Crazy Eight Table Runner

It took me hours to complete the pre-work .. and about 6 hours to complete it in class, but i'm SO excited with the results! My first table runner...

Disappearing Nine Patch

Late last year I participated in my first disappearing nine patch swap at Jane's Fabrics. The theme was red and aqua and the entire process was a blast! I have just pulled the fabrics out in an attempt to put together this very scrappy quilt (scrappy is difficult for the OCD in me) and I am thinking one thing as i'm putting it together - I want to do another one! My preference of colors this time is red/white/black .. I wonder if anyone would want to do this with me?

This is a long shot because I know not alot of folks follow my blog (yet!) .. but does anyone out there in blogger land want to particpate in this? If so, comment to the blog or shoot me an email at ChristyR829 at gmail dot com. The swap I did before had 100 swappers and required that each participant swap 100 'pieces' (25-12 1/2 9-patches before they are cut into 4). It would be great to do something like that again, but I understand that's probably a long shot...

Hope everyone is having a GREAT weekend. Be blessed!!

Fabric STEAL

Today I stole some fabric...well, it felt like it anyway. The picture shows my steal - 60 yards of fabric that I purchased for under $40!!! That makes my average price around .75/yard. I wanted to buy everything in sight, but I was good and limited myself to 5 yards of each fabric, but went ahead and bought up to the next 3 yards if it was the end of the bolt. With all of this Christmas fabric in front of me, I really want to start on Christmas projects!! Well, I just will have no excuses when the holiday season comes around....

Just thought I would brag. Tomorrow is the first day of work since the middle of December. What a GREAT way to start off a week.

Be blessed,

Christy

(Excuse the picture .. i'm stuck taking pictures with my cell phone until I buy a new camera!)

First Quilt Finish of 2010!

My new 'thing' is mystery quilts .. but i'm a bad mystery quilt participant. For those of you who don't know, a mystery quilt is where you gather fabric (instructions typically provide information about how many colorways, etc.) and cut and sew according to steps that someone else gives to you at intervals they decide. This means that you do not get to see the finished product until the last clue is revealed.

Well, this works for me and doesn't. I like the idea of not having to figure out the pattern, but then I get a little paranoid - what if I don't like it? Did I just waste 8-10 yards of fabric?! So, my practice has been to 'collect' the fabric for the mystery and follow along and print out the instructions, but not actually complete the mystery until I see the finished product and can decide if I like the design. I do have one exception to that - Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas mystery. I collected fabric and pre-cut and followed along as long as I could, before Christmas duties got in the way. I am a devoted fan of hers, so I wasn't concerned if I would like the pattern .. and I had fun cutting 592 2 1/2" squares in preparation....

Anyway, I digress. I followed a mystery on New Years Eve and on New Years Day found out about another that was happening that day at Planet Patchwork (http://www.planetpatchwork.com/). So I ran to the instructions, read along and saw the finished product and I was sold! I pulled all the fabrics from my stash and at 10pm on New Years Day got started. I am proud to say that at 2am on January 3 I have finished my first top of the year!! The easy thing about it is that its a lap quilt, and i'm used to much larger quilts, but hey .. a finish is a finish!! I'm going to attempt to attach a picture, but this is new to me so i'll see how I do. I took the picture with my cell phone hanging in a very dark hallway, so its not the greatest. I'm very proud of it because its 100% from stash .. and it must not look to bad because 14 yo DD wants it! This one is mine though ....

So far, my New Years is off to a great start! Hope you are enjoying yours also...

Christy