Good Monday morning!!  Here it is again .... one more week has come and gone.  I have another quilt started using more of the Aqua Terra fabrics from Connecting Threads.

While I was sewing the first one together I was also thinking about what I wanted to make for this second quilt.  I like the idea of Judy's  Peaches & Dreams. 

But I didn't want to have to re-cut all the strips that I already had cut at 2.5"

So then I remembered I had seen a Missouri Star Quilt video called 

Key Hole Quilt made with Honey Buns.  

Sooooo that's when I decided I'd make a Keyhole quilt with my strips.
I have 15 different fabrics and enough strips to make 45 blocks.  That should make a nice size once I have a border or two added!

Each strip will yield enough pieces for one block
After all of the strips have been cut and arranged I sorted them according to...dark frame-light centers OR light frame-dark center.

<<<< Here's an example.

Then I started sewing the blocks together until I had all 45 finished.





Now comes my design wall ponderings.

This is #1

I don't think I like this one.  Too boring.

Too many seams to match up.

 

This is better...but then I'd have to cut some of the blocks in half and move them up to the top.  Not sure about this one.  

 This is Good!  I like the assorted arrangement.  

This is the one I finally chose in the end.  

It looks best on my wall up close and personal.

So stay tuned and check back to see what I do with the borders on this one.  And head on over to Judy's Design Wall Monday and check out some of the fantastic quilts being made.
Have a great day.
 Thanks for stopping by....Linda

Happy Monday!!  Another week starting and I have another one of my quilts almost finished.
 I think it's time to give it a name.  I've decided to call it 'A Terra Tumbler'.  (Aqua Terra fabric & tumbler block)  So very original don't you think.  ;o)

I now have all the scrappy borders sewn on and it doesn't matter how hard I try there always seems to be a few squares that should have been moved to another area.
But that's the nice thing about scrappy I think.  I can make all kids of mistakes and it still looks good.

Since I can't get a full picture of the quilt while it's on my design wall .....my dining room floor will suffice for now.    So far it measures about 70" x 80".
I could stop here and just call it good.....or..... I'm thinking about adding another small light blue border and then a larger border made with the same background fabric I put around the tumblers.   I think another 7" to 9" per side will bring it to the size I'd rather have.   I'm going to ponder awhile.

So since it's Monday and Judy's Design Wall has a bunch of beautiful quilts linked there you really should grab a cuppa and head on over.  Maybe I'll see you there.
Have a great day!!  
Thanks for stopping by....Linda

The other day I was blog hopping and came across this blog. 

Well now!  I love New York Beauties and about three years ago I started making a few.
I don't know why I stopped.  But I did.

So when I was making out my UFO list this year (and these are definitely on that list)  .... I said to myself.... "Self, I really should get those out and try to make a few more this year".

Yes those were my exact words!

And then along came this challenge.   New York Beauty Paper-Piecing Quilt-Along   

I bet you can guess what comes next huh?

You're right!  I'm going to accept this challenge and pull out my fabrics and start printing off my foundations while I wait for the challenge to start.  

And along with these patterns that they are using for the challenge I'm also going to use  this collection of blocks by Donna Duquette   (hi Dee) ;o)

Any takers??  Who wants to join us?  

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

Just a quick post to let you know that I've added a tutorial about how I make the beginning and end of my tumbler quilts.  Check it out up there in the header bar.  I hope this helps.

I'm still working on the scrappy squares border and only have one more to do.  I plan to get that one finished today.
If I don't get sidetracked.
Which I do often...  hahaha

Have a great day and.....
Thanks for stopping by....Linda

It's the start of another week so that means it's time for me to link to Judy' Design Wall Monday.

I'm still working on the tumbler quilt and this was taken Sunday afternoon.   I do have all the squares cut for the borders and just have to get them sewn together.  Laying them out so the colors are nicely mixed is just as labor intensive as those tumblers.

Hubby & I were supposed to have our medical checkups this morning but the weather turned out to be not so nice.  So I called and cancelled the appointment and will reschedule later.
Oh shucks!  That means I'll be able to sew today.

