Hello Fall Blog Hop

Hello Fall!  Hello bloghoppers!  Welcome to the Hello Fall Blog Hop!  You can go to the main page by clicking the button below:

Much as I love summer in Texas, I do enjoy the beginnings of a cool breeze come autumn.  Sadly that doesn't really kick in around here until next month.  September is usually a pretty darned warm month, full of very bright sunshine with all the neighborhood lawn sprinklers still in full flow.  So when Carla of Create in the Sticks announced her Hello Fall blog hop a month or so ago, I leaped on it with my recent finish, September Sunshine.  

All those orange and yellow fabrics really wanted to be crammed together every which way.

I've also been working on these easy pumpkin coasters to give to friends.  It was fun to use a bunch of homespuns in fall colors and I love the raggedy edges.

Still in the works for fall is my first attempt at crumble applique.  I like it, but it still needs a lot of work.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope all your fall projects turn out just the way you want them to.  

Go check out the other bloggers' posts in the hop, you'll love what you see!  I've put links to their blogs below.

Creatin' in the Sticks
Quilt Schmilt
Bumbleberry Stitches
Samelia’s Mum
Life in the Scrapatch
Storied Quilts
Songbird Designs
Quiltifications  you are here <<
Words & Stitches

for the love of geese

Brights on Whites

I picked up two clearanced kits from Connecting Threads a few years ago and combined them to make this queen sized quilt.

The colors were just so cheerful!  The blocks and sashing were unusual and I found the whole thing enchanting.  I left off any outer border and simply extended the sashing stones around the edge for a non-standard binding.

There was so much fabric left over (one of the benefits of buying kits from Connecting Threads) that I could piece a back from it all.  Sadly, I didn't center it as well as I'd hoped, but it's still pretty cute.

Magnifico white thread throughout for the quilting.  Mostly swirls, with the occasional flower to break it up.  No sashing strips were quilted, giving a grid effect more visible on the back than the front.

Binding on the straightaways wasn't too bad, but ugh! all those points!  Well worth it in the long run, but so tedious at the time.

Scrappy Neutral Stars

I must have lugged these blocks back and forth to retreats for two years, but finally, FINALLY, the quilt is done.  Most every scrap of gold and neutral in my stash got sliced up for this one.  Some of the blocks don't really seem to blend, but I'm still learning how to scrappy.

The quilting was kept simple as this one stays home with me.  The trapunto effect would probably have been better if I'd added a layer of poly batting on top of the cotton, but meh.  After a couple of washings it will shrink a bit and look puffier.

Usually the heavier quilting goes in the background, but this time I switched it up and gave the background just a simple geometric design.  

Gotta sign and date 'em.  :)

Happy spring everyone!

Merry Chris Moose

Merry Christmas to all my bloggy friends! 

This quilt started with a panel to which I added random colored nine patch blocks and strip borders.  All the fabrics except one of the reds and one of the browns came from a 2.5" roll of fabrics from the same line as the panel so I can't take credit for the lovely color combinations at all. 

The top and back were pieced a year ago, and just for fun I threw it on Terpsichore and we danced it done in no time just a few days ago.

Binding was just all the scraps.

Most fun part?  Writing "moose moose moose" all along the inner border, which you can see well in person but not so well in these pictures.  here's a shot of a section of the back where the words are visible.

Chilly Quilted Penguin

Chilly Quilted Penguin would be an excellent name for a rock band or eclectic coffee shop.

A friend told me the nursery was going to be done in penguins, which I just adore, so I had to make a penguin quilt for her baby.

I scanned the net for patterns and ideas, and from THIS quilt (Diana McClun and Laura Nownes) sketched up a pattern in EQ8.  My penguins don't look that much like their penguins, but their quilt is where my inspiration came from.

I made the beaks and feet from prairie points and left them floppy so there would be something to tug on.  The feet got some extra stitching to denote toes.

