A little quilt that oh just look at the texture the quilting added to this little quilt. Lorre quilted it with Deb's feathers a pattern I chose a lot for my larger quilts just looks antiquey to me.

But what I really wanted to show you is these clips! Wonder clips by Clover , a friend sent them to me as a gift. I am not really a new gadget person if what I use works why look for something new? OMG these clips are amazing, I love how they just are so easy to use and stay exactly where you put them .

So easy to put on and take off, just like an old fashion clothespin. (remember those!)

I will warn you they are expensive , you get a box of 50 , in a nice storage box to keep them in.

Yes I know I will be ordering another box or two....

ok so maybe sometimes there is something better then what I am using I admit it...

have you found something new that makes another job easier???

I borrowed this antique quilt from my friend Lorre (YES I have permission to share it with you) and am going to make a quilt inspired by it. I love when you look at the quilt the chrome yellow just makes you smile. (doesn't it make you smile?) I love how the cheddar (solid fabric by the way) was used not over bearing but noticeable. What I really love about this quilt is how she used poison green for the background of the stars....

something I would not have thought about doing before. Take a closer look....

Here is my favorite block....I LOVE how she used two poison greens in this block you do not notice that until you really study the quilt , I was drawn in instantly to look at this block...

what a treat!

Stay tuned for my version coming up soon.....

And yes the binding is new if your like me and studied the pictures I would have been wondering!

Linda wrote a great review of this book By Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. I have always loved her patterns and her last book for me was one of my all time favorite books published in the past few years, Reasons for Quilts. I was very excited to get her new book, Scrappy Firework Quilts....

don't you just love the pinks, I have to make this one!
I LOVE this quilt too, I love brick quilts and wow set like this the quilt just really speaks to me. (ok don't laugh and don't tell me quilts don't speak to you too!)
This quilt would be such a fun quilt to make and its officially on my list to make as a donation quilt I happen to have a lot of strips I can use!

when I was cleaning out my sewing room I found these packages of fabric I bought at a quilt show last year , as soon as I saw them I realized they were Oakshots, I was shocked! ( and how would I know what oakshot fabrics are from one of my favorite blogs to read lately, I find this blog so inspiring... the quilting edge. check it out!) I just thought they would be great for appliqué so I bought them.... set them on a shelf and sort of forgot about them. Amazing what you find when you clean out your sewing room!!!! I have been wanting to play with solids and just make a few quilts out of my comfort zone should I say? I bought this book awhile ago , read it and put it back on the shelf. Intuitive Color and Design by Jean Wells. As soon as I saw these fabrics opened up like this I had to go get the book again and thought ok pull the fabrics by color to match the cover quilt. No I don't want to make the cover quilt I just want to learn how they chose colors to make quilts like this , I keep questioning why they put the colors together... It was an interesting exercise to do...I can almost admit I get it now....

Think I need to get out Gwen Marstons 37 sketches book out again....

the need to play with solids is still strong!

A fun little quilt, I am calling it true leftovers!

look closely at it ....

Here is how I made it...

As I am cutting the strips I need for another project I kept the end pieces in a pile, normally this pile would be cut into squares for my postage stamp ongoing project , this weekend I decided I wanted to make a little quilt from them. I cut off the selvage and just sewed 5 together matching the sizes as well as I could. I knew I would trim before I sewed the rows together.

now here are my 5 piece units together ready to be sewn into 10 piece units

Yes its true the sizes of the strips are different AND I didn't match the seams

just sew...

auditioning borders, not sure it needs a border but I thought I would see if I found one I loved with it. still debating a border or no border, what do you think?

a few years ago I made this quilt using basically the same method

this is one of my favorite little quilts, it was my first "liberated" quilt!

I hand quilted it and I remember thinking does this really work? Look the seams doesn't match up, too many fabrics that are fighting for your attention! , makes me realize as a quilter I have come a long way!

Thank you for all your kind comments about my wall of little quilts. So many of you asked how to I hang my little quilts? I use the flower head pins, 2 for most quilts if I am concerned I use 3!

