I've been a little busy sewing....

...and neglecting my blog, that's for sure! I got the little doll sized quilt done for the swap, I wanted to get it done before anything else could come up and put pressure on me. This is what I gleaned from my partner's Flickr favorites and her blog and her list of likes and dislikes- I hope she likes it. It measures about 24" x 18, roughly. The little blocks finish at 2.5". I thought it needed some life and color so I appliqued on some birds made out of fabric scraps. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Then I decided to make another little one- this one is a beach scene that reminds me so much of our times at the beach house which is owned by our friends, Katie and Patrick. It's in FL and we have so much fun when we go down there. Like someone said when they were helping our visiting friends find the house- "it's always a party at 1610!" I might be sending this quilt off to someone if their partner flakes out and fails to come through as prearranged, but I sure hope I get to keep it, I really like it!

This is heavily appliqued and the back looks like a line drawing of all the detail on the front, it's very cool looking.


There are several 3D features on this little quilt, which measures about 13" x 12". The palm tree leaves, the napkin under the drink, the beach towels and umbrella all stick out somewhat, giving it lots of dimension.

Nosey Parker felt the need to help arrange the noisy beads as I was setting up the photo shoot. Then I realized it wasn't done, I hadn't put on the 2 cool leaves! Eeeek.

I've also been making string blocks for another quilt along. This is so much fun! Bright, aren't they? :) I'm having a ball laying these out, finessing the layout only to have a renegade kitten come flying thru and rearrange them all for me. I finally took a photo so I could remember where I had them. Twist one block and the whole design goes wrong!

This quilt along design incorporates several different kinds of blocks together- the strings like the above photo shows and some Crazy 9 Patch blocks, and some pieced and appliqued circles. I made 13 of these Crazy 9's but didn't like them too much as I messed them up a bit. (The top one in the photo below- see how the middles are much bigger than the corner bits?) That was really bugging me and it was only going to get worse when I sewed the blocks together to each other. So I "fixed" them by adding in strips of black. I cut an inch out of the middle of the block in one direction first, added a 1" black strip, then cut them again and added another black strip going the other way. That made the trouble areas smaller, perfect! I was happy to have found a solution that worked.

So that's what I've been doing- sewing, pondering, planning and plotting and scheming.... And I'm having a lot of fun hanging out at the DQS8 Flickr group and seeing all the little lovelies that the ladies are coming up with. It's quite addictive and informative and very inspirational, too. I have a million ideas in my head of things to make. Now, if only I could get some of them done!