Dresdens!

Do you remember this quilt?

My dream/nightmare quilt after being asked to make a traditional Dresden. The thought of neutrals and traditional had me running for my happy bright colors and my act of rebellion was this. It even inspired Amy at Girl Recycled to come up with the words Neo-Dresden, I like it. 

The only way for me to learn is to do, so after seeing this layout on pinterest I jumped in and made this. 

All scraps and I fell completely in love with Dresdens. It all about the colors for me and this one was perfect.

Then because someone gave me this sunflower fabric I made this table runner, really not me but I used up the fabric. 

Of course I had to make a garden of them, a baby quilt that makes me think of mom, dad and baby :)

I did buy the EZ Dresden ruler which makes them so easy, chain piecing and applique, they are fun and fast, use up scraps and are just happy quilts. 

David is away this weekend for a male bonding golf weekend so the terrible twins and I have pretty much moved outside, we've been doing some repotting (I do the work, they eat the dirt). My yard seems to have an active life of it's own, we found iguana eggs in one pot, mostly long hatched but two looked whole so I left them alone and a big pile of peanuts in another pot which must be a squirrels cache, also left alone, but now I know why Maya was trying to climb a tree the other day while a squirrel yelled at her but wouldn't back down.

I'm linking up with #CreativeGoodness at Quilt Shop Gals. 

Later Gators,

Dana

Let's Book It October 2015

Happy Halloween!

 That's Maya on her first Halloween, you can tell by the look on her face that she just loves this holiday and dressing up. 

The last day of October means it's time for Let's Book It at Vrooman's Quilts. No rules, nothing to buy, just make something that you already have the pattern for that you planned on making anyway. I've cleaned out so many old magazines. 

I picked this magazine:

McCall's Quilting May/June 2012

and this pattern:

Here's mine:

Bright, happy with lots of movement, it's wonderful as a baby quilt. I'm crediting this one with bringing back my Mojo which had gone missing. Playing with all of those bright fabrics was just what I needed. I made the triangles a little smaller than the original so I could make it more baby quilt size. A touch of free motion in each block and it was done, super soft and so cute.  

It passed the quilt inspection and was well guarded when I had it outside, I wasn't sure he was going to let me get pictures of it.  

I'm sad to say this fun party is coming to an end, next month will be the last linky party so if you've been thinking about it now's the time. It would be nice to see everyone come back for the last one too. 

Later Gators,

Dana

So this happened

Since my father passed, my sister and I share good things that happen to us with the opening "Daddy was here". It's just sharing nice little things that happen, for me it can be a rescue that found a home, for her it can be the otter's were playing in her lake, things that make us smile. She called me and started out with "daddy's here with me" then told me this:

She had lunch with friends and was walking to her car when she saw a police officer run up to the front of her car pointing his gun, she started hurrying towards him yelling "don't shoot my car" when she heard something behind her, lots more police all calling her towards them and all she can say is "don't shoot my car it's only 4 months old". Lol.

 They dragged a woman from under her car holding a huge knife, she had hidden under another car in a nearby shopping center, stabbed the woman who owned the car and tried to steal it, when that didn't work she ran and hid under my sister's car, luckily someone saw her. Another couple of minutes and she would have stabbed my sister, no smiles this time, lots of WHAT!s but yes, daddy's with her.

My sister talks to my father whenever she watches a sunset, which triggered a memory for me of a quilt I made in EQ, playing with measurements and colors I never really planned on making it, but I couldn't stop thinking about it so here it is, I talked to my dad the whole time I made it, pretty much thanking him for being there that day. 

Centers are slightly off to keep thickness down, plus I like it this way.

 Gorgeous colors, although they are more sunrise than sunset

Hand dyed back for an airy sky look and lots of straight line quilting for a great texture and look. The quilting took a whole lot more time than making the quilt. 

I'm linking up with #Creative Goodness Linky party over at QuiltShopGal.  

Thanks Daddy,

Dana

Let's Book It Sept 2015

End of September? Thank goodness Sharon does the Let's Book It, without these reminders I would have said it's about April, lol. 

When I first started quilting, I bought stacks of old quilt magazines in Ebay, that's what I've been using for my Let's Book It's. I'm eyeing the space they take up that will be full of fabric once they're gone. It always comes as a nice surprise when I look at the quilts I've bookmarked and realize I'm well past learning from them, but that doesn't mean I won't make one when it's super cute like this one. 

 McCall's Quick Quilts from April/May 2012

You Are My Sunshine

Look how cute and happy this quilt is

This went together so fast, quick applique and strip piecing for the blocks

Doesn't he just make you smile? 

