Autumn Whimsy - Bloggers Quilt Festival

Today I am posting about my entry into the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Are you familiar with this awesome event? It is hosted by Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side and occurs twice a year coinciding with Spring and Fall Quilt Market. Be sure and check out all of the wonderful creations in all different sizes and creations. And be sure and vote for your favorites in each category.

Bits and Pieces

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I know it was busy here. My grandson Jack was here, lots of fun coloring eggs, baking cupcakes and just having fun. Fishing was number one on his list!

Alas, no catches, but lots of fun! I must say he has quite a cast!

And quite a finish to the day, as the cupcakes were cooling on the counter, the grand dog Marley (6mo old black lab) found them on the counter while we were outside chatting with the neighbors and had his Easter treat to the tune of 6 cupcakes!!! No harm done, except maybe to Marley's feelings as he was definitely in trouble for that!

 Nothing finished this week, but 'lots of bits and pieces!
It doesn't feel like much was accomplished but once I started taking pics for the post, I realized I did make progress!  So without further delay, my update on W.I.P. Wednesday. I will be linking with
Lee at Freshly Pieced and Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict this week.

Most of my sewing time was spent on Jack's Jungle quilt:
I completed all the blanket stitiching around all the animals. It really does make them pop, and I am very happy to have this completed. Now I just have to hand embroider the smiles and it will be ready to sandwich! So happy to have made this progress! Here are some pics:

So I finished 3 of the large animals and 3 of the smaller corner monkeys.

After all that applique, I was looking for something different so I did some hand work

I started sewing the binding to the back of this much loved quilt which I previously wrote about here.

Sometimes handwork can be very enjoyable.

In the wings waiting: Juicy squares -- centers cut

Retro Floweres: waiting for CurveMaster Presser foot to arrive (so excited not to pin!)

CraftsyBOM: April blocks

Civil War BOM: April block

Have a great day!

Here they are!

Here they are! They are soooo cute!! What do you think?

Lion

Elephant

Zebra

Giraffe

I still have 4 little monkeys to do for the corner blocks, but I am confident I can get those done. It really was not hard once I remembered to trace the template and iron onto the fabric BEFORE I cut the piece out!!  I still have to do the blanket stitching around each animal and then do some hand embroidery for the eyes and mouths. Then it will be onto the backing and quilting!

Have a great Thursday!

                                                                      

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.