A Bit of Tuesday Sew & Share!

I’m writing this “Yesterday” Morning as stories of road conditions in Virginia force me to make a later start on my road trip to Virginia Beach – It’s snowing and blowing just “that far north” of me – and I need to leave later so it will give the roads a time to settle.

That means I’ll be going straight into a Lecture and a late night settling in, followed by a morning guild meeting with no time in between to upload anything to the blog, so consider this my interim effort to get something in the queue!

I love getting the pictures of quilts you have sent me in my email. They brighten my day and help me know I’m not the only crazy one about using up those beautiful scraps! And they cheered my spirits and put some sunshine into my day, and I hope they will yours too!

There is no way I can post ALL the images of quilts that I get ---and it does take quite a bit of time to edit images down when they come in as huge files, and sometimes there just isn’t time to do that on a regular basis. But don't stop sending them! I keep them on hand for opportunities just like THIS to share them.

This “Happily Scrappily Irish” came from Kallie! I love the mint green border with that purple inner border..NICE!

She writes:

Dear Bonnie
I am sure that you get many emails - but I just wanted to thank you for your fabulous leaders-and-enders book, in particular the Irish Chain pattern.

I am only a newcomer to quilting. I took it up two years ago when I found myself as an expat-wife in Singapore with a lot of extra time on my hands. I started making small quilts, designing as I went along, but after a string of less than successful results, I knew it was time for a pattern.

After completing this top, I am more confident to keep creating and now have a long list of projects that I want to try. This quilt is going to be a wedding gift for my sister-in-law.
So, thank you for your inspiration and guidance :)

Kind regards, Kallie

Didn’t she do a fabulous job? I love Irish chains, but the whole “make a panel 5 strips wide and sub-cut” thing I found SO boring! So making the Irish Chain from simple 4 patches was a much easier way to go for me, easier to handle and much more fun!

Next up is Terry’s Double Delight!

I love seeing quilts in different color plans, and this one just sings! Double Delight is found in the MYSTERY QUILTS TAB at the top of the blog. Did you know there are several previously released mysteries up there? Check it out! Terry is a woman of few words, her email just said DOUBLE DELIGHT in the subject line, and then in the body of the email was the picture, but no words. But as they say, a picture is worth a 1,000 – right!? :cD Great job, Terry!

And then we have Margaret F who has been a very very busy girl!

This is Margaret’s Happy Scrappy Houses! She writes:

Hi Bonnie,
A friend told me about your site. What fun! I am a lover of scraps, as well.

I made a smaller version of the Weed Whacker quilt which was great fun.

Just finished the crookedy houses. Love that pattern. We were snowed in

for a few days, so I started making houses. My 8 year old granddaughter hiked over through the snow and I asked her if she wanted to make a house, too. She did. We were joking around about using 2-inch ANYthing to make these houses, and working out of the scrap pile under my cutting table.

It only took me a week to have my own wonderful fun quilt. I used slightly larger side triangles so that I could trim the blocks to 10 1/2 inches unfinished.

The sashing makes it a lot easier to work with the not-quite-bias edges. Such fun!

She also sent a picture of the back of the quilt --- take a peek!

I love seeing the left over house blocks on the back…terrific, don’t you think?

And that’s not all…check out her Weed Whacker:

Whooowhoooo! Tons of color fun, and you see those border units? Those are the bonus units you get from behind the triangle corners in the quilt center. Great job Margaret!

Amy’s been busy too! She sent in a photo of her Hopscotch Butterscotch that is found in Adventures With Leaders & Enders.

She writes:

Hey Bonnie,
I know that you are traveling today, but I did want to send you this picture of the Hopscotch quilt that I gave to my cousin.

I don't know if you remember, but I did tell you the little story when I was making it in October. My cousin is a huge environmentalist, she rides her bike to work and had compostable paper bowls for her outdoor wedding.

Anyway, I gave her a little note telling her how this quilt was made from scraps that other people would probably throw away, and that it was even made in a way that eliminates wasted thread (it was a leader/ender). The green and brown sashing was to remind her of the woods here in MN/WI (she now lives in Utah, lots more sand, not so many trees!).

Have a great trip!
Amy

Amy, I love this quilt! I am really drawn to that olive green sashing! Thanks for sharing this quilt --- I’m sure it is being loved and used!

Carol O. sent in a picture of here Little Monkey! Look at this fun piano key border!

She writes:

Hi Bonnie,

I just finished this cute little monkeys quilt, inspired by your website,
and was looking for a new idea for the NEXT baby quilt -- there is always another baby on the way.

(I just stitched this one in the ditch, rather boring, I guess, but the fabrics are quite busy) And I found the new Story-Time Stars pattern.

I'm not sure I have enough novelty prints for the middle of the quilt, but I'm sure I can come up with something! I have some cute appliqué patterns for African animals. Could put them in the middle of
some blocks. Or maybe I'll go back to Boxy Stars. I'll let you know!

I like the checkerboard sashing. I have lots of black material to use in
something. Maybe I'll actually do some variation of Orca Bay. Poof! But I'm off to Thailand and Indonesia again the end of Feb, so will have to organize some appliqué to take along.

Blessings,
Carol

Carol is another busy traveling quilter who finds time to search for wonderful fabrics in far away place, and I’ve been gifted some of her indonesian plaids….ohh – wonderful! I hope you are having a great time Carol!

And Lastly, but not Leastly --- because I need to set this off and hit the road is Sergeant Robin!

Robin was in one of my Love Shack classes – and this is her finished creation! Would you look at what she did to enlarge this? Mine stops with the zig-zag string border…but wow!! She kept going!

She writes:

Bonnie,

I had to thank you again for a wonderful day of quilting! Both my mom and I had a wonderful time and the trip back home went so quickly with both of us gushing over what we learned and how much fun we had.

I've attached a picture of my "Love Shack" wall hanging on my design board. I was inspired by your comments in class to use orphan blocks for the second border and I used a piece of the "scrap" batik from Fabric Fanatics for the final border.

I was going to build this into a lap-size quilt for a children's charity, but my husband said "I like that. We should hang it on the wall." He's NEVER said that...so I guess the crazier the better for him.

I have the perfect empty wall space in our living room for it to live once it's quilted (I'm learning longarming at my LQS so this is a great size project for that).

And my "Orca Bay" top is done, too! Those pictures are posting in the Yahoo groups folder.

Thank you again for all that you do. Your stash system and patterns have really changed the way I quilt over the past few years....definitely for the better. My mom is definitely a "matchy" quilter, but even she is stretching her boundaries with your ideas!

Robin

Oh Gosh, we had SUCH a great time in that workshop – I hope we get to see these ladies again.

Thanks everyone, for allowing me to share your beautiful work with everyone who stops by. Your work inspires me!

In Pieces,