More Choas

Well I just finished with the leftover blocks of Choas and this is the same size as B's Cuddle Quilt. I am satisfied with the quilt there are some changes that I would go back and do. Such as the ladybugs next to the monkeys. I think I would use more of the red and yellow, but then again... But I think that happens with most quilts that I make. I also would change the border and make it a solid to tone down the quilt but the print has really all the colors within the quilt so maybe not. Well I do need input on what color to bind/back it with. So Help! But I do have to send a thank you to the ladies at The Quilted Hill (http://www.thequiltedhill.com/) for some ideas of which fabric would help with the overall apperance of the quilt. They also have the coolest little quilt shop in the area. Just be careful that you are going the speed limit (in town 25 mph) because the police made my last shopping trip REALLY expensive. I thought it was a 35 and was doing 38 mph, well this makes me offically an Oregonian. I have gotten a ticket in either Yamhill, Carlton or North Plains. Three really small towns with really big reputations.

Complete Chaos

TA-DA

Chaos is complete. Well at least the first one is pieced and bordered. First one? There is 24 blocks left over after this was pieced because of making more blocks. Some of the extra came from Cat's request of more green. Though I agree with her and my best friend (another quilt aholic) because the green blocks balanced the quilt. And some of the extra blocks came from fabric yelling at me "Me too." I hate it (OK, hate is at strong word), I dislike it when you have already made enough blocks to make the quilt, then a fabric says I want to come join the party. You say of course you can come (this also happens to my backyard dinner parties.) Then you have more then enough to make the original quilt. I would have happily put it fabric into the quilt in the planning stage if the fabric would have just spoken up at that time. Yes, I admit that fabric talks to me and I talk back to it. But doesn't every quilter hear the fabric voices?

Choas Update

Well Chaos is coming together nicely. I should have it pieced by Friday afternoon. But I wanted to show everyone the progress. So the soon to be owner came home after playing a tournament in California and said she liked the lime green block (A will love that comment). So this morning I had to make more blocks with green in them. Any other color suggestions? Speak now or forever hold your piece (of fat quarter that is) :)

What have I been up to?

Well lets see I have about two more weeks of summer before school starts. I have opened up the laptop and started working on the Science curriculum. I have the calender with what I am going to do each day for IS1, done for 12 weeks, except three days in the middle. I have the first 3 weeks mapped out for Chem 1, so not bad. I still have to write two new worksheets for my chem course but I am hoping to borrow those from the other Chem teacher. But more importantly I have been spending alot of time in my study piecing.

First of all there is Patty's Quilt:

The details:

Pattern: Around the World

Fabrics: Out of stash (Yea), except I had to buy more of the pink because I was one square (Yes, just ONE 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches) short. The fabric line is called Scrap Bag Treasures for the flower prints. Then there is two batiks and two moda prints.

This quilt is for the office manager at my high school. She has decided to take a position at the district office, at the end of this past school year. I will miss her greatly. She is a fellow quilter and was always happy to see each of the quilts that I make and show off some of her pieces. I know this decision did not come easy so I wish her the best of luck. The quilt has a green inner boarder and I am in debate with myself if I should do a 4" outer boarder of the larger flower fabric so I started the next quilt. Which turned out to be the Butterfly Snuggle quilt of the last two postings but I got ahead of myself (it happens alot). I usually only like one quilt on the ironing board at a time but this rule has gone out the window for the

Second is my daugther's Quilt: Butterfly Breeze
The details:

Pattern: Yellow Brick Road

Fabrics: 1/2 stash :) & 1/2 new purchases :s

Colors: Pink, Lavender, white and a bit of light green

Main focus fabric (and outer boarder once I get there): Butterfly Breeze by Lakehouse.

OK so the name is a little tongue in cheek, for the quilt was not a breeze or blissful to make. It is a whole lot of quiet pinks and lavenders with a little bit of green and white to keep it from being monotonous. I cannot stand to look at it right now so the boarders will get put on in a few days. There is only so much quiet that I can stand and I have reached my limit. So I went against my better judgement (again) and started the next one.

