Fabric Tuesday

It's fabric Tuesday again, over at Quilt Story...




Besides finishing another ditty bag and finishing up the mystery quilt from the Q&N, I've been working on my disappearing 16-patches.

                                          
Here are all the colors I'm working with, 4 triangles of each.

I got the inspiration from Melissa, at Happy Quilting. Here is how she did her's. I chose to go with some tone on tone and solid prints, to put together with the petit fours I had of Lovely and Central Park.

I am just trying to figure out how I want to lay mine out. I don't want to do it the same way as Melissa, although that looks lovely. Just not the design I am looking for.

I could put them simply, like this.

 

 

 Or put them like this...with or without borders or sashing. This purple and blue colorways are my favorite, although the yellow and orange color way from Central Park is right up there with them.

 

Pinwheels look neat too.

I want to buy some solid white, so I can play with sashing and borders.

What do you think? Have you done any disappearing 16 patches? I would love to see photos.

Have a great day.

Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

Another ditty bag

 Here is another ditty bag. I've made a cute little pocket in the front, it's hard to see, unless something is sticking out of it.

It also has a zip pocket on the inside. I think I've tested this pattern enough now :) it's already to get written up and printed soon.

 I'm linking up to Karen again this week. Thank you Karen!

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I've also finished the  mystery quilt at the Q&N.

Sorry, but it's going to remain a mystery for now. I don't want to ruin anyone's surprise. And it IS a surprise. Jess is great at keeping it a mystery, till the last few steps.

But you can go to the Q&N, and become a member. And join in the fun on the mystery threads.












It's another stormy, wet week here in Norther California. A good time to be inside, sewing, schooling and being with the family.

Have a great day!

 Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

In common

What does this:

image from myantiquesewingmachine.com. my machine looks just like it

 And these pretties.

 And a bunch of these....

 Have in common??

It must be it's the March mystery quilt going on.

On Monday I had my honey oil the machine and I got it all ready to go (yes, I really do piece on a hundred+ yr old White treadle, and I love it!). I got some of the fabric in the mail on Monday, and got a bunch of HST's cut and trimmed.

Am I just a lame brain, or does everyone have to take time to trim HST's?? And even when I trim them nice and neat, I still have problems getting my points to match nicely...SIGH~

That's the worst part of quilting for me, is all the trimming to make blocks nice and neat. Taking off dog ears and such. It's SO time consuming, at least for me it is....

I spent most of Tuesday working on the Mystery quilt.. I love testing these for Jess. She always comes up with a neat, pretty, fun design.

The mystery quilt weekend is this coming weekend, the 19th and 20th. You can still get kits and/or the pattern here.

I have the rest to finish today. And I should have it finished today, barring any unforeseen problems/issues not only with the pattern, but with the family.

Hope you'll come join in the fun this weekend. We will have a thread on the Q&N where you can share pictures, thoughts or ask any questions. It's always fun!

Have a great day!


 Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

Blog land giveaways!

There is some AWESOME giveaways going on out in blog land right now! Spring is in the air, and everyone is feeling warm and generous. LOL. Lots of fun going on.

Like at Madame Samm's! She is having a terrific giveaway to celebrate hitting 2011 followers!!! AND, she has a fun giveaway for some Perle Finca balls, on her blog.

Vickie, of Spun Sugar Quilts, is having a fun giveaway, celebrating her 700th post AND over 1000 followers!!

Julie, at Jaybird Quilts, is having a super giveaway, celebrating Wonders Woven fabrics, and her awesome new patterns.

Quilt Taffy has a fun one, it ends tonight, with some lovely popsicle colored fabric.

Melissa, at Happy Quilting, Is having a great giveaway, celebrating 500 followers!!

Well, that's a lot of fun!! Go see them all, and join in.



Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

My Ditty bag

Linking up with Karen in her link party! She is having a giveaway this week too!!

I've been pretty busy the past few days, and haven't got much sewing done. So today, I took the morning off and got my bag done.

It's perfect for a lap quilt and book...take it outside and and relax in the shade.

 

Or if you live by the beach, toss in your towel and accessories, and take off.

It has a zip pocket in the inside...bring it to the book store and have a nice bag to carry all your good reads out in.

And of course, it would be perfect for taking to the fabric store, and stuffing with some treasures.....after they are paid for, of course ;) LOL

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Thanks to Melissa and her Happy Quilt-a-long, I have figured out what to do with the lovely petit fours I received from Kate Spain.

