~~~~~HEAT!!!!!~~~~~~

 I've been hiding inside all day or in the pool... 

I didn't notice til later that the Fed ex man 

left a big parcel on my door step!

Anguilian Sunrise (click for old links) is quilted!

Wahoo!

 It's so Beautiful! Angela did a great job on it... That girl can rock some great quilting....

I'm so glad she did, I just haven't been able to tackle quilting all my big quilts...  

This quilt took me ages to work out...I'm still trying to get OLD tops done,

without starting to many new projects...

This quilt had started as two completely different projects and and over a 

year finally morphed into one.

Paula Prass Sumer Soiree fabrics were used in the Dresdens,

 so I came back and used her fabric for the backing as well.. 

sort of a warm and cool thing going on...

 The best place to HANG a quilt.... ;-)

Best place to HANG inside.... (and hide from the heat)

Me and the EGG are hanging at the pool. 

What will you be doing?

Stay cool my quilt-y friends!

(don't miss the giveaway in the last post!)

Still alive in NYC

 Signature Blocks are arriving! 

You can read more about this or contribute see here

Here's what I have so far, laying on the fabrics I will use... 

THEY LOOK GOOD!!!!

Did you all think I disappeared this week?

I posted only ONCE! haha! I'm still  here alive and well, had TWO quits that have

to be done in basically two and half weeks so I went into online hibernation

to get them done...

One nearly done, one more to go...

THANK YOU TO:

Beatrice,Margaret, Helen, LeeAnn, Shannon, Gail.

Cathy, Judy, Megan, Alexis and Carolyn

Carolyn stopped by this week to say hi as she was in town from the UK...

So nice to meet you Carolyn!

I have had a bunch of emails about whether I used a pattern for this jumbled up Kaffe quilt...

NOPE.

I have never used a pattern to make a quilt,  I have nothing against patterns,

 I just enjoy the process of creating something from scratch.

If you look at the OLD posts about that KAFFE quilt, 

You will see how it emerged and changed, 

and grew, and then went into a box for hiding... haha

Basically I had those layer cakes laying here and just wanted to use them up

  because I couldn't think of anything better to do with them... 

I cut and sewn, and cut some more...I tried 9 patches, and didn't like them and cut 

them up, sew stuff back together... cut again... turn on point, add borders...etc etc...

that's kind of how I work...

Taking it out of that BOX and cutting a few simple shapes has really transformed the quilt...

Do I think It's a gem?  Maybe not, but it "ain't half bad!"

Process is the most  exciting part for me. I like the adventure of not knowing 

what will become of a pile of fabrics.

As a child learning hand piecing, I did use patterns to make pillows...

But I won't say I never will!  You never know, I have a few Friends books 

laying around here, that I feel compelled to give the a whirl...

I still have Kim's CHALLENGE of do my OWN thing to one of her QUILTS..

Does that count as using a pattern? 

I won't follow it exactly, But I can find inspiration from them...

 I have finished tops and cut backs for SIX of my own OLD quilts in the last 10 days...

So soon I will have some more oldies to share with you!
like this one click here : Anguillan Sunrise
or this one click here : Intuition Quilt

I'll be scarce again for the next week, My show is installed Tuesday, 

then I have my friend Shelly here next Friday...

and get that other quilt I need to get done...

The clock is ticking!

GIVEAWAY!!!!

SCROLL DOWN TO THE NEXT 

POST TO COMMENT

By the way. Don't forget to leave a comment on the LAST post... Scroll down.

and also visit the other bloggers on the tour to win a signed book from PAT!

Winners drawn APRIL 27th

or buy one for 15% off!

Tuesday – 4/19/11
LaVieEnRosie- ALL ABOARD QUILT 

PAT SLOAN

Wednesday – 4/20/11

BUMBLE BEANS INC– CUPCAKES & CONFECTIONS QUILT

 

MY CREATIVE SIDE – A PAIR OF WINNERS, VERSION 1, QUILT

Thursday – 4/21/11
The Quilted Fish– ISLAND DREAMS QUILT

Me and My Sister – MONKEY BUSINESS QUILT

Friday – 4/22/11
Gudrun’s World – LET’S GO CAMPING QUILT

The patchworkunderground – DOGGIE ADORATION QUILT

   

One more Novelty:

I had to dig out this piece of novelty fabric.  

I snatched it back at the retreat from the scrap bin.