You all have a good day....I've gotta get moving.
Thanks for stopping by....Linda

When I first decided I wanted to make another tumbler quilt I had <<<<<this layout in mind.

But then I started putting them up on the design wall in the order I was cutting them out and thought about doing this stripe layout.>>>>>

After I had all the tumblers cut and the first layout all complete I decided I'd see how I liked the stirred up version that I had originally planned.
And of course I liked it best after all.  Somehow it just seems to look the best in my mind.....So I changed my mind about the layout and went with this one.  I'm now in the process of sewing it together and cutting and sewing the border.

I do that so much.  I'll start with a plan.... then twist it around .... and sometimes it's better and sometimes it's not.  
Goodness!!  That layout started to cross my eyes trying to not allow any two blocks of the same color to touch.  I didn't worry about pattern as much as I did about color.  And if any of you see any that are touching (and I haven't) please let me know.
 
Thanks for stopping by....Linda

A couple of years ago I ordered a complete fabric line from Connecting threads called Aqua Terra.  It is no longer available so that definitely means that it is time to use it up and make room in my stash.




I enjoyed coming up with designs to use up all of my old Christmas fabrics so I'm going to do the same thing with these.
So yesterday I pulled all of the fabrics and started cutting strips of 7.5" and 2.5" wide.

I have a plan and I'm pretty sure I can get at least one large quilt and a nice size snuggle plus a topper or runner out of all of these and the scraps that I have leftover from the first quilt I made with these fabrics.

I used my Go Tumbler die and cut large tumblers out of the 7.5" strips.  I can get 6 tumblers out of one strip and I've only used one strip of each pattern so far....so I still have a lot of fabric to play with.

I decided to try a different layout so I just slapped these up on my design wall. >>>>>>

Hummmm!!  That's interesting.  I may keep this layout since I've already made one brown tumbler that was all mixed up.  So now I have to cut just a few more to fill in that bottom.

It's so nice to have the Go Cutter do it's thing with these.  Made short work of cutting that's for sure.
And if you haven't been over to Judy's Design Wall to see what others have been working on..... grab your cuppa and click on that link.
Oh and just in case you haven't seen enough of all the Orca Bay's that have been showing up these last few months......Bonnie is having her final link-up for the Orca Bay mystery.  You just have to go check them out!!

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

I don't even remember when Bonnie's Orca Bay mystery started....but it seems like I've been at this for months and months!!
Well actually I guess I have.  LOL

Now LOOK!!!   CherryLime Mash is FINISHED!!!

At least for now.  I can hand it off to my longarm gals and they can do their thing.
Then when I get the binding attached I'll have a treasure for sure.

I've loved this mystery.  Not only for the beautiful quilt that Bonnie so generously provided but more precious to me is the friendships that have developed as we all worked diligently trying to get it 'right'.  LOL  (Some of us worked a little harder than others) and some of us did our own thing with colors and layout etc.  But when we all get ours done we can all be soooo proud to have a really gorgeous, intricate quilt that  ..... I don't ever plan to make again!!  hahaha


Now head on over to Bonnie's Quiltville link-up to see all the different quilts.

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

WOOHOO!!  (Bonnie's Orca Bay)..... My CherryLime Mash TOP is now finished.  

I am soooo glad.  Goodness that was intense.  

I don't think I've ever made a quilt that had that many pieces.   It does lay very nice and square and the borders were easy to attach.  

I did enjoy the mystery very much.... but I will also have to say that it was starting to get tiring toward the end.  

I'm going to let it rest awhile and then maybe add another wide dark brown border.  

Or not!  I'll decide later.  

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

As I was working on the borders for this quilt I realized the top and bottom borders had an odd number of blocks.  And Bonnie had us make those 2 hourglass blocks so her layout would be able to switch directions at the halfway point.

Well now ....since I'm setting my border different than Bonnie's I realized those two blocks just wouldn't be the best for my quilt.

<<< Nope!  That just won't work.

So I started pondering my problem and soon found a solution!   If I used my Tri Recs I could make my (odd) center block kinda look like it would still fit my design.  Although it's a bit slim I think it works just fine.
Yep!!  I'm almost done.

Thanks for stopping by....Linda