Santa Came early via Missouri!

You know me, always involved in a swap, I am.

I try to get my stuff out right away, so I don't have to think about it again. And of course, I had forgotton completely about the Candlemat Swap I was doing. So yesterday the mailman comes with a package for me.

And look what it was! A BEAUTIFUL candlemat, in lovely fall colors!

Also it came with some lovely gifts, all wrapped nicely with a bow. With a BOW! (I'm taking notes here because it was such a nice touch and I never take the time to wrap things with a bow -- not even to my DH). But what am I thinking anyhow, he wouldn't appreciate a bow anyhow. But a fellow quilter would, I did!

Mary, I'm definately going to do this in the future. What a festive package.

She also sent me a cute turkey magnet, perfect for the coming holidays! And a wonderful heating bag, filled with corn from her farm. My family are all athletes -- so this will come in handy. Plus it gets chilly in Washington state.

And then this BRILLIANT denim bag. It's the perfect size and sits up on it's own. Perfect to put next to my machine to catch stray threads and bits and bobs meant for the trash and not my sweater.

Thank you Mary!

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of Mary's lovely work! Isn't it beautiful.

Cheers,

Dionne

Secret Candlemat Swap

Shhhhh... it's a secret.

I'm participating in a Candlemat swap. Lately I've only been doing private swaps, but this public swap has been fun. My partner asked for a candlemat made in earth tones. I loved these colors and ended up making two, one for her and one for me.

This picture of the back shows the machine quilting a little better.

For more GREAT pics of other candle mat 'finishes' check out these links:

A Legacy of Stitches

Anamarpatch

Sewing the Stress Away

Pinned Down

Well, there are so many, here is the Flickr group

Cheers,

Dionne

There once was a quilter named Jane...

There once was a quilter named Jane.
Who hosted a quilting bee from the US to Spain,

and then back again.

It was trees that she desired, in colors quite wild.

Not one of her blocks could be called mild.

When her quilt left my door, the blocks counted four,

in hopes to gather more.

Cheers,

Dionne

PS - Today is the last day to leave a comment for my 'Plume' giveaway. Leave your comment on the post HERE.

Something modern and something blue.

That was her only request. Modern and blue.

The possibilities are endless and some would go hog-wild with the freedom of such minimal requirements.

But that is not me. My mind just doesn't think modern I guess. I don't know, my mind went completely blank!

Here is what I came up with.

I'm looking foreward to seeing all the other interpretations!

Cheers,

Dionne

Scrappy star for the latest Swap Quilt

Here are all the squares in teh latest swap quilt. This one has a huge variety of colors and designs.

I made the block in the lower right hand corner.

There is a close-up of the block I made.

This is a scrappy star, made with all scraps and a tone on tone background.

These squares are a great way to use up some of your left-over scraps -- especially the smaller ones!

Cheers,

Dionne

Around the World Quilt - Brazil

This is the progress on Glaucia's ATWQ - The blocks are all looking so great. I love how nicely they look together. They all play so well!

Eight blocks in and only sixteen more to go!!

Here is a closeup of my block. I had a bit of difficulty with this one, I changed my mind mid-block on the design and almost nearly didn't pull it off.

Cheers,

Dionne

It's a Great Mail Day ~ Cupcakes!

A while ago, I participated in a Mini-Cupcake Quilt swap.

Today in the mail, I got my BEAUTIFUL quilt.

It's from Brenda at Pumpkin Patch Primitive Quilt Shoppe.

Look at how gorgeous it is! There is handquilting and hand beadwork, and the colors are wonderful.

Not only that, she wrapped it in a wonderful piece of flannel. AND she included two lovely MODA charm packs.

AND a really fun cupcake quilt pattern.

Cheers,

Dionne

Latest Friendship Star Swap Trickles in...

The last Friendship Star swap has been trickling in...

I've always loved stars and star

blocks. When I first started doing them it was really intimidating, all the triangles.

I think the worst part was getting the sizes right. If I concentrated on getting the sizes right then I couldn't seem to get good points.

That was years ago, and I hadn't given a Half-square triangle a second thought in eons. But in swaps, when I'm hosting at least, I've learned to separate out confident beginners from those that have more experience with triangles and stars.

