Decisions

I recently started a small winter table runner, but have come up with a challenge about what to put at the ends.

My original plan was to put the cardinal print at each end.  This print has a black background with some small random white dots, so I thought it would work well with the black and white snowflake prints.

Then I was going to put some rickrack along the edge where the main part and the ends meet.

But I'm not sure I like the cardinal print with the rest of the runner, so I thought maybe black on the ends would be better,

with the white rickrack.
I do like it better than the cardinals.

Then I thought maybe using black rickrack might work okay with the cardinals.  With the black rickrack, I don't mind having the cardinals on the ends as much as I did with the white.  But if I use black, I'll need to get a wider piece than this one. 

But I think I still like the black on the ends best, maybe using black rickrack instead of white.

So, until I make a final decision, this runner remains on my design wall.


I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday

Recent Purchases

I'm so excited about some new quilting books I just received.  Connecting Threads was having a 40% off sale on all books, so I took the opportunity to get a couple.

Free-Motion Quilting has great designs and step-by-step diagrams for machine quilting on a domestic sewing machine.  Doodle Quilting has loads of quilting designs, so I should be able to branch out from stitch-in-the-ditch and meandering.  There are several great quilt patterns using charm squares and jelly rolls in A Cut Above.  I've already dog-eared several pages of quilts I want to make.  And lastly, ever since I attended Eleanor Burns' show in Paducah last April, featuring quilts from her new book El's Kitchen, I've been wanting to buy it.

And here are some recent fabric purchases. 

These are a couple pieces of Pam Kitty Picnic.  I love all the Pam Kitty lines, and have not been successful at finding them around here.  When I was at a wonderful quilt shop in Canada, there they were, and I just couldn't leave without buying a little of the fabric.

This charm pack is from that same shop.  The other two pieces and pattern are from a local quilt shop.  I want to make something related to Valentine's Day, so these will be perfect!

Now I'm off to make something wonderful with these new purchases.

Another Quilt Top

Hello there.

Here is another quilt top that I sewed together when visiting my friend a couple of weeks ago.

A current color-love of mine is turquoise, and pairing it with darker pinks really appealed to me.  I really like the way it came together.

Now, of course, this must be added to my UFO stack.  I may put it at the top, though, because I like the pattern and colors so much that I'll want to get it finished quickly.


Linking up with Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party and Freemotion by the River

New Projects

Hi!  We're back from visiting our good friends; had a great New Year's Eve and played lots of cards during the week we were there.  Most people who are traveling in winter go south, but we went north where it was even colder than it is here at home.  But that meant lots of time for quilting with my best friend.

I had time to do the piecing on five projects while I was there; it helps, though, that I had cut out all the pieces before I left home.

Here are two of the tops I finished.

This is a table runner that is wintry looking.  I think I'll use it in July when I start complaining about the heat.  It might remind me to be happy with July temperatures.

This is a close-up of one end.

This one is a 5-yard pattern, but because I fussy-cut the large squares, I didn't have enough fabric to make it a 5x7 block quilt.  But this 5x5 block is still big enough to be a lap size quilt.

In the next post, I'll show you the other three tops I finished.

Stay warm!


Linking to Sew Darn Crafty