Thought it needed to live in my kitchen somewhere...

hmm, what will it become...

Have a lovely weekend!

Happy Easter!

CHOICES!

Hey FOLKS!  I need your help!  WOOHOO I'm so excited after, living in this loft, 12 years, and having a bare minimal bed in my master bedroom, meaning, metal box frame and two headboards that were supposed to be for Boo's room... I just got my NEW BED!  I feel like I  can finally make our bedroom a REAL decorated room.... and not just the room we hide stuff in, that we don't want visitors to see... hahaha! So, OUT goes the headboards... OUT goes the metal box frame....

IN GOES my new BROWN cozy bed, (the exact same bed I have at my house!!! I LOVE MY BED)... Add some new deep purple and white stripe sheets (LOVE STRIPES), looks good with the Raspberry ice paint job from this past summer! And also, IN GOES my RUG I bought for my KITCHEN, that was moved to my ENTRY HALL, and now LIVES in my BEDROOM!  It's all very complicated, decorating, isn't it?

So, You know I have a few KING size quilts laying around here.... This is the AFRICAN FABRIC    top I made last weekend... I was going to put that fabulous zigzag border on it, but now realize, this quilt pretty much fits this bed EXACT...  IF I put the border I wanted on it, it will go to the floor.... I may just add a 5" border down the lengths, so that it hangs the same down those sides as at the end... 

It looks good right?

But then, I made this last summer with the intention of THIS one living on my bed.... I still need to add the borders...  I really like all the purples, grays and browns in this... It does look good!  And look at all the nice spots for QUILTING in the gray bits.... LOVE THAT!

Here's the Ragamuffin Quilt on the bed.. This quilt is so huge, it hangs all the way to the floor all around the bed.... Although I love this quilt, I'm not sure it's right for here, right now... I still need to applique' 2010 on it... And get it quilted...( I'll send this one out, it's WAY to big  for me to quilt...

All my bloggy pals, I see you all in this quilt!

And here is the quilt I made for my Husband probably three years ago... It has lived on our bed for as long as well...For as simple as this quilt is, I just love it.... the colors, the yellow twist to add a bit of surprise to it... I love the navy BLUE in this room...  But I think it's time for a new Quilt....

Although I love my Xmas crosses, I slept under it for  two weeks, and then took it off and put it away.. I'm so afraid of the dogs ruining it.. It's my all time favorite quilt... the "I can't believe I made that quilt"  so I keep it on my quilt pile....  Do you have a quilt like this? that you love so much you won't use it?

And lastly, my "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" quilt... This quilt seems to work everywhere...  Another big time favorite, I hate to have the dogs ruin it... decisions!!!

So?  Which one should live on my new bed??

Tell me your thoughts!

Have a great weekend!

the sun has risen

Anguillan Sunrise

size = KING. (LOL)

 

I was obsessed today. 

I had two other quilts I should have been QUILTING....

But I was SO NOT in the mood to quilt...  

So I did a little on this, 

then thoughts, just a little more, 

then, well, I'm almost done, 

and lastly, 

awwh, what the heck, just finish the darn thing...

(And I'm kind of Excited to QUILT it too!)

time for a story

 I've been trying to CLEAN HOUSE here at Bumble beans...  I need to move out 

tops/backings, some to be quilted by me, some to send them out,

so they GET done in my life time... LOL!  

I have a few favorites that I just want done.

Like this Anguillan Sunrise quilt... 

Wanna Hear it's story?     It's a long one!

It all started with this one Dresden in OCTOBER 2009.  

When i started applique again after a 20+ hiatus...

These Paula Prass fabrics had me so excited I had to make something with them.

 And one Dresden turned into MANY Dresdens...

 I auditioned many fabrics and found the Yellow gingham would work best,

but I had only ONE yard of it, and I couldn't find more of it.

 SO then I tried other options that lived on my wall for a good few months at a time..

 And even got a little CrAzY!

 I tried many other yellows

And more yellows...

I went to Houston and bought nearly every yellow I could find.

Still no luck...

It then was stuffed into a basket, and shelved for a good year.

Then, two great things happened.

I wen to Lancaster, PA, and found these in an antique shop. HMM,

I was drawn to the colors of the blocks.. Black, pink, yellow, browns...

SO I remade a bunch BIGGER.  

Now what to do with those?

 Then I went to Anguilla. And all those colors were around me...I didn't sew a lick on that trip.

 But when I got home, the light bulb went off... Merge the two! same colors!!