Third is the quilt on the ironing (drawing) board: Cat's Chaos

Details:

Pattern: Yellow Brick Road (Yes, Again)
Fabric: 3/4 stash and 1/4 new

Colors: Yellow, Orange, Fushia and Purple

Main focus fabric (and outer boarder): Day Z by Lakehouse

This is using the same pattern (once I get in a rutt I sometimes stay there). Last year (or was it two years ago?) I purchased a set of beautiful hand dyed fat quarter pack. I washed them, ironed them and then lovingly put them in my stash, not knowing what to do with them. So when Cat said she wanted a bright quilt I pulled them out and with the black and brights that I had left over from Catastrophy. The colors are anything but quiet. She wanted a bright quilt and I think I can honestly said she will get her money's worth. I have sewn together all the blocks. I am on the third row out of 8 to put together the center. I am then going to put on purple or yellow inner boarder and then the small daisy outer boarder and it will be complete, just in time for her to go to college with it. She received a good sports scholarship (tuition plus room and board) for softball at a two year community college in California. She is going to be a pitcher for them next year. I do not know what I will do without her as my primary baby-sitter.

Butterflies: Round 2

Ok so before I get hip deep in a quilt I did not think to make (not that this was a bad thing just not something I would like to repeat on a daily basis. This is a picture of the fabrics that I am planning on using for Butterflies. There is a total of 18 fabrics 9 pinks and 6 purple and 1 green and then 2 mixed. 6 are dark, 6 are medium and 6 are light. Well this quilt is going to be balanced at least in the planning stages.

"I LOVE IT"

Well B got her quilt and promptly said "I love it!" As shown by the fact that it has been washed twice in 24 hours. Once after the quilting before I gave it to her. The second time was because she got pizza sauce on it that the dog tried to clean up but only made it bigger. But then again the motto of my quilts are: Love, Use, Wash, Repeat. Add in a little of the Cashmere and Silk Fresh Downy to the wash (it smells like a combination of vanilla sugar cookies and apple blossoms) and and you have the perfect Frebreze commercial. Todays adgenda is: I need to go finish the laundry, clean the kitchen, mow the lawn, and then wash the dog. Then I can come back in my study and play with the new fabric that I picked up yesturday to finish the bed quilt. Ok, the dog may not get a bath but dogs are suppose to smell like a dog, Right? All things that I have not done because of working with fabric this week.

Well to wrap this post up and stop procrastinating even more then I already have, the quilt that was not supposed to happen, is greatly loved and I have even come around to the fact that it matches the personality of the recipient and will be well used and loved.

B's Snuggle Quilt

Ok you know the story of how the baker's kids always goes hungery.... Well, the same kinda goes for my daughter. She is three and this is her first from scratch quilt that I have made her. I have made her little baby quilts, the type that are made from leftover blocks of quilts the I have made before. Either the blocks just did not fit with the rest of the quilt so I had to make more, or I made to many in my zeal of block heaven (can you say math errors). She has also had multiple gifts of quilts from good friends, usually with strange names like: Acid trip, Puke me up Pink, Electron Cloud, and Picnic in the Park. All of her baby quilts are very bright, it hides the stains better. Well the colors of this quilt, as you can see will fit in very well with the rest.

This snuggle quilt is a complete accident. I am making a twin sized (sedate) quilt for her bed. The focus fabric being the Lakehouse Butterfly Breeze in pearl. With the main colors being pink and purple. If you look closely at the quilt you will see three squares that do not have any green in them. And those if they were a meal would be Mac and Cheese. Nice, filling and kinda bland (but in a good way). That is what the volume level quilt was supposed to be. Well I wanted to add a "bit" (three fat quarters) of not purple or pink. My best friend always says "Lime green is a neutral" and normally it is. But, this time it decieded to change the quilt's feel entirely. So I did the same thing with the blocks as I would in my classroom with an adnormally loud student. I seclude them in the front beside my podium so that I can give them the attention they need. And to also keep the other students from bending to the desire to talk out of turn, pass notes or do strange things with the chemicals in the lab. So I secluded the blocks, and gave a strong idea to tossing them out (most of the fabric is from my stash so it would not be that much visible cash in the circular file.) That idea was being debated in my head: do I toss the blocks because they are not playing well with others verses my love of bright colors and they might work with the right boarder and quilting. My daugther walked into the room, looked at the ironing board and said "Pretty" and then "I am chilly" which is code for I want to wrap up in a blanket. So her Snuggle quilt that was not supposed to happen occured. I decided to back it in lavender Minkey fabric as this is a Snuggle quilt (this is the first quilt that I have used Minkey) and the batting is Warm and White (I have half of a roll of this in my closet because I use it so much). This should lend itself to a warm, bright, and chearful quilt that is great for the rainy winter months. And though it was an accident some times you just need a little hot sause.