What I have and have not been working on.

I had big quilting plans for last week. I started this whirlygiggle quilt from the pattern that I won from Camille's blog. I had also planned on starting my blocks for my next quilt exchange. I may have mentioned before that a group of us from my old neighborhood used to quilt together. Of the 15 or so of us only two still live in that neighborhood, but we've been able to continue to do block exchanges. This time we are planning on doing a blue and cream quilt. I still need more blues, but this is the fabric I'm using. Those two plans got put away when we bought bunk beds for my boys. We had been looking and looking for a few months now and finally found some we liked and that were sturdy. I already made Caleb's quilt but hadn't even started Jake's because he was still in a crib. My other projects of the week were put away to get moving on his quilt. I figured it wouldn't take too long to do since it's so easy...... Several weeks ago I was asked to teach a block of the month quilt for my church. We had planned on one quilt where everyone chose their own patterns, but people wanted to do it who had never quilted before so we decided to do a quilting basics class. Tuesday was when we scrapped the other quilt ( no pun intended) and I started planning the new one. I want to start very basic and each month get a little bit harder.

Another surprise came yesterday morning as we were getting ready for church. My husband was getting breakfast for my boys while I showered. When I was done the hot water would not turn off. I gave it a strong turn and it went off. I didn't think much about it at first until Jeff came down about 20 minutes later and the water was still running. He couldn't get it off at all! So, while I took my kids to church Jeff stayed home turning off the water to the house and trying to figure out the problem. He was able to get there only a little late, but we now only have cold water. My kitchen is stacked with dirty dishes, nobody has showered or bathed. And laundry is (ok, already was) stacked to the ceiling. So once the problem is fixed I have a lot of cleaning to do before I can get too far on quilting. Wish us luck... and hot water!

Also, I did get this blog award from Anna. Thanks so much!

Pinwheel Spin

I'm trying to stay true to my goal of finishing all my quilt tops before I start more. Here is my pinwheel spin top. I took a class from Broadbent's to make this with my friend Anna back in April. This quilt was made using Quiltsmart, which I talked about in my last post. All the fabric is from Denyse Schmidt's fabric line Katie Jump Rope. Here is a closer picture. Sorry it's a little dark. The dots are also Quiltsmart.

Since this is an older line I had to piece the back because I couldn't easily find the fabric. This is how it turned out.

I still have one quilt to quilt and I need to finish binding Jelly Stars. It has the binding sewn on, but not sewn to the back. I will do one 30's flower and finish my Grandmother's Flower Garden block (notice I said block and not quilt!) before I finish Jelly Stars. I'm having some wrist pain though so it may be awhile.

Fabulous Fabric Find

This fabric is probably my very favorite fabric I ever bought. In fact, I liked it so much that I've bought it many times over the years. I love 30's fabric and bought this purple Everything But the Kitchen Sink fabric for my first 30's bow tie quilt.

Around the same time I happened to buy some in pinks and reds to use in this Mable's Table quilt. I have no idea why this picture flipped and I have no idea how to unflip it. I used the fabric as the rim on some of the bowls. By this time I was starting to really get attached to the fabric. I never found it again in the pink/red, but I did find it in green. I bought a lot of it. More than once. I have just enough left to use in my Lemon Twist quilt which I will return to working on some day.
I've use them many times in quilts over the past few years. I used it as part of pinwheels, butterflies and now the purple will appear my flower quilt I am appliqueing.




I've been a little disappointed because Ben Franklin Crafts is the only store near me that has quilting fabric. It doesn't have really any 30's fabric. I'm going through withdrawals. They do take Robert's crafts 40% off coupons though and will let you get 2 yards of fabric at 40% off. My plan is to piece my backs in 2 yard pieces. I saw the Portobello line from RJR, but hadn't looked at it closely until today. Guess what I found as part of the line......

This little gem! It's the same pattern but a colored background and the flowers are different colors and the leaves are green, but it's so close to the same. Of course I bought a fat quarter to use in my applique flower quilt. The also had it with a bright green background. I may have to make a pink and green quilt so that I can savor this lovely fabric over and over again. I need to go buy a lot of this so I don't have to horde it. I'm so excited about my little find! I just want to sit and hang out with it for awhile.