Dia de los Muertos

Yes, I know it's a little late for Dia de los Muertos, but I had this idea almost a year ago. It took me little while to find enough suitable fabric for it. The finished quilt top was completed mid October of last year. With my trip to California, then Thanksgiving, and Christmas I finally got the quilt quilted in January. But, then I had to finish a quilt for my mother to be off in the mail this week. So...this week I finished two quilts! Yes! After I quilt, bound, and mailed my mother's quilt back to her I decided it was time to finish hand sewing the binding down on this Dia de los Muertos quilt.

I apologize for not taking any photos of my mom's quilt. OK - I'm not really sorry...but it was kind of cute. Even cuter when I was done - lol. :)

Are you wondering why a Dia de los Muertos quilt? Two years ago Bran and I took a fabulous cruise down the Mexican Riviera with one of my closest friends and his partner. Brad (my friend) loves Mexico, and every year they have a Cinco de Mayo party decked out with fabulous paper banners and Talavera pottery. When I ran across the sugar skull fabric I knew I had to make this quilt.

After completing the quilt top I took it to my local quilt shop to find a backing. Those poor ladies didn't know what to make of my quilt. I think that they appreciated the work, but didn't quite get the skulls and skeletons. But, they were friendly enough and agreed with me when I decided on the Kaffee Fassett fabric to back it with. They did talk me into quilting it with variegated thread which I'm not sure I love, but Bran likes it. I'm hoping that Brad likes it as well.

It's in the mail to Brad and Jim next week. I hope they don't fall over laughing. :)

Another Give Away!

Heather of A La Mode Fabric is offering another give away. Yummy Munki Munki and other Heather Ross designed fabric is included! Go check it out. :)

http://alamodefabric.blogspot.com/

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well I don't have anything new to post as far as my projects. I'm working slowly on a couple of things, but I'm really focusing on a quilt my mother made. She made the quilt top and shipped it to me to back, quilt, and bind. It's totally not my taste - but it's cute. Maybe I'll share when it's done.

Meanwhile though I did take a stab at royal icing! I made the cookie dough, then left in in the fridge for a week. lol. When I did get to the cutting, baking, and icing step Bran wanted to help. Actually we did the whole thing in short bursts. Letting the cookies cool completely and letting the icing dry before moving on the next step. It really wasn't as time consuming as I thought it would be - so we'll be icing more cookies in the future. Bran's not really artistic, but his cookies were fun and whimsical. Fun times. :)

Happy Valentine's Day, Lunar New Year, and Mardi Gras! :)

New Project

Last post I said I was going to participate in the latest Oh, Fransson quilt along. I purchased a jelly roll of Robert Kaufman pastels and thought I'd use vintage sheets. But, once the jelly roll was delivered I realized how nice it would look with some Munki Munki. So, I'm working on some ideas that will show my Munki Munki off (and some other Heather Ross I had stashed) and use the pastel jelly roll. I think I'll start cutting tomorrow. :)

The funny thing is, once I laid out all my Munki Munki fabric I realized that most of the fabrics relate to me personally. Not so much the regular Heather Ross, though I do love them all, but the Munki Munki fabric in particular.

My mom mailed me quilt top this week that she'd like me to quilt and bind for her. Guess I've got to get that started as well. She's also leaving it to me to get backing, binding, and batting for the quilt as well. Oh well, it's not like I needed an excuse to buy more fabric! :D

Here's to 2010!

I sure felt like I'd accomplished more than 10 quilts in 2009. In my defense though, I had pieced at least 2 large sized quilt tops that are still to be quilted. I'm currently working on quilting one of those two and the other is on the list to be completed next. So, those will be included in the completed quilts of 2010 group. lol.

In the next week or so I'm going to participate in another "Oh Fransson" quilt along. I just LOVE the look of her quilts. :) In fact the "Mix Tape" quilts that I've pieced 3 of in 2009 and helped my mom piece at Christmas this year are her design. I'm planning on using Jelly Rolls in pastels and vintage sheets for the blocks. Since the first quilt along I participated in I've become a huge fan of the vintage sheets. I'm totally loving the total 70's vibe they have. :) I'm kinda missing that avocado green stove and oven I had in Corpus Christi! I knew then they'd be in vogue again someday. lmao.

So in the first week of January I made the adorable baby quilt posted below. I thought I'd give it as a gift, but I think I'll be posting it for sale instead in my Etsy shop. I'm not sure that the recipient would have appreciated it. You know the type...


I turn 40 tomorrow. I'm not sure I'm ready for it.

On the 10th Day of Christmas...

Mom and Dad came out for Christmas this year and are leaving tomorrow. Boohoo. :(

We celebrated Christmas together on New Year's Eve. Let me tell you...celebrating Christmas on the 7th day of Christmas is FANTASTIC! We went to the mall on December 29th, it was empty and everything was on sale. Talk about stress free Christmas shopping!

Mom loved the Christmas Mix Tape quilt I made, so she raided my Christmas fabric stash and pieced her own. :) Yesterday I quilted it for her and today I finished the binding. It's adorable. A little "country" for my taste, but still adorable.

In Mid-December

Well it's almost Christmas and I'm not sure I'm ready, lol. With Christmas less than a week away: I've only purchased three presents, none of them wrapped, and my parents called me two days ago to tell me that they're coming out for Christmas this year after all. Well, that's exciting! I think we'll have Christmas on New Year's Day. That sounds like a plan!

Friday night was our office Christmas party and last night Bran and I hosted a Christmas party here at that house. Not very many guests came to either party, but they were still plenty of fun. Tonight I'm playing a Christmas gig in New Orleans at the Chapel of the Holy Comforter. I'm sure they'll have a party after the performance. There will be more people at this party, but it won't be nearly as fun as Friday or Saturday's parties! :)

Anyways I've gotten a couple of quilts finished in the last month. On Thanksgiving weekend I finished a linen and cotton hourglass quilt and this week I completed a Christmas quilt. They're both lap sized and were the first two I've ever quilted using my new B-Line quilting frame. Now if I could just get a sewing machine with a longer throat, then I'd be all good! :)

Merry Christmas!