New project....

I do not need another new project but I couldn't resist after seeing a friend working on hers at the retreat.

It is  called Hearts & Apron Strings.
This is the center and first row, as it were.  I haven't stitched down the blades of the Dresden Plate center and I made them longer than the original.

I am also using two (maybe three) different backgrounds which you can tell if you look at it close enough.

Just gotta report...

I am recouperating from that cold or flu or whatever it was and at 4 am this morning I could sleep no more thanks to coughing and some congestion.   So I got up and started in on my Mill Creek blocks all laid out and ready to be sewn - I should get a picture - and I now have another row done but for some sashing, 12 blocks now done!

BB's Civil War quilt

BB's Civil War quilt, a set on Flickr.

Another Project-In-Progress....

Civil War Love Letter blocks

Civil War Love Letter blocks, a set on Flickr.

There are a LOT more now but I haven't scanned them in yet. I have all 121 cut out, but 20 or so more to sew up.

Mill Girls Quilt Progress

Even though I was sick this past weekend, I managed to sew up 4 more Mill Girls blocks.   I was able to do that only because I had them all laid out and waiting to be just sewn together and my craft room was set up and ready to go.  This is just the PRETTIEST quilt!!!

Maple Leaf blocks

I can't help it.  Seeing others working on maple leaf blocks for quilts, in the Fall, seeing the leaves all around...I couldn't help it - I have started making one myself.  I have fabrics picked for 20 of these beauties.
Two I sewed up last night having cut them out on my lunch hour at work.  The other two shown here on their felts, I actually sewed up this very morning before I left for work.

Mill Girls - First Block!

I did it!  I got the first block done and actually I got 4 blocks done and sashed together.  I don't have a picture of those yet but I do have one of my first block in two kinds of light.    I am more than ever IN LOVE with this quilt, the colors, the fabrics, the design.

Mill Girls Quilt progress

The only progress is me cutting and cutting and dreaming how nice this quilt will look.
But I have also been planning a few changes because the background fabric I just have to use I have only 3 yards of.   I am planning on having either the inner border of the bright fabrics in strips OR
using all colors on the boarder hour-glasses.   Since I plan to have all of it cut out by the weekend, decisions will have to be made pretty quickly.

Took the Mill Girls Quilt-Along Plunge!

So many of my quilting friends are doing the Mill Girls Quilt-Along and at the retreat I saw 1 or 2 more showing the fabrics they had selected for making the quilt that I was at last seduced by the beauty of the project!   I joined the SBS-and-OtherElmCreekQuilts group on Yahoo and at 2:40 am Monday morning (because I couldn't sleep) I selected my fabrics.  I like to see how they look in both natural and artificial light as well as with flash and without.  If I am happy with both, I'm ready to go.   I began cutting out the pieces last night, (after having been up for hours the night before) I was good for nothing else....

Community Service

I work at Indiana State University and they have hours offered for Community Service.  I don't know why I didn't at first make the connect between making a quilt for donation to a charity and such service but I didn't.
One of my quilting friends did and that got the ball rolling.    I took some time off for a "sew day" which is held at the local library and made a quilt top in a day which I will be machine quilting and will give to charity.
Here is the top in its component parts, then in 9-patch blocks laid out, and then the finished top.  I did it all on my birthday no less, October 27th!

A New Elm Creek Quilts book!!!

At the retreat this weekend I browsed through the store and found just one copy of this which I had no idea was even out there!  
The Winding Ways quilt in the cover did it for me.  Ever since I made a 6" block in that design for my currently-on-hold Sylvia Bridal Sampler, I have wanted to make a quilt of that pattern.   When I saw this cover I knew I had to have this book.    And inside are many more quilts that are just have-hope-to-make-someday projects.

Another Wonderful Retreat!

This past weekend at Threads of Time in Danville, Illinois.   Here is the room Debbie and I shared.  The quilt in this room I thought was especially nice.

I ended up next to the door and outer wall which was PERFECT as it was nice and cool and I hardly needed my fan at all.   You can see Debbie's & my 301's set up and ready to sew....









What I got done - I finished off the 12 "Chiclet's" blocks at last!   I plan to sandwich this part and machine quilt it and then add borders - heaven only knows when that will happen though.  It is sort of Christmassy.

 And here I got through 3 of the 4 left to do of the Web Sampler Blocks.   They were done Sunday morning and as I got to the fourth and last one I bogged down somehow.   I broke the third needle of the weekend and had to rip out any number of seams.  Some little voice inside my head said to quit trying and so I did after getting about half done on that last block.  

So here is how the last block looks and will look for I hope not too very long, NOT a whole year!











Some "treats" from the weekend include these, all of which were done by our own guild members.  I think they are all just GORGEOUS!  

Many people in our guild are working on this Maple Leaf quilt and every one of them is very different and each one is just stupendous. 
I'm having to hold myself back to not start one myself.