Fun Mail Day!

Today my book, Quilts! Quilts! Quilts! came in the mail! 

No, I am not a published author. However, I have been working on my 3rd book of Quilts for several weeks! 

Every couple of years, I put together a book to document the quilts that I have made (totaling 168.) I include a little about each quilt: techniques, fabrics, the recipient, if it was given to someone, the size and date of completion. 

I use an online book publisher. There are many but I started with Picaboo 

(when I made a book for my daughter's wedding) 

and have stayed with them. 

I like the quality and it is easy to use.

Here are all three of my 'published' quilt books! 

I also have another quilt just about finished! I have been thinking about this quilt for months and I found and bought the fabrics back in April at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago. I drew out the plan on graph paper and determined the size, etc but then things stalled. 

After I finished Harry Potter, I just had to make it a priority so that it would happen before school started again (and be out of my head!) 

Here is a peek.

I may put together a tutorial if anyone is interested. 

The finish is coming soon! 

New Finish

I have been keeping busy finishing the Harry Potter quilt my daughter requested for her SIL's baby. Katie is a Harry Potter fan. I, on the other hand, do not know much about Harry Potter so my daughter had to feed me some ideas. She wanted me to use this quote from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

I pieced together the 6 1/2" letters from scrap fabrics to make the top but wasn't sure what to do for the back.

 

Harry Potter licensed fabric was a bit too expensive so I needed to do something different. I came across a Hogwart's Seal cross stitch pattern. Since it was made of all squares, I knew that I could translate it into a fabric pattern. 

I determined what size each square would need to be in order to fit the front of the quilt. 

Here is the finished back.

This quilt is a 2-sided quilt. Either side could be used as the front. I kept the quilting simple sewing straight lines down the length of the quilt about 1" apart. 

It finishes at 36" x 45"

I'm linking up to Finish or Not at Busy Hands Quilts, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Midweek Makers at quilt fabrication.

Back from vacay

I am back from a wonderful vacation in the PNW! My husband and I put on 2600 miles...that's a lot of travel! We started and ended in Portland. The first 3 days were business for my hubby. From Portland to Pendleton, OR to Seattle and back to Portland. We stopped at a winery and Mt. Rainer on the way.

There was still quite a bit of snow!

Then we started our Oregon Coast vacation. Leaving Portland we traveled to Ecola SP on the coast and continued south over the week until we met the Redwoods in Jedediah Smith SP in California. The Oregon Coast is beautiful and vast and the Redwoods are amazing! 

On our way back to Portland, we stopped at Crater Lake. It is the most intense blue ever! The brillance comes from the depth (deepest lake in the Americas) and clarity.  

Once home, it was time to catch up with some sewing! 

July's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is red. 

Here are my red plus sign blocks.

And my red flying geese block.  

I also needed to catch up on my Temperature Quilt. I had been recording the temperatures daily but just hadn't been able to cut and stitch them until now. 

You can see how our temperatures have risen with all those red centers and orange background. 

I have also sandwiched the Harry Potter quilt and is next up for quilting. Stay tuned! I put sleeves on 2 quilts, Mini spools and Milky Way, so they can be hung. It is nice to have that small project done. 

Linking up to Finish or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Midweek Makers at quilt fabrication and Scrappy Happy Saturday at So Scrappy.