My Pretties!

I went to the Lancaster Quilt Show on March 17th. I drove up with four friends from my guild and we met a few more there.  We even saw Jay McCarroll!  There were some really beautiful quilts.  Lots of quilts with gorgeous, complex machine quilting.  We had fun looking at the vendors, too.   I bought my new sewing machine and I have been enjoying it greatly.  I also bought some fabric, mainly fat quarters, as you see.   I don't really have any plans for any of them but they are so fun to buy!  The last picture are some hand dyed fat eighths.

 Just thought you might like to see the pretty fabric!

One Little Word (Four months later)

My guild (Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild) participated in the One Little Word Challenge in January.  The idea was to choose a word to inspire you for the year and make a quilt that you can look at and be inspired all year.  The other members of my guild made quilts ranging in size from a mug rug to a twin size quilt.  They were all great!  Click the link above to see them!

 I picked the word "Grow."  I want to grow as a quilter and as a person this year.  I tried to use some of my new skills in this little wall quilt.  I made some wonky free pieced letters, some raw edge applique leaves, and quilted FMQ, echo quilting, a spiral, some straight quilting and some wavy line quilting.  I used a variety of solids to bind it (just finished it!... I did everything except the binding back in January!)

 Here it is hanging across from my sewing machine in my new little sewing room!  (I stapled it up this morning! hehe).

I am linking up to:

Everything is coming up Roses!

 The Baltimore Quilt Guild participated in the challenge issued by Hoffman fabrics to create quilts from the beautiful (free!!!) solid charm packs they sent us.  We shared our quilts at one of our meetings and I brought my sadly unfinished quilt.  Well, now it is complete!  I love rose quilts and this was so fun to make!  Playing with all the colors and sewing and chopping to make the roses was my kind of sewing!

I used solid lines in the sashings for the quilting using my walking foot.   The borders got extra lines.   I like how it crosses in the intersections.

 I pieced the back, too.  I used every color in the charm pack! I think I spend almost as much time making the backs of my quilts as I do the fronts!  I like thinking they are reversible.  This side has a few shades of gray, which I love.  I used gray polka dots to bind it (I have used up most of this fabric and I am on the lookout for more!)

I am going to hang it at the top of the stairs so we can enjoy it each time we go up!

Welcome to new followers (and visitors!)

I am linking up to:

And RichardQuilts and  Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Up Friday!  

So go check out all the great finishes this week!

My New Sewing Room!

My son moved out (again) this weekend.  I threw the rest of his things (that he left behind) into the closet and slammed the door!  I vacuumed, moved some furniture, and stapled some batting to the wall for my new design wall!

Most of my quilting stuff was in our dining room.  Every time we wanted to use the dining room table, I had to clear off the iron, sewing machine, cutting mat, etc.  Now it is sitting pretty!

My granddaughter is almost 18 months old and she is into everything!  This way, all the sharp and pointy things can be behind a closed door.

I shoved the desk and dresser together to make a big table.  I moved another table into the room.  I feel like I need an new ironing board and maybe another shelf.

Here is my new sewing machine!  I have only had it for a few weeks.  It is a Elna and so far I am loving it.  

This is part of my stash.  Doesn't it look pretty?  I have wrapped the fabric around comic book boards.  I love being able to see all the beautiful fabric!  (Confession: I have more in other closets...some dating back 25 years.  I am a fabric collector, I guess.  Does it gain in value? )

My fatquarters are sorted by color and stashed in these plastic containers.  Not sure how but I would like them to be more accessible and attractive.

I stapled these mini quilts on the wall!!  It works!  We'll see how long they stay up!

I sewed in there today.  No TV but I brought up the laptop and watched Hulu.  Fun!  Now I have some hand-sewing to finish up a few projects.  

I am linking up to Someday Crafts and