At last

I finished my OC step 2!!
I'm starting to like my bright colors. I'm waiting for my companion ruler to arrive - so I have a little reprieve from step 3. It should be here Friday. Soooo,
while I'm waiting - I decided to join CrazyMomQuilts quilt-along. Just in case I didn't have enough to do. I need to finish a UFO here soon - to lessen the guilt.

supposed to be cleaning but distracting myself from the task at hand

I promised myself I would clean, clean, clean today. I keep distracting myself with reading blogs and sewing. I am still working on my OC step 2 - and now step 3 is out. I am chain stitching the second triangles together and want to finish by tommorrow. It is a rainy day here - perfect for sewing - not cleaning.
I bought this at my LQS last week. It is part of a challenge that they are doing. The fabric is composed of old tins. It is a creative challenge, but I have an idea what to do with it - I'll post the finished product in the future.
Back to my bucket and mop.

bad bad quilter

I fell off the "no buying anymore fabric wagon". It all started when I got a card in the mail saying a local fabric shop was having a 25% off sale. I had promised myself to use only what I had for the OC mystery quilt. To be fair I found that I didn't have 2 yards of any one piece. So this is what I bought. Speaking of fabric shopping - there are 2 very nice quilt shops within 2 miles of my house - in either direction. How lucky I am - I frequent both, however when I shop at one or the other I feel guilty. Like I'm cheating. Anyone else have this same problem? When I went to the 3rd shop (not a quilt shop) boy did I feel bad - I was cheating on everyone - but it was 25% off.

bom & oc

I'm still cutting for OC part 2. I really want to get these done. I want to play with my little bright scraps. I'm also doing a block of the month. It Christmasy - so the point is to finish it and of course do one a month - by December I'll have a Christmas quilt. But here's my first one completed - January. I think I'm behind - it happens every year.

good book

I bought this book the other day. I'm having a great time going through it. I started at the beginning, but when I a few minutes I just pick a spot to read in it. It has a lot of information that a relatively new quilter like myself can use. I also found a fun blog today - http://thehappyzombie.com/blog. I may try the Mimi Quilt Along. I have started my OC part 2. I played around with the easy angle ruler and finally got the hang of it. It really does help with cutting all those triangles.

UFO's- 24 / me-1

As promised, here is my ugly UFO. What was I thinking other than that the fabric was on sale. It's a flannel rag quilt. Here is a picture of the back - I think my choice of purple and brown really sets it off - Uggh. I don't like brown and why did I pair it up with purple. I think I'll let my DD#1 take it to college with her - maybe I won't see it again. Is it too ugly to donate - it just may be. On the plus side it my other UFO's are not as stomach turning and I do feel good getting one finished.
I came across these dishtowels on clearance (I think they are Martha Stewart's) Any ideas what I can do with them? They are too pretty to use on dishes.

I was wondering what to do with 7 blocks and I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I think that the pattern was meant for kitchen towels. But of course I would never use a towel that was so cute. So I like what I did with it. I go to a redwork group once a week and this is when I did the majority of this. Now I have to start something new. I have decided to do one UFO per month. It really is hard not to start new projects - but if I promise myself to complete one old one a month that will be a start. So I'll just pull a UFO out of my big UFO box and that's the one I have to finish. Unfortunately the first one I picked is one of those wretchedly ugly what was I thinking. I'll post it tommorrow so - it's so horrible I can't work on it too much.

Another GFG flower done! I've spent a lot of time this week in my car - waiting on kids - so of course I got this weeks flower done quickly. This is really a portable take-along.

I was thrilled to find an easy angle ruler that I bought but never used. So now I can start step 2 of Quiltville's Orange Crush Mystery.

Speaking of flowers, my irises are in bloom - here is the queen of them all. I've had these irises for years - a gift from my aunt who dug them out of her yard and gave me some. I've transplanted them when we moved and I love it when they bloom every year.

4-patches done!

I finished my 4-patches for Orange Crush. These are certainly a colorful bunch. I wanted to use only scraps and stash for this whole endeavor. I'm hoping that it will be a happy summer quilt when I'm finished.

I finished my bunnies from lynette anderson's blog (noah ark pattern). These little squares are really fun to do. I also sewed all my strips together for the orange crush and now just need to make my four-patches.

Saw these fellows at a street festival while visiting DD#1's future college. Sadly, there are no quilt shops anywhere around there. I had visions of myself going to visit her and making a clandestine stop, but there are really none :(

grandmother's flower garden

I carry hexagons with me and work on them while I'm waiting to pick up kids or if I have a spare minute. I finished this one yesterday. My total so far is 21. I'd like to make at least 75. I try to do one a week. I like the way the look spread out. At this rate I'm looking at next year to finish them.

I'm also enjoying Lynette Anderson's Noah's Ark patterns from her site. I have the dove done. I have my strips cut out for the orange crush - my second try -scrappy this time.

uh-oh

For the orange crush mystery quilt - I don't think I wanted to cut that orange up - uh-oh. Good thing I have some more left. If I can't use it in this - I'll save it for another day. I've never done a mystery quilt before and I think I got ahead of myself.

Here are some more redwork scottie blocks. I'd like to get them into a top in a few days. One day, when I have the courage I'm going to post all my UFO's.

orange crush

Here's my color selection. I have somestrips ready to be sewn into four patches. Which I will try to do tonight. I'm going to try doing this without buying any new fabric.

Also finished this quilt top - It's from the Happy Hour book by Atkinson Designs. The cutting took a little while longer than I thought - but the top went together very fast and easy. I'm looking forward to doing another pattern from the same book soon.

Let's see if I can do this again

I finished these little handtowels for a gift. They looked cute - put them in a old fashioned tin bucket with a jar of homemade jam.

I'm going to start on Quiltville's Orange Crush - I have lots of orange - I've been wondering what to do with.

I'm on a roll

I'm on a roll - I think I've got this picture thing figured out.

Here is one thing I've been working on - redwork blocks - I think they were meant for kitchen towels - but I thought they were cute - Here's Friday - in honor of Friday. My problem is I have 7 blocks - what should I do with 7 blocks?

I'm going to celebrate a first post and a first picture all in one day!

1 post

Okay I've had the blog set up for almost 2 weeks and have been nervous about my first post. But I have to try some time. So here goes.....

I love reading quilting blogs. It's inspiring seeing what other people around the country and the world are doing. Some are even in my own back yard (so to speak). I'm hoping that blogging will help me become a better quilter, and better at using my computer (I can only get better at this point).

Next time - figuring out how to get photos on here :(