Sunday, February 12, 2006

I'm still plodding along with my sewing room clean/sort/reorganizitation. But I did take some time off this weekend to get a little sewing in. Not my wonky village as I want to use batik for that and those are sitll boxed up.


I received as part of a Christmas gift exchange a group of 5 FQs that ranged from med pink to deep burgundy. I immediately thought of valentines day and had planned to make some kind of heart quilt. And that's about as far as it went until I had to go to JoAnns the other day for thread and rotary cutter blades. As I was browsing the fabric aisles (OK, dangerous I know but I couldn't help myself!) I saw these cute FQs - white with tiny hearts in all shades of pink/reds and little chartreuse dots. For some reason it made me think of the pink/red FQs I'd received at Christmas. Hmmmmm, would make a nice background for a small valentines quilt. They only had this print in FQs so I bought 4. Then right next to it was a deep pink with red/pink/chartreuse dots. Hhmmmm, would make a nice border/go-with for the other FQs. So I bought 4. Now remember these were legal purchases as they were "B"ackground and "B"orders. And they were on sale for 99c per FQ making them another "B" word - "B"argain! LOL

Friday night I decided to play so I pulled out my FQs and layed them all out on the table. Ooh, looked great together just like I thought they would. But kinda flat with all the pink/white. Much "sweeter" than I usually work with. So remembering the chartreuse dot in the background and border fabrics I started diggin thru my stash to see what I could come up with to give them a little punch. Found 2+yds of chartrueuse that looked pretty good with the pink/reds so I also will use this for the backing and maybe the binding too. It really is a much nicer color in person than in the photo. Nice and bright without being neon-bright.

So now what to make? I really at this point didn't feel like doing hearts or even putting a lot of effort into a new project so I went with an old standby. In the past whenever I've gone thru a period of no sewing and got to the point where I just had to sew or go nuts I almost always make a 9 patch. Nice, simple pattern that always looks great and usually gets me over my sewing slump. So I decided this would make a great 9 patch and snowball. That way I could use the green as the corners on the snowballs and give it the little bit of punch I was looking for without that color overpowering the pink/reds.

Not sure what I feel about it when I finished it. Not exactly what I was going for but I think I like it. David didn't! Asked what I was going to do with it. I said, don't know, it's served it's purpose in getting me sewing again so I really don't care. It's a nice throw size (42X54) so I'll probably put it aside for the next time I need a "girl" quilt. I might use it for hand-quilting practise first. The snowballs would look great with a feathered heart in them.

And it did serve it's purpose as I pulled another group of FQs Sat. morning and paired them with a red for the background and am now working on another throw size that is much more "me". You'll have to wait until I finish for pictures of that one. Maybe tomorrow night as I'm going to go work on it some more once I publish this.

BTW, after I left JoAnns I figured, what the heck and made the rounds of Hancocks, Hobby Lobby and my LQS. I really was pretty good though. Just bought a few fabrics for a swap (I'm the hostess so really figured I should also participate) at Hobby Lobby, nothing at Hancocks and a few more swap fabrics, a new cat print and a purse pattern at the LQS. Oh and 4 FQs from the bargain barrel. Believe me in the past this round would have cost me several hundred $$$. I think I spent a total of around $75 between all 4 shops and that included the thread and blades I originally went for so not bad at all.

I've stomped all over my "goals" for this year so now I'm just playing and not worrying about it at all. I am at least finishing what I start (to top stage) so at least I haven't broken the "no new UFOs" one. Yet. LOL!

11 comments:

Patti said...

I really like your little top Nancy, especially with the green. Think of it as green triangle leaves around nine patch flowers. What a happy spring quilt!

dot said...

Nancy, this is such a neat quilt for spring. I like the look and think the colors go tegeather really well. I am anxious to see your next project.

Debby Brown said...

Great color choice! I am making a red/pink/white quilt and it needs something. Thanks for the idea of GREEN.

debby

Passionate Quilter said...

Nancy--your top looks great, and of course, I love your colors together! Don't mind what David says--what do guys know anyway? LOL

Cher said...

a great little quilt! and you were right about the green-I like it! isn't it great to get over a slump? looking forward to the new top that is coming along-hugs

Kairle Oaks said...

Isn't it fun to use those simple, classic blocks to make a fun design? Looks cute!
Kairle

Hunter said...

At least you've started your reorganization. I'm still at the thinking stage. (And now I'm using "waiting for my books" as an excuse not to start.

The quilt is lovely.

Wish I could have gone shopping with you.

Darilyn

The Calico Cat said...

good for you for getting back to sewing! I finally got back to cutting charms for my I SPY quilts... A few at a time.

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

I love this little quilt!!! Wonderful use of a Christmas present combined with a little extra shopping to get you going again.

Good job with your shopping adventure.

Cheers!

Evelyn

Unknown said...

What a wonderful little quilt. And I agree ... B/ B/ B.

Mary Johnson said...

Cute! I love quick quilts. Feathered hearts would look great in the snowball blocks.