Some projects for the New Year

 Hello Everyone,

 A happy new Year to you all. I hope the year has started off well for you.

I received some gift certificates for Christmas this year, to a few of my favorite fabric stores. So I was able to indulge :) Thank you again Carol!

Most of you who have been with me for years, know that my favorite fabric line ever was Sunkissed, by Sweetwater. I just love the soft colors of that line. So I was very thrilled when they came out with the Spring Chicken line last year. As the colors are the same as Sunkissed. So, I had to buy some :)

I am going to use it with these for the Meadow Mist mystery quilt. Cheryl does one clue a month, and it takes a year to get it done. I am too antzy for this, I like to do my mystery quilt clues all at the same time. So I am saving all the clues, and in March I'll get myself caught up, and then be ready for the final clue in April.

The swirly fabrics are going to be the background. Those two fabrics are pieces from Sunkissed that I have been hoarding! I plan on using some of Spring chicken, along with the other fabrics up there, mixing them up and doing a bit of scrappiness.

I've also been wanting to make a rag quilt this year. So I spent a GC on these flannels.

I saw a picture of a rag quilt that uses quilting cottons on the front and the flannel on the back. I liked that look, so I pulled a handful of florals (and discovered something astonishing.... I am running out of florals!! LOL, looks like I have to do more shopping).

These colors aren't exact, but I think they have the same feeling, mostly... and that is what I was shooting for.

I also pulled an old, old quilt top out of storage. I'm not quite sure when I made this top, I can't remember if I did it at the old house (which would be over 11 yrs ago) or if I made it after we moved into this house. But either way, I put it aside and have decided it now needs to be quilted up and sent to it's new owner. She's a special person and her quilt has been calling to me to get it done :)

The quilt design comes out of the Benni Harper quilt albumn. I love the combination of wedding ring and lone star. I really like the colors I used on this quilt. That blue with daisy's is one of my favorites :) So one of the GC's went to backing for this top.

So these projects will keep me busy for a little while at least. Especially since I often have little projects I am doing in between. Like a wall hanging for a swap we are doing on the forum.

So you all take care, thanks for dropping by and have a lovely day.

Dorian

Christmas 2021

 

Time is flying

 Hi All,

Wow, where has the time gone! I didn't mean to be absent from the blog for so long. I've been in a sort of slump when it comes to my sewing. Doing some, but not taking pictures of it.

I spent a lot of time this year making lap quilts, well, the tops, but not quilting them. I tried to use up a lot of my scraps, but it doesn't seem my scrap pile has gone down any.

Here is a very busy 9 patch that I made, one of the few that I took a picture of. The offset blocks are some fun novelty prints that I got in a swap we did on the forum.

I also took my tiny 1.5" squares and made a variety of 16 patches with them. Then I used a charm pack of Hometown by Sweetwater (I wished I would of looked closer at this line when it was new, there are a few pieces I would of loved to have!) and a charm pack of Cozy Up by Corey Yoder (another great line!)  that my bqff (best quilting forever friend) gave me, Pat from the scrapatch.

The blue print is a touch more green than I would of liked, and the gray a bit too brownish, but as it's a scrappy quilt, they work just fine.

I had a varying amount of the colors, some I only made 4 blocks with, some I made 10 blocks with. So I played with my EQ and came up with this design. 

And here is a picture of it, it was a gloomy day out so I just laid it on my sewing table and took a quick shot.

There have been a handful more scrappy quilts and another one made with another of Corey Yorders fabric, I am really liking her fabric lines!, but this is all I have pictures of for now.

I'm doing  a bit of Christmas sewing now as well, can you believe it's Nov already??!! I have 2 turkeys in the freezer, so my family is happy, they love 'turkey' day :)

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you Pat for another weekly linkup.

Dorian

Puppy Love

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all well. It's summer, which means we are dealing with both heat and smoke from fires. Poor California :( 

I got my youngest son's quilt done a week or so ago. He is 9 and just loooves puppies! So I bought this puppy panel and cut them out. As all the puppies wanted to be stars :)

  The pictures are 8" square, so the star blocks ended up around 14". I needed this quilt to be a good size, as my young son is going to be quite tall, like his Daddy and brothers.

I then did a pinwheel for the alternate blocks.

