Whimsicals Threads

:: a hopping we will go ::

Several months ago I was one of 12 designers asked to be a part of a special project, and I have been meaning to do a little post about it for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it.  So, you can imagine my surprise when I opened up my latest Quilters Newsletter magazine and saw an ad for it.  Sheesh.  I can't believe how behind I am.  So anyway, here goes....

Helen Subbings (of Hugs & Kisses) has coordinated QuiltAid USA, an online Block of the Month featuring 6 designers and shops from Australia and 6 designers and shops from the United States, with all profits made going to a special charity, the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. 

I was so excited to receive my pack of fabric (Collections for a Cause - Hope, by Moda) and threads (several balls of Presencia pearl cotton that I LOVE!) and create a special block for this cause.  

The theme for this Block of the Month is From Heart to Home and each of the designers created a block using these fabrics and threads.  Here is a sneak peek at my block....

 

I was in good company with some "big" names like Kathy Schmitz, Robyn Pandolph, Lynette Anderson and Annie Downs, and I can't wait to see how the participating shops did the finishing designs for all of the blocks.  I'll give more details when I have them, but be on the lookout for the ads and more info to come!

AND, if that wasn't enough......

After Quilt Market in May, I hinted that there might be another Blog Hop, and guess what?  It's set to start soon, so be looking for this....

All of this while trying to get projects and things finished for Quilt Market in October.  What was I thinking?!! Looks like I'd better get to work and come up with something fast!   

a nice surprise...

I got a big surprise last week.....

As many of you know, I've been slowly going through my stash of fabrics and quilts, trying to find extra space in my overflowing studio, and in doing so, I came across a few quilts that I had pieced together but never layered and quilted for one reason or another.  One of them was an exchange quilt that I had stuffed away because I wasn't really happy with the way it all turned out.... it's a bit chaotic, with not much pulling it all together.  I love some of the blocks but wanted to change a few things and actually had set it aside with the idea that I would rip it apart and redo it. 

Yes, I know, most people would never dream of doing that.  But I've been know to take an entire quilt apart and redo it just because I wasn't happy with it.  Sad, but true.  Just ask my friends... 

But in my quest to finish some things, I decided to just have it quilted the way that it was.  So, I gave it to my friend who has a long-arm machine and asked her to quilt it whenever she had the time.  And what a surprise it was to get a call from her a few weeks later to let me know that it was done!

It's quite chaotic, right?!  But take a look at some of the blocks and the quilting that Kathy did.

What can I say?  I find it so fun to work with stripes.  And with this one, I made it look like it had those old photo corners on it by adding the half squares on the corners.  Kathy just added to that with her little "snail trial" quilting.

This shows how old this quilt is.  Kindred Spirits did a fabric line many, many years ago, and that's what I used on the corner squares.  And can you believe that I still have some of the fabric?  It's just waiting on the shelf for the perfect project....

Yep.  Another one that I used a stripe on. 

Okay, so I had to show you one that I wanted to rip out.  How many of you know that I really don't like to use blue in my quilts?  Gray, yes.  Gray-blue, well that's okay too.  But not blue.  I think this may stem from my early years of quilting when many of my quilts were ** gasp ** mauve and country blue.  But, look at the great quilting the Kathy added! 

Another one slipped in that has blue in it.  And the funny thing is that I made both this block and the one before it, so I have no one to blame but myself.  But this one shows how different a block looks when you start adding borders and corners triangles.  And more of Kathy's fun quilting on the brown strips.

I think this may be one of the few ones that I did not make, (I can't remember) but I love the green stripe broken up with the gold triangles.

I just like this block.  A traditional flower with a little applique.

The quilt is a whopping 112" long, so now the big question is how long will this quilt sit before I can get the binding on it?! 

I just have to share!

I was flipping through the Feb/Mar 2010 issue of Quilters Newsletter last week and spied a plug for Jo Morton's new fabric line, Stafford County, and in it there was a picture of this really cool block.  Can you see the picture of it up there in the corner?  You may need to get out your magnifying glass... 

(Ok, so I should have angled the camera to get less of my block and more of the magazine, but the camera is already put away and I have to work with what I have.....)

I don't know if it is a block from one of Jo's quilts, or if it was "Photoshop'd" together for Quilters Newsletter, but I feel the need to give the credit to someone other than myself.  Anyway, I saw this block and just had to try making one. It was a fun and much needed diversion for a few days.... so much so that I ended up making four of them!

I spent a little time last night going through some books, trying to find the block and what it is called, but * sigh * no luck.  If anyone happens to know, please pass it along to me! 

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with the blocks now, though.  It's not like I needed any more stray blocks floating around my sewing room.  (I've got plenty, believe me!)  But I just couldn't help myself.  And being the ever prepared designer that I am, I even wrote instructions and took pictures as I went, because who knows?  Maybe I can work them into a quilt for that book I should be working on.    Hmmm...... I need to think on that one and keep you posted.

Something else I wanted to share......

Yep, it's an apple pie.  Or at least what remains of one.  Actually, it is an Upside Down Apple Pie (and yes, that's what the recipe says it is too!) that I made last night and oh man was it good!  And that means a lot coming from me, because given a choice between cake or pie, cake wins, hands down, every time in my book.  But this recipe may change my mind.  I may even make it again, which is an even bigger feat because I really don't enjoy cooking,  and it took me a while to make, which means time away from "creating".  (You can tell by looking at the picture that I don't put as much effort into creating a work of art out of food, because mine looks nothing like the photo in the magazine.  But it sure tastes good enough!!)

So, on that note, I'm going to go have myself a piece of pie before it's all gone, then sit down and see if I can come up with something to do with my blocks!