Finally-Pictures to Share!

I've really been busy since my last post. Decided to make a new summer purse because I was so tired of my old denim one. And it was too small to hold all the junk I've been carrying lately. Found some nice doublesided pre-quilted hot pink real summery-looking fabric on sale at my son's WalMart (not his personally, lol, he's a department manager there). So instead of grocery shopping on Friday, I sat down and cut out and serged myself a new larger purse. Only trouble is, I made it a little bit too large and it became a tote! (Must be the tote fairy zapped it when I wasn't looking!) I didn't put any inside pockets in, 'cause it wasn't supposed to be this big, but I did add 2 nice large pockets on the outside for my cell phone and note pad, pen, and sunglasses case. My old purse got so I couldn't zip it shut, but this one I left open with just a button closure. I put some plastic canvas in the bottom to make it stand up and put a long, skinny strap made from the same material on it. Now I'm ready to go with lots of room to spare. I can even put my small umbrella in it if I need to. Don't you just love the colors?
Worked some more on the Burger Queen Mystery. So far I only have my 12-inch blocks done. Finished squareing them up this morning. Later today I'll start work on the 9-inch ones. What do you think so far? I'll be adding in some different colors on a few of the 9-inch ones.
After I finished my maple leaf blocks, I worked on the 9-patch blocks I'm making for a quilt for Operation Quiet Comfort. This quilt only needs to be 36 inches wide by 60 inches long. I laid them out on the table as regular 2x3 rows, and it looks nice, but I think I'll cut up the blocks and rearrange them in the Disappearing 9-Patch format. I haven't made a quilt like that before, so it will be a new experience. Hopefully not a painful one!

Well, my break is over, time to get back to work. Can't get too far behind on that Mystery and OQC really is in desperate need of small quilts for our wounded warriors! Please take a minute to check out OQC's website and see how you can help, too. The link is posted under My Favorite Links. Remember, our troops need our support!


Until later, Happy Quilting!
Sharon

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

Well, I finally made my choices for the StashBusters Burger Queen Mystery Quilt! After looking at everyone else's block and fabric choices and changing my mind three times...LOL I finally went back to my original choice of the Maple Leaf block from Marcia Hohn's Quilt Blocks Galore. I chose assorted fall colors to make scrappy blocks in different colors. Katie had to have her say, of course, but she finally agreed that these colors were okay with her!
So I guess these will be my final choices. My background fabric is small rust flowers on a light cream with my plain large border the darker green. The end fabric is really a dark red tone-on-tone but is showing up more rust-colored in the picture, but I really love the dark purple I threw in. If I run out of my focus fabrics, I'll have to head back to my stash and choose some more, but that's the beauty of a "scrappy" look. No one knows if you planned it that way or you ran out and had to make substitutions.
Tonight I'll finish cutting my blocks and tomorrow I'll start sewing. Clue 3 came out today and I can't get too far behind!

I also have to get back to my Disappearing 9-patch and get cutting my scrappy quilt for Soldier's Angels. Maybe I'll cut that tonight after I finish my Burger Queen blocks. Nothing on TV anymore, so I might as well keep busy.

Until next time, happy quilting!

Sharon

My First Post

Today marks my newest challenge--creating my first blog! I have learned so much over the last month or two, reading blogs of other quilters from all over the world, that I thought I might try it myself.

I love fabric and patterns and pictures of quilts and reading about other people's quilts and..... you get the idea. Sometimes I spend so much time looking and planning and adding to my stash that I forget that I need to use some of it up and actually make a quilt! My hubby says it's time to quit buying and start sewing! What does he know? The smooth feel of the fabrics as they sit so prettily on my shelves is a tonic in itself. And the colors - reds, greens, yellows, blues, and purples make me smile-they're like opening the door on sunshine. Why would I want to use all that wonderful stuff up?

But I've made myself a promise that I will TRY to stop buying and get going and start making quilts for myself and my family. My daughter does have a quilt on her bed now that I made her after she wore out her first one. And I do have a UFO in a box waiting to be finished that she'd love. But first, I need to do the binding on a beautiful Jacob's Elevator quilt that my friend, Mary, made for me. I suppose I should make a list of all my UFO's, but I'm afraid that would discourage me, so I think I'll just get going on my next project.

I've started a red, white, and blue disappearing 9-patch to go to a wounded soldier through the Operation Quiet Comfort program. And I've pulled fat quarters to do the Stashbuster Groups' New Year's quilt so I can donate that to the Soldier's Angels quilt program. Both groups do a fantastic job in supporting our troops and wounded warriors both here in the States and overseas. I've set myself a goal this year to make and donate at least 5 quilts to them before the year's end. That should certainly use up some of that stash I try to hide from my DH.

I've also signed up to do my first Mystery Quilt through the Stashbuster Mystery Quilt group. I haven't started sewing yet because I can't make up my mind which quilt block to do and which of 3 sets of fabric to use. I started pulling fabric for Maple Leaf blocks in assorted fall colors 'cause that's my favorite time of the year, but then saw some of the 9-patch blocks others were making and pulled 2 different sets of fabric for them! Decisions, decisions! But I have to make up my mind this weekend, 'cause Week 2's instructions are up and Week 3 will be up Tuesday, I think. I don't want to get too far behind on that.

Helping me along with my sewing is my little cat, Katie. She is the sweetest cat I have ever had. I just finished sewing 26 football-fabric pillowcases for a unit in Iraq and after I got them ironed, she had to "help" by making sure they were "pressed" just right and were soft enough for our soldiers! LOL! She sure is fun!

Since I have no quilt pics to show yet, I'll just add pics of Katie to this posting.
Hopefully, next time I post I'll have some blocks to share. Until next time, happy quilting!

Sharon