Here it is – the finished project.  It was important to put his name on the placemat since he is learning to recognize his name.

I enjoyed making this for JP and, as you can see, it looks just like him. I asked him who was on the placemat and he said “JP”.

This is my favorite picture because it looks like JP and his cartoon reflection.

You can follow the future adventures of JP and Emerson at Ten Shades of Silly.

You can see the BCQS 2012 Raffle Quilt here:  http://blackcanyonquiltshow.com/raffle-quilt.html

Isn’t it gorgeous?  Of course since I did some of the piecing on this quilt – the flower blocks and the large diamond units - I am a wee bit prejudiced.  It was such fun to get together for the two sew days and work on this project.

I have not won a raffle quilt yet – but don’t you think that this year should be my turn?

Marlene

Yesterday was quilt guild meeting.  I see most of the ladies only once a month and it is fun to catch up on news and sew.  During January’s meeting, one member offered a challenge.  She had plastic baggies filled with 4″ squares of fabric – each square different fabric.  The challenge is to make a completed quilt by June using these squares.  All the quilts will then be donated to local organizations.  How could I resist?

I don’t know exactly how many squares are in the pile, but I can tell you that it is 2 1/2″ tall.  I decided to separate all the squares into color families and make positive/negative shoo fly blocks.  Right now my plan is to have a rainbow effect starting with yellow in the top left corner.  The fabric that doesn’t play well with others will be either used for a border or on the back – we shall see.  That is the plan at the moment, but quilts have a mind of their own and I could end up somewhere totally different.

Keep sewing and remember - the tortoise won the race.

Marlene

Except for sewing down the binding, JP’s placemat is complete.  However since his mother reads this blog, I won’t be posting a picture of it until February.  So I wanted to show this quilt instead.

This was the final quilt finish for 2011, but the first one quilted on my new toy -

a HQ Sweet Sixteen Sitdown machine!  The sampler quilt is 47″ square and it was quilted in one weekend.  I am very happy with the HQ and anticipate many happy hours getting some quilt tops completed.

I quilted a double loopy design in the center and a design from the Pajama Quilter in the border.

Denver Broncos are in overtime, so I will talk to you later.

Marlene

With the start of a new year, it seemed appropriate to stretch my wings and try something new – this blog.  I am fairly organized so I have pictures of my finished quilts, but I wanted a record of the journey.  So good or bad or wow or ho hum, this will be that record.

I will be visiting one of my grandsons (age three) in a couple of weeks and he needs something special from Grandma.

This was the inspiration for the project.  Do you notice the middle block at the top?  The plan is to make a placemat for my grandson using the paper pieced block and the Word Play book for his name.  Here is today’s progress:

JP has blonde hair and blue eyes, so his placemat needed to match.  I am hoping to get this finished in the next couple of days so that I can start something for his little sister.

Marlene