The Bees Knees, a quilting bee - October

This is the block I made for my quilting bee, The Bees Knees, for the month of October.

Shari sent us fabric for the block and the pieces were already cut to the right size.

The quilt she'll be making with these modern maples blocks is really cute.

The pattern is by Amanda Woodward-Jennings, and you can see and print it free here.

Each block is 12 l/2" unfinished, and it would be a fast quilt to make.

AYOS and a little bit more, winner!

I joined "Another Year of Schnibbles" and a little bit more, this year :)

I worked really hard to get my "Whit" pattern finished before the end of the month, you can see it on my blog post here.

You can see half of the parade of the small quilt parade on Sherri's blog, A Quilting Life, where my quilt top is featured.   

The other half of the parade is on Sinta's blog, Pink Pincushion.

Four winners were chosen, two from each of the quilt parades.

Mine was chosen as a winner!!!!

This lovely box came in the mail and it was really heavy!

Carrie, from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co, sent me a fat eighth bundle of "Miss Kate", and a beautiful handwritten note :)

That's not all....

It was literally like Christmas!!!

A cute little mini charm pack of "Pot Luck", and the cutest little "Hello Kitty" Hallowe'en tin of sour orange bone candies.

Isn't the tin adorable?  

I can hardly wait to fill it with pins or something :)

A Clover seam ripper and a Clover curved awl!!!

A fantastic little package of glass pins and a little house tin to hold them.

Aren't these the dearest little things?

I'm beyond excited!

Hold on to your chair....

Carrie also sent me some mint green "Miss Kate" fabric, enough for a quilt back, about 7 yards worth!!!

I'm in heaven :)

I shared it with my husband and he very patiently admired everything.

I wanted to share it with you because I know that you will be as thrilled as I am!

You should think about joining the Schnibbles parade.

"Harvey" is the pattern for the month of October.

"Frozen" dress is finished!

I have been sewing and sewing....

...and finally finished "Elsa's" dress for my grand daughter's birthday.

This is the back view.

I added a little "snow" pearl button as a closure at the back.

I looked all over the mall until I found an affordable broach on clearance!

Here is a closeup of the broach and the colors in this photo are true.

This pattern was easier to sew than I thought.

It's a McCall pattern #7000, and I highly recommend it.

I hope to post a photo of my grand daughter in her dress soon!

Thanks for following along with me :)

Quilty Humor

More "Frozen" Fabric

Disney's movie "Frozen" is out of this world popular right now.

Even the Disney store can't keep the "Frozen" merchandise in stock.

When I saw this pattern at the fabric store, I just had to buy it!

One of my grand daughters will be 4 years old in October and she's crazy about Elsa, one of the sisters in the movie.

The blue satin is by Michael Miller, and I don't know who makes the other two. 

The aqua fabric is sheer and drapes really well, while the white fabric is a little on the stiff side.

I might sew the white over the satin for the bodice, but I'll have to see how it looks.

I'm really excited to make this dress, I'll show it to you soon, when it's finished.

Bees Knees, a quilting bee - September

I was invited to join the Bees Knees, a quilting bee.

The button is on the right of my blog if you want to take a look!

September was Melissa Corry's month from Happy Quilting.

She wants to make a quilt for her grandparents to use in their camper so she sent us "Smore Love" by Cosmo Cricket.

Melissa told the quilting bee that we could make whatever block we want to.

I saw this cute fabric and knew right away that I wanted to make an appliqued owl.

I drew my little owl.

Then I numbered each section in the order I would appliqué the fabric onto the white background.

I traced each numbered section or piece, onto the paper side of freezer paper, and numbered each one.

I traced the owl pattern with the branch and leaves, onto tracing paper.

I cut out all the pieces that I traced onto the freezer paper.

I turned the steam off my iron and pressed the paper pieces wax side down unto the fabric.

I traced each piece with a fine point pencil and cut each one out, leaving a l/4" seam allowance.

I placed each appliqué piece on the white background in the number order, and made sure it was centered, using the tracing paper template.

Here's my little appliqued owl!

I love the woodgrain on the brown and aqua, and the fabric on the foot really looks like claws!

I added a patchwork border around my little owl.

He measures 12 l/2" unfinished.

I can hardly wait to see all the blocks Melissa receives and see how she puts them all together in a quilt :)

AYOS and a Little Bit More, September

I am so excited to be joining in on the fun of Another Year of Schnibbles and a Little Bit More!

I have always wanted to make a Schnibbles pattern, so I thought this would be my chance :)

The pattern for September is called "Whit" from the "Little Bites" line from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

"Little Bites" are packs of 2 l/2" squares from a line of fabric.

I used a charm pack (5" squares) from Moda called 1974 (the year I graduated from high school) Ha ha!!! by Urban Chicks.

There are three patterns, Whit No. 1, 2 and 3.

The reason I chose Whit No. 3, (Flying Dutchman) is because I had a busy month and the pattern only called for 128 2 l/2" squares as compared to 140 or 160, not including the background squares!!!

Below are 128 squares of background fabric...

Here are all of my 128 background squares cut in a neat little pile.

I neglected to take a photo of my charm square pack, but here is a sampling of what the color scheme is, without the yellows.

Here is my Whit pattern with a portion of my assembled, non trimmed flying geese.

Yay, a finished itsy bitsy 4 l/2" Flying Dutchman square.

Progress, all of my blocks are finished :)

This is everything layed out, ready to sew, and I need to make a larger design board!

I finished sewing all the blocks, posts and sashing, I just need to add the border.

This is a new color scheme for me, usually I sew with bright colors.

This color selection is more muted.

I added the border, but something is missing.  

I think it looks a little dull, and the quilt only measures 22" square.

I'm making this as a table topper for my daughter Rebecca's dining room table which is right next to her living room.

The dining room table sits on top of a jute rug, so that's why I chose Kona "stone" as the background.

The colors in the quilt are matched to the rug in my Rebecca's living room.

 I looked through my fabric stash and found this Michael Miller houndstooth which I think looks great on the quilt!

It adds some brightness or life, to the Kona "stone" which is a little dull.

The quilt or table topper, now measures 28" square.

It will look great on my daughter's dining room table which measures 53" square.  

I know the fabric I chose for the binding will also liven up the colors.

I don't have much in the lines of plum or teal, or berry.....

These are the fat quarters I pulled from my stash which are even remotely similar, but they don't work.

The colors don't blend.

I remembered my little collection of Denyse Schmidt fat quarters.

Yes!!!

Denyse's colors are a little muted, and I love the medallion fat quarter with its greens and blues.

I would have loved a berry or plum but I'm still happy with this choice.

Rebecca has lots of blues in her living area, so this fabric will be great for the binding :)

Here's a hint of what the quilt will look like bound, but the quilting and binding will have to be shared in another post.

So many projects, so little time!  Ha ha!

Here's a photo of Rebecca's new living room rug.

I pulled the colors from it, along with the color from the blue couch and accessories.

If you would like to follow the parade of finished "Whit" quilts tomorrow, October 1st, go to Sherri's blog, A Quilting Life, or Sinta's blog, Pink Pincushion.

Thanks for reading my blog :)