Design Wall Monday 5-30-11

Happy Memorial Day! Happy Birthday to my mother who turned 84 today!

Am linking to Patchwork Times today for Design Wall Monday.

I finished the 715 Ann Street - a whimsical tribute to my lovely grandmother's house, a home we all loved and adored when we were growing, a home that contains many happy memories. Though the house no longer is "in the family" the people that own it are terrific and take such loving care of it. My grandmother would be thrilled to see how beautiful her home is these days.

What's left to do on this piece is the quilting, of course, adding some flower buttons on the shrubs, and writing "715 Ann Street" above the front door. This piece has been a true joy to make.

Design Wall Monday 5-23-11

Thanks so much to QuiltSwissy for her suggestion in my blog last week regarding Betty Alof's book "Quilt Your Favorite Photos". I ordered the book via the internet from Betty Alof's web site and received it in the mail Wednesday. The book is great. I learned that while generally I was on the right path regarding the applique wall hanging I'm planning to do in memory of my grandmother's house, Betty's book let me know I was trying to put way too much detail in the pattern.

So, I re-drew the pattern and am very pleased with the drawing now as a jumping off point for this project. I've pulled fabrics, and am ready to go.

I also have selected a series of teal fabrics in light to dark values that will eventually become a quilt for my neice. I have the idea/pattern floating around in my head - it will be a little while before I start it.

Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times is always fun. Please check it out.

Design Wall Monday 5-16-11

I'm linking today to Judy's blog at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

I've managed to get a couple of tops finished and ready for quilting this week and am preparing to start another. First, I finished The Blue Hour scrappy quilt top. It was fun to do and I'm wondering if I have enough reds, yellow, pinks, greens, etc. in my stash to make other color tops like this.

I also put together a small wall hanging for my sister. I'm calling it Sister Chicks II because I've made a similar piece for my other sister that I called Sister Chicks I. The pattern line is by Debi Hubbs and this is really called "Out To Lunch" - the original has 4 crows instead of 3 but since my sisters and I make 3, I omitted one of the crows. They still need their eyes. I'll quilt it myself. And I plan to embellish it like I did the first one - one will wear amethyst beads, one aquamarine, and the other topaz - representing the birthstones for each sister.

My next project is called 715 Ann Street and is a tribute to the home my grandmother lived in for a gazillion years. My cousin, Patricia, is a watercolor artist specializing in old homes and churches. She did this drawing and I enlarged it to about 20" x 20" and will use it as the pattern for this applique wall hanging.

Design Wall Monday 5-9-11

Since Mother Nature so kindly tended to my garden this weekend with her natural rain elixir, which in turn gave me a legitimate excuse to not mow the yard ;-), Ive had a couple of days to sew. Because of that, the Front Street Memories townscape wall hanging is ready for Lilly Lucier to machine quilt it. I'll have to take it to her and chat with her about the best way to quilt it.

I also started a blue & white scrappy quilt which I've named The Blue Hour. The final size will be 16 blocks square or about 54" square once the borders are added. The amount of blue fabrics in my stash dictated the size of this lap-size quilt. Should finish it up in the next day or two. Then I have two more applique wall hangings in the queue.

Today I'm linking to Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday - a terrific source of quilting and crafting inspiration.

Design Wall Monday 5-2-11

All that's on my "design wall" is items I've finished up this past week: the coffee-themed placemats that I talked about in an earlier post, and the bargello quilt which was returned by Lilly Lucier (machine quilter) and needed the binding finished on it.

I'm taking a break from sewing this week to work in the yard and garden while the weather is so perfect but when I pick up sewing next week it will likely be the the 2' x 6' townscape piece.

Visit Judy's blog today at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.