Another Finish and some progress

I forgot to tell you that I finished another RPE block the other day and so I took a photo of it to show you too.

I am enjoying my embroidery work and have also finished another of the children for that quilt. That makes 2 down 7 to go!

I love how she turned out too. I was going to do the dress in red, but I think it was too harsh for her so chose a deep pink. This is the next one in that series that I will be working on.

You know that bird just has to be blue right?? He will be on hold until I can work on the mermaid embroidery for the doll quilt I am making for the auction is done. I have her all traced and ready to stitch but wanted to finish my little girl first. Now I have no excuse not to work on her. I think she will take some time but am excited to work on her. Then I will figure out how large to cut the fabric she is on to make the quilt I want to do. It will be her on some white for about 3/4 of the quilt. Then I am planning on making 2 lines of various blue zig zags to simulate water with some more white on top. I was inspired by this quilt I saw on Flickr. I thought I had shown you the mermaid but I guess I have not! Will take a pic tonight and share soon.

I got the chenille blanket cut and handed off to PTM for binding last night. This is what it looks like after it is cut and before it is bound.

I have had several of you ask about how to do this. If enough people express an interest I can put a tutorial together to show you how exactly, to do it. I have already written up the directions for several of my friends IRL, so let me know and we will see how to make that happen if anyone is interested. Apparently I did not show you the other blanket all finished so here is a photo of my friend Yuki and the blanket.


Lastly I will end on asking you if you use Mary Ellen's Best Press and if you like it? I really like it and so does my DH. He was at the store the other day and found this Niagra Spray Starch version:

So he thought what the heck, why not try it. It is sooooo much less expensive. Well, I like it just as well as the MEBP!! You may want to give it a try. It even smells like lavender. I don't know if there are other scents because I haven't looked for any yet. If you have and there are let me know.

The Process Pledge

I have been thinking about doing this for some time and finally decided that I want to join in "The Process". What is this? Well if you click the button on my side bar you will be magically transported to the blog that started it all for a fabulous explanation. Basically, people that are involved will be sharing not only their finished quilts, but the process they used to arrive at said project. We all have a process, sometimes it's not that glamorous now is it? I think we can learn a lot from each other if we share how we arrived at the finished product.

I have so much to say but I don't want to bore anyone to death so I understand if you skip ahead. I received an email from a local shop owner. She has courageously taken on the role of Arts Council President and is looking for a way to generate revenue for the Arts in the community. Since she is a quilter and a quilt shop owner that's an avenue she is familiar with. She will be putting on a quilt show for one thing, she will also be selling some fabric that individuals will use to make a 12.5" block. I think the favorites will be chosen and the person with the most will receive some (or maybe all) of the blocks. You have to use the fabric provided but can put your own with it. I think that sounds like a lot of fun don't you? I think she should keep some back and make a quilt for raffle at next year's quilt show! The thing I am the most excited about is making doll quilts for an auction. How fun would that be? I don't know the size of the quilts yet but will let you know if you think you might be interested in making one.

So I went to bed last night dreaming of doll quilts. I had drawn up some and thought I would share what I have with you. Feel free to use one if you like it. I took a trip through the Flickr Doll Quilt Swap group and got sooooo many wonderful ideas!! You guys are incredibly talented!
Here are my ideas. Now don't laugh at my drawings, I was just putting down ideas!

I.was really taken by one that was done by Small Fox In a Big World's doll quilt of a Narwhal looking up into the water. It was so amazing! I thought I might be able to do something like it but swap out the Narwhal for a Mermaid. I had a Mermaid image I had used for a t-shirt 4 years ago for my DD2's swim team. I found it on the computer and here is what she looks like (disregard the names, they would not be there!)

I would embroider her if I used her. I have 2 friends drawing for me so I may end up with a different thing altogether. Just throwing out ideas at the moment. I have so many ideas in my head sometimes it hurts me! LOL.

As I was thinking about embroidering this I was thinking about the fact that I have a couple of baby quilts to make too so I decided to try to find some vintage style embroidery patterns (free if possible). Hello Flickr! There is a wonderful group called Hoop Love Vintage Transfers and on page 37 I fell in love!! In love with the little kids there.
These are the ones:

Couldn't you just see an adorable baby quilt made up of these embroidered cuties? I guess I need to get tracing and stitching, right?? Do any of you know of any other sites for free vintage style embroidery. Oh I wouldn't mind some fantasy and/or Halloween either! LOL
I will stop for now. I need to eat dinner and then DH and I are going to make strawberry jam from the 6 million berries LTW sent home from the farm with us on Sunday. Did I mention we went to the farm to visit all the critters? OH NOOOOOO, I will save that tale for tomorrow!! (There are LOTS of pics on my Flickr account if you want to go and see). Some of the patterns and a book I ordered came too but again, more sharing tomorrow!!