A is for Aardvark - BOW - "V" & Update

Block "V"

 

And the winner of the Sunflower mug rug is   

Gill

  .

Congratulations Gill!!!

Leave a comment so that we can get together via email.

 

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Next mug rug up for grabs is this cut little owl attempting a safe landing.

Leave a comment for a chance at it.

I'll announce a winner June 6th.

 

BTW,

I'm planning a fantastically, wonderful secret give-away very soon for those of you who

"FOLLOW" my blog via all the different ways.

So if you are not a "FOLLOWER" there's time to join the madness and stay tuned

 because you are really going to love this

 special give away.

 

 

Update on Buzzard Bait (AKA) Sugar and Cream

See that little whitish heifer.......that's little Buzzard Bait nearly grown up. I hardly recognized her myself. She is now, of course, grazing with the herd but still a ham when it comes to having her picture taken.

 

 

Plotting, Auditioning,Bingo!

I've had my barns in the back of my mind for about a month. What to do, what to do??
My first thought was this......

But when I stood back, I thought, "Not it!"

On to the next arrangement.......

With this one I was thinking of scattering the barns in more of a

random order but still, "Not feeling it!"

What to do, what to do.......

The filler blocks were too dark so I decided to lighten the fillers.

I had, in the back of my mind, fences in the filler blocks, all along.

BINGO!

So I am off and running with the idea. Sorry about the fuzzy photo below

but I am loving this look and will stick with it. 

What are your thoughts?? I'd love to hear from you.

 

Memorial Day Honors

Memorial Day, which occurs the last Monday in May, is designed to remember our

fallen men and women from the various wars and battles, past and present.

Some take the chance to also salute the men and women

 who survived.

These men survived the various wars. The first three have since passed away but lead fruitful lives. The top right and bottom right are my dad and granddad.  The bottom left is a cousin who lives in another state.

 

DWM-Sunday

I knuckled under and finished piecing the "Green Lover" quilt. A thin 1 1/2 inch red stop border followed by a 6 1/2 inch piano key border did the trick.

Final measurements.....56" by 76" which makes for a wonderful lap sized cozy quilt.

I love the look of this quilt. One day I'll quilt it.

Next up......

Ugly fabric and an idea......

 I've had this fabric for years, got it from a girlfriend. I think she said that her grandma had given it to her. As you can see the pinkish coral background and large floral pattern. This is a difficult fabric to work with but you know me.....I looked at it for years until inspiration struck.

Never once did I think to use it as a backing. I was determined not to.

After pulling several dull green fabric strips (green is my favorite color BTW), I decided to frame those strips with a black strip to add interest.

 

This design is one that I've developed over the years and have shared in the past. It's called Fractured Diamond.

I love the way this particular design works out. You can get a double design or more depending on your particular layout.

After I stood back to take a look, I knew that I wanted to diamond to extend into the border which meant I'd have to do "half" block diamonds with solid corners.

I don't even notice that ugly fabric. All I see is that beautiful green popping out!

Believe it or not, this quilt took only the weekend to sew and that includes interruptions visits from family dinners, Sunday School and Memorial Church service.

The final measurement is 45 inches square.

Love it!!!

Can you see the 4 pointy pinkish stars? The one green 4 point green star diamond? The circular type motion of the outer diamonds??

There are probably more shapes if you squint when viewing the photo.

What are your thoughts??

 

 

 

A is for Aardvark - BOW - "U"

Block "U"

 

The winner of the tropical fish is _____Barb_____

Congratulations to you, Barb!

Email me and we'll get all the particulars then.

 

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 Sunflower is the next mug rug. Doesn't it look springy!!

Leave a comment and you're in the running.

I'll announce a winner May 30th.

One More

Okay, I made one more barn. I just couldn't leave well enough along. I do not have a pattern for this one.......sorry. It was a little rush job before company came.

Here's a side by side view of a couple of string quilts. The green one I just finished this morning. I need to sew borders on both quilts but, alas, time is not on my side at the moment. Both quilts measure roughly 40 by 60 so far.

 

All projects were made with scraps from my ever growing stash. Yep, you heard me...the stash is growing. At this rate, it will totally take over the house within the month.

DWM

What a ride I've had this past week which had little to do with sewing but I knew that Monday was fast approaching so I'd need to do something for DWM. Thank goodness for Judy who is the hostess for this uplifting experience each week. Make sure you pop over to see what others are creating!

Here's what I've been up to this past week.

 

What's this, you ask??

Is it pieces of paper for the trash?

Possibly some sort of art?

None of the above. This is my stash of Steam-a-Seam snippets, strips, corners, and bits.

This adhesive is expensive, so I keep an old box handy to store the adhesive until another project comes up and I go digging for bits.

 

I used said bits on my new string project. I've had the zebra type fabric in my stash for years with no real idea of what to do......has anyone else been in that situation???

I decided to make another string quilt using a muslin foundation. These blocks were cut

7 1/2" by 8 1/4".......why that particular measurement, you might ask.......well, I have a very simple answer........I was not looking at my ruler markings before I'd cut "many" blocks, so I was stuck with I made an executive decisions to use that measurement.

When making an elongated string and using a defined center strip, half of the blocks needs to run on the diagonal in one direction and the other half in the opposite diagonal direction.  Learned that one the hard way!!

