D3 and D8

Here are D3 [left], and D8 [right]. Isn't the red jack fabric lovely? A dear friend sent it to me recently as a birthday surprise! The applique went ok, but my picture taking skills need an overhaul! LOL. For techniques, I used needleturn on D3 and D8 is FP underneath. I like both of these methods. About the pictures: I think I better put "learn to take better digital images" on my To Do List. *vbg*

Now it's off to sew up some more H2H blocks. Last night I got a bright idea to combine different light-colored b/grnd fabrics and then applique over the piecework. I'm anxious to try a block and see the results. Keep those fingers crossed! lol

All for now... this was just a quickie. Toodles and thanks for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn:)

H2H. . . one down, 113 to go

Whew! Finally decided on a design for the first series of Heart2Heart blocks that I'm making. Golly, it's not like me to get such a late start. I am in a swap with 40 others + a private swap or two! If I keep my current design plan of 9 blocks X 12 blocks [for the top of the bed], 108 heart blocks will be needed. This plan calls for an appliqued border to bring the quilt to proper size for a queen bed. Before making a final decision, I will wait and see how many blocks come back from the swap and then go from there.

Ok. . . it's back to the sewing machine I go. Just wanted to post this pic as I feel so good to finally get started! LOL. More later.

Toodles. . . and thanks 4 stopping by!

Hugs,

Cyn:)

Surprises Galore!

What a week it has been...wow! A surprise package all the way from Scotland! Elly really and totally surprised me with a wonderful package of Birthday gifties! The two pictures above show the "loot" she sent! lol. Elly sent five 'squishies' [Fat 16ths] all in reds and greens for my DJ quilt, two great cards: one funny and one lovely [for Valentine's Day]. . . I tried to do a closeup so you could read the text**--hilarious-- and, a lovely hand appliqued heart block that will have a prominent place in my H2H quilt. Her stitching is absolutely invisible, so tiny, perfect, and even...wow! Thank you, Elly, thank you for everything!

More later. . . all for now. Toodles and thanks for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn:)

** Hey! If you click on the pic it will enlarge! Wadda ya know. . . if I'm lucky, I can learn somethin' new everyday! lol. Excuse me, dear readers, but my "learning to blog" curve is still pretty steep! LOL

DJ in EQ ~ Would like opinions on color

This is the DJ that I have been designing in EQ5. I thought it might be a good idea to explore color in the software before I actually made all of the blocks. I think my block count for this DJ is somewhere around 50. Now I'm beginning to wonder if the plain green triangles in the outside border is overpowering the center? Do you have an opinion on this? I do want this quilt to be mostly all Red & Green with muslin background. All opinions are most welcome. Thank you for taking the time to think about this. Sorry for the crummy picture, but I have yet to learn how to bring a better "snapshot" from EQ and paste it somewhere else. This one I ran through 'Paint' first, in order to make it a 'jpg' file.
Thanks for stopping by... toodles and all for now,
Hugs,
Cyn:)

Bed Half-Made, DJ-D8, & It's Raining. . .

Well I've heard of a cup half-full, but a bed half-made? Yes. Every morning that my little senior cat "Missy" decides that it's not time to get up yet! lol. She is very tiny--less than 9 pounds! She has a way about her and she will not get up until she's good and ready! She's so stubborn, it's really kinda funny. But, hey, it's raining cats-n-dogs here, so perhaps it is a good morning to sleep in. California can use the rain, so I won't complain. It sure is cold, though, and that's unusual for these parts. Wind is blowing, too. If I can drag a couple of more lamps in here to brighten up this space, it will be a good day for sewing.
Speaking of sewing: I need to get back to DearJane block #D-8 for the DJ-Retreat BOW which is due this Sunday. I've been working on this block off-n-on for about three days! I don't know why it's taking so long to complete this particular block. The sewing is pretty straight forward. . . just simple applique, but the placement has been problematic! The little bits seem to have a mind of their own and keep migrating across the background! They just won't stay where they are put! lol. So, I think I'll just stitch it up like it is and move on to another block. I don't view this as 'giving up,' but more like 'being flexible'! *vbg*.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful and productive day!
Toodles, and thank you for stopping by,
Hugs,
Cyn:-)

GIVE AWAY !!!!!!!

