Happy Veteran's Day!

Today is Veteran's Day and I just wanted to take time out to thank all of our service men and women for their service.  Our country wouldn't have the freedoms that we enjoy without your sacrifices.

In honor of Veteran's Day, Val is featuring quilts on her Archive Tuesday that honor our Veteran's.  I could think of no better day to share the latest quilt I tested for Le Ann at Persimmon Quilts for her QOV Mysteries. 

 

I used two different shades of blue on this one and rotated the colors around a bit, but kept the pattern the same.  Le Ann has an entire page of free mystery quilts that fit the requirements for the Quilt of Valor program.  It's such a worthy cause and Le Ann's quilts are always gorgeous.  Here's another one...

 

So take a break from the normal sewing, go pick a mystery quilt pattern, and let's do some good work for our Veteran's!!

Linking up with Val at Val's Quilting Studio.

 

 

Flimsy Finish Friday 10-3-14

I'm so excited to finally be able to share this with y'all!!

I finished this up as a test quilt for Le Ann over at Persimmon Quilts.  She designs the most fabulous mysteries to benefit the Quilts of Valor.  She's posted the last clue and now I can show it off.  Don't you just love it???

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Quilting Reader's Garden.

Around the World Blog Hop!

Hi everyone and welcome to A Quilting Chick!  I was tagged in this fun blog hop by Erin over at Sew at Home Mummy (*waves* Hi Erin!).  Have y'all been following along on this one?  It has been so much fun to explore and meet so many new people and find so many new blogs!  So without further ado, let me tell you a bit about me!

I'm a single mom of three wonderful, almost fully grown children, the last of which hits 18 this week (how is that even possible???).  Quilting is my stress reliever which I'm sure many of you understand.  My kids get this and whenever I'm starting to flip out, they pour me a glass of sweet tea, and point me to my sewing machine.  Awesome kids, right?

I just finished up my Deep in the Heart of Texas Roadtrip QAL.  Here's a pic of the finished top...

 

Love that one!  And a few closeups of it...

I would say that my style is more traditional with a modern twist.  I much prefer the more traditional block, put together in a new, fun way or with some awesome modern fabric.  I love scrap quilts like this one...

This is my version of the Scrap Jar Star quilt.  To me, a scrap quilt doesn't have to look like a scrap quilt.  I pulled all of these fabrics form the scrap pile, but making sure they were from the same color family really made this one gorgeous.

I help test patterns for Persimmon Quilts who writes mysteries to help benefit the Quilt of Valor program.  Here is one I recently finished up testing...

I just finished up testing another for her and should be able to share a finish soon.  I love sampler quilts.  But again, I like to put my own twist on them, like on this one...

I combined the sampler blocks with a star block to make my one unique setting for the sampler.  One of my absolute favorites (click on the picture for details!).

Traditional doesn't have to mean boring and modern doesn't have to be, "out there!"  Take the elements of both, the ones you love, and make them your own!

I can't wait to see meet more people as we follow along on this blog hop!  I'm tagging:

Melissa - Tension Issues (she uses sewing to relax too!)

Sabrina - Sabie Sews (Love!  Awesome fabrics and tutes!)  and...

Anna - Mod Quilt Girl  (Another Texas Gal!)

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts:

Flimsy Finish Friday (a little late)

I was on a shop hop yesterday and got quite the haul!  I'll show you everything tomorrow.  But, since I was doing that all day, Flimsy Finish Friday is a bit late (no apologies because I had too much fun!).  

I've been waiting to share this one for a while.  I test quilt patterns for Persimmon Quilts.  She runs a free mystery quilt series for QOV.  She got the last clue posted for this one last Saturday so I am free to share my pics this week!!!

Isn't it goregous!!!  I used some of my stash fabrics to make it and love the way it turned out.

The cream is a script print from Michael Miller from ages ago.  And I believe the light blue and red are prints from April Cornell.  She was one of my favorite Moda designers and I hoarded stashed away a ton of her stuff.

This one came out blurry and I just caught it so sorry about that, but it is the center square of this quilt.

The quilt was sewn on point.  Here's a closer shot of one of the corners.

Please go on over and choose one of the fabulous mysteries that LeAnn has posted.  She hasn't taken any down from the beginning and you'll have a great time making a quilt for a very worthwhile cause!!!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and My Quilt Infatuation and with Val's Quilting Studio for Tuesday Archives.

Cathy

Design Wall Monday

Not a lot going on here. The last step of the QOV Mystery Quilt was posted Saturday so I can finally share my finish of that top!

Don’t you love it! It’s a great size and everything except the borders are from my scrap box (which, by the way, doesn’t appear to have shrunk in the amount of scraps department!).

And as for my design wall, all I’ve been working on since Friday night is the borders for my Road to Brenham quilt top.

