Mystery quilt

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all staying safe out there. We are well here on the Ridge, we have lots of outside work to keep us busy on the nice days, and inside stuff to keep us busy on the wet days.

Thanks to Edyta at Laundry Basket quilts, we have a new mystery quilt to make. My long time readers know how much I love a mystery :)

These are the fabrics I've chosen, all of them except the lighter pink came from my best quilting buddy Pat@scrapatches.  They are a mix of fabric designers, it's such a fun bundle!

And here are the first two blocks. Edyta is doing one block a day for 15 days. Some blocks we will make 4 of, others 8, and such, to end up with 100 blocks.

My quilt wont be as scrappy as Edyta's, but that's ok, I am having fun and enjoying these lively fabrics.

Thanks Edyta!!

Have a great day Everyone.

What I'm working on

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all staying safe out there. We are hunkered down, have plenty of provisions. 

This is what it looked like outside yesterday morning.

We have about 15" out there, and it's still lightly coming down this morning. Isn't it beautiful :)

My good friend and best quilting pal  Pat at the scrapatch showed me the Mosaic mystery last year, she pointed it out thinking I might enjoy it. Well I didn't play along with it, but when I saw the finished tops this year, I decided I needed to make one as well.

I didn't have enough fabrics to do the half stars around the edges, so I just made some flying geese for the border. It's small, about 48" square. And this picture isnt great as I had to take it indoors. But I love the spring colors. I changed a little bit of the pattern too, but not much ;)

And then I pulled out this UFO. It's called Calico Rose, you can find it at Wedding Dress Blues.

It uses LOTS of 2" squares, so my scrap box is being whittle down. I have 5 more blocks of each to make. I love making scrappy quilts :)

I hope you have lots of quilty things to keep you busy. Read a good book, clean the house from top to bottom.... stay home and be safe.

A Bargello rainbow

Hello Everyone,

It's been beautiful weather wise here. February we normally get such sunny, warm days. A nice break between the cold of Jan and the cold of Spring (we get a lot of rain and snow in the Spring months).

I started this Bargello quilt back in 2013. It was a mystery quilt from Jessica JE Smith.  You can find her patterns here. As you can see, I quilted an orange peel pattern over it all. It was quick and easy and gives the quilt a lot of movement.

It's a nice sized quilt, 72 x 78. 

I forgot to take a picture of the backing. It's a pink and white design. 

It feels good to get a quilt top out of the 'needs to be quilted' pile. I think my two scrappy Irish stars will be next. 

I hope you have a great day.

Late January already

Hi All,

Can you believe how quickly the time is going? It just seems to be flying by. I hope this year I can get a lot more quilt tops quilted up. I have been telling myself for a few years now, that I just need to concentrate on quilting more and piecing less.... but I'm not listening to myself :)

Aren't these stars cute? They are 4".

They will be going into the border for this next quilt. Another Scrappy Irish stars quilt. The pattern is over at  the Wedding dress blues blog. 

This is my second one. They are so bright and cheerful, I really enjoy making them :) Thank you for the pattern Deanna.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.


And a wonderful New Year!

Dorian

Another book plug for my Daughter

Hello All,

My daughter, Rachael, has published another Ebook. This is a group of short stories.



Here's a synopsis:

Seven short stories about different characters in varying worlds. November Delion, known as Nova, races to save the Undercity and a brave young lady from the effects of a sound ripple bomb. Then he must fight his own battles against a scientist bent on bringing a woman back to life, by stealing the Animation core from the fearsome Werenor.

Then Jusker Royal solves a mystery in a fantasy world, in which the culprit is not who you might expect. The clues are a bottle of elixer, some coins and a cheap knife, but the answer is far from simple.

Natasha Grey meets a robotic being called Saphiro, Leaflow both enters a man’s mind and is captured by the Sunsract and Carrie learns the difference between Light and Dark. All in one book of Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

If you have a youth that enjoys Sci-Fi and Fantasy, or even if you enjoy it yourself, you might find my Daughters books enjoyable.

