Ton of Homework,A Ebay Win & A Head Cold

I have been hunting this book for ages and I was able to get it at a steal today for 1.04 :) I fell in love with the quilt that I had seen worked up as a shop BOM several years ago and at the time I just didn't have the $$ to play along. The two hand dyes below were bought for .99 each. I have plans for the orange one to go into a fall pumpkin wallhanging that I am planning on.

I have come down with a very yucky head cold and I really don't have time to be sick right now as I am slammed with homework !! Why can't I ever come down sick on the weeks where there is hardly no homework ?? Well guess I better get cracking as I have to have it all finished up and turned in by Friday :(

Mini Quilt Swap

Just a quick note to let you all know of a mini quilt swap that is starting up over on Tracy's blog From my Scrapbag. It looks like it will be a ton of fun the link to the blog is in my side bar. Hurry on over if you would like to join as signups end here shortly.

More Free Redwork

While at work last night I relized that I really needed something portable to take to work with me to keep my hands busy. I think I have decided on a redwork quilt for next Halloween. Here is a cute pattern that I came across while surfing. There is also a boy in a Dracula costume on this site too :)

http://www.quixoticpixels.com/blog/2008/08/free-halloween-embroidery-designs/

I love the Fall

There is nothing that I enjoy more in the Fall then sitting in front of a nice warm fire on a chilly night ! I thought I would share a few photo's of the fire that we had last night. The kids had a blast roasting hotdogs and marshmellows.

Antique Quilts

While cruising Ebay this morning I ran across 3 wonderful Antique Quilts. Being broke I decided that since I can't own them I will reproduce them in miniature. This first one is from the 30's/40's, I love the combo of pink and brown. I think I will redo this one in Civil war era fabrics.

I have no clue when this one was made as it didn't say in the auction. I love the pattern of the blocks, it one I have never seen before - does anyone out there in blogland know what it is called??? I think the border fabric makes the quilt look a little busy so I'll change it to a soild.

This one is from the 40's . I though it was so pretty :) I have a ton of blue fabric that would go wonderfully into a repo of this quilt. I need to get some red soild before I can start it though. Keep an eye on the blog over the next couple of weeks as I'll be posting some more mini quilt tutorials on these quilts as I make them :) Have a great day !!

Fall Mini Unveil

My partner for the November Swap has recived her mini so now I can show you a pic of it. This pattern is called Hard Times and can be found at the OhSewHitty blog in my side bar.It was really fast and easy to do :)

Come Make a Mini With Me

Are ya'll ready to have some fun with me today ? Ok, step 1 - if your like me you have a bin of 2 inch strips ( if not you'll need to cut a bunch) Here I randomly pair 2 in strips from my Civil War collection and sewed them together.


Step 2 - press them open , pressing towards the darker of the two fabrics.



Step 3 - Sub cut you strip sets into 2 inch slices and pair them as these will be little four patches.




Step 4 - chain piece all your little 4 patch units :)






Step 5 - Press all your 4 patches open

Step 6 - Pick out 2 colours of fabric and cut 6 3 7/8 squares from Each fabric. Now sub cut these squares on the diagonal .

Step 7 - Pair 1 of Each fabric and sew together, press open and cut off the little bunny ears :)

Step 8 - Layout as seen above. Be careful of how you place the 1/2 squares otherwise it won't look right :)

Step 9 - Sew together in rows and you have a wonderful little mini quilt. Now you can add boders to this to make it a bit larger if you like but me I like it this way so tomorow I will be quilting it and adding the binding :) Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and please if you make one comment on this post with a link to the picture as I'd love to see yours !!

Redwork Love

While I was surfing the net this morning I ran across a few free Redwork Snowmen that I thought I would share with ya'll. Check back in tonight or early tommorow morning as I am planning to post a Mini Quilt tutorial that i think you might enjoy. It's pretty simple , you should be able to finish the top in about 4 hours or so and it would make a wonderful gift for Christmas ;) To find the above pattern go here :

http://members.tripod.com/~fvqg/01archiv/0111.htm

You can find this pattern here :

http://www.lastingtreasure.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=80

This is just so cute, I love snowmen :) To get this pattern go here :

http://www.stitchingcow.com/freebies/free-redwork-pattern

Brrrrrrr

I am so proud of myself :) i got a good bit of my short list done yesterday. I got this chinese coin quilt sandwhiched and quilted and I also made the backing for it. I used up a fair amount of scraps in the backing and also a orphan block :) I still have to stitch on the binding, which is srappy also, but I'll save that for another day. Also yesterday I finished the Redwork on the November swap quilt and I have picked out the fabric for the border, I'll sew that on a diffrent day. I got my room almost all the way clean and I'll finish that up today before I go to work. I still have a bunch of clothes that I need to sort through. I started hanging up a bunch of my mini quilts and as soon as I get them all hung I'll show ya'll a pic of my mini's wall.

