A Sew Day! Jacks Jungle Quilt

I am planning a sew day for today! So excited a whole day to focus on a couple of projects! Not often does that occur. I justified the day because it is leap year and I am not really missing a day, it is an EXTRA day in the week/month and therefore should not be a work day! Well.....it will be a work day, see I have decided to tackle one of those works in progress. One that has been bugging me for awhile-everytime I go in my sewing room - there it is, waiting, reminding me.  It is a quilt I was...uh, am making for my grandson.  Or at least I was until I ran into the applique.....

See those empty sky blue blocks are supposed to have cute little jungle babies in them. I have all the fabric..

Monkey's, zebra, elephant, lion, hippo, and giraffe.....

the pinwheels are all made and pieced ( I am very happy with my points and centers!) 1/2 of the pinwheels - the stripes, are actually praire points and not sewn down on two of the sides. More fun for little hands to play with and touch!  Reminds me of the pinwheels that blow in the breeze in summer.

Kind of hard to see since this top has been folded up and patiently waiting for so long.

See the bottom pinwheel, stripe farthest to the right is standing up some...

Just need those jungle babies....

I don't know why I am hesitant, it is not hand applique! (Which I have tried and althought I love the look I would never get anything completed if I used that method) Maybe because I cut two of the animals wrong and don't want to make another mistake and then have to go find more fabric. Hiss, stomp, roar as the

animals in the border say....

We are so hard on ourselves sometimes!

So I am going to be working on this tomorrow and hopefully I will get to use this:

Which is the backing for the quilt. Can't you just see a lion peeking out from behind those wonderful tall grasses?  Wish me luck! I will post the pic's once finished.

And of course to give credit where credit is due: This pattern can be found in the April/May 2010 McCalls Quick Quilts magazine and thanks to Christy from Sewing Treasures.

Feb Craftsy BOM completed!

Here are my February Craftsy BOM's. I am really happy with them! The colors are bright and fun. I am working out of my stash. The one on the left above is Amy Butler and the one on the right is Sis Boom Mod girls. 

Here is January and February BOM's together....It will be fun to see how it all turns out. I am not usually a matchy matchy type but I do like some coordination in larger blocks like these. So not being able to see the whole finished quilt and plan each block is a bit concerning haha but I am letting go and picking from the stash what seems to fit or speak to me for the blocks for that month. I love scrappy too so I hope I get to the end and it all comes together and is bright and happy! 

Happy Sunday!

General's Wives Blocks

These are so totally different from yesterdays blocks (Craftsy BOM)!

These are from the General's Wives BOM and are done in civil war fabric. This is not my usual taste in fabric and I was drawn to the the colors and the stars. (the tan fabric is reading very gold in this pic- it is more neutral)  I have always wanted to do stars. I would have never picked these fabrics but they do go together and I am learning new blocks. Some of the blocks have quite a few pieces (40-60) and it has been exciting to see them come together and actually measure what they are supposed to! My piecing skills have improved!  TGIF!

Finished Blocks/Craftsy BOM

Ok, now that I ranted about the cost of new fabric, here are a couple of blocks made out of my stash. This is from the Mod Girls collection (Sis Boom-Jennifer Paganelli). I bought a bunch of fat quarters at Hancocks a few years back when I went to Paducah the first time....wow, what an experience! Anyway I had to laugh 20 fat quarters for 14.99!  These are the blocks for January and my first slashed blocks. I am happy with how they turned out and am moving on to the Feb blocks. So many great projects to quilt along with out there right now. Have a great Thursday!

$12.99/yd Really????

Wow, have you been out fabric shopping, stash building lately?

Two weeks ago a friend and I went to a couple of premium quilt shops for a Pajama day sale (you know the sales where we dress up in PJ's and look silly to get the discount and have fun while the guys are worrying about the biggest TV for the biggest football game). Anyway we had so much fun and the sales were 20% and 30% off.

In one store all the bolts of fabric were marked 11.95/yd with 30% off. Another store they were 8.99 to 9.99/yd with 20% off. I had seen up to 10.95/yd before but was shocked at the increase (in every bolt of fabric even though most of it was not brand new) to 11.95. And I was thanking my lucky stars for all that stash I have--bought at lower prices. But then today rolled around.....

I went to the local JoAnns to pick up a new rotary cutter blade and stopped by to look at the Denyse Schmidt fabric I had been wanting. It was on sale at 25% off of 9.99/yd. Pretty standard over the last few months... But then I spied some new Denyse Schmidt fabric - a grey and an orange line and I thought great I will just pick up a little of each....well it was marked 12.99/yard! Really--$12.99 at JoAnns??? Now I suppose that sounds snobby, and I know that cotton has gone up and thus fabric is more expensive, and I know everyone has to make a profit to stay in business but really $12.99/yard? Last year fabric was 8.99 going up to 9.99.  I am sorry but I it will have to be something pretty special for me to pay that. What are your thoughts on this? Are the prices the same in your area?  Do you buy fabric at JoAnns, or specialty quilt shops or on line?  Or all at all 3?