Summer Mini Swap time

Oh it's that time again!   Stitching Cubby Hole's mini swap!  This is a swap that I am so delighted to be a part of.

My partner this time was Terry in sunny California. What's the first thing I think of when I hear California...(other than Disneyland of course)   The Beach!

 

And it looks like, that is just what Terry was thinking too!

Is this just the cutest summer quiltie you have ever seen?

:-)

 

The detail is just spectacular. The ric-rac on the sun, the shells, and driftwood!

All topped of with gorgeous hand quilting. 

I can't begin to tell you just how special this is!

Terry, your the best.

 And it will be treasured forever.

Now it makes me wish, we had water in Colorado.

Well, we have a little water, but big beautiful beaches...

not so much!

Guess I will just sit and stare at my quiltie and dream!

;-)

Be sure to check out the new Saturday Swap Linky Party over at 

Drowning in Fabric

http://drowninginfabric.wordpress.com/ 

Black and White

 

I have been playing around with my hand dyes again. If you have been over to visit MamaCJT , you know where my inspiration came from. I went crazy when I saw the one she did over at her blog, and knew I had to sit down and made one just like it for myself. She is the Queen of inspiration to me and uses predominantly white fabrics with her quilts. I have hardly ever gone that route, so I gave it a whirl. As I was stitching together my top, I kept thinking about the black that I normally use. So just to see, I put together another top just like it only with the black. It was really a fun little personal challenge for me. The jury is out as to which I like best. I think the colors pop more on the black background, but then I do like the white.

There were a few ugly moments, when I decided to add a mini 3/4" strip inner border. What was I thinking??? The white one being the first top I made took the brunt of the mistakes, and I gave up and left it alone finally.After all there is only so many times you can rip out something before everything starts to fall apart. Once I got to the black top, I got a little smarter and cut my strip 1 1/2" wide and folded it in half, to stitch it in. Much easier. When you are working with such a small strip it is hard to control it and stitch at the same time. While the second one is nowhere close to perfect, it was a far cry better than the white quilt. I think a few more try's at this and I might actually get something close to pretty good!! :-) That's my highest goal for this technique I think!! Next time it's a piping and call it good! Gotta challenge myself from time to time just to see if I am still able to completely un-nerve "me". LOL

For these guys, I think some kind of camouflage on the corners, will be my only salvation! :-) Or I could just consider them character flaws...
So which of these do you like best????

 

 

Mini's

Thanks to Ariane over at Arianescrafts I have lost a nights sleep. She posted a photo of a wonderful mini quilt she whipped up while keeping awake before starting in on her long work day. I work long days too, so I just decided to hop over and see what she was talking about. Consider me hooked.

The Small Quilt Talk group over at Yahoo groups is now my favorite place to visit. What a great bunch of gals. I got such a warm welcome, and they have some cool challenges. Personal challenges that is. They give you a pattern and you run wild with it. All the past ones are posted and I have downloaded them all to see what I can come up with.

Here is my first little challenge quilt. Now there is a real use for the scraps I have been keeping. I was never a real fan of the red fabric in this quilt, but man did it work here. It is so old that I will never be able to find more, so I will have to settle for enjoying what's done. I love the ability to actually start and complete a quilt in just a few hours. If you are needing a quick fix quilt, check out the group.

Down side of this all, is now I want more books! Oh yeah, clean out my bookshelf  and replace them with more. I guess that's the sickness!  :-)  I was able to find an out of print book on mini quilts in a electronic version and download it into my Color Nook. That was a bonus for me. I am loving having electronic quilt books and my Nook.

If you need more inspiration check out the great mini quilts at Pleasentree.  Now if that doesn't get your blood rushing, I don't know what will. I promise you will be seeing more small quilts here soon.  :-)
                                                                     AND
Just in case you wanted to know, the center of this little quilt is the perfect size for a 12" tile trivet!!!!!
                                                                 HINT HINT