Playing With Blocks

Two or three months ago, I played around in my craft room and put together this improv'd quilt block. I didn't have a plan for it so the block stayed in one of my many piles of stuff.


Last week I decided to turn it into a decorative pillow. I added a few more strips of fabric to bring it to 20 x 20 inches--the size of a pillow form I had in the closet.


I liked the way it turned out and put it on our bed for some summer color in the bedroom. Coincidently, this week, a woman in one of my Flickr quilting groups asked the group "What's on your bed?" She said she's had a lot of fun asking quilters this question and has discovered that many haven't yet made a quilt for their own bed and sleep under a purchased comforter, etc.


I definitely fall into that category so I posted this photo in the group and said this was as close as I've come to making a quilt for our bed! One of the more prolific quilters in our group laughed and said "Well, it's a start, right?" I hope she's not holding her breath while waiting:)

Edited to add...

I couldn't stop with just a pillow for "What's on your bed?" because Emma is often on our bed too!

In another Flickr group, Stash Busting Bee International, this is the block I made for Shannon. She's making a quilt for her 9 year old nephew and wanted it to have a hunting lodge look. Well, I can tell you that I never felt more challenged! Shannon sent the deer?...elk?...fabric patch (like I said, challenged and totally out of my element) and the rest of the fabric had to come out of my stash--yikes!


Fortunately, I remembered a set of fat quarters I bought on a trip to Seattle that depicted scenes around Puget Sound. One of the pieces had pine trees on it and on another I found an eagle and a duck--challenge met! And, actually, I ended up enjoying this block:)

Marilyn

Under The Sea Swap

This is the mermaid I created for the Under The Sea Swap. A mermaid wasn't my initial idea...well, actually it was, but I started thinking that maybe everyone would be making a mermaid and surely I could come up with something different. Even as I pulled out fabrics that reminded me of the sea, and then sewed them together randomly, and then top-stitched like crazy on them, I still wasn't yet thinking 'mermaid'.


But, as you well know, some projects create themselves! I began sketching out a pattern for my newly created fabric piece, drawing the tail fin first. THAT is when she became a mermaid and the rest fell into place.

I had a lot of fun with this lady-of-the-sea. There were parts of her that I'm not used to working with (like her hair) but the process of trial and error (and trial and error) was a good learning experience, and it's always good to stretch my creative self.


She made her way to my swap partner, Bairbre Aine, a couple of weeks ago and I hope she likes her! (I haven't heard from Bairbre Aine yet, but when I contacted her for her snail mail addy, she said her internet service at home wasn't working and she has to go to her local coffee house to log on.) I'm also excited to see how Bairbre Aine's sea creature for me turns out! (But the deadline isn't until June 28th, so I guess I need to settle down and relax for a little while longer.)

This is really fun too...Zan (Wild at Heart Art), the hostess for the Under the Sea Swap, has posted a A Parade of Mermaids on her blog where there are photos of amazing sea creatures made by several of the swappers.

Have a great weekend!

Marilyn

Gotta Love Bloggers!

The blogging community is full of wonderful people, isn't it? YOU are one of those wonderful ones...and how would we have ever met if it wasn't for blogging? That's kind of a sobering thought...I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have met. Fortunately, our paths did cross and I couldn't be more happy:) Thanks for your lovely friendships!!

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Glenna (Your Fabric Place) is a new bloggy friend of these past few months. She is a sweet and talented woman who lives in Georgia and loves fabric and loves to sew. Her blog is filled with photos of beautiful fabric and patterns, pictures of her completed sewing projects or in-progress with helpful hints and/or tutorials. Pretty and informative--it's really worth a visit!

So imagine my surprise, and pleasure, when Glenna gave my blog this "lovely" award...


How nice is that! Thank you, Glenna...coming from you, this means a lot!

Marilyn

2 Bee Blocks

We've had A LOT of rain around here recently so it's been a little tricky to keep caught up on yard work. I haven't had to mow the grass for years, thanks to Rick, but I still like to do the trimming and let me tell you, the bushes, trees and flowers have thrived heartily with all of this rain!

Cloudy, rainy days are good for crafting and sewing though, don't you think? I especially love to sit down and sew on those days and I've been able to make a couple of quilt blocks for my quilting bee groups.

For Amanda in the Sew Connected 2 group:


I fell in love with the colors she chose for her fabrics! She also sent two embroidered pieces to put in the blocks...everybody got a strip with part of the alphabet on it and one with their initials on it. Fun, huh?

And for Lish in the Stash Busting Bee International group:


Lish requested stars, pinwheels or spinning things for her blocks. The red print is the scrap she sent and the other fabrics are from my stash. It turned out to be kind of fun to "shop" through what I already had...and my stash has now been "busted"--by a mere fraction--yay!

Marilyn

Crazy Colorful Circles Colliding Create a Chaotic Constellation

That's the title of this amazing (and gorgeous) mini quilt from Andrea for the May Swap Til You Drop.

The theme was "Alphabet Mania". Can you guess what her letter was? That's right..."C"!

Even the shape is a "C"...a circle...and it contains more circles with pictures of things starting with "C".

Castle, Calla Lily, Chocolate, Cat, Cows...


Cactus, Candy Canes, Oreo Cookie, Cleopatra, Coconut, Caterpillar, another Castle


Cathedral, Cinnamon Sticks, Carrots, another cat, Christmas Cookies, Car, Candy Land game


Color Wheel, Cucumbers, Cinderella, Cupcakes


Chamomille flowers, Clouds, Crown, Coupons, more Cookies, Cartoon Cathy saying Chocolate!


And take a look at all of the wonderful "C" goodies she packed into the box too!



What a fun swap theme this was! And a huge THANK YOU to Andrea for taking it to such heights!

Marilyn

Wanna Sneak a Peek?

Today, I finished my creation for the Under The Sea Swap and it is now swimming its way to Bairbre Aine. Here's a little sneak peek...


I can show you more when it beaches itself at Bairbre Aine's. And, on June 19th, Zan Asha, the swap hostess, will be posting a parade of sea creatures from the swap on her blog. I had fun with mine and now I'm anxious to see what others have done. There are some big name doll artists participating so I think it should be a good show.
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Another sneak peek of something I'm not able to say too much about JUST YET...



It's difficult to be so secretive, but it's also impossible for me to not show you some of what I've been up to this week! So I guess sneak peeks are the way to go for now;)
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In other news, I joined another virtual quilting bee group on Flickr. This one is Stash Busting Bee International and is a little different from my other group.

It's the same that each month, we will all make and mail a quilt block to that month's person and by the end of the month she'll have enough blocks to make a whole quilt.

The difference is that instead of each month's person sending out a whole set of fabric for the others to make blocks with, she will just send out a scrap of fabric to each quilter and they will use their own stash to complete the block, incorporating the scrap that was sent.

I think it will be a lot of fun and a creative way to use some of the fabric in the closet and drawers and bags in my craft room. We start in July--I can't wait!

Marilyn