Quilting the quilt was fun and quick.  Asian wind/water for the sky, a large triangle meander for the ice, swirls for the belly feathers, and a heart for joy.

Magnifico thread in white for the shiny snowy appeal.

And to wrap it all up, a cute penguin print from about a decade ago.

Solids and Cabbage

It's not a healthy living hack of my blogger account, I promise.  There simply wasn't anything else to call this quilt!  Any suggestions for names will be taken seriously from my faithful readers.

I purchased two jelly rolls on clearance at a very nice little shop in Gainesville last year while on a quilting retreat.  Made some very quick strip blocks from them and zapped them together into a top.  I had to look around for a while, but I was CERTAIN there was a Kaffe Fassett fabric that would be perfect for the border.  :D found it.

Boy did I ever have fun doing a little bit of every kind of fill work I've ever seen, tried, heard of or thought up.  It's a little zany to look at the front, but it grows on ya'.

The back (I encourage you to click through for the enlargements) restores a little method to the madness.

Butterflies are amazingly strong and sturdy for as delicate as they appear, and I had hoped to capture some of that strength along with the delicacy in this representation.  It feels both over- and under-worked to me however.  I suspect this is due in large part to my lack of artistic ability - that is, my lack of ability to draw.  I'll probably try this again after i've had time to think about how better to approach it.

Whimsy.  I love getting to do whatever the heck I want on my own quilts.  That's a cameo of a butterfly above. 

Can't have butterflies without flowers of course!

This is a closeup of one of the butterfly wings' eyespots.  You should have seen me fiddling with my circles to get them lined up right.  Had my tongue sticking out the entire time.

Got my "Better Homes and Gardens" shot taken (always the last one I take of a quilt) about ten seconds after the rain started this afternoon.  Fortunately it was a very slow start and was just sprinkling.

First time I tried the flange binding.  I think it worked wonders on this quilt and I'll try it again sometime as it was pretty easy.  This one is too thick for my tastes though and it will get cut slimmer (the binding part) for the next run.

Box of Chocolates

Isn't that sweet!

Or as we say in Texas, "Idn'at swait!"

Found these adorable candies in a ten inch stack a year or so ago.  Had to have 'em and knew what I wanted to make with them by the time I got them home. They didn't want to be cut up; at ten inches there was just enough of each pattern to really show them off, so they were sashed, ribboned, and tied up with a bow.

The bow was way easier than it looks.  

I sketched it out on paper, decided what was foreground (red) and what was background (maroon), then enlarged it on some old packing paper, smoothed the sketch into something nice, and used the packing paper as a template.  Cut it up, pinned it to the appropriate color, cut out the pieces.  Satin stitch got it firmly sewed to the top.

In the chocolate squares the quilting is pretty innocuous as I didn't want to detract from the lushly detailed prints.  

The ribbon got some fairly dense quilting just to show off a little.

There were a few squares left over so they got turned into a pillowcase.  More and more I've turned to using leftovers for a pillowcase to match the quilts I make.  Even if the recipient doesn't want to use the case on their pillow, it makes a handy storage sleeve for the quilt when it isn't being used.

Autumn 3D Bowtie

I'm still working through my obsession with bright autumn colors.  Using the border and knot fabric as my focus, several fabrics from my stash were brought together to make these 3d bowtie blocks.  Random block placement enhanced the overall look.

The back fabric has nothing to do with the front, but is a cheerful neutral and was big enough to prevent the need for piecing.

My great-grandmother taught me how to make this block about fifty years ago.  I have no idea why the technique stayed with me, but it's cool.  You can learn this technique in a number of places online, but HERE's a link that has nice pictures.

To all of you the binding choice probably seems obvious, but first I tried the orange blender and then the green and gold leaves before figuring out that something more sedate was called for against the very colorful border.

Sure, it's dead of winter now, but dragging this quilt around in the back yard this morning to photograph it brightened up my day.