Eventide Sew-Along . . .

Good news, several folks are interested in a Eventide sew along!! Although I'm not surprised, this is one great pattern.

As to the "rules" . . . let's just keep it simple:

- Start by the end of February (I think I'll be ready to start next week)

- Blog about your progress every Tuesday (have you ever noticed how Tuesday is a sloooow blog day?)

- Let's shoot for having the top pieced by the end of March (of this year). If a project stretches out much past a month, I lose interest.

If you don't have a blog send me an email (cupcakesndaisies@gmail.com) and pictures and I'll blog about it for you.

I'll create a Sew Along list with a link to all the participating blogs on the left hand column of my blog.

First one done gets a prize, anyone who finishes by the end of March gets a mug rug.

I've been looking at this bundle of fabric setting on my shelf for months,

it's Park Avenue by 3 Sisters for Moda. This is going to be my Eventide fabric. This is a Christmas line, but I plan to omit the holly fabric, then it will be just a stack of pretty florals and prints.

Just in case you were waffling on joining us, here's an up close and personal picture of this amazing quilt.

On the back of the pattern Carrie says, "this quilt will work with any color scheme and style of fabric. Just pick a primary color, an accent color and the complementary colors."

I think the most fun of the sew along will be seeing the different fabric choices.

The fabric requirements for this project are 3 1/2 yards of assorted background fabric, 6 fat quarters assorted light and medium prints, 8 fat quarters primary color prints, 3 fat quarters dark prints, 11 fat quarters medium to dark prints and 3 fat quarters for inner border.

You still have time to leave a comment on yesterday's blog post to win the pattern, I'll announce the winner on Thursday.

Read more

Baby Basket . . . .

Wow, I can't believe not only is it February, but the first week of February has already passed. The weather here has been brutal, so I'm all for February going as quickly as possible.

One of my 2011 quilting goals was to take a little time after finishing each major project to spend some time playing with the scraps and work on a little project...and I did... I spent the last day of January playing with my A la Mode scraps.

Here's my first mug rug....on the rug, with no mug . . .

I don't think I'll ever put a mug on this rug.

I had a fun and relaxing afternoon making it, a nice change of pace.

I made the same basket block that I made for A la Mode, I just cut it in half. Here's the original block with the mug rug block.

After I made the small basket block, I realized it would have fit in the center of the large basket block! Wouldn't that have been cute, to put some little baskets in the center of some of those larger basket blocks! It's too late for me now, no more changes for A la Mode, it's done! But if you're thinking of making that basket quilt give it some thought!

I'm sure there are tons of these pictures out there, a view from my deck. It's going to be very cold the rest of the week, so I'm guessing my view won't be changing anytime soon.

Right now I'm working on a simple star project, I'll blog about it another day, but next up,

Eventide by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.

This quilt finishes at 84" X 87" and is made up of 9 inch blocks.....THANKS CARRIE, I just love 9 inch blocks, 12 inch blocks seem to be very popular in patterns, but I prefer 9 inch blocks or smaller, so right off the bat, I won't have to "Thelma Size" the pattern.

I've been eager to start this project ever since I saw the finished quilt while taking classes with Carrie Nelson last fall. I love how the border doesn't really seem like a border and the subtle large stars in the background of all those small stars.

In the hopes that I can talk one of you out there into sewing along with me, I'm giving away an Eventide pattern. If the Fat Quarter Shop will ship it to you, then you are eligible to enter. So far this winter, we've had 22 inches of snow, in your comment just let me know if you've had more or less snow at your house.

If you win, you don't have to sew along with me, but it sure would be fun!

You have until midnight CST, tomorrow, February 9th, to leave a comment, I'll announce the winner on Thursday.

Read more

Belle Meade Big Reveal . . . .

Belle Meade's all done, and I could not be happier.

The blocks for this pattern went together easily. If you don't mind making 656 half square triangles, you'll love this pattern. And if the idea of making 656 half squares doesn't appeal to you, just break them down over time, you'll be amazed how quickly they add up, even when doing just a few a day.

Here's the setting I finally decided on. I thought the red corners with the blue center setting triangles was clever, but I just liked how this design looked.

I'm still amazed and very happy I was able to go with a random layout of the blocks, I think the fabric helped make it easy, it looked random even when it wasn't!

This is Lifetime Quilt # 66,

it finished at 70" x 70",

and has approximately 758 pieces.

For the fabric, I primarily used Rural Jardin by French General for Moda. I checked Quilt Shops .com and you are still able to buy fat quarter bundles and yardage of this fabric plus the wovens...you've got to add the wovens!

The pattern is by Paula Barnes for Bonnie Blue Quilts and has directions for an optional inner and outer border that I didn't use.

