Five Shadows

Here is my block for the 3 Creative Studios BOM. The 7th block is called Five Spot.

I’m running late at meeting a friend for lunch – so I’ll post more later!

I have a big ZERO completed for March for the One Project a Month. Oh well. But I have been working on other projects. That means sometime this year I’ll have several completed quilts. Maybe I should just plan a few small projects a month so as to have something completed to show when the end of the month rolls around!

The is a sneak peak of an idea I’m playing with for a quilt challenge. Three Creative Studios: Passage.

The are a few of the many blocks my daughter has sewn for a bed size quilt she is working on. She is being very diligent!

I had five finishes for February and you can tell I’m running behind as I post about them in March! One bed size quilt, three journal totes, and one small quilt.

Here is the quilt I started in December all complete with a proper binding. My 14 year old asked who the quilt would be for when complete, and this quilt was one I was just making for  the fun of it. No plans on who would be gifted with it! So Dear Daughter claimed it!  It did my little heart good to know that she was ‘taken’ by the quilt and looked forward to it being completed and on her bed!

This is a double size quilt and coordinates with two pillows I also made. The photos of the pillows are much more accurate color wise.

I told Dear Daughter, if she got her room cleaned up – we could take a picture with the quilt and pillows on her bed! Ha ha! I don’t think I see that posted too soon!

Other finishes for February was the 3 Creative Studios Quilt Challenge quilt. Make a quilt using the word ‘puzzle’ as a prompt. See that quilt here. And the journals totes are here.

3 Creative Studios is hosting a quilt challenge all year long. Every other month they will post a word and the challenge is to interpret that word in the form of a quilt. The first word was “Puzzle.”

When reading the word puzzle, my thoughts went immediately to Autism. A puzzle piece is often associated with autism – used as a logo. Several years ago I briefly worked with a local company, Sensory Critters, who create items to help those with autism. The little fellow below is part of Sensory Critters’ logo. I had visions of using him (stitched here in outline form) along with the fabric pictured in my puzzle quilt.

But alas, sometimes things happen in life that take us off our course. That happened to me last week. Instead of happily working on the puzzle quilt, I found myself dealing with a group I belong to with issues I can not discuss here. I found myself puzzling over people’s behavior, dealing with strained and frayed relationships, and looking for answers to money issues. As these are being resolved and now thankfully working towards closure, I found myself thinking of a new Puzzle quilt for the challenge. It is with great joy that I share this little creation! It was so fun to make and very healing after all the stress of the past week and a half!

I have either a very long title for it, or a choice of three titles: Missing Pieces, Too Many People & Not Enough Money, or Where Does All the Money Go?  Notice the frayed edges of the ‘people’ fabric and the striped fabric. I left the raw edges on purpose. If I had the time to shop for fabric, I would have liked to use novelty fabric printed with bills – $5, $10, $20s. But, I happened to have the coin fabric in my stash, so that is what I used!  It was called “Mrs. Nelson’s 2nd Grade.” I loved that!! And had to include the selvage in the quilt!  The quilt is bound with ribbon and tomato bag netting.  This was a great challenge and I look forward to the next word being revealed!  Oh! And I do hope to get back to the Sensory Critters quilt in the near future.

I’ve been busy flying on my Magic Carpet around the world in Blog Land! I’ve met so many wonderful people and am admiring their creativeness! This all through One World One Heart hosted by Lisa of A Whimsical Bohemian. Check it out! And you can join in through Feb 8th!

I finished this tote today.

It is going to a friend I will visit with later this evening. Shanette, director of Kibbutz El-Shammah, is here in the USA visiting from South Africa! Friends and I have made several quilts for the staff of the Kibbutz, and I wanted to give her a little something at our visit tonight. If I find an updated link to the Kibbutz – I’ll update this post.

Last week I finished this pillow – another one for my daughter. This is a Pink Chalk Studio Pattern – free download. (Thank you Kathy!)

Next up is a braided table runner. I really need to clean the kitchen so you can see how great it looks on the counter! My DH remodeled the kitchen two summers ago. We did a good job of taking the during pictures – but not good at posting or showing the completed job! Must put that on the ‘to do list’!

And here is my Block of the Month (BOM) hosted by 3 Creative Studios. Pop on over if you are interested in joining in! Plus they have lots of other goodness offered on their website! Check ‘em out!

Happy New Year all!  2010  A new decade!

I’m not doing a ‘resolution’ this year, not even claiming a word or phase to live by for the new year. Last year I decided to live ‘guilt free’ by not taking on projects that I really did not want to do – by not letting people ‘guilt’ me in to doing things, and I can say I’m pleased with how the year turned out!

Here are some of the things I did take on and am pleased with the results: participated in Swaps hosted by Creative Lenna,  took part in Lisa’s One World One Heart project, hosted a five day quilting retreat for 20 some ladies with two other friends, directed the planning and hosting of a formal dance (the kids call it a prom) for 179 teens, taught Sunday School for 5 year olds for two months (what a fun age!), organized a canvas bag swap with a group of 12 quilting friends (results should be up soon, this ended up being a true challenge just getting the bags swapped out!), went on a summer quilting retreat with 4 friends (that was a blast!), offered a generosity project, organized an on-going community service class for the teen group, moved one adult child out and one back home (the eldest ran out of money while in grad school – he is responsible and this is only temporary – that is   what I keep telling myself! LOL!), helped a friend organize her house, pack and prepare to move to SC. I signed up with the paper/cloth group with Belinda (but alas, have not enjoyed the process – ME, not the group! I love looking at what they have created!), took part in 3 Creative Studios BOM.  That’s the list I can come up with  for last year. I’m thinking it looks pretty good!

For the New Year, I’m continuing the 3 Creative Studio (3 CS) BOM, have signed up for the 3 CS Quilt Challenge (first word for the challenge was revealed today!), have promised to teach two months of 5 year old Sunday School, will join the One World One Heart Project, am planning another formal dance for the teen group, and have joined a collage group. Tis it for now!

But lurking in the background is a possible out of state move. My hubby’s job ends in mid-May. Who knows where we will end up!

I hope you will all have a prosperous, guilt-free, and happy New Year!

Here is my fourth Block of the Month (BOM) for the program sponsored by 3 Creative Studios. I like this block! But I fussy cut the center piece to show off the butterfly instead of cutting and piecing 4 pieces. I’m sticking with the same color-way and will have a nice set of block for a quilt top once this BOM is complete!

If you are not familar with 3 Creative Studios check out their website! They are offering word prompts, BOM, quilt challenges, free projects, classes, and more!

Have you heard the news? Terry and Sue over at 2 Creative Studios have just expanded by adding Vicki to the team and they are now 3 Creative Studios! All the more goodness to prompt us on to be all the more creative!

I’m taking part in their Block of the Month (BOM) and here is my third block. Go to their website if you would like to join the BOM, or to check out their on-line classes, or their free projects, and the new quilt challenge they are hosting starting in January 2010!!