Leader/Ender and Bee Weekend

First, my current leader/ender (or bonus quilt) project.  This is where you piece a quilt in between piecing another one, so there are no spiders or wasted thread.  Let me tell you, it confused my bee friends; they were busy trying to figure out how the two blocks went together - they don't!

County Fair

 

I've pieced all the blocks!  Now, I just have to sew them together.  Since it's so scrappy, I don't think it matters which goes where.

Here's the border fabric.  Does it need it?

 

Hazard of having a design floor instead of a design wall...

Bailey Bear is excited that I'm down on the floor; see her tail wagging?

 

I also had Thimblelinas bee on Sunday, and here's what my bee friends were working on -

Jeannie brought her ABC Snowmen embroidery.

Sheila and Lillie were making HSTs. 

I'll have to get the details of the pattern next time, but it obviously involves civil war fabrics.



Marion was making these gorgeous blocks from a kit. 

Love the brown with the green leaves as well as the overall color contrast!

 

Yayas Bee was moved to the next Saturday, so I'll take pics then and post them around Christmas.

 

Linking up with :

 

 

and

 



  and   Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday



Post-Thanksgiving, Pre-Christmas Blues

I'm a quilter, you say?  Why then haven't I done anything but rifle through some fabric and read some patterns over the last two weeks?  I've got the Post-Thanksgiving, Pre-Christmas blues!  Oh, yeah....!

After a week away traveling (by car, 20 hours ONE way - yikes!) to San Diego...

Me with my dog in Del Mar

Bailey at dog beach in Del Mar

She is a sniffer!

and then a week of LONG work days (and only one trip to a yoga class :( ...), I am looking forward to bee weekend on the 13th & 14th.

Until then, here are some pics of the fun stuff I got at a little quilt shop in Ramona, California, The Crazy Nine Patch:

They have several of their own exclusive patterns (Mildred's Puzzle shown here), and I also got 3 back issue magazines (2007 - 2011) and a book for $5.50.  That's right, $5.50.  At The Crazy Nine Patch, they have a couch covered in back issue mags and pattern books, and the best thing is that all proceeds go to the local Senior Citizen's Center.  This month they are collecting for their Holiday Lunch.  Friends of the store bring in their old mags and books to donate for this cause.  It is so cool; every quilt shop should have a similar program! (PS - There's also a cool used/new bookstore in town, Unicorn Books and Gifts, that is worth visiting for other books!  I got 3 used books for $9.)

I also bought another pattern and a fabric bundle for it:

This is their Crazy 9 Patch pattern, and it uses 10" squares.  So you could use a layer cake, but they had yardage all cut up in several colorways, all with black & white and then one color thrown in - blue, red, pink, yellow, or green.  I've wanted to do a black/white and yellow quilt, so that's my pick!

Some more pics of San Diego and the trip because I always love seeing everyone else's pics:

Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala

Giraffes at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Me and Bailey at City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico

Google Auto-Awesomed this photo

Bailey hiking at Picacho Peak State Park in Arizona

Seguaro and Organ Pipe cacti in the background