Design Wall Monday 11-28

I finished the Home Tweet Home quilt top (from Keepsake Quilting). I really like it and am looking forward to embellishing it with beads.

Also finished the barn raising quilt top which I've named One Particular Harbor. I'm looking forward to getting it back from the long-arm quilter (Lilly Lucier, Vanceboro, NC 252-244-1988). Other than finishing the binding and embellishments on these two pieces plus Jungle Dance, which is already at Lilly's shop, I do not plan to start any new quilting projects until after Christmas. Jump over to Patchwork Times today for Design Wall Monday.

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY

Saturday is Small Business Saturday. It's a reminder to visit some of the wonderful small businesses in your area and see what they have to offer. Maybe sometimes we just find it easier to go to the mega-marts instead of making an extra stop but I believe that small businesses are the backbone of our wonderful country. These small guys are struggling to survive in this economic environment. They offer some unique products (think Christmas gift ideas!) and a high level of personal service that that mega-marts cannot or do not offer. These owners are your friends and neighbors. Supporting them is well worth the extra stop.

Design Wall Monday 11-21

Check out Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday inspiration.

I made a little more progress on One Particular Harbor - have to sew together the rows and add the border then it's ready for machine quilting which will be done by Lilly Lucier (252-244-1988) of Vanceboro, NC. I'll be asking her to use a teal color thread and a shore motif.

The Romancing Eastern North Carolina Shop Hop will take place February 1-4, 2012 and includes shops in Jacksonville, Morehead City, Washington, and New Bern, North Carolina. They have a Facebook page so please look them up.

Yesterday I had the privilege of seeing the performance "Stomp!" in Raleigh, NC. Awesome. Humorous. Energetic. Highly recommended if you get an opportunity!

Home Tweet Home - other than buying the fabric for the sashings/border, no further work on that. I hope to get a lot done on it over Thanksgiving, as well as finishing up the One Particular Harbor quilt top.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Be safe in your travels.

Design Wall Monday 11-14

Design Wall Monday again??? Yep - and jump over to Patchwork Times to see what some creative folks have been up to.

I started a quilt for my niece - I'm naming it One Particular Harbor. It will be quilted using a shore motif and teal color thread. Two rows down, 4 to go. Will finish this quilt top this week.






The pattern I'm using for One Particular Harbor came from an old quilting magazine and is a 16-patch quasi-log cabin block. The blocks will be put together into a "Barn Raising" pattern.






Also this past week I put together the 9 blocks in the Home Tweet Home series. I was quite delighted to find that so far, I've been able to use only fabrics from my stash. I still need to add sashings and a border but I think even that will be from my stash. I need to blanket stitch, or do some type of stitch, to secure the applique. And I think I'll machine quilt this myself in an overall meander. There are lots of embellishments that can be done to this piece - the pattern shows a couple of pieces with thread "nests", beaded chains for hanging the birdhouses from tree limbs, and I'm sure more opportunities for embellishments will appear once I start looking at it in that frame of mind.

Design Wall Monday 11-7-11

Hooking up with Patchwork Times today. A source of wonderful quilting inspiration.


Design Wall - just finished the Jungle Dance quilt top. It will be part of my son's Christmas. The center panel is a bargello design and I filled in the sides with simple borders and a piano key border. There was no pattern for this, just a jelly roll of fabric from South Seas Batiks, and then I bought coordinating batiks from Cotton Fields Quilt Shop.



I also just finished Front Street Memories, which is my whimsical tribute to my lovely hometown of Beaufort, NC. Sadly, time marches on, and most of the shops named in this piece are no longer in business. But Beaufort is still a delightful shore town. This piece is is about 6.5 feet long - yikes! and about 2 feet tall. I have not a clue where I'll hang it.


My goal this week is to start on the 9 birdhouses in the Home Tweet Home series. Each block is only 8.5" and there aren't many pieces in each block, so hopefully I'll have made some good progress by the next Design Wall Monday.