ORANGE PILE CHALLENGE

This is a group of fabrics I pulled, for Pat Sloan's Orange Pile Challenge. Lime green and a few yellows and pinks jumped in. I don't know yet if that's allowed! I'll find out as she posts more. The on-line retreat is in February.

SEWING MENDS THE SOUL

My dear friend, Carol, gave me these wall words for Christmas. Finally, this past week, I cleaned out my sewing room enough to get near a wall, and apply the words! I do indeed believe in this sentiment. Thanks, Carol.

YIPPY SKIPPY

Look what arrived in my mail today.........two luscious half-yard cuts of batik fabric. It's my January gift from my Dear Jane Secret Pal. I like them so well hanging on the back of that chair, I may just leave them there to ogle-eye for a while. Visions of new projects are dancing in my head.

QUILT FEVER 2009

Yesterday I had the fun experience of attending Quilt Fever 2009, the show of a local guild. So much eye candy!!! Here's some of the Hoffman Challenge quilts that were on display.

This one is my favorite. I love the Winding Ways background blocks, the wisteria made with yo-yos, the fact that it was made by a group, I love everything about this quilt!!!

But, the most fun exhibit had to be the bras. This is a traveling collection, made by artists. All funds raised are given to breast cancer organizations. The one below is covered in dominoes, and was accompanied with advice that, just like a row of dominoes, everything eventually falls!

What fun!

TODAY'S FIND

A friend asked if I had fabric I could donate for pillowcases for a charity. I said sure, and that started it all. Suddenly I had everything, and I do mean everything, out of my sewing room closet. While going through long-abandoned stash, I found this quilt all completed, still with it's left-over scraps, in a box. I made it right before we moved to this house 6 years ago! I think my little 9-month-old granddaughter will enjoy playing on it. In the process of the 'big clean out' I have a box for our sewing ministry at church, and also a box for my 9-year-old granddaughter for her sewing.

First Finish of 2009!!!

Today, while watching the inauguration, I stitched the binding on this fall table topper. It is made from the first charm pack I ever bought, way back when they first came out. It's been quilted for years, just languishing in a stack, waiting for binding! Thanks to the UFO Challenge on Stashbusters, I finally got it done!

DOUBLE DELIGHT PROGRESS

I'm very happy with the colors in my DD blocks. It's all starting to come together!

Today I got this week's SBS BOW, Sawtooth Star, finished up early. Whew, now back to Double Delight and the row swap.

SYLVIA'S BRIDAL SAMPLER, BOW

I took time away from Double Delight this morning to do the SBS BOW. I really want to keep up with this this year!

Pat's Sweat Shop

Seriously, I've put many hours into my Double Delight today! These are all 120 Step 1 blocks, totally done. They are 3" square in a squares.

This is a small stack of completed Step 2s, and fabric for the rest, mostly all cut.

This is my stack of Step 3. First strips sets all sewn and cross cut.

And here's one Step 4 block that I just had to jump ahead and put together.

QUILTS MADE FROM SELVAGES

While in JoAnn's today, shopping for a notion, I came across this great new book. Talk about going green. These quilts are made with the cast off selvage! Wonder how many I've thrown away over the years. You can see more at: http://selvagequilts.com/

DOUBLE DELIGHT MYSTERY PROGRESS

While I like the ruler Bonnie suggested, I found that my Omnigrip 3 1/2" ruler made quick work of squaring up the step 1 and 2 blocks. Notice the small dots right in the corners of the inner square.

Here are my Step 1 blocks, all trimmed.

















And here are some Step 2 blocks, all trimmed.

DOUBLE DELIGHT PROGRESS

What a lot of little pieces. I think I have everything cut for the first few steps now. If you look closely, you can see that some of the sewing is done as well.

Here's one of my first 'strings'. It feels like I'm making tiny siggies for a DJ siggie swap:)