The pattern was easy to follow and went together easily. I loved Rural Jardin, every minute I spent working on this project was pure pleasure. What more could a quilter ask for? How about working on a wonderful project with a friend. Nicole, at Sister's Choice Quilts, made this quilt right along with me. So at a time when the weather pretty much keeps me indoors and not interacting with anyone, let alone other quilters, it was so wonderful to be able to share my progress and compare notes with another quilter along the way.

Nicole is revealing her Belle Meade today too, she added a inner and outer border to her project, be sure to stop by and check it out, I'm sure it's lovely.

Read more

A Quilter's Tale . . .

Once upon a time, there was a quilter who wanted to make a basket quilt. This quilter loved so many basket quilt patterns that she just couldn't pick one, but every year, at the top of her Quilt To Do list was "1. Basket Quilt".

Finally, in the summer of 2010, after seeing this basket quilt, made by Sherri, at A Quilting Life, the quilter thought she had found her basket pattern,

Laundry Baskets from Fresh Vintage 14 by Fig Tree.

The quilter ordered some Fig Tree fabric and started making baskets.

but this quilter has a problem with "leaving well enough alone", and the next think you knew, these laundry baskets had setting triangles,

and looked more like ice cream sundaes.

If that wasn't enough of a change, the quilter then decided to add

sashing and cornerstones to the setting triangles on the basket blocks. Now most quilters would have been happy to slap a few borders around those adorable baskets and call it done, most quilters, but not this quilter.

Instead of going with a few rows of border fabric she dreamed of something better, and saw this quilt,

American Pie by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Company. She saw that quilt and thought it would make a wonderful border...

Happy with her choice the quilter set out making lattice blocks.

As one month turned into two, the quilter did not worry about the time and effort this basket quilt was taking, she just dreamed of how it would look when it was done.....

and if the quilt would have looked like this, the quilter would have had a wonderful summer and this story would be over, unfortunately for the quilter, her wonderful basket quilt didn't look like this,

it looked like this! It had a 2 1/4 inch gap between the baskets and the lattice!! Oh no, what's a quilter to do. Well after blogging about it, and trying every possible combination that was suggested, the quilter decided to cut her losses, and quit!! A summer's work down the drain, no basket quilt, no finished project for her lifetime quilt list.

Every now and then the quilter would lament on her blog of her disappointment of not finishing the lovely basket quilt. And fellow quilters would try to cheer her up, leave words of encouragement, and keep offering suggestions.

And then, after whining about this unfinished project in her Year in Review post, the quilter decided to just slap some borders around the baskets and make another quilt out of the lattice blocks. That wouldn't be so bad, to start making one quilt and end up with two quilts!

Then a friend sent a new suggestion, which led to a different idea, which led to this.

Finally, can you believe it, A la Mode is done! Don't you just love a story with a happy ending!

This is Lifetime Quilt # 65, it finished at 109" x 109", and has approximately 2,397 pieces.

I could not be happier with that inner border, I don't even think it's noticeable, your eyes just pass right over it on the way to the lattice border. And as good as this quilt looks in this picture, it looks even better in person.

Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement and suggestions, you just wouldn't let me give up on myself or this quilt!

Over the last 24 hours, the power's gone on and off at least a dozen times, my driveway is covered with a 1/2 inch of ice and 6 inches of snow, but when I look at this quilt I can't help but think,

"it's a beautiful day"!!

Read more

More Decisions, Decisions . . . .

So here's my block layout for Belle Meade, I've decided to go with a random placement, and was able to put together a pleasing arrangement with very little drama. I started in the center and worked my way out and around. After getting all the blocks on my design wall, I moved a few around then went to bed. First thing the next morning I took another looksie, moved a couple of blocks and decided on this.

There are 22 red blocks, 13 dark and 9 light, and 19 blue blocks, 12 dark and 7 light.

I was undecided as to what color setting triangles to go with......

here's blue . . .

here's red . . .

Same block placement, the only difference is the setting triangles.

Isn't it amazing how the blue really pulls out the blue and the red really pulls out the red? So that got me to thinking maybe going with red AND blue would be the way to go.

Here's some red in the corners with blue in the centers . (1)

Here's top blue bottom red . . . (2)

Here's top red bottom blue . . (3)

How about left side/top blue, right side/bottom red (4)

Or left side/top red, right side/bottom blue.... (5)

So that's all the choices I could come up with, I'm leaning towards 4, not for any particular reason other than I just like the way it looks. I'm very happy with this project, for someone who doesn't really like blue, I really like the look and romantic feel of this quilt.

This quilt pattern has an optional containment border and outer border, but I like it just this size, so once I get my setting triangles on and rows connected, Belle Meade will be done!

Nicole is working on Belle Meade too, I think she's finished all her blocks and we hope to have our quilts done and ready for our final big reveal on Friday.

Read more