Shirley Anne’s Heart

FABRIC STASHBUSTERS

Some of us have accumulated a wealth of fabric - known in the quilty world as our stash.  STASHBUSTER GROUPS are abundant in the online world of quilters trying to control their artistic impulses (aka buying fabric habit.)  Here is a new way to use up that collection…..invite in three wannabe fashion designers and have a DESIGNER PARTY FOR WEBKINZ RUNWAY FASHIONS.

First meet Kenzie and her WEBKINZ Frog - Freckles, dressed in an Asian print sundress with HOT PINK straps! 

Sarah designed a wonderful multi-piece fashion statement for her WEBKINZ puppy - PRINCESS and her WEBKINZ Kitty - Meredith (all in hot pink batiks.)   Leanna made a sleeping bag for her WEBKINZ Lion - Rory - and a wonderful designer sundress for her WEBKINZ Monkey - Bonnie.  Most of the MODELS ended up wearing HOT PINK - must be the WEBKINZ design fav.

TA DA - Stashbusting can be LOTS OF FUN!  Oreo CHIPPIE Cookie was delighted to find that a fabric container had been emptied…….and as cats often do, she had to check it out!

QUILTY SHOW AND TELL - QUILTER’S CORNER - BIRTH OF A SAMPLER CLASS

I was doing the happy dance while sharing my finished Birth of a Sampler Flimsy during class at QUILTER’S CORNER.  Here it is being held by Susan (she chose the Vintage Holiday fabric for me) and the quilt designer and teacher of the class, Sherry Whitford.  I am SO HAPPY TO SAY that this quilt - complete with 10 yards of fabric for the back - is ready for the LONG ARM process!

And my sincere APOLOGIES go to Nancy (fellow class mate and fabric consultant at QUILTER’S CORNER) for cutting her head off in this photo….sigh.  Her BIRTH OF A SAMPLER FLIMSY is so beautiful that I really just had to include it here - even with headless Nancy!

SWEETHEART QUILT

While I was at QUILTER’S CORNER I took a picture of the second quilt designed by Susan in the COZY QUILT SERIES.  I made the shop sample and I was so excited to see it hanging on the wall - it is available as a kit at the shop!  This is the SWEETHEART QUILT!

BEACH RETREAT QUILT

The first quilt that Susan designed for the COZY QUILT SERIES was BEACH RETREAT - and since I tested this pattern (and made a quilt just like this one) I just had to take a picture of it in the shop.  BEACH RETREAT is also availabe as a kit at QUILTER’S CORNER.

Shirley Anne’s Cotton Candy Snowball Quilt

I am so excited — this week I finished this quilt top (that I started in September 07 - but better late than never!)  This is the first scrappy quilt that I made entirely from STASH that I had on hand - no new fabric was purchased in the process of making this quilt.

I combined the snowball block with the nine-patch - and voila.  I really like the soft pinks, blues and yellows - and it reminded me of COTTON CANDY - hence the name (oh yes, my name is Shirley Anne.) 

I took a close up picture of the border.  I saved the corners from the SNOWBALL BLOCKS and put four together to make MINI SNOWBALL BLOCKS.  I alternated the mini-snowball block with pink fabric blocks (with the exception of two snowball blocks sewn together in the center on the sides ) to make the border.  It was REALLY satisfying to be able to use these little corners that I used to throw into the scrap heap for ZANGIE CREATIONS.

Now in the tradition of making a quilt TOTALLY FROM STASH - I made the back of Shirley Anne’s Cotton Candy Snowball Quilt from 15 1/2″ square blocks with an outside border.  TA DA……I finished that today too.  It is a good feeling to get another UFO off my list (well almost - it still needs to get quilted and the binding put on - but somehow I FEEL like I have finished it at this point!)

Tags: Beach Retreat Quilt, Birth of a Sampler Quilt, Cats and Dogs Furry People, Furry People, SAO's Grandangels, Shirley Anne's Cotton Candy Snowball Quilt, Sweetheart Quilt by drsao
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What a title for this blog entry…..but I guess I have a lot to share. 

