The Bruno Chronicles...Part 2...Becoming a Country Boy

Guest blogger...Bruno.

I thought you might want to see where I live. They call it the country. It's very different than living in the city. In the city there were sidewalks and streets to cross. I hardly ever got my feet wet and certainly not muddy. I was always at the end of a leash. I don't own a leash any more.

I can go wherever I want, but I never go without my mom or dad. I used to step around puddles, now I go through them. At first, I stayed right on the path, now I pop into the woods every now and then (I don't go too far, though) and I'm learning to like the tall grass. I, am a country boy.
I usually start my morning walk on the path behind my house. Want to come along?
Don't worry, I'll wait for you to catch up. This back road is steep and it's muddy and slippery today. I like that!
You don't have to come in here with me, but it's really fun. Can you see me? You never know what you might find.

Today the find was a little gruesome, but awesome!
Here I am. We've made it all the way to the pond. Yes, this is a pond. It's full of WATER. It took me awhile to figure out that this pond thing can be lots of fun. Be careful though. That water is tricky.
Come on in...the water is fine!
There are sticks to fetch, frogs to chase and lots of mud to play in. I'm a fabulous swimmer. Eat my dust!
Wheee, let's do it again!
After a nice dip, I like to enjoy the fruits of my labor. You'll have to find your own stick!
Are you coming?
Sorry, can't wait, I've got to get home...my mom is calling!

Another One Bites The Dust

I'm on a roll...or maybe it's more like a mission. The 'Snippets' quilt is finished.
I think I'm pleased though I would do some things differently next time. Like different quilting. I'm definitely making this in a larger version. The next one will be better.
I do love the binding...a perfect complement to the snippets.
The back is sort of fun.
After trimming all that bias joined binding I had all of these scrap triangles...I was about to toss them into the scrap bucket and then I remembered Amanda Jean's ticker tape doll quilt. I used her method and made my own version with triangles.
I left some blank space simply because I liked the look and how it added a little movement to the piece. Thanks AJ...great technique!!
Off to pull the next UFO from the closet!!

A Touch of Spring in the Fall

'Monet's Flower Garden' is complete. One UFO out of the closet and finished. One down, many to go.
You can see the painting that was the inspiration for this quilt here. I think I achieved that 'dreamy' feeling I was going for. It only took me a year.

Oldies But Goodies

The ' Embracing Fall' top isn't an oldie, but I think it's going to be a goodie. After much math (arrg!) and a search for more background fabric, it's finally a top.
It's a full size....I love the panels at a 45 degree angle like this.
Here's the room where it's going to live. It's hard to make a quilt that's masculine enough for my boys to sleep under. I think the quilting on this is going to make it come alive. I have a couple of shams to make too.
Here's the oldie part. Some of you may remember the 'Monet's Flower Garden' quilt made from vintage sheets. I've ventured into my UFO closet...it's scary in there. So many quilt tops to finish. I'm dedicating myself to clearing out that closet. I'm planning on giving myself an empty UFO closet for Christmas. Isn't that a nice gift?
This one is first on the list. It's basted and ready to quilt. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Fabric Fanatic

Most of you know I'm pretty much a fabric fanatic. Been collecting prints for a graffiti quilt I'm designing for my oldest son. Found some fun ones lately.

Speaking of fabric fanatics. Have you heard of the Fabfanatic site? It's a fabric coop that allows quilters, or any fabric lover to buy designer fabrics at a reduced price. It's an interesting concept. I signed up to give it a try to see how it works. They have Denyse Schmidt's new line, Hope Valley for a great price.

I'd be interested to know what you all think about it.
no name on this one...but it's by blank quilting pattern #BTR 3972
the large letter are from American Jane's Peas and Carrots (it's out of print)

i've forgotten what the black letters are from...

the white small letters are Michael Miller's word search (hard to find)
this one is the home dec weight of moda's authentic line

these are also from moda's authentic line

Embracing Fall

It's been terribly dreary here...gray, chilly. Yesterday the sun emerged...if only for a day. I'm trying to embrace the colors and feeling of fall in a positive way.

I finished the 11 panels for this quilt. I had to take out the graph paper to help me put them together in the way I envisioned. It's rare that I take to pen and paper, but this one is stumping me a bit.
I do love the fabrics, the color and I think I'm going to love the quilt. I'm trying to focus on bed sized quilts these days. This one is going to be a full size. Hopefully it will be a top later today.

Tutorial Alert

Hi all,

Wanted to let you know that I'm moving all my hosted tutorials (the ones on the sidebar) to another site. The pillow that I put up yesterday is already be done and should work for you...the others should be moved by this evening. So, if you're having trouble downloading them, wait until tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Have a great weekend.

A post without pictures is pretty boring...so for your viewing pleasure...

The many faces of Bruno.

In Response to Your Requests

So many of you asked how to make these pillows, so I made another one over the weekend from some of the pink scraps from my 'scrap to treasure' group. It's on its way to a friend. I hope she likes it. Here's the tutorial for how you can make one too. Enjoy! I entered it in the Sew Mama Sew Scrapbusters contest. Click on the link in the sidebar to see lots of cool entries.

My favorite part is the pebble quilting...I'm hooked! (thanks Alissa!)

