Blogger's Quilt Festival

Amy's Creative Side is hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival. It is a wonderful way to see hundreds of quilts, meet new blogging friends and get tons of inspiration. My entry in the festival is my version of the  Jelly Roll 1600 quilt. This quilt is called "It's a Guy Thing"!



I've been collecting what I call "no color" fabrics for a long time. They are kind of taupish, kinda brownish, kinda greenish, kinda little bit of all. I came across a beautiful striped fabric that went perfectly with them. Forty strips, 38 rectangles and some extremely long seams later and the quilt top was done.

2 of the boys wanted to be included.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a hard time finishing my quilts. Not that I don't want to, it's just that there are so many quilts I want to make that I go off on another project before the current quilt gets quilted and bound. Well not this time! It is 100% finished. I have a confession to make though. The only reason that happened was because I was asked to teach a class at the guild on my variations of the Jelly Roll 1600 and I needed at least 1 quilt completely done!

It took me awhile to decide on how to quilt it, finally deciding on plain old parallel lines, spaced 3/4" apart. Anything else I thought of took away from the masculine look.

This was my first time teaching a class and I was really nervous. Once I got over my initial fear I had a blast. Everyone said they enjoyed it and there were several completed tops by the end of the day. I am teaching again in December. That means the other quilts will get finished too!

Thanks for stopping by to hear my quilt's story. Please go visit the other blogs participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival! You won't be disappointed!

Happy Stitching
corina

Secret Santa

Christmas is coming soon. I've decided to take part in the Secret Santa Soiree hosted by Suzanne at Coloradolady. It sounds like it will be fun. I've got a few ideas on what I might make or buy. Won't know for sure until I know their likes and dislikes. There is still a chance to get in on the fun if you hurry!

Lots of Strips for the FNSI

It doesn't look like I accomplished much this FNSI, but I actually cut enough 2 1/2 inch strips to last a lifetime (or at least a couple of weeks). I'm not 100% sure what they will be used for (yeah right, you all know by now what they will turn into!).

 
One of my favorite blocks is the Jacob's Ladder. While searching for images of quilts made with them, I came across a gorgeous one from Piece O' Cake Designs. I liked everything about it, including the colors. Even though I could figure out the arrangement, I wanted to do a quilt that told me all that I needed to know. No figuring out how many squares, how much fabric etc. I couldn't find the pattern on their website so I emailed them. Within a couple of days, they emailed a free  PDF file of the quilt! Thank you Becky of Piece O' Cake Designs!! Here is the link to the quilt that someday will be draped over my favorite chair Jacob's Ladder Quilt.

Happy Stitching
corina

You Just Never Know!

I completely forgot to post about a surprise I got at the  Assiniboine Circle Quilt Show. We are a small group of under 40 quilters so we each entered several quilts (you need to have a lot of quilts on display to make a good show!). I entered 10 items that I had made over the last two years. A few days before the show, the club made a last minute plea for more quilts to fill the venue.  I added my Crazy Chicken quilt at the urging of my husband. I really didn't want to enter it. I was tired of chickens, it was too folksy, not enough quilting on it etc. Imagine my surprise when I found out I won 2nd place in the small quilt category!

You never can tell what people will like. Supposedly quite a few of the men that came to show voted for my chickens - who woulda thunk it! The quilt has been hanging by our computer for the last couple of years and I really wanted to take it down. DH wanted me to keep it up. Guess it will stay on the wall for awhile longer. (The pattern for the quilt is from Meme's Quilts.)

I was very lucky to win another giveaway.

 This one was from Supermomnocape. The prize was supposed to be this gorgeous gift bag. I was so excited when it arrived. The peppermint swirl fabric is even prettier in person. The bag is fully lined, and it even looks great turned inside out! The workmanship is amazing (I can't even find where she turned it out!). When I opened the bag I found these lovely surprises.

2 fat quarters (check out the crazy beach lady) and a Kate Spain Notebook/pen set

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this set with matching scissors & pincushion!

Thank you soooo much Susan! You were so very sweet and generous to send all these lovely gifts to me! You have to check out her blog. She has a wonderful series on Christmas on a budget, lots of tutorials and several recipes that will make your mouth water! I know you will want to make a gift bag so the link to the tutorial for it is here.

Happy Stitching!
corina

Not Another Jelly Roll 1600 Quilt!

Yuppers. Can't stop making them.

This time I did the rectangle variation. Instead of joining the strips with diagonal seams, I inserted a 2 1/2"x4 1/2" rectangle between them. I've seen some online with rectangles, squares etc. Don't know who originally did it with rectangles but it was a great idea!

 The fabrics were from my stash of what my friend calls "no color colors". The dark, muted colors paired with the stripe make it a perfect quilt for a guy.

I only had 1/2 a yard of the stripe and was lamenting the fact that it was getting used up. Why is it that I always buy too much of a fabric that never ends up being useful and never have enough of the "good" ones? A return trip to the quilt shop and a lighter wallet solved that issue.

Lately I've been buying quite a few striped fabrics. It's all the fault of Mari at the Quilting Edge. Her quilts are amazing. She works with stripes and solids and the results are unbelievable. One of these days I'm going to try her quilt as you go technique for making improvisational quilts. I especially like her quilt as you go Log Cabin. Her tutorial for quilt as you go is really well done.

Anyway, I'd like to say that it's the last Jelly Roll 1600 you will see here, but that would be a lie - they are just too fun to make!

Happy Stitching
corina