Goose in the Pond . . . . . .

In October I blogged about these little pink weights, see them setting all pretty and perfect and ready to do the job there on my shelf next to my tea cup? They're just so handy to keep fabric in place when sewing or ironing. I use them all the time.

And every time I used them it never occurred to me to wonder what was inside those cute little nubbins.......

But evidently somebody else in the house was curious about them.....

Now we BOTH know.... Gee Thanks Cooper!!

I've pieced enough of the little blocks that make up the Goose in the Pond center blocks of Toulouse to begin to wonder what is the best use of the fabric that I have.

(To see original pattern look below at January 8th post.)

You get to help me decide! There are three choices, the differences are subtle. The red seems a little strong to me but I'm hoping it tones down when all the piecing is done and the outer geese are added.

Choice # 1 - Identical blue HSTs in each corner, matching pairs of green HSTs .

Choice #2 - Blue HSTs still in each corner, but no longer identical, green HSTs also in same place but scrappy. (FYI, I only have 3 different blue fabrics and 9 different green fabrics)

Choice #3 - Scrappy, green and blue HSTs mixed up, no pattern.

So what do you think would be the best use of my Maison de Noel fabric?

Thanks!!

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Ashley's Red & White Nine Patch Delight . . . . . .

I had 3 main reasons for starting my blog:

First, I wanted to be able to participate in challenges and giveaways. That's worked out well, I own 3 quilts that I love and never would have made if it were not for my blog AND have received the neatest things in the mail.

Second, I wanted some quilting friends that would share their love of quilting, challenge my skills, and provide support as I navigated my way through the myriad of families of fabric, patterns, and tools. That has surpassed my wildest expectations. I have and continue to meet wonderful people through my blog, people I would consider friends, even though we've never met face to face. You have no idea how happy that has made me and how much you all have added to my very small life. Thank You!

Third, I wanted a journal of the quilts that I have made and plan to make. If you look at the Categories to the left, little by little I'm blogging about all of my 54 quilts. But that's one area I need to improve on. Some quilt stories will be more interesting than others, and it's the boring ones that are the hardest to document so I'm going to improve on that, starting today!

Here's Quilt # 2 - Ashley's Red and White Nine Patch Delight.

Yes, this is the second quilt top I made, way back in 2005. My first quilt class was a beginning class that taught me how to make split rails and nine patches. From that basic knowledge I made this quilt, it was easy, pretty much more of the same, split rails and four patches instead of nine.

The pattern is "Nine Patch Delight" from Marti Michell's "Quilting for People Who Still Don't Have Time to Quilt" book. A wonderful book for a beginner, I highly recommend it.

I made this quilt for my daughter, she requested something red and white so there was no way to go wrong on the fabric choices. Ashley was thrilled to have her quilt and immediately started using it as a throw. It made me happy to think of her 1800 miles away watching TV under one of my quilts. But as happy as I was for her to be snuggled under a quilt, it wasn't until just this past fall that I felt comfortable enough to get some of my quilts out of the closet and actually start using them. Something else I can contribute to my blogging friends. What was I waiting for??

Speaking of red....

This week I washed this backing for my October Schnibbles top, "One Star, Two Star, Red Star, Blue Star. (Quilt # 52)

And as I have learned through your blogs, not only to wash the backings, but to use these neat little Color Catchers. So nothing new......

But look here....look what I found at the bottom of the washer after I removed my fabric, a lone sock, a lone WHITE sock, not pink sock, WHITE!! Color Catchers....can't live with out 'em!

And finally, for today, when I blogged about Farmhouse Threads, the pattern company of "Oh Christmas Tree", several folks commented that they bought a different Farmhouse Threads pattern "Let It Snow".

One of my friends is making that pattern. She liked the pattern so well she's making it bigger, she sent me this picture the other day, isn't it just the perfect time of year to be looking at all those happy, smiling snowman faces!!

I have a "Let It Snow" pattern that I'm giving away today. One, because this is the time of year someone should be working on this quilt, and two, to say Thanks for stopping by!

Just leave a comment on this post before Friday, January 15h, Pacific time. I'll announce the winner on Saturday.

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Patterns . . . . .

I have a few pattern updates so I thought I would combine them into one post.....

OK, all you fans of my "Oh Christmas Tree", before you start cutting and sewing you may want to take a look at this.......

This is "O Christmas Tree" by Nancy Davis Murty at Bee Creative Studio. Lisa/Stashmaster found this pattern over the weekend. It's 60" X 69". It is comprised of 5 rows, each row using different blocks. I love how it looks. I'm glad I've finished my "Oh Christmas Tree", I would have a hard time deciding which one to make, I think they are both amazing. Lisa's blogging about this pattern today, go check it out.

