I'm quilting again......

Today, I worked on a really old UFO.

I started assembling the blocks my sister and my Mom exchanged in May 2009.

You can read more about the exchange here.

I decided to put the blocks together in sections.

I didn't want to have a big quilt in my machine.

So, I'm doing it quilt-as-you-go. 

Quilting each panel of blocks, then putting the panels together to make the quilt.

 I have the first section done. 

The pinwheel block in the center is made by my Mom.

The corner pinwheel blocks are made by the four girls.

I've added some 9 patch blocks that I made around the same time as the pinwheels.

I sashed the 9 patch blocks to make them fit.

So this is my first panel. Yeah!!

I'm glad to finally get these together.

It took me a long time to figure out what to do with them.

The blocks were not all the same size.

I had to figure out a way to put them together that worked.

I think this is the best option.

Hugs 

My "Leaf Me Happy" Blog Hop Day!!!

Hi everyone!!

Welcome to my day of the "Leaf Me Happy" blog hop.

Today is the last day of the hop.

It's been so much fun seeing all the blocks that were shared.

I'm so inspired by all the participants.

Thanks so much to Madame Samm for coming up with this wonderful Blog Hop.

And thanks so much to Cherry from Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio for organizing all the bloggers.

Here's my scrappy "Maple Leaves a plenty" block.

I made my block from a paper pieced pattern I purchased here.

The pattern is for one 6 inch finished leaf.

So, I made 4 to make my 12 inch finished block.

I love Maple leaves and I love using scraps.

So this was the perfect combination for me.

I used medium blue as the background fabric because I wanted it to mimic the blue sky.

I've used this pattern before.

I had made a placemat and pot holder for a swap a few years ago.

I had reduced the leaf pattern to 3.5 inches for the placemat,

and used the original pattern for the potholder.

I hope you like my block!

Don't forget to visit the other blogs on the hop today.

Here is the list.

Wednesday 10

Quilter in the Closet

SewMuch2Luv

Peanut's Patchwork

Quilting Lines

Mochawildchild

Ariane Quilts

Lily Patch Quilts

Cindy's Crafty Creations

Hill Valley Quilter

Count it *all* JOY!!!

Sew We Quilt

Hugs

Using up my scraps...

Today, I decided to work on one of my oldest UFO's,

my "Rocky Road to Kansas Quilt".

I used the paper piecing technique to make the scrappy triangles.

I have enough triangles sewn to make six more blocks.

I already had 6 blocks made.

Once I get my backing fabric, and small triangles cut, I will put them together.

That will give me twelve blocks.

I'm just going to keep sewing these blocks and using up my scraps.

I have way too many scraps.

I also made three little 3 inch house blocks.

The block on the right is done backwards.

I'm going to use that one by itself in a little project.

That one was sewn by hand.

The other two were paper pieced.

I'm following along with the quilt-along at 

Building houses from scraps.

The instructions are all on the blog.

I don't know if I will make all the 366 house blocks.

But I'll make some as I feel like it, then put them together.

I hope you are all well.

I have to work the next few days.

Hugs

Some string blocks and donation blocks!!!

Hi everyone,

I decided to make more string blocks for my scrappy string quilt.

I'm up to 87 blocks done out of 240 needed.

These are easy and fun to make.

I started this quilt here.

My guild also requested some donation blocks for their community quilts.

When I finished up my bee quilt top, I decided to use some of the leftover fabric to make the donation blocks.

Here they are.

I have 18 blocks made.

I would like to donate at least 25.

So, I'm pretty close to my goal.

I added some other fabrics from my stash since I ran out of fabric from my quilt.

But I like it better now. It adds more interest.

I also need a bigger design wall.

I really like the one found here, that Jackie and her husband made.

I think it's just perfect.

Well, that's all for today.

Hugs

More Crumbs.....



Hope you all had a great day!

Hugs

I'm moving......

my sewing room.

I was finding it too confining working in the little 5x8 sewing room.

It didn't have a window, or air circulation.

I wasn't feeling inspired in there.

I had also noticed that my husband was really missing his music room.

He liked hiding in his little room and playing his music.

He had almost completely stopped playing.

And I could really tell it was affecting him.

So, we had a little discussion.

I told him I needed to move out of there and he needed to move back in.

He instantly agreed.

We worked together to rearange our family room in our basement.

It took all day Friday.

We bought a used desk that I could use for my sewing space and set it up.

I worked all weekend and didn't get to move anything over until today.

I like it because I have some daylight.

I can open a window if I want.

The desk is right behind the couch, which is facing the TV.

So, now I can cut, sew, iron, spend time with the kids, talk to them, watch them playing and watch a movie or TV too.

