Some of what I've been working on

Showing off some of the mini quilts I was alluding to yesterday.

For Dena: She should be getting this one any day now:
For the My Favorite Quilters 6" and under swap:



And the back:


For Jess:
The October (I was a little late finishing) STUD quilt:




And the back of it: (Hand Quilted)


For Kathy J:
October STUD Anything Goes - we both chose to do Halloween:
Hand Quilted:


For Ruthie:
6"-12" Swap Group - Theme - Hawaiian. This is a bit larger than the 12", its 16" and all hand quilted. In the center I quilted a dolphin, then there is a star, a swirl, seaweed and a shell. I chose bright colors because to me Hawaii was all about brightness and fun.

I'm so proud of this one I pieced another top and will eventually quilt the other one or me.



True brightness:


Stitching close-ups (some are in black and white so you can see the contrast):












And the Back of the quilt:

Complete - 4 Seasons Quilt Swap

I am so very proud of this quilt that I just put the finishing stitches on yesterday!

I'm not showing it yet until my partner receives it - she should soon, at least in about 5 days or so. :)

My partner wanted a winter theme, she didn't want Christmas since she's not Christian, so I went with blues and whites. I also quilted it for the first time using Warm & Natural batting and that was a dream!! I think it's my new favorite batting. I did both hand and machine quilting on it and I'm super pleased. It's not really perfect, but it's been made with tons of love.

Catching Up Photos

First:

Halloween:


New York:


Washington DC




And in Washington, just look at this architecture!

Phew - Finally!

I'm so back. We had a friend come over from the UK and spend some time with us. I kept meaning to post, but when the hubby and Bob got together, I got all the baby care, cooking and cleaning duties - no help whatsoever! Plus, then I had stuff to do for work, and that's a ton of stuff, especially since it's the end of the marking period.

We had a great Halloween, Jellybean went as Elmo! I'll get some pictures up soon. :)

October must be giveaway month

Wowzers - are there a lot of Giveaways in October. I just mailed out my mini quilt to AnneLise from my giveaway. I think my next Giveaway will be at some point in the new year - or maybe when I hit 150 posts.

For the first giveaway - go to..
Opal Moon Enchantments

And look at this one:

Raggedy Anne Giveaway
It ends on Oct 12th - so just get in on it while you can!

Blue is Bleu She's giving away an AMAZING table runner - which would look perfect in my house. :)

Patch Andi Wowie! What an amazing messenger bag she's giving away. Go - follow her blog, she's awesome!

And don't forget:
RS Island Crafts

And ANOTHER great giveaway - (but I really wanna win the dollie!!)
Angie's Raggedy Patch

Quick & Easy Elmo and Cookie Monster Cross Stitch

This was a mini project that I did for little JellyBean. She loves ELMO! So I came up with the pattern from a tiny web graphic I saw and just stitched it out. Took about 3 hours in total.



I got a cheap dollar store frame and just popped it in the frame. Here it is hanging up above JellyBean's crib. Now she wakes up and stands up to look and point at Elmo. You can hear her squealing and it's just totally adorable.




And here's the Cookie Monster one. I also used a computer web graphic to help me come up with this pattern.

First Snowfall is DONE! And a WIP

I just have to add the label to it and then I can show everyone! Next time I get it in my head to hand quilt with metallic thread, just smack me. It was so tough to get the quilting right with it. After one swirl, I realized I needed to double the thread (I know Quilt Police.. I know) but I was constantly breaking the thread and the only way I could get it to work and not break was to double it up. But in the end I think the doubled up metallic silver thread really looks awesome, and it looks like swirly snowflakes quilted in..

Hehe.. you have to wait until tomorrow to see the final photos.

And now, I've got no idea what to do with it, or where to put it. Terry and I moved into our house at the end of June, so our walls are still pretty bare.. and I'd like to keep it up for all of winter I think.

And just for fun.. here's Terry and me:


This is the WIP I was mentioning before:


This is going to probably also be hand quilted - the blocks are 12.5 inches each. Terry wanted me to make it for our wedding - 3 years ago! Oops.. I never finished it. I'm unsure of what design to quilt in it, I was thinking in each of the larger blocks something that is representative of us.. maybe in one block an outline of the USA, and one of the UK.. maybe an airplane, I'm just not sure. The quilt is about 120x120 without an extra border, and maybe I won't add one. I'm unsure about that. What would you do?