TADA! I can use the Mondo bag! It's finished! Of course, it would have been done sooner had I read the directions right. Had to do a little unsewing! But, it's done & off my UFO list. 

My UFO list that I made at the beginning of the year is dwindling! WOOHOO! It's not even the end of April & I'm 1/2 way finished with it! But, the few that are left are big ones, so they're going to take awhile!

Here's the Mondo Bag:

This must be the week of finishes, 'cuz I feel like I've accomplished a bit.
First, I got this nice wallhanging quilted, binding on & all the hand stitching done.

Then I got this Quilt of Valor quilted & returned to a customer.

Now I have to finally finish that Mondo Bag so I can use it!

Well, after showing ya'll the Carpenter Star, I promised to show the mini version. Here it is! It measures 10" square!!  Hope ya'll like it!

Well, I'm FINALLY done with this quilt! What a pain in the you know what it's been getting it done. The pattern for the blocks came from Missouri Star Quilt Co. Jenny did a tutorial on it not long ago. It's called the disappearing pinwheel #2...churn dash style. The block was pretty easy to construct, but the fabric I was working with was all donated poly/cotton blend, so it stretches a lot. GRRRR! Then I just couldn't bring myself to work on it. I just didn't like it. I finally figured out why, too. It was too dull! Even though it's all blues, it's Civil War blues, which just don't appeal to me. As I said, they are just too dull for my taste, I like vibrant, stand out colors. I made this one for the local Precinct Watch Program to raffle off at the County Fair this week. What a time for Queenie to go down too! I had to go over to Virginia's & "borrow" Miss Mabel to quilt it. Got it home & got the binding all done today. Ready to deliver tomorrow. I hope we raise a lot of money with it.

Well, the house is empty now. Chance is with his mom & Dusti went back to Idaho with her mom & Aunt Denise when they came down to pick up the last of Janel's stuff out of storage. They got into home this morning safely. Now it's my time to spend as much time as I want in my studio doing all things quilt related.

I was over to a friends house the other day & she showed me some pictures that had come with her longarm that she had purchased. The deal she got was unbelievable! Cloth, books, partially done quilts, plus the longarm! Anyway, back to the pictures. We found them in amongst the things & they were of the Tyler quilt show 20 years ago. I found a couple of pictures of a quilt that peaked my curiosity to make & as we dug further, came up with a partially done block. It was the 10-minute block that I just gave the girls to do in February! How ironic to see that the block has been around that long. Anyway, I said I could make that quilt out of my stash. So, I came home & made it!  Here it is....A Black Tie Affair!

And here's a closeup of the center ties. All the ties are black, but the center one has red in it & the surrounding ones are all textured.

This is just the top. Wait til you see it totally finished!

What's more fun than quilting? Nothing, you say? How about a girl's day out going to a quilt show? Yesterday I did just that. There were 4 of us total in our car that went to the Tyler Quilt Show. Had a marvelous time! The theme this year was "Not your Grandmother's Quilt", and needless to say, they sure weren't! Some were simple easy designs, but the quilting! It was over the top!  Here's a couple that really showed that quilting makes the quilt!

I didn't get a close up of the spinning stars, but they did feathers in all the white areas & a simple curves in the pinwheels, then bling them with crystals in the center. Absolutely stunning. Just goes to show you that a simple scrappy quilt can be dressed up with some great quilting!

If you're considering showing your quilt in a show, get with your longarmer & let her play with design to compliment the quilt. Yes, you're going to pay more for the quilting, but so worth it to get that coveted blue ribbon!

I've had a little play time this week. I've been dying to do another Carpenter Star quilt, so during lunch break at guild Monday, I ran over to Sew & Sew & picked up some fat quarters & a little more cloth. Didn't spend a lot, but look what I made out of it!

It turned out 84 1/2" square. But wait til you see it quilted!  I had enough left over to make a mini one! I'll post a picture of it once I get it all together.
Happy quilting!!