More swap blocks and "stuff"

I have been busy with some fun stuff!  Last weekend four quilt shops in the area had a shop stroll.  I spent a day going from one to another, about six hours and almost 100 miles driven.  Busy Bee Quilts is 27 miles away(one way), so I drove out through the canyon to a small town east of the mountains.  I really enjoyed the shop, great staff and lots of fabrics and patterns I liked.  I will make the trip to go there again, just not very often.  I will wait until I have a project in mind and get everything I need in one trip.   The next shop was 13 miles to the north west.  It was a nice drive across the Rio Grande river to Quilts Ole.  I really enjoyed their shop, too.  They also have a great staff and wonderful fabrics.  I want to visit them again, too.  So the two shops that are the farthest away from my house are the ones I loved!  Kokopelli Quilting (only six miles away) has lots of beautiful southwest fabrics and patterns so if I want to do something with a southwest flair I will stop there.  My last stop was only about 3 miles from home and it is the shop I usually visit, Quilt Works.  They have a very helpful staff and a large selection of fabrics, too.  I had lots of fun, bought a few goodies and am entered in drawings from each of the shops.  Each shop gave away a Halloween block pattern to make a cute wall hanging.  At two of the shops I bought the block kit for their piece of the wall hanging, at the other two I found patterns I liked.  One of the drawings at each shop required a $5.00 purchase to enter so I made sure I entered each of those.  The drawings for the large prizes are at the end of this month, so I have my fingers crossed for luck!

I received swap blocks from Beth:

These gorgeous blocks, a needle keeper and a very nice note.  Thank you Beth, I love the variety of wonderful fabrics and colors. 

Next, I have been working to catch up on my Snowbound blocks.  I finished June, July and August. 

Cute little Mr. June in his derby hat.

Sweet Miss July with her ribbon of hearts.

And Mr. August racing away in his little wagon.

I am enjoying stitching these little snowmen so much.  The next block pattern comes out the 5th of September so I am ready for it.  I need to start putting the snowman blocks and the Irish chain blocks together.  I have enough done to finish three complete rows.  August, September and October form the fourth row with November and December in the last row.  The idea is to have a finished quilt by Christmas, we'll see if that happens!  I will have to have all my other projects finished so I have time to do the quilting before the holiday.

I finally made the label for the blue stars quilt and got it in the mail to Florida.  I decided to just call it "Stars In the Sky" because the background looks like the evening sky.  I forgot to take a picture of the label though.  I used two left over blocks from the quilt at the top, stitched on a cream square to write on, added a poem, the quilt info and a navy blue border around it all for the label.  It looked really nice on the back of the quilt.  That's about all for now.

Hope you are all making lots of progress on your projects!

Lots of swap blocks!

I have been working to finish the blue stars quilt and have not posted anything for a bit.

I have received lots of wonderful swap blocks. First from Ruth:

Lovely blocks and a little tissue holder.  I love the beautiful fabrics in both blocks and the pinks and blues in the tissue holder!  Thank you Ruth!

Next, from Katie:

There was some chocolate, too, very yummy but sadly it is gone now.  I love the little pink pin cushion and the scissors fob is already on my favorite scissors.  Katie mentioned it before but we have some of the same fabrics in our stashes.  I really love these blocks, too, and the nice note card with the kitty on it.  Thanks for all the goodies Katie!

And from Joanne:

Blue is one of my favorite colors so I love these lovely blue blocks!  Joanne, thank you for the blocks and your nice note. 

And last picture, from Kathleen:

These great blocks made with all these fun prints.  These are so much fun with the animals and funky cars.  They are great!  She also included a quilt pattern and kit she and her mom designed.  She said she brought that because she didn't have to mail it.  Since we live close to each other, we got together at a coffee shop and had a chance to visit.  It was really fun to meet her in person!   Thank you Kathleen for the great blocks and the lovely visit!

I am really loving receiving the swap blocks, participating in the swap is so much fun!

OK, now I need your help.  I have finished the blue stars quilt for my step daughter and her new husband, what shall I call it?  I need to make the label yet, so I am open to creative suggestions.  Here it is:

I have thought of Star Struck, Wish on a Star, and Catch a Falling Star.  None of them really excite me.  What would you call it?  It is a pattern from APQ, April 2009 called Pink Lemonade.  It was on the cover and done in pinks, yellows, oranges and corals.  I added two extra rows to one side and the bottom to make it a little bigger.  Both of the kids like blue so I made it in various shades of blue for them.  It will be a nice couch throw or a picnic quilt.  

I have been catching up with my Snowbound BOM, too.  June, July and August are almost finished.  I still have to embroider noses on the little snowmen and add a few other details.  Once they are all done, I can sew the first three rows of the quilt together and get an idea of how it will look when it is finished.    

 Then it will be back to the two red, cream and blue quilts.  The smaller one has one block all quilted and the larger one still needs some of the blocks made before it progresses.  Right now my quilting projects are all for me, so no timelines for completion.  I hope there will be no new babies or weddings before I get these done!

I hope everyone is enjoying lots of nice quilting time! 

A package from Australia

Ann was very fast with mailing her blocks!  I was so surprised to get this in the mail today!  A beautiful package . . .

Gift wrapped and a bow, beautiful!

This was inside:

The quilt blocks are beautiful, I love the colors and these are great prints.  A yummy box of chocolates is cooling in the fridge right now. Our weather is a bit warm so they arrived a little soft but I can hardly wait a few minutes to taste one.  A wonderful magazine, I will be checking it out in a few minutes, too.  And a wonderful note.  This is a great surprise, I was not expecting anything so soon.  Thank you Ann!

This swap has been so much fun and the suggestion of doing another one is very exciting.  Ann has put a lot of work into organizing and managing this one.  Katie and I are supporting her with it and thanks to everyone who joined in.  Thanks to all for making this swap so much fun and a great success!