Favorite Quilt

There is quite a show at Mary's blog about showing your favorite quilt. 

I will show you the one that others seem to like the best of all that I have made.  I don't have a favorite - they are like my children - I love them all.

The quilt that got the most interest on my blog is my version of Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street, last year's mystery quilt.  I put my own spin on it, and also made it in green and red, for a Christmas version, and it was suggested that I name it 34th Street.

Here is 34th Street before the final outside borders:

Today, I'm working on adding the final outside borders, and this picture shows the final border fabrics selection going on at a local quilt store:

Easy Street was a fun pattern for me because there were so many versions out there, and the pattern was easy to play with.  For instance, look at this picture of how different the left side of the picture and the right side of the picture looks - just by turning the little four patch blocks a different way.  It was fun to play with on the design wall:

Note that the above version had candy cane fabric in it, which did not make the final cut.  I added more green instead.  

I'm also linking up with another Friday link-up site.  Confessions of a Fabric Addict  She has inspiring ideas there.  What are you working on/playing with today?

Fall: Back to Williamsburg

I'm back home in Virginia and I'm getting in the fall mood.  Yesterday we walked down Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg.  It's so beautiful. 

Also, I hung a new wreath on the front door.

  (The little girl in me says "Ta-Da!!")  The grown-up girl in me looks up the meaning of ta-da.  

1. ta-da

   tä ˈdä/

   exclamation

   1. 1.

      an imitation of a fanfare, used typically to call attention to an impressive entrance or a dramatic announcement

Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about.  Fall......Bring It On!

Today what is needed is unpacking quilting supplies and fabric that were taken to Michigan for the summer.  Also the quilt room could stand a good cleaning up.  Neither option is happening. What am I doing?  Sewing nine patches.  When I feel the need to postpone cleaning up the quilt room, nine patches are in order.  Peaceful piecework.  Definitely in my happy zone when I am making nine patches.

This is the start of today's sewing:

Which is part of this quilt kit I bought.  It's from Marcus Brothers Moda, Collections for a Cause - Comfort:

I will set the timer for 20 minutes and get to cleaning and organizing the room, with rewards at the sewing machine when I finish a job.

Later, I'm going over to Esther Aliu's blog to see what others are working on; their posts are part of her WOW - Work in progress On Wednesdays.  (Here) 

Happy Zone

While watching the Detroit Tigers baseball game today, I heard this comment by the announcer:  "That ball was right in his happy zone."

It made me smile and I thought about what part of my quilting 'game' is in my happy zone.  Yesterday I cut 15.5 inch squares of blue bird fabric and pieced them together with the estate sale churn dash blocks.  The old blocks had lots of bias sides and varied in size.  Fudging them together into a quilt top was not in my happy zone.  The quilt squares are 5 across and 6 down, for a quilt top that is 75x90 inches.  It is ready to go to the machine quilter now.  It will make a nice cuddle quilt for the couch.

What IS in my quilting happy zone?  

A) Doll quilts, of course

B) Piecing by machine

C) Choosing fabrics and planning a new project

What's in your quilting happy zone?

Fall is Here

The leaves are turning pretty colors, and it's time to think about going back to Virginia.  My summer projects this year have been moving along, and this week I've been working on the Birds of A Feather quilt project, and have most of the blocks finished.  I am enjoying the hand work:

Here is the layout of the quilt so far:

This summer has been beautiful, and I am posting this from the Manistee Library where I have a wifi connection.  There is a book "Spool of Thread" here that reflects my thoughts on fall and all the beauty of the season.  The following is from a writing called Look, Look Around You, by Rogene Jados. She writes:

No other time of the year is as lovely or such a contrast to the stark beauty of winter. Let's enjoy the beauty of fall, collect lovely pictures and store them in a drawer in our mind to be pulled out whenever we need them.

What a blessing we have in using our mind as a storeroom for memories of things past and to hold pictures once again in our hands:   Autumn. . . God's lovely lavishly wrapped early Christmas present . . . enjoy!

Here's an early Christmas present for you - a sunset picture of Lake Michigan, taken from the Arcadia Bluffs Golf Course:

The little dotted line in the dark part (land) are actually a group of Adirondack chairs all in a row, for people to sit on the lawn of their clubhouse and view the sunset. We took this photo from the dining room porch, and dinner was great too!  Part of our 50th wedding anniversary celebration year.  We didn't think it would be a pretty sunset because it was so cloudy, but when the sun was low, it lit up the whole sky, and you see the results!  Pure Michigan!

Remaking an Old Quilt Top

On my Design Wall (the floor) at the cabin:




I found a quilt top at an estate sale recently, and liked the squares and not the sashing, so I removed the sashing this week.  And earlier this summer I found some pretty blue fabric with birds featured on it, that was on sale at a variety store.  They are going to be together in this new arrangement of alternating squares.  Go to Design Wall Mondays to see other quilter's projects:  Patchwork Times

Below is the quilt top as I found it, with indigo blues and shirtings for the squares and what looks like feedsack fabric for the sashing and cornerstones:

The blue fabric I bought was at a variety store where there are stacks and stacks of yardage piled high, with all quality of fabrics mixed together.  This one is a pretty blue, and the selvage reads: Andoverfabrics.com, created by Renee Nanneman of Need'L Love....2010.  Not knowing what I was going to do with it, I bought it because I so loved the fabric.  I researched the fabric on the web, and found a lovely pattern for it, "Farmhouse Retreat Quilt".  The pattern features this fabric and is a free pattern at Andoverfabrics.com. (if you want to see the pattern: Quilt Pattern featuring bird fabric )

But now I am thinking I'm going to use it to redo the old quilt top pictured above. What do you think?

Also, now I have this lovely feedsack looking former sashing that I can now use in some new project.  Any suggestions for it?