Color, Creating and Quilting!: March 2018

Friday, March 30, 2018

My $1.50 Quilt

Is there anything more fun than finding a GREAT deal on scraps?? If you read my last post, you know that is what happened to me this week. I found a bag of scraps for $1.50 and was immediately transported down memory lane when I realized it was full of 1980's fabrics.

Last time I had made 5 blocks and was hoping to squeeze four more out of my scraps. Success! And here are all 9 blocks up on my design wall.

On top of all that I STILL have a pile of scraps left! Granted, there are very few with enough length to make any more of these kinds of blocks, but I think there is probably enough to make some kind of scrappy border. What do you think? Piano keys? Should I add some kind of divider border from my stash first? What would you do?

I got a real kick out of reading all of your comments last time. A few of us got to reminiscing about the 80's. Clothing styles, and bad perms. Louise in particular, made me really chuckle. Talking about Gunnie Sax dresses and Farrah Fawcett hairdo's. Confess!! How many of you had one or both of these? Would you be willing to share pictures? I think that would make a very entertaining blog post to share a collection of these. I will share mine and would love to have others to show as well. I didn't really have a true Gunnie Sax dress but if I can find it, I'll show the one that came as close as I could get. I definitely tried the Farrah Fawcett hair. Who's with me?

Linking with:
TGIF Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts
Busy Hands Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop

Monday, March 26, 2018

Reminiscing

Some of you are going to think I'm crazy, some of you won't be able to relate to what I'm about to share at all, and some of you are going to understand EXACTLY what happened when I saw a bag of scraps for sale for $1.50

I bought this bag at our local quilt shop. Someone had brought in their scraps from their sewing room and couldn't bear to throw them away but didn't want to use them herself. I couldn't really tell what was in there, but WOW, blast from the past when I opened that bag. What era does this remind you of?

And did it bring back memories for you like it did me? Yes, these are dated colors and not what is popular right now but it sure was fun reminiscing about all the things this reminded me of. Some of you weren't even born yet or just barely, so you will be the ones that can't relate. Some of you hate sewing with scraps so you won't relate either, but SOME of you will totally get it!

I started cutting everything into 2 inches strips and this is what emerged

Block 1

Block 2

Block 3

Block 4

Block 5

Which one is your favorite?

These blocks ended up being about 11 inches. If I make four more, I can make a 3 x 3 decent size baby quilt. Can I squeeze four more blocks out of this pile?

Why yes! I think I can! Even if I don't have enough pieces to make the long sides of the blocks, I will just piece things together to make them long enough. So that was my evening.

Did seeing these fabrics remind you of anything in particular? I'd love to hear! What were you doing in the 80's?

This is my squirrel while I am waiting for the backing I ordered for Ashley's quilt to get here.

Linking to:

Monday Making

Main Crush Monday

Move it Forward Monday

Show and Tell Monday with Bambi
Improv #31

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Modern Plus Sign Quilts Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Modern Plus Sign Quilts blog hop! If you haven't visited my blog before, I hope you'll read the "About Me" to learn who I am!

This blog hop is a visual introduction to the wonderful book written by Cheryl Brickey of Meadowmist Designs and Paige Alexander of Quilted Blooms,

I am fairly new to the quilting world so was surprised and honored to have been asked to participate in this book promotion. The quilt I chose to make is called Bear Paw Plus. Here is the beautiful version designed by Cheryl and pieced by Paige.

Photo by C & T Publishing

My original plan was to make black and white bear claws with all of the plus signs a different color using these fabrics:

I got two of the blocks put together and it just was not wowing me. So plan B! I'm kind of glad I didn't go this route as I saw a lot of the other bloggers also had the same idea to use Alison Glass fabrics! They really are yummy, aren't they?

I decided to go ahead and stick with all black and white. I chose Kona Black and Kona White. They make a very striking contrast against each other; however, I had no IDEA how hard it was to find true black and true white. The whites especially were hard. They were either off-white or cream. I auditioned . . .

and auditioned some more . . .

I was starting to get nervous because I couldn't find any fabrics I thought would work. It may be hard to see it in these pictures, but almost all of these were a much different shade of white than Kona White. I originally planned to do each plus a different fabric but since I was having difficulty finding any at all, finally settled on two of them that were the closest and just alternated them.

So here is my final version of Bear Paw Plus!
This quilt consists of nine 21-inch blocks so finishes up at roughly 63 x 63.

Anybody who knows my quilt making style, knows that I love bright colors. To be completely honest, even though I love this design, sewing with only two colors had me struggling to finish! So is it any surprise that I put THIS on the back? This is Michael Miller Fabrics Garden Party Black Meadow Menagerie.

I LOVE THIS FABRIC!

And to top it all off, I found it on sale for $5.99 a yard. WIN/WIN!!

Gratuitous glamour shot. (hee, hee)

Wow, out in bright sunlight you can see that even this swirl fabric is not quite white!