It still needed that yellow!

Wouldn't you know it, I found another yard of that original YELLOW fabric online!

 

 I got this far, then I put it away again... Until October this year

I didn't applique the Plates until Xmas of this year.

And By Golly, I wan this quilt finished!

March will be a year and half in the making of this quilt...

And You all thought I worked fast....

hehehe!

I hope to have a finished top to show you by the end of this week...

Fingers crossed!

Do you have any quilt that has taken you years to create?

inspiration

 Why does inspiration hit when I absolutley have no time to focus on it...

well, if I take just a minute to make a few blocks...

 I finished my applique parts tot he above quilt,
and planned on diving into my red cross quilt to get that thing quilted asap...  
But, I made this mess instead... I couldn't resist...

 I need to be cleaning my very messy studio for Thursday eve... 

I did get everything off the floor to clean that, but no wit's all piled up on my sewing table...  

But maybe I should just sew one more set of blocks for the Star Bird quilt first...

 But wouldn't it be fun to play with the Sunset blocks?? 

Just a few strips....

 ACK!  ADD alert... get back to the crosses....

Jenny Egg, what have you been into?

Now where was I?

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

trying to finish

 A few of you asked what a Amish Buggy Block Looks Like...   It's squares, usually I think 4 across 4 down, checkerboard style... For the Starbird Quilt, I made them 5 across and 5 down... so maybe that has a different name... The math was easier to figure out!  ;-)  I wasn't sure when I was making that post yesterday if I would actually add them, but now that I made a bunch, I think they are perfect to go all the way around that top... Do you agree?  We'll see if it gets bigger after that... I can't think that far ahead...yet.

 I have been procrastinating the applique part of my Anguillan sunrise quilt for SOOO long...  I have Two corners done, and hope to get the other two done by next week.  I have way to many projects nearly done... that I do now need them to be done!!!!

 I added a extra border to the Xmas lap quilt yesterday and got out ALL MY SCRAP batting, and piecing it all together to make this into a Christmas tree skirt for our tree this year...  I'm quite excited to get this basted and quilted... That tree will go up on the 13th... SO I better get this thing done! I think it will look great, and I really didn't need another Xmas lap quilt... I have a few of those already.

I twas nice to use up all my scrap batting.  I just ordered another huge roll of batting so I can get some more quilts done...  So many tops to finish in the mean time...

 So these are my Quilt top goals to complete by next week. Above is the  quilt I started yesterday for our granddaughter for Xmas, she selected Shirts at the thrift store in Seattle this past weekend, and asked for a quilt for Xmas...  These are 24" blocks, and I will make two more in a darker green and darker purple, her NEW favorite colors... ;-)  And some big easy borders to round it out to fit her... Fun scrappy blocks...

I love that you all had so many great books to share!  I put the list on the sidebar, in case others need good reads for gifts...I love giving books as gifts...

 Speaking of great gifts....

At long last, I got my new Oliso iron yesterday... And can I just say, I am in love? 

It's easy to fill, Heats very quickly, and it has that automatic lifter-upper thingy... 

see how it sits up in the air right now?

when you put you hand around the hand grip, it senses you and it lowers itself to the ironing board... You don't stand it up right, and stays put much better on the ironing board, unlike my tripping over the cord, and pull it down vertical and having it bounce all over the place.... it's much more stable staying flat like this...

I may have only had it a day, but I am so impressed with it... my other iron, could not get hot enough and I couldn't press things very well... I had a huge piece of batik that was a mess after coming out of the dryer... I left it folded in half, and ironed the 4 yards of it, in half, very quickly. no more wrinkles...

I'd be there all day trying to of that with my old iron... unfolded!

Add it to your Santa list... ;-)

What else was on your Santa list this year?

Anything interesting gadget you just had to have but wouldn't spend for yourself?

I wanted a new waffle maker, but have strict orders to my husband

to never by me a household appliance, so I bought it myself... hehehe! 

Besides, it was on sale, and I had a 15% off coupon, 

plus free shipping!!! Does it get any better?

I asked for a subscription to Donna Hay's cooking magazine....

I'd never spend the Aussie price, but if my hubby wanted to, that was fine with me!

I guess I'll find out if he did soon enough...

Happy Sewing, I gotta get cracking on these tops... 

you may see me drop off for a few days to get this stuff done...

I've been slacking on my return emails too...  Sorry.  I'll try to be better...
I so appreciate all your comments!

 Click here to see about my scrappy stocking...