What's On Your Design Wall?

Here is what's on my design wall:

I've begun putting the blocks for my Christmas Toile quilt on the design wall. I am so glad that I have a place to put quilt tops up to examine. This top has two directional fabrics. On the border pieces, I'll need to "reverse stitch" some of the sections to make the trees go in the right direction. It's not a big deal. I'll take my time getting the blocks right. It's not like I need my Christmas quilt in the next week. This quilt is for our bed. I lusted after it for months. By the time I decided to purchase a kit,I missedd buying fabric because the shop sold out of the line. Finally, located yardage on missingfabrics.com. I've been lucky locating fabric two different times on missingfabrics.com

The following quilts were on my design wall at some time recently. 

They are taking a trip/vacation to P.J.'s to be machine quilted. I've had to stash some cash so that I will be able to bring them home from their excursion. That's Sunshine/Crossed Paths with backing, Floragraphix with dragonfly backing, and Spinning Stars out of Wuthering Heights by Moda. 

Two Steps Forward..... One Step Back

Hi Friends,

I made progress  on several projects this week. I did finish the Giggles top and even pieced the backing. I'm hoping to take it to the Stitch 'N Quilt  tomorrow as it is the shop sample for our Stitch 'N Sisters Club. It is a cheerful quilt. I keep thinking little girl for this one. Perhaps, one of my nieces will find this one under her Christmas tree.

The background fabric for Sunshine/Crossed Path came in the mail this week. I'm much happier with the new fabric. Sunshine is on the design wall. I've started sewing the rows together. I have a border fabric that I love. This quilt will have to be mine. I don't think I can part from it. I'll post a photo when I have the top finished including borders, my downfall.

That's the two steps forward.  Here's the one step back.  I can no longer resist the Orange Crush Mystery Quilt designed by Bonnie. I did make a decision that the fabrics had to come from fabric already  in my sewing room. I played with my '30's fabrics for a bit. I have one or two solids, but not enough for this project. I'd need to purchase more '30's solids.  So I decided to use the orange pieces remaining from the band raffle quiltI finished last summer.  I'm pleased with most

of my selections. I'd like to find a tone on tone black instead of the purple. I thought I had a piece from Little Quilts, but can't find it. What do you think of these choices?

I do have plenty of light and dark strips left-over from other projects. Even thought this is a new project, it will use up scraps and fabric that I've already have on hand. 

 Care to join me in this exciting mystery? Bonnie has even created a Yahoo group to discuss the project. Check the Orange Crush guidelines on  Bonnie's site for more details.

Happy Sewing,

Becky

Quiltathon

 Judy L. hosted a Quilathon this weekend. Yesterday was spent sewing crumb blocks and learning new techniques (thanks Bonnie) at the quild workshop.  I had hoped to sew last night, but  crashed and burned around 8:00. Because I went to bed so early, I did get up early. I had hoped to spend all day sewing, but had some issues to tend to. I did spend this afternoon in my sewing room. I worked some on my Christmas Toile blocks. I do need to finish sewing these blocks. I made a mistake cutting early on and hope that I have enough of the red fabric. I was lucky to find a Fat Quarter at Stitch 'N Quilt. I'm hoping that will take care of my error if not I'll have to go online and order a yard.  I need to pin more blocks together. I'll probably do that in a bit. I did get some flannel cut for rag quilts. I need to make a rag quilt for a graduation gift in mid June. I have 6 of the fabrics that I need. I went ahead and cut those blocks. I also sewed last weekend on my Crossed Path project. The strips were sewn and needed to be cut. I put a new blade in BIG rotary cutter and have those all nicely sliced. They are ready to be sewn into nine patches. After that, I just need to assemble the rows. I used Moda's Sunshine fabric line. Wow! That fabric talks to me! It was just what I needed as I'm longing for Springtime. Not as much time in the sewing room as I had hopes, but I was happpy the entire time that I was sewing. Thank you Judy for proposing this event!

Weekly Report

3 tops finished!!! That's a record week for me. I brought Peace in the Valley to the quilt shop (have to support my local shop if I'm not buying fabric :)  to be machine quilted.

 I added the borders to the Floragraphix quilt. I'll probably call it Dragonfly. I had to order a backing for the Dragonfly quilt. I didn't have anything in my stash that complemented the front. I think that was one of the things holding me back from finishing it.

 I finally added the last border to the Guild Mystery quilt from two years ago. I just love this quilt. An empty rubber container! Yes!  That makes my day. I also pieced the back for this one. I had to purchase  binding fabric for this one. Seems I forgot to add that in when I purchased fabric for this top.

Purchases this year:

Fat Quarter for Christmas Toile border

4 yards for Peace in the Valley Backing

4 yards for Dragonfly backing

1 yard brown stip for Mystery Quilt binding

Used:

4 yards Peace backing

6 yards Mystery quilt backing

This afternoon was my monthly sewing at the LQS. I'm took a project that I started last year. I had everything packed in a ziplock bag. Just a few of the strips were sewn together. It's called Cross Paths. I used  Sunshine by April Cornell for this project. It's a cheery quilt. I sewed the strips together. It's all ready for the next stage.

What a fun week! I'm hoping to get some sewing done this week, but have a busy work week and several meetings after school.

Happy Quilting!