I can almost see the light at the end of this one. And this one has begun a discussion on my Facebook wall about who wants it. Cassidy (my teenager) claimed it even before it was started and my sister-in-law has been watching it’s progress and swears it will look perfect on her bed. LOL…I left it up to them, but, truth be told, Cassidy will probably end up with it.

So what are y’all working on??

Linking up to Patchwork Times, Esther's Blog, My Quilt Infatuation, and Freshly Pieced.

Cathy

Updates and Labor Day Weekend Goals

Almost done with the first week of school here and boy has it been a busy week! Tonight was the high school football game. This first game of the season is always especially hard for me. My daughter goes to my high school’s rival high school and they always meet up for the first game of the season. Tonight was the 30th “Gucci Bowl.” I've been threatened by my daughter and told that I’m not allowed to go to my old school and buy a Gucci Bowl t-shirt from them; I have to wear the one from her school. And I have to sit on her side of the field. But….she can’t stop me from singing my alma mater and from silently cheering when my team does well. That being said, my team has lost all three years that we've been facing off since Cassidy started high school. Have any of y’all had this issue with your kids?

 
This brought back a ton of fun memories. I’m so glad that my daughter is having a great time in high school. She’ll have so many amazing memories from here time there.
 
Yesterday, Bonnie over at Quiltville asked for people to post pics of their current WIP’s on her facebook page and she’d push them through and show everyone what’s going on in other’s sewing rooms. I shared this pic of my QOV Mystery Quilt. I’m loving the feedback on it! It’s gotten almost 200 likes and has been shared out by a dozen or so people. I will tell you, that made my day yesterday.

 
I feel like I've had NO TIME at my sewing machine this week. I have managed to do some pinning while it’s slow at work so I have managed to get nine of my Star Surround Quilt Along blocks finished. Don’t they look beautiful??? I cannot wait to get the last seven done.

 
Now, Jo, over at Jo’s Country Junction is hosting a linky party today for everyone to post their Labor Day Weekend goals. I think that’s a marvelous idea! And since Cassidy is at her dad’s this weekend and Alex will be working, hopefully I’ll be able to play catch-up and get everything done that I didn’t get to this week. So my goals for the weekend are:
 

Do steps 8 and 9 in the Road to Brenham Quilt Along from Patchwork Times.

Finish last weekend’s and this coming weekend’s steps in the QOV Mystery Quilt.

Make the block that was posted last Friday in the Virtual Quilting Bee.

Finish sewing the blocks for the Star Surround Quilt Along.

 
If I can manage to do these things, then I’ll be in pretty good shape for next week. How about y’all? What are you going to do over the weekend?

Linking up to Jo’s Country Junction and My Quilt Infatuation.
 
Cathy

Design Wall Monday (a little bit late)

Sorry it’s a bit late! Goodness what a busy couple of days! After work yesterday, I took my teenage daughter out to the outlet mall to finish up the back-to-school shopping, then had to go to the dance wear store for body tights (y’all ever hear of them before?), before finally coming home at almost 8 last night. To say the least, I was exhausted. But I did manage to do step 4 in the Road to Brenham Quilt Along (Patchwork Times) before crashing. Simple, yet small, nine patches.

So since not a ton has changed on my design wall since my last few posts, I thought I’d pull some of the last few days pics, along with pics I took tonight of the newest step on the Star Surround Quilt Along (Happy Quilting), and they will comprise my (late) Monday Design Wall.

Here’s the QOV Mystery Quilt’s latest step. Don’t you love this?!? All of these fabrics so far are from my scrap box. I love finally getting some use out of those.

Here’s a sample of a couple of the blocks for the Star Surround Quilt Along. This week we’re building the parts for the “surround.”

Do you see how large these blocks are?

Melissa is an amazing and talented designer and a great teacher.  These blocks have been coming together so quickly and easily.  If you haven't started this one yet, please consider joining in.  I've been having so much fun!!!

I figure tomorrow, I’ll take the parts with me to work, and try to get the pinning done in my free time so I can focus on sewing when I get home tomorrow night. Hopefully will have all the parts together before bed so I am ready for the next step in the Road to Brenham on Thursday.

So what are y’all working on?

Cathy

QOV Progress and Cookies!

My middle child turned 21 yesterday! How is that even possible? I don’t feel old enough to have two grown children. So, I took Alex to lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican food restaurant, Patty’s, and had some amazing cheese enchiladas (tried to find you a picture but couldn't).

When I got home, I finished did step 3 of the Road to Brenham quilt that is being hosted by Patchwork Times. Very simple step of making rail fence blocks. I’ll show pics of that one with the design wall tomorrow.