She has a brand new website now too. You can find her at:

                                                 rachaelslucas. com

You can find her books thru links on her website or at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Apple, to name a few.

Have a great day!

Virtual cookie exchange, my day!

Hello Everyone,

Have you been following along this week on the Virtual cookie blog hop? It's one of my favorite hops of the year. So many yummy recipes being shared, lovely quilted items being shown, and family traditions being told. Thank you Carol for hosting this wonderful hop every year!

For a few years now I've shared my family's favorite holiday cookie, the Chocolate gingerbread cookie. So this year I wanted to share my personal favorite seasonal cookie. And I only make it around Christmas, as I tend to eat more than my share of the batch ;)

It's the gingersnap. 

I love mine nice and crunchy, served with a hot cup of coffee, just perfect. 

There are many, many recipes out there. Some are crunchy, some are soft. I use the recipe out of this recipe book: Golde's homemade cookies.



It's an older book, published in 1984. I'm sure you can find it on some used book sites though, if you wanted.  It has a lot of great cookie recipes in it. Here is the recipe.

3/4 C vegetable shortening (I use butter)
1 C granulated sugar, plus some for dipping
1 egg
1/4 C molasses
2 C all purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
1 tsp each: Baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar, egg and molasses until well blended.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and spices together. Add to the creamed mixture. Mix well.

Wrap and refrigerate dough for 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll dough into balls about half-tsp size (or as large as you like). Dip each ball in granulated sugar, rolling around getting it all sugary. Place on cookie sheets (do not flatten), bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy with your favorite hot (or cold) beverage.

This year I want to get back into making some homemade candies too. Growing up, my Mom (and I think my Grandmom too) made Divinity. A yummy confection of sugar and eggs, whipped up like meringue, mint flavor added. Or vanilla with walnut chunks in it. Yummy! I haven't made any myself before, so this will be a first.

In the past I've also made batches of peanut brittle. Again, another of my personal favorites. And we can't forget the fudge! My dd and I make chocolate fudge and peanut butter fudge every year. A family favorite and one of our traditions.

Getting in the kitchen, cooking and baking with my dd, is always a treat. The holidays make it that much more special though. 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing my favorite cookie. I hope you pop in and visit with my fellow bloggers today. You can go to Carol's site to see a full list of hoppers for the week, so you don't miss out on all the yummy treats.

Quilt Doodle Designs

Ridge Top Quilt (you are here)

Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting
Websterquilt

Bumbleberry Stitches

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Cornerstones on edge is finished! And Thanksgiving

Hello Friends,

Yah, I finished Carson's quilt yest. Cornerstones on Edge is my original design.  (The handsome man holding up the quilt is my oldest son.)

And I've finished just in time too. We have almost 2" of snow on the ground and lots more coming down. It's going to snow thru Thurs :) :) My youngest and I are loving it!

I used a solid, medium tone, gray flannel fabric on the back of this quilt ( I should get a picture of it, as it shows the quilting). 

Here's a closeup, just simple line quilting. It fits the quilt and the person I gifted the quilt to :)

I used a bit lighter color of gray for the binding. It's what I had on hand, and I think it works just fine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

For my American Friends and Readers, I am wishing you all a very Blessed and happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy fine food, good friends and family. And safe travels to any of you out and about.

Stitch it and Gift it... my day!

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my blog. First, a thank you to  Carla, for hosting another fun blog hop! I always enjoy these blog hops, looking at all the creativeness out there.

My long time readers know how much I love to give my stitching goodies. I am always making things for birthdays and Christmas. I have 4 kids, so have made many a quilt for them. Along with book bags and pencils pouches, purses and pillow cases. Making things is FUN! And giving them is even better! Extended family members and friends have all been recipients of my quilts and things.

My latest quilt is this one. As you can see, it isn't finished yet. But I promised you a full picture today, so here it is. I hope to finish it soon.

