snug as a bug...

...in a USPS mailer. Sorry...I ruined the whole rhyme, didn't I. This quilt is still as cute as a bug though, isn't it!



Carol -- of Giraffe Dreams fame -- sent this quilt panel...along with a coordinating backing...and as you may be able to see, some fun green binding fabric. Carol is very involved with the Wrap-a-Smile program...and long ago, she asked me if I would be interested in submitting a donated quilt from my home state of North Dakota. Now how could I turn down that polite request! Of course I wanted to participate.

We decided to make it a joint effort: Carol would provide the fabric needed...and I would supply the batting and the longarm machine quilting...and then the finished binding.

As you can see...it is finished!!! And soon will be helping to bring a happy smile to a sweet youngster's face...somewhere in this big, beautiful world.

I used my Star Dance template...and instead of stitching the usual stars...I passed over that area...and then later went in and machine quilted little wonky flowers. Cute, huh! Well...at least I think so.



Hope this day brings lots of smiles to your face! And hey...while you're at it...why not try to make someone else break open a teethy grin!

snow choice

Yes...can you believe it?! Winter is right around the corner!

No...we've got awhile.... At least...we in (most of) the Western Hemisphere, anyway....



But this is one of the latest fabric lines on inventory at the Comforts of Home quilt store...my sister's store. And look what the girls there have created! Isn't he cute! Call them for details!

Remember...a good quilt store never has anything too long...so you've got to get it while you've got first choice!

...from front to back

Fresh as the Springtime air, isn't it?!



This sweet little number has made its way back to the Comforts of Home quilt store. The girls there created it from something new and fun in the quilt world: Layered Cakes. Have you heard of them?

The ingredients: 40 pieces of Moda fabric, precut into 10 x 10" squares. Simple! Add a little creativity...and perhaps some yardage for a binding...and you've got what it takes!

But hey. Don't ask me for directions. I'm just the machine quilter. Look up the girls-in-the-know at the Comforts of Home. They'll help you out!

And look what they've done for the backing....



Super fun! And not one calorie was involved in the making of this cake!

Now that's having your cake and eating it too, isn't it!

directional prints

Just a couple of photos of the end result of my Mini-Mariner's Compass...the paper piecing pattern that I have already showed you in earlier posts.



Thanks for spending some of your time with me! Enjoy your day!

self squaring

How 'bout that! Another finish of my own!

I have decided that some of my little unfinished pieces need to be laid to rest on the "finished" pile of quilts. Their edges are getting a bit frayed from being handled so much during classes and such...I was feeling a bit badly about that.



I think I have shown you this quilt (in its unfinished state) before. It is a Little Bits foundation paper piecing pattern called "Square on Square." I used three commercially dyed Bali fabrics: The brown border...a golden/orange and an orange/fuchsia/salmon. The light background fabric is a mellowed October's Child hand dyed cotton.



And as you can see from the photos: Texture rules! Pebbles. Tiny stippling. Stitch in the ditch, or course. And my -- for lack of a better term...help me out if you so desire! -- "topography" design. (The reason that I call it topography is because it reminds me of those "designs" that I remember from old grade school geographical maps.)

all in the family

Who would ever think that flannel would look so inviting in the middle of May? Probably anyone who knows North Dakota weather! We're having snow/rain mix this morning. Sounds like a good day to stay indoors and quilt.

Oh yeah...I do that nearly every day, don't I!

Anyway...pictured here is a quilt that my mother-in-law pieced for her fifth graduating grandson. Now that the grandsons have all (nearly) finished high school...it will soon be time for four granddaughters to follow. Time flies, doesn't it!

As you can see...my Swirls template from Loricles is a great design for a guy's quilt.



I'm kind of thinking that the young man that belongs to this quilt may have to hide it from his Mom when he travels off to college this fall! She is a quilter herself. And probably has many quilts-in-the-making. But as we all know...there's just something about a finished quilt, isn't there!

a slight hankering

Ah...quilt stores these days. Did you know that some of them carry more than just quilty stuff? Some have yarns and fibers on inventory! Honest.

I happen to make a quick run-through at a quilt show a couple of months back...and Gruber's Quilt Shop was there as a vendor. And sure enough...they brought along some tasty hanks and balls of yarn. Of course...just as with fabric and threads and notions and patterns and books...I was torn with which hank I was actually going to purchase and go home with.

This one won out: Please meet Mountain Tango...a hand dyed yarn from Mountain Colors.



Oooh...I wish you could feel it. It is a Merino Ribbon...80% super fine Merino Wool and 20% Nylon. It just has this...lush-ness...an "oooh" factor if there ever was one.

As with quilting...in my crocheting I am really not all that interested with following a pattern. Not fully, anyway. The down fall to this is that I never know just how far a hank of yarn is going to go. Serendipity? Yes. I guess that's just how I roll. Whatever is...is. Que sera, sera.

I was pretty sure that I'd have enough yarn to be able to create a lengthy enough scarf for myself. And I did. (Above photo...using treble and single crochet.)

Knowing that I didn't want to wrap my new luscious scarf around my neck more than once...I could see that I had enough yarn to at least do another little project.

Thus...the little digital camera pouch with drawstring closure.



Oh...and I know that you probably already know this: It would have been impossible to take a photo of my new digital camera pouch with said digital camera inside of said pouch.

I know! You knew this. But...call it a moment of insanity or whatever...but I had a little moment of wondering to myself "...just how am I gonna do this?"

You can laugh. Shake your head. Whatever. Some moments (days?) are just like that for me....

Back to the hank of yarn. I also came to the conclusion that upon finishing the scarf...and the digital camera pouch...I still had enough yarn to probably eek in a little cellular phone pouch as well.

So...eek I did.



And do you know what? I still have enough yarn to make another little something-something. Just what that will be...I am not quite sure.

Isn't that just the way these things go? You actually "want" to run out of something...and it just keeps on and on and on.... But I'm not complaining! Just learning.