Another fun block

is finished!!

My Quilt Doodle Doodles block

for the month of May:

and I snuck it in
just under the deadline/wire... Again! :)

Summertime fun

 Somehow, I've gotten myself into another stitch-along.
Does that statement ring a bell with you, too?

Memorial Day has passed,
and though not officially Summertime yet,
I've found some Summertime fun to get into!
Another quilt to start...
yes, I said START!

Just like you,
I have all this extra time, you know,

so I'm joining in on 

Lisa's  10th anniversary stitch along.

(click on the link above to take you to the block pattern)

It's only a new applique block every couple of weeks. :)

I figure I'll do them when I can,
& save the patterns when I can't get to it.
I really can't resist,
since it's a free pattern and
I can use up more of my cotton and wool plenitude!

Are YOU also going to join in on this Summertime fun??

Happy Stitching!
Debra

p.s.
Congratulations, Lisa on your 10th anniversary!
Thank You So Much
for the great, new, free design,
& for letting us help you celebrate!!

change of plans or mind or 2+29

After a couple of folks/family members
gave me the strangest looks,
and I had a phone call (or three)
about things I was supposed to be doing
(or already have done),
I finally figured it out...

THIS weekend

is the three day holiday weekend of Memorial Day...

NOT the following weekend!

In my mind, I still have one more week before the end of the month.
Wait - there is one more week before the end of the month!

Memorial Day-

our day of commemoration

for the men & women who died while in military service -

is celebrated on

here's the rub -  the last Monday of the month -
NOT the last weekend of the month of May.

Which I knew - really I did... I just hadn't put two and two 29 together to know that the last Monday is the 26th, NOT the 31st!

So after I got that changed around in my mind,
I decided to get myself in gear and do what I thought I still had another week to do - I finished a couple more customer quilts early this week -
Fun, Fun, Fun!!

The first is Janet's great work -
all scarlet and gray and Ohio-State-Buckeye-ish:

(I folded over the backing on the far left
so you could see how gorgeous it is, too.)

Here's a close-up of the fabrics:

Aren't they great fabrics?!

She made it for a gift for later this year - lucky recipient!

This second quilt is Peg's:

(Yes, this photo makes the quilt look a little wonky -
sorry!, but it really was perfectly squared.)

 

She made it for her Tar Heel son, who is an avid golfer

(She's planning on gifting it this weekend while she's there visiting...for Memorial Day).
Cute, isn't it?

I have one more quilt on the machine this week -
hopefully ready for pickup this Saturday
(now that I've figured out which weekend is which),
then a nice,
supposed-to-be-sunshine-y,
long, holiday weekend with the grandkids!

more Lucy Love - Lucy Boston, Patchwork of the Crosses that is

I'm stitching together another row of my
Patchwork of the Crosses - Lucy Boston blocks, and
I found a couple more blocks that I don't think I've shared before.
(I guess I've just been too excited about getting them stitched together to take the time to photograph and share!)

Both of the blocks I am sharing today I made with only one fabric each:

And, the fabrics from which they were cut:

Divers 1863, Margo Krager - Newcastle Fabrics

Scarlet Evening, Judie Rothermel  - Marcus Fabrics

(FYI:  I took these photos in the same location with the same lighting and camera/settings,
but you can see the coloration difference in the wooden floor from my camera adjusting for the color saturation.)

When I saw the beautiful Scarlet Evening fabric,
I fell in Lucy-love with it -

(that's a specific fabric love to use in a Lucy block :)...

because I could just see all of those
stripes and swirls and leaves meeting up in a block!

BUT, (notice the BIG but) nothing -

and I mean N-o-t-h-i-n-g in this fabric

is lined up to fussy-cut or mirror!! 

SO... after MUCH finagling and a Swiss-cheese half yard of fabric,
I finally did get one block.  It's not perfect, but passable.

More Lucy-love to come shortly -
I almost have another row completed!

