MY CQ sneak peeks

Here's a couple peeks of my CQ block for the swap. This is a secret swap and I was so lucky and got the name of a lady I had met at the retreat and she was just someone that when you meet for the first time that you know is very special. She has the best hugs and the biggest beautiful smile. I only got to spend a few minutes here and there talking to her but those were some of the best minutes. We were only allowed 2 small peeks. I choose these because I didn't want to reveal any of the main parts of the block. These were such small areas that is was hard to crop them and get them big enough to see without some blurring. But you get the main idea. I have this block filled from top to bottom, although I'm new to CQ, I found it easy because I wanted to give her everything. The theme she picked was fairies, pinks, blues, lavender, greens and peach. So I got it all and it took me a bit to get all those colors to play nice together but it's all there, and I hope that she loves it. I laid awake at night dreaming of what to put on her block and it's like God just dropped little ideas down one by one and it went together so fast, even with all the things I had to take out to put new things in. This block is nothing like what it started out to be. I learned a great deal working on this block, and am anxious to start another, and I know just what it'll be. I want to add that I got some of my inspiration from other CQ blogs. And shame on me because I don't think they even know I read their blogs, I am guilty of not always leaving a comment on many of the blogs I read. I feel pretty bad about it too because they are big inspirations to me, so I will do better and at least leave a small comment from now on to let them know that I appreciate all the pretty things they share. So thank you my favorite bloggers for all your inspiration. We will be swapping our blocks out at the end of July so I'll have the block I receive and this one to share. I can hardly wait to get mine and see what she has made for me. We get a block from someone other then who we are making one for, I'm sure I will love the block I receive. I seen her work last year in the swap and it was very beautiful. One more thing. It's time to swap our mini quilts too, so mines going in the mail tomorrow and I should receive one from my partner in the next few days too, I can't wait to share those with you, my partner in the swap does amazing work and I know she has worked very hard on this mini. I just know I will be getting a very lovely quilty form her. You'll see, I can just feel it in my bones that what she is making me will be very special. You can see all the mini's on Holee's blog, if you look in her side bar she has a link to where she adds them as them are received, go have a look there are some really pretty minis being made in her swaps. She'll be hosting another one very soon.

Quilting on a Budget: Extraordinary Creativity

Quilting on a Budget: Extraordinary Creativity
WOW! check out this video I just seen on one of the blogs I read, it is so cool. I wish I had half the creativity of others.

My CQ do-dad find of the day

I went to this antique, collectible, second hand thrift shop today that has about 4 levels and just enormous. It is impossible to navigate this whole store in one day. But that's okay because I didn't make it past the first room before my budget was spent. But I'm happy with today's find and see another trip there in the near future. My very favorite of all the things I got is the yellow roses and the rhinestone bird, I probably paid too much for them but they were the two pricier items I just couldn't live without. I need to clean the little bird up but it has a lot of pretty stones on it. I don't know why the alligator struck my fancy but you never know when you might need an alligator, LOL, and I may never need the gloves either but they didn't cost too much so I got them. The pic doesn't show good but the milky looking stones on the earrings to the right are more like opal stones they have pretty sparkles in them. There was just too much for me to take it all in. I'm going to divide these goodies up and send some to my sis who is just starting her first CQ block. I'm going to be stingy though and keep the bird and yellow roses. I did find some pretty rose beads that I love and want, so I'll split those up with her so I don't feel bad about keeping the 2 yellow roses all to myself.I had planned to go to Hobby Lobby afterward but decided to call it a day, maybe tomorrow. I think this thrift store shopping could become an obsession.

Inner border on

I'm so happy to have had time to do some sewing, my poor machine must have been feeling neglected. This is one of many quilts I hope to have done before Christmas. I'm going to add the red fabric laying on top that bucket as the larger outer border. The brown under it is what is in the quilt although it looks black in this pic it is actually brown with small red dots.I still need to get some backing for it. I had originally bought a lighter back with dots in the colors on the front but after rethinking about the quilting which I've decided I think I'll do in a darker variegated thread or do you think a lighter background with the variegated thread would look pretty. I've got way better with my machine quilting so it's not a problem if it shows it's just I don't know about how that would look on that backing fabric.

Leaders and enders

After seeing some pretty quilts made on the HGTV message board being made by sewing strips and patches as leaders and enders I thought it was a great idea to use up some of my scrap fabrics. I had several strips of some dot fabric left from my DGD's princess quilt. I also have about a yrd of each that hasn't been cut. I started yesterday sewing the strips together while piecing the last of the blocks I need for my DD's quilt. I was amazed at how quikly I had so many strips sewn togehter. Today I cut those into sub strips and sewed those togehter and now I very happy I did. I will soon have enought to make quilts for my 4 great grand nieces. They will all be made form the same fabric with different layous. Hopefully by doing this I will be able to surprises these little princesses with a quilt for Christmas. Here's how my strips look after I had sub cut hem and then sewed them into longer strips as leaders and enders. I'm excited about these and have layout planned for all four of them. I'm finally putting the blocks together on my DD's quilt I started several months ago. I hope to have the borders on and ready for quilting by July.
I'll have the kids for 5 days starting Thurs so won't get any sewing done next week. Katelyn goes to Chattanooga on the 30th to get scheduled for her surgery. My DD said she is pretty sure they will doing her surgery at Egleston Childrens hosp in ATL. Cliff vascular surgeon is thinking he might have to replace Cliff shunt which is showing signs that it could rupture. He's going to watch it for the next couple of weeks and see if it gets better or worse.