I got my January Schnibbles pattern, "Madeline". I like the size of this one, 28" X 28". I hope I get to it, although I don't think I'll use Rouenneries. I wonder if there will be a prize for buying all the patterns for "A Year of Schnibbles"? So far I've made 2, skipped one, intend to make one, and am waffling on another, but DO have all the patterns.

While I was shopping for "Madeline", "Lincoln" caught my eye, I wonder if Schnibble substitution is allowed, me being from the Land of Lincoln and all. If this one is selected I'm on it!

And even though I've yet to tuffet, I plan to tuffet, and now I can tuffet some more.

Here's a pattern I ran across the other day in my sewing room. I've had it over a year, I think I need another red and cream quilt, don't you? I could make it from the scraps of my "Red and Cream Snowball Challenge", "Father's Fancy", and "Myths of Avalon" quilts.

Here's a link to Tara's blog, the designer of Turkey Red.

This isn't a pattern but something I felt I must share. Remember the daily cupcake calendar Rene was sweet enough to send? Well I've been enjoying each and every day, here's an example of the yummy cupcakes I get to look at all day long. I may actually make this one. Saturday and Sunday said to add raspberries or almonds to this recipe.....yum!

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Les Triplettes de Toulouse - Part Deux

Did you get any snow?

This was the view from my window yesterday morning as I drank my coffee. This snowstorm was no surprise, I ran all my errands the day before meaning it was a snow day/ sew day!

This is my next project, Toulouse, by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company. Nicole from Sisters Choice and Lisa the Stashmaster are also making this quilt. Nicole is going green and red scrappy with a white scrappy background and Lisa and I are going with Maison de Noel by Three Sisters for Moda, the fabric Carrie used for this pattern. Additionally, Lisa is going with a blue on cream background and I'm going with a red on cream background. (shocking I know, me and the red) This makes the quilts triplets, but not identical triplets.

I made a quilt very similar to this pattern a couple of years ago,

it's quilt #20, Father's Fancy.

The blocks are the same size for both patterns, just the setting and borders differ.

This is the fabric I'm using for the background. It should give it a different and more Christmas feel.

Are you familiar with Maison de Noel by Three Sisters for Moda? It came out at least 3 years ago. I was not familiar with it until I saw this pattern, but have since learned that it was a popular family when it was released and more so after Carrie published her Toulouse pattern. It's hard to come late to the party when it comes to fabric. This pattern is readily available, don't get attached to the fabric, it is not. For the first time in my quilting career I found a project that I wanted to make but could not easily find the fabric to get the job done.

I asked one fellow quilter if she had any Maison de Noel she didn't want only to learn she was trying find some for herself.

I ordered a pack of 5 fat quarters on ebay billed as Maison de Noel, only to receive the fabric and then find that only 2 of the 5 fabrics were Maison de Noel.

I was able to order two of the greens and 3 of the blues from some online quilt shops.

There's an online quilt shop in the UK that has some but refuses to mail fabric to the US!

Another quilter had some, the background fabric, and is sending it my way.

It's lovely fabric and easy to understand its appeal.

Lisa had a fat quarter bundle of the family of fabric and offered to share her leftovers.

I just got them! Thank You Lisa, I'm going to use each little scrap! When I looked through the fabric that Lisa sent (fondled is more like it) I thought the red on red looked familiar.

Sure enough, here it is in my Father's Fancy quilt.

And in my Myths of Avalon quilt!

I got all excited, could I have some of that valuable fabric in my stash? Is it possible that while I was searching the internet that I had some of that fabric in my sewing room? I went through my stack of reds, no Maison de Noel, then through my sack of scraps from each project that I have completed......and here is what I found....

One 1 1/2 inch strip!

But hey, that's just the size I needed for the 9 patches so I'll take it! I really liked that red, little did I know that when I was throwing it in every quilt I was making that it was such valuable fabric. But here's the real lesson, keep those scraps!

So even with Lisa's generous leftovers and the fabric I was able to beg, borrow, and buy on my own, I'm still going to need to supplement some other fabrics. I'm eager to see how it all comes together and having to work so hard to get the fabric makes me appreciate every little strip all the more.

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Vanilla Stars . . . .

Right in the middle of the holiday hubbub, I got a quilt back from the quilter. This is the first chance I've had to blog about it.

The pattern is called "Vanilla Stars" and is by The Pattern Basket.

I made this quilt exactly as called for in the directions, very unusual for me.

This top was a kit, I swapped out all the "vanillas", didn't use 2 of the kitted fabrics, and added 6 of my own.

I finished this quilt way back in April, it was supposed to get quilted in June, but I sent Quilt # 44 instead, to have it for July. Then when that quilt's turn came up, I sent Gobble Gobble, so I would have it for Thanksgiving. So this quilt has been patiently waiting its turn.

This is quilt # 43, it measures 66" X 86", and is currently living here, in my living room. This room needed a little something after taking down the Christmas decorations, perfect timing.

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