Near the end of our BOW's

Can't believe how fast this year is moving along, just counted and we have around 44 days till Christmas!!!!
Scarry thought huh?!!!!

Of course this also means that Barbara Brackman's Civil War Blocks of the Week are also drawing to a rapid close.  

We're up to #45, Port and Starboard.

This block was supposed to have a nautical theme and the only nautical print I had to include in this weeks' blocks was the little repro blue dot print!   I love doing HST's, so this was a joy to put together!!

Last week #44, Union.

A great block, but with all those HST's that were an odd-ball size I decided to use paper foundation piecing for this one!  As usual I had a hard time deciding which fabrics to use, but the centre floral print really determined the colours for the rest of the block! 

I also had a completion over the past couple of weeks.  I finally finished handquilting a small quilt designed by Kathy Tracy of SmallQuiltTalk, she has a great blog http://sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/ and yahoo group to which I belong.

Last year she put together a special 6 part series called 'The Americal Schoogirl Club' in booklet form.  I have only completed the first two so far!   They are beautifully presented little projects which has a page of history attached to each set of instructions.

This is the first one!

 

It is the sweetest little design!  I just used some small scraps for the nine-patch blocks and some darker prints for the setting blocks and border.   The border print I found is a little different, it is where the design is actually woven into the fabric, it also allowed me to handquilt to accentuate that design. 

Here is a close-up!

It sort of reminds me of winter in quaint rural village!!   

I completed this quilt last year and have it hanging on a wall in my living area where I can see it everyday!!!

Number two of the ASC is the latest completion, although it did lay aside as a flimsy for a year!

The pinwheels posed a real challenge due to their small size, so I decided to paper foundation them for greater accuracy!!

I used the fabric range called 'Reflections of an Era Past'  by Paula Barnes of Bonnie Blue Quilts (Marcus Fabrics).

In this side shot you can see the quilting.  I machine quilted the inner portion of the quilt, and handquilted the small inner and larger outer border.

I am quite happy with the result, I love the scrunched up look the quilt gets after it is washed!

Incidently I think Kathy still has some of the 6 parts still available, although not all.  You can check in at her blog if you are interested!!!

I am now working on some Christmas gifties and trying to finish handquilting a small four-patch, another of Kathy's designs.   

As much as I love working with Reproduction fabrics, I also have a love of Japanese fabrics!  My Quiltbee group wanted a small project which I put together, so I am using some beautiful textured Japanese fabrics for my version, the other ladies are using whatever they like, some are using brights, others repros and contemporary.  I'll share some of the blocks in my next post!!

Thankyou for dropping by, and I appreciate your comments!!!   Hope your fingers are busy being creative!!!

Take it easy,
Merilyn