Last Thursday after quilt history class I did a little shopping. The owner of the shop was nice enough to help me determine sizes for sashing and borders and pick fabrics! I put a few blocks next to the red and the multi fabric so you could get the idea. I will use the red as sashing with green polka dot cornerstones and then a good six inch border of the multi all around. I am quite excited to get to this one soon!

This flamingo picture was painted by my brother's girlfriend Tiffany for my dad's girlfriend Margie. My sister came up with the idea to commision her to do it as a comfort to Margie who is now living without my dad...so we will get this mailed off to her. She loves all things flamingo so it will be a hit! I personally love the leaves Tiffany painted!

Roslyn sent me picture of my Carolina Christmas quilt. I will be getting it from her on Sunday...then I can get the binding (made) on it and handsewn. She quilted the most beautiful dogwood flower on it! I absolutely love it and haven't even put my hands on it yet!

Ros met June, Herve, Kathy and I up at the quilt store and delivered the first of my quilts that I gave her last week! Simple Gifts (free pattern on Weeks Ringle's blog Craft Nectar!) is now quilted and bound! I will get more pictures tomorrow in the sunlight, but I was so excited I had to take some and post about it tonight! Ros used an aqua thread which you can really see and I think it makes the quilt even better! I need to get a little label on the back and then it is all set for Marissa's baby girl!
Ros has Carolina Christmas loaded and has some quilting in it by now...I can't wait to see it! Really...
Today June, BJ and I signed up for a mystery class (next Sunday) and I picked up some fabric for that...planning to turn that into a quilt for Kathy's niece Ayla. Her brother borrows her quilts until they are in tatters and so she asked me for a pink quilt with teddy bears--she is smart enough to know that if it is too girley Seth might leave it alone! So it will be a suprise how that one comes out. I can't wait to have a sewing day with BJ and June--so today was a fabulous day!

Here she is...a very Valentine's Day Madeline Schnibbles.

I finally got another photo in the sunlight of my Double Delight quilt. This is my favorite quilt so far even though I try not to have favorites ;)!

I worked on Carolina Christmas last night and finished up the borders this afternoon. They went on absolutely perfectly! I was impressed because usually pieced borders and I do not agree on size limitations. LOL. In the picture it is laying on top of Double Delight which I had just photographed so that blue and pink that is sticking out is not part of it. I thought it was bigger than Double Delight, but it is just about the same size wide and is a little longer so not as HUGE as it appears at first. I was hoping the purple would really come out but with the pieced border I am seeing more of the green, but at least the orange is toned down. I hope Hannah and Jeremy love it when it is done. Now who is up for quilting this one? Roslyn? Stephanie? If neither of you volunteers I can send it on to Wisconsin to my gal there...I already have two out with Becky K. and three I am going to (hopefully) give to Roslyn next week but this one is huge..so any takers ladies?

I decided to join in Linda and Regina's Quilt-Along. They and a group of us wannabes have decdied to make nine patch and snowball blocks. The challenge is to get about six blocks a month done. I had my strips cut and decided to start with orange and threw in the polka dot for the heck of it. Then I hunted up some fabric for the nine patches (after I had sewn!) and wound up with my leftover flower fabric. Since I was strip quilting I had no idea I had made far more than six until I had made way too many. They will get used...so there are 13 nine patches and 7 snowball blocks to start with. Not real sure I am liking the blue in there but since this is just for fun and I will do other nine patch colors maybe in the end it will be okay. For now I am not stressing on it! Was a great hour of sewing and I feel like I got something done.
I SHOULD be working on my Carolina Christmas border so maybe I will put some of those together. I have never stalled out so close to the end of a quilt before!

Tonight I sewed up Amy's 2010 Block 2 (see sidebar for link to it if you want to join us!) and am quite happy with how it turned out. My online group NewQuiltingClub took a vote for BOM and Amy's won! I am extremely happy about that because I was thinking I was going to be doing four BOM and that is a lot for me but now I have this one (three blocks posted this month though so if that keeps up I will have three quilt tops when I am done!) and my quilt history BOM too. June and I are talking about doing another BOM that we found online too. That one I think would be scrappy. That is plenty.

Now a sneak peak at Madeline Schnibbles so far! Here it is all cut out...

Tonight I whipped up a Promenade Market Tote (free pattern here http://www.dsquilts.com/uploads/MarketTote.pdf ). Here is one side and...

Of course Rosey and Zoe had to pose for me on my quilt!

I was very excited to try out Bonnie's Strip Twist pattern and was planning to make a baby quilt in aqua and brown...I didn't really have the required darks and lights so I decided to wing it a bit. I really didn't care for it at first, but it did grow on me. It is a bit wonky and pinning more would have helped, but I was thinking it wasn't working anyway! I think I am going to go with Weeks Ringle's "Simple Gifts" quilt...so I cut the strips from my fabrics and tomorrow will whip that up then decide which I want to give to the gal at work who just had a baby. This one may wind up a baby donation quilt for someone to love anyway...
Had a migraine again last night, took a pill, got through today...feel it coming back so off to bed I go! Oh I did work on my Carolina Christmas border blocks last night and an hour today between jobs. I have all the blocks done and a half a row assembled. I just didn't have the patience to take my time and do it right tonight so I will work on that after the baby quilt is done, well the next baby quilt!

I have been a little crazy lately ordering fabric! I do not have much of a stash...I tend to buy what I need and use it, most of the leftovers get cut into strips and now get used mainly for Bonnie Hunter patterns. Therefore, I have been ordering some fabric so I can make a few things such as the January Schnibbles pattern Madeline! I picked Moda's "Sent with Love" fabric and may mix in some that I have to make it work for this cute little pattern. I am terribly into polka dots, so I got that either for a border or binding...or both! I can hardly wait to get going on this one though I still have the pieced border left to do on Hannah's Carolina Christmas top.

Need I say more? Well you know I will! Earlier today I cut out border pieces but wasn't really in the mood to sew. Then just before heading to bed with my book I stopped off in the quilting studio to sew just one or two..and then the next thing you know rows were coming together (I had pinned them earlier at June's house!) and then I had Randy make tea because I knew I was going to keep on going! I love how it came out...have been in love with orange since Bonnie did Orange Crush! I am hoping that Hannah likes it because it is for her and her favorite color is purple...she may not be too nuts for the orange, but I guess if she doesn't want it I can keep it! Plan is to work on the borders tomorrow...I got the book and ruler I was waiting for today and I can't wait to start my next project with that. I am a quilting fool! BTW I need to contact a few of my longarmers, because I now have four tops ready to go and this one will be five!

Other than that I am tapping my foot impatiently while waiting for Quilt in a Day's "Night and Day" book and template to arrive!

Kathy's quilt top is together (with a little help from me) and she is thinking about adding more of the focus fabric for a border. This one is for Kathy's niece Melanie Breor in Mass.