March Quilting Bee Blocks

Creating virtual quilting bee blocks this month was really fun...lots of pure, bright colors and three block patterns I made for the first time.

Rita, Sew Connected 2, sent gorgeous shot cotton fabrics and asked for blocks with love, home, family themes...


Barb, Stash Busting Bee International,
was inspired by a Red Pepper Quilts block, bright and scrappy...


And Meg, Bee Obsessed, requested star blocks of pink, purple, orange & yellow on white backgrounds...



Coincidentally, Meg turned out to be one of my DQS8 partners, but I didn't know it at the time I was making her block!

It's looking like April is going to be a good bee block month too with new and different ideas/themes!

Marilyn

Craft Day Shadow Boxes

Today, thanks to Liam's mom (who wanted me to continue with craft days) and his grandpa (who wanted that too and offered to take care of Liam), I enjoyed time with my regular crafting group at Karla's.

Vicki, (This Art That Makes Me Happy) was so nice to send several of her shadowbox die cutouts and Altered Fairies Creative Scraps to Karla for us to play with...sweet, huh?


Beth's:


Shawn's:


Mary's:


Karla's:


And mine:


What fun to craft the same project but end up with a variety of results...thanks so much, Vicki!!

Marilyn

Sweet Boy.......

I spent my days this week with this handsome young man...

...our 3 month old grandson, Liam ;)

And I get to do the same thing again next week and for seven more weeks after that...because I am the lucky grandmother providing day care for the little guy.
I love my job!

We had a great week and I'm learning quickly about the new equipment and toys available since my children were babies! Who knows how up to date I'll be by the time summer arrives:)

The change to my schedule is moving around the time I have for crafting, at least initially. But when it comes to prioritizing, there are two things I always find time for, family and creating!

Marilyn

Alice in Wonderland Tags!!

My package from Karla's "Alice Tag Book Swap"
came in the mail today!

It's beautiful--Karla does such a nice job of choosing tags that look good together.


She also painted the picture of Alice for the covers of all the tag books...and added the little "Drink Me" bottle--cute!

(front)

(back)

From Jessica (Kids Napping? I'm Scrapping!).....


From Cami (Creating Myself).....


From Rochelle (Southern Girl...Northern Woman).....


From Hope (Thoughts of Whimsy).....

(front)

(back)

From Ellie (Ella's Edge).....

(front)

(back)

From Amy (Ruby Moon Designs).....

(front)

(back)

A huge THANKS to all of you for your gorgeous tags!!
*******************************************************

These are the six tags that I made for the swap.....


one for Karla for being a sweet hostess.....


and three for myself.....

because it was such a wonderful theme and I was just having so much fun making them!

Marilyn

Quilts, quilts.....lots of quilts!

First, let me show you the Doll Quilt Swap 8 beauty I received from my partner, Meg (Boutique NutMeg Designs)!


She picked up on my love of Anna Maria Horner fabrics and put them together in such a fabulous way...and doesn't it look great on the warm tan wall in my craft room?!

Meg is so creative...she also sent the cutest notepad and note cards and wrapped them up so sweetly with ribbon and crocheted flowers!


Thank you so very much, Meg!

******************************************

More quilts? I'm happy to oblige:)

Lots of Show & Tell quilts from the March 11 meeting of
KC Modern Quilt Guild:



and the February 25 meeting:



After seeing these amazing quilts, I went home from both meetings inspired and ready to sew!

However, I'm currently in the midst of a clean-up, re-organize project in the craft room. Maybe I can rush through that and move on to sewing.....OR maybe I can scoot the craft room stuff aside--I'm an expert at making piles--and move on to sewing! Care to wager?

Marilyn

Craft Day Tea Party Baby Shower...

...sounds fun, and it was!

On Tuesday, Shawn and Bethany and I drove out to Karla's for a craft day with Beth, and Mary (who brought all of us a pack of her French dictionary pages) and


Lauri (who also gave us lovely crafting goodies).

(And the doilies in both photos are from Shawn.)



So why the bunny ears and hats you ask?


Because it was also a Tea Party--an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party--in honor of Karla's Alice Tag Book Swap.


Complete with pretty little tea sandwiches that Shawn made :)


Karla had the table beautifully set...




...and placed a tiny little frozen charlotte doll wrapped in vintage flocked wallpaper at each seat!


The party also honored Shawn who is expecting a new addition to their family next month--she is holding a picture that Karla painted of Bethany holding her new baby brother:)


Even Karla's dog, Twinkle, dressed up for the party!

It was really a special day!!!

Marilyn

Doll Quilt Swap 8 (sent)

Last week, I finished my little quilt for Doll Quilt Swap 8 and mailed it to my partner............

Jo, (sparkly green knickers) in Melbourne, Australia!

Jo emailed me yesterday to say she received it and she loves it. That is always so nice to hear!

**quilt front (21 x 21 inches)**


**close up of the embroidered tree**


**quilt back**

I usually try to make something for my partner that I think they will like. Jo said she likes nature, green and natural tones.....and I noticed in the inspiration mosaic, that she created for the swap, several quilts that included linen and/or trees. I like to use this information for a jumping off point and then work intuitively, creating as if I'm making it for myself. It's much more fun and I think my work turns out much better this way.

I had several fabric strips leftover when I finished the quilt so I used them to make a matching zip pouch (with this tutorial).


And, of course, I felt compelled to fill it with green goodies!


So, now I'm anxiously checking my mailbox everyday, hoping to see a DQS8 package for me in there ;)

Marilyn