Fleece Lizards

 My weekend project was finishing up two baby blankets for a double baby shower that was held Sunday afternoon.  Both moms are expecting boys so I thought it would be the perfect chance to try out a quilted fleece blanket.  I used black fleece on the back of both, Lounge Lizard Panto, So Fine thread and no batting.  I love how defined the quilting looks on the two layers of fleece.

Cutting the fringe can be somewhat time consuming, but here is a tip to make the process fast and accurate.  I like a 1/2" wide and 4" long fringe on my blankets.  

Lay out the area to be fringed on a large cutting mat.

Place a second cutting mat on top of the body of your blanket right along your stitching line. 

Fold the fabric back over the second cutting mat. 

I am lucky enough to have one of these cool Shape Cut Rulers with slots for your rotary cutter spaced in 1/2" intervals.  If you don't have one of these a regular ruler will work just fine.

 

Using a sharp rotary cutter can cut your fringe.  The second cutting mat protects the body of the blanket.

 Ta Da!  You will never cut through your stitching line again!

Today is the first day of "Blogathon Canada" so check it out for lots of crafting and quilting inspiration!

Popcorn

This sweet baby quilt was made by Bev.  It is wonderfully soft with flannelette front and back and Dream Puff Batting.

 Bev chose my new Popcorn Panto and I think it suits the quilt perfectly.  I have updated my panto page to show all the new pantos I have acquired in the last little while.  I can't wait to try them all!

Crown Jewels

This stunning quilt belongs to Deanna.  She came to pick it up this afternoon so I can share it with you now.  It is made from mostly batiks (my favorite) in jewel tones using the Crown Jewels X-Block pattern.  I think it looks great in my bedroom - even my Kleenex box matches!

A friend of Deanna's did the embroidery to personalize the quilt for Deanna's daughter.  Deanna chose the Raindrops Panto and a rich purple Omni Thread with Quilter's Dream batting. The back is also batik. The light lofty Quilter's Dream batting was a great choice to give definition to the quilting and a nice feel to the quilt.

 

I didn't get a great shot of the border, but you can kind of see it here.  This pattern utilizes the scraps from the center blocks to form the border blocks.  No waste!

So did any of you participate in the Quiltmaker Block Tour last week?  Any lucky winners?  My luck continued - I was notified that I won a copy of the magazine! 

There is another exciting blog tour taking placing next week.  Sew Sisters Quilt Shop is hosting Blogathon Canada and it will be a great opportunity to meet Canadian Quilt bloggers and win many great prizes from Sew Sisters.  All the fun begins on Monday the 19th.

Winter is Here

What a difference a day makes.  Here is my Batik Diamonds Quilt on Friday afternoon.

   Here is it in the same spot today.

Winter really came overnight.  We have received at least a foot of snow and it hasn't quite stopped yet.

A picture of the front of my house.

There is a lot of this going on around town.

Thank goodness for a good snow blower.  My husband and a neighbor blew out six driveways and most of our cul-de-sac as we are not top priority on the city snow cleaning list!

But on the bright side fresh snow is the perfect opportunity to do some snow dyeing.  I decided to try to make a backing for a quilt I currently have under construction.   Here is a peek into my process.

 The snow had not finished melting before I went to bed so I had to wait until this morning to wash it out.

 It turned out more purple than blue, but I think it will still be usable.
 

Here are a few more pictures of the Batik Diamonds quilt.  It was made from an Island Batik roll and about another 20 strips from my stash. Why is it cornerless you may ask?  Well I just didn't have enough length in the strips to cut enough triangles.  I think it worked quite well this way. The sashing, binding and backing were one of my regular hand dyes (not snow dyed).  I used the Tickle Panto and I am very pleased with the resulting texture from the Quilter's Dream Puff Batting.

Curve It Up - Sawtooth Star

The second set of instructions for the Curve It Up Quilt Along were posted today. If haven't joined in yet, I really suggest that you do. This block went together really easily and has that neat twist of curves in the star points. Can't wait for the next one!

88 Blocks

Got my hands on a template that worked and machine pieced this 9" Double Wedding Ring block for my Just Takes 2. Not perfect, but okay. Not sure if I would be up for a whole wedding ring quilt! Still hoping for sunshine!

87 1/2 Blocks Completed

A little update on my Just Takes 2 blocks.  I completed 4 1/2 blocks of the November 1st installment.  I am need to figure out how I am going to proceed with the yellow Wedding Ring block.  Those arcs are meant to be hand appliqued to the background.  The small yellow arcs were supposed to appliqued as well, but I was able to machine piece those in successfully.  I do not have the skill, patience or desire to do a decent job of those large arcs at the moment so I am trying to figure out an alternative.  There was no template provided for the white center, so I may have to draw one myself if I a want to try to machine or hand piece it.  I will let it sit for a while, and hopefully lightning will strike.


It is once again time for the Quilt Maker Magazine 100 Blocks Blog Tour.  If you click the button below it will take you to the Quilty Pleasures Blog that will lead you to all of the fun.  There are 100 blogs to visit over the course of the week, and chances to win copies of the magazine as well as some other great prizes.  I have been very lucky on this tour in the past, and I hope it continues this year.  Make yourself a cup of tea and check it out.

Hopefully we get a break in the cloud cover here in the "City of Sunshine" so I can get some quilt pictures taken to share with you too!