Hope your weekend is wonderful
and happy stitching,
Debra

the doll quilt that I sent for the Swap

On April 17th, 2014,
I finished
my little doll quilt
for the swap that Lori hosted,
and took it out into the sunshine to photograph:

And the back:

(With label and hanging corner pockets.)

After the quick photo session,
I packaged it up and got it posted - 
(with a few days to spare before the Easter deadline)
off to Marian, my swap partner in Australia!!

Little did I know it would be THE S-L-O-W-E-S-T mail trip ever!
I had about given up, and
had found myself stewing -

"what if she never gets her little quilt and she thinks I'm a deadbeat swapper?"

"what if it does finally make it to her and she thinks my little quilt is awful,

that I'm an awful quilter?"

BUT...last night,
five days short of a month,
I heard from Marian,
and it has arrived!!

 

Marian sent the nicest thank you email...
She said: "It was ssoooo worth the wait and I never gave up hope, not for a minute."  
"I'm thrilled to bits" and "I love everything about my little quilt.. it’s PERFECT."

(Marian's blog link here)

Whew! I am SO relieved! 
Doesn't that sound like she really likes it?? :)
And, maybe she's more used to the slowness of mail from the U.S.?
 
SO - Here are the particulars:
The little squares finished at 3/4 of an inch -

(I put a penny on the right border to show the scale a little better)

and the quilt finished at 11 by 12 inches.
I quilted it diagonally (one direction only), with my Sashiko machine,
in light brown YLI hand/machine quilting thread.

I made all of those little squares 
from the top few layers of my scrap basket,
so probably only from the last few years of quilts.

It sure was fun digging through the scraps
and reminiscing about past quilts
while I made this little quilt.
But, bad thing:
I can not even tell that I used ANY of my little scraps!
Guess I should make a few more scrap quilts!

Thanks, Lori, for coordinating the doll quilt swap!
It was wonderful!!!

*Sigh of relief here* :)

hope everyone has a wonderful day

Patchwork of the Crosses still going strong

Kind of like the energizer bunny,
I am still working on stitching my Lucy blocks together...

going and going and going!

The weather is again predicted to be rainy this week,
so another week inside stitching.  Yay!

As I'm stitching I'm thinking...

half done already!!!

MyLifeisaStitch.blogspot.com - Patchwork of the Crosses -
half together!
April 2014

I love it more and more each time another block goes on!

 

 At half done, there are:

672 honeycombs

312 little blue/gray connecting squares

and 72 fussy-cut little squares made into four-patches,
which totals over a thousand English paper pieces so far!
 

Also, thinking...

I don't think I've shared these blocks:

 

This block has four fabrics in it:

MyLifeisaStitch.blogspot.com - Patchwork of the Crosses -
connecting the blocks

and this one has only two fabrics in it:


MyLifeisaStitch.blogspot.com - Patchwork of the Crosses -
connecting the blocks



Now that the weather has warmed a little,
I should be going out to the flowerbeds and weeding,
but with the rain,
I'll be happy staying inside and playing with my
flower garden of Lucy blocks!

Hope you, too, have a 'flower garden' stitching week,
outdoors or in :) 

blustery May flowers

Our April ended with enough rain to
bring super-flowers for May.

Instead of a nice, Spring-like early May,

we've had, instead, very blustery October weather.

To take my mind off the bad weather,
I meandered over a beautiful, Spring-like, flowery-quilt -
made by Shirley:

Wonderful greens and purples and
gorgeous applique!
She made this for a grand-daughters' wedding.
Isn't it beautiful?
A king-sized beauty!

Here are a couple of close-ups...

one of the beautifully pieced blocks:

 center applique block:

the purple border with rose and leaf meandering

and green borders with leaves and loops:

And, here's a pic of the back:

I love this quilt, and love the back, too.

I do keep all of my scraps and left-over fabrics,
but just put them all into my 'stash'.
After seeing this quilt back,
makes me think I should start to 
step outside
my usual "box" when making quilt backs.

Are you a fan of using left-overs to make your quilt backs?
And is there a 'plan' on how you piece them together?

Happy May Stitching
and happy weekend!