 This is my Cornerstones on Edge pattern. I took my original Cornerstones pattern, made the blocks 3" bigger and put them on point. I really love this design! A perfect one for boys (I have 3 boys, so am always trying to find good patterns for them). Of course, it's great for girls too ;)

Here's a closeup. I am doing 'organic' straight line quilting, simple and easy.

Carson is 15, he is already 5' 10". He outgrew his dinosaur quilt long ago and is really in need a of new quilt. He is my picky teenager, so I let him choose the colors for his quilt. I showed him a page full of these beautiful Shadow Play fabrics and told him to pick 3 or 4 colors.....The gray and black were a given. lol.  And he loves animals, so I threw those in for a bit of fun :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christmas is right around the corner, so I've been busy making a few small gift items too. This little mat/wall hanging is simple and quick to put together, so I thought, as my gift to you, my readers and visitors, that I would give you the pattern so you can make a few too. It is a simple, quick design using mostly 2.5" squares and HTS's. You can use any size squares you want and make it any size. Or make a few and put them into a table runner, or make a lot and make it into a quilt. You can put hanging triangles in the back and make it a wall hanging. I think it would look lovely with a big candle in the center of it, used as a candle mat.

Here you go:

This project is 18.5" square. It's made up of 2.5" squares and some 2.5" HST's.

You will need: twenty-eight -  2.5" colored squares, any color you want.
                         four - 2.5" background squares
                         eight - 3" colored squares
                         four - 3" background squares
                         one 6.5" background square
                         two - 2.5" x 14.5" background strips
                         two - 2.5" x 18.5" background strips

 

I forgot to put the 6.5" square and four of the 3.5" squares in the picture

                                                                           
Make eight HST's from four of the  3" colored squares and the 3" background squares.  Using whichever method you like. Trim to 2.5".  Press seam towards background square.

Lay out 4 sets of 6 colored squares...the sets can all be the same or you can mix them up. Sew together. I sew a top square to a bottom, press the seam up. Next row, press down, third row press up. That way the seams next nicely together.

Sew together one 2.5" background square, one 2.5" colored square and two HST's. Watch how you turn these HST's, you want the background side facing the background square. 

Make the snowball block: Place one 3" square in each corner of the 6.5" square, rights sides together. Sew a diagonal line and cut 1/4" from that line. (Like my good friend Pat, I don't like having to draw the diagonal lines, so I cut the corners off first, then sew.)  Press open.

Sew a 4-square patch to either side of two 6-square patches, making sure the background square is on the outer top edge, not touching the 6-square patch. Sew a 6-square patch to either side of the snowball block. 

Now sew all three rows together. Put a 14.5" background strip on the top and bottom. Add the remaining 2 strips on either side.  Sandwhich with batting and backing, quilt and bind it.  Embellish anyway you want.

Wouldn't these look cute with some seasonal buttons sewn around the wreath? Happy Holiday making!

Please make sure you visit my fellow blog hoppers today and tomorrow.

Thursday, November 14th

Beaquilter

RidgeTopQuilts

Cynthia's Creating Ark
Songbird Designs
Farm Quilter
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Bumbleberry Stitches
Quilt Schmilt

Have a great day!

Problems commenting

Hello All,

This past year I've had a lot of problems being able to post on blogs. I don't know what changed, but blogs I've previously commented on, I'm no longer able to do so. I've researched it some more this morning and found out something that I hope will help YOU if you have had problems commenting on MY blog. And if others change it on their blog, maybe I wont have problems anymore either :)

This is what I did: In Settings, under 'post and comment' I changed mine from "Embedded" to "Pop-up window". And now I can post on my own blog, which I haven't been able to do lately.

So if anyone was having issues commenting on my blog, I hope this helps you all out. I am hoping that now even those of you that don't have a Google account, can now comment again (try it for me Sis, please!).

Have a great day all!