Love it!!!!

This is going to be much better.

I don't like being in my corner all alone.

The only thing is that I don't have alot of space for storage.

So, I'm trying to go through my scraps, cut them up into usable pieces so that I can store them better.

I've been cutting them in 2.5", 2", 1.5" strips.

I've been using my GO! cutter to cut the 1.5" strips.

I've also been using the value die to cut 2.5 inch squares, and triangles to make 2.5 inch HST's.

I've been cutting 3.5 inch tumblers too.

I really struggle to throw any fabric out.

I kinda hord it.

But, I know I can't now.

So, with all the crumbs that I've been left with, I'm sewing them into blocks right away.

Here are some of the crumb blocks.

I don't know how I'm going to use them yet, but i like them.

I'm still moving my stuff out of my little room.

I still have a lot of scraps to go through.

But I will get it done.

I hope you are all well.

Thank you so, so much for all the well wishes for my birthday.

It really means a lot to me.

You are all so sweet.

Hugs



Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day.

I am spending my day with My Honey.

It's going to be a good day.

On another note, I found this on flickr this morning.

It's a Rob Peter to Pay Paul scrappy block made by Molly Flanders.

Oh!! I wish I had this GO! die.

Isn't it wonderful?

You must check out her flickr account here.

She does some wonderful hand quilting with perle cotton.

Her quilts are beautiful and modern.

She also has a wonderful blog here.

Go check it out.

You will be inspired.

Hugs

My mini raw edge circle quilt top done!!!

Okay!!

This will be a short post, because I have to get to bed.

So, I finished this little quilt top tonight.

I hope to quilt it tomorrow night,

and hand it in on Wednesday.

Do you think I can make it?

We will see.

I hope they like this.

There are not a lot of quilters that use modern fabrics in my guild.

 I think that some would if it was more available in our area.

I think this would make a cute little quilt for a little girl to play with.

She could use it for her dolls, or just as a security blanket.

On another note, I was featured on Stash Manicure today.

http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com/

Yeah!!!!

I was a plan B guest blogger.

I had volunteered to write a post,

in case something happened and one of the other guest bloggers couldn't post.

And today was the day.

So go check it out.

Well, that's all for today.

Hugs

Ariane



A block made from some of my scraps

Hi everyone! Yesterday I was playing around and looking at what I had in my scrap bags. I have two plastic grocery bags full of my scraps. They aren't organized or anything. I just throw all my scraps in there. Most are very small, but some are less then a fat eighth. After I made the cushion cover using my log cabin ruler, I decided I should use the smaller width and make a smaller log cabin block with my really small scraps. I decided to use pinks, pale greens and yellow. I came out with a really nice block. I thought I would make it bigger and make it into a star block. I really like the way it turned out. It's about 12 inches now. I still have quite a bit of small scraps in those colors. So, I think I'm just going to set them aside and make a bunch of different blocks and make a small sampler quilt out of my pink, pale green and yellow scraps. It's something different to do. I didn't really feel like working on the projects I have already started and have not completed. My list of UFO's is getting long again. Oh well!! Sometimes, I just need a distraction and make something else.

I hope you all had a good day. We went to the beach today. The kids had fun. But I have to work the rest of the week. So I'm going to go to bed soon.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

A few more blocks complete!!!

Hi everyone, I hadn't sewn anything in a couple days because my back hurt so much. But tonight I decided to spend a short time finishing some of the blocks I had already started for my Rocky Road to Kansas Quilt. So I have 6 blocks done. I'm only going to make twelve blocks and make a lap size quilt. I love using up my scraps with these blocks. But they are time consuming. I really love the way they look. I hope you like them.

Happy Stitching!

Ariane :o)

Rocky Road to Kansas Block

I just had to do some sewing tonight. It had been too many days since I've sewn. So I wanted to do something new.... something to inspire me. So I had printed a pattern a few weeks ago called Rocky Road to Kansas. I got the pattern on the Quilter's Cache web site. This is a wonderful site full of free patterns to use for personal use. You should go check it out. I made templates for the block and took out some freezer paper to make the center scrappy triangle. The pattern said to sew long strips together then cut out the triangles. But I only have small pieces, so the freezer paper helped. I made one block. But I just love it. It's really great. I just love putting colors that wouldn't normally go together and just mix them up. It looks great in the end. I had bought the cream colored material to make an applique quilt. But I think I'm going to stick to making these blocks with it. Oh well, I'm just going to have to buy more. This really perked me up. I really am addicted to quilting. I just love being creative. I think that's what I was missing for so many years. I'm so glad I started doing this. Thanks for all the inspiration you all give me through your blogs.

Happy Stitching!

Ariane :o)