McGuffey Finish With Hometown - Just In Time!

With two charm packs of Hometown fabric and a little background fabric for the inner border, I was able to finish my LePetite Project for September.  Just in time!  I thought it would be easy to choose the pattern I wanted to use for this month's project, since we could choose any Schnibble, but it was a difficult decision!  There were so many great Schnibbles to choose from!  Finally, after many changes, I settled on McGuffey from the book Schnibbles Times Two by Carrie Nelson.  I love the text fabrics from this line by Sweetwater, especially the names of hundreds of cities and towns.  I wanted the fabric to be in pieces that were pretty big, so you could still read the words.  I tried to fussy cut some of the pieces, so cities we've lived in and visited were still visible after the top was pieced. 

With no sashing or background of any kind, just a small inner border, there were lots of places where fabrics of the same kind or color could meet.  I had to push though placing the blocks and not let myself spend too much time worrying about where the fabrics were going.  Not that I didn't worry about it at all......I'm just not about being random, as hard as I try it's just not happening........but I did try not to over think it and I just went with the fun feeling of this fabric.  Great advice I have gotten in the past from blog friends! 

I need to pick up my son from the high school football game now, so I'd better go.  It's been a crazy busy week and I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend.  Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to stop by and visit Sinta and Sherri in the next few days to see the rest of the quilts in the LePetite parade!   

The Quilt Show, Cute Baby Animals and Some Rubies

Thank you for all the kind comments about my Challenge Quilt!  You're all so supportive. I really enjoy hearing from you and sharing quilting experiences......the good and the bad! Remember my iron meltdown?  Definitely a bad one!  It's great to be able to share special quilts and projects with such a great group of wonderful blog friends! 

 After the quilt show when I received my comments from the judges, I was pleased that my quilt was held as a potential winner after the first round of judging!  Although I didn't get a ribbon this time, I was happy that my quilt was a contender.  I enjoy making quilts to put in the show and when one receives a ribbon or high marks that's definitely an added bonus!  If you haven't entered a quilt show you should give it a try sometime.  It is a great experience to see your work on display beside so many gorgeous quilts!  

It's a busy time for my family with golf and soccer practices, matches and games, but earlier in the week, I was happy to do some quilting for Karen, a teacher at my son's school.  She did some amazing embroidery on this lovely baby quilt and I hope she was pleased with the final product.  Those are some cute baby animals!  I think that tiger has to be my favorite.     

Since I need to get back to work on my LePetite project.......yes, it does need to be finished tomorrow so come back to see it .....I'll leave you with this picture of some new fabric I bought at the quilt show.  It had just come in the day before and I was happy to snap some up before it disappeared!  Ruby!  It's always fun to look at new fabric, even if its just in a picture!

My Challenge Quilt Revealed!

Remember this post?  It was a sneak peek at the fabrics that I had to use for the Challenge Quilt for our local quilt show which opens today. "Look up in the sky and what do you see?", was the subject of the Challenge Quilt category.  After our trip to Hawaii this summer, I was inspired to make this quilt for the show.  Keep in mind that was dangerously close to the deadline to submit paperwork to enter, so it was full steam ahead to get it completed on time!  But I made it with less than a day to spare!

 'Island Life in Hawaii' is the name of this quilt.  It fits, don't you think? 

Can you find the Challenge fabrics in the quilt?  I like that they blend in and aren't too obvious.  I don't think the fabrics scream, "She had to put me in somewhere!"  I thought they did scream, "Hawaii", though.  How can that black not be used as volcanic rock?

A sea turtle with stuffing under the shell to give it more dimension. 

 The volcano is done with two different batiks and one of the challenge fabrics.  The batik for the lava coming down the volcano had to be pieced together so it would be wide enough.  Every fabric, except the challenge fabric and the fabric used for the ocean, came from my stash!  

A Hawaiian sunset!

 The pink fabric for this fish is one I would have passed over if I had been shopping for fish fabric, but when I was looking through my stash I thought it might work.  After I made a trial fish using the fabric. I was hooked!  LOL!!

This chenille used for the coral, was from a baby quilt that I made years ago. That stuff is certainly fun to fluff up!  My kids were eager volunteers for that job.   

 The yellow challenge fabric worked well for this fish.  It even has spots, like fish that have spots that look like eyes to confuse predators.  The first time I made him, I used totally black fabric for the fins and we decided he looked like he had a bad toupee, so I made him again. He looked much better with this tone on tone fabric I had used in a previous challenge quilt!

Being that I'm not a big fan of applique, this quilt was certainly a challenge for me! It was nerve-racking to put applique on a whole quilt first, rather than just one block at a time. Don't get me wrong, I love quilts with applique, as long as I'm not the one making them!  I'd like to work on applique to get better, but those pieced quilts just seem to call my name.  Maybe this is the start of something new for me!

