Teal Mini Swap

**I started this post in September, but wanted to wait until my partner received her quilt before publishing.  I received my little quilt in October, and then forgot I started this post!  I found it after writing about my Christmas sewing**

I joined the Teal Mini Swap (https://evapaigequilts.com/pages/teal-mini-swap) again for this year.  It is an ovarian cancer fundraiser that runs in September (Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month).  The fabric is Art Gallery Fabrics Woodblock Splendid-1109.


I decided to buy a little extra of the focus fabric since participants receive so little... I needed room for error.  I still have a little left, but I was able to create three different quilts out of a half yard.



I liked the design and wondered what it would be like in a larger quilt, but honestly I was tired of the fabric.  I think I was needing more "scrappy" teals vs a single teal.  My partner noted that she liked brights, so I thought about sending her the Kaffe magenta, but then I noticed I had a block turned in the final as I was quilting!  My second quilt that matched the original also has a turned block AND a drop of sewing machine oil on it.  I had to take apart my Juki when the knee lift lever wasn't working.  Thankfully these machines are so easy to work on, a screw just needed to be tightened with an allen wrench so the levers would meet.



And then my original blocks had a too-busy background.  So now I have a few orphan blocks and no thoughts on what to do with.  Into the orphan block box they went.  Someday they'll find a quilt needing them!  I made three individual quilts, the two I kept will find a person in the future for a "just because" gift.  Anyone?



Here is the quilt that I mailed off.  I also made a pouch out of one of the blocks:





And here is the beautiful quilt that I received:



It has been a couple of months since receiving, and I am still enjoying it on my design wall. It is a cheerful little quilt.

Catching up with a couple of finishes

I am not sure what has happened to my quilting bug.  It has waned on and off over the years, but it seems like the past 5yrs it has really taken a nosedive.  I am trying to keep it fresh--or as fresh as I can... and boy I can find some great projects that really excite me... however, the doing part!

After finishing up Daniel's Eagle Scout quilt, I was drained.  I joined in on the Humble Quilts doll quilt exchange, I enjoy that one with hopes it would spark something.  And I think it did get me going to work on Stitch Happens.  I started two of these, one (pic below) is a quilt I gave as a birthday gift to a dear friend.  I had planned to give her the other one however (still not finished), but I wasn't happy with the quilting (I admit I am too critical of myself) so I went with straight line quilting on this one--and it still wasn't the way I wanted.  Shift Happened vs Stitch Happens.  It's still a great pattern though.


Here is the little quilt (18" square) that I created for the Teal Mini Swap which is an Ovarian Cancer fundraiser:


My partner likes cats, The Broncos, orange, rabbits.  Perfect.. I love using orange, and I planned right away to create something with a cat.

Here is the transition I went through as I created this quilt:
I first sketched out an idea with flying geese and a cat under a tree.  My tree in the sketch was larger and this just wasn't working for me.


The next step involved looking for a paper pieced cat pattern, and craftsy has some great ones in silhouette.  Adding the butterfly was needed.


Overall I am pleased with how it turned out.  My quilting wasn't perfect, but it was ok.


Here is the quilt I received from my partner:

I love how it turned out.  For a first time experience with this exchange, I had a good time with it and I may do it again in the future.

My current project:
I am currently working on a new quilt called Madame Rouge by French General.  It's a very simple string quilt (though the strings are suppose to match up, so not quite so freewheeling).  I finished the top on Saturday and will show that one in the near future.  I have an idea in mind for quilting already--that rarely happens!  Looking at the sidebar of how many quilts I have started this year, I am surely lacking in creativity!  I do plan to do Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year--how can I not?  She has orange in it :)   Here's to hoping that the new year I get some sparks of creativity lit under me again.