90th birthday quilt

I made this quilt at the request of my mother in law. She commissioned it as a gift for her mother and gave it to her this August for her 90th birthday.

It was a challenge to make, each piece is a one inch square. The entire quilt is 79 inches square; I'm not a calculator, but that is a lot of tiny squares! I had many arguments with this quilt, we had a hard time living together for a while, but in the end it came together and I met my deadline.
I quilted it with dark brown thread in a meander pattern, I wanted something simple because the blocks are detailed. (and because I was ready to bind it, put it in a box and mail it far away from me)

I do think it is a beautiful quilt and I am glad that my mother in law and I could choose the fabric and the pattern together.

Fabric Boutique shopping spree in Vegas

While on vacation in Las Vegas last month I made time to take a cab over to Fabric Boutique. Not a typical Vegas outing, but I really enjoyed the store. I bought a lot of fabric to make some Christmas gifts. The cab rides there and back to the hotel were not cheap, so in order to make the trip worthwhile, I had to buy a lot of fabric. At least, that is how I am rationalizing the shopping spree.

I am planning to make several shopping totes using the Heather Bailey pattern, New Leaf Folding Totes. The food fabric will be the placed in the center panel and the other two fabrics will be the inside and outside of each tote. Exceptions: the garlic purse will have the dark brown fabric on the inside and outside of the tote, and the blue floral fabric will be the center panel for the fabric group without food.
I am going to spend this weekend sewing with my aunt and cousin. We have been known to sew until two in the morning, so as long as I can do that without making any late night mistakes, I should make a lot of progress.

I also bought fabric for a reversible purse, Heather Bailey's Marlo Bloom Handbag.

Honestly, I may need to keep this one for myself. I haven't made many things that are reversible, but if I can do it successfully I think this bag will turn out to be pretty cute. I know that when I see my aunts this weekend they will be skeptical of the purple and orange combination, but I am hoping that there is enough orange in this purple batik to pull it all together in the end.

Ty Pennington fabric challenge

After brainstorming about some different local charities and non profit organizations the Austin Modern Quilt Guild has made a decision about where the product of our Ty Pennington fabric challenge will be donated. We have decided to use our many beautiful blocks to make two quilts. These two quilts will be donated to two families living in North Austin whose homes burned down on August 22 of this year.
Thanks to the organizations that helped our guild to make this donation possible: Westminster Fabrics and Ty Pennington Fabrics for donating 12 yards of fabric from the stunning Impressions collection, Walker Hall Design for donating additional Pennington fabric, and The Quilt Store in Austin for making a donation as well.
Thank you to all of you in the guild that have helped by making one or more blocks to use in these quilts.
I am very excited to start the next step of our process; piecing the tops and backs of these two special quilts. We should be ready to deliver them to the families very soon.