Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Happenings...and time off work! Yippee!

HI Everyone!!! First of all, please let me say how fun it was to be the hostess for the giveaways of last week! Thank you to Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene of Country threads, who generously gave their book "Back to Charm School" to review and giveaway. Congratulations to Janet O. of the Rogue Quilter blog! She won this book, and it is winging it's way to her as we speak.








Further congratulations to Lois A, who won the Sonoma Rose book! Thank you so much to the publishers who so graciously sent it to me for review!!








OK, see above! See what a few strings will get you? I absolutely had a blast making this top, and I estimate that there are over 500 different fabrics in this top. I love it!! It was such great fun to make...and see below!









I used a whole bunch of my strings!! This is all that is left now...poor lonely strings, I know they will not stay that lonely in the bin for long! I took this time and sorted out some blues, some pinks, some green strings, and put them separately...for someday!!







The Just Take Two quilt!! I am throwing in the towel...I am just not a good paper piecer, so I try to draft the patterns my way, and my blocks turn out an inch big, or 1/2 an inch small...grrr!! So I am going to border this piece, and call it good. I think I have captured some of the spirit of that lovely red quilt exibition. I think flying geese would look so fun on the outside of this! I still have a ton of red left...so I think I will make some more basket blocks, all in red...I am in love with that block!!









I hope each one of you is having a good day!!






Julie

23 comments:

Lori said...

I about died laughing when I saw you are throwing in the towel on the red and white quilt, JT2. I just removed the icon from my blog as the directions have been so terrible I hated to advertise for them!! I am planning on continuing mine but had a good laugh, cause what you said is so true!!

Ali Honey said...

I'll have to substitute for the feather duster and the dog.( don't have either of those ) You forgot coffee, so I will substitute that.
Glad you are having fun.

Quilter Kathy said...

Love your red and white quilt...it's perfect the way it is.
The string quilt is awesome too!

Lois Arnold said...

Woo Hoo! Thank you so much, Julie! I can hardly wait to start reading this book. Also, I am so excited that I will get to meet you and all of the other Dallas area quilters next week at the Quilt Celebration. Be sure to come to the National Quilting Association booth to say "hi"!

Mary said...

I love the new string quilt! Awesome! Where do you find the time! And the Red and White quilt is fantastic too! I love your work!I'm still working on the Snail's trail, but it's coming along. Fixing to have 8 days off and it will be finished soon!

Nancy said...

Throwing in the towel on a frustrating project is a good thing. Your string quilt is wonderful - 500 fabrics? Really? Wow!

Libby said...

I am enjoying your strip management projects - inspiration for that time when I FINALLY get caught up with my UFO's *lol*

Sharon said...

You are right, they are the crappiest directions. I guess when you realize it's the author of the Dear Jane book that HAS NO PATTERNS. And they are making funky block measurements for the type of block, ie: 5 patch that finsihes at 12". Just silly! I am facilitating a group on this project, and one or more are ready to join you in the laundry room :-)

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

You're making a dent in your string bin and mine keeps multiplying! Your string quilt is wonderful, I love it!! I will look for the Country Threads book, I love their patterns. Keep up the good work, i couldn't see one thing amiss with the R&W quilt!

Sharon said...

That is a great string quilt...it must feel wonderful to have made it out of so many scraps! And your red and white is wonderful just the way it is!

KaHolly said...

Beautiful string quilt. You are the string quilt queen!!! Even though you give up on the red and white quilt, it's still quite stunning, Julie!! ~karen

Leeanne said...

Your a mean string making machine!
I like your 'it takes two' very nice. Good to stop while the goings good.

Janet O. said...

I am so excited to get this book, Julie. Thank you so much!
Love your string quilt. Amazing how you do so much!
After reading of your frustration with the JustTake2, I am glad I didn't join up there. : )

Deanna said...

Great work, as usual! A lovely string quilt. It makes me want to work on mine. I have been AOL for quite a while, but am glad to see all of your recent projects.

Mary Johnson said...

Love this rail fence/string variation.

Debi said...

Love the quilts..you have been busy. Are you going to the quilt show next week?

McIrish Annie said...

Love your string blocks! it's so mindless and so fun. I will be doing some of that this weekend while I watch the basketball tournament with DH on Saturday and Sunday.

Yeah to using up scraps!! now we can buy more and not feel guilty.

Merilyn said...

Conratulations to the winners of your books!!!
Your strings quilt is certainly looking good, love the pale steps effect too, nicely done and a great way to use up those scraps!!!
What a shame you are frustrated with foundation paper piecing! It does take a bit of time to get used to it and you have to think backwards, but if it's not your bag then you have a nice smaller momento of this project!!!! Just reading some of your previous comments sounds as if there were some problems with measurements!
Time to move on to something more rewarding Julie, and get some instant gratification!

Kim said...

I am going to continue with JT2 and hope it gets better. I have kept up and today is another group of blocks to challenge myself with. I think Brenda and Gay are trying to do a nice thing but it isn't going so smoothly :0). And I'm making two of them! One in red and white and one in pinks and browns.

Love your string quilt.......it came out beautifully.

Happy Sewing

~Bren~ said...

I am terrible at paper piecing...Maybe it is that I just don't enjoy it!
Your string quilt is beautiful, and I agree about the flying geese....it would finish it off nicely!

antique quilter said...

looks great, and all from the stash! I love that .
Kathie

Anonymous said...

I couldn't get any of the paperpieced to come out the right size either. I just did something similar rotary cut. Glad to see someone else had same problem with their patterns.

Lorraine said...

I started making it, too! There are so many that are stopping because of the instructions. I NEVER heard of trimming HSTs down before...and just to use her Dear Jane ruler?!?!?

I quit as well...I HATE paper piecing!

Puffins and purples!!

I was tempted by Puffins...a squirrelly breed!!  LOL!  This fabric was shared with me, and I have been loved these bright, candy corn colors...