Let's Review.

I made a zippered pouch from this tutorial. OMG, how much fun is that! Thanks to Lisa for directing me there!

Hey, who is that peeking out?? Little Miss Thang!

Speaking of which, my friend Carol and I had a quilt-a-palooza last Friday, stayed out till 2 am. WOO HOO!! I know how to party, my friend! Here are our funky Janomes:

My lilliputian Lulu is working on SWELL:

She sews a fine seam, but she is LOUD.

While Miss Carol's HK machine (no name??) was hard at work making Carol's very first quilt!!

Wow, chicas, this girl is FAST. one day, one quilt. You go girl. (I haven't told her about borders, basting, walking feet, darning feet and binding yet . . . hee hee.)

Carol loves Fourth of July (well, all Holidays!) and this is going to be a mighty fine table topper.

I also finished the quilt top for Hella Pink. I like it. I confess that I don't love it like I thought I would. I do love that it is done, and it is cool that there are no fabric repeats in the interior of the quilt, and that I got the fabric at quilt stores all over the state whenever we would travel, but it is just not as wow as I thought it would be. I dunno. Plenty of other projects to love.

Anyhoo, now I just need to yup, baste it, quilt it, bind it. Thanks to Amanda Jean who gave me the inspiration to finish it!

Speaking of Amanda Jean, I started her quilt-a-long. Go check it out. Looks like fun. Can't wait to see everyone's results. Here is my block number one:

ok, I am trying another pink quilt. This one is softer, though. Maybe I will like it more.

Gotsta getta sewin,

Kristin

Hella Pink!

Working away at the Hella (or Hecka) Pink quilt. Here is the layout my husband helped me select. My photo skills are lacking, but you get the idea, yah?


Then I tried Lisa Boyer's trick and made Hecka Black and White. Still looks okay I think. I put the lighter blocks in the center, again as Lisa suggested:
Ok, and check this out. This is Hella Trippy: impressionist quilt. No need to match those seams! Thanks to my photo editor software.


And these little blocks are the not hella pink enough:

They did not make the cut. Benchwarmers. UFO's. Didn't play well with others. Loners. Voted off the island. Auf'd. Fired. (I could do this all day!)

Hey Designers! Gather round. I have some news. (Gosh I love Tim Gunn.)
What do youz guys suggest for a Fierce Border for this quilt o' mine. I am thinking narrow stripe, then sawtooth half-square triangles, just like the pattern calls for. Dang, I am clever.

Has anyone seen a good pink-a-licious stripe that would be good for this?? I have several stripeys, but none that seem to want to be in this quilt. Hook me up. Seriously.

ok, I am putting this one away for the night, and moving on to THE DRESS! woo hoo!

good monday morning!

Had a great WIP weekend. Almost as productive as amandajean, but not quite. ok, not even close. But this is not a competitive sport, right?

I made one more block on my Dad's quilt, (see below) but then I got bored with teal, so:

I did some fun stuff, like turned a $2.99 placemat into a purse

And I worked on this quilt, which I call "Hella Pink" because my son blurted that out when he saw the collection of fabrics I had for it! As in, "those aren't just pink, they are 'hella pink!'"The design is a simple pinwheel block - the quilt pattern is from "Fabric Shopping with Alex Anderson" In her book, it is a monochromatic yellow. I wanted pinks. A wee bit of estrogen in my testosterone-laced world. I have collected the fabrics for a few years - every time we are in another town, on vacation or business travel, I pick up a bit of pink for it. I have not repeated any fabrics yet, and I have 21 of the 42 blocks done. I am going to try to not repeat any in the entire body of the quilt. The border is going to be half-square triangles, set in a sawtooth design, separated by a stripedy narrow border. For the half-squares, I may use the fabrics from the body of the quilt.It's kinda crazy, but the more blocks I make, the more I like it.

I also got a wild hare and made some yellow and blue half-square triangles by using some pre-printed triangle paper. Have you tried it? It's wicked fun. I had nothing in mind to do with these triangles, but for some reason, last night at about 10:30 i decided to make this tulip thing. The center block is 11.5" and now I think it's a bit too large but who knows what I may or may not do to it. . . into the ufo pile? maybe I will make it into an Easter table runner? I dunno. It may have to wait until tonight's crazed inspiration strikes. I work better in the morning, but I do quirky thinking at night. Not that a tulip is so quirky, but ya know what I mean? I did also start drafting a pattern for a tree that appeared to me in a semi-dream, semi-awake moment. It's kinda Jane Sassaman-esque maybe, but with more geometric shapes than organic. I started planning it but who knows if it will get past my sketchbook and become a quilt. Many, many ideas have never escaped the sketching phase. mwa ha ha. locked up tight.

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Alright, so here is a bummer. I know, it's Monday, who needs a bummer? Well, I just have to share because I know you will understand, and I also get to throw out a shameless plea for sympathy -- the flower garden quilt I helped make for the school auction (see previous posts) did not do so well.

I have made several quilts over the last 5 years for this school - each one sold for over $500 with the highest being $1200. Well, this one only fetched $125 and the person who bought it was my friend who helped make it!! I am so upset. (not that she won it - I am happy about that) It's just that so much work went into this and I thought for sure it would go for more. Part of the problem was that in the program it was described as a table runner, with no mention that it was handmade and that it was quilted. It also was displayed folded up on a table. ARGH! I wish I had been there - I would have grabbed the mike and started talking about it, and taken it around to each table to show it off. ok, now I will be accepting blog hugs.

the only cure is retail therapy. I went to etsy and bought some cool jewelry. got on ebay and bought some other stuff. got some espadrilles at smartbargains, got on a swimwear site and . . . nope, couldn't pull that trigger! ha ha.

off to work now. thanks for playing along, we have some lovely parting gifts.

Kristin