Still here...

Just a lot going on!

I have participated in 2 more swaps and received awesome gorgeous items:

A (much needed) sewing machine cover from the Modern She Made Swap:

why yes, it is a bit blurry/grainy.

Thank you roserblu! I love it! It made it to me from Australia!

A mini-quilt from our Triad Modern Quilt Guild Swap:

from my dear quilty-friend and super-mom rainbow robot

I adore this Swoon! I love the dark gray, and I LOVE orange (along with blue).

My friend Colleen coached me on joining Flickr swaps, so a thank you shout out to her for this new fun activity I am loving! She is our "swap-mama" in the Triad Modern Quilt Guild and does a phenomenal job.

I have been quilting (when I can) and have 3 in process. I am just a bit weird about showing them unfinished, so dear readers will just have to wait til they are complete.

I am also helping my husband and his siblings with the cleaning and sorting at my dear late MIL's house. This is a difficult, laborious, emotion-charged job. She had more clothes and shoes than you can imagine. We need to sell as much as possible to settle the estate, so if you know of an outlet for gently used ladies clothing (sizes run in the XL, 1X, 16-18 for clothing, shoes are size 8) shoot me an email. We would love to sell the lot of it, 'cause I do not look forward to the work involved in a yard sale.

And if you have read read this far, thank you! This is my 700th post.

4 mini tops ready to quilt

These 4 minis are ready to layer-baste-quilt. It has been fun to work out a concise design in a short time frame. I am thinking through how to approach trapunto. Should be fun! Not ALL of these will be swapped, 1 of these will, for sure, the other 3 may mine for a while longer. I am in 2 swaps, know one of my partners and haven't received the other partner assignment yet, so he/she may want something different. So, "partner" (wink) which do you think you will get?

Fabric highlights: Lark, by Amy Butler, Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, Random FQs from a friend, Kona gray, coal and snow, Westminster Manatee. 
The top 2 are my faves so far. I just love the scrappy!
 

 

I took these 4 shots with my iphone, put them in a frame with "Pic Stitch" will allowed a light edit, then pulled into Instagram to share and blogged with my mobile blogger ap. All while chain piecing and pressing!

Finished!

I finished this cute baby quilt:

it measures 42" by 52".

I used the rest of the layer cake squares for the back.

Free-motion quilted in a meander with white polyester thread.

This for my cousin Donna's first grandchild. Hard to believe she is going to be a grandmother! The sweet baby is due in September. She wanted pink and brown, traditional fabric. I hope she likes it!

2nd in a series

My 2nd "Flag of an Imaginary Country" is complete. 13" x 14.5"

Hand dyed fabrics with white scraps.

Free-motion quilted with silk thread, 

which moves "like buttah" through the quilt.

How many make a series? I have a 3rd pieced. I like prime numbers

(weird, I know!) so I can stop at 3 or I will make 5 or 7. Could be an ongoing series. I am thinking of names for these countries. I believe most of them will be tropical republics with beautiful beaches and soft breezes.

New little quilt

I finished this one today..

It measures 12" x 15". I quilted it with silk thread. Love the silk thread! I am trying to add in some small pieces to keep my creativity level up. I love my large quilts, but they do wear me out. This little cutie is the first in a series I am doing. I consider them flags of imaginary countries. I am using small pieces of my hand dyes in these. Fun!