New Projects ...

Got a couple of new things going on.  Well, almost going on; I bought the fabric today.

First up is my second quilt-along with Polly ... This one is Nativity In The Trees.  She has posted the first lesson and it is fabric selection and yardage requirements.  So it's definitely not too late to sign up to quilt along with us.  I'm looking forward to it.  Polly's instructions are very easy to follow and if you have any questions she responds promptly with her answers.  

This is my fabric selection in the basket in the cutting line this morning at Hancock's (they had 50% off almost everything in the store!)  

(This is my first trip to the cutting table.  I made three trips.  The ladies at the cutting table and I are great friends now!)

And here it is all laid out (as the day's light was fading, but the colors are pretty true)

 Closeup of what I'm planning to use as backing.

And for another project, my first quilt "for hire".  

A friend's little boy wants a John Deere quilt so I picked the fabrics today - I got some of every JD fabric they had.  Would've loved to have another couple of selections but I can work with this.  

I'm planning to make it similar to how I have it laid out here.  Large squares of the four prints, sashed with (narrow) strips of the yellow, and bound in the blue check with the tires for the back.  

This will be my first quilt that was specially ordered but she gave me free reign with it as long as it is John Deere.  So at least I've got that covered!  

(And while I was posting this she text'd me to ask if I had any luck finding fabrics and I showed her this layout and she replied with "Oh my gosh! I cant wait!"; so I guess I did ok.)

I also picked up some random Christmas fat quarters for $1 each.  I'll  make coasters or mug rugs or something out of these.  Or I may be so busy with the two quilts that these just sit til next year!

And, this cute owl fabric.  Who could resist this at 50% off? :-)

I also got other miscellaneous items such as zippers, thread, interfacing etc while there was such a great sale going on.

Linking up with Marelize at Anything Goes Mondays,
and Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday,
and Connie's Free Motion By The River,
and Randi at Show and Tell Tuesday
and Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Gold ....

Last week at the Hancock Fabric Columbus Day Sale, I picked up a 'few' yards of material.  Among them were these Christmas prints.  I actually had placemats in mind as I was purchasing the material, but now that I've started piecing it, I really love it and want something larger.  I don't know if it will end up as a larger table mat, or something large enough to throw over the back of the sofa (and maybe even snuggle up with) but I love it's elegance.

Now, my dilemma.  What thread to quilt with?  I've used Aurifil a couple of times and I love it.  But I don't know what color to use.  There is no store within three hours of me that carries it so I can't get an eyeball on the colors.  Should I go with a cream, beige, tan, autumn gold, there's even one called 14kt gold, which might be a great color, but is it easy to work with?

Would love advise from all of you experienced quilters out there. 

This isn't a great pic as it was made indoors before the sun woke up this morning. I think you can get the gist of what I'm talking about though.

 

And still being inexperienced in the quilting process, I'll probably be sticking with 'straight line' quilting, though I do plan to do it on the diagonal vs on the seam lines.  :-)

WIP Wednesday

I'm still working on my hexies by halves with Polly.  I found backing material last weekend.  Hopefully I can get that done this weekend. 

 

I had a charm pack of Holiday In The Pines that I'd ordered quite some time ago (because I just had to have some Christmas fabric right then) and I finally found an (easy) idea I liked for using the charm pack (aside from just sewing them all together).  I only have one charm pack so I guess this might turn out to be just a table runner or some placemats or something.  But for now it's something small to work on when I have a few minutes to sew.

 

 

Had a couple of odd fat quarters lying around, so I decided to try one of the bowl buddies I've been seeing lately.  I used this tutorial.

 

 

 

And I finished this little gem up Monday night, gave it a wash last night, and it is ready to go to Sadie. 

 

 

 

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Please remember to visit the links in my right sidebar to see all the great projects by my fellow bloggers!  Thanks to so many of them who host weekly linky parties for us!!

 

I Got Mail !

My first 'mail order' fabric.  I figured I better get a head start on Christmas! 

I ordered from Fat Quarter Shop, and they threw in a free pattern from Jaybird Quilts.

Now I'll have to order more fabric to use the new pattern! 

(This is going to become an addiction isn't it?)