Choices

Here's is where the choices begin. 48 complete log cabin blocks. 

Choice #1, above, this one reads as red in real life. 

Choice #2, while obviously quite similar to #1, reads as a white quilt with red diamonds.

Choice #3, the traditional Barn Raising, although off center. I'm leaning toward this one at the moment.

Choice #4. Jon says this one looks 3D.

Choice #5. We're calling this one Pyramids.

Choice #6 is Jon's attempt at "random" placement of the blocks.

And choice #7 started with a star in the middle and just kind of grew from there.

Any thoughts?

JRC "Quilt of Valor"

  This quilt took literally two weeks from late night crazy idea to ready for gift giving. 

It's not official because it wasn't gifted through the Quilts of Valor foundation but that's kind of the point of it. Today we gave it to Jon 's dad, a Korean War veteran. 

I thought it was kind of fun how well it packed into that box, too.

Finish It Friday, French General Quilt

I've decided this is my favorite quilt that I've made ever, so far. I'm calling it the French General quilt because that's who designed the majority of the fabrics I used. There are just one or two others that got thrown into the mix, but they all fit the theme beautifully. I used a "wibble wobble" quilting design. I tried at first to do it without drawing the lines on the fabric. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and once I sucked it up and started drawing the lines, it didn't take nearly as long as I thought that it would to draw them all. My quilting improved dramatically after that. So what I thought would be a time saver was really a messy quilt maker.

Post quilting and squaring up, I had Evan hold it up to make sure that I still loved it. Good news, I did.

This is one reason I wasn't sure I still loved it. My sewing machine is small. Quilting larger projects on it is kind of ridiculous. It seems like there's just a ton of fabric to shove through. I'm going to have to start saving for a more serious quilting machine. This is great for piecing and for quilting small projects. Not so much throw size or larger quilts.

And of course, I have fabric left for at least another throw size quilt. I'm honestly kind of excited to see what I come up with next.

Shipshewana Quilt Festival 2013

I have created a quilt/photography monster.

Wendy and Sarah admiring the Best of Show winner up close. Congrats to Sherry Reynolds of Laramie, WY on her amazing work. Obviously, amateur photography (with no flash allowed) will never show the quilts at their best.

I'm a sucker for hexagons and for floral appliqué, put them both on one quilt to pretty much guarantee I'll share a picture of your project.

"Mom! Take my picture with the horse quilt!"

The Festival Committee needs to create a new category and give this piece an award. I've heard the word "stunning" used in reference to many quilts. THIS is the quilt that deserves that word. Simply unbelievable.

While it's impossible to see from afar and without flash, many, many Swarovski crystals were used in the making of this quilt. Clearly, someone on the committee at Shipshewana has a thing for sparkle because there were several quilts with lots and lots of shine going on. While it's beautiful, it seemed to be rather over represented, in my opinion.

I need to decide what to start working on now for next year's show.

Audrey (the Quilt) - Finish It Friday

I've decided I'm going to start naming my quilts after people in my family. So this one is named after my grandma, Audrey (Dad's mom).

I started this quilt when I took the "How to Quilt From Start to Finish Class" at my local quilt shop. The only thing I'd been avoiding was the binding. I decided to queue up a Law & Order marathon on Netflix to "watch" and got that thing done!

Remember to enter the giveaway I posted yesterday for a copy of Seaside Home from Stash Books.

Pebble Stack Wallhanging and a Giveaway

So, last week I showed you my finished pebble wall quilt because seriously, who can wait to show a finish, right?

But - this week there's more! The pattern comes from the book called Seaside Home. And this week, someone reading this post will get a copy of their very own from Stash Books and C&T Publishing. (Overseas winners will receive an electronic copy.)

While I was working at Erica's, it was pretty much an occupational hazard that I got to see everything new as it came in. That was part of my job, after all. So when I saw this book it went on the "Jen must have it" list. Because my husband and mother-in-law are awesome I received it as a Christmas gift.

The designer of the Pebble Stack Wallhanging, Deborah O'Hare, is a fabric painter and the fabrics in her quilt in the book certainly show it. The sand and the water, and of course the sky, look almost real in her version. I had high intentions of painting some fabric for this project but time and wisdom (?) got the best of me so I decided to use some batiks. I found Hoffman Fabrics Bali Snaps in Breakers and Caramel which I thought looked perfect. I even decided to use them for some of the pebbles.

Practicing the layout for the background

Also, the designer was able to make her binding match the colors of the different sections. While I thought this was fantastic, I pretty much knew from the beginning this wasn't going to work for me and my current skill set. Maybe next time.

There are about a thousand things I could have done better on this quilt but I love, love, love it all the same. I had originally thought I would quilt it rather sparsely, but in the end I followed some of the coloring on the fabrics with the quilting and it all just led to quilting the crap out of it. It turns out, that's becoming my style, I think.

Now, some of you may know how much I love the lake and would really love to have a seaside home. Maybe some day I will but it most likely won't be for a while so making all of the projects in this book may not be all that practical. But, in the mean time I'm going to choose a couple to work on anyway.

So here's what I think I'll do. In order to enter the giveaway for the book (thanks again to Allison and Stash Books!), you need to leave a comment with your choice of which of the following three projects I should try first. Whichever gets the most votes will be the first one I try.

1. Embroidered Wall Art designed by Jasonda Desmond

2. Porthole Baby Quilt designed by Latifah Saafir

3. Beach Pillow designed by Heidi Troyer

Just leave a comment with your favorite choice, the order of your comment will determine your number, and I'll use a random number generator to choose the winner. Entries will be accepted until next Wednesday, May 8th, 2013, at 12 noon, EST. I'll announce the winner by Thursday, May 9th at noon and your book will be on it's way from C&T Publishing (remember, overseas winners will receive an e-book). I have not received compensation for this review, I really just simply love this book!

Good luck, and tell all your friends!