I've finally hit the half way point with my Black Diamonds quilt. I'm ready to put it away for several weeks now while I work on something else. This quilt has acually been pretty easy, but I'm ready for a change. Now..... which unfinished project to choose?

Another Jelly Roll Project

I've actually been working on this quilt for a few weeks now. I've just done several other things in the process. This is Black Diamonds by American Jane. One of the stars is easy to see, but there are two other stars on either side of it. I'm loving the fabric as well, which is Snippets by American Jane. The black is just a random black with white dots that I can't remember what line it's from right now. These are the first four rows. There are 18. This is not quite a quarter finished. When I make quilts I like to do a block or two completely finished before I start chaining. This time I'm doing a row. Piecing blocks is my favorite part but I don't love sewing rows together. Since you can't see the patter until you sew rows together I decided to do this a row at a time. I chain a row and then sew it to the others. Hopefully that will make sewing the rows together more exciting!

A few people asked where I got the Rock-a-Bye Rhymes fabric. I'll tell you a little secret. I love looking for fabric on using this site:


http://www.quiltshops.com/

That way you can see which shops have the fabric you are looking for and then compare prices. I saw this fabric going for $16.99 a yard but was able to find it for something like $6.00 at a place having a sale. The site is great for discontinued fabric!

Merry-Go-Round Finished!!!!

Here it is.... my finished Merry Go Round quilt! I'm so glad to be finished. There were a lot of little pieces to match up. This pattern was from McCall's Quilting magazine. I love quilting magazine's because you get several patterns often for less than the price of one. After I started I noticed the original pattern by American Jane called for 3 jelly rolls and each block was made of 3 hexagons around instead of two. I was a little disappointed at first until I started to put the quilt together! Two was enough! I started this quilt in September and just finished Friday night. I kept putting it away to work on other things because I needed a break. Actually, I did the first half in just a few days, but needed a break then and then I kept putting it away to work on other projects when I got it back out again. Here is a close up of the hexagons. That middle red one looks like it's a bit curvy, but it's just the way the pattern on the fabric happened to work out.

It took forever to sew the binding on the front. Maybe 30-45 minutes. It wasn't bad to stitch down at all on the back though. I really like that it doesn't have four straight edges. It's kind of fun to do something different. Now I kind of want to do Black Diamonds, Flags, or Triple Crown.

I got a little polka dotty on the backing and binding. I bought the back on clearance (as usual). Then I knew I wanted a black binding and found a polka dot too. I didn't realize until later I got polka dot for both.

Over all I'm happy with the quilt. It's always fun to try something different for a change. I like the happy, bright colors too.

Now.... to finish 1974 and two other long standing projects.

This is half?

Do you ever feel like you put a ton of work into a quilt that turns out very small? I am half way done with my Merry Go Round Quilt. This is one of two jelly rolls. The quilt does go the other way, but my camera automatically turns it, which bugs me but I'm too lazy to figure out how to turn it. Anyway, this quilt is going to be a lot smaller then I thought. I think it's something like 64x68. Other than the size, I really am liking it though. I love the colors and fabric. It looks so happy. Now, do I pause here and work on another project for a day or two or do I just keep going? It's a lot of seams to match up!

This quilt is making me want to do a grandmother's flower garden quilt. I love them. However, I do not think I will love hand piecing. Also, I feel like if I hand pieced the top I'd feel and obligation to hand quilt it, which I know I do not like to do. Anyone made a grandmother's flower garden quilt on the machine?

A Piece of Cake

I finished my Piece of Cake top tonight. I always get anxious to finish and start my next project. I also had a hard time cutting into my border fabric. I just wanted to hang out with it a little longer and feel it. I decided to take a picture. For whatever reason I don't like to put borders on. It's probably because I'm so anxious to start on the next thing that I don't want to spend the time. Silly, really. My new rule for myself is I have to finish the whole top, including borders before I start the next. I would add have it quilted too, but sometimes I have to wait for a fabric sale to be able to afford the backing.

Here's the finished quilt top. The picture is a little dark. I just love the colors in it. It's perfect for fall with the greens, browns and oranges. And the blue looks great too.

Jake needed me to take one last picture. He loves to be in the spotlight. He gets quite offended if I take a picture without him in it. Today my American Jane triangle rulers came in the mail. I've decided I'm going to do the Recipe for Friendship jellyrolls in the Merry Go Round Pattern. I'm excited to try it out! I had my Jelly Stars all lined up for next, but I'm bumping them back one. Really, I should probably do it next. I found some fabric at American Quilting a few weeks ago from the line on clearance and bought the back so I just need binding fabric. Oh, well.... I have it for later.