Surprise X two

Do you like surprises? I do! I do!

Spurred by Sarah's Wednesday post, (go read it, it's a good one) I started to change things around in the sewing room. I have been neglecting a lot of things lately so there was a lot to be done (still not all done but getting there). I am very encouraged by Sarah's new linky party too. Oh! It'll be fun.

Anywho! Do you remember the missing block in my 365 quilt? I thought I was going crazy for losing a block and not being able to finish this inner border.

Well, with me tidying up the sewing room, look what I found. Clipped together was this little bundle of pieces. Now, which block are those pieces for?

I measured them all and looked at every single block on the 365 challenge list to see if I could find a match.

And I did. These pieces are for the WTC Union block, posted on June 19th. Thinking I had finally found the missing block, I got the flimsy 365 out and searched for the said block. Yep, it's already in there. It's not the missing block. :^(
The mystery continues. But at least, now I know I am NOT going crazy. YAY!! :^D 😁



Then, I got another surprise! Such a nice one too.

Look! I got a squishy envelop. Even better it is recycled envelop. I so love that.

The Joyful Quilter  and I decided to swap a little mug rug back in November. I will have to make another post to show you what I made for her because, well, it's a long story. Anywho! I have received the mug rug she has made for me. YAY!

Isn't it gorgeous? I so love it. Oh wait! Maybe the little arrow in the middle should be pointing upward.

Okay, that's better. I am so in love with it. The little + signs are made with tiny little pieces, like 1/2 inch finished tiny. WHOA!!  It is soooo awesome! I love the colors, I love the design, I just love it. Joyful used all the colors of the rainbow because it is where we have met, under the rainbow, at Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (every Saturday).



But wait, that's not all. I was in for another SURPRISE! I turned the mug rug around and what did I see?


Another mug rug! Whoohoo! That's awesome!!

It is a nice star of some kind made with repro fabric. Mmmm so gorgeous!

But wait, that's not all! I also got this.

A piece of York chocolate, yum-yum, and two soda-pop can tabs. (?) I had to ask Joyful what was that for and she said you sew them to the back of the mug rug and they hold the rug on the nails, for my Fabulously Famous Quilt Wall.  Duh! I didn't know that. This is such a great idea. Joyful is a very talented lady and very smart too. I wouldn't have thought of this in a million years. Another happy surprise.

But wait. On which side am I suppose to sew these tabs? I love both sides. Oh no, what do I do?


I decided to do what I usually do; hang it with old dulled pins. Ha!

Here it is with the others Fabulously Famous Quilts. I will flip it in about a month time so I can enjoy the other side for a bit.

Thank you so much Joyful. Seriously I ♥ it a LOT. It looks like it's saying I have + + + friends around the world. And you, Joyful, are one of them. ♥

The little bird house was given to me by Rhonda (at Ravelly1) from Texas, back in August 2014. And that's when the Fabulously Famous Wall began. The cardinal has its twin in France at Cecile's house.

Of course, Azure has a little niche too. She comes from Mangofeet's farm (New York State). I added some grass with tiny little flowers. The quilting is wavy with some swirls so she can hear the wind as she is running around in her field of flowers. She loves to run. I framed her with a bias tape of pink gingham because, you know, she's a country piglet. I love her.

Abundance, a quilt-along hosted by Lori at Humble Quilts in Oregon. I so wanted to join in for Palmateer Point but alas, it wasn't meant to be. I have kept the instructions and, one day, I will have my own Palmateer Point on the wall. :^D

The big log cabin heart was made with Cecile's help. She and Béa hosted a sew-along. Well, you sew whatever you wanted as long as it was made of log cabin blocks and it had at least 16 blocks. (You can see more of it here.) It was fun. These two French girls are doing it again in January 2018. It will be the same rules but with basket blocks. Any basket design will do. Traditional or modern, it's up to you. Want to join? Just follow the link and put your name on the list. It's that easy. I'm in. :^D

I still have plenty of space on my wall because there are so many more quilters I have to meet still. :^D


That's all for now. See you soon.

;^)



Joining :
Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is more Fun than Housework

Log Cabin Heart

Heeeeerrreee's the 

Log Cabin 

                                                  Heart!

All quilted and bound. I so love this one. Thanks to Cécile, Patchwork Inspirations and Béa, Une aiguille dans une botte de foin,  for this nice, easy QAL. 

I used a log cabin cheatsheet fabric from Debbie Mum's collection. First time I use the corner triangles to hang a wall-hanging. 

 

I used pieces of fabric given to me by quilting friends. Even our sweet hostess, Cécile, is represented somewhere in these fabrics. 

I quilted it in the ditch, then decided to add a little more. Suebee's World gave me some pink thread that I used to draw some FMQ hearts. 

I wrote "heart" and "links" (Gosh, that would have been a good name for it but it's too late now) in the top corner blocks. I forgot to check for the corner triangles at the back and well, yes I did it! lol 

Today, I will unstitch, (sounds like my only chore for the entire weekend. See last post for more about that.) those corners blocks and redo the FMQ words. All the threads need to be buried too. 

This evening, I will attach the sweet label given to me by yet another quilting friend, Ruth from Country Log Cabin. 