I have been having LOTS OF FUN….Saturday, May 17, has been a very good day.

DEAR JANE QUILT

We had our first DEAR JANE  QUILT SUPPORT GROUP (uhm…I think we are calling it a CLUB) meeting at Quilter’s Corner May 15.  It is going to be lots of fun.  I am motivated and in love with all of these tiny blocks.  It was fun to see what other people had done…….my friend Sheddy had made some VERY IMPRESSIVE BLOCKS (a TOTAL OF twenty!!) including a block with a star with points so small that I cannot even imagine how she did that! 

Here is what I have done so far…. and BTW I also got motivated to put my PRACTICE blocks (RED AND WHITE) into plastic sleeves!  Now I just need to find a very cute CIVIL WAR type of notebook to put the plastic sheets into!

So left to right….A-6 Uncle Homer, I-1 Ralph and Nelda’s Wedding and 1-2 Kaye’s Courtyard

(I love the names of these blocks!)

And here are the REAL ONES…

A-6 Uncle Homer

1-1 Ralph and Nelda’s Wedding

and I-2 Kaye’s Courtyard

The CLUB members are PREDICTING that I will stop making practice blocks after awhile…..HM…..stay tuned and we shall see…..:)  I think that I will end up with TWO Dear Jane Quilts - the REAL one and my PRACTICE red and white one!

BEACH RETREAT QUILT

MY BEACH RETREAT QUILT IS FINISHED.  :)  I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to cross a UFO off my TO DO LIST!!!  I went to an all day SIT N STITCH Friday at the Quilter’s Corner and I finished putting the binding on my BEACH RETREAT QUILT (designed by Susan Emory and I think she has a few kits left for sale at the QC!)  Cuddles TINKERBELLE (our baby cat) promptly perched on the quilt - giving it her stamp of approval. 

There is something about yellow and blue that is just absolutely comforting - dreamy!!  Cuddles TINKERBELLE does not want to give up her position on the new quilt! 

Cats are just DELIGHTFUL WONDERFUL furry people.  They are so affirming and giving.  I bet that I would get an UNCONDITIONAL DISPLAY of LOVE for a less than beautiful quilt (hopefully I will never get a chance to test that theory!)

BROWNIES

And now - my PROUDEST MOMENT on my list of today’s accomplishments is that I SEWED ALL OF THE PATCHES ON GRANDANGEL SARAH’S BROWNIE VEST……and just in the nick of time (she becomes a GIRL SCOUT ON May 27.)

I love Sarah, I love the Brownies and I used to be one!  HOWEVER, sewing those patches on is sheer torture and has to be included on my LIST OF NOT SO FAVORITE THINGS.  So count the number of patches on this vest and multiply each of the patches times about 8 or 9 and you will know how many HOLES are in my fingers! 

Now - if someone out there would like to win the favor, admiration and LOVE of mothers and grandmothers of BROWNIES, GIRL SCOUTS and BOY SCOUTS around the world……please invent a way to get these VERY THICK - HARD TO GET A NEEDLE THROUGH patches onto vests or sashes WITHOUT SEWING! 

COFFEE AND TEA

I really had fun tonight - I tea dyed some white fabric blocks - LIPTON regular tea - 3 bags!  I have been dying (:)) to do this for the longest time and as a reward for getting the BROWNIE PATCHES SEWN ON…..I took a tea dyeing break.

Here are my 8 blocks hanging up to dry on my ironing board.  I am very happy with them - I think they will go into my SPLIT NINE-PATCH ONLINE SWAP BLOCKS!

