Going Coastal Quilt

Thought I would show you what I came up with for Going Coastal.  I started cutting late Friday night and got 7 blocks made.  Saturday was a little crazy, but I got all 56 blocks done.  Today I finished it!  I even washed and dried it!  Of course, it has been raining ALL day here (we aren't use to that in Utah), so I didn't get a great picture.  You can see that it's fun though!

I paired the fabric with Kona Tangerine.  The pattern is one of mine called Scattered Sunshine.  Since I am sometimes a little lame, my website is messed up and I don't have my patterns on it.  However, I found it here if you are interested:

http://www.pinkchalkfabrics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5204

Fun to see how a quilt looks in different fabric, huh!?!

The crabs started looking a little too realistic as I was sewing it together, but they were my kids' favorite part.  Even the baby loved the crabs! I loved the bottlecaps.  I would have loved the use that as a backing.

Want to win a fat quarter bundle?  Emily is giving one away on her blog!  Here's the link:

http://crazyoldladiesquilts.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-know-you-want-some.html

A fat quarter bundle just happens to be exactly what you need to make this quilt of mine!  And 1 2/3 yards of a solid -- that includes the binding.  I had 2 fat quarters left over. 

One more day of sewing left before Market!  I need to make a pillow or two.  I hope that is all.  I usually forget something.  I just hope it isn't something important!

The Surprise Bridal Shower

Before I tell you about the bridal shower I attended Saturday (and the quilt I took), let me address the quilt along. 

Today is the day of the final two drawings.  I am going to wait until the end of the day to do those drawings.  Just in case.  The quilts on flickr are all so lovely!  Yeah!

Okay, so the background to the quilt story today is this quilt:

It's name is "Diamond in the Rough" by a friend of mine, Emily Herrick of Crazy Old Ladies.  HERE is a link to her blog and the pattern of the quilt above.  It is one of my favorite patterns of hers.  I have wanted to make it for a while, but the time was never right. 

Fast forward to last Sunday.  I picked up an announcement I had received to double check the date of a bridal shower for my cousin's financee.  It was yesterday.  Now I had known they were engaged a few months ago, and I had thought then -- I bet they would like a black and white quilt.  I should get one started.  That never happened.  I called my aunt Sunday or Monday to see what colors they liked.  She said black and red.  I was actually hoping they liked different colors because I had other quilts that I could have pulled out of storage and given them.  I didn't have a black and white quilt handy. 

So the shower didn't surprise me at all except that all of a sudden the date was less than a week away.  Ahh, I needed a fast pattern.  FAST.  Emily's pattern, "Diamond in the Rough" came to mind.  I knew it would be perfect.  I thought I would have enough stash for it.  I didn't.  I had to go grab 3 -- 1/3 yards of the white with black.  The red is Kaffe Fasset's shot cotton.  I didn't start sewing this quilt until Friday afternoon.  Yes, Friday.  Yes, Friday as in the day before the shower.  (In my family we have a tradition of giving our wedding presents at the shower.)

I didn't think too much as I was putting the quilt together.  I took as many shortcuts as I dared -- like not trimming my dog ears.  I needed it a little bigger and was not about to make the cute border Emily had.  As I was sewing I tried to decide what border I wanted.  I ended up just extending the black.  Love the result.  Can't believe how much I love this quilt!  It came together perfectly!  (Meaning better than I intended.  I was going so fast that the points don't match up in a couple places.)  Here's my quilt:

The only thing I would do different is put the binding on the bias for those stripes.  It has black wool batting in it -- so nice!  On the back is a black and white flannel.  It is an Andover Fabric piece from one of their Olivia lines.  It is one of those flannels that reminds you that sometimes you really like flannel. 

Oh, so Friday night, I think it was about 10ish, I took the quilt off my quilt machine.  I bound it Saturday morning in time to make it to the bridal shower.   I don't remember what my kids had for supper Friday night.  I remember saying yes to what ever it was they asked me for.  I don't think they asked me if they could have chocolate cake for supper.  Then again. . . .

