Four Patch Plus

After sending four baby quilts out the door, I got the itch to play with a small project again. I dug out my bin containing red and blue scraps and started playing. I made a pile of four patches and played with a simple layout. I decided it needed to be just a bit bigger so I added some sashing along with the setting squares on the horizontal sash. Who knows -- maybe this is a pattern with a name? It was fun to finally hang a quilt on the line. It wouldn't have worked with anything larger but a baby quilt was perfect -- and although the snow is still deep under the clotheslines, it's now hard enough to walk on. After finishing the four patch, I started stitching out some half-square triangles for another simple baby quilt, making a small dent in my bin of Verna fabrics. Getting rid of those four baby quilts was quite motivating! I'll play with these until I find out what UFO I have to complete in April.

March UFO Challenge

Judy over at Patchwork Times picked #1 on our lists to finish for March. My #1 challenge was a quilt from Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance called Ice Cream Quilt. I had a pretty easy challenge for this one -- I wanted to get the top completed and I did.

It was more difficult to get a picture of it. Although today was a sunny day, it was way too windy to try to photograph an unquilted quilt top outside. I finally pinned it to my living room curtains. With the sun shining through from the back, it was still hard to get the colors.



I had fun playing with fabrics with this one. But many times I wished I lived close to a quilt shop that carried Kaffe fabrics. I order a lot of my fabric online, but once in awhile a color isn't what you expect it to be.



I didn't have the backing or the batting I needed to go any further on the Ice Cream Quilt quilt, so I moved it down to #8 and finished this one to make room for it.




It almost looks like a good match for that house on the street behind me!

I think I'll play with some smaller quilts while I wait to see what the April challenge will be.

St. Patrick's Day Quilt Winners!

Thanks to everyone who visited my blog and offered to help me do a little spring cleaning!
I went to random.org to help me pick some winners -- this is what was decided there.

#75 - The hexagon quilt goes to Lynette

#54 - Jade wins the blue and green patchwork quilt

#86 - The crosses quilt is for Jen S

#47 -Virginia Niemela and her baby Elaine will get the pinwheel quilt

Lynette and Jade -- My sister will deliver your quilts when she comes downstate at the end of the month.
Jen and Virginia -- please email your addresses to ctosew at gmail dot com -- and I'll ship off your quilts soon.

Now I can start digging through this stash and decide what my next new project will be!

Or maybe there's something over here -

It definitely looks like I better get busy with some organizing!

Thank You!

I'm enjoying all the interest in my baby quilts -- your comments warm my heart and I wish I had time to reply to each of you individually.

I'll keep the giveaway open until Thursday evening and will update all of you on the outcome on Friday morning.

One of the comments included an inquiry on the possibility of purchasing a quilt. I have occasionally, not often, made quilts on commission. I found out that I just don't enjoy it, so at this time I won't be taking any orders.

For the next week or so I'll be working on this monster in my spare time. After wrestling with this one, I'll be looking forward to working on something just a bit smaller!



Be sure to check in on Friday morning to see if you're a winner!

A little cheater quilt

I needed to have a little hand stitching when I went to sewing club last week, so I grabbed this quilt that's been half bound for the last year and I finally finished the job.

It's made out of "cheater cloth", a length of fabric with the hexagons all printed -- no piecing needed. I did machine quilt around the hexies but that's all there is to it. Finished size is 39 x 34.




After spending January, February, and March working on much larger quilts, I was reminded how much more fun it is to make baby quilts. I'm getting an itch to make something small again.




Before I do that, I thought I should purge something from my stash.


I now have these four baby quilts sitting in a pile and not being used. Isn't that ridiculous? Actually it seems a bit shameful.

So...... if you're waiting for a baby to arrive, or if you have a baby already, or if you're a grandma, an auntie, or a friend who would like to have a little quilt to lay on the floor when babies come to visit, tell me which one is your favorite. If the luck of the Irish is with you this St. Patrick's day, you may just look forward to finding it in your mailbox next week!

I hope you're glad you stopped by today! I know I am!

Design Wall Monday

I decided to join Judy at Patchwork Times this morning and share something new on my "design wall".





I was making good progress on my March UFO but suddenly realized that I had used part of the intended backing on a different project and now had to wait for some more to arrive in my mailbox.

Of course I couldn't just sit there and wait! I would have had my other UFO's to play with and it might have been wise to make some progress on some of those, but after completing January and February's challenges, I decided I had earned the joy of starting something new.

This will be a 20 block lap quilt. I don't want to add to my UFO pile, so I'm keeping this one small and simple.

You can see all the great projects other quilter's are working on by clicking on the links at Judy's blog.

March UFO

Judy at Patchwork Times picked #1 for the March challenge. For me that is a Kaffe Fassett "Ice Cream Quilt". It's so much fun for me that she's picking projects with such summery colors to work on through the winter months. When I look at some of the darker quilts I listed for my challenge, I keep hoping I don't have to deal with them until September or October.



My original goal for this quilt was to get the top completed. I now plan to also get this sandwiched and ready to quilt this month. I'm unsure yet if I'll machine quilt this one or save it for hand quilting. If I decide to machine quilt it, I think I can complete that and bind it before the end of March.

In other news, last weekend my DIL came to visit with six grandkids. None of my grandkids live close enough for weekly visits, so when they come to town it's pretty heartwarming.

Some excitement on each visit revolves around this "goodie box". I fill it with little prizes, some hand made, some store bought, and some of the prizes come from things I'm purging around the house. Before they head for home, they're allowed to pick a prize from the box. It's fun to see how much they look forward to this and it's always a surprise to see what they decide to pick. Next time I'll try to remember to take pictures of their choices.