Sister's Choice Quilts

PamkittyPower

Remember these?  I had so much fun playing around with the red and pinks in the first "PamkittyMorning" collection designed by Pam Vieria-McGinnis and Holly Holderman for Lakehouse fabrics.  There were dozens of prints in the line, and at least five or six different colorways.  If you liked yellows and greens, you were all set.  If light and medium shades of blue float your boat, they were available.  And of course, the pinks and reds that I chose, are gorgeous, as you can see. Of course if you could afford all the prints in the line, you could get a fat quarter of each and make the cutest scrappy quilt on the planet.

Pam came out with a second collection, "PamkittyLove" which is just as cute as her first design.  All the  fabrics in the second group coordinate beautifully with the fabrics in the first collection. With the addition of some black floral and polka dot prints that are adorable.

The good news?  Pam is coming out with her third collection "PamkittyPicnic", which I cannot wait to get my hands on.  After Quilt Market next week, we fans will have a better idea of what all is in this group.  I am certain however, that the prints will work perfectly with the other Pamkitty fabrics in your collection!  I plan to add to my Pamkitty stash for sure!

Since I have done no sewing this week, I felt I should go down to the studio after work today and rummage around a bit and come up with something to blog about.  Low and behold, I discovered my PamkittyMorning granny square blocks.  I have enough fabric left to make more blocks.  What should I do?  Make a nine block table topper with my favorite blocks or make twelve or sixteen blocks for a small quilt?  I am leaning towards making a table topper because this style of fabric (which I adore) doesn't play so well with my more traditional decorating scheme in the bedrooms.  On my kitchen table though, the sky is the limit.  Can't you just see a table topper made with these blocks on my summer table?  With a big blowsy bouquet of hot pink roses?  And a dish of strawberries? 

 

What's On My Design Wall

Hey, everyone, how is your week going?  My Wednesday was a lot better than the earlier part of the week, that's for sure.  I finally said "No" to a commitment that has been making me unhappy and stressing me out, and I feel as if the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders.  Between caring for sweet Baby E, lovely Grandpa, and working two part time jobs in town, somethin' had to give.  One of the part time jobs is over, and I am sitting here asking myself why I didn't do it sooner.  Do any of you do that?  Hang on in a situation that is miserable, or at best, going nowhere?  Why do we do that? 

Spent the latter half of the afternoon in the studio stitching.  You can see my progress on the Kiss Me blocks--nine done, seven to go.   Didn't work on Dresden plates, but they are sitting there, encouraging me.

The red and aqua block on the far right is the first block of the latest Designer Mystery BOM, sponsored by the Fatquartershop.  Instead of receiving all the blocks and letting the project sit ignored all year, I decided to do something radically different and actually construct the thing the same month I received it.

Here it is before cutting:

Pretty fabrics, and the most adorable little mini charm pack of 2 1/2 inch squares!  I am sure Moda has given it a too-cute-for-words name, Petit Fours?  Truffle? Amuse Bouche?  No instructions on how to use it, but it is sweet all the same.

So here is the finished block:

Oh yes, I do like this.   And I am vowing right now, in front of God and everyone, that I WILL keep up with this BOM.

So here is an unsolved mystery:

Why is there so much fabric left over?  This is not typical of FQS BOMs.  Usually they have the amount of needed fabric figured out down to a thread.  Will we use the leftovers for a scrappy border?  Any guesses?

 

 

 

This Quilt Is Moving to Ireland

One of the things we did while Ahren and Mary Ann are here visiting, is to celebrate Christmas.  They had originally planned to be here for the holidays, but left buying their tickets a bit late.  By the time they were ready to book their flights, prices were through the roof.  So they decided to put off their trip to California until now.

One of their gifts from me was this Morris fabrics quilt.  The fabrics are William Morris inspired reproduction fabrics designed by Barbara Brackman.  They are from several of her various past collections.  The pattern is "Kitchen Sink" from Kim Brackett's book "Scrap Basket Surprises".  (The book has a five star rating on Amazon. com-if you don't own it, you may want to check it out).  I finished the quilt last spring before I moved, and got it back from being quilted in December.  It was beautifully quilted by the gracious Debbie at Prairie Queens.

I am really happy with the soothing quality of the colors, and thrilled that Ahren and Mary Ann like it as well.  It is going to fly home with them and live in Dublin, Ireland!

Tree Quilt

This quilt was so much fun to make.  Bev Stookey, who I mentioned in a previous post, used to teach this class at Eddie's Quilting Bee.  I am guessing that I put the top together about 12-15 years ago!  And, nope, it isn't finished!  You see, I decided to hand quilt it myself.

