Color Your World Red

My friend M-R over at Quilt Matters has challenged herself and others to experiment with color this year.

Every month we are to work with a different color.  January was RED!  One of my favorite colors!

I decided to challenge myself to make monochromatic star blocks every month.  Each star will be different but will measure 12 inches finished. I am hoping to make a sampler quilt with them all at the end of the year.  

Here is my red star!

It took me a while to get it right and I did change the fabrics around a few times but I love the end result!

If you want to see what others have done with the color red please head on over to M-R's.

Please vote for me!!

I entered this quilt in the weekly themed quilt contests over at the Quilting Gallery.

Please head on over and vote for me!!

Thank you so much!!

Getting ready!

I've been working on these little labels this week.  They're for the cuddle quilts we made for Mary.

See those red tweezers?  They are my new all-time favorite tool!!  I use them to help me cut the little threads between the letters on my embroidery.  I wish I had bought them ages ago! 

I am also getting ready this week... getting ready for our in-town retreat!

Our quilt group has a retreat at my mom's every winter.  I think this is the 4th year we do this.  It is nice to get together for 3 days and play with our fabric together in my mom's basement.  We have great meals together too, but we get to go home to our families and our own beds.

Friday is a PD day for my girls so my dad was going to watch them while I got to start on my projects.  When I told my 6 year old what our plans were for Friday, she told me she wanted to sew too!

I got so excited!  She made herself a little cushion back in the fall.  When I asked her what she wanted to make, she said she wants to make a bigger cushion.

Monday she came home with an invitation to a birthday party.  We decided she would make a small cushion for her friend too! 

So here is some of the fabric I've gotten ready for her projects...

And here are some of the projects I will be working on...

The photo above is a quilt for my bed I started about 4 years ago.  I really want to get it done so I can put it on my bed.  There is a pieced border made up of smaller stars.  I am still working on the smaller stars.

This photo is a jelly roll I have yet to get ready.  We are all making the The Jelly Roll 1,600 Quilt.

We have decided to all have our strips sewn end to end so we are ready to start sewing the rows together  on Saturday afternoon.  I will definitely post pics of the finished products!

I am also planning on working on my challenge for the Guild and maybe make some mug rugs or work on a table runner I have started, using hexies.

Looking forward to a great weekend with my quilty friends!!  Hope you have a great weekend too!

Labels

I have been busy this week making labels.

I make custom embroidery labels for myself and others.

Some of you have seen the labels I have posted here on my blog. 

I make them on my Designer I.  I have been making labels for a year now and really enjoy it.

It is so nice to be able to put that finishing touch on a quilt.  Not only can a label tell you who made the quilt but it can tell you who it is for and if it was made for a special occasion.  It is nice to have the date on a quilt, for future reference.

  

It is especially nice to offer someone a quilt as a gift and have that personalized touch on the back saying, "I made this just for you!"

I work on my labels on the computer using the Husqvarna 5D software.  Then I send my customer a mock-up of their label for their approval.  I can then make changes before actually sewing the label onto the fabric.  Once it is to their liking, I sew it up and send it off.  It's as easy as that! (As long as my machine co-operates!)

If you are interested in purchasing a customized label (or know of someone who is), please feel free to contact me.

A Tisket A Tasket and a Couple of Challenges

Yesterday was a cold day and I had no plans to go out so I declared it a sewing day!

I finished machine appliquéing my A Tisket A Tasket blocks over the holidays.  I would really like to show this quilt at The Common Thread Quilt Guild's Quilt Show this May so I left the blocks up on my design wall once they were appliquéd.  I took yesterday as the perfect opportunity to put the top together.  

Now all I have left is to add the border and then it's off to my mom's to get quilted.

Back in November I mentioned the Challenge at our Guild.  You can click here to read up on it again.

I have finally come up with a design and would like to share with you the fabrics I will be using.

The 4 fabrics on the top are the ones that were included in the kit and must be in the quilt top.  I am adding the bottom fabrics plus one more that I still need to find!  It needs to be just right.

I love a good challenge.  My friend M-R over at Quilt Matters has invited me to join her Colour My World - Colour Your World Challenge, which you can read about here and here.  

We will be experimenting with one colour every month. 

I have decided to make a 12" monochromatic star block every month.  I am hoping to make a quilt out of all the blocks so I have decided not to quilt them.

The colour for January is RED.  I cut out my fabrics last night and my block is up on my design wall.  I am still playing with a few pieces... this is harder than I thought!  I must say that I really like it so far though and can't wait to share my red star with you at the end of the month!