Summer Quilting

Summer has always been a time when I find some fun fabric and embark on a new quilting project. Undoubtedly, I take my sweet time and finish some time around December, or even longer. The last quilt I made was a project 3 or more years in the making. I just never had the time or space to dedicate to working on it, and so right around New Years 2008, I was able to put the finishing touches on that quilt (the red and cream one) and ship it off to Minnesota... as a gift for my dad and step-mom. I hope they enjoy it.

So now, thanks to our fabulous dining room table, I can spread out and not have pins, cutters and mats in harm's way.

So, this spring, a fabric store went out of business not far from my house. There was a ton of closeout fabrics and store displays. There was even an entire couch set... which I thought about asking if it was for sale too. Anyway, here were some finds...

A vintage metal chair with an oilcloth seat. I'll use it in my classroom next year, but for now it's on our patio.

Some brightly colored fabrics. I thought they would work well for a not too girl-y baby gift... or we'll just see down the road what happens.

I found four other fabric designs that I decided to make into a quilt for a friend... this is the first time I've started out on a project without knowing what I want the finished product to look like. I'm not using a pattern and I don't even know if I'll put all 4 together in the same quilt. Maybe I'll make 2 quilts, I'm not sure. So far I've made blocks of squares that look like this:

and this:

I'm putting this project on hold however, because we really need curtains in our bedroom, so I'm working on that. They're not anything special to brag about, but I'm happy with how they are turning out. Maybe I'll post a picture once we hang them and paint some walls.