This and that

We had a cloudy weekend, woke up to a touch of snow on the ground yesterday. Then it started to rain and the snow was washed away. By evening time, the rain had stopped but the clouds were thick! When we lived in the valley, I called this FOG.....

 But now that we live up in the mountains, we just call it clouds...LOL

 It looks like smoke...but it's just the clouds moving by...it's clear as a bell out now. So that made for a crisp, cold night.

I spent some time in the sewing room over the weekend. I was taking pictures for another small tute...I have to redo almost HALF of them! I don't know why they came out blurry on me.

I also spent some time working on my scrappy star. I haven't taken any more photos though, I wanted to wait till we had some sun today.

I really need to take some quilt tops outside and just have a photography session...LOL

Have a great day all.


 Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

From the scraps 2

Here is the next scrappy star I am working on.

The scraps I am using come from this pattern, it's called 'Phire's Compass, and it's designed by Jessica Smith, who designs for Northcott as well as for herself. You can find this pattern here . A long with some other gorgeous patterns. Jess has the BEST mystery weekends!

I accidentally made my diamonds wrong in that pattern. So you can see I have a pile of them down in the next picture, which I will be using in my scrappy star borders. These are the other scraps that I am using for this, along with some various triangles, probably...haven't gotten that far yet.

I am having a harder time this go around. I'm not quite sure what it is I want to do.  So I keep putting pieces together, and rearranging and using my pencil/paper. I'll get it soon.

 Yah, it's Saturday. Saturday morning is the time I turn on the '70s music (old Cassey Cassum shows!), put the chores aside and just relax in my sewing space.  It's my time.

Hope you have a groovy day! LOL

Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

Pre-cuts

I have a confession to make, I've never used a pre-cut in all my 16yrs of quilting! Amazing I know...they are so very popular right now. And all for good reasons.

I am wondering what your favorite pre-cuts are, and why? Do you prefer working with squares?

Small, charm packs?

Larger layer cakes?

Or strips, like jelly-rolls, honey-buns, etc?

  As you can see, I have some Sunkissed on my mind. I just LOVE this line by Sweetwater.

I plan on entering this jelly roll contest, and will use the Sunkissed line. Already have the wheels a turning, thinking up some designs. Anyone else  going to enter?

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On the Q&N forum, we have started our Robins for this year. The past 2 yrs we have done Round robins. This year we are doing a Row robin. They are so much fun! You sometimes have to work with colors or designs that are outside your box, so that makes it challenging. You make friends from all over the world (we have three Aussie Gals joining us this year! One from Britain, and a few in Canada), and you get a gorgeous quilt by the end of the year.

Here is my row for this year

It is 36" long, 6" high. I want my group of 6 other gals to use the same design, keeping the white part white, but choosing two other fabrics, instead of the pink and blue. It is a slight variation of  a Jacob's ladder.

Here is my Round robin from last year. Isn't it beautiful!! I just love it.

I can't wait to see what my Row robin will look like at the end of the year. I don't like to peek, and see what each person puts on mine. So I wait and have a surprise when it's all finished.


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So today, I will be working on Tiffaney's row robin. She is also a non-peeker, so I wont be able to show you what I do to it.

And I have some cooking to do, need to make some bread.

Have a great day all!


Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

Jewelled star

 It's finished!! Well...the top is finished being pieced. LOL. Don't know when I'll get around to quilting it. It will have to go in the 'need to quilt pile'.

But I had to post it now, as I am again doing the linky fabric Tuesday on Quiltstory! Just click on the button on my side bar, to go over and see what everyone else is up to.

I am calling this Jewelled star. A much nicer name than scrappy star.

I have done another of these stars from my scrap box too. It's just the star so far, not even on a back ground. It's done in pinks, greens and whites. A lot softer in color than this one. I'm sure you'll be seeing that soon too.

Have a safe, happy day!


 Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

The weekend.

The weather has been pretty gorgeous here in California. I feel sorry for my friends out on the East coast, they keep getting snow and more and more cold temps. Now, I love the snow, but it's nice to have this break we tend to get this time of year here. Then about March we'll get more rain and even snow, although the snow never lasts very long at my place.

