Quilting Blues

My niece is getting married!  Of course , time for a quilt!!
But she loves blue.  

I realize that I don't have any blue in my stash!  Really, almost nothing!  And when I look at all my quilts, there is very little blue, almost none, in any of them.  A real eye opener!

So off to a friendly quilt store..Prairie Chicks...and stock up :)  They had a great FQ bundle of blues with a little beige/tan mixed in...perfect!   "Grand Traverse Bay" by Minick & Simpson 
But why stop there....so I had to buy a bit extra as well!

I needed something quick and easy, as I had to get this off to her soon...so just a simple block.  But it turned out lovely, I think.

The backing was quick and easy as well, This fabric added some interest without having to piece anything.

I quilted it quickly as well, with an all over teardrop...my go-to quick and easy pattern...

So it is finished and off to Ontario for the wedding.

And as it turns out, I did get a bit carried away buying fabric, and had enough to make a second quilt!  Bonus!!  So I tried out my first "Plus Quilt"  Such fun! Pictures of that one another day!

Not sure what I will do with the second one, when it is finished, but my grandson might need one :)

Bee update

I have been keeping up with my bee blocks.  Quite fun!
Last month the call was for anything about birds.  So I tried a bird LOL

I have not done much paper piecing, and still find it very challenging.  Everything is backwards and upside down!  Oh, well, it turned out pretty cute.

I also used a few scraps to make this one...

Every bird needs a home, right??

decision time....playing with HST's

Ok, time to vote here!  

I have been playing with the layout of these HST's and have narrowed it down to 4 options:

I know there is a mistake in the bottom left one...I had trouble with that one, and would need to work at it more carefully.

What is your vote?

catching up .....again

I have had trouble maintaining any kind of routine, and as a result, have neglected my blog yet again.  When I thought about the reasons I wanted to continue, it is mainly for myself...(as I may not actually have any followers anymore anyway LOL)  I started this blog partly to give back to a community that helped me develop into the quilter that I am today.  I learned so much from all of you!!  But I also started this to document my progress, my successes, and even my failures as well as having a record of the quilts that I have made.   And that number is now over 60!  So , although it is sporadic, I plan to continue !

It has been a very busy summer in our house.  We had a wedding!

My stepson got married in July, and lots of my husbands family came over from Scotland for the wedding....and stayed for some playtime at the lake :)  For a few days there were 11 people living in our home!! YIKES! But all went well, and everyone had a great time.  The wedding was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, and the weather was great for pretty much the whole time.

And of course, I made a quilt for their wedding !!

This was actually started a couple of years ago, as a block of the month from Periwinkle Quilting, called "Black, White and Bright"
The backing was a really fun flannel I found in Arizona..it is a crossword puzzle...and so cozy too.

It is quite large, about 100" x 90"!  So was a challenge to quilt on my home machine.  Also because it was black and white I couldn't use one colour of thread throughout, so had to quilt the white with white thread, and the black with black!  It was a challenge, but fun to do as well, and really stretched my FMQ skills.

I think they loved it!

And of course I also have been keeping busy with my little grandson !!

 What a sweet little guy! I have been able to babysit him quite a bit, and am not sure how I am going to leave him and go to Arizona this year :(