What I'm Working On

Got a lot of organizing done today and then I DID make some progress on two quilts I am working on that will be Christmas gifts.

The first quilt I worked on will be for my niece.  It needs to be twin-sized as she will be moving into a big girl bed soon.  I am using the Sweet Pea pattern by Heather Mulder Peterson and pink and purple fabrics - perfect for a 3 1/2 year old!

The second one I pulled out and worked on is a quilt I started for my Dad a couple of years ago.  He is an avid fisherman and I found some cute fish fabric that is perfect for a quilt for him.  I bought some coordinating fabric at the same time, and started a simple pattern of framed squares to highlight the fish.  Unfortunately I did not have enough of the coordinating fabrics and by the time I realized I needed more I couldn't find them anymore (of course!).  I sewed the blocks together thinking I would just make it work but it was way too small and ever since then it has been abandoned in the UFO pile.  I actually found some of one of the fabrics recently and pulled it back out.  I have decided to just find some additional fabrics that match and make it more of a scrappy quilt.  Here are the blocks I made today.  I am going to have to unsew the blocks I had originally sewn together, but those are not in the pic.

As a reward for getting organized and making some progress on these quilts, I raided the stash to find fabric to start a new project.  I want to do the Great Granny Square Quilt Along that is going on at Bee in My Bonnet.  I found two layer cakes that are orphans in my stash, so I may just end up making two of these quilts, since I couldn't choose between the two.  (ugh!)

I pulled out my color card and ordered some solids to coordinate.  I love the Twiggy line and have been holding on to this one for a long time.  The other one is American Primer by Minick & Simpson.  It would make a good QOV, so I guess I WILL make two of these.

Tomorrow will be a quilty day, too, so I should have more progress to show.  Gotta go, I have a lot cutting to do!

Getting Organized

I haven't done any quilting in the last couple weeks, but it is going to be so hot this weekend that I plan to stay inside in the A/C and make progress on some of my half-done projects.  Of course, I've also found a new pattern that I want to start.....

So, today is my 'get organized' day.  I have two quilts started on that will be gifts for family members and I want to get them to flimsy stage in