This 16-patches are perfect for the little guys. I am adding some solids, and doing my own thing with them. But the idea came from Melissa. She has some darling things on her blog, go check her out. Thanks Melissa!




Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

This and that, again...

But no sewing pictures, just yet. I tried to finish my newest bag by yesterday, so that I could put it on Quilt story's Tuesday link up day. But I've been busy the past few days, and haven't gotten it finished. So hopefully I can do that today, and have a new bag to show you soon.

My husband gave me a few great ideas for bags yesterday, so I have those ideas rattling around my head too. And I was lucky enough to find a big bag of new zippers at the thrift store yesterday, as well as a few yards of dark blue tough fabric. Perfect for those ideas I have in my head :)

Oh, but I did do another tutorial on the Q&N, on mitered corners this time.

But, I thought I'd share a few more pictures of the homestead with you. Here is my dog Spock, he is looking out the window, wishing the rain would stop, LOL! (This was taken over the rainy weekend.)

 Isn't he gorgeous! I love his face, he has the most expression-ist face I've ever seen on a dog.And he loves sitting on this stool and other chairs, just like a person.

 And here's a gorgeous sunrise! Good morning world!

Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

Mystery quilts

Hello out there in blog land!

As most of you know, I am a member of the Quilt and Needle Forum. And if you don't know how wonderful Jess's (owner of the Q&N) mystery quilts are,  then take a gander at some of her previous mysteries.

Phires Compass, mystery quilt 2099 by Jessica Smith

Misty Irish Morning, by Jessica Smith, mystery quilt Summer 2009

A Star in Storm, by Jessica Smith, mystery quilt 2008

I am LUCKY enough to test for Ms Jess. And I just love all her patterns. These are a few of the ones I made, while testing. Mystery weekends are lots of fun!

And the reason I am pointing this out to you, is because March 19th and 20th is the NEXT mystery weekend. WOOHOO! It's also the annual quilters retreat (you can read about it here). I've never been able to make it, but they have lots of fun. And Jess always has a mystery quilt for us all to make, whether we are there or not.

We would love for you to come and join us on the forum.

Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

Another link party

Karen from Sew Many Ways, has started a link party. This is her fourth week, first time I've joined in though. This is a great way to see some fun new blogs.

Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

More snow pictures.

 You would think with all the snow we've been getting, that I would have some projects done to show you. But...I don't :)

 We got up to a foot of snow by Friday afternoon! That's the most snow we've seen at our place. It isn't supposed to stay long, we'll have some sun for a few days, then some rain. But it's fun while it's here.

 Here is the tree on our back porch.

Isn't it beautiful!! Spock was having a fantastic time searching for snowballs in it. LOL

And look at these icycles in the fruit tree!

I did pull these out to work on.

This is part of some donated fabric that I have to use in our charity quilts. The woman was making simple 9-patches, three different sizes.  At least...I have one 9-patch she made, so I am guessing that's what she was doing with them all.

I've decided to do an Irish chain. I love Irish Chains! I will have to trim the smaller squares just a little, so that I can use the larger ones in the quilt too. I'll be doing a triple Irish Chain, so will only be using 4 of the colors. I think I'll keep the whites aside for something else.

But I didn't get very far. Got the note paper out and my colors place where I want them (on my paper). So maybe today I'll do some trimming and sewing.

I have a new tutorial up, it's on squaring the bottom of your bag. You can find it here and here.

Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by, Dorian

The Satchel bag

Here is my satchel bag. The 'prototype'. LOL. It needs a few kinks worked out, and I think it will be better with some hardware to hold the straps on.

I really like the binding along the edges, but have to figure an easier way to put it on.

Here is a side view.

 It has a zip pouch on the inside, as well as a few layered pockets, so you have plenty of space for pens, lipstick, phone, ipod, whatever.

It's deep, 11" from top to bottom, with two large spaces for putting all your stuff.

Now lets head over to Quiltstory, and see what fabulous things others are making this week.








Look at what I won from Kate Spain, in the Moda blog hop! Aren't they cute?!

These little goodies are 2.5" square, and have 40 pieces of fabric in them. You can see one line is Central Park, and one is Lovely. Both are lovely fabric lines!

Thank you Kate!!

Thanks for stopping by, Dorian