Thanks to all of you, precious friends, who have participated in this lovely little quilt. 

After that, I will give some attention to the Ohio Star Shadow quilt. 

Not much progress was done on this one in March. I'll try to do better this month. 

Until next time .... look who came back! 

She's been around for the last two weeks. She's on my porch at 6:30 in the morning, lol.  She's my across the street neighbor's cat. She is very skittish and doesn't trust us much. Well, that was then. Now she has adopted us. 

Photo bomb, lol 

She even invited herself in ... for a very short visit. 

;^)

Joining Cécile at Patchwork Inspiration 

Joining Kathy at Kathy's Quilts

The Logging is Done

Lob Cabin is a fun block to make and sometimes a little too easy. I had to mess it up. Hey, I don't want to tarnish my reputation just because the block is easy to make, right? I mean, I worked hard for that reputation you know. :^D

Here's what I did in January;  

 

 

 

and 8 more for February; 

I made two more completely neutral and I was half way done when I realised that I don't need two more of those. Arrghhh! What I need two more of are the half-and-half blocks. Back at the cutting board to cut more of the neutral strips as I was running low. 

Remember that I am using only fabric that means something to me, whether it was given to me by a quilty friend or that it represents something that I love. So a lot of pulling out of fabric and refolding followed. 

I manage to do it right on the second try; 

That's more like it. 

I also need 6 completely bright and they turned out like this; 

This is the layout; 

You can clearly see that I didn't need more neutral blocks. I'm sure I can find another job for them. Somewhere else. 


So I am tagging along to Cécile's blog for the traditional log cabin. Béa has the modern counterpart.  You'll see on Béa's blog that Lori and I had the same inspiration for this little Log Cabin QAL. Fun! So don't be shy and go have a look. 

Until next time ... I ♥ my quilty friends. 

;^)

A Collection of Mishmash Fabrics

In January, I joined my friends Cécile et Béa, in a log cabin quilt-a-long. The participants could chose any type of log cabin and every colours were accepted. One has to make 8 blocks in a month with the big reveal in March. Well, wouldn't you know that I didn't make the 8 little blocks in January.

I had to finish them this morning, February 1st. Not much was left to be done but it's still a "no cigar" finish. Being stuck in appointments that took longer than expected (and burned up most of my energy) on Monday and Tuesday, the little logs were left on the cutting table, waiting for me to show up and sew.

This being said, it is no excuse for my lack of preparation through out the month. I want to sincerely apologize to my friends from "outre-mer" for letting them wait so long for my post. I am sorry. That was very inconsiderate of me.


A hodge podge, a jumble, or a variety of fabrics have to come together to make my log cabins blocks. From polka-dots to plaids, from repro to modern and even some kids fabrics, all were called in to participate in the building of these cabins.

I want fabrics that talk to me, fabrics that came from friends, or that I won, or bought with a gift certificate. In other words, meaningful fabrics were used here.

Some came all the way from France, some came 90 minutes away from here.

Some show what I love; sunflowers, orange geo, birds, Scandinavian chickens. These little fabrics represent so many friends. In the left block, the hovering bird is a French General piece won in a "leftover scraps giveaway" that Randy so generous gave.

When I got the parcel in the mail, I was excited and so curious, I just had to open the package right away. Randy does know how to seal a package so no pieces get lost. I was only able to have a peek at the loot.

Here they all are after I got my hands on a pair of scissors. I was surprised at how much there was. Thank you so much Randy. I am more than please with the BIG leftover pieces. (No, these are not just little pieces, believe me.) Very generous. Thank you. :^D

Okay back to the log cabin.

For my design, some blocks need to be completely white ... uhmm ... neutral? Again, dots, birds, dogs, metallic, repro, whatever my fancy is, in it goes.

If you haven't spotted the fabrics you gave me, do not despair as I have 8 more blocks to construct for next month.

Don't forget to click the links because so many participants have wonderful blocks and some interesting layouts. Here are the links again :

Cécile at Patchwork Inspirations for the traditional log cabins
and
Béa at Une aiguille dans une botte de foin for the modern log cabins
Go check it out.


I'll also share with Sarah for "Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?" because I am glad they are done. :^D


Until next time ... I'll be logging.


;^)

I need to Catch a Fever

My friends, Cécile (Patchwork Inspiration) and Béa (Une aiguille dans une botte de foin) are the hostesses for Log Cabin Quilt Along. We have to make 8 blocks per month. Only 8 blocks!! That's not hard, right? Riiiight!  Well, these are my blocks so far.

:^{   They all need a couple more rounds of 1.25" strips. So I need to catch a Log Cabin Fever and get  moving on this, lol. 

My leader/ender is sewing along too.  

Another thing that I will do this week involves this poor container. 

It is full to the brim and just can not accept another block.  So, it is time to empty it out onto this; 

The next border of the 365 Challenge is in that little container. Time to spread the joy all around it. This will be fun! :^D

What are you working on? Let us know by share it at Beth's place so we can all see and encourage you. Her address is right here at Love Laugh Quilt.
I will also be at Em's Scrapbag for Moving it Forward Monday.

Until next time ...  I'm planning something quilty. 

;^)