The winner is...

Janet from Mrs. Sew n' Sew blog wins my extra kit for the Cheddar and Crackers doll quilt. Congrats, Janet! Email me with your address and I'll post the kit to you in Canada this week.

I was on a stitching and quilting roll last weekend but I hit the wall with this little project. When I finished my "9-Patch Fun" top in repros, I knew I wanted to make a version from a charm pack of Bonnie Blue shirtings and indigoes I had. I put nine of the 12 blocks together and took a look at how things were progressing and it was...boring...and blue. I love blue, but I just wasn't feeling this one. I guess all the snow we've received has me wanting more white--go figure. So, I spaced out the blocks with some sashing and thought I'd put a hint of another color in with the gold cornerstones. Then, I could not find the ninth block. Since I've been on a use what I have tear this week, I figured I would just substitute a gold block for the missing blue one. I am not sure I love this one, but I hope some heavy quilting will make up for what is lacking in color and design. The fabric feels lovely.

I could not resist one more gratuitous snow photo. As you can see, it almost made it to the top of our fence. I felt sorry for the little birdies and went and bought a feeder in between blizzards. It is looking lonely in the photo but the birds discovered it after a day or two and ate the whole tube of seeds in one day.

Since I was feeling a little blah about the results of my blue and white project, I thought I'd pull out that project from Jo Morton's Cinnamon and Spice line I mentioned a few months back. These colors have warmed me up and, once I pulled all the triangle papers off, the project is going together nicely. I just love an easy scrap quilt and you cannot beat triangles for that. Tomorrow I finally go back to work so I know there won't be much stitching time for the next few weeks. At least I can sit and quickly sew a row of triangles together in the evenings.

Snow days = Sew days

Thanks to Mother Nature I've enjoyed three days (and counting) of quality time with my quilting. I finally finished "Leftovers," a Jo Morton design. This is made from, what else, the leftovers of the "Somerset" pattern that was a Jo's Little Women club project a few cycles ago. I made the big top (see picture back in a May 2009 post) just to have the little pieces to do this small (11"x13") quilt. Yes, it's an obsession. What is exciting to me is I finally tried single fold binding and it works great on the small quilts. I found a great tutorial at The Little Red Hen blog. I am an old dog so it's nice to learn a new trick.

I also finished this little quilt. As I mentioned back in December, I signed up for the mini quilt of the month program at Temecula Quilt Company. I finished the first kit and decided to make a Christmas version so I'll have some fun minis to decorate with next December. This one is machine quilted the same way as the version from the kit. It lays nice and flat so I haven't washed it to crinkle it up yet.

I can't resist including a few photos of the weather that has provided me the time to stop and sew. This is DS#2 who graciously went out in the blizzard to start breaking a path out of the house.

And this is a photo that shows how futile his efforts were. Beneath the white stuff are bushes, a grill and a car. It stopped snowing late Saturday afternoon and our road STILL hasn't been plowed.


This is mini of the month number 2--top done. The patterns all come from "Fat Quarter Quilting: Reproduction Fabrics Two" by Lori Smith. I am a little stymied on how I should quilt this one. It will definitely be by machine because I left a lot of seams under those wrench blocks. I was supposed to use the wrench fabrics as the cornerstones in the sashing but the kit for this one fell a little short. I substituted the brown and actually like it much better than using the colors. I like the fussy cut stripe for the borders, but it also fell short (I pre-wash and the kit was cut to the EXACT measurements) and is kind of wonky. I hope it quilts out. I have the Christmas version of this one planned in my head but I think I'll leave it there for awhile.

This little one is my new favorite for the weekend. It is called "9-Patch Fun" from the pattern "Fit to Frame: Set Eleven" which is another Lori Smith pattern. I also have another color combo for this one in my head and if I'm stuck here tomorrow I am making it.

Let me close by urging all quilters to never, ever, lament the size of our stashes. All my projects this l-o-n-g weekend have come out of my stash. It was fun to have an idea and head to the stash, root around, and come out with fabrics that worked and pleased me. When you're in the quilt shops, buy what you love, what you like and some of what makes you say, "ehhh." When the 'snowpocalypse' hits, you'll be glad you did.

Cheddar Cheese & Crackers top done and a giveaway

My Cheddar Cheese and Crackers doll quilt top is done! This was fun and easy (especially since I went with the same colors as Lori used) and entirely from my stash. It took me longer to figure out how to get a picture of it that wasn't blurry than it did to make it. I don't know what's wrong with my camera but every shot I take looks like there is a grey film in front of everything. I cleaned this up a bit using "enhance" in my Kodak software. Don't I wish that was an option on my bathroom mirror in the morning.

Now to my giveaway. I knew I wanted all the prints in this quilt to be different so I used 5 different pinks, 7 different blues and 24 different browns. Whenever I cut so many different fabrics I always cut enough for two quilts. So, I am giving away my extra set of strips, plus enough cheddar and shirting for the rest of the quilt top. Just leave me a comment by next Saturday (13 February) and I'll pick the winner (randomly) on Valentine's Day. I am happy to ship worldwide.

If you want to throw in a comment about how to get beautiful, clear, digital pictures and what kind of camera you use I would appreciate it. Mine is a Kodak EasyShare M380 (second one since the first broke in my tote bag). Is it worth spending the big bucks for a very nice digital camera? How often should I replace the memory cards if I keep taking pictures and then deleting them?

Thank you Lori for such a fun project to kick off the new year. Time to get back to sewing. We have nearly three feet of snow on the ground and I am having a blast finishing little quilts and starting new ones...all from my stash (and hopefully will get my little Cheddar Cheese and Crackers basted)!