More Clues, More Sewing...

Joe at Thimblecreek designed another 6" block for the semi-mystery he is presenting.  This was the second of his clues.  So much fun to make these little blocks.

I put together block 3 of Pat Sloan's 'Out West' mystery as well... I found this background fabric in the free pile at my sewing group and it reminded me of wagon wheels, so I had to grab it to use in this quilt... This was a good block for it.  It's sadly a very thin fabric, probably old too, but it was too perfect not to use it.

I resewed clue 2 of the Murder Mystery (I didn't like one of the fabrics I had used).  No picture at this time, but it looks better.  This morning I finished stay stitching a felt table covering for a friend, but it still needs velcro sewed in and I don't have the right kind of velcro, so it's off to the local craft store to find some of the sew-in kind. 

Maybe tomorrow I can finish those two border strips on Seth's dog quilt!

Childhood Games continue...

I am already falling behind on my scheduled projects... An infected tooth, 'emergency' extraction and bone graft for the upcoming implant have all sort of thrown me for a loop... Yet today I find myself with some free time to try to catch up.

I made 'Into the Pool' for Childhood Games yesterday.

Happy to have gotten this one done, and it's got kittehs, which make me happy.

Last week, I made the first five blocks for the Thimblecreek semi-mystery 'Stay Tuned', and I've got all the fabrics cut and marked for sewing the second set of five blocks, just not sure when I'll have time to sew them.   Here are last week's blocks:

And I'm thrilled to be able to make a quilt for my fave radio personality, Seth Rudetsky, and his husband James... Here is a picture of what I had as of Wednesday afternoon.  I have since fixed the center panel so it is centered properly... just needs a top and right side border (2 1/2 strips of white)... then I measure to see if it needs an outer border, but I'm hoping my math was correct and the white strips will be the end and I can get it to the quilter so they can have it before winter is over.  I selected a batting that was a blend of cotton, silk and bamboo for a light but warm quilt for those New York winters.  Since Seth and James are majorly into animal rescue, and their dogs and cat are all rescues, I made a quilt with dogs on it.  Pictures of their dogs and cat will be on the label. 

Dear Daughter (-in-law)

I've been working on this quilt for a little over a year now... the top's been done for a couple of months, but it's taken some time to get it quilted and bound.  But I am happy to say it is finished, and ready for gifting.  Since today is the recipient's actual birthday, she will get it tonight.  I am over-the-moon thrilled to be able to gift it to her on time. 

I hope she likes it as much as I enjoyed making it for her... I wonder if she will let me have it back for a couple of shows (one in April, one in August)? 

On another front, I am making a quilt for my fave radio announcer... he made an off-hand comment on air about having a very heavy quilt (I'm guessing a comforter or duvet) and wanting something more light weight, even though he lives in New York City... I am making him one for his standard king bed and hope he and husband like what I'm making for them... (they are dog lovers, so it will have dogs on it, and I'm going to try to incorporate some pics of his own dogs (and cat) in the quilt... He is coming to California in late March, so I'm trying to get it done before then so I can hand-deliver it rather than ship it... I don't want it lost in the mail.  Anyway - the blocks are done, the sashing is mostly sewn on, just have to print his dog pics and design the layout of the blocks... But oh dear, my design wall is NOT big enough for this!

More Childhood Games

Block 4 came out this morning, and here is mine:

I also finished my daughter-in-law's birthday quilt last night... just gotta put a few hand stitches in the label and I'm done!!!  She gets it tonight!  Hope she likes it... pic to follow...

Jumping Rope

Jumping rope was a favorite childhood pastime when I was a kid.  That is the name and theme of this block designed by Pat Sloan.

I'm starting to notice an unintentional  theme in my 'Childhood Games' blocks - they all have at least one dotted fabric.  I guess now I will have to make it intentional and thoughtful in every block!

Re-evaluating and Remaking

Sometimes, our first impulse is the right one, and we should go with it.... other times not so much.  I made a block for Pat Sloan's 'Childhood Games' block-of-the-week project, but it bothered me... a little bit, at first.  I used black as accent strips, but I wasn't happy with the lack of contrast with the purple blocks.  Today, I finally decided it was bothering me enough to be worth ripping out some seams, cutting some new fabric to replace the accent strips and resewing it all together.  Here is the remade block, all shiny and new.  This one makes me happy!

The original block looked like this (not bad, but it didn't make me happy):

Now, back to making a quilt for my fave radio personality!  (more on that later, there's a story behind it)...

Look, Ma! No Cats!

Well, I made the second block for the Childhood Games Quilt-a-long.  It's called 'Chinese Checkers' and I used a spotted fabric to represent the marbles...  I decided not to use a cat fabric on this block... but I will use more cat fabrics in the quilt... just because I love 'em!

I always wanted to learn how to play Chinese Checkers as a kid, but had no one to teach me... because there was always a board for the game in those multipacks of games.  The marbles were fun to play with though and my sister and I made up our own games to play with them...  I kinda miss those carefree days with lots of playtime... oh wait... is quilting considered adult playtime?  If so, I guess I never outgrew them!

Well... back to borders on Frolic!

Another block and mystery progress...

I finished another quilt-a-long block for Pat Sloan's 'Out West' project...

I really like this block, not sure if it conveys anything about yummy western food, but it sure does have a southwest vibe.  I put in some horseshoe fabric and some kokopeli fabric as well... (probably spelled that wrong)...

I got 2 borders added to 'Frolic', but can't decide on cornerstones... might take some pics later and try to use them to decide how to do the cornerstones.

Made 2 more of my kitty hexagons for the never-ending hexie project as well... so progress is being made...

Tomorrow is my mini-group sew-in, so might get those borders on Frolic at last.