All Roads Lead to....

So, did you make it to the Road to California this year?  It was pretty awesome.  I was so over whelmed with the beauty and creativity everywhere I looked.

Look what you can do with Hexies!?

Of course, visiting the vendor booths was fun...and I bought a few fun things...

Here is my own slide show of quilts I found inspiring...

Just Do It

Ya know when you are so darn busy you can hardly catch your breath... then, finally, things slow down....and you don't know what to do first... so you do nothing?  That has been me the first two weeks of this new year. 

Getting the Christmas quilts finished and delivered, not to mention all the other stuff that goes with the holidays, consumed all my waking time and thoughts.  Now... I have an idea of how I want my quilt year to go...but no real direction in getting started....

So, last night I decided just to sit down and sew.  I added some blocks to my string quilt block collection and some blocks to my crazy quilt block collection.

Sometimes the pump just needs to be primed.

Beautiful Crazy Quilting

My form of "crazy quilting" pictured above is not the "pretty" kind of crazy quilting pictured on the right.  Maybe mine should be called "crazy piecing."

I've tried my hand at "pretty" crazy quilting... while it is very pretty, I do not have the patience for it... it takes a long time.

Here is a link to a "crazy piecing" tutorial by Abby Holverson.



I think string quilting is probably the easiest thing in the world to do.  By design, it is not precise.  It uses up a lot of left over quilt binding scraps to boot.  If you've never tried it, here is a link to Missouri Star's tutorial.

As I was sewing I was thinking about how I would put these blocks together and who would receive the finished quilts.  I think I'll match the sashing, backing and binding and give them to a couple next Christmas.  Lap quilts .... oooo, just had an idea... use Minky on the back!  Make them soft and cuddly.

OH!  I almost forgot!  Road to California is coming up in a week!!!  Do you have your ticket? That will help our creative juices!  (See, it's working... As Nike says "Just Do It.")

So, what about you?  How do you get off the mark?

It's a New Year!

Yep, yep, yep.... sounds about right.

Yesterday, New Years Day, Piecemakers Country Store always has a 40%-off-everything-in-the-store sale...my daughter and I have gone the past two years.... I bought fabric and "stuff" to make two baby quilts.... (yes, two more nieces "with child.")

I will add these to the quilts I started in.... I can't even remember the year.... but, I'm making a list, and checking it twice...

And so, the new year begins.... Happy sewing this year, ya'll.