FLORIBUNDA quilt is finished!

I have to admit that I did try to do the "blog thingie" when it started on Bonnie Hunter's blog.
(http://www.quiltville.com/)
But...I never made it past her newest creation/idea/quilt design.
Her name for the quilt is Floribunda. She said it was a place for those florals we all have in our stash!
I had been cleaning up my cutting area and came across this Michael Miller fabic with cats in tones of grays, blacks and browns. And I had a black/gray/brown floral that had all the colors in it. They screamed "We belong together"! So I used a precious pale gray fabric as a background for the Floribunda block. The quilt just seemed to sew itself. Honest I was only going to make a tiny one for the kitties to lay on. Then I made more blocks and it kept growing until I knew I needed to stop or I would not be able to quilt it myself. I have way to many quilts waiting to be quilted.

 It finishes to a comfortable 52 X70. Perfect to drape over a chair or to throw over my lap.

 I am a glutton for punishment. I love straight line quilting. So I cross-hatched the entire body of the quilt. I did no marking. I simply went from one corner to the other crossways and then moved one square over and repeated. Then I went the other way diagonally and voila' it is all quilted!

I did not cross-hatch the border. I just did one diagonal line throughout. This picture does not show it as I had not started it yet. I have the binding all on and just need to hand sew it down. My favorite part of quilting. It is also the saddest part of quilting. I get to say goodbye to my quilt.
I dedicated this quilt to my Pain Management doctor. He perished in a plane crash last weekend. I am so sad for his family but also so sad for me. He has kept me going after my back surgery. I do not know what I am going to do..........

Postage Stamp Swap and how I do it!

I am a hostess on a Yahoo group called Postage Stamp Quilts. There were 18 participants and all of them sent in 25 packs of 50 different fabrics. This makes it a bit tricky swapping. I have developed my own system. And I am sure that out there someone else has the same thing going. It only makes sense.

Everyone gets their own little basket. The return envelope is on the bottom.

Their baggies of squares have been counted to verify 25 sent.

 Another view...they kinda look like Easter Baskets.

But I feel like I am distributing Halloween candy when I pass out the squares.

 As I go across the rows I lay one page that says START in the first basket in row #1.
I pick up their baggie and start counting as I place a package in each basket. Remember there are less than 25 of us swapping but we each have 25 packages. As I come back to the START basket, I skip that basket and continue across the rows until I run out of squares. The STOP paper goes in that basket where I ran out.
I move to the next basket in Row #1 and move the START paper to that basket. Now as I go around I will have one package on the stop paper as I finish with the second baggie. I continue this way until all the baskets are done.
I then count each basket to be sure they have 25, open their big baggie, seal it up, drop it in the return envelope and stack those into a larger plastic crate.

 Now all I need to do is make sure there is postage, their address and mine and then seal up the envelopes.

Ready for the post office!

WHOOHOOO!

I love EZ rulers!

From one 3 1/2" square I can get two side triangles using my Tri-Recs ruler set. I was just trying the ruler out to see how I like cutting and/or sewing these units. There is a tiny notch you MUST cut. It tells you where to line up the side triangles PERFECTLY!

 I used the Tri-recs tool for this unit. But...............................................................

 I found that I have two sets of these triangles! Boy oh boy! I must have not been able to find the original set and bought another set. Anyone else ever done that? I have also bought the same fabric more than once!!!!!

 When I went to Kaye England's Quilting College in Indianapolis I bought her entire set of rulers. It was for a good cause and I do like the lines on them. This set is like my Tri-Recs set but it makes an inch bigger blocks. And I am sure that SOMEWHERE I have a set by Fons and Porter.

LIFE IS GOOD!

I heard from the book winner, Laura. She is so pleased to have an autographed copy.

She also was blessed to have some one on one time with Bonnie.

(She helped her load her car after a show.)

She said she was tongue tied like meeting a "rock star". I so understand how she feels.

But Our Bonnie may be rock star famous but there are no "put on airs" with this wonderful woman.

She is as down to earth and friendly as your next door neighbor.

I sure wish I lived next door.

Hey Bonnie! I will do your housework for you if we lived closer!!!! HA!

New Haven Quilt Show 2011

I love pictures of my work. I love pictures of animals. I hate pictures of me!

Gladys and I highjacked a gentleman at the show. He took a picture of both of us!

My Pineapple quilt is behind us. I am not giving you a good view of this quilt as Bonnie Hunter has one scheduled for another of her great books. I do not want to give the pattern away!

I sewed on this for months and all 4 days at the Shipshewanna Quilt Retreat last Summer.
My Janome 6600P has a built in thread cutter that is almost a MUST HAVE for paper-piecing.
It was quilted with feathers by Mary Flynn of Quilt Hollow. Beautiful quilting as always!

 Coming up, the next photo has my Crabapple quilt from Bonnie's book entitled:
 Adventures with Leaders & Enders.
I recommend this book to anyone who feels their stash controls them. Bonnie's methods of organization and sewing two quilts at the same time has made me a much faster sewer. No thread gets wasted and I am in heaven with scrappiness coming out of my sewing machine!

 I won no prizes. But it was rewarding to see my quilt mingling with other great quilts.
Mary Flynn of Quilt Hollow also quilted this quilt. And the label on the back is the block Bonnie made for the instructions in the book. She sent me her block! WhoooHooo! It makes a great label.

 This pattern is called Radio Flyer. It is in a Carrie Nelson quilt book entitled "Miss Rosie's Quilt Collection". I bought the book long ago. I bought it specifically for this pattern. The photo shows how it looks in Pinks and Browns. I want to make this too! I wish there were more of me so I could sew 24 hours a day!

 A very simple block and it makes a fabulous quilt. Love the colors.