Block Five with Emily Herrick

Emily and I met when a baby quilt she had made won the viewer's choice award at our local Peteetneet Quilt Show.   She ended up part of our quilt show committee and now we both write quilt patterns.  Emily's company is called Crazy Old Ladies.  Emily is the type of person who you like the minute you meet her.  She is very friendly and a lot of fun.  She has a great eye for quilts, and I'm so glad she said she would design a block for you. 

Now from Emily:

-Hey all, it's me here! That's right, the one and only Crazy Old Lady! Ok, so I've been catching a lot of flack for not being old but funny how no one ever mentions the 'Crazy' part. OH well. Some of you may know me by my street name- Emily Herrick. I have been quilting for almost a decade. About 2 years ago I started to go 'crazy' when I decided to start designing and selling my quilt patterns. It has been a BLAST! The best part is that I can quilt [almost] whenever I want and tell my husband "I'm working" and he's okay with it (most of the time.) Naturally I am attracted to all things fabric and quilting so when Konda asked me to be a part of her Jelly-Roll-Quilt-Along I was so excited. I hope ya'll don't mind that I wanted to share the block I designed that was featured in Quiltmaker magazine several months ago. I LOVE this block because it's different. I thought it would add nice interest to your quilts. But what I really love about this block is a whole quilt done out of it! For those of you up for that challenge you can get a good idea of what it will look like here: http://crazyoldladiesquilts.blogspot.com/2009/11/100.html

I've had such a fun time checking out all the blocks as you quilt along and I can't wait to see what you do with mine!

Happy Quilting!

Click HERE for instructions to Emily's block.

Thanks Emily!!!

Here are my blocks:  First with Attitude Girls

Second, with Swanky

My favorite thing about this block is seeing Emily's whole quilt that she made using this pattern.  (See link above.)  I love how it's almost an optical illusion -- which chain are you seeing? 

REMINDER:  You have two weeks to make these blocks.  There will be a drawing tomorrow for block four.  Of course, any block that is posted before mine on flickr gets entered in the drawing.  I have another jelly roll up for grabs and Emily has graciously donated one of her patterns.  YEAH!

Note:  Please forgive me if the timing of the drawing is a little off.  I will be on the road Monday night.  I am hoping we will find a good internet connection on the road and that you don't notice a difference, but sorry in advance if it doesn't quite work out that way. 

Thanks!

Free Jelly Roll

Looks like the freebies have started early! Head over to my friend's blog, Crazy Old Ladies, before SATURDAY.







She is one of our fabulous block designers and is giving away a free jelly roll, Simply Abundance by Bonnie and Camille. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Let her know you've signed up for the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along and you could win! Good luck!

HMQS Update

After sleeping in on Sunday, I think I am recovered from HMQS. It was so much fun! Quilters are just great people. I love talking to all of you. I shared a booth with some other pattern designers, Crazy Old Ladies, who are friends of mine. What a riot. I want to say that it was their fault that I became as crazy as they are, but I don't think it was their fault. That kind of just happens after spending three days in a 10' x 10' space.

I spent half of my earnings across the aisle at the Rusty Crow Quilt Shop, a vendor from California. Good thing we weren't there another day or two. I might have just handed her everything just for the pleasure of taking home some of her fabric treasures that I just couldn't live without. She just had tubs and tubs of fat quarters and precut yards that asked if they could come home with me.

The quilts, of course, were to die for. I cannot even imagine all the hours that go into making them. I don't make show quilts at this stage of my life. I do love making quilts that aren't going to give me a heart attack if one of my kids curls up with on the couch.

One of my favorites was David Taylor. His award winning goat was there as well as other amazing quilts. But the best part was that on Saturday, David Taylor was there quilting his latest creation, an amazing owl. Very cool!

I collected four quilts for Quilts of Valor. That was more than I expected. I find people don't usually bring quilts to a quilt show. But many were interested and over 500 flyers were handed out. And the "Pajama Quilter's" sister won the drawing of one of my books, Simply Charming Seasons, two 1 1/2 yards of fabric and two coordinating charm packs. Yeah!

As fun as HMQS was, there was one downside. I did not get a single picture. Sigh. No excuse. Sorry.