Where to Start

I have so much to show you! So I guess I"ll just share some today and the rest later. Yesterday was my class with Kathleen Tracy and the Broken Dishes quilt from her Prairie Children and their Quilts book. It was so much fun! Kathy is so down to earth and not a perfectionist - I liked that. You can tell she really loves those old diaries of women back on the prairie and making these quilts for fun and enjoyment, not prize winning. That made it so much fun. While we sewed she read to us some passages of a series of books "Covered Wagon Women" that the author Kenneth Holmes had collected and published old diaries of women from the wagon trail. It was so interesting.

She also mentioned she is thinking of starting an online group and and an online doll quilt club type thing. She was wondering if there was interest in such a thing and I said I know several people who would probably love it! So keep an open for it on her web site if you think you would like to do it.

So here is my finished top! It had a different border fabric, but Kathy had brought this homespun with and I really liked the way that looked instead of the print from the kit - so I used this! And I threw in the tan/brown checked fabric to give it a bit more brownish tint. I"m really happy with it!

And here is what I made from all the little scraps of fabric from the kit! Adorable isn't it!

And here is a new batch of Civil War Blocks! I still have many more to go to catch up with this week! But at least I"ve made progress!

Most Used Pincushion

Above is my most used pincushion. Not the fanciest, but certainly most used! It stays by my machine and goes with me on retreat! I know I've shared some of my others in the past so I won't bore you with more pics of those. Blueberry Lane is having a giveaway of an old pincushion book out of print for sharing your most used pincushion. Go visit!

And here are some Civil War blocks I got done this week! The top 2 are my favorites! And I even bought a cheap tablecloth to tape up on Adam's closet for a design wall finally! It is so fun to see the blocks all together! I have a lot of red and blue ones I decided. I'll have to fix that!

This and That

Just a short break from my progress on Marcie's Williamsburg Medallion to share a few other things I"ve done in the last few weeks. First off was last night's guild meeting speaker - Kathleen Tracy, author of American Doll Quilts and Prairie Children and Their Quilts. Oh what fun that was to see all the quilts in her books in real life. They are so pretty in real life. She told us how she got started quilting small doll quilts for her daughter and how she ended up writing her first book. She told about life around the period of each doll quilt. It was a very fun speaker. And we found out she is working on a new book! I don't remember when it will be out, but there will be one. I believe the next one is going to have bigger sized quilts in it! Darn on my camera, I couldn't get a good shot of the quilts for anything. It was one of those nights! But Saturday I"m making her broken dishes quilt from the Prairie Children book with her! How fun will that be!

And here are the 2 scrap quilts I made a few weekends ago when I wasn't feeling well. They are all quilted and bound and given to charity last night. You all know how to do the string ones, and the trip around the world one is from Bonnie's pattern - Scrappy Trip Around the World. Oh and on that one I did Bonnie's 10" block scrap backing!

Then like I have nothing to do these days, I ended up saying I would be on the raffle quilt committee 3 weeks ago when our old committee all up and resigned after about 5 months of not starting the quilt. So Joan, Julie and I (and I think Nan is going to help) have been getting organized and picked the colors and bought the main fabrics. The guild members will be donating FQs of the scrappy fabrics. Bonnie had given our guild permission to use her Cathedral Stars pattern. So Julie mocked up (from her stash I might add) a small version of the quilt so the guild members could see what the color theme we decided on would look like. Doesn't it look great!

Pattern revealed (but not finished)!

So here is the next round to my project! Isn't this turning out funky fun! Have you guessed what pattern it is? Well I have one small border and then the big outer border to put on yet, but I'll share it with you - because it is so fun. It is Marcie's Williamsburg Medallion Pattern! Look how different Marcie's looks compared to Libby's compared to mine! Isn't it fun to see how fabric and the center can change the look? It will be a few days before I get to finish the last border, so check back in a few days to see how I finish mine off! I still have one more surprise with it for Marcie!

Addition!

Oh my gosh! And look at Karen's version! Is this now awesome colors too! And I love what she did with the square in the square round.

Should I tell you????

Not sure if I should spoil the surprise or wait???? What do you think? Actually I think by next round your going to guess it, and if not I'm going to share what pattern it is. But look at it now - isn't it soooo cool!

And I got all the mini's quilted and bound. I need to hand sew the binding down yet - but I"m getting there!

What is it?

Yup, I've been MIA this week. Had some major deliverables due March 1st for work, so no time for posting. I did get the above project started today though - what is it? You'll just have to watch to see! The squares finish at 1".

And I got my Lori Smith quilt quilted, bound and washed! So I did get some things done.

Playtime!

Every month I teach a Lori Smith class at the LQS. And in true Dawn form I didn't make this month's sample until this weekend for tonight's class! But I got it made and quilted! And I like it, even considering I normally don't do things in pastels! Very springy!