Of course, now I'm working on perfecting my curves and my applique. Both seem to allude me a bit still and personally, I dont yet count my self an expert in those areas.

But I know, after all my experience with triangles and those pesky points, that practice helps. And it helps A LOT!

Alas, I'm a chronic over-committer as my husband likes to point out when I whine a bit too much about my busy schedule.

So.... I'll be around.....

but my blogging might be a bit sparse in the coming weeks....

But, I'll be around...

Cheers,

Dionne

Pieces of April

Did you know there was a song by Three Dog Night called Pieces of April?

I didn't. Actually, I'm ashamed to say, I'm sure I know songs by Three Dog Night, but I can't name one off the top of my head. They have some really famous ones too, I'm sure.

Well, I took a break from sewing, [and cooking and cleaning and working and all the other commitments that go along with a busy family] to check out my friends on the internet and I ran across this GREAT blog.

It has nothing to do with Quilting, and nothing to do with sewing either. So this is a bit out of character for me, because I generally reserve this blog for mostly quilty-thoughts.

But here it is: Pieces of April Check it out!

On other news, my July swaps finally finished. And I was so happy with the results. My little swap club, which we hosted through a private blog has grown bigger over the last year and we finally did a website for it. But now that we opened it up to the public, I've decided not to spread myself so thin with so many different swap groups.

Between that and all my Quilting commitments (and the family and working full-time) it's a good thing!

On that note, the September swaps have opened for sign-ups. We only do three swaps a month currently (beginner, intermediate, and expert) and so far every month has filled up since we started almost a year ago. Check the Swap Club schedule out if you are interested: iQuilty.com

I've decided that today is a beautiful day to tackle applique!

Cheers,

Dionne

One Quarter of the Way Done?

Here are the latest blocks on the ATWQS quilts I'm working on.

The first one has a bunch of "state" blocks, done in several locally inspired fabrics.

I did one of the trees in a fabric that has Washington postcards in greens and blues against an apple tree background. Then I bordered it with fabric from last years Western Washington Shop Hop. It has subtle images ~ the state bird, the state flower, year we were granted statehood etc.

I think these blocks look nice together. The overall quilt will have a nice eclectic look to it!

The next block is a 'liberated cottage' in the style of Gwen Marsten. I like this house on a hill, with flowers in the garden and butterflies in the sky.

Don't you think the neighborhood is coming along nicely?

It looks like my house on the hill block is WAY too big, but really it's not. I had to make it a little larger to get the effect of the hill and then chose not to trim it!

Cheers,

Dionne

My Matisse Challenge is finally Finished!

Well, when I say finished, what I really mean is that the top is finished.

It took me more than 3 minutes, but less than any time I've ever spent on a top. That being said, it measures only a little bigger than a fat quarter.

Here is my quilt top:


Here is my Inspiration:



For more beautiful finishes, check out Victorias Blog, BumbleBeans.

Cheers,

Dionne

Matisse Challenge

Victoria at Bumble Beans had a 3 minute challenge to make a free form, free style quilt inspired by a Matisse painting. Well, I'm a pretty average quilter, and I haven't 'honed' my free-style skills yet.

So I first, I completely forgot to do anything except the first step ~ pull fabrics. But when Victoria mentioned she was going to post the results, I sprung into action! 30 to 45 minutes later I had accomplished this:



Hardly a 3-minute activity. I ended up trying some weird fabric folding technique to get the shutters on the window to actually look like shutters! Then I spent another chunk of time fretting over the scenery in the window. Clearly I have missed the spirit of this challenge.

I am going to try again tonight to finish it. Maybe I'll use a timer to keep myself in line: set the timer for 5 minutes and do the bed bit of the painting. Then set the timer again to do the table, etc.

On another note, here are the first seven 9-patch blocks I did this week. Those were easy breezy! Doing a simple task like that reminds me that I really can sew.

Cheers,

Dionne

Spring to Finish is Sprung!

Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio hosted a Spring to Finish challenge. During this challenge I finished eight items:

• Three Little Ugly Bunny Dolls




• One Baby blanket for Gabriella Rose




• One Mini-Cupcake Applique quilt




• Disappearing 9-Patch Quilt




• One Little personal purse




• Botanical Shop Hop Top ~ it's off to the Long-Arm quilter

My Botanical Shop Hop Quilt top is also one of the largest quilts I've made, it's just a little bigger than Queen size! So I'm sending this top off to the long-arm quilter.

