Lynette Anderson BOM 2015 continued...

This tote bag is made from a drawing/painting that my daughter Zoe created. She visited us last week and sent this along for me. I love it! The colors are very true to her original piece. The original is only about 6 inches square. You can look at the bag and her other offerings at society6.com/zoemarissa

This Precision Trimmer is from Marsha McCloskey and can be purchased at her website http://www.marshamccloskey.com/prectrim6.html

I was using it today making the turquoise and dark gray block below on the right. The turquoise triangles are actually made by sewing two squares together. This is a nine patch design with a large turquoise triangle and the white and gray quarter square triangles sewn together. The squares are made a bit large and trimmed to size. Using the precision trimmer makes trimming so easy because you can place the seams on the diagonal lines with the ruler circle in the center of that intersection. Perfectly trimmed!

Here are all the bits and pieces I've made so far. The Naughty Fox and top two pieced blocks are from Month 5. Next comes Rabbit Love and two Night Vision blocks which is the turquoise and dark gray block. Kind of like the block called Card Trick? 

As a reminder, I am using Misty Fuse on the applique pieces and machine stitching the edges with blanket stitch and zig zag. So far, so good! I love the Naughty Fox block. Henny Penny looks rather unruffled by her ride, doesn't she? Little does she know...maybe the rabbits will save her. I'd better get moving on Month 6. Month 7/July is Goody Two Shoes and features a very self-satisfied cat. 

I still don't understand why we did the upper and lower banners first. There better be enough wiggle room for me to attach these blocks and then the borders. Fudge factor. 

The two blocks below are called Golden Gate.

Maine Quilts this week! I'm going to bring Zoe's tote bag so if you see it say hello! Let's see: Champagne Preview, Friday night murder mystery dinner, Saturday morning class on color with Bill Kerr. I'll need Sunday to recover. 

Happy Quilting! 

New Pursuits

My life has changed over the last few months and for the better, I'm happy to say! I have a new job that is much less stressful than my previous job and for that I am very grateful. My hours are from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Of course, that means I get up very early in the morning but I also have plenty of time in the afternoon to enjoy being outdoors and in my garden before suppertime. I have a cubicle and these silk flowers help keep my smiling during my workday.

My friends at my last job gave me a gift certificate for a local nursery and I was able to buy lots of flowers for hanging baskets. 

I cleaned my sewing room and put many fabrics on my bookcase. I cleared out a lot of old fabrics ....

 and took them to our annual auction at my Back Roads quilt group.

 My friend Donna brought her issue of Quiltmania to our embroidery session last month. Here is my newest obsession. Since I've been working on Lynnette Anderson's BOM featured on The Quilt Show, I've discovered that I enjoy making hexagons. This gorgeous and intriguing quilt begins with a hexagon center and then is surrounded with so many fascinating blocks. Resistance may be futile. This version of an antique British quilt uses repros and Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I've got plenty of repros and will need to buy some KF fat quarters but what is Maine Quilts for if not to support the vendors?

My niece Mandy and I went to a yard sale last month. The woman having the sale is a fabric artist and she had plenty of supplies. On the left is a 2 yard piece of navy and a 7 yard piece of blue silk. Each piece was $3. Yes, who could resist? Light table $1? Say no more, already used many times. And then some odds and ends for $2. 

I'm on vacation! Zoe is here visiting for the week from North Carolina. She was hoping to escape the heat and it was 94 and humid her first day here. Fortunately that didn't last so we had a comfortable day creating with Mandy Russell, Zoe's cousin. 

We stamped. 

We rolled out ink.

Hand dyed linen.

Zoe's little field of dreams.

You can see our thermofax screens and silk screen on the table. Oh, hanging from the doorknob is a bag with Zoe's mandala painting on it. You can buy one here!