Crazy Button Quilt Progress

My Button Quilt is all sewn together now.  I spent yesterday afternoon at my sewing machine.  The quilt came out good and straight and square:

Now if only I could have gotten my photo straight!  LOL!!!  Anyway, I had planned on putting a light blue border around it but I'm reconsidering that.  It's 30 inches square and at this point, I'm not even sure where to hang it as my empty wall space is limited.  I don't have to decide on that right now.  My immediate goal is to get it assembled so I can take it with me for examples when I teach my CQ class in May.

The quilt is quite heavy too!  It has to weigh at least 8 pounds at this point!  Once I get the back on and add the "support buttons" to the back, that will add a little more weight to it.

The blocks are first sewn in vertical strips.  Then I sewed the strips together horizontally onto a heavy muslin foundation.  This will help to support the weight.  I use Allie Aller's "False Back" technque. You can find Allies technique in her new book called, "Allie Aller's Crazy Quilting" available at Amazon.com.

Do visit Allie's blog!  You'll love seeing her work!

I'll post another update on the Button Quilt when I get the back on.

For now, I thought you'd like to see the cat doll that I'll be giving away when I reach 400 followers:

I'm pretty close to 400 so please spread the word!

Easter At Our Cottage Boutique

Mom & I have finished up our Easter projects for our Boutique so I thought for today, I would share photos with you.

This little Spring Bunny Centerpiece is sitting in a glass bowl covered in Mosaic Mother Of Pearl tiles.  It's one of my creations and it's one of a kind!  Perfect for a side table or coffee table!

Mom made this sweet little Easter Bunny Wreath to hang on a hook or window latch!

Nothing says Spring more than Baby Chicks!  This fuzzy little Spring Chick Centerpiece would again, be perfect for a little side table!  It's one of my creations.  The little chick sits in a Mint Green glass pot and is surrounded with silk Spring flowers, pink cattails and of course, some glitter!

Finally, my Easter Bunny Table Centerpiece!  I love this!!

And here's a great way to display him:

Use a vintage mirrored dresser tray, add some shiny Easter Grass, sit the centerpiece in the middle and add some colored, decorated Easter Eggs!  Voila!!!  A beautiful Easter centerpiece that easy to move and the decorated eggs can be used as Easter Favors!

And speaking of the decorated eggs, Mom and I put several handmade kits together for decorating Easter eggs.  We've included enough punched paper bunnies, flowers, leaves, butterflies and ribbon bows to decorated a dozen eggs.  All that's needed is a glue gun!  Decorate plastic eggs, styrofoam eggs or real colored eggs with this little kit which we are including free with our orders.  We only have a couple left though so if anyone would like to receive one, now is the time to order.

Tomorrow, I will starting the assembly process of my Button Crazy Quilt:

I'll take photos as I go so be sure to stop by and see how to put one together.

Finally for today, I'm almost up to 400 blog Followers!  YAY!!!!  I'll be doing a drawing when we reach that 400 mark.  The prize will be one of my Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls:

It won't be this Cat doll.  I made one in Green & Pink for my drawing.  I just have to sew him up and I'll post a photo over the weekend.  Be sure to spread the word!

Crazy Button Quilt

If you've been following my blog for a few years, you may remember the button Crazy Quilt that I was working on before I got sick.  Each of the 25 6 inch blocks featured button clusters and some of my fancier buttons.  When I got sick, I couldn't do much of anything much less put a quilt together so the blocks have been sitting in my closet for over 2 years now.

I thought about them the other day and even mentioned the button quilt in my blog post yesterday.  The quilt kept popping into my mind and I finally realized why!

I'm teaching a Crazy Quilt class in May on how to work with my Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments.  It occurred to me that I should take that quilt with me since most of the seams are worked with the charted borders from my Ebook.

When I got back from town this morning, I pulled those blocks out and squared them up:

I probably won't get around to the assembly process until this coming weekend but it feels good to have taken the first step with it.  I have everything I need to finish it and it will indeed be a good example to take with me when I teach my class!

Marie Antoinette Crazyquilt Block #8 Done!

I finished up on Block #8 of my Marie Antoinette Crazyquilt this morning:

I'm very pleased with how this block came out.  I have one more block to stitch up and then I can start the assembly process.  I still have my Button Quilt blocks to put together as well.

I know it looks like like I accomplish a lot and I do.  But when it comes to bigger projects, like finishing a quilt, yes, my ADD gets in the way.  I know how to break things down into manageable sections but sometimes getting started is a challenge for me.  I think once I get the last block for the Marie quilt stitched, I'll be able to focus on getting both this one and the Button quilt put together.  Stayed tuned for those everyone!

In other news, I'm almost up to 400 Followers!  Yay!!!!  I'm going to have a drawing for one of my cat dolls when we hit that 400 mark.  Feel free to pass the news around!  I'll stitch up the cat doll next before I move on to the final block of Marie.

Marie Block #8 Almost Done!

I've been stitching on this block, adding beads and flowers:

The next thing I'll do is embellish that lace piece on top right.  I want to do some sequins and some silk ribbon embroidery on it.

It's almost done!  I have a hummingbird that I want to add to this block and I think a fancy button.  Can't remember at the moment.  Anyway, I'll post another update when it's complete!