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A Few More Blocks...

Just posting a few more blocks for our Quilts Your Way Squishie Swap 2010:

The top 2 blocks are more 12 1/2" unfinished Mosaic Windmills made for Sheri and Natalie.  Sheri's fabric is a lovely Asian print with gold outlining running through it andNatalie's is from one of the yummy BG (Basic Grey) lines.  I can't wait to get my hands on more of that one!   Here on the right are 2 - 6 1/2" unfinished windmill (pinwheel) blocks made for Lyn.  She sent different fruit fabrics to each swapper, so I can't wait to see what kind of market fresh quilt she'll come up with!

Finally....A Finish!

Sorry to be gone from blogging for so long...I really didin't mean to be!  After about 3 weeks of hand quilting, my bright floral quilt is finally bound and finished!  Still no tag on the back (as with so many of my other quilts), but finished all the same.  Woohoo! 

My mother has alread claimed that this will be the quilt she will be sleeping under all summer and warned me that it may end up in her suitcase for her trip home.  Well, it's ready for her to sell under, but I'm not giving this one away just yet.  Both of the girls like this one as well, so I guess it was worth the wait!  YAY!

Ostrich Round 3

Round three is all about the number three...three dimensional, that is. Yep, this round's theme is 3-D! The challenge is to add some type of three dimensional elements to your quilt. It could be something as simple as embellishments or a bit more challenging like prairie points or yo-yos. You could even try your hand at trapunto! The possibilities are endlesss, but the deadline was April 15th -- needless to say, I am lucky enough to have ahd an idea right away!
First, I tacked down the yarn tails that I added onto the elephants in the very beginning.  I then added gold sequin and blue beaded eyes to the elephants, thanks to my mom and sister for sending the sequins to me!  And last I made piping and sewed it into the outer border.
 

Piping is something I've never tried before and I've been wanting to try and make some.  Actually it was pretty easy once I figured out how to sew closer to the inner roping!  Just measure out the length of fabric you'll need, fold it over wrong sides together to form a tube.  Push your "filler" roping in to the fold (I pinned it in to keep it from shifting) and then sew as close to the roping as possible to create the piped effect.  I found that leaving plenty of seam allowance (close to 1") worked well for sewing the piping onto my border.  Then I went back and trimmed back the seam allowanxe to 1/4" later!

Snow World

With all the rain in the Netherlands, the snow doesn't stick around for very long.  So....we decided to check out the winter weather indoors at Snow World Zoetermeer just about 20 minutes away! 


Dan and the girls tried snowboarding for hte first time with a one hour lesson and then 3 additional hours of free time on the slopes.  They did pretty well for their first attemps progressing from the bunny slope to the intermediate slopes and the tricky rope pull lifts by the end of the day!

The girls enjoyed themselves so much on Monday that they convinced me to take them back for 2 more hours in the park today!

Saturday at Madurodaum

The Netherlands in minature.  Since the girls are off for February break this week, we started off the weekend with a trip to Madurodaum in Schevenigen (near Den Haag) just 15 minutes or so from our home.   For me, it was a good trip to scope out all of the other places in Holland I'd like to visit.  There are a couple of museums, castles and royal park areas that looked interesting from the 1:25 scale models. 

These day trips are sometimes a little difficult on the girls - not very interesting for them - but this time we were able to keep their attention for about 2 hours, just enough time.  Larissa held the guide book and read me the captions of each building and their city locations and Kayla took charge of the camera which worked out well.  They both enjoyed putting 10 cents into machines around the park to make things move, listen to music or for small souveniers of chocolate and wooden shoes.  Afterwards, Dan rewarded them with a trip into Amsterdam for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe!

More Squishies & Kayla's Top

I got a couple more squishie blocks finished today for the QYW Squishie Block Swap 2010.  These are the Windmill Mosaic blocks for Pat and Karen E.  I decided to stick with the same block for everyone since I am loving how they are coming out and half square triangles and I are getting along nicely. 

And...here's Kayla's newest quilt top made from all those left over pieces in the scrap box and a little pattern called Bento Box that we both fell in love with!  She's doing such a great job!  Seams are pretty straight and corners are matching up nicely!  She's already pulled the fabric for her binding, but she's yet to make it and then there's always the back to piece for this almost twin size quilt.  Her largest yet at 60x75"!

Productive Day for Kayla!

Talk about productive!  Kayla cut all of this out of scrap fabric in 2 days!  Then, this afternoon, worked them into 8" unfinished quarter blocks and put them together into these 15 1/2" unfinished bento blocks!  She was a work horse today!  I was given the task of ironing and pinning while she sewed, trimmed and matched colors to create the most striking combinations!  Woohoo...can't wait to see this one finished!

Ostrich Round 2

Well, here it is.  The next installment of the Thai quilt being made step by step in an ostrich challenge by Kimberly Camou's Divine Inspirations on Facebook.  This round was entitle "2's Company" and we were instructed to choose 2 techniques (regular piecing, paper piecing, applique) to create this round. 

I used regular piecing to add a thin black border and to add the corner triangles to set the square on-point.  I appliqued the "dresden fans" and used a backing method for the centers.  I must say, I'm pretty happy with the result and I'm looking forward to the next round!

Squishie Time Again

The Quilt Your Way Forum's Squishie Swap 2010 has begun again in earnest!  We have already started to receive F8s from the other swappers and I got so excited between projects that I jumped right in and completed these blocks for the first 2 participants whose fabric I got in the mail:  Peggy and Karen K! 

Each year I try to choose a block that has some meaning to me.  Last year's "A Dandy Block" was chosen because, well, my year was definately a dandy with DH's redeployment, selling our home, another move for the family, not to mention all the little things!  This year I chose the "Mosaic Windmill" block in honor of our move to the Netherlands.  Though, honestly, I haven't seen as many windmills here as I expected to!

Front Or Back? 

The feeling of accomplishment!  I finally have both the top and backing for the Garden Quilt pieced together.  They're in a ziploc again waiting to get sandwiched and pin basted.  Soon we'll clear enough floor space for that to get done. 

In the meantime, Kayla has already cut up every last piece of scrap from the leftovers and begun the process of making her own blocks for another quilt design.  I can't wait to see how her's turns out.  I've been volunteered to begin piecing those blocks together as well, so I'm definately up to my ears in bright, bright, bright fabric!  Not generally my style, but I have to admit that it's nice to do something different for a change.

OMGsh, I Forgot to Blog!

So, yes, I forgot to blog anything for almost 2 months now!  I can't believe it!  I didn't even add a photo of my "Grandma's Garden" quilt that I finished over a month ago!  Well, here it is.  All finished, handquilted...ahhh...

I've also officially finished scrapbooking our years living in Japan.  Another ahh....moment!  Now I've only got several thousand photos of 10 days in China, 8 days in Thailand, 7 days in Hawaii, 18 months in Missouri and oh yeah, I've got all of our wedding photos ripped out of the "acidy photo album" wanting to get scrapbooked as well.  Wish me luck!