What do you think?

If this was your project would you use the red for the wide border and bind it in black, or...

 ...would you use the black for the wide border and bind it in red? Sorry, those are your only options. : )

I didn't have enough of the red cut to simulate
the binding all the way around.

The stars in this project were among the UFOs I received a while back from Karen (Log Cabin Quilter blog). They were made for the border of the quilt to be made from larger stars shown here. But I am going to use a different setting for the large stars, so I was trying to decide how to use the five completed smaller stars. When I settled on the "9-patch" arrangement, I was going to use chain blocks between them. But you know my obsession with pineapples lately (and if you don't, where have you been?), so I picked pineapples (pun intended) for the alternate blocks. Kind of a different effect, but I think it is growing on me.

I know--I said I was finished with R/W/B for now. I lied. As I was rummaging in my sewing room the other day for who knows what, I came across a pattern I had intended to make this year--I even had the mini charm squares and wool pieces piled up with it, ready to go. I HAD to squeeze it in. This pattern and the mini charm pack was at each place setting at the Lisa Bongean dinner/trunk show I attended in January. 

I have the background sewn together and the wool pressed on. It is just 12 1/2" square. Now for the blanket stitching.

I have been hand quilting another  Lisa Bongean pattern--my version of her Little Buds, which I call Black and Blooms. I started out machine quilting, and after doing some stitch-in-the-ditch stabilizing I attempted micro stippling in one of the blocks. This is how the original was quilted. But I had problems with the thread of the black houndstooth turning as I stippled and there were all of these little white flecks and lines showing on the surface. So I painstakingly unpicked that block--so fun with black thread on black fabric--tried to rotate the threads back with my fingernail, and took a micron pen to the spots that wouldn't cooperate. Then I started hand quilting. I still get an occasional white spot, and I have to pop the knots through the back or I get even more. But it is so much better than with the machine quilting. Even changing needles didn't help. Have any of you experienced this?
*Giveaway Alert*
I almost forgot--the little patriotic quilt shown above and most of the patriotic stuff in my previous two posts were primarily made from the Primitive Gatherings Old Glory line of fabric. My friend Kris (Lavender Quilts blog), was my source for most of it, and she is having a giveaway of a bundle of 8 FQs from this line. Drop over and enter. She is drawing the winner on July 3rd.
Enough for now.
Until next time,
Janet O.
http://www.primitivegatherings.us/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=13524

Fourth of July, Spring, Christmas, Fall

I'm a sucker for patriotic fabrics, and I love Primitive Gatherings stuff, so when Lisa came out with her "Old Glory" line of fabrics, I knew I was going to have to make a quilt from it. I also knew I would make said quilt from the first Primitive Gatherings pattern I ever bought. Here you see the beginnings of my Old Glory Picnic Quilt on my design wall.

Does it look familiar? Here are the first two I made.

 I am reversing the value placement in the red/white striped blocks to give more of a "flag" feel.
Also, I made these two bigger than the pattern indicates so that they would fit a Queen bed. I'm not sure if I'm going to make this one that large.



Well, I decided not to unpick the feathers on my Colorblind Baskets, for now. Maybe it is pure laziness, but it is now bound and hanging in my sewing room. It has a nice Springtime feel to it. I just try not to look too closely at the quilting, and then I can enjoy it.

This little pile of 6" Christmas blocks that were made while I worked on my Barrister's Sow-Along quilt is a constant reminder of my inability to "keep up." I started out making two sets of blocks, one set from shirts and one from Christmas fabrics, but I got bogged down in too many projects and after a while I set the Christmas blocks aside. This year I decided to work on completing this quilt top while sewing along with The Rancher's Daughter. I'm not making every block. John'aLee posts a block every Monday (along with a story from her life as a Rancher's Daughter). I figure if I make two blocks a month I will have a nice throw size quilt for the holidays. I had started falling behind already, so today at my monthly quilting day with my Mom (and occasionally a sister), I made a few more. Now I am only 1 block behind.

Finally, I have begun my version of Bonnie Hunter's Crabapples. Back in the Fall of 2008 DH and I went to Vermont with my parents. We drove back to Rochester, NY, to fly home and with the help of his GPS unit, DH found The Ivy Thimble along the way (what town is it in, Sarah?). Mom and I loaded up on fabrics in the colors of the season, determined to each  make a quilt to commemorate our trip. Mom chose a string pieced pattern and had her quilt made within a few months. I've only changed my mind about which pattern to use about 4 times, just recently settling on Crabapples. I'm sewing up the squares as my leader/enders, so this isn't going to happen quickly. I've got a few blocks prepped on design boards and in the queue, waiting their turn.

Next month marks two years for my blogging adventure. I'm planning a little giveaway to mark the anniversary. Stay tuned.
Until next time,
Janet O.