WOW! Go visit Rhonda at: http://patchesandpieces.blogspot.com/ , she is doing a give-a-way! How fun is that? Here's what ya do: 1) Click on the link above to visit Rhonda's site; 2) Leave a comment there; and, 3) If you want an extra 'entry', add yourself as a follower. . . that's it! Easy, peasy! Oh, and it's fun!
Hope everyone is having a wonderful and happy day! Me? I plan to finish up the applique on DJ block #D-8, Dee Dee's Delight. I hope to post a picture of it later today. . . That will bring me current for this week's BOWs. . . happy dance!
Toodles. . . and thank you for stopping by,
Hugs,
Cyn:)

Grandma's Apron: 30's Fat8th Swap

Here are the 24 little 'aprons' that I mailed off to our Swap Nana today. They aren't due for a while yet, but I couldn't wait to mail them off! lol.
This was really fun! The fabrics of the 30s and 40s is really starting to grow on me. After class yesterday, I made a quick stop at Quilt In A Day, in San Marcos, and snatched up *some* fabrics in this style. They didn't have enough of the two I liked best, so bought 2 yards of one and 1 1/8 yard of the other. A couple of hours on the computer to create and snaze up an apron graphic, add my info, and sew on some ribbon streamers, and I was in business! lol. BTW, as a side note: the word *some* is used relatively here. Hehehe.
Can't wait to see all 24 of the different fabric packs that come back. Swaps are a lot of fun. . . if you haven't tried a swap, you might give it a try as they are F-U-N! This swap was organized from the list on the Yahoo DJAlternate group. When all my fabric pieces come back, I'll share a picture here.
All for now... toodles, and thanks 4 stopping by,
Cyn:)

E-7 post re-visited. . . ooops!

Ooooops! The pictures u/loaded in reverse of what I thought they would! *vbg* And, I don't know how to fix it. *big sigh*. It's going to have to stay that-a-way!
BTW, did you happen to notice in the 'back' picture, that in both the upper right & lower right sides, the little green triangle was trimmed off after the little white triangle was PPd on, and on the other side it wasn't? LOL. Well, it's just going to have to live it's poor little life half-cocked, as I'm not changing it. I do like the DJ Mantra of: Finished is better than perfect!
Persistance, that's the name of the game!
Toodles.... thank you for stopping by,
Hugs,
Cyn:)

E-7 Bread Basket

This was a fun little block to make, but it did take me a while to complete it. When E-7 was first announced as this week's DJ BOW [due Sun, 2/8] I looked it up in my DearJane software. At first glance it looked pretty intimidating. I checked around on the Internet to see how others had done it and found nothing! I was going to have to figure this one out all by myself! Now here's the funny thing: I spent a couple of days thinking about this block and what I could do to make it "easy". HA! Then I had an epiphany. . .with all the time spent trying to find some short-cuts, I could have pieced the block 3-times over! Well, live and learn. hehehe. After finding some nice green fabric I began. Now here's the really funny part. . . as I began, it all just 'came together', so to speak. So what did I learn? Like the NIKE slogan says, "JUST DO IT!". The good that came out of this--well, besides another completed DJ block and that's always good, is just to begin. I mean, afterall, what's the worst that can happen? Perhaps just to begin again, that's all! So, from now on I will not let myself be intimidated by any block. I will just DO IT as best I can. I'm including a pic of both the front and the back as it's seldom easy to tell how a person has put their block together w/out viewing the back. Also, I found by combining and using several techniques that this block went together fairly easily. The techniques I used: rotary cutting/strip piecing, PPing, both needleturn & FP applique, machine and hand sewing/piecing. The picture turned out a little wonky so it looks like two points don't line up... i'm happy to say, yes they do as i laid a ruler across all the intersections. I am a happy camper about that and it turned out the correct size! Wahoo! I did take step-by-step pics of how I assembled this block and will post them here if requested.
Last week was very interesting: I went flying with my youngest son and DGD. I have some pictures and will post them soon, along with pictures from the Road2California Quilt Show in January2009, as well as some class photos from The Temecula Quilt Company. The TQC is a lovely place filled with beautiful repros and owned and operated by a wonderful and friendly lady. More on that in a day or two.
I think I'm finally getting a handle on u/loading pictures and so forth to this blog, so I hope to be more punctual in the future with postings! One can only hope.
That's it for this session. . .I am off to try & finish up D-8 before I go to bed tonight.
Toodles, and thanks for stopping by. . .
Cyn:-)