MFB QAL

my current obsession is with quilt-a-longs. i swear, i should have developed some tech/blog/networking savvy years ago. i never knew such a thing even existed! for those of you out there who are not "in the know" about such things, it is almost like a modern day technologically fractured quilting bee. the one I'm currently participating in is called "my favorite block quilt-a-long" and is hosted by my new favorite website www.persimondreams.com. if you are a fan of quilting and you don't know about this website, you need to check it out.

anyway, as far as i can tell, here's how it works with my favorite block quilt-a-long (or MFB QAL, as i like to call it):

the supply box to prove it!

every other week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a different quilty/crafty/blogger person--who seems to be already pretty well-established in this quilt/craft/blog world i have newly discovered--posts their favorite block along with detailed instructions (and lots of illustrative pictures) on how to make it. they post it on their own individual blog, which is linked to the "host" blog (that persimondreams website i was telling you about). and then everyone who is participating in the quilt-a-long makes the block (or two or three), and then posts pictures of the end result on a flickr site (i.e. a photosharing website) which can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/2157792@N21/. at the end of the quilt-a-long, everyone will have their own sampler quilt top! let me just tell you this is SO FREAKING FUN and I'm learning so much!!! I only just started up on this idea about two weeks ago, and I already have quite a few blocks made. if you want to check my stuff out here's the link to my own flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/erinrebeccaz/sets/72157632750674582/ but here's a pic of what I have so far (sans owl block, which i made and just doesn't go with the rest of the quilt :(

i might be a little biased here, but i think it's terrific so far. sometimes quilts-and especially sampler quilts-just have this amazing random quality that you can't get away with anywhere else in art. that's why i think they're great. i am thinking once it's all done i will quilt it up with some hot pink thread.

thanks for reading!

love,
erin

WA WA WUBBZY stripey stars!

so this week went NOTHING like i planned. when the project quilting challenge went up last sunday, I thought to myself, "I'd better get this done tonight, because the rest of the week is going to be super-busy." I had work, doctor's appointments for Rowan, doctor's appointments for me, an extreme lack of home nurses (you can read my other blog "row your boat" if you're curious about that topic). so ANYWAY, i thought the only way i was going to make a quilt was going to be if I did it that night. and I did! the next day, everyone in my house got sick with the plague and I realized my week wasn't NEARLY as busy as I had planned...no, it was BUSIER. (especially for mom, who happens to be the only one not sick.) but that's another story.

the project was "wish upon a star," and required only that you use a star somewhere in the quilt. my dad happened to be over when the challenge went up, so i took a moment to go down and look at my fabrics for some inspiration. here's what i found:

SCORE!

let me just pause here and say, i am a lucky girl to have an aunt cordelia. aunt cordelia is a photography professor at Queen's University in Charlotte, NC. she happens to be friends with an interior design prof there, who gave her a bunch of upholstery (and other) scraps to use in her artwork...see here:    http://www.cordeliawilliams.com/   well, auntie cordelia passed some of these treasures, including this one, along to me last time I was down to visit. finally it was time to put it to use!

so the first thing i did was CUT all the baby upholstery fabrics away from the mama upholstery fabric. (cruel, yes i know.)

baby fabric

bye bye momma!

and then i drew stars on the back of the baby fabrics. i did NOT use a template because i wanted all the stars to be a little different. the tags on the bottom did get in my way a bit :(

unique baby stars

i actually cut stars from each and every baby fabric that i had. my original plan was to put all the stars on one backing fabric and just applique them there for a big "star smorgasbord." when i had the audition on the dining room table, billy (my awesome husband) walked by and said, "are you trying to make fun of the american flag or something?" well, i'm not usually one to let other people's opinions disturb my creative process, but when i looked at it twice, i realized he was right.

so i switched gears.

i threw all the cut-out stars on the dining room floor.

my son, Rowan FREAKED OUT!

yes i'm a holy terror

and he started saying STARS! STARS! STARS! and throwing them all over the place.

i thought, well, baby, if you want stars, i'll give you some gosh-darned stars! i let him play with all the stars but four, and took those downstairs and zig-zag sewed them into squares, and then i sewed the squares into a sashing, and then the whole thing into a binding, and then there you have it, a WUBBZY!

I gave it to Rowan when I was giving him his night-night bottle, and he promptly said "NO!" and threw it on the floor. which means, I think he loves it! YAY for wubbzies!

me and the proud recipient

the babysitter and his dog, Macy

and that's all for now. thanks and goodnight!