After All That, I Forgot And Wore Sandals Anyway And My Small FNSI Results

On my way to the rollerskating rink yesterday, I realized that even though I had just blogged about the dangers of wearing sandals to elementary school skate night, I was wearing them anyway!! I can't believe I did that! Those kids look small until they run over your toe with a roller skate! Ouch!  It hurts.  I know from experience. I told my son I couldn't believe I had my sandals on and he told me I should blog about it.  So there it is.  Luckily, I was able to make it through without injury.  And without skating.

Later, when I got home I didn't have a lot of energy left for the Friday Night Sew-In, but I was happy that I got started on McGuffey with some organizing and a little cutting. I didn't get much in the way of quilting done on it on Saturday either.  A travel soccer game in Jekyll Island Georgia took up most of the day and we were happy to spend a little family time on the beach while we were there. My DH and I took a few pictures on the trip. I hope you enjoy them.  Many thanks to Heidi and Bobbi for organizing the FNSI!

I've never seen a beach right behind soccer fields before!  Handy location!

This bridge actually goes to Brunswick I think.  We just crossed it for fun.  Jekyll Island is in front of you

Roller Skating While Doing the Friday Night Sew-In and Why Did The Turtle Cross The Road?

Okay, maybe roller skating while sewing is not a good idea. I guess I should scrap that idea. Waiting until I get back from the elementary school skate night would be better. Much safer. Wearing sandals to that place is dangerous enough. Ask me how I know this. ( I really didn't put the word "scrap" in there on purpose.  It just happened.)

 

Tonight is the Friday Night Sew-In.  I'm number 100 on the list!  When I get home this evening I'm thinking of working on my LePetite project for September.  We can choose which Schnibbles pattern we want this month and I have had a difficult time deciding.  Just ask my friend LeAnn. I think now I've settled on McGuffey, found in the Schnibbles Times Two book, but we'll see what project I start cutting tonight.  My trouble is I'm going to use Hometown fabric and I really want the text fabric to show nicely.  LeAnn suggested McGuffey, and I think that's what I'm going with.  

By the way, LeAnn is doing some cleaning in her sewing room and you should check out her blog, because she has some great deals on some fun patterns and fabric she is ready to part with.     

These fabrics are for pillowcases that are also on my list of need-to-make-soon projects.  Maybe I'll pull them out during the Sew-In if cutting fabric is too much for me after an evening spent at the skating rink!

Why did the turtle cross the road?  When I was outside taking pictures for my blog earlier in the week, this guy was stopping traffic as he made his was across the street to a pond. I hope my sewing goes faster than he did!

Bananas and Cakes, Yummy!

Now I can breathe! I'm finally finished!  I've been cleaning up and putting away everything related to the project in my Sneak Peek and the Wordless Thursday posts.  Those of you who thought my "challenging quilt" hint meant it was for a quilt challenge project were right!  I had to use each of the three fabrics you saw in the Sneak Peek post in this quilt.  I hope you don't mind if I wait until the weekend of the quilt show to post a picture of the project!  It was really a challenge for me and I used some different techniques.  Isn't that the point of a challenge quilt, to make you quilt outside the box just a little, or maybe even a lot?

Go Bananas!

My bananas arrived yesterday!  Remember when I went bananas with my George Schnibble? Ever since, I have been looking for the perfect backing fabric with bananas on it and I found it in a quilting catalogue last week, Farmer's Market by RJR Fabrics.  After giving it some thought, I took the plunge and placed my order.  No lack of bananas here that's for sure!  The fabric is not what I would usually use for the back, but why not?  I like the back to coordinate with the front, but be a little splashier in some way.  You have to put backing fabric on your quilt so why not have some fun with it?

Candy Bar Pinwheels.....Finished!!

Since I'm on the subject of backing, here is my Candy Bar Pinwheel Quilt.  Yes again!  Now quilted and bound, and you can see the backing in this picture.   I had a different backing picked out and ready to go, but I just didn't love it.  I resigned myself to the fact that it was just going to have to do, until I saw this fabric at my LQS.  Wow!! It just jumped out at me!  I love the contrast between the smaller print on the front and the huge stars on the back.  A big difference in print size, but definitely in the same color family.  This quilt went from a way to use up some patriotic scraps, to one of my favorite quilts because of the back!

 Are you concerned with what you put on the back of your quilts?  I heard someone say the other day that it doesn't matter much, because no one sees the back often anyway.  I think it does, depending on the use of the quilt.  Is it a wall hanging or a lap quilt?  That makes a difference to me in choosing the backing fabric.  The back of one won't be seen much, the back of the other may be seen a lot.  I'd love the hear your thoughts on quilt backing fabrics and how you pick them out!      

Wow!  The July LePetite Prize.
 It did take me a few weeks to get this posted.

Mail!  For the July LePetite prize, Carrie gave a Layer Cake to everyone who participated.  Wow!!  That is generous! When my package came there were two Layer Cakes and a pincushion kit from Primitive Gatherings!  Again wow! Especially from someone like me who is seriously lacking in the pincushion department.  I do have one......and now I have another just waiting to be made. Thank you so much, Carrie! Definitely fun mail!

Thanks for taking the time to visit!  Keep Quilting!

Wordless Thursday.......Because I didn't have time to post it on Wednesday