The quilt measures at 52' x 64', so I hope that it keeps him warm for a few years.

As you can see, I quilted it in all over spirals. I wanted the spirals to be bigger, but I had a hard time making myself quilt them larger!

And you can just see the cutie this quilt is for in the picture up above.

I lined it with some soft flannel backing.

One more..

So bright and cheerful (although the pictures don't show how bright it is!), and Isaiah loves it :)

Thanks for stopping by, you all have a lovely day.

I am linking up with Pat at the Scrapatch today, thank you Pat for your weekly link up :)

Dorian

I'm not sure what this block is called

 Hello all,

It's quite smoky here this morning, there is a large fire burning to the East of us. Far enough away to not worry about it, but the wind is blowing right toward us. Our logging site is up there... I hope the fire doesn't turn towards it. 

I've been working on these blocks on and off all year. I'm not sure what they are called, and I can't seem to find the site I saw them on. I do recall noticing them on more than one blog, but I guess I didn't save a link to one, like I thought I did.

I had a stack of the white with gray fabric squares that had been cut 1/8" too small. And I had a pile of the bigger, yellow squares, that had been cut 1/4" too small. 

I was happy that when I put 2 of the whitish blocks together (with 2 colored squares I cut), into a 4 patch, that 4 patch is the same size as the yellow squares :)

So I got out my square scrap box. It has lots of 2" squares, plus some 1 1/2", 3" and 3 1/2" squares in it, all ready to be used in  a scrappy quilt. I took some colorful 2" squares and cut 1/8" off two sides, put them together with the whitish squares. Got some 3 1/2" squares and cut them down a 1/4", along with the yellow squares. I ran out of the whitish/gray squares and went thru my scraps finding white to cut up. And I had myself some fun :)

I mixed some floral prints in there and cut some more yellows, and now I'm laying the blocks out, figuring how I want it to look.

If anyone knows what this block is called, give a shout out in the comments please.

I'm going to set these aside now though, as I have to finish my youngest son's quilt. I don't have much more to do.

I'm linking up with Pat in the scrapatch again. Thank you Pat for your weekly link up. Have a great day everyone.

And thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

I've gotten a few small quilts finished

 Hello Everyone,

Hope you all are enjoying your summer (winter). It's been going from hot to too hot here in California. When I was younger it didn't bother me so much.

But, I've gotten some smaller quilts finished, so that's a good thing. The first one is another baby quilt for a homeschooling friend of mine.

Here's a closeup, lots of little fishes and aquatic life.

So bright and colorful :) It's 40" square.

This next quilt is 40" square as well. A month ago some friends and I on my quilting forum each chose a 1/2 yrd of fabric out of our stash that we considered ugly. The hostess had drawn names for each of us and that is who we sent our 1/2 yrd of fabric too.

The fabric we recieved we had to make a quilt with, turning an ugly piece of fabric into something pretty. 

This is the fabric I was sent.

The colors in the picture are fairly accurate, maybe just a touch more purplish than pinkish though.

I dug thru my fabrics and came up with some to go with it. I decided on the Lone star pattern, it's a good pattern to use as the pieces are small.

I was happy to find coordinating fabrics in my stash. Here's a closeup.

I did have a few issues with the corners on that first border, but if you don't look too closely, you wont see them ;) 

I'm thinking my big Sis would like this quilt...it might look nice on her wall... what do you think Sis?

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day everyone.

I'm linking up with Pat today, on the scrapatch. Thank you Pat!

Dorian

Two finished quilts

 Hello Everyone,

I have two finished quilts to show you. The first one is my Southwestern quilt that I started here. I made this for my son Jed. He's 6'3", so it had to be a big quilt. The quilt is 82" x 79", so just big enough.

Jed and I talked about the design and colors he wanted. And so I scanned the web looking for Southwestern designs to incorporate in his quilt. 

He requested a soft, snuggly flannel for the back. Its hard to see this design, but it's a pine tree with a line going around it, makes it look a little Southwestern ;)

I had a good time designing this. And he says he really likes it, colors and all :) So I did a good job.

The next quilt is this pretty little baby quilt for my best friends newest Granddaughter. Who is due to arrive sometime in July.