I decided to outline the zebra type fabric with a black fabric in different sided strips, along with varied green fabrics so that I wouldn't have to match seams......this keeps things very simple and easy......no thinking involved....LOL

I did a secondary design using varied red fabrics on the inside tip of each block, only. This lends the X's and O's effect. Also, there's a diamond design involved.

I love the look of this and need to make 18 more blocks. I'm planning a piano key border using the rest of all those green fabrics with zebra and red fabrics sprinkled throughout.

All fabrics have come from my stash and as you can already guess, the stash has multiplied. I'm losing ground, becoming over-run in scraps....drowning in strips, suffocating.......sorry, I got carried away. 

 

 

Hands2Help Next Step

Whew! I've finally managed to sandwich and machine quilt my two choices in this endeavor. Needless to say, I was terrified of messing thing up but I was encouraged to try.

Here are some of the steps I did to sandwich the quilt tops.

Measure out the backing and press it . I know it doesn't look pressed but it is.

Using "masking tape" tape the edges of your backing to whatever surface stretching it taunt as shown. 

Lay batting next. I tend not to tape the batting but I'm sure that some do.

Next I lay the quilt top on and using the large safety pins, pin all layers together before removing the tape and relocating the sandwich at my sew machine.

 

 

  I meandered each quilt and was fairly happy with the outcome.
Binding is next and then labeling.

The quilts are quilted and the binding is all done.

I went with a unique labeling. Since I'm donating to Hands2Help, I decided to make a hand for each quilt as labels.

 

 

 

No-Reply Blogger - Now I Understand

I hope that everyone who had not understood some of the visitors to "Blogger" who's left a comment but "Blogger" hasn't been receptive to allow responds......you really need to

read why from AMY.

She will totally enlighten you!!
This heads up came to me by way of
Daryl.
Thank you so much girlfriend.

Did you read her post yet????  If not, pop over and get a better understanding.
There are others who leave commenst on blogger such as the "OpenID" that we have no way of communicating with once that person has left a comment.
With all the technology, why can't these computer gizmo thingys just get along.....sigh
Anyone else feeling my frustration???
 

A is for Aardvark - BOW - "T"

Block "T"

 

 

The winner of the Green Turtle is 

Minding Momma!

 

Congratulations to you. Leave a comment and we'll get together via email.

 

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This tropical fish needs a home. Just leave a comment for this lovely mug rug and your name will be placed in the hat!!

 I'll announce a winner May 23rd.

Mug Rug Frenzy

I can't stop!

I just can't stop myself from making mug rugs.

You'd think I'd be finishing some of those larger UFO projects that really needs to be completed but noooo.....

Here are the ones I've just completed.

They will appear as give aways one of these THURSDAY's.

I love naming my mug rugs. It helps me keep up with what I've done in a series like the owls because I've made several versions or if the rug is unusual or unique.

 

Apple Core Mug Rug

Blackbird Mug Rug

Shoe Fetish Mug Rug

Barn Owl Mug Rug

High Seas Mug Rug

 

No fabric was purchased in the makings of any mug rug. However my scraps and stash of fabrics have not diminished one iota........how this is possible, I do not know...LOL

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Remember, there's still time to get in on the

Turtle mug rug give away before tomorrow. The deadline ends at midnight tonight.

 

Just leave a comment at this LINK and you're in the hat for the Turtle!!

 

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Become a "FOLLOWER" of my blog and you will be eligible for a great upcoming give-away that will blow you away.  If you are already a "FOLLOWER"..... no worries for you.

International "FOLLOWERS" are welcome.....meaning,

 I mail overseas, as well.

 

 

DMW

Design Wall Mondays always inspire me to get something done in the way of sewing. As most of you know, I've been into mug rug making this year. They are fun, quick to make and I love giving them away each Thursday.
I've made about 40 and with each I've started to expand my skills. I see them as my way of expressing the art side of me.
Here are two that are in the works now. I still need to get them stitched, quilted and bound.

 

 The hand below is a label I've made for the two Hands2Help quilts that I'll be mailing off very soon. I went with it instead of the tradition rectangle or square label just to add a little something extra.

 

Make sure you pop over to Judy's to see what others are doing on DWM.

 

A is for Aardvark - BOW - "S"

Block "S"

 

The winner of the Rhinoceros is  number

Laura

Congratulations to you. Just leave a comment and we'll exchange info via email.

 

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Green Turtle is the next mug rug up for grabs. Leave a comment and you're in the hat!

I'll announce the winner May 16th.

 

DWM

To see what others are up to, pop over to

 Judy's

for a closer look.

I learned about this wonderful project from this LINK.

With the various situations, tragedies and worries that have occurred lately, Sandra and Sandi came up with this small heart warming project.

I chose a heart design. I wanted it to be vivid. The rest of the design was to be in shades of gray so that the piece would standout.

I used fabrics from my stash. Robert Kaufman's Fusions; Windham Fabrics-Civil War by Nancy Gene and other scraps.

I wanted the wording to fade from darkness to light.

"From Tragedy to Hope"

was what I chose. "Hope" is done in two shades of yellow. 

Sprinkling the monochromatic gray, black and white flowers added to the piece.

Now I'll need to sandwich everything then quilt it. The finished piece should

 measure 12 inches square.

 

All done!