It's the End of February Already?

Sigh, I don't have any finishes for February, but that doesn't mean I haven't been sewing. I did manage to finish a quilt top, but before I start another one, I need to quilt two that are waiting.

In the meantime, I did help sew some blocks for one of my guild's outreach projects, Quilts of Valor. Our guild recently held a workshop to learn to make an Arrowhead block, so our outreach chair decided on using the pattern for our current QOV top. Some of the blocks that we made are shown in the above photo. They go together very quickly and perhaps next month I'll be able to show you a completed top from the group.

"Thank You, Mood!"

Those of you who are fans of Project Runway (formerly on Bravo, now on Lifetime) probably know where this bag and shirt come from -- Mood Fabrics!

My BFF/college roommate/maid of honor and I try to watch every episode and have decided that we're adding a trip to the NYC Mood store to our bucket list. Until that happens, I'll have to be happy with the bag and shirt that my BFF gave me for Christmas!

Art From Friends

Over the last few years, I've been a member of a small art quilters' group where we've challenged each other to make things that weren't traditional quilts. I've posted about them once in a while and you can see some of the projects by clicking here.

Our last project was what you see in today's photo -- we made Quilter Trading Cards for each other. I am so pleased with what I received from my dear friends and now I have a work of art from all of them!

It's All Susan's Fault

Last winter, my friend Susan gifted me with a fun knitted ruffly scarf (the red, black, gray, and white one in the above photo) and convinced me that I could also make one myself. I'm not a knitter, although I did learn the basic stitches for both knitting and crocheting from my mother many years ago when I was in my teens. I love the look of all of the gorgeous knitted scarves, shawls, sweaters, etc. that I see all over the blogosphere, but don't have the patience to learn the more advanced skills that would be required to make them. I have too many obsessions as it is. But I couldn't resist making more scarves -- and talk about basic...there's nothing easier to knit than these.

So, in between making quilts and trying all sorts of new recipes, I've managed to finish three more scarves and have another one on my needles. The colors are much more vibrant in person than in the photos.

I've worn these scarves almost everywhere I've been this winter, and even though I thought the ruffly scarf trend was so 2012, I've received many compliments on them. Non-knitters don't believe me when I tell them how easy they are...and they really are!

But I'm afraid I don't plan to make anything else with my knitting needles...I still have way too much fabric that needs to be sewn into quilts and I don't need a giant yarn stash! (but when I go with my friends to yarn shops, I completely understand their obsession).

Quilters' Eye Candy at the Winter Olympics

If you've been watching the Winter Olympics, I'm sure you've seen all sorts of wonderful patchwork designs everywhere. For info, check this link here.

My love of color is in my blood!

It's On the Internet, So It Must Be True

The above is very true, even if you see something on a fabric website. Several weeks ago, I ordered this fabric online from Joann's...

It was described as being 36" wide, so I ordered based on that measurement. When I received the fabric, it was the usual 42"/43" wide, so I had quite a bit left over. That was no problem; the extra fabric quickly found a new home.

I did a little more investigating and noticed that quite a number of the Disney licensed fabrics (regular cotton) were listed at 36" wide. I wrote a quick email to Joann's and in their January 15th response they said "I apologize for the inconvenience. I will pass along this information to our warehouse and website team so corrections can be made. "

Well, as of yesterday, it's still listed as 36" wide -- you can see it here. And it's almost a month later...Sheesh!

Oh, and BTW...thank you to everyone who commented on my previous post...both layouts got some votes, but layout 2 was more popular. The more I look at it, the more I think I'll go with that. It's always good to get other quilters' opinions!

Opinions Wanted

Which layout looks better?...

Layout 1

Layout 2

When I was making these blocks, I thought I'd prefer the first layout based on what I had seen online, but now I'm sort of really liking layout 2.

Decisions, decisions!

Comments welcome.

Yet Another One

Since I finished a couple of quilts last week, I've given myself permission to start another top. All the print fabric pieces are leftovers of two tops I made earlier in 2013. Once I finish this new top, I hope to get those older two quilted before starting something else.

The pattern is a disappearing four-patch. I'm not sure if I will go with this layout or the one shown in this video.