I got most of the yucky stitching ripped out of Isis's quilt , only about 12 more inches to go. I'll finish the ripping tonight at work while my client is asleep. I got almost 90 charm squares cut, packaged and ready to go and I'll go by the post office today to mail them.

Man it's cold outside today. It was very cold last night, normally I sit outside and stitch all night while my client sleeps but last night I stayed in his house and cranked up the heater :) It's looking like tonight will be the same.

Plans for Today

Well since i don't have to be into work untill 7 tonight I figured that I would play catch up today and try to knock out some of the things on the "list". Oh the dreaded "list", why does it always feel like I add way more to it then I am able to take off? Here's what I am wanting to get done today and if I can find the cord to the ditial then I will show ya'll pic's tonight :)

1. Finish blocks for ALQS quilt
2. Sandwhich the Chinese Coin top, maybe start the quilting of it and cut binding for it
3. Find cord to ditial camera
4. Clean my room and stack all my UFO's
5. Finish stitching the Nov exchange mini
6.Pick out pattern for Nov exchange mini #2
7. Cut binding for Isis's quilt and start ripping out the quilting stitches that went all wrong

A New Love :)

I have fallen in love with another designer :) These three quilts are now very high on my wish list !! They are from http://www.quiltsbycheri.com/home.html
I am going to beg DH to let me buy them as soon as he wakes up this morning :) She has alot more great quilts on her site and a ton more that I wish I could buy !!!

I have a idea :)

I have signed up for the November swap over on the flickr group Swap til' you drop. The November theme is 2 colour quilts. I think that I will do a Redwork mini for this one. I went through all of my patterns last night and I have found the perfect one :) It's from an Antique Redwork quilt. I still have to decide what I will be doing for the other November theme which is Anything Goes, I think I will wait until they hand out partners before I start on that one.

I mailed out my October quilt for the swap group on tuesday but it has to go all the way to Canada so it will still be a little while before I am able to show ya'll a photo of it. I can't wait to see what my partner made for me :)

Well I have all my squares cut for the Spare Change swap and now I'm just waiting on an e-mail to find out where I am supposed to send them.Today I have to cut 86 more 5 in squares for 2 private swaps that I am in. I think these 5 in charms will be wonderful for making mini's with. I need to go by Hobby Lobby the next time I'm in Lake Charles to pick up a little basket to keep them all in.

I will post progress pic's on my mini Redwork quilt tonight. Well a sneek peek anyway :o)

Spare Change Swap

Over at Chickpea Sewing there is a new swap, send in 24 5 inch charm squares and recive 24 in return. I have joined in the fun and almost have all my squares cut. Sign ups end the 15th of October so hurry on over to play :) Click the button in my side bar and it will bring you to the place to sign in .

A Mini Finish - Teaser

I finshed my little Fall Swap quilt last night. I am very proud of myself, from start to finish this little mini was finished in one day :) This little quilt measures about 9 1/2 inches square . I just love the back of it - I wish that I had more of the orange acorn fabric but I only had this itty bitty piece left so I placed it onto the backing instead of cutting it up.I will show a full shot of it as soon as my partner recives it so for now all I can show is this little teaser photo.

It feels so good to finally finish something :) I'm having to change directions on my ALQS quilt as I was almost done with the buttonhole stitching on it and my poor little quilt has an accident. I had left an ink pen sitting by it and the darn pen leaked ink overnight so my pretty little quilt now has a huge yucky black stain :( I am going to put together a "just in case" top. I plan to try to get out the stain but in case I can't I need to have a back up plan.

Wanted to give ya'll a heads up Tonya of Lazy Gal is holding a stitch along and if it is going to turn out like the last 2 stitch alongs it will be really neat :) Please go have a look ---

http://lazygalhousehomepantry.blogspot.com/