But it didn't stop there. I had some left over pieces - so I made these 2 small quilts.

But wait - I still had some leftovers - so this small quilt got made.

And even more scraps so I made this cute little mini.

And then I used my crumbs.

And the last of my little crumbs!

Last 3 blocks for this week - and 2 mistakes!

Here are the last 3 blocks for this week! And my mind must have been somewhere else! The flag/star block is actually easy to piece, but for some reason my flying geese were all screwy and the whole thing is just "wonky"! I'll probably do this one over sometime.

The real mistake is the gold and blue one. The square in the middle is suppose to be bigger and the gold part thinner. Well I have no idea what I did, but somehow I cut a smaller center square, but had triangles sewn on large enough to still give me the correct size inside square. I love the way it looks with the mistake so this one is staying this way! And I love the crazy reproduction fabric I had for the third block!

Tomorrow I"m off to go visit my oldest daughter at college with Emily and we have tickets to see "Annie"! Should be a lot of fun, although a LOT of driving in one day. I won't be back until the wee hours of Monday morning, so won't be back for a few days. But don't forget - post #500 is soon to happen - and the big 500 giveaway!

More blocks

Here are 3 more blocks for this weeks Civil War quilt. They are all turning out so fun!

And here is one of my night TV viewing projects! I just started it, so I have a long way to go yet. But I"m using Tracey's back-basting method - I really like it!

And here is one other very long term project. I started quilting this last year, but it has been put away for about a year now, so it is time to get it back out and worked on. I only have about 1/3 of it done, but I"m quilting it fairly heavy and love it so far. I don't get hand work done too fast, but someday it will be finished!

We had a visitor today in our back yard!

Look who came to visit today in our back yard! Wiley (E. Coyote)! He has been hanging around for a few months now, but usually at dusk or dawn so I can't get a picture. So today when it was mid-morning and I was working from home I grabbed a few shots. Of course by the time I ran to get the camera and came back he had moved farther away - probably was from Chloe barking hysterically wanting to go out and play!


I also got my last week 1 block done, and my first week 2 block!

2 more Civil War Blocks

Oh it was such a good weekend. I did so much sewing! But for today I"m sharing 2 more Civil War blocks I got done! Only one more to go to catch up from last week, and then it is on to this week! Oh and if your interested in what these blocks are, I"ve created a link to a pdf file of the list of blocks we are doing. This is just a suggested list, you can make whatever blocks you want. You'll find the link under the Sew Many Blocks blog ring box on my sidebar.

I didn't get a chance to take pics of all the fun I had this weekend, so you'll just have to wait - and now that it is the work week again of course I get so busy! BUT - look at what I did get done yesterday! I LOVE spiral binding my books that I use open for long periods of time! I can easily lay them open, or fold them back to make it take up smaller space. And these 2 books were the perfect books for binding this way! I'm so happy I had time to get it done!

If your interested in getting any books done like this, I have them done at Office Max. I take it to their copy center and they cut off the binding and then punch the holes and spiral bind them. I have a lot of books I use done like this. To get both books done the bill came to just under $7. So it isn't a big expense either, and so worth it!

First Civil War Diaries Blocks

I"ve been wanting to make the blocks from the Civil War Diaries and Civil War Love Letter books for a long time. So when Kathie asked me if I wanted to do it of course I said yes! I"m about a week behind, but I got the first 4 done! (Thank you Kathie for picking easy ones for the first week so I could catch up!). So just a short post today - I'm busy sewing!

Early Birthday Shopping

So I did some early birthday shopping in Green Bay. I mean, geez - I wasn't going back up there in 2 weeks for my real birthday! Although that shop was great so I really could have! So here is what I picked up. I went not expecting too much so I had left my list of fabrics and how much at home. So I did the small kit thing! First I got some fun patterns and some white chalk marking sticks that remove with the iron, they said they worked really well, so I figured I'd give them a try!

And then some spring fabrics for a class I teach at a LQS. Once a month we do a Lori Smith Small Quilt. I never work in pastels so I wanted to do something totally out of my zone. I"ll have more pics of the quilt later in the week. I"ve already started it.

Then I found this adorable baby girl quilt kit. The fabrics on the left will go on the front and the one on the right I got for the backing. It is just a typed pattern so no picture, but I'll be making it in the not to distant future so you'll see it. But isn't that fabric just too cute!

And of course some repro fabrics. In my favorite earth tones.

And then some small kits. The kit on the left makes all 3 of those little Renee Plains quilts. They are sooo adorable made up. And the one on the top right makes a small churn dash quilt and the one on the bottom makes a Jacobs Ladder type quilt, but the pieces finish very, very small. So that one will be a challenge!

So as you can see, I had a wonderful time there! And will be going back!