Quilt Monday: Almanizer

almanizer, originally uploaded by Hambone and Jennicakes.

I take part in a monthly block swap, and while it's not a secret swap exactly, I probably shouldn't post what I made for my partner before I send it along.

BUT.

I really love this block. It's called "Almanizer," and I only chose it because I wasn't really sure what my partner would like. Now that it's done, though, I llove the way it shows off this cute fabrics that Carrie of Sommer Designs gave me.

And as luck would have it, Hancock's of Paducah is having a sale on charm packs, and I couldn't resist picking up a few. I love the idea of doing a wall-sized Almanizer quilt.

Only, does anyone even know what an "almanizer" means?

Quilt Monday: Cupcakes on Coral

new quilt!, originally uploaded by Hambone and Jennicakes.

I had such ambitious hopes for this fabric. But a couple of the prints didn't coordinate as well as I'd hoped, but it was no matter. The brown inner border became the brown outer border, and I made the whole thing square.

I hand-quilted the whole thing in front of lots and lots of Dallas. Actually, I exaggerate - it only took about ten hours, but I spent two days working from start to finish on this alone. Once I pieced it in the simple, pared-down style, I was so excited to see the end product that I couldn't look at another project until this was done.

I hope I have a lot more weeks like last week - and lots of quilt Mondays - as the weather starts to cool.

Shop sexy!

Hambone and Jennicakes eye quilts are now available for sale at the Hella Good site!

Go check them out!

More temptation

Can you believe this album kit?












I just discovered sajou.fr and I am seriously in love. Authentically old-looking pieces that you can customize with your own info?

Brilliant. Just brilliant. Well done, France!

Cherry Crush.

Maybe I should I have named this post for an actual flavor of soda pop, but, sorry, I'm just not all that into oranges and grapes right now. I've always loved cherries, but I seem to love them more and more as time goes on.

I bleached some fabric this weekend according to Martha's instruction, and although it's not so tough finding cheries on white fabric, I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

What's weird, though, it that I'm just dying to turn it into some sort of doily. Why? I'm not a doily person. But a cherry doily would be so compact and sweet looking, like the one in this pattern I found.

What do I do about this sudden urge to doily?

All strung out.

I'm kind of irritated with myself today, because the quilt I've been wanting to enter into the San Mateo County Fair just doesn't look as though it's going to happen in time.

What's sad is that I've been excited about submitting an entry since the very beginning of this year, so it's not like I haven't seen the deadline coming. And I now have the 25 different blocks of string-piecing that I needed to make the top.

What I DON'T have is the border fabric. I wanted to do a double mitered border around each block in alternating fabrics, and I am just at a loss about colors, patterns, everything. And because the decision-making process is taking so much time, I no longer see how I'm going to fit the cutting, piecing, quilting, and binding into about three weeks' time.

The ironic thing is that my original concept for the quilt was pretty much what I did here and, of course, sold. Not wanting to repeat myself, I decided to try something new, and it's not going to be ready in time, because I'm sort of in uncharted territory.

I feel like there's a lesson in this, but it can't be, "Don't push yourself," can it? I mean, what a crappy lesson!