little charms...

remember this?

It found its way into this:

which I quilted in the ditch with some great melon colored thread I had on hand.

Then, when I was almost done ditch stitchin', my machine ate it.  {sigh}
At least the fabric is undamaged - I was able to cut my little quilt sandwhich free without snipping the backing fabric, which is a white-on-white star print from my stash that had slim odds of ever getting used.  Since this sandwhich back won't be seen, I thought this would be a good time to use it up. 

Can anyone guess what I am making?
I used most of my charm pack for the top, and the only additional fabric is the backing.
Happy WIP Wednesday to you!
{I'm linking to WIP Wednesday, which has a different home for this week}

With Seam Ripper Close At Hand...

Everything I sew lately needs to be ripped out.  Really. I can't help but laugh at myself.
Here is my latest project in need of a fresh start:

This is a panel I bought to learn hand quilting on.  Obviously that didn't happen :)  Now I'm just trying to get it done so I can take it off my UFO list. 

You can't see it, but a bit farther down on the fabric is the Nativity scene, some Wise Men and Shepards; all the usual Christmas crowd  :)   Oh, and the dove fabric is the backing.

I don't like the white thread I used above, there is just too much contrast between it and the darker colors.  I'm not sure what to use in its place, maybe gold or invisible?

The pattern has me stumped, too.  I tried to outline the important figures, and just meander all over the rest, but I don't like how it turned out.  I tried this mainly because it just seemed wrong to stitch through the Baby Jesus  :)

Then again, maybe I'll just sandwhich this with fusible fleece and forget quilting it altogether.

Well, I won't be doing any more sewing until I finish all my ripping ( I still have my BOM to rip out).  Tomorrow I'll be sitting by a sunny window with a cup of coffee and a seam ripper...

Happy Quilting to you, and may your seam ripper gather dust!

a decision reached

Hello

I don't have any new pictures to share, just an update from last week's WIP Wednesday post.

I'll be spending alot of quality time with my seam ripper.  Once the blocks are apart again and I know what I have to work with, I'll decide where to go from there.  Pot holders aren't out of the question if it gets real ugly ;)     (just kidding, this is going to be a finished quilt if it kills me)

Thanks to everyone who offered their 2 cents last week :)
Happy Stitching 

Not So Happy Quilt Top

This is the last block for my BOM quilt.  And here are the blocks together with sashing and cornerstones:

I put this together a couple weeks ago, but everything lined up so poorly, I just set it aside.  I need to decide what to do with it.  The bottom row is 1/2" short on both sides, and there are a couple seam allowances that are too small. 

The blocks were supposed to be 12 1/2" unfinished.  The two with curved seams I had to trim down, so they were 12 1/4", but I didn't think it would be a problem.  Somehow, when I checked before sewing I missed that there were one or two larger than 12 1/2".  I tried to compensate for minor differances when joining to the sashing, but it didn't work.

I'm thinking it needs to be ripped out, but I really, really don't want to do that much ripping.  But if it needs to be done...

Alternatively, maybe I could try to stitch the scant seams deeper, drown any in question with Fray-Check, trim the outer sashing strips even with the bottom row, add the remaining borders, and hope the sweet lady I'm giving this to forgets to wear her glasses every time she looks at it?

Penguins - What to do with them?

I bought a kit to turn this panel into two wallhangings for my five year old.  They just needed backing and binding, nice and easy.  When I ordered it, I made sure he knew wallhangings hang on walls.  He said he understood, and even started to pick out where they would go. 

But when I was getting ready to cut the sections apart, he was talking about 'cuddleing' his penguin quilts.  I explained the whole wallhanging thing again, but now he was determind, this was going on his bed to cuddle with, not on the wall (sometime while I was unawares, putting a hanging sleeve on the back of penguins was apparently made criminal).  Oh, and now the panel has to stay as one piece, because apparently the penguins on the right are related to the penguins on the left, and they would miss each other if I cut them apart.  (I think he has named each penguin) 

I don't know why I was surprised by this.    :)

So, now I've got no plan, and a five year old who is impatient for his penguin quilt.  I do want this to be twin size, because he already has enough smaller quilts and blankets.

Ok, I know there are more high-tech ways of designing quilts (I even own EQ5) but I still prefer pencil and paper.  Plus I still love to color with crayons  :)

My first Idea was to try log cabin blocks, like the drawing on the left, in blues.  I would put the panel in the upper third of the quilt, with blocks above and below, and on the sides to make it wide enough.  But, I was afraid a monochromatic blue quilt in this pattern might be too boring (although, I'm liking it better now that I've drawn it), especially since I don't want to add borders of a focal print.
Then I thought maybe wonky log cabins?  Or stacked coins like the drawing on the right? 

What do you think?  Is there something else you would suggest?  I also like the looks of the cover quilt of this book, but I've never done anything like it.  Also, would it work in monochromatic blue? 

Should I add some yellow and orange?

These are the fabrics I have to work with so far.  I'm hoping to add more bright blues, and geometrics for interest. 

These are the guide lines I've decided on so far:

-The pattern needs to be quick and easy

-No borders of a focal fabric

-not a lot of white (around here, quilts are used to build bunkers for Revolutionary War reinactments or the occaisional Mongoul invaison)

-predominantly blue

-the panel needs to be kept as one piece (it is roughly 24"xWOF)

Any ideas, comments, links to inspirational photos, would be appreciated.

Thank you so much!