DQS7 Progress

My quilt for DQS7 is coming along, but the deadline is coming up really soon! I have the top almost finished- I have added the turquoise border shown in this picture and I am going to add another string border today. I have big plans to embellish this with beading and embroidery if time allows. Since I foundation pieced the string blocks, it is pretty heavy already, so I was thinking of using a piece of flannel for the batting to keep it thinner and lighter, but I am not sure how that will work. Any experience with batting foundation pieced quilts would be wonderful!

Keeping Quilts

I have made quilts for my kids, but my Strip Twist quilt that I recently finished is the first quilt I've made that I have kept for my own use. I. LOVE. IT. It's a yard quilt, and in the last few weeks, I've sunbathed on it, snuggled under it while having an evening chat with my husband out in the garden, laid under it while recuperating from a yucky summer cold, and slept with it in the tent in the yard. While I enjoyed doing all those things before this quilt was made, doing them with something that I had created with my own hands... well, it makes the experience even better. I think I'll be making more quilts for our house in the near future!

Stringing Along

I sewed half of the string blocks for my Doll Quilt Quilt Swap 7 last night. I'm thrilled with the lush colors and rhythm of these blocks. I had been planning on using a solid fabric star in this, but as these blocks came together, I realized that a stringy, strippy, pieced star will look so much better. So will some embellishment. I already love this so much, I will have to make another one for myself!

Swappy Goodness

I made some fun wonky stars for the Stash Busting Bee International over the weekend:

I decided to make an extra star and set it in a twinkling little wall hanging. It measures 10" square. I used up some extra strip for the border, and a piece of recycled shirt (in the background) for the backing, plus a batting scrap. A nice little stashbuster!

I also got 3 (!) pinwheel blocks from the Quilt Blocks for Show & Tell group. These came from Sylvie in France, Shanna in Kuwait (not the UAE- oops! Thanks for the correction, Shanna- I guess we need to spend some time with the atlas!) and Hanies in Germany. It's extra fun to see swaps come in from around the world! I love how these pinwheels are going to look together!

Fabric Fertilization

I know, I know, I am supposed to be finishing my WIPs. But that doesn't stop me from dreaming of fabulous and fun new fabric combos...

For DQS7:

(I can't tell you who this is for!)

For the Stash Busting Bee International:
(Wonky stars for 2ndAveStudio, she sent the top 4 fabrics that are laid out horizontally)

And a pile of fabric going into the washing machine, that is telling me to turn it into a strip quilt like this one:
(Perhaps for the "bunny bed" at my mom's house that my kids like to sleep in)

2 WIPS Busted!

I finished the I Spy Star quilt for my neighbor's baby, as well as the Strip Twist, which I designed for use on the daybed in our garden. The Strip Twist was my first quilt with machine- and self- binding- it was sooo fast! It's a technique that I would use again for any casual style of quilt that needs quick finishing. Just 2 more tops to quilt now!