FMQ Fun!

Primitive Pumpkins is quilted!

Remember when I said I looked forward to doing the borders?

Well,

this is how I did them.

I cut templates of oak leaves from freezer paper,

ironed them at 4" intervals in the border 

and then quilted, 

using them as guides.

After the outline of the leaves were quilted,

I turned the quilt over and did all the fill work from the back.

I did the same thing in the body of the quilt,

using the 3 pumpkins as my theme.

After I was done,

I showed it to my hubby, who exclaimed,

"A work of art!  You should hang it up backwards and forget all that piecing in the future!"

Men!

After much deliberation,

I have gone a new direction with my Pennies From Heaven.

Here are the first two blocks.

I changed the background to a soft brown print and

went from lime green to a blue green wool called Meadow,

by Weeks Dye Works.

I am so pleased with the changes I made that I have almost all the stitching done.

That is, except the embroidery....

not my best skill.

Cannot wait to add some of my vibrant aqua wool to the mix!

I Don't Just Pin, I Do!

When I first started blogging,

I was obsessed.

Now it is Pinterest.

I follow so many DIY sites and quilt sites that if I do not check new pins every 30 minutes,

I am overloaded!

BUT..

I don't just pin,

I do!

I have tried several recipes and my favorite is a crockpot chicken cordon bleu.

I substituted my own seasoned Panko bread crumbs for the packaged stuffing.

What quilter does not love a good crockpot recipe?

Then,

a furniture refinishing project,

inspired by all the tutorials I have repinned.

We did not use Anne Sloan's chalk paint.

We simply barely sanded it,

sprayed with KILZ primer, 

painted with a flat interior country beige,

distressed it with some sanding 

and then glazed it with Valspar Mocha Glaze.

The final step will be to wax it, but my daughter wants to paint the bottom a darker color.

New knobs courtesy of the World Market.

Next,

my daughter and I executed a wall treatment pin.

Viola...

my granddaughter's new bedroom.

We need to make sheer coral window treatments and a matching crib ruffle,

but how fun!

Here is the other side of the room with a quilt I had made for my DD.

Obviously,

the theme is an underwater one.

I had so much fun with our DIY projects that I am on the prowl for more flea market finds.

And yes, Primitive Pumpkins is just about quilted,

so stay tuned.

Thank You, Darlene!

Last month, I won a contest over at Quilting Daze, 

Darlene was cutting several projects at the same time 

and challenged us to guess which pile of fabrics went with which pattern.  

It was a fun puzzle to solve.

My prize was 4 charm packs of 

Thank you, Darlene, for your generosity and for such a fun game!

I owe Darlene yet another thank you for motivating me to get my machine humming.

She has been sewing up a storm in honor of September being 

National Sewing Month.

I am an early riser.  

During the wee hours of the morning, I get the most accomplished.

It doesn't hurt that I am fueled by my morning cup

(okay, CUPS) of coffee.

As a result,

my Pinwheels for Caroline,

designed by Lori Smith,

is pieced!

What I like best about this quilt is that I gave myself some slack.

I tried my hardest, but could not figure out how to make my ocean waves blocks come out just perfect.  Some points float

 (well, it is an ocean block, right?) 

and some (okay, a lot) 

of those diagonal seam intersections are just a little less than aligned.

But you know what,

I love it with all its imperfections.

And it busted some (although not enough!)

of my stash.

While I was cutting the border,

I also took the time to turn these

into these.

Feels good to have at least 2 buckets neatly organized and a good start on the third.
Next up...
quilting Primitive Pumpkins.

A Much Needed Change of Scenery

We took a brief, but much needed, break from the heat last week

 by escaping to our cabin in Colorado. 

 It was by no means cold up there and there were very few signs of Fall,

 but at least we could hike in the early hours of the day and just enjoy the fresh air.

While I was there, I took a break from technology...

except, of course, WWF and Pinterest...

and worked on hexies.

Here are my latest additions:

I am getting to the point now that I need to start making the setting hexies.

They will be from the background B&W fabric.  

Then I can start to sew them all together;

 and who knows,

perhaps the kids will have a quilt on their 5th anniversary

 at the rate I am going!

My primitive pumpkins quilt is basted for machine quilting.

I hope to get started on it next week.