I had some of these cute prints of the girl, animals and tree fort left over from  my Daughters quilt, so I went thru my stash and found some colors to go with it. 

I just love this mint and pink together, isn't is sweet? This one also has a soft, snuggly flannel backing. These koala's are cute too! (the colors are not really true to form in any of the pictures, but come closest in the below picture.)

It's a small baby sized, just under 40" square. But one I hope she'll drag around with her and play with dollies with :)

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you Pat for your weekly link up.

Have a great evening,

Dorian

More books from my Daughter

 Hello All,

I wanted to talk about my daughters books today. Rachael self-publishes her books that are written for youths , although anyone who enjoys an adventure with some sci-fi and fantasy in it, might enjoy them. 

Rachael has four books out now, two of them I have previously talked about. The next two are the first two books in a new series.

The first one is Sailing for Shadow City:

"Four steps down, turn to the left.

Beware the dark prince in the city of shadow.

The castle's base holds a prize beyond measure."

These words, spoken by a dying man on a wrecked ship, are what starts Sarkin on the longest and most daring adventure in his life. To a young pirate who dreams of a bigger ship and plenty of treasure to go around, it's the best promise that could be given. But after fighting his way through a mystic cult, a sea serpent and a fierce storm, facing the Dark Prince may be more than he asked for.

The second in the series is A Lonely Wind:

After having been betrayed by his best friend and imprisoned at Skon Yew's command in the Shadow City, Sarkin needs to find a way out for himself and the rest of his pirate crew. But all the time his memories are slipping away, stolen by one of Skon Yew's dark servants. When he frees himself and his crew by escaping in a hot air balloon, Sarkin vows to get revenge on his enemies and regain his lost memories. But when the last pieces of his memories are taken from his mind he runs away from the pirate crew to wander by himself in the strange country of Grackland.

I have links to Rachael's books on the side bar. You can order them in an ebook format or you can order a hardback or softback book. 

If you have children who enjoy sci-fi adventure (or know of an adult of course), I hope you'll have him/her look into my Daughter's books. I'm very proud of Rachael and hope that her chosen profession will take off one day soon, and be all that she hopes for. Thank you for reading.

Have a great day! I'll have a quilty finish to show you soon :)

Dorian

Quilts for 2 of my boys

 Hello All,

Spring is here for N. Cal. We are still expecting some wet weather next month, but for now the roses have new leaves, the oaks are starting to bud, the almond has been in bloom, the grass is green... it's very lovely here this time of year. We do need more snow pack, so I hope our April is going to be a very wet one.

I have got Jeds' quilt top all put together.

And while I am waiting for another yard of backing fabric, I have started on Isaiah's quilt.

Isaiah is going to be 9 on Monday and he is 4'7" tall now, he's going to be another tall child for this house (they all take after Dad that way). He only has his baby/toddler quilts, so it's time for a bigger one.

Isaiah loves puppies, especially black labs. I'm glad I was able to find this panel. I'm pairing it with some bright, colorful geese....

These puppies want to be stars....

I have 6 different puppy pictures, two of each colored star. I am pairing them with some red pinwheels. There will be 2 more puppies that wont fit in the quilt, so I'll make some pillow cases with them.

These are large blocks, finishing at 18". So I hope this quilt will be big enough for him for a few years, at least....they grow so fast, don't they?!

I hope to have Jed's quilt finished by the end of April, wish me luck! And have a great day.

I'm linking up again with my good friend Pat from the scrapatch. Thanks for the link up Pat!

Thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

Morewood mystery quilt top

 Hello All,

I finished putting together my Morewood mystery quilt. Thank you Cheryl for another great mystery quilt. I really like this block.

I can see myself using it in other projects. It makes a great chain block. I love four blocks together like this...

My quilty muse had me wanting to make a different layout than Cheryl's. So I made 8 of these blocks and sewed them together in pairs like this..

And when I put everything together, here is what it looks like. (That's my quilty inspector, Ms Red.)

I seem to gravitate towards square quilts. As long as I make them big enough to fit on my queen bed, that's ok :) This is going in the 'to be' quilted pile, as I have to get my older son's quilt done.

I hope those of you who have been having a harsh winter, get some lovely Spring soon. As you can see, we are getting some green grass and things are starting to bloom.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Dorian