Crayon Challenge

My favorite on line quilting group had a challenge to use a crayon block in some kind of project. If you posted a picture by September 30, you were entered into a random drawing to win something. A couple years ago in a class I saw someone with this neat "thing" that went under their sewing machine and had pockets in the front for all their sewing "tools." I thought it was great because when you take classes you don't have a lot of room for your "stuff" so this is a perfect way to keep everything in reach and "mark" your territory in class. I used this crayon challenge as motivation to make one for myself. I had found crayon fabric at my favorite LQS and used that on one side, made a dozen orange crayons using the challenge block and used more of my favorite color (ORANGE) on the back side. It came out pretty good. I used the crayons as the pockets and quilted them a bit and made 2 smaller and one large pocket to stick my stuff in. I made a big pocket where I can put a cutting board or leave empty and roll up the tool kit to ship. Should be a good tool for my travels to classes. Here's a picture with my traveling sewing machine. The pockets are big so you can't really see the tools but they all fit in there nicely and stay handy.

My latest project

Wanted to make a quilt for my brother's girlfriend who was having a special birthday -- I'll be having the same one later this year. I used Carol Doak's Rays of Hope quilt free on her web site. Joya's favorite colors are blue and purple (according to my brother). Hopefully she likes the quilt. I was able to get the whole thing done in a day, except for the binding. I added the binding the next day and rounded the edges (a first for me) and was able to get it all sewn and delivered when I met them for lunch before they went back to NY. Did the quilting myself and added hearts (since he said she liked hearts) to the corners as well. Came out pretty good.

Blue and Gold Table Topper

Almost 3 years ago I made my first block from the Simply Sensational 9 PatchStars Book. It was the first time I used blue and gold together. I fell inlove with it. I liked it so well, I decided I wanted a whole quilt in thatcolor combo and I started collecting fabric. When Carol started the BOM morethan 2 years ago, I decided I would do the BOM in 2 color ways - Red, Black and White for my son (still not done) and Blue and Gold for myself. I think I onlygot one other B&G block done before I decided that one BOM at a time was enoughfor me.As I was looking through my orphan blocks to see if there were any blocks thatcould be made into Table Toppers and donated to my guild, I found that firstblue and gold block. I had forgotten how pretty it was. Now it is a TableTopper and will be a prize in the October Quilt Bingo for my guild. I posted a picture in the September General Folder.

First Christmas Quilt of the Year

Carol Doak designed this cute mini Holiday quilt for her Yahoo Quilting Group. She let me be the pattern tester and even though I wasn't feeling well, it didn't take long and went together easily. I was a little nervous since the blocks are 2" and 1.5" but I think it came out very well. It's so cute, I might have to make some for other seasons in the year.

Red, White & Blue Fat Eighth Blocks

I finally finished my blocks for my favorite kind of swap for my favorite Yahoo group. It's a great swap. You send in pieces of fabric that are about 11 x 18 and people make blocks for you, using your fabric (plus their own) and you receive those same size pieces of fabric from other people and make blocks for them. Each group has 5 people, so you're making blocks for 4 other people. I joined three groups, so I had to make 12 blocks. That means I'll be getting back 12 blocks (enough for a nice sized quilt) all using my fabric. I was kind of specific in my requests -- I gave a specific block and asked that my fabric be placed in a specific location on the block. If everyone complies I'm gonna have a GREAT quilt. Can't wait. The best part is I get to try out blocks I've never made and color combinations I may not normally use. All the blocks are Carol Doak designs from a variety of her books and this time the blocks had to be Red, White and Blue. You never know if your swap mates will like your blocks, but I always hope so. I really liked how some of these came out. Unfortunately I procrastinated quite a while before finishing these. They've got to get in the mail tomorrow so I'm not late with the deadline.

My new sewing chair

I saw the perfect sewing chair at a quilt show years ago. I never should have sat in it, no other chair could compare. My husband tried to get me one last Christmas but the manufacturer had gone out of business. I was surprised to see the same folks at the Quilt Odyssey this year. They changed manufacturers and still offer it as the Perfect Sewing Chair. It's expensive but well worth it. I got the premium version because my butt is quite a bit wider than the average person.

This chair is especially for people with short legs; it’s adjustable 6 ways. The seat position (distance from back of chair) is adjustable and you can of course change the height of the chair and the height of the back. And the tilt and the slant of the back of the chair are adjustable too. And if you want to pay a little more you can get adjustable lumbar support.

It comes with this tilting thing to put your sewing machine at an angle (I didn't get that, I got a custom color instead) and it comes with this foot thing that you put your sewing machine foot pedal goes on and it has another wedge shape and if you put both your feet on those it's supposed to keep your hips square and stop back pain. I did get that and I hope it works. It's supposed to make it so you can sit and sew longer. I like that idea.

It took me 3 years of sitting in it once a year at the show to convince me it was worth spending the money. I’m so glad I finally did. It’s great. Very comfy. And in case you didn’t notice, it’s ORANGE!!! You can read all about it on their web site: http://www.ergonomicadvantage.com/

Mystery Solved

On my favorite online quilting group, we were challenged to complete a mystery quilt. At first we had to pick one multicolored print, one dark for the background and then a light, medium and dark warm and light and medium cool fabric. Then we were told how to cut the pieces. And then every now and then we got a block design and directions on how many to make in what color combination. Just three simple blocks made the quilt you see. It was my first mystery but won't be my last. It is currently my favorite quilt made to date -- the colors are very ME!