Get out and Vote

I have to admit, I'm going to be glad when the election for US President is over.  I counted during one 30 minute TV show this week that 3/4 commercial breaks contained ALL political commercials.  And I don't even live in a swing state!  Anyway, I walked right into my polling station and made my vote this morning.

In the spirit of campaigning, I'd love it if you took the time to vote for my Dazzling Diamonds Quilt - a Finalist in the Doll/Mini Quilt Category in the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Scroll down to reach my category.  It's somewhat Ironic that I could win a gift certificate to Pink Chalk Fabrics when I purchased the fabric to make this mini quilt from them.  It's like it was meant to be.

And on another note, KK and I just decided this weekend that we're going to attend QuiltCon.  I booked our travel this morning and purchased our passes for the show!  I'm really excited.  Who else is going? 

A Quilter's Gathering

Last weekend I spent some time at A Quilter's Gathering in Manchester, NH.

I took a class with Robbi Joy Eklow and made this wall hanging which will be a Christmas present for my dad. He's been playing guitar for 50+ years, so I'm sure he'll love it.  I made it with all of my own hand dyed fabrics.

I'll share more pictures of the quilt in a future post once I dig my camera out and take some pictures of it since this one was taken on my phone.  My goal is to finish it by Christmas, so hopefully soon.

I also began making this quilt top (the petals aren't attached to the center yet) that night as KK and I were hanging out in our hotel room after the class and before our dinner reservation. This one is lower on my finish list, but I'm really liking how it's coming out, so hopefully I'll finish it soon.

On another note, my Dazzling Diamonds quilt is a finalist in the Blogger's Quilt Festival in the Doll/Mini quilt category.  I'd love it if you voted for my quilt. 

Finish Friday: HST Baby Quilt

Last weekend I quilted and made the binding for a baby quilt so that I could hand sew the binding down and have something to do if I lost power with Sandy.  Well, I lost power around 7pm on Monday, about 5 minutes after I finished cooking dinner - talk about great timing.

So, I did what any quilter would do.  I set myself up on the couch, propped a flashlight on my chest and spent a couple of hours sewing the binding on. It certainly took longer doing it by flashlight, but it sure beat the alternative of sitting around doing not much of anything.

It's finished in a nice, soft flannel print that matches the colors on the front.

I quilted this one pretty simple; I echo quilted around all of the seams, horizontal, vertical and diagonal. Just a 1/4" on either side on the seam.  Simple but effective. If you study the quilt closely, no print was used more than once on this quilt, so it's kind of like an "I spy" quilt in that respect.

To make the HST's, all I did was take a bunch of 5" squares, draw a line on the diagonal and sew on either side of the line to create two squares.  I then trimmed up the squares to 4.5" square before piecing everything together.

I went back and forth on what to do for the binding and finally settled on a red print from my stash.  I think it is from the "Fresh" line by Deb Strain. I really love how it adds another pop of color to the quilt.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  I'm looking forward to washing this and seeing it become all soft and crinkly.  I used two layers of 100% cotton batting to give it an extra soft, plush feel.


And a reminder... it's time to nominate your favorite quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I'd love it if you nominated and voted for my Dazzling Diamonds quilt - Quilt #78!

Nominate Your Favorite Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilt

It's time to nominate your favorite quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Hop on over and nominate your favorites!  My quilt, Dazzling Diamonds, is #78. Obviously, I'd love it if you voted for mine, but be sure to check out all of the other fantastic quilts. There are over 600 of them! 

You don't need to have entered a quilt in order to nominate your favorites.  You can also vote for your favorite overall by voting ABOVE the picture of your favorite quilt. (Remember, I'm #78.  ::wink wink::)

The categories this quilt fits into are: Best Home Machine Quilted Quilt, Best Mini Quilt and Best Wall Hanging,

Some of my fellow Boston Modern Quilt Guild members have quilts in the festival as well, so don't forget to check theirs out too (In alphabetical order):

• Alice - 455
• Amy- 109
• Laurie - 560
• Natalie - 82

Low Volume Pin Cushions

With some of my leftover 1" squares from the Modern She Made Swap pillow, I decided to make a couple of matching pincushions.

They're just simple postage stamp style pincushions, but I think they're cute.  One will be going to my MSMS partner and the other will either be kept by me or used for the MQG pincushion swap that the BMQG is participating in.  I have a plan for a different pincushion for that swap, if I have the time to execute on it. I hope I do because I think it will be really cool.