New Year . . . New Ideas Whirring!

The Old Tippecanoe Quilt Guild Scrap Bag Challenge was revealed at the December Christmas Party. That's my friend, Viki, surveying some of the 17 candidates. The weather was terrible that night, and kept only those who were not just dying of curiosity to see the results from coming. We'll have another display later in the year when weather is more cooperative.

Here's my entry. It turned out very nicely, if I do say do myself. The rules indicated that up to 20 pieces of scraps no smaller than 4-inches square were to be placed in a bag. There wasn't to be any deliberate color coordination. I received Cheryl's scraps which included some dress-making scraps, some brights, and even a piece of decorator fabric. I think I used thirteen or fourteen pieces, adding only the light gray background. Mine was one of only two that were hand-quilted. Sort of got my inspiration going in that direction, too, so I've resolved to finish a quilt that has been on my frame for entirely too long, as well as one I removed from my hoop to quilt the challenge piece.

This is Marguerite displaying her entry which was voted favorite quilt. It was called "Galaxy Diner", and featured conversational prints of Coca-Cola products and space novelty prints. It was adorable, and, as usual, the machine quilting is fabulous. That's just Marguerite's usual manner of working. In other words, Perfect!

This is an aging applique project that I have decided needs to be completed in 2009. The blocks were made in a scrap quilt class called "Scrap Soup". After assembly, it seemed to call for some applique in the borders, which is an adaptation of a Pat Andreatta pattern called, "Serenade". I decided to call this quilt, "Serendipity". I probably put it away because I got tired of all the little curlicue vines and the quarter-inch circle berries. Only one corner and one border remain to be finished, so it's first on my list.

In about 2 1/2 weeks, our group is making our little trek to Miss Mary's Quilting Cottage for 2009. I have two quilt tops ready to assemble and border; one is the Somewhere in Time BOM that was featured in 2008 on Block Central. The other is blocks from Paducah Booth Hop which featured a fabric line by Judy Martin. I found a medallion applique that is rather whimsical and well suited to the fabrics, making it a center block, to be surrounded by the hop blocks. The border will be a scrappy one, including all the fabrics in that colorway of the fabric line.

I'm also hoping to have my Santas of the World ready to assemble. All the Santas are appliqued, all the large pieced blocks are complete, and there were to be in the original design by Sue Garman, fourteen 6-inch pieced blocks to match the large ones. I made about four of them, and then got the inspiration to use the red piecing around the edge of the small blocks, and feature some applique element from the Santa blocks in the center. The elements I chose are a little wagon, a rocking horse, a pitcher, a couple of horns, a star, and a doll house. Have all the red pieced portions cut, and just need to applique three more mini-blocks. On each of the Santa blocks, I began to embroider their country of origin, name in that country, and English translation. So, I have a little embroidery to do, too.

This morning as I was whizzing the one-inch half-square triangles through my Featherweight, I thought about another of my "PITS" . . . project in tote storage . . . some gingerbread men and a gingerbread house. My friend, Laura, has us all thinking of placing lettering on our quilts in some fashion or another. Those whirring wheels in the back of my head suddenly spit out, "Welcome to Ginger City, a Gingerbread Village". So, whirring onward, I imagined the letters being gingerbread, too, with rick-rack trimming. Steaming along behind that image in my brain was a gingerbread steam engine, with "Ginger City Railway Company" down the side. I had to jump up and run to the basement to get that tote, and make note in my journal. Can you guess what Christmas quilt will be next on the agenda?

I'm collecting the clues for Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery, Double Delight. She said she would be posting clues sporadically, which I decided might give me a couple weeks between clues. Fooled me . . . last I looked, there were three clues up already. And, I'm still working on the last one, Old Tobacco Road. Have the four-patches done, and have begun assembling the pinwheel blocks . . . decided to think only in terms of 96 pinwheels . . . instead of 388 half square triangles!

I think I hear my Featherweight calling me to join more fabric pieces together. Need to bless that little beauty with a good cleaning, oiling, and a new needle. Also, need to do the same for DSIL's beige Featherweight which lives at my house for her periodic visits from Texas. Actually, it's jointly owned by us, so she always has one to use, and that way I get to keep it . . . otherwise it would have been looking for a new home! DH thinks 8 sewing machines ought to be enough to keep me going!