Your Help Needed

This is a part of a challenge quilt I'm working on in a contest being run by my guild. I'll go into great detail about all the rules and show the finished piece when it's done, but for now, I need advice.  One of the rules is that you use wood, plastic, or metal on your piece. I've got a bunch of wonderful color-coordinated buttons in all the colors that are on this quilt (it's a mini). Should I put those buttons ON the patches where the X's intersect?  Or should I put them on the white sashings where they intersect (and thus cover up some un-matched seams)?  My original intent was to put them on the sashing - sort of like cornerstones - and then I wouldn't have to worry about those seams. 

What do you think?

Books for my mother for Mother's Day

 

My mother is an avid book reader - she's nuts about books. Nearly every room in her house is floor to ceiling with books. Most of the time, when I need to get her a gift, I get her a gift card to Barnes & Noble. But when I saw this cute tutorial on Elizabeth's website, I knew I'd have to make her this quilt for Mother's Day. 

The book titles are all from selvedges I've been collecting the past couple of years.

I've already talked to Mom - she LOVES it!

Some weekend sewing

In addition to all the boomerang blocks, which were done over the last 4-5 days, I did some other sewing:

New York Beauty Block 0

I've been thinking about participating in the New York Beauty Quilt-Along, but have only accomplished block Zero. We'll see if I do the rest. I'd like to, but who knows?

Traditonal Tuesday Week 25 - Pendants

I had some problems with this one. When I sewed together the original pieces, my block ended up the correct width (6.5") but was only 5.5" high. I had to add two pieces. Unfortunately, I was using directional fabric for the light green, and the misalignment shows. Oh well.  It's a learning experience.

Modern Monday Week 25 - Pendants

My daughter is going to a soccer tournament in Las Vegas next month, and she and her best friend will be doing some promenading on the Strip. She saw a little purse I'd made from a class I took at Road to California, and asked me to make one for her. This will go over her neck, so it's a little more secure than a handbag, and is just right for things like ID and cash. It's a little BB Bag by Tracey Brookshier. I'd received the Las Vegas fabric as a gift a couple years ago - finally a nice use for it.

Front has zipper pocket

Inside - pocket for cell phone, zipper pocket for cash/ID, 3rd pocket.

Outside - laid flat - yet another pocket on the back side under the roulette wheel.

Bloggers' BOM - Month 7

Sneak Peak

This last picture is a sneak peak of a mini I did for my STUD (Swap Till You Drop) Flickr group. I'll show the whole thing with a story after my partner has received it.

November STUD swap

This adorable little mini was from Kimmie, my partner for the November swap on STUD.




Included in the package were some post-it notes, chocolate, and some green rick-rack (which I forgot to put in the picture).


This is what I sent to Kimmie - it's Donna's Block by Carol Doak - all paper-pieced.

At least I remembered to put a border on it. Have you ever gotten into a series of mistakes - like forgetting to put borders on your minis before you quilted them? I did 5 in a row - finished the block, then made the sandwich, then quilted it, and THEN realized that it would really look a whole lot better with a border. I think that I've done it enough times now that I won't forget any more. But now I have 5 little unbordered minis that would make great potholders!

September STUD Sent TO Jennifer

This was a mini I sent to Jennifer for the September STUD swap. The theme this month was "first anniversary," and the pansy is one of the flowers suggested as a first anniversary gift. I found this cute pansy pattern on Four Twin Sisters.

STUD Mini-Quilt from Jennifer

I received this cute little mini, along with the goodies, from Jennifer in Texas. It's for the September STUD on flickr. The travel-themed background fabric reminds me of scrapbook paper. So cute!

Day and Night Star Flowers Mini-Quilt

Designer: Carol Doak
Measures 12" square

STUD Mini-Quilt from Mari

This adorable little quilt came last week from Mari, who was my August partner in STUD (Swap Til U Drop!). It's all paper-pieced, and I hope I can find out who designed it so I try a few like it.

Mini Quilts sent and received

I'm a member of STUDS (Swap Till U Drop), a Flickr group for swapping mini-quilts. I just joined in June, in time to sign up for the July swap. The theme for July was "Summer Lovin," so I chose to do a little quilt with watermelon in it. Below is the one I sent to Meg.




In return, Meg sent me this cute, a bright, cheery little piece she calls "Summer Sunset." I just love the sharp points on the sun, and look forward to when I can make them myself.

Back from the Sierras

Just drove back from the Sierras - had a 5-day weekend since I took personal leave on Friday and today. We camped at East Fork Campground on Rock Creek - I'll be posting pics on my travel blog, Wanderlust, in a few minutes. When Don was off fishing on his own, I did some stitching (of course) and reading. One of the first things I did was put the binding on this mini-quilt - it's made of four "orphan" string blocks from my string quilt blocks. You see, I'd been tooling along, making 5 1/2-inch blocks, and ever so often I'd accidentally cut one to 5 inches. No way was I going to throw them out! So I put four together, made it into a little mini-quilt, and added binding. This made a perfect hot pad for our table in the trailer, so that's probably what I'll use it for.


I also finished May and June from Crabby All Year, so I'm a month ahead on Daffycat's SAL.
I also stitched a little flower (English paper piecing) and will make it into another mini-quilt, and finished a little wedding gift for my sister (who got married on Saturday). I'll post a pic of it once I've finished into a wall hanging.