Pumpkin Blocks from Guild BOM Swap

This is the pumpkin I made for the drawing. I especially LOVE the strip with the polka dots. (And Mom, recognize the last strip, with the leaves?)

And here are all my little pumpkins, save one which I should be getting soon from someone who forgot to bring hers to the meeting. Now I get to decide what to do with them... thinking of adding a full moon block (and/or black cat?) and maybe making one pumpkin into a jack-o'lantern for a true Halloween feel. We'll have to see (this project MIGHT get finished for next Fall, but right now I have bigger fish to fry...).

A Big Step

Today's post is all about my quilt-making. So far, I've been "small-potatoes"-- making little projects and a couple of cute little baby quilts for friends. I've made some larger quilt tops, like for Quilts of Valor, but those are quilted by someone else. Well... as of last night, it's official, I've signed on to be a "real" quilter.

Our local guild will be having a show in January. I had already planned to show one of my quilts, "Winds of the Seasons," since it was specifically made for the guild challenge (using pre-printed blocks/panels), but I wasn't going to enter it to be judged... After asking some quilty friends and soliciting advice from our guild president, I am not only having that little wall-hanging judged, but I'm also entering my latest creation, now entitled "Santa's Blizzard Blues." You can see both unquilted tops on my quilt page. Now I just need to actually quilt both of them! I'll be hand quilting the smaller of the two and (gulp!) machine quilting my big, lap-sized quilt. Now I have no illusions of winning ANYTHING, but maybe I'll at least be able to get some constructive criticism and a little "direction" from some people who really know their stuff.

Wish me luck!

Oh and I forgot to mention! I also won the drawing for this month's block of the month! Each month the guild ladies who want to participate make blocks from a pattern and bring them to the meeting. The block for last night was a cute simple pumpkin on neutral background... I made one (I usually participate) and actually won the 15 blocks--enough for an entire quilt...woohoo! Now I can put them together at my leisure and have an Autumn/Halloween quilt. There's a picture of the blocks that I received over on my quilt page.

I've Got a Name: "Santa's Blizzard Blues"

Here is the completely finished top... If you click on the picture, it will come up bigger. The pattern is called disappearing 9-patch (Thanks Helen!). The finished size will be approx 58 x58. It uses Moda's "Snow Village" charm squares -- you can even see Santa in his sleigh in one of the squares. Just leave a comment with your suggestion... I really need help (everything I've come up with is either terminally boring or terribly cheesy...LOL)

Completed QOV #2

Here are the pics of my second completed Quilt of Valor, quilted by Edith S. in Odessa, TX, with an all-over stars & loops quilting pattern. I'm so happy with the way it turned out! If you look carefully at the close-up shot, you can see where she actually quilted the words "With deepest gratitude" into the inner border -- gorgeous! This quilt was sent to the Wilmington VA Medical Center.