Dumbo's Bath

I finished a baby quilt for the soon to be granddaughter of a friend of mine. The mom-to-be loved Dumbo as a child and had Dumbo on the shower invitations. I took one of those images and blew it up to extra large sized, traced it onto freezer paper and replicated it in Minky and Chenille.

During my retreat weekend, I made the blocks in a stack and whack, crazy block style. I originally made 25 blocks, and sewed them together in a 5x5 setting. Then I put Dumbo in the middle and he disappeared! The blocks were just too busy. I went into my stash and found a fabulous Moda plaid from a couple of years ago, and it was perfect, but I didn't have enough, so I decided on the pink hearts to border it to make it the correct size. I had to rip out the 9 middle blocks. Jennie suggested that I use them on the back, which I agreed would be a great idea. I surounded the blocks with a pink gingham minky and now the quilt is reversible!

There's nothing more fun then ripping out 3/4 of the quilt you just assembled! Oh well, it just confirms my favorite quilt saying "it's not a mistake, it's a design opportunity." I love how it turned out. I think it's just the cutest and has a lot of great texture for the baby.

I won!!!

Well now, this is exciting! I received an email on Monday informing me that I am the lucky recipient of a Rouenneries charm pack! (For those non-quilters, that's a little packet of 5" squares, one each of  all of the fabrics in the line. We quilters totally love them.)
Why did I get this fabulous prize? It was a blog give away by the Etsy store, 44th Street Fabric . Thanks so much Bev!!!!

I'm not normally a reproductions kind of girl, but this line is GORGEOUS!!!! And it has linens with it. How fabulous is that? It was designed by Kaari Meng, the owner of the  French General store in California, and is based on antique French fabrics.

Winning this packet of gorgeousness is especially exciting for me because I have been stalking this line of fabric since I first saw it in the blog photos from Spring Market.
I know, I'm a total quilting geek. I can't help it. As Pitti-Pat's daughter said about her quilting dorkiness, 'at least your friends appreciate it.' Or something similar.

On another total geek front, can I just say how excited I am that they are doing a new V on ABC? I loved the original with Marc Singer back in the 80's. Now there's 3 whole tv shows that I watch, Psych, Castle and V! Maybe with 3 whole hours to hand stitch I'll get the first block of my Halloween Baltimore done before the end of the year. Or not.

Behold!

The Chicken Catapult!
It's no secret among my friends and family that I really, truly love Williams Sonoma. I especially have an affinity for their shaped Bundt Pans. But seriously, this new chicken roasting pan cracked me up!

Enough said.

Mark Lipinski mystery class

These are long delayed, but better late than never!

In July Jennie, Jan and I took the Mark Lipinski Mystery class through Prairie Shop Quilts in Batavia. What a blast! Mark was a good teacher and actually spent time with each and every student, asking them about themselves, their lives, etc. This impressed all of us greatly. Most teachers, nationally renown or not do not do take the time to get to know each of their students, especially when there were like 40 or 50 of us.

The purpose of the class was to open your creative thinking. He said at the beginning that the pattern was ugly and that each person would be changing theirs according to their fabrics.  The photo above is the original design.

This is Mark working on Jennie's quilt, because, of course, our favorite over-achiever (said in the fondest manner possible) was done first. She already knew how to curve piece though, (I believe she's taught classes in it as well) so she did have an advantage going in.

The Tula Pink 'Flutterbys' quilt below is Jan's. Totally loved it. And love the maniacal look on Mark's face.

This is mine. Jennie, Jan and I did this all by our little selves! I completely love it. I think it might be the first thing I work on after the Christmas rush is over. I really want to see it finished and hanging on the wall.

Mark taught us how to curve piece without pinning. I have decided that technique is not for me. I'm a pinner. I have to pin! Jennie had the brilliant idea to make them bigger and cut them down. I think I'm going to employ this method as well. Curved piecing is a pain in the patooty, but I just love the results.

As a side note, in case you haven't heard the bummer news, Mark is no longer publishing Quilt Home magazine. So sad. It made me laugh and had interesting things that you don't find in typical quilting magazines.

Well, I'm off to my quilt retreat w/friends. I hope to complete many things! Wish me luck.