Saturday, March 24, 2007

Four Patch Frenzy Surprise

Happy first weekend of Spring! and a gorgeous day here in Tampa Bay Florida it is too. Sky is clear and just the right amount of breeze!

Today I finally settled on my Four Patch Frenzy Surprise Fabrics (mystery quilt by Tara Kos for Quilts by Kos yahoo group quiltsbykos). Of course, it helps that we are 11 of the 15 clues into it already, in order to make a decision. I only waivered on one choice. I wanted to use a 1/4" black and white check (with a slight waving to the lines of the checks so they were not a cut and dry type of check) but the mystery uses 2 1/2 yards of the dark and I decided that was a LOT of checks. I thought of making it the light at only 1 1/2 yards but then decided I had so many clues I could use the SUNFLOWER fabrics I wanted to use in the proper sections to show them off in all of their regal glory!





so from the left:


Dark = assortment of deep blues all of the same tone of blue


Medium 1 = Sunflower fabrics in two different sizes of flower. large robust 5" across sunflower heads and smaller, 2" brown-eyed susans.


Medium 2 = assortment of deep greens all of the same tone of green



Light = assortment of light blue sky prints. there is one yard of the print with the birds in it. used properly (remember i have most all of the clues now LOL) the two prints with flowers on them will make a nice addition too.





So you can see this will be a sunshiny happy quilt





OH the bottom two fabrics are companion prints I felt went with the original thought process but don't sit well in any cutting. i'm think of some sort of border if i decide to go bigger than Tara's generous lap sized quilt the mystery is already set at. or fun pillow cases to match.







anyway, these are my choices and now i have another PIG to add to the mental list. just as soon as i get time to sew though... these babies are getting cut!





have a "SUN"flowery day


denise/deBRAT

Friday, March 23, 2007

Remembering Our Civil War Winnie Quilt MAILED!








mailed sunday march 18th to Tom Ledoux and family. more later right now just pics uploaded. denise/deBrat-jane

okay from the top, the label for the civil war winnie quilt. The last bit of binding was stitched down late on Sunday, February 25th, 2007. It is my first UFO finish of the year. It is hand quilted, though VERY little. As it has Thermore batting and that can be quilted up to 9" apart and I just wanted it DONE, I hand quilted down the middle of the sashings. The solid triangles in the border are quilted 1/4" away from the seam and the kites (corners for your non-dear jane people) are quilted according to them "talking" to me. I would have loved to put more quilting into but as the backing is ANOTHER quilt top and they don't line up, all those seams were killing my hands, fingers and toes! I actually snapped 5 needles while quilting this one due to the over lapping seam allowances. So more quilting was not a mentally or physically "able" choice in this case. I'm sure Winnie will forgive me and be happy that so many sent such lovely blocks to keep her family comforted and comfortable as they wrap up in this gift from many countries.

If you don't know what a dear jane quilt is you can see it at Brenda Papadakis' website but before I give you the link I will warn you, dear jane blocks are addicting.
www.dearjane.com there is a button on the left to janiacs with a bunch of links to different baby janes in various stages of completion all over the world! make sure you have your glasses on and your coffee mug filled!