A couple more quilts and going to AQS Show!

Quilt #33 for the year was this scrappy 16-patch.

Meandering was requested.  No problemo.

This cozy throw is all flannels.  (#34)

I had free reign on this one so I went with the floral theme and did 5-petal flowers and leaves. 

There was a slight problem with this one.  As I got to the last pass I realized that the back was baaaarely long enough, if not a tad short by 1/4 to 1/2 inch.  Oof.  What do I do??  Rip it all out and start over easing the top in better?  Stretch the heck out of the back to make it fit?  Trim 1/4 inch off the entire edge of the quilt?  Noo way.  After consulting with my customer we decided to take it off  the machine and luckily she had plenty of purple flannel left to sew a strip on the back.  And it was no problem to put it back on and finish the last pass.  Phew!  It all worked out, but I hope I never let it happen again.  I always do lay out my quilts to make sure the backs and battings are large enough and oriented the right way, but somehow I neglected to notice how close this one was.  Lesson learned. 

**Also**

I know there is a lot of blogging going on about the Sewing Summit coming up, which I will not be attending.  But I WILL be attending the AQS Show in Des Moines later this week!!  Planning on taking a couple longarm classes from Sue Patten, looking at lots of gorgeous quilts, trying out all the new longarm machines, and maybe just a little shopping too.  But not too much shopping.  :) 

Anyone else going??

A special announcement and a new project!

This is my latest sewing project that I am pretty excited about.  But first of all- I think it could be time to announce an exciting development that I have been reluctant to post about.  And that would be that my husband and I are expecting our first child in January!!  We are very excited!  And it's a boy which we are very happy about-especially the hubs.  YAY!  So instead of sewing and quilting, I've been napping and reading up on pregnancy, birthing, newborn care, and baby names.  I have found that there is a lot to learn!

So now, of course, I needed to start in on a baby quilt.  In the July/August '11 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine an alphabet quilt was featured in the "This Old Quilt" section.  Hmm, that's a neat idea I thought, an alphabet quilt!  I Googled alphabet quilt images and found THIS.  Go ahead and look at it.  It is awesome!  Loooooove it!!

The original wonky letters blogger wrote a book about them, which looks very cool,  but I decided to just wing it and see what happens.  I printed out my inspiration picture to help me mentally break down each letter and figure out what letter parts need to be sewn first.  I started out with the "I" and worked my way up to the "W".  So far the "W" has been the trickiest for me.

The only rule I have is that each letter is 4.5 inches tall.  I am going to have 3 orange letters.  Why 3? Because isn't that how designers create interest-by using groups of odd numbers??  I couldn't decide on just 1 orange fabric, and 5 would just be too many, so I used 3.  And orange because it contrasts nicely with the rest of the letters in blues (opposites on the color wheel) and greens.   See- I was paying attention in art class!  And orange also because it's a boy color.  (There is such a thing as boy and girl colors you know. At least that's what I thought when I was 6!)  

This will become a wall hanging for the baby's room, which is currently painted in pink and lavender with a princess ballerina border from the previous homeowners...  That will have to change soon. 

Wow, this is a pretty wordy post-for me.  Anyway, that's what I've REALLY been up to this summer!

#32- A Scrap Quilt

Carol made this super scrappy quilt.  She puts together the neatest scrap quilts!  Each square measures 2 inches finished. 

Just a simple medium meander on this one.  This is the 32nd quilt I've quilted this year.  I'm a good 3 weeks behind my goal of a quilt a week.  ack.  Time to get busy!