Doesn't put holes in my wall, doesn't damage the quilt and for me I like to rotate my little quilts so its very easy to do and its cheap! I hope you can see them clearly in the picture and here they are in the bowl on my cutting table. (the red and cheddar quilt is a reproduction of a quilt in the Sandi Fox book, Small Endearments and Small Wonders by Andrea Balosky. Two of my favorite books for inspiration when I want to make little quilts .)

heres a preview of whats on my cutting table....squares for the postage stamp quilt, always cutting for that and the left overs will be a little quilt soon :), stay tuned!!!!

I was so happy when I received a package in the mail the other day from Tara, I had asked for a few 1 1/2" strips of repros, I am working on a big quilt and I need hundreds and hundreds of them! She was so kind to send me all of these! Thanks again Tara.

My Wall of Little quilts.... I wanted to share this with you as I hope it inspires you to make a little quilt. This is what I see sitting at my sewing machine. Just makes me happy. My own art gallery wall. I really don't think of my quilts as works of art but when I see them on the wall like this I start to think maybe they are....

Ever since I read that Gwen Marston has made 450 or more little quilts I have been thinking about how many I have made and some day maybe I could make that many as well! a new personal goal, maybe! I find making little quilts really rewarding and fulfilling . Mostly its the satisfaction of finishing a quilt in between the queen size quilts I normally make!

Its also about taking time to work on a color combo I might not have tried or used in a big quilt, or trying out a block or just making a little quilt because I was inspired. I am always inspired by antique quilts but there are many times I am inspired by others , here are two books I looked thru yesterday and making nine patches won for one of Gwens quilts in this book....

Well it won't be a quilt top today.....I am off to Lancaster Pa to do a little fabric shopping with some friends! So tell me have I inspired you to make a little quilt????

there are so many good little quilt books out there I will be suggesting more in the next few weeks.

A quick finish last night...
I was cleaning my sewing room yesterday and found this little quilt I made at least a year ago

the blocks are 3" finished. It really needed a border, I don't always put borders on quilts. I find many times they just don't need them. I looked in my closet and looked and instantly pulled out this fabric. I love this fabric for borders! Civil War Homefront by Barbara Brackman for Moda

I had bought probably a 1/2 yard at first and used it on another little quilt a few years ago and loved it, searched for the fabric again and bought a few yards, I hope I never run out of this fabric!!! wishful thinking but its nice to know I can use it again on a few more little quilts.
Really odd to wake up this morning and come into my sewing room with nothing on the cutting table ready to go and such a clean sewing room I even took everything off the bulletin board ...truthfully it feels great! a fresh start, hmmm what will I start today, almost feels

like the first day of school.

I couldn't decide on the cheddars so I made two quilts! This time around

I only wanted to use one cheddar fabric, so out of the norm for me I normally like to use as many different fabrics as possible the more the better!, I wanted the blue fabrics to be the focus, its the blues that keep your eye moving around the quilt, the cheddar has a secondary role in the quilt, you KNOW its there but the blue is the starring role! well at least to me it is!!!!

I had a lot of fun making these two little quilts one is for me and the polka dot one I made to donate to the AAQI and I named it WHAT SIZE, WHICH WAY????

it was fun to make and will have to be trimmed down to a 1" border on top and bottom , so the border sizes will be different , I purposely made the blocks go in different directions...

thought it fit the fight these people are facing everyday.

Thanks Sharon from Indigo Threads Blog for allowing me to use your quilt for inspiration, I loved the combo of the cheddar and blue together, you can be assured I will be making another blue and cheddar quilt really soon!

I will be shopping for blues.....

Is there a color you stay away from and hardly ever buy? Hardly ever use in your quilts?

now I am curious as to know if other people have a color they just stayed away from as well...

On my cutting table this am ready to be made into a little quilt

I was so inspired by the little quilt Sharon from Indigo Threads blog made I had to email her and ask if it would be ok if I made one like hers, she said Yes, you sure may. Actually, that would be great! I was inspired by one of Gwen's little quilts, so that makes it even more fun, doesn't it?

happy quilting,

now isn't this what quilt making is all about? Thanks Sharon I was lucky enough to have a pile of wonderful blues already out (did a little shopping in my friend Lorre's stash as blues is not a color I buy, guess I had better start collecting blues!) blues is not a color I gravitate too but lately I have been more and more.

Looking forward to making this little quilt today.

Thanks Sharon for the inspiration.

Now to decide do I use the cheddar polka dots for a whimsy look ???? I think I will use all one shirting fabric for the light...

so should I be bold and go for the cheddar polka dots????