Cheers,

Dionne

Sadie's Hosting an Around the World Swap

SummerSadie is hosting an Around the World Quilt Swap. It's going to be similair to a 'Round Robin' type of swap and I think it could be a lot of fun. If you'd like to join in, just check out the blog at: Around the World Quilt Swap



Now, I'm a bonafide Swap-aholic. If you haven't participated in a lot of swaps before, let me just give you one warning. Unless a swap is specifically organized otherwise, there are usually a variety of skill-levels involved, be prepared for that. I, personally find it really fun to encourage new quilters and find inspiration from those more experienced! So if you think you might be interested, come swap-a-long!


I'm so happy that Amazon.com is now offering Movies and Shows on Demand. I so rarely have the opportunity to watch television these days, that I only want to watch the shows I like. I am now actively using Tivo to record the shows I like onto my Hard Drive, but that still only allows me to watch the ones that come on that week. Now Amazon.com has even the back shows that I missed. And if you have HD tv, you're in luck, because they have that too!


Technology is so cool! I remember the bad old days of my youth, one tiny little black and white with bunny ears and three channels. I rarely watched TV back then too, but when I did, it was usually not something I would have chosen. I think the only thing I watched regularly was 60 Minutes with my Parents.

Cheers,

Dionne

Another Challenge Knocking at my Door: Spring to Finish!

Jacquie is hosting a challenge, Tallgrass Prairie Studio: Spring to Finish! , that seems designed for me.

It's a challenge to finish as much as you can on your list in April. Every finish should be documented on your blog, and every finish is an entry into her giveaway.

Since I have decided this year to finish off ALL my UFOs, this is a great challenge for me. In January I calculated that I would need to finish 2 projects a month to achieve this goal.

It's early April now and I have TWO finishes!

Oh well, goals are good, stretch goals (for me) are a good thing. I have a good friend who thinks stretch goals are rubbish and overwhelming. She makes 'slam-dunk' goals. She just breaks everything down into small enough tasks that completing them are slam-dunks, and she never gets overwhelmed.

So, this month I'm stretching!

I expect to finish

Disappearing Nine Patch

Gabriella's Pink and Green Flannel

Lap Quilt Swap IV

And if I get REALLY motivated, I'll also finish:

Botanical Shop Hop Quilt

For me, stretch goals are good. But somehow I always think I'll get more done, than I do.

Queen of Swaps is at it again!

As you might know, I participate in A LOT of swaps! It's one of those things that I just seem to find myself doing. Kind of like the way some people eat potato chips. You sit down with a bag and before you know it you're grasping at the salty bottom and 2000 greasy calories are sitting at the bottom of your tummy, just waiting to be converted into bum-fat! Well, for me, swaps are the potato chips and before I know it, I am involved in half a dozen or more! Participating in all these swaps can be both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. There are lots of rules I live by, and NEVER EVER break when participating in swaps. That has made my life WAY easier ~ at least in the swap world. Here is my number one rule: Never participate in a swap if you don't really like the swap "Theme" In other words, if you don't have any great desire for a Christmas quilt, don't participate in a Christmas swap. It's just not worth the effort or stress. Alright, that might not be the most important rule, but it is a good one!

I guess in all the hustle of my trip, I forgot to post pictures of the last few blocks I made for this swap.

These seven blocks were the last I made and mailed out before I left on my trip.



The swap is over now and it was lots of fun working with such a variety of fabrics.

It was also fun seeing how each participant interpreted the fabrics and came up with unique blocks.

I primarily stayed with just a few patterns, but still each block came out so unique. That was very interesting to me as well.

Six of these were meant to be Bonnie's boxy star pattern. But the Batik block I made rather late at night and for some reason I put the four parts together wrong. I really liked the look of it though and so it stayed.

The last block was the pineapple blossom, she had several different fabrics to use and I tried to stay within the theme of the rest of her blocks. It should fit in with her quilt top nicely.

I'll try to make a picture mosaic of all the blocks together if I can.

Cheers,
Dionne