And since I was having TOO MUCH FUN I decided to dye some white blocks using COFFEE mixed with my daughter, Christi’s,  LIQUID INTERNATIONAL BRAND FRENCH VANILLA CREAMER (I drink my coffee black - so I had to use hers!)  The blocks turned out to be really CUTE - a nice soft creamy color.  This activity really made me smile - and the blocks smell nice too!  I mean they smell - REALLY - REALLY - good!  Maybe it was the combination of that MAJOR DICKINSON PEET’S COFFE combined with the FRENCH VANILLA…….I think someone should invent a potpourri from this combination!

SARAH’S FIRST CAT QUILT

Sarah - my 8 year old grandangel - told me that FOR SOME REASON - SHE DIDN’T KNOW WHY - she had an urge to make a quilt.  WHOO HOO….I was so excited!  I can’t even tell you HOW excited I was.  SHE WANTED TO MAKE A CAT QUILT for her Webkinz animals.  She said she wanted it to be very wide so that several of her WEBKINZ friends could snuggle under it together.

I gave her some 3 1/2″ square white blocks ironed onto freezer paper and Sarah climbed up on my bed and began to draw some of her favorite  cats on the  white blocks.  (Patsy - thank you SO MUCH for the DONATED GIFT of those white blocks that you gave me on Saturday!!!!!)

Then I pulled out my 50 EXTRA four patches of 2″ squares (thank you Bonnie Hunter) and let Sarah choose some for her quilt….she alternated Cat Blocks with four-patches and she pinned the blocks onto paper making sure that the darks and the lights were all lined up the way that she liked!

I let Sarah use my Brother DUETTA sewing machine (MY DREAM MACHINE) - she thought it was a little scarry trying to keep the quarter inch seam straight - but I put on the walking foot and she liked the way it WALKED along over the seams!  (You can tell she is tense - look at her pursed lips!)

I let Sarah press her seams using a pressing cloth (I didn’t want her to scorch her first quilt!)  She REALLY enjoyed the pinning, the sewing and the pressing!!

Sarah EVER SO CAREFULLY sewed all of the blocks together and then she chose  a 2 1/2″ border from some leftover binding that I had!  This is how far we got at bedtime.

I am going to have her sandwich the batting and the back and do the quilting on the machine (let’s just HOPE that I can remember what I learned in my MACHINE QUILTING CLASS!) 

This was a VERY GOOD DAY………I love doing NEW THINGS (dyeing material) and MAKING MEMORIES (Sarah’s First Cat Quilt) and I also LOVE crossing things off my TO DO LIST - so I guess that means I enjoyed sewing on the BROWNIE PATCHES TOO?

Tags: Beach Retreat Quilt, Dear Jane Quilt, My NOT so Favorite Things, SAO's Grandangels, Sarah's First Cat Quilt by drsao
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Susan asked me to test this pattern for a quilt that she just designed - and I happily said YES!

So Friday, March 21, I went home from the QUILTER’S CORNER (Midlothian, VA) with the instructions for making this BEACH RETREAT QUILT.

It is made from 15  different 1/2 yard fabrics from the SUNSHINE line by April Cornell for MODA,

The colors are fantastic.   Really, there is something soothing to the soul about blues and yellows.  These are happy fabrics……you know, the kind that just MAKE YOU SMILE.  I love the flowers, the dancing dots and the birds ….. ok - even the butterflies (although everyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I am not big on bugs!!!) 

So I had the fabric and the pattern - and away I went on this quilt adventure!

The quilt was easy and fun to make!  I did have to take time out to celebrate EASTER - but basically I was able to make this in three days. 

I like to take my time and play with the blocks, touch them, rearrange them, etc. 

Here it is - the top of the Beach Retreat Quilt- isn’t that a great name for a quilt?!!  I  REALLY LOVE it.

Doesn’t this just make you want to grab this quilt, and a good book and head to the beach?  It is 61 x 72 unfinished - the perfect lap quilt!

If you are looking for a happy quilt for spring - it will be available in a kit from the QUILTER’S CORNER soon - and they probably would even take early pre-orders!  I think my family members are all going to want this one!

Tags: Beach Retreat Quilt, Quilts in Progress by drsao
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