Becky's quilt obsession

I've started working with the Red, White, and Blue Chinese coins that were made by my fellow HeartStringers. I have two finished http://tinyurl.com/cptwxs , and one I still need to take a picture of that I call string X-X. I also quilted another top made out of some swap blocks and extra blocks I had. Pictures of those later. This must be the 4th or 5th funky caterpillars I've made. This time I tried varying the setting squares. The one in the center isn't that bright in real life. The swirly fabric was one I've had a long time and couldn't figure out how to use, but I love the swirls in this setting. I'm trimming some more Chinese Coins, ,and plan to put them together today. I'm also planning to trim up the one I finished quilting yesterday and make binding. I will be sitting with our Guild's opportunity quilt http://tinyurl.com/cgm98r some this weekend to sell tickets during Shop Hop. I'm hoping to be able to see well enough to turn bi...

I'm trying to finish up this quilt that I made from a jelly roll and a fat quarter pack from Connecting Threads. DH gave it to me for Christmas 2007, and I finally figured out what to make with it. I'm trying to figure out a border, and I don't have any yardage from this grouping. Which do you like better, the green on the left, or the purple (with black in it) on the right? I'd appreciate your feedback, either in a comment or an email. Thanks for looking ! Becky Email me

This isn't a very good picture, but someone on Stashbusters wanted ways to use up a large amount of homespuns. This one is made from plaids and train fabric. I made it in 2002 when DH and I were doing long-distance dating. We had gone to Gold Country in California for vacation, and I mapped out the quilt shops. Most of the fabrics were bought then, but I also had homespuns in my stash. DH enjoyed looking through the quilt shops. He found the train material that is in the center, found me, and said, "If you don't want to buy this, I do." It has steam engines, and he models 1895. Christine Meunier has a similar pattern in Easy Traditional Quilts - Stars . The dimensions are a little different than this one, and I added the extra "stuff" in the large triangles and corner squares. The end product looks a lot like the block "Best of all". I also added a row of 6" Sawtooth Stars to both the top and the bottom. It fit his queen waterbed at the time. ...

I hope none of you get the ugly respiratory bug I had. It took 3 weeks and 3 rounds of antibiotics, as well as all the junk for the concurrent asthma to finally kill it. It came at the end of 6 weeks off arthritis meds, so it's been about 2 months since I've felt well enough to sit and sew. I can't imagine what it would have been like 50 years ago, with out all our great medicines. No wonder people didn't live as long. Who would want to if they could hardly walk, and then only with pain? Stashbusters is having a BOM made out of almost ugly fabric. Last night, and today, I finished the first two 12" blocks. I also made two 6" blocks from all the HSTs I cut to audition for the center of the star. My almost ugly fabric is the starburst fabric that is definitely toned. We are supposed to add a little yellow and orange to the blocks. I decided that I could use this opportunity to try working outside my usual palette. I'm sure missing the brights, however. The...

Since DGD#2 shared her respiratory germs, little has been accomplished on the sewing field. I did finally almost finish the two doll capes made from stretch velvet and silk. I ended up doing a lot of the sewing of the "blue on blue" one by hand. They still both need a good pressing, and I need to figure out a closure that little hands can work. I'm thinking double buttons and a loop of elastic they can slip over the buttons. If you have other ideas, please share with me. I would like to finish up the disappearing 9 patch (D9P) that is behind them, but time will be limited. DGD#2 has eye surgery tomorrow, and I imagine we will be spending a lot of time in the rocking chair the next few days. Her mother (DD) is not very good at handling things that hurt and might involve blood. In my other life I spent 36 years in the Operating Room, so they don't really phase me too much, besides, I have the best time with the cuddle bug! The only thing is waking up at 050...

January has been a quiet month here with not a lot of activity. This aging really slows down recovery from almost everything. DH was rear-ended yesterday, so he's really feeling it now. I hope he can make a full recovery, he's always so active. I did finish up this UFO - the blocks for this one were started 10+ years ago. One of my quilting friends chopped up a lot of fabric for Stack and Whack blocks, and had a bunch of scraps. I ended up cutting out star points from the left-overs and put them in a bag. I periodically cut out the backgrounds, again from scraps of that first quilt, and would make a block or two when I just wanted to do something quick. I have another top that looks about the same, but is 12" blocks. This one is 6". I quilted this using the Circle Lord for concentric circles (first attempt). I like the look, but it is "slower" than an overall. I'm trying to change my thinking around to realizing that I can spend as much time quilting a ...

It seems that many people on the Stashbusters list are sorting and cleaning their quilt studios, or at least their stash repositories. I, too, managed to stack a lot of stuff on every horizontal surface, so have been working a few minutes a day in making the room usable. While we were building this house (we bought it when it was in progress), I really worried about where all my stash would go. There are very few closets, so I had to make use of what was here. The only closet in the hobby room is 24" deep. I had the builder leave off the trim on the backside of the opening so we could fit 24" wire shelves in the closet. One of the vendors at work (Operating Room) helped me obtain heavy duty shelves that just fit the closet. It was quite a sight watching my husband - then fiancée - and his friend build the shelves inside the closet as there was no room to assemble them anyplace else. The hardest thing at the time was telling them how much room to leave between shelves. I did u...