 Here is a closeup of a Pink and Brown Pineapple! This is exactly what I plan on making as my next paper-pieced project. I talked to the quilter who made this. She did not use paper-piecing.

I love Pink and Brown!

Winner of Bonnie's book is: Laura

June 10, 2011 4:40 PM


Laura said...

I did it! Your blog is the first one I am "officially" following now!


I'm not sure what it means exactly,


but here I am!


Anyone who can quilt like you and loves squirrels, too, is my kind of person.


:-) Thank you for the giveaway fun! Laura

I am really enjoying that fact that Laura is new to blogging and has won this great book!
Laura, I am e-mailing you for your snail address!

And thanks to all who entered. Youe comments were all so sweet!
XOXOXOXO Subee

Colored string blocks

After making 200+ neutral string blocks I attacked the colored string bag.
These are much more fun even though the strings are more narrow. Some blocks have 17 strips!
Thanks to Our Bonnie Hunter for teaching us this technique!

 I rescued these strings from being given away. Actually it was an accidental rescue. I forgot to take them to the quilt guild's final meeting. I have been gifting these to an Ohio member who gives them to someone in her other quilt guild.

 It was a true walk down memory lane playing with these fabrics again. Check out way in the background...my MaggieMae sleeping so soundly she did not even hear the camera.

I swear the strings multiply every time I did into the bag. I am saving the "crumbs" from the string blocks piecing. I cannot bear to throw anything away. I can give them away but not toss them away!

AWESOME GIVEAWAY- Bonnie's book (autographed!)

What could be a better giveaway for Bonnie Hunter's fans

than an autographed copy of her book entitled

"Adventures with Leaders & Enders"?

Entry #1: So leave me a comment on this blog and I will use a True Random Number Generator to select the lucky winner.
     (I do not have the widget TRNG yet on my blog. Hubby will have to help me.)

Entry #2: Leave me another comment saying you have linked your blog to this blog entry and you will get another entry.

Do not leave me a comment stating both. There will be one entry per comment. WHOOHOOO!!!!
Deadline for signups will be Sunday June 12 at 12:00 noon EST.

 I lucked out at the Shipshewanna Indiana retreat and bought myself a second copy of her book.

I knew it would become a great gift for someone!

Table of contents per requests!

 My Gerber daisies in this gorgeous pink tulip teacup planter.

They must have had me in mind when they made this container. Too perfect!!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOO Subee

More strings and strings and strings

If I get 3 more followers (that will make 200) I am going to have a super-duper givaway!!!!
It looks like I am nearly there!

Yesterday was my 19th wedding anniversary. It is so mind blowing to see that time has passed so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that we met and fell in love. We were fast friends for many years before the "love" grew.
This is my second marriage and his first. He is a great guy and so very talented. He bought me these daisies. MaggieMae thinks they are very interesting!

I LOVE PINK!

 It is pretty warm and humid here in Northeast Indiana. In fact it is so warm that Fluffy has been laying on the concrete to chow down on her peanuts. She is such a sweetheart. She is Stubbie's last Spring litter offspring. The only thing I do not like about her is that she climbs the front door. She has also taught two other of this year youngin's (both males) to come and eat from our hands. Hubby calls one Chip as he is missing a wedge shape from his tail. Guess the other one's name will be Dale.

 I listed on E-Bay a set of 12- 8 1/2" neutral string pieced blocks. I have 22 watchers and two bidders. So I listed two more sets of 12 today. WHOOOHOOOO! I also sold 60 blocks to a swapper in California. I am a string piecing machine!!! So, today I made 12 more blocks. Gotta keep my supply fresh! I so love making these blocks. Thanks Bonnie!!!!!!
Click on the photo to see that I do use pins to keep everything flat and straight. I do not press the blocks with the paper on. BUT I do press the fabrics really well before I begin sewing. Then the final pressing is not even necessary. This is pure assembly-line piecing.
My factory experience sure does make me efficient!!!!

Here is a peek at my work area. I trim down the wider strips. 2 1/4" are the widest I use. The narrowest are only 3/4". The variety is so appealing to me. Making 12 at a time allows me to use up an entire strip without worrying that it will get repeated in the same block.

A gift from Australia (Tazzie)

I was chosen in a drawing from Tazzie's blog. http://tazziequilts.blogspot.com/
I won her "Orphan" block. It is drop dead gorgeous.

Thanks Tazzie!!!!!!

It is all quilted and bound. It will make a great coffee mug rug....but it is too beautiful to endanger that way. I will use it for one of my statues or bowls to sit on.
She also sent me a pack of 5" fabric squares called Mother Goose and Friends. I have not seen this fabric grouping before. It is way cool. I must use it as an I-Spy type quilt for a baby.

 My left hand here to let you see how TINY this block is and how teeny, tiny the pieces are. I do not know if she paper-pieced this block or not. If I were to try one I would use paper-piecing.

On the wall but the coloring/lighting is a bit off. The other photos show the true colors.

 I have been on a pink craze. I found this PINK flashlight. Isn't it too cute?
And another bonus is that it glows in the dark.

I am still stitching away on my Tumbler quilts. I needed to cut more 2" patches and I really like how this patch has the moon centered. This fabric goes WAY BACK! One of my first stash purchases and there are only tiny pieces left as I had fussy cut patches when I used the fabric. Sadly I do not even remember the quilt I made with it. I am sure it was a baby quilt for one of the grand daughters.

I have been really stitching away on neutral string blocks ala' Bonnie Hunter style. I actually made 36 blocks in two days. I have used up all my partial bobbins. Very frugal of me!!!!
I did list 12 neutral string blocks on EBAY yesterday. Hopefully they will sell and I will list more!
Item# is: 170650081003