From one Challenge to Another

Thanks to all who commented on my last post and made a guess on which fabrics were not batiks. Here are the three non-batiks in the quilt:

The teal fabric in the middle of this block was the most popular guess and correct.

The purple/pink check in the middle of this block, guessed by a few also.

And the elusive one...a lot of you thought this yellow was not a batik, but it is. I bought it because I too had never seen a yellow batik, but the green/purplish one is the third non-batik.

There was one person who guessed all three correctly, congratulations Linda! You'll have a little something extra in your pay it forward package as soon as I get to the post office!

This weekend I was lucky enough to have not one but two sewing days! On Saturday, my mom and I went south to Shiisa quilts and had a great day. I actually got everything that I took done! Pictures will come later as I get the projects finished, because they are all still works in progress. On Monday, I went to my monthly bee workday and got all my cirles cut out for the Carnival quilt, prepped the backing for our tree skirt, and cut out the red fabric needed for my snowball challenge. Here's what 36 strips of red and 240 squares looks like...next up will be the tans/creams. I am hoping to get to that over the holidays.

On a final note, I got the binding and hanging sleeve sewn on my reindeer panel and it is now hung in the living room next to the Christmas tree. I am so glad I got this done and love having a Christmasy quilt up in the house!

Whoops!

Well, I got my Carnival top together this week...was very careful to only take one block at a time off the design wall to make sure it went together the way I planned. Got to the end and snapped a pic for my blog....

Then took a second look and thought that I was sure I didn't put a couple of those blocks w/the same fabric right next to each other. OMG! I realized I sewed row 3 to row 1 (instead of row 1 to row 2)....rrrrriiiiipppp, then resew, and now it looks the way I want!

Now I am auditioning borders. The pattern calls for one wide border ~5", but I am thinking it may be better to do a thin black border (could even be wavy) and then a thicker border of one of the other fabrics. Let me know if you have opinions on the borders...I love to hear how you see it!

Since you've made it this far and since I am 1)feeling in the giving spirit, and 2)have to go to the post office anyway, I thought I would have a little challenge. There are three fabrics in this quilt that are not batiks...all the rest are. Leave me a comment with your guess of which three are not batiks and I will draw a name from those who get it right and send a little holiday item to you! The challenge ends Sunday night at midnight. If no one guesses right, I will throw all the names into a hat!

November Accomplishments

I can't believe November is over already...boy has this year gone fast! And I bet the next month will go even faster! I had a good month of quilting and got a lot more done than I thought I would. I was a little afraid of being burned out after the quilt show last month, and I started the month slow, but once I got going, it was a steady pattern to the end of the month. I sewed 20 3/4 hours in November and here's how I did on my original goals:

• Finish blocks for Carnival quilt from Debbie Bowles workshop - blocks are done and partially put together for the top.
• Finish my pay it forward gifts - done (picture after I send the last 2!)
  
• Send out my fabric for my first ever internet fabric swap - done 
  
• Quilt t-shirt quilt for my friend Barbara - done 
  
• President's block for our guild president - whoops, forgot about this one, and I will have to do it this week since our guild meeting is Thursday and it is her last as president!

Plus, I also did this:

• Made an extra item from my pay it forward and gave it to a friend in rehab for knee surgery (with complications, so she is in the hospital much longer than anticipated)
• Found and fabric framed a cross stitch I finished in 2007, just in time for the holidays

• Made a reindeer towel from a kit I bought at the show
• Bought, attached, and started the hand sewing on my reindeer quilt panel
• Labelled and gifted Nick's quilt of valor
• Made a scrappy bed for Mittens
• Pulled and prepped my reds for the snowball challenge
• Loaded and quilted an outer space quilt for my friend Loralei

The month of December is sure to be a busy one, but I have two sewing days planned, so I am hoping to get all these projects done -- yikes!

• Christmas gifts - 2 + 7 for day care teacher gifts
• Thank you gift for Jack's day care room (he's moving up to preschool!)
• Prep backing, quilt, and bind Christmas tree skirt and put it under our tree before Christmas morning!
• Finish Carnival quilt top
• Quilt a top from a friend that I've had in my closet for way too long
• Finish hand sewing on Reindeer quilt and hang up!
• Start on my snowball challenge

The Reds are Ready!

Friday, I pulled out my reds for the snowball challenge, washed them, and pressed them last night. Now I am ready to start cutting! If only I didn't have two other tops to put together first....but we'll see if I can be that disciplined! I hope to have enough fabrics. I am using partial fat quarters and some quarter & half yards, with one 1-yard piece. I may need to pick up a couple more or borrow some from my mom if there isn't enough in this pile : )

On Thanksgiving, I also had a chance to gift my nephew's quilt of valor to him. He served in Iraq earlier this year, and you all helped me pick a layout for his quilt. It was nice to finally be able to give it to him and I think he really liked it. Hope he uses it!

Finally, I have to show you our funniest picture from the farm. Jenna loves to ride the horse Belle every time we are there. As she started to ride through the goat/sheep pasture, they all started to follow along. It was like she was the pied piper of the pasture!

Unfortunately, the ride didn't end as well. Belle shook (like a dog shaking off water) and Jenna lost her balance. She tried to hang on to the saddle, but couldn't, and fell to the ground. She was really shaken up, and didn't want to get back on, but I am hopeful she'll be over it next time we visit and the weather is nice enough to ride.

Introducing Mittens

We welcomed a new 4 legged animal into our home this weekend - meet Mittens (with her greatest fan)!

Much to Jenna's dismay, Mittens has spent the better part of the last two days under our basement futon. Tonight I am sitting in the basement with her and she's actually coming out to play. We got her a fake mouse and she's having a blast with it right now. I hope she'll warm up to the rest of the house in the next few weeks (but, hey, if not, there's nothing wrong with a basement cat)!

Generosity of Others

Isn't this blogging world great when it comes to giveaways? A few weeks ago, I visited Debra's blog. She was one of my swap partners from the Snowball Challenge, and when she sent an email to let us all know she's received her package, she mentioned a giveaway on her blog. Boy, was I surprised to win it! The package arrived last week with all these great goodies in it! What fun - thanks Debra!

Trimming up the raw edges

Whenever I am working on one of those quilts where you make the blocks intentionally big, then trim them up later, I always go through a phase of thinking I am really not going to like the quilt that much. That was definitely the case as I finished up my blocks for the Carnival quilt earlier this month. Here they all are on my design wall.

At this stage, I was debating whether I should make the quilt bigger. I decided not to because I wasn't really loving it all that much. However, I do want to finish it and show it at our guild show and tell, so I decide just to cut my losses and start trimming the blocks.

A week later, and a small mountain of trimmed edges later, voila!

Now I like it again! Just have to fiddle with the block placement a little and I will get the top together (hopefully this week), then the job of picking a border starts!