Mista--a--a--a--ke.

For one thing my hand quilting skill level is low.  I will say this though, if you keep at it, your stitches do get smaller and more even.  My problem was, I kept putting the quilt away and when I picked it up again months or years later, I had to start all over again building up my quilting dexterity.  It feels so clumsy and awkward when you first start up.

I've heard many people say that they "don't like tree quilts", but I think this one is kinda cute.  I love the way each tree block has its own black containment border.  It was also a kick to collect all the different fabrics for the trees.  And I remember how the women in the class all laughed and joked and had such a good time.

The texture of this quilt is so different from a machine quilted one.  It is much much softer.  So inviting to snuggle under for a bit of a nap.

When I started searching for this quilt to post on it, it was literally on the very bottom of a stack of quilts in my bedroom closet, way high up on a shelf.  I had to drag out the ladder and climb up to wrestle it down without disturbing the rest of the piles.  Imagine me looking up thinking "Oh, man, how am I going to get that down?"

 

Now that I have it in hand, I am thinking that I need to finish this one.  Who cares if my quilting is less than perfect?  There is something appealing about making the effort.

 

Yuletide Blessings

My next (and probably last) UFO giveaway is pictured above.

This fabric collection is called Yuletide Blessings.  The only Christmassy collection Fig Tree has done for Moda.  I made 68 blocks for a quilt called Fall Frolic in the Evelyn Sloppy book 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts.  It is one of those patterns that call out for a simple all over quilting design.  It could be super cute.

I do not know what happened here with these blocks that caused me to stop construction.  The fabric is great, I have a ton of blocks---who knows?  For whatever reason I lost the love.

Nevertheless, these blocks will make up into a good sized holiday quilt for someone out there in Blogland, who would like to make them into a quilt.  If you think that could be you, leave a comment here and I will announce the winner on Thursday.

I just have to say, I am a bit distracted as I write this.  My son is home for Christmas break, and his long time "pen pal" from Ireland has come out for a visit to get to know him in person, so to speak.  She is lovely.  Just lovely.  And he is so happy.  I have the next three days to get to know her better, and must say, I am really liking what I see.  She brought me a gift.  A gorgeous Waterford bowl that she had to hand carry all the way from Galway,  on the air plane, and all over San Francisco, until she was able to present it to me this evening.  Oh my goodness.  I love it.  What a thoughtful, amazing present.  I will fill it with something suitable and take a picture of it to share.  

I made the right decision to put the family Christmas quilt on the bed in the guest room.  Yes I did.

Taking Stock

I have cut back my work hours substantially, my husband is away all week long, and I can now sew until midnight if I wish to.  Full of eagerness to get into my sewing room and get something accomplished, I stopped short upon gazing at the UFO's I have stacked up.  Hmmm, I sure do have a lot of unfinished projects I need to complete.  Let's have a look.

Should I take up Allspice Tapestry and work on the star medallion quilt from a past Quilt Sampler magazine?  Gosh, that fabric is so great.  I made one star.  It involved flying geese units, and the pieces are all pre-cut, so I can't use my new Fit to be Geese ruler.  Bah.

Or how about a more recent UFO?  Sweet Escape using those gorgeous Neptune fabrics that came out last spring?  I have only half my blocks made, and they are so easy.  I could zoom through these.  No.  Not in the mood.

Or, hey, how about going back a couple of years to this wonderful project?  Love the block, love the fabrics, hate, Hate, HATE the half square triangle construction technique.  Sorry. Marsha, but your method takes forever.  Accurate?  Sure.  Fiddly and time consuming?  Sigh.  Yes.

Oh, now here we go.  What if I just put those UFO's out of my mind, and start a wonderful new project I have been dreaming of doing?  Birdseye, with all sorts of yummy rust, green and brown Civil War prints.  Oh yes, this is going to be good.  But it's 4:00 in the afternoon.  This isn't a good time to start an entire new project.  Besides, I need to see if I can find more of this great border fabric before it disappears from the face of the earth.  Maybe I should forget sewing for the day and log on to my computer and go shopping?  No, stop that, Nicole.  You need to accomplish something.

Well, here is an old friend I keep working on and then putting away for months on end.  She is going to give up on me if I don't follow through.  This is a terrific quilt project.  Flowers for Clara, a kit I ordered from Bonnie Blue eons ago.  I really want to get this one done and on a bed.  I am totally in the mood for Civil War prints.  Let's go.

By now it is 5:45.  I have completed two blocks. 

What is the matter with me?  I need to focus.  But, it's Wine O'Clock.