Then I pulled up the next step for the QOV Mystery Quilt from Persimmon Quilts. OMG! May I just say, this quilt is going to be fabulous?!? So far, all of the fabric has come out of my scrap box. Here’s a pic of all the parts of step 2. I love the way she designs her mysteries. You don’t have a chance to really get bored of making a certain thing because she spreads them out over a few weeks. For example, you may make 20 HST’s this week then you may make 10 more next week. It’s definitely not too late to join in!

So today, I decided to work on my flying geese UFO. I finished trimming down the flying geese units today so all I have to do is sew them together. Finished three blocks today before stopping and making cookies.

I absolutely have to share this recipe with you. When I was a kid, my dad’s favorite cookie was the chocolate wafer cookie. Mom’s recipes got lost a few years ago and I have been looking everywhere for something similar. This cookie is the closest I've found. They are called Chocolate Sugar Cookies and they were featured in Cook’s Country Magazine.

Don’t they look great? Just wait until you try them. They are my newest favorite cookie. Here’s the recipe. Try them and let me know what you think.

Cathy

Design Wall Monday - 8/12/13

(Sorry for the delay!  Was having a ton of camera problems.  Which leads to....sorry for the blurry pics as well!)

Well, here’s my design wall this week. Boy have I been busy!! Just looking at it gets me itching to get back to my machine. But a girl’s gotta sleep sometime (at least that’s what I've been told).

Still have my UFO up on the wall. I love those polka dots. Got a few more blocks done during the last week so definitely making progress.

Next up are the completed blocks for the newest QOV Mystery quilt being hosted over at Persimmon Quilts. I’m already in love with this quilt and we've only gotten through the first week.

These are a sample of the HST’s that are the first step in the Road to Brenham being hosted at Patchwork Times. My daughter came out of her room tonight and squealed asking if they were for her new quilt. Guessing that was approval. :)  Made 72 of these tonight. Need to finish trimming them up tomorrow.

Now on to the first completed blocks for the new leaders and enders project that Bonnie started us on at Quiltville. I’m playing with the layout but really liking the flying geese. My daughter says to make diamonds. I’m getting more excited with this side project everyday.

And finally, we finished block 12 of the Virtual Quilting Bee on Friday at Diary of a Quilter. These colors look so pretty together. This is the second quilt top I've made out of this fat quarter tower and I’m still thinking I can get at least one more. Can’t wait to see how it finishes.

And last but not least, not represented on my quilt wall yet, I’m working on the Star Surround Quilt Along over at Happy Quilting. I really wanted to start putting those blocks together today but didn't want to fall behind on the new Road to Brenham quilt so I’ll work on it tomorrow. You should be able to see it next week.

What’s on your quilt wall?

Cathy

Weekend Update

This has been a really busy week! Not only has Cassidy started drill team practice at school each day, but we’re also in the middle of the tax-free back to school shopping weekend here in Texas and have been trying to take advantage of some of the sales. In between work and all of the above, I still managed to stay up-to-date on my quilt-alongs!

First up is the Star Surround Quilt-Along being hosted over at Happy Quilting. This week we assembled our flying geese using the no-waste method. I love this way of making flying geese. You basically have one large square and four small squares that when you are finished with the assembling and cutting makes 4 flying geese units. Since I’m making a rather large quilt with small blocks, I had to make a ton of flying geese. Luckily, I love them so the time flew by. I started these Monday evening after work and finished them by Thursday.

The timing of me finishing those up was perfect as the Quilt of Valor mystery quilt started Friday over at Persimmon Quilts. This is a very scrappy mystery and I am loving the way it is coming along. She recommends a ton of fat quarters but I pulled these fabrics from my scrap bin. Don’t the blocks look great!! Can’t wait to see how this quilt finishes.

Then Block 12 on The Virtual Quilting Bee hosted by Diary of a Quilter came out on Friday. I finished up with the first step of the mystery quilt this afternoon and was able to whip this block up in about an hour. Very simple, but very cute.

I love quilt-alongs. The timetable and the fact that other quilters are making theirs at the same time help me keep up. So I am always on the lookout for new quilt-alongs. But this next one is pretty special. There is a Fall 2013 Mystery Quilt designed by HeatherSpenceDesigns starting on October 4. This one is a little bit different as you pay to join the group. The cost is $5 but the proceeds are going to an excellent cause, Cancercare.org. Once you purchase the PDF, you are given a website and a password to the page that is hosting the mystery. It gives you the fabric requirements as well so you can start planning. This is going to be a lot of fun and the money is for a worthy cause so come on over and join the fun!

I’m caught up on my quilt alongs so tomorrow I’ll work a bit more on the Flying Geese UFO that’s on my wall. But Monday….Monday we get the next clue in the Star Surround Quilt Along and Monday is the first day of the Road to Brenham Quilt Along over at Patchwork Times. Hope yall join in!!

Cathy