An Earnest Attempt.....

I am going to make an earnest attempt to finish the unfinished projects that have been calling to me....

I began this Spiderweb quilt, called Pop Stars by Kathy Doughty , eons ago....

.

I can actually see the end in sight....I love how this quilt is coming together and it is no little wisp of a quilt.  This one will end up about 75+ inches by 80+ inches.  It is a bit smaller that the quilt from Material Obession 2.

   

 My slow progress by no means is a reflection of my attitude towards this quilt....I just get distracted way too easily....

But I am doubling down my efforts and am determined to finish this one soon! 

I have also added block 6 and 7 to my Rose and Star Portfolio....

I like how this project is coming together.  The happy kitchen-y fabrics are fun.

  

I have purchased several of the Michael Miller Kitchen Collection fabrics....they fit well with the flavor of this quilt!  Get it!  Flavor!  hee hee.....I should go on the road, right???

And I am having a great time piecing these....they go together much more quickly than the Grandmothers Flower Garden {my other unfinished project}.....oh well....

Happy Tuesday!

mary

A Year of Finishes....Part One

As my first full year of blogging is coming to an end...I thought I would recap the finishes and some beginnings of 2011....

In the Quilt Category.....

We have one of my favorite quilts of all time and certainly my favorite quilt design. 

Gypsy Kisses is a pickledish design from Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession fame.

This is a multiple techniques quilt....paper foundation piecing, patchwork piecing, hand applique, and hand quilted.

A popular theme this year was the Union Jack....

 

 

And Molly helped with the label.



Another Material Obsession quilt started and finished....although not completely quilted yet....

Strawberry Fields - which I call Tea Party

I love the sweet feminine nature of this quilt, but for some reason quilting it seems like such a chore for me....does this ever happen to you?  Here is the best thing about this quilt....it was while making this quilt that I emailed Susan {I didn't know her at all but I knew she had made this quilt}.  My copy of the book had errors and I wasn't sure why things weren't working out properly.  Enter....Susan to the rescue!!!  What a lucky girl I am :)  Good reason to finish this one, right????  

  

I was so fortunate to be able to do a couple of quilt samples for the shoppe using Suzy Ultman's fabric lines.....Appleville and Critter Community...

  

In May I was in a New York state of mind....a New York Beauty that is....

A whole cloth quilt...

made from flannel on the front and linen on the back....

  

A baby version of my Coin Quilt made from Birch organic....

I love this quilt....with the straight line quilting and then pick stitching...

   

Molly {my oldest daughter} decided to try her hand at quilting.  She does fabulous embroidery and loves crazy quilts.  So I thought she would enjoy a little hand applique and then to quilt in crazy quilt style!!!  Well, she did a marvelous job....

   

Then Lark {from Amy Butler} arrived in the shoppe....

  

Most recently, I have finished the Wonky Little Houses Quilt...again a sample for the shoppe...

It has been a fun year of quilting and making good friends!  I have a few more finishes to share later in the week....

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend :)

mary

A Party!

I want to officially invite everyone to a Party!!! 

Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts is having a BIG 5 Blog Party beginning May 2nd.!  She has planned a fantastic Giveaway and you have the opportunity to meet 5 different bloggers {one is little old me!} each day next week!!!!

  

So pop over to Ellison Lane and check out all that is going on!!!

**************************************************************

I have my hubby home for two weeks....both a blessing and a curse....we have house stuff to work on and he will be doing most of the work  {the blessing} and we have house stuff to work on {the curse}!!!

So to prepare, I spent ALL of yesterday cleaning my closet....and once you start one closet you have to clean others!  So I cleaned closets, and organized my stash {WHEW!}  

Today I was able to get a little sewing done....

I am working on the last block for the New York Beauty Quilt....

   

Now trying to decide on the style of border.  I love piano key borders, but I do those quite a bit.  So I am thinking of a half drop diamond border....we will see.  What kind of border do you like?  Or no border at all?  Would love to hear your thoughts on borders.

I want to finish this one....I am itching to do another Material Obsession Quilt :)

Hope you are having a Wonderful Wednesday!

mary 

EXCITED....EXCITING!!!!

Wow!  I have finished quilting the Gypsy Kisses {pickle-dish} quilt.....

