Dorian Gray, Citrus Fruit, & Time to Quilt

I have been distracted for the last 2 weeks.  By Dorian here.  Can you imagine, someone left him in the back of a delivery truck at Home Depot.  My daughter brought him home.  He is her cat, but he lives with me, and I feed him (from a bottle for a week), showed him the litter pan, play with him; but he is her cat.  She does come over at least once a day to spend time with him, but he can't live with her. (Darn!)

I finished Citrus.  And lo and behold I had just enough pieces cut to put together the whole top.  Must be what happens every time YOU FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS.  But I wouldn't ordinarily know that.  I like to cut some and just get started with the piecing.  But this time, I read and obeyed.  I probably won't make that a habit, but I'll remember how nice it was to have just enough.

Citrus isn't quite big enough for a lap quilt, but I don't want to add borders.  I like the way it came out without additional borders.  There is another row folded over the top of the sofa the quilt top is draped across.  Citrus is big enough for a baby quilt, so someone have a baby and this might be yours.  I'm also thinking I might sell it, after it is quilted of course.

I'm in a few Bees - this one The Honey Bees (cute, huh?), and this block is supposed to be brickish.  I think I pulled it off.  All the fabrics were supplied by the recipient of the block.  I fussy cut to get the bird in there.

This is the alternate block I made with the left over fabrics, had to add a couple of my own to finish to the right size.  I also fussy cut the flower in this one and the mermaids so they are swimming around the flower.

Left my number 1 pincushion at a friend's house.  I was there sewing on Citrus.  I spent way too much time trying to locate the back up pincushion, because I needed pins to continue.  I knew she was somewhere, and it is a Longaberger pincushion, so I definitely didn't get rid of her.  I found her finally, when I stopped looking, as is usually the case. 

Going to QUILT this top now!  Have it laid out to pin.  I made this at a Kaffe Fassett class I took last fall in Boone, NC.  Really had a fun time in the class and in Boone.  We didn't actually sew in the class, all the sewing was done at home.  Thus, after much cutting, fussing, placing, arranging, rearranging, discarding, and commenting in the class - almost nothing stayed in the same place after I brought it all home.  Anyway, the top turned out grand and it is big enough for a person to lay under.  That person will be me.  This is the top in the picture at the top of the blog, in it's unfinished state at the class in Boone.And this is the back that I found at Hampton Quilt Show in February 2010.  Goes well, don't you think.  I will not piece another top until this is quilted and bound!  But don't hold me to that.  No, really this is getting quilted today and probably over the next week.  While I contemplate the next top.

Citrus

Here are the blocks and sashing for Citrus.  I love these blocks!  I used the grey with yellow dot to tone down all the brightness.  Wouldn't want to blind anyone.  With a 4 1/2" center, they went together quick, quick, quick.  Quick is good.  The orange dots will be the center for sashing, also 4 1/2" square.

And the sashings....I needed two groups, because I am working with fat quarters.  So I played and rearranged and ended up with one group of lime, grey/white, multi, and charteuse.  After playing some more and rearranging, and trying to audtion new fun fabrics, for the second group I ended up with lime, grey/white, multi and charteuse.  Well, hmmmm, right, they are exactly the same just different. 

This is the part where the un-sewing comes in to play.  I have 2 1/2" strips, 4 sewn together for the sashing.  I put this one strip on wrong side up.  I am saving it for later, if I need it, then I will un-sew.  Un-sewing though a fact of sewing, is not something to strive for, although I un-sew in a lot of projects.

I have 2 rows of sashing sewn together and 2 rows of blocks.  Looking a little like this...... then I became distracted by Ugly Betty.  Which I only got to see a few minutes of before becoming distracted by paperwork, computer work, and then a piece of cake needed all my attention.  So I DVR'd Ugly Betty and will get back to Citrus this evening.

Welcome Truckers!

Found this article on another blog.  Truckers who quilt!  These guys are good.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704896104575139990857438962-lMyQjAxMTAwMDMwMDEzNDAyWj.html

Christmas In April

Bought this cute sweettreat from http://www.sweettreat.com/Version2/catalog/ , (I would put that site in one of those cute 'click here' buttons, but I don't know how - so please tell me how to do that, or just live with it) but fat quarters aren't enough and I waited too long to order more from Pincushion. So, after a internet search which also gave me more shopping opportunities, I finally received the rest of the stash from 2 different retailers which meant 2 packages. This will make a cute baby quilt, but not this week.
Also, got this fat quarter pack from SewMamaSew, it is a good one, the fabrics go so well together.

I found a few of my own fabrics to add to the package, because fat quarters aren't enough.

Then I promptly broke up the group that I liked so well together to work on this....picture of what I am making in the back. Since I broke up the group, I'll need a new internet search for more of the fabrics in this group, which will mean more packages! This group also started from one of those cute sweettreat packages, because when you are at that booth at a show, all their cute packaging suck you in and you buy tons of little fat quarter sets that you have to either order more fabric for or eventually break up. And breaking up is hard to do.

And these blocks are coming out sooooo friggin cute! Finished all the blocks, now the connectors. And then, really, I need to quilt some of these tops I'm finishing.

Spring has Sprung

Here it is....Spring. Cherry Blossom blossoming in my yard. Thank you Mother Nature.

This is the fabric that I fell in love with when I was working the Mancuso show in Hampton, VA in February. It was in a booth across from me, and partly because I was staring at the fabric in this booth all day, for 3 days, I shopped quite a bit in this booth. Fabric by Anna Griffin. Oh, but I do love these birds in this color way. This will be the background to show off the birds.

This is the color pallette I chose for the top. See? I love fall colors. But I like to throw in a splash, like the blue. Gives the eye a little punch when you see the finished top.

Completed top. Log cabin style blocks in the center, I wanted to leave large areas to show the birds in the background fabric. I added the boxes on the sides to add some width. It is still a little long, but I used ALL the pretty bird fabric. Obviously not quilted yet, and alas, this pretty top must go to the back of the line for now. Two other tops with deadlines are going to be quilted first.

Numero Uno Post

Hello, Blog World! I'm not really READY to start my blog, I'm still setting it up, trying to make it look CRAFTY, CREATIVE and PRETTY. But I wanted to get a post on, incase anyone HAPPENS to pass by.

Finished this quilt at my March Quilt Retreat with lots of Quilty friends. And Voila - a good family friend in Belgium happens to have a birthday on April 1, so she is the lucky recepient.

This quilt was made from a Kaffe Fassett pattern ' Blue Delft'. I had a LOT of blue Kaffe Fassett fabrics, (hahaha - I have a room full of all Kaffe Fassett) and this seemed the perfect pattern to use some of those blues.

Perfect little lap quilt size, great for gift giving.

I'm working on getting the blog all set up - and my quilt studio all cleaned up - after retreat, it's sort of a torando disaster area. Then on to a top I'll be quilting next, with pictures HERE.