Batik Block Swap

Here are the 16 blocks that I got back from the Capital Quilts Batik Block swap! They are absolutely wonderful!

I went on a Saturday to pick these beauties up. At the store, I immediately opened them up, marveled at them, and then started picking out more coordinating fabric!

I took that fabric home, washed it, ironed it, and cut out more drunkard paths blocks. I watched several episodes of Battlestar Galactica while doing all of this. I also interspersed some house cleaning. I did this during a weekend that the spousal unit was off to a High School event.

Last Monday, I went to the first Moonlight Paths quilt class at Capital Quilts. It was good to get a refresher! I loved the method that the instructor used, better than the books method. I made 6 more blocks during that 2 hour period. I made 26 more over the next 3 days. Its been a lot of fun and a bit addictive!

How many? Well, apparently I cut enough fabric to make a total of 52 more blocks - for a total of 100.! I only counted because the other classmates wanted to know how many I had cut. I didn't know because at the time it wasn't important.

I'll be posting more of these blocks soon!

Name This Quilt, Part II: Around Tuit

I've decided that the name "Around Tuit" as suggested by Myra. Her description is spot on.

I took me over two years to finally use my templates to make the quilt. I kept putting it off, and putting it off. I think it was fear about totally mangling the project.

Thanks Myra!

I have been working diligently on some drunkard's path blocks. I've got 38 right now and about 52 more to go. More or less. I'll post a picture of 16 of the blocks.

More later!

Circles 1

Circles 1
Originally uploaded by i_bugsy.

This using the 3.5" drunkard's path template from Elisa Wilson's company Elisa's Backporch.

I wanted to try smaller curved piecing having 'mastered' the 8-1/2" three curved piece in the Name This Quilt blog entry.

For the most part, I've pegged it. I use this as a sitting pad for my chair at work. There's something about the Summer time (heat and humidity) and the polyester chair cushion that causes me to sweat! So a cotton pad does the trick.

This particular quilt was too small, however, and I'm making a bigger one. For some reason, I'm having problems with this round of curved piecing and I'm trying to figure it out.

I've got some more pictures I'll be posting soon. Gotta go finish cleaning the house!

Name This Quilt

This is the quilt pictured in my post about binding my quilt. I didn't name it and am seeking help. So if you have suggestion please leave it in the comments and I'll post what I choose.

First, a little history about this quilt.

I picked up these templates 2 years ago! Yes, 2 years ago! I did this during the annual Quilter's Quest in the Washington DC area. The participants were my quilting buddy, T;my partner's mother, R, and myself.

The Quilter's Quest is over Veteran's Day weekend, we typically do it in 2 days. It covers 14 stores from Hagerstown, Md to Annapolis, MD; from Centreville, VA to La Plata, MD. Its a big area!

The goal with this template is to make my niece a quilt! Note that I also picked out fabric for her quilt at this time!

I copied the templates for R, so that she could make a quilt. She did! It looked great!

The fabric is left over from a queen size quilt that I made for my partner and myself to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

Ultimately it will hang in our bedroom over our conversation table - which is another story.

I finally decided to tackle this template and just do it! (Almost like a Nike commercial!). So, I did. I had problems and issues, but I managed to make a pretty decent quilt out of it.

Usually when I make a quilt, the name pops into my head. Not this one. I guess I was too focused on trying to do it correctly.

So come up with a name and we'll see what we see!

Almond Cosmo

It seems like I'm on a Cosmo kick!
Tonight's recipe is:

• 1 part Stoli Vanil Vodka


• 1/2 part Creme do Noyaux (Almond)


• 1-1/2 part cranberry-blueberry juice

Shake with ice and serve in a chilled martini glass. Enjoy!

This liqueur reminds me of cherry flavored cough syrup. Its not a strong flavor and is easily hidden with the other ingredients. Err on the side of not enough!

Binding A Quilt

Myra recently asked how people did their binding on their quilts. So here's a photo of how I do mine.

I fold the quilt on my lap and then use a blind stitch to stitch the binding to the back of the quilt. Typically, I start a little before a corner and then work my way from right to left. For some reason, getting one corner completed early on is a morale booster.

The picture was a bit of a challenge as I had to set up my camera, enabled the timer, sat down, positioned myself, then used my remote control to initiate the camera. It worked better than I thought.

The quilt I'm binding here, is part of my "Year of the Curve" series. I'll show it and others soon.