The pattern is from Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke's Material Obsession 2....I started this quilt way back in October!!!!  Pickle-dish is a block design I have always loved...and since I knew the Quilting Fairy wasn't going to bring me one, I had to do it myself.  What's a girl to do?

The pattern calls for 4 rows of pickle-dish blocks (3 in each row), but I didn't need a quilt that large so I made mine 3 by 3....the final measurement is about 93 inches square....more or less....

The arcs are pieced using foundation piecing and then the entire arc block is hand appliqued onto the background....the center eyes are appliqued to the center section of the arcs....

I added a piano key border to the two sides and a background border to the top and bottom....and hand quilted the quilt with perle cotton...

I absolutely LOVE this quilt....as you can see by all the photos :)

  

Other news that has got my heart a thumpin'....I was tickled to find out that Carla is featuring my blog today as she celebrates her one year blogiversary.  Her blog is Lollyquiltz....she is one talented lady so I am thrilled that she wants to feature little old me.  And not to mention that she has been blogging for a year now....that is something to be applauded!!!  Visit her blog...she is planning a giveaway tomorrow!!! 

Now that my pickle-dish is quilted....it is time to start my Tea Party {Strawberry Fields} quilt....

This is a pattern by Sarah Fielke from the first Material Obsession book...I am telling you - I can't get enough of these books...these women are some seriously talented gals!!!

I marked my quilting lines with a Hera marker....

A Hera marker leaves a crease line to follow rather than an ink mark....

I have chosen my colors...perle cotton of course....

love hand quilting :)

Finally,  with all the excitement going on....my quilt, the quilt along at Lily's Quilts {which is just too much fun}, the tea party at work and all the fun stuff going on at Sew To Speak, and finals and cleaning the bathroom :(  ...... I forgot to mention that I won another award!!!  I was honored by Cindy at Rose Room Quilts with the Stylish Blogger award!!!

As a recipient of this award I have to list 7 little known facts {or not so little known} about me....hmmmm.....

1. I am a child of the 60's 

2. I was born in Ohio and attended THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY....Go Bucks!!!

3. I am married to Mike

4. We have 3 beautiful daughters and one mutt

5. Everyone in my family has an M name...which made it difficult to yell someones name without stuttering....Mike, Mary, Molly, Maggie, and Mary McNeil 

6. My dog's name is Flanders...and I love every inch of her :)

7. I want to live {at least part of my life} in Ireland...proudly we are of Irish heritage

I will need to choose other blogs pass on this award...YAY...another excuse to peruse the blogs!!!

Okay- sorry for the very wordy post!!!

mary

Wordless Wednesday....

mary

Working in Strawberry Fields....

On Tuesday I pulled the fabrics I have collected so far for my Strawberry Fields quilt....

 

I have a couple of other fabrics I have ordered, but they haven't arrived yet....

It always seem a bit hit or miss ordering fabrics you have not seen in person, but hopefully they will work just fine...if not I am sure I will use them somewhere :)

So things were clicking along just fine....

And then for some reason I could not get the cornerstone square to work....I read and re-read the instructions...trying to figure out if I had left out a step, done something wrong or if the instructions were just incorrect.  I remembered that Suz from PatchworknPlay made a very cute Chubby Star quilt from the same pattern....she was so kind to add technical support to my perplexing issue....and, of course, the issue was all mine.  The instructions are correct and work like a dream when you read them correctly :)  

This is the precious cornerstone square....

So this is how the block will look {without some of the sashing}...

It is not my usual bright, bright....but I am liking it....kind of "Spring like"...

And I must say...I am lovin' the internet, Blogger and Flickr....without it I would not have known Suz and her cute quilt....with it I was able to get much needed support from across the ocean!  THANK YOU Suz!!! 

If you have not visited PatchworknPlay...you really need to check out all that Suz has done...this is one gal who likes a challenge!

On another note....last night, I had the opportunity to meet the talented and gracious Amy Butler {I forgot to take my camera out of my purse so you will just have to take my word for it}  She is a lovely person and it was so fun to meet her!!!  She visited our little shoppe and I was lucky enough to be asked to work...so I got to be a part of the excitement all evening long...it was a super great time!!!

Enjoy!

mary