I Spy a Penelope Rose

I do love an I Spy quilt.  There are so many fun novelty prints out there. Penelope Rose would be here soon, and her quilting Gramma already had a bunch of quilts awaiting her arrival, so I decided a toddler sized I Spy quilt would be the perfect gift.  I dug into my bag of scrappy novelty prints and my Biscotti jars of strips, and made a plan.







  






























Even the simplest block works with interesting fabrics and bright colors.

















I had everything from kites and cows to ice cream cones, silly hippos, baby chicks, and lobsters. 

Even platform shoes!

A little meander quilting .....

..... a fun backing and a special customized label from Gramma.

Don't tell any of my 'Bama friends, but I threw in a few Auburn blocks for Mom and Dad.

I made it big enough so Penelope can use it for a long time.  

Gramma loves it.  Big sister Dallas isn't sure.

I think Penelope will love it.  As soon as she wakes up.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
Linking up with Tish's Adventures in Wonderland  
Linking up with So Scrappy    

Throwback Thursday (on Tuesday)

Only six weeks into the year, and I've blown two of my goals -- sewing every day and blogging more often.   I have, however, done a lot of coughing, moaning and groaning, and sleeping.  Can you say, "I think this might be the flu"?

Rather than keeping my tens of followers hanging, I decided to dig into the depths of Excel and do a little show and tell from days gone by.  Included in my Excel spreadsheet is information on each quilt I've made including whether I've posted pics of it on Flickr or blogged about it. So, I chose a few quilts I haven't yet written about and here goes.

In 2007 and 2008 my designated charity was CASA, a national association that supports and promotes court appointed advocates for abused or neglected children. People love making baby quilts for charity, but teenagers are often overlooked, so my heart goes out to them.   I love teenagers.  They can be real stinkers sometimes, but most of them are good kids.  

I made this quilt using a lot of brights. (Surprised?) A basic square-in-a-square block with black sashing and colorful cornerstones make it a fun quilt.  At 68" x 82" it's a nice size even for a pretty tall teen.  My friend, Angela (Quilted Joy) quilted this for me.  

  















This one is a smaller twin (60" x 72").  I did very simple straight-line machine quilting .....

..... and pieced the backing with leftovers from the front.

The third quilt for CASA is fun, too.  I used batiks this time and a pattern called "Spice Market" from the April 2007 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  It's 68" x 83", another large twin.  Angela quilted this one as well.  

That's my Show and Tell for today.  Hopefully I'll have something more current to share real soon.  

Oliver's Quilt

Now I can tell you about the most recent baby quilt I made.  The last time I posted I was getting ready to mail it to our newest great-nephew, Oliver.  I had actually started this one in plenty of time instead of waiting until the last minute, I just couldn't post about it until now.  I wanted to make his quilt with black and white and brights because I had given this quilt to Oliver's mama, Nikki, when she was a teenager.

I decided to appliqué stars onto a black and white print marked off in 5" squares.

Then I found a great black and brights print to use for the alternate blocks. 

Love the green I used for a little accent border!

Hand-quilting is one of my favorite ways to relax in the evening.

I wanted to use another shade of green for the binding, but after I made it and started sewing it on, I decided I really didn't like it .....

..... so I tried out a red and a yellow and didn't like them either.

Do you ever find large pieces of yardage in your stash and you can't remember why you bought it?  I didn't think so.  Anyway, I found five yards of this in my stash, and it looked perfect.

I really love this quilt.  Hubby smiles when I say that.  I say that after every quilt.

The backing is pieced with a few bright strips to make it wide enough.

I think little Oliver likes his quilt.  I know his mama does.  

That makes this quilter really happy!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and WIP's Be Gone at A Quilting Reader's Garden. 

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Quilted Village Update - WIP's Be Gone!

In 2012 I started working on a Block of the Month called Quilted Village.  You may remember me writing about it in this post.  I normally don't like to make my quilt just like everyone else's, but prefer to make my own version.  This is what the pattern writer had in mind .....

As this is my "Year of the UFO" I pulled this project out last week and started making more houses.  I made 8 of the 12 house blocks and lost interest which is why this ended up on the UFO list.  Anyway, I finished block # 9 last week .....

..... so this is what my village looks these days.

Here are a few closeups of some of the embroidery.

I started block #10 this week.

I'm thinking this one may actually get checked off the list this year, but for now it is still a WIP (Work in Progress.)

I am linking up with A Quilting Reader's Garden for their WIP's Be Gone Week 7.

Sew My Stash 2015

Not only is this going to be the year of finishing UFO's it is also going to be the year of using my stash.  I am joining the fun at Project: Leasa and planning to Sew My Stash this year.   (I think I need to start getting up earlier in the morning if I'm going to get all this sewing done.

First things first.  I have to show you my stash.  Gulp!  These are the cabinets in my sewing room in which I keep my stash.  Looks are deceiving, though, not every one of those cabinets has fabric in it.

I have quite a few batiks.

Actually, looks ARE deceiving.  There are two stacks on that shelf, the stack in the front and the stack in the back.

These are batiks too, just larger pieces.

The Black & Whites are normally in nice neat stacks but I have been digging through them lately, so they are just in a pile now.

I have an awful lot of novelty prints and brights.  Yes, stacks in front of stacks again.

Christmas prints and other holiday prints don't take up too much space.

Five shelves are organized by color and then there is a shelf for Asian prints, floral prints, and patriotic fabrics.

This shelf is just stacks and bundles I bought not knowing what I wanted to do with, so they just sit there ......... waiting.  I see a stack of backings I bought for baby quilts there, too.

This shelf is just ..... well ..... I'm not sure what.  Odds and ends, I guess.  There are some Loony Tunes fabrics, a few things I ordered from the Fat Quarter Shop and, Valentines fabric, super-hero stuff, and fabric from Uganda.  Yes, that's odds and ends, for sure.

These fabrics are sitting on my cutting table, pillowcase fabrics and solids.  I guess I ran out of space in the cabinets.

Now that I've taken all these photos, I realize I have a lot more stash than I thought.  Even if I pull a project once a month I won't make a dent in it. Maybe instead of getting up earlier I should figure out how to get by with no sleep at all.