Creepifying

In a burst of "I feel like myself again" energy I cleaned and rearranged the living room last night and in the process I did a little creepifying (if that's not a word, it should be) for Halloween. A spooky tree..
a severed hand....it's in my dish cabinet and moves eerily and rattles the plates every time there is a noise in the kitchen. Makes setting the table or grabbing a glass for a drink a freaky experience.
...a few beakers and jack o' lantern faces....
These may not be particularly creepy, but they could be on the right quilt. Can't you see a skull quilted with these pebbles. Imagine the possibilities...
I can't seem to locate the head with the bulging eyes that I usually put on my front door...where could that head have run off to?

...do you creepify?

Fall Quilt Festival

My entry for Amy's Fall Quilt Festival is the quilt top I made on Saturday, 'Snippets.' The story isn't special, but it's the story of how I work. Remember these pincushions? Well, that's where this quilt began. The "snippets", the centers of the blocks, are leftovers from my pincushion making session. The route to this quilt was a bit circuitous.
With the pincushion leftovers, I put them together sort of like this quilt (I've been thinking about snippets for awhile.) I used a recycled linen dress for the background. I ended up with two 20" square blocks that I fully intended to make into pillows. After looking at them on the design wall I didn't love them, in fact I didn't even like them. So, out came the rotary cutter (I didn't take the time to rip), I sliced and diced and ended up with a bunch of snippets. I sewed some together to lengthen them. I was thinking elongate...so I did. I used the rest of the dress to frame the new snippets. So far, so good. I was liking what I saw. I wanted some color, so next step was to add more sashing. I looked inside the snippets and pulled some great red and blue fabric from my stash...dots, numbers, pez, all sorts of snazzy fabric. I sashed ALL of the blocks in red and blue and put them on the design wall, stood back and my heart sank. That wasn't it at all. The snazzy prints overwhelmed the snippets. In fact, they simply disappeared.

At that point my hubby brought down Saturday's mail. It was my fabric order from Anina and in that package was a yard of Michael Miller's garden pindots. I pinned the fabric on the design wall...that was it, so more slashing...again no ripping, I cut and slashed and then I resashed the snippets. I would love to say that the blue block was a design decision, but I simply ran out of the pindots. It's serendipity, though...I love that one blue block.
The red pindots sparkle from across the room, and seem to beckon you to look closer at the snippets. That's what I wanted. At this point I wanted more sashing...I wanted the blocks to stand out, but the linen dress was gone, so I grabbed some natural osnaburg and sashed some more. At that point the blocks were 12" wide, but I decided they were too wide...so I slashed some more...down to 9" and then I framed them with 3.5 inch strips. Came out to be an exact crib size. How's that for planning? Not!
Each of the center snippets are different. Different heights, different widths.
So there were a few more pieces on the cutting table. I needed a few blocks for the back, so I sliced and diced and patched and pieced and made 3 blocks for the back. I love that bias cut and sewn snippet. So much fun!
I need to find some fabric for the back and then I'm off to quilt. I love this quilt. Check out the other amazing entries in the festival. A few have brought tears to my eyes. Thanks Amy!

A Winner and Not Much Else

It hasn't been the week I'd planned. I'm on my 4th day of a migraine and the end is not is sight. I've made it through the days, but I definitely haven't done all the basting I'd planned. Leaning over on hands and knees simply wasn't possible this week. I did manage to finish these pillows. I think they have a nice fall feeling. They're on my living room sofa. Pretty amazing scraps, don't you think? They are the first finished project from my scrap to treasure group. I'm still working on a quilt from the scraps I received. Maybe this weekend I can tackle that again.

So, to the business of the day. I did the random number thingy with the comments from Ben's blog (thanks again) with those that were left on Monday's post and the winner was Nanette! Nanette said, "Oh Gosh Jacquie. I love them all so much. You truly do inspire me. Sometimes I dream an idea and I come here and you've already got it on fabric!"
Nanette blogs at Freda's Hive, and is in the flurry of a wedding. I was so thrilled to count down and see her comment! I wish I could send one to all of you. Nanette, I'll be in touch and get this on the way to you.

Have a great weekend everyone.

This Post Is Brought To You By....Scraps

Scraps are treasures. Sheree sent me a box of scraps from a giveaway and when they arrived I decided that I would make something to share the love...kinda like an unofficial pay it forward. I think Sheree likes pink because there was an abundance of pink scraps in the box, so this is what I came up with:
before quilting...
after quilting and a wash and dry...
The quilts are pink, pink sun, pink clouds, pink back, pink binding. Everything from scraps (Sheree's and mine)...even the background is a scrap from an old tablecloth. Thanks Sheree! If only I had a little girl, or even a pink room, I'd keep this in an instant, but alas, I don't. So, if you'd like this to come to your house, let me know where it might go or who you might give it to. I'll draw a name randomly on Friday. If you left a comment on Ben's blog, consider yourself entered and feel free to enter again! It's 25 x 22.
I made more houses too....I'm up to 21....these all need their sashing.
I might want to live in the Frank Lloyd Wright inspired one.
Amy's blocks are done for her month in the Common Threads virtual quilting bee. Again, fun blocks to make. These range from 2 inches to 6.5 inches.
I'm done making small quilts for a bit. Mostly I've done them to practice with my machine. It's time to break out the big quilts and get them under that machine.

Speaking of scraps and treasures...you should see Penny's 'Scraps to Treasure' quilt. Stunning! I'm working on my scraps to treasure project this week too.