I left off the borders, they would have used up a lot of scraps (bonus), but the quilt would have been too big for a baby quilt and... they're borders, ask Sharon about her love of borders :)

I was also able to use up a bunch of this fabric that has been living here way too long. Stars and sun? they're both celestial so yes. 

Let's Book It is all about using what you already have, those books, magazines, patterns and bookmarks that we collect and then forget about. I'm so happy to be clearing out that space. Think about joining in, this one is good for all of us. 

Later Gators,

Dana

100 Quilts for Kids 2015

It's time again for the wonderful drive to collect 100 Quilts for Kids and donate to the charity or organization you choose. 

Most of my quilts are used for fund raising for the animal shelters, but I'm always working on baby quilts and this is the time to pull them out and put them to good use. 

I usually take them to the local Women's Shelter, but this year I couldn't seem to get it together, then I got a text from Cori who is doing her psych internship at a hospital up in Broward. That day she was in the neo-natal ICU and asked if I had any baby quilts I'd like to donate. She said that all of the babies have a baby quilt that covers their little isolation cribs and a lot of the quilts looked worn. They would love donations and have no size requirements. Done!

I have 13 baby quilts on their way up to Ft. Lauderdale, bonus I got to see my kid :) She said she could take pictures of the quilts on the cribs, but I said no, honestly I've cried enough and the
 pictures would be heart breaking. 

So here's a group picture of them just before washing, packing and leaving. 

Later gators,

Dana

Let's Book It August 2015

The link is up for Let's Book It over at Vrooman's Quilts, I haven't really had my quilting spark lately so following frustrating directions is just what I need, plus I consider this a form of house cleaning since I'm getting rid of magazines, win win. 

This quilt was in Love of Quilting July/August 2006

They offer it as a digital pattern on the web site too.

The description says it's perfect for large prints, which I have a weakness for then wonder what I was thinking when I bought them. Full disclosure I never actually read the instructions only the description before I ran off to grab two large prints I've been trying to use up.

Look how pretty this came out. 

I really love it, the colors are so perfect and it has that tropical look I love. Plus the orange is gone so more house cleaning credits.

And I played with dyes and made the back, which is considered time in the kitchen, win, win, and win!  (David disagrees). 

Summer has seen a slow down over at Let's Book It, think about joining in, you get house cleaning credit. :)

Later Gators,

Dana

Pets On Quilts 2015

Pets On Quilts went live today, the best, most fun and friendliest quilt show on the web. Can you tell this is my favorite?

There's a lot of stalking and planning that goes into this, so this year I decided to change things a bit. Miss Maya has a thunder coat and every time we put it on her, Brady Bug gets jealous.  She's afraid of everything and he's fearless, so I decided to make him a coat of his own. 

It has a removable cape since if there's a scary sound, Maya runs to us while Brady runs towards the sound, we call him Super Dog, absolutely fearless. 

I had this zebra flannel and made him his own quilted coat

And it's reversible if he's in a more moo-mellow mood. He's smiling about the purple cow, but he prefers the zebra, it makes him more ninja like. I used batting to give it body then straight line quilted it. 

So that was it, Brady will pose, Maya will run, but David was home that day and advocated for his little girl being included, O.K. let the circus begin.

Here's the pictures that we could use from an all day try. 

That's it, two shots.

And here's the outtake stories and pics.

We had the quilt all laid out, I have the camera hidden and David promises he'll get her to lay on it, he call's her and she takes the long way around to us, goes to the upper deck finding the only puddle in the yard, walks through it and gets ready to jump down onto the quilt. I'm grabbing the quilt, David's trying to grab her, she's trying her best to get on or under the quilt, comedy ensues and that's an end to take one.

Take two: Cleaned up, same setting it actually works, except the sun didn't cooperate and we were so focused on Maya neither of us noticed how bright it was until I saw the actual pictures, one side completely bleached out.

 And this one where we bribed her with a cookie

Attractive, right?

 I'm leaving out the dozen or so of the one's where she's cowering and it looks like we beat her, we don't.

Here's the quilt sans Maya

 Just playing around with strings.

Why not have your own circus, join the fun. You can use any pet for the show, it's not just about cats and dogs. Even a quilt with an animal theme is welcome. So grab your buddy, a quilt and a camera and come play with us, you'll meet the nicest people and animals.

Jacque at Lily Pad Quilting is the special person who works so hard on this for us, so I'm sending her a huge Thank You! 

I hope you all get a chance to check out all of the other quilts and furbabies, it's so full of love, I promise you'll be smiling.

Later Gators,

Dana