a finish, a start, and a ufo-no-mo . . .

Well, a UFO no more, almost.  Well, not even that.  Random blocks no more. Actually, a completed, pieced top in the making and almost finished.  But that doesn't work as well in the title!

I can't believe it's been almost TWO year since I received these Journey Steps blocks from a block swap my Stitcher's Group had . . .

I blogged about it here.  And I took the blocks off my wall and didn't fool with them again.  I didn't particularly want to make any more blocks.  And then there was the dilemma I had with a couple of them being too small.  *But* we'd agreed to share our finished tops as a group at this month's guild meeting. Which is Thursday.  And I was feeling the pressure to participate.  So I pulled them out . . . 

. . . and started playing around in EQ to see if I could find a setting I liked and could work with, without having to make more blocks. These are some options I came up with:

A six-by-six block placement allowed me to square up the setting and use all the blocks .... by using the smaller blocks as cornerstones in the border.  

Then I decided I wanted the corner blocks to be inset in the border:

The center is now pieced!  I like this *SO* much better than the original placement.

I'm headed out to one of my LQSs to pick out a Civil War print for the border and one for the binding.  I do believe I'll have show and tell for Thursday!  (Although when it will actually be quilted, bound, and completely finished, who knows???) Linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times and Design Wall Monday!

I also finished up my little September apple block:

What fun it was!  I even bit the bullet and FMQ'd little leaves all over the plaid. I'm particularly pleased with the result.  And now I'm all ready for a new month in my little quilt stand!

Finally, I started a new project . . . 

This is from Edyta Sitar's Seasonal Silhouettes collection -- the October block (surprise, surprise)!  I purchased three sets of the laser cut kits.  AWESOME!  I'll frame it out and then quilt it.  It's too big to go in my quilt stand, but I want to leave them as stand-alones.  (I have two more kits -- November's and December's!)

And I also 'dabbled' in cream cheese mints last weekend ... for a friend's daughter's wedding reception. Three hundred eighty cream cheese mints.  

Whew!  Her colors were sunflower yellow and azure blue.  And sunflowers decorated everything -- my kind of decor! The wedding was beautiful and the mints were a hit. I'm just glad they're not in my house any more!

I'm off to get into my Monday groove!  Y'all have a *great* week!!

:)

a blast to the stash . . .

I'm still struggling to catch up my life to the blog!  I get one post up and fall behind two!  LOL!  I can't complain ... I'm loving *and* living life, right??!

I figured that since every inch of fabric that I added to my stash in July was purchased in a single day, this was the perfect time time talk about it.  I've heard friends (both local and blogging) talk about "Assembly Day" for several years now, but because I wasn't a member of the Tennessee Valley Quilting Association (either as a member-at-large or through my Huntsville guild, which doesn't belong), I've never been able to go.  I thought about joining up as an at-large member just so I *could* go this year, but then saw that the dates to make reservations had long passed.  I mentioned that to darling Teresa, of A Quilt and A Prayer, who had said she was going to be there, and guess what??!  I ended up being able to get a place where someone in her group wasn't able to go!  So I lickety-split sent in my TVQA registration and headed for my first ever Assembly Day!

We got there early and picked up our programs and 'favors'.

Isn't this little bag with the matching finger pin cushion, cute?  Then we grabbed some seats, as close to the front as possible.  

The emcees were quite hilarious!

One of the main reasons I wanted to go was to see the day's speaker -- Edyta Sitar, of Laundry Basket Quilts.  Oh gracious, she was marvelous!  Probably one of the best speakers I've ever heard.  She's an incredibly gifted storyteller -- full of humor.  She shared with us close to (if not more than) a hundred quilts!  The woman is a quilting MACHINE!  I tried to get a picture of every quilt she shared, but even though we were sitting relatively close, my camera (or phone -- I can't remember which I was taking pics with) wasn't quite up to the job.  Plus her husband, who was her "quilt holding assistant," would not stay still!  LOL! Anyway, here's a random sampling . . . 

Aren't they lovely?  I wish I had the time to share the story behind each one!  If you ever have the opportunity to hear Edyta speak, JUMP on it!  Truly, I laughed and cried with her.  This woman can work a tale!

Another of the reasons I wanted to attend was the vendors!  There were close to a dozen different vendors present, all with some fun stuff.  I picked up this darling panel at one...

Basically because of this sample piece they had hanging...

I know, right??!  I loved the mini lights they had attached to it!!

And I picked up a few assorted fat quarters at another...

And at Edyta's 'booth' I picked up a bit--ahem--quite a lot.  Like her book, and a sweet *pumpkin* (what else?!) pattern and three of her new silhouette patterns -- which have the precut fabrics (all adhesive-ready and everything). All you do is arrange, press, and then quilt as desired! I thought it would be fun to try!  

I also fell in love with every single batik she had available.  They were in 1/2 yard cuts, so I limited myself to just these eight:

A nice fall sampling, I thought!  I also got her to jump in a pic with me after she signed my book.

This was after her program, so she had to have been worn out -- but she was still gracious and kind (and beautiful)!

One of the vendors--Decherds Needleworks--is usually a staple at Assembly Day, but he didn't come this year, since the program was held less than five minutes from his shop.  But he still had his traditional $1/fat quarter sale!  We hopped over there during the lunch break and I found quite a few little goodies there...

One dollar per fat quarter??!!  Oh yes, that was a dangerous stop!

But the *best* reason to go to this year's Assembly Day was that I got to give a hug to this beautiful blogger:

Teresa is such a sweetheart -- allowing me to crash their group and hangout with them for the day.  It was such a pleasure to meet her (and by the way, she was way quicker about blogging this day than I was -- read her post about it, here)!

So...all that to share my July stash enhancement report:

Used/donated this month: 1.0 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 20.25 yards

Purchased/added this month: 14.25 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 71.25 yards

Net used/donated for 2013: -51.0 yards

LOL! Whoops! Looking back at this time last year, though, I'm still down about 15 yards to the net (and the purchase) and not far off on the used/donated. So that's a plus! Linking this up to Judy's Stash Report for this week (and probably her Design Wall, too) over at Patchwork Times!

And finally . . . I'd like some input. Which backdrop do you like best:

(1) or

(2)?

That's it for me ... I've got 300 cream cheese mints to make for a wedding on Saturday! Gots to get busy!

:)