Here's a few pictures of the evening sky here. These were taken in November, but we are getting some gorgeous sunsets like these now, also.

I spent much of the weekend figuring out what I am going to do with the rest of my scrappy star wall hanging. I did decide to turn it on point. So spent a lot of time thinking about how to make those corner pieces, with the scraps I have.

Happily, by Sunday it was all figured out and I am 2/3rds the way done with it! I'll show pics soon.

I also spent a lot of time figuring my way around Blogger. I am happy to say I've learned quite a bit. LOL

I was able to put up 'pages', so now you can click on Tutorial at the top of my screen and see my Library bag tutorial. And when I get more pictures put in, you can see some of my quilts and bag creations. Like this bag here....

 It's my own, original design. I'm hoping to have patterns available soon. I've also made one that is the same pattern, only larger. For those of you who like large hang bags.

And I've been able to put up a link to Quiltstory's block party!! I am thinking of joining it, should be lots of fun! Not only do we get to see lots of great block designs, but there are some fabulous prizes too!

A good weekend, all in all....

Have a great day!



Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

A little progress

I love how this scrappy star is coming out!

It was a beautiful day here in N. California yesterday. So I took my project outside to take it's picture.

I think I like it on point, so that's how I am going to keep it. I have the next border in mind already, spent time sitting up in bed last night with my pencils/ruler/crayons. So I'll be adding on to it later today.

I've been pulling my scraps out of the basket, going thru them, picking out just the right ones to add to the quilt. The next border will consist of triangles, gosh I have a lot of those!

Have a great day, stay warm! or cool...lol


Thanks for stopping by Dorian

Scraps continued

 Now that the scraps are sorted, I decided to put them in this basket.

 The basket sits on my cutting table, so it's right  handy when I need to find something. I figure, if it's on the table, in full sight, then maybe they'll get used :)

This basket has some zippers, left over handle pieces, and long, thin strips that I use to tie my hair back with. I love having a pretty strip of fabric in my hair. LOL

And this little basket I fill with the little snippets that I just wont use. When it's full, the pieces go into a baggie. And when the baggie is full. I pop them in the mail to a friend who makes miniture quilts. (Sorry for the blurry picture)

I've seen these hanging fabric baskets, and have been meaning to make some. I know my youngest son would love them. He loves organizing his toys (he's 6). And I thought they would be perfect on the wall nearby my table, for holding scraps in. Maybe I'll make color cordinated ones...LOL, put my blue scraps in a blue holder, green ones in a green holder, etc.

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I've put my first tutorial up! I posted it on the other blog site I post to, about a week ago. You can see it here.

I love making bags, and this one is great for all our books. But it could be used for going to the beach, a kids soccer/football/etc game, quilt quilds, whatever.

Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by Dorian

It's time...

I think, it's time for me to start blogging here...on my own blog. I'll still continue over at Jess's also though. But I am gearing myself up to start getting some patterns of mine published. I am on the very first step to this endeavor though, so don't know how long it will take me. 

In the meantime....

I've been reading  over at Stash Manicure A LOT! And have decided it was time to turn this...

scrap pile

Into something better. A little background...

I have 3 plastic bins that I keep my fabric, scraps, UFO's and finished tops in. Yes, it's a very small stash. And as I  haven't been able to do much hand quilting, the quilt tops are piling up. I think I have 16 or 17 that need quilting!

And the bins are chaotic, I had all these little scraps thrown in with yardage and everything else. I could never find anything easily. So I took all my scraps out of my favorite-I-love-this-fabric-and-can't-throw-it-away bin and put them in little piles all over my table. 


I have strips and various triangles...

More strips and some odd shapes.

 These Kaufman fusions (sweet william) and some darling Maywood (the green with flowers) are some of my very, very favorite...

And this is what I did with them....

 A beautiful, 8 point star...

I have started putting this star into the middle of a quilt....will show you some more pictures later.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day.

Dorian