SUMMER SUCCESS STORIES

Summer has come and gone, but for once I can say that I actually got a few things done. The photo above shows my version of the little Orange Peel quilt that I made from Kathleen Tracy's book, Remembering Adelia. It was a delight to make and it gave me an opportunity to display some of my Civil War fabrics that I love so much. I even used a few 5 inch charm squares because they were so easy to find and use. I got two little segments from each square. It added a few samples of fabrics that I only had in those charm packs. As I dug through my fabric I found this Thimbleberries fabric from years ago that was just the perfect color for the border, and the corner squares are from an old Smithsonian print that I have also had for many years. I love this little quilt, and it was made even more special by Mary Flynn at Quilt Hollow who quilted it for me. She did a lovely job and I certainly recommend her if you are looking for a quilter. Mary also quilted my red, white, and blue Prairie Paisley quilt for my grandson. It is in the collage below, and guess what---McCall's Quilting is going to publish it in their Quick Quilts magazine, July 2010 issue! I thought I was really organized to have gotten the quilt completed for a baby that is not coming until December. Now the dear child will have to wait for his quilt for a while. But I made it plenty big and he won't know the difference, and I am psyched!

The collage above shows the several things that I have completed this summer. Along with my little Orange Peel, I have completed five full size UFOs this summer to the point where they are quilted, bound, labeled and delivered to new homes. Also I designed and completed two Honor Guard quilts with the four eagles; the red, white and blue American Dreamer quilt; and two Christmas Punch quilts. I feel good!

As always, more awaits me, including the directions for the Christmas Punch quilt, which I will try to complete this week. Our LQS What's Your Stitch N Stuff had Open House this past Saturday and that was very nice. Lots of browsers looking for classes to sign up for, and lots of classes to choose from, including mine. I will be teaching Indian Paintbrush again, and then Christmas Punch in November. If you are looking for a cute little Christmas quilt to teach you might consider Christmas Punch. It is fun to make and the pattern will be free! (And you can intoduce my patterns to your quilt shop owner!) Also keep in mind that there are other free patterns at my website, PatchalotPatterns.com Also, if you have trouble on my website with overlaying words or links that don't seem to work, re-open the site in Internet Explorer. For some reason the site has issues with other internet browsers. I try, I really do. I wish these various browsers would play nice.

Today is Monday and Friday will be here in a flash! Enjoy your week everyone!

SEW MUCH TO SHARE

This has been a month of fiddling with many projects. I began this little cutie last month while in Arizona so I would have some handwork with me. You may remember when I talked about it HERE. I love showing off all the cute little fabrics in both the appliqued segments and the background pieces. A perfect little project for a fabric junkie. You can handle and fondle to your heart's content. This project is from Remembering Adelia, one of Kathleen Tracy's doll quilt books. Check out her cute books on her website! Kathleen doesn't know it, but we are kindred spirits.
I am doing a different border fabric than she used, as I rarely copy anyone's design exactly. More on that later when it is completed.

Also this week I was delighted to get this quilt back from my quilter. I showed the details of this quilt in an earlier blog HERE. I added a border (Kansas Troubles fabric) to this to make it big enough for a queen bed for my newly married son and his wife. The quilting is very nice! I hope they love it! And I am saying "YAY! Another quilt finished!"

Now finally, I was determined to spend some time cleaning my sewing room yesterday, and as I cleared things from my over flowing cutting table, I found this quilt that I made months ago. I even had it spray basted and ready to quilt. It needed a little smoothing and pinning after waiting so long, but I quilted it up in a jiffy. As you can see, I am a straight line quilter. If only I was a straight line worker! Instead I seem to take so many side trips down a windy little Quilter's Lane! :)