Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Another Giveaway

There's another good giveaway at QuiltingB29's Quilt Life. Be sure and check out the great prizes she's giving away in honor of her 100th post!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Blog Giveaway

Here's a giveaway I'd really like to win: http://bittybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/2009/07/charmed-gift-bag-giveaway.html. Isn't that the cutest little bag? If you visit the blog, be sure and take a look at the previous entry with the cute quilted placemats. They're just darling.

Monday, July 13, 2009

New Inspiration

No wonder I can't get my UFO's finished.....there are too many new project calling my name. I got the July/August issue of Quiltmaker magazine primarily for the new Bonnie Hunter mystery that starts in this issue, but I found a new inspiration even though I wasn't looking for one--the Thirty Something quilt project:

I love this quilt, and I've been collecting reproduction thirties fabrics for a long time hoping the "right" project would come along. Something that would justify cutting into all those pretty prints. Here's a pic of some of my fabric--this is just a small sample--LOL!

The quilt requires 56 blocks, but I've already got about 30 of them stitched. Pretty good progress considering I'm hand-sewing them. I hope to hand quilt the finished top; I haven't done any hand quilting in a few years, and I'm surprised how good it feels to have a needle in my hand again.

Happy quilting,

Carolyn




Monday, July 6, 2009

July Block of the Month

I only managed to get one block of the month posted for June, but I was away for a significant part of the month because of a death in the family. I have been very lucky to still have grandparents living (even at my age!!), but in February 2008 I lost my paternal grandmother, and now in June, my maternal grandmother has gone to heaven. I had planned on a quick trip to West Virginia for the funeral and ended up staying longer than originally planned.


So anyway, on to the block. The one I chose for July is called State of Georgia, and the instructions are on Quilter's Cache.


I had never made this particular block before, but it's easy enough with no new techniques, just simple sqaures and half-square triangles.



Here are all the patches laid out after I finished sewing the hst's.
















And, here's the finished block:




When you open the instructions on Quilter's Cache, be sure and click over to the second page to see how the blocks look once they are all put together. It's really neat how the secondary pattern develops and forms "circles" across the quilt. This block would make a great quilt in planned colors or even in scraps if you are careful with the light-medium-dark contrasts.





Have fun sewing!
Carolyn