I did the quilting in a graduated V formation on each quadrant of the quilt just following the piecing. The lines are 2 inches apart and I should have done one more set of lines in between to make them one inch apart. I opted not to do that as I was running out of time. I can always go back later and add them.

Last but not least, thank you to my daughter Ashley (left) and her roommate Lauren for being willing quilt models! They didn't even mind having their faces showing. What is it about husbands who don't like to show their faces while they are holding up a quilt? I have one of those. I can't complain too awful much though, since he DID build me an awesome quilt room in our home.

Thank you so much for visiting my stop on the Modern Plus Sign Quilts Blog hop.

Signed copies of Modern Plus Sign Quilts can be purchased at:

Meadow Mist Design Etsy Shop

Quilted Blooms Etsy Shop

And digital and print versions from

Modern Plus Sign Quilts (Amazon)

Modern Plus Sign Quilts (C&T Publishing)

Have you visited all the other stops on this blog hop? If not, here they are. Be sure to leave comments for a chance to win prizes!

Monday, March 12th

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Paige @ Quilted Blooms

Tuesday, March 13th

Soma @ Whims and Fancies

Ann @ Brown Paws Quilting

Kitty @ Night Quilter

Sophie @ Luna Lovequilts

Afton @ Quilting Mod

Shelly @ The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts

Wednesday, March 14th

Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal

Jen @ A Dream and a Stitch

Abigail @ Cut & Alter

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl

Sandra @ mmm! Quilts

Karen @ Run Sew Fun

Thursday, March 15th

Linda @ Flourshing Palms

Bernie @ Needle and Foot

Liz @ Savor Every Stitch

Stacey @ Stacey Day Quilts

Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty

Patty @ Elm Street Quilts

Melanie @ A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog

Friday, March 16th

Myra @ Busy Hands Quilts

Izzy @ Dizzy Quilts

Ruth @ Charly and Ben's Crafty Corner

Christa @ Christa Quilts

Monday, March 19th

Jessica @ Quilty Habit

Cindy @ Hyacinth Quilt Designs

Jennifer @ The Inquiring Quilter

Julie @ The Crafty Quilter

Tuesday, March 20th

Tish @ Tish N Wonderland

Judy @ Sew Some Sunshine

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

Wanda @ Wanda's Life Sampler

Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Katherine @ Sew Me Something Good

Wednesday, March 21st (that's today!)

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Kate @ Smiles from Kate

Sue @ Seven Oak Street Quilts

Carole @ From my Carolina Home

Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts (that's me!)

Thursday, March 22nd

Debbie @ Esch House Quilts

Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts

Janice @ Color Creating and Quilting You are here!

Joanne @ Quilts by Joanne

Friday, March 23rd

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Paige @ Quilted Blooms

I HAD SO MUCH FUN DOING THIS!! Thanks, Paige & Cheryl!

Linking to:
Midweek Maker #116
Let's Bee Social #220
WIP's With Friends
Crazy Mom Quilts

Sunday, March 11, 2018

All Kinds of Things Happening!

This week, Cindy over at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework is featuring her Geese Migration pattern and inviting others to link up who have either made one or have one in progress. Mine is definitely a WIP! I took the class from Cindy last summer and haven't made much progress since but decided to make another block for my collection. I am up to four.

I have had several people suggest I start making these blocks for the RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge). I am definitely considering that. But first I have to get a special project done before I can take on anything new.

This week I also completed some blocks for my Bee. As a group we decided it was difficult to get our blocks done during the Christmas season so there are a few months that we double up on. This month is one of them. Our queens for this month were Paige Alexander of Quited Blooms and Jennifer Fulton of Inquiring Quilter. Here are Paige's requested blocks:

And here are Jennifer's requested shamrock blocks:

Cheryl Brickey of Meadowmist Designs and Paige Alexander of Quilted Blooms

have recently written and published a new quilt book called

Cheryl and Paige invited a bunch of quilters to participate in a blog hop to introduce their exciting new publication. Each quilter in the hop will be making a project using one of the designs in the book. I feel extremely honored to be asked to participate! So this project is the secret sewing I've been working on. The blog hop begins March 12 and my day is March 22. I believe there will be giveaways and prizes as well as some fun eye candy. You can purchase this fun book at Cheryl's Etsy shop or Paige's Etsy shop or on Amazon. You'll want to be sure to check out all the fabulous versions of these plus quilts over the next two weeks.

MODERN PLUS SIGN BOOK HOP SCHEDULE

Monday, March 12th

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Paige @ Quilted Blooms

Tuesday, March 13th

Soma @ Whims and Fancies

Ann @ Brown Paws Quilting

Kitty @ Night Quilter

Sophie @ Luna Lovequilts

Afton @ Quilting Mod

Shelley @ The Carpenters Daughter Who Quilts

Wednesday, March 14th