My Pretty Pets

You may have your kitties, puppies, hamsters, or pets of other species, but for me, only one pet will do....



Well...two...



I pet and stroke them, and say, "so soft!" I coo at them, "Ooh, aren't you so pretty? Now what am I going to do with you?" And I smile and hold them. I just love my pets!

The first one, affectionately known as Fabric A, is going to feature in a large medallion-style quilt. I'm trying to decide on a theme for the Fabric A quilt. Tell me please, what does Fabric A make you think of?

I only have a fat quarter of the pink fabric, aka Fabric B, which may not look like much in this picture, but it is just so luminous and beautiful in real life, that I had to have a bit of it. No idea what I'll use this for. It just makes my stash look pretty. :)

Here's an extra picture for scale...


(That's a highlighter btw.)

Baby Cowgirl Quilt

I finished another quilt top! YAY!



The pattern for this quilt comes from the most excellent book, More Quilts for Baby: Easy as ABC by Ursula Reikes. If I had the money, I'd buy the whole series of these books, because they are each full of really fun and easy quilt patterns.

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This pattern is basically and uneven 9-patch. Every block is strip-pieced. If I need to make any more baby quilts in the near future, I'll definitely stick to this pattern, it is just too fun. (I say that, but I'm actually planning another baby quilt in a different pattern, but that's a post for another day.)

I'll think I'll probably tie this quilt. I already have the flannel for the back.

Snow White and Rose Red

This quilt was created through a round robin quilting group. In a round robin quilting group each member begins a quilt, then passes it onto each of the other group members in turn. Each group member adds a border onto the quilt. There were six of us in my group, so my quilt has five borders, and our group created six quilts.

Like most of the quilts that I have created, the idea for this quilt began with the fabric. In this case the dark green fabric with red flowers reminded me of the fairy tale, Snow White and Rose Red. I began the first block, the two sisters dancing with the bear, and then the members of my round robin group did the rest. The first border, the house and the forest, matches up so well to the center block that most people don't realize it is a border.



The second border is a path through the woods. The third border shows the wicked dwarf and his bag of jewels. Notice the bag is leaking, and a few jewels have fallen to the ground.



The fourth border is a variation on a quilt block pattern called Bear's Paw. The last border was split in two: fairies above and red and white roses below for the two sisters.

This quilt is not complete. I intend to add one more border, a repeat of the Bear's Paw block in the dark green floral that inspired me in the first place.

Second Try at the Picture

I took some pictures of the quilt in daylight, and since the one's from last night are so wretched, I'm posting this quilt again. Hopefully the colors are easier to see.



Click on the picture for a larger image.

Hawaiian Scrappy Quilt- Center Complete

I finished sewing the blocks together this afternoon! I'm really enjoying how this quilt is turning out. The picture, taken in a poorly lit room, doesn't really do the colors justice. The quilt is bright, but not as crazy busy as I expected it to be. I think there are enough dark prints that the diversity of colors and prints don't become too overwhelming. With the two layers of fabric, it is already heavy and much larger than I originally planned. I'm really very pleased with the outcome.

Here's a funny close up of a block:



I went to the quilt shop this afternoon and found a great jumbo scale orange floral that I'm going to use for an inner border. (I know that jumbo scale orange floral probably sounds like a crazy choice, but it looks amazing! Then assuming that I don't hate it when it arrives, I'm using the ocean print that I linked to in my last post as a larger border. I really hope that ocean print looks good, but if not I'm not going to worry about it. I could finish this quilt now without a border and it would still work. :)

My goal is to have this top finished by next Saturday when I'll see mom and can hand it over for machine quilting. After today's bit of sewing, I'm sure that I'll be able to make that goal!

Progress!

I'm not sure if you can tell, but that stack of blocks is almost two inches high! I was pretty excited to see such tangible evidence of my progress.

I've even done a little more work since then, and begun sewing the blocks together.

The borders are going to be tricky. I wish that I had some more of the sky blue fabric to use as a border. Mom suggested that I use a darker print to sort of close up the center design, and then I can put a lighter print after it.

Here's the darker print:

I am considering this fabric for a larger border, but I plan to go to a quilt shop tonight and I may find something entirely different then.

YAY! Fabric shopping!