this post for an entry. For a second chance, be a follower of my blog through Google Friend Connect and leave a separate comment telling me so. If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email in the comment. I must be able to contact you if you are one of the winners otherwise Mr. Random Generator and I will draw again. I will hold the giveaway open until Sunday, Sept 23rd at 10:00pm CST. 

 I hope you enjoyed my Dots on Dots projects! Please be sure to visit the other Dots on Dots participants on today's hop. I'm sharing today with:


Thank you and please come again!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Craziness and this weeks Dots on Dots Schedule

It has been crazy around here and although I have been visiting the blogs on the Dots on Dots Hop last week, I haven't had time to blog myself. 
Last weekend, we moved our DD3 to Austin, TX to live with our DD2 and her husband. We loaded the truck after much sorting, boxing, and packing. 

Then hooked up her car and early Friday morning we were on the road. Our first stop was in St. Louis where we met up with her college roommate for lunch.


Back in the truck we headed west through Missouri where we encountered some bad weather. 


(this is not a blurry picture but dust and debris in the air)
Due to a detour into Oklahoma, we headed south into Arkansas.

Heading into Oklahoma further south than excepted. It is now getting dark!

And finally hit the Texas border in the wee morning hours. 

In Dallas, we took a power nap for about 1 hour before heading to Austin.


And there we left 3 pieces of our hearts!


On Sunday, we flew home, via Charlotte, NC, to arrive in Chicago around midnight...6 States in 3 days! Whew!



So for the 2nd week of the dots on dots blog hop, here is the schedule:

September 17th

September 18th

September 19th

September 20th

September 21st 
Bejeweled Quilts by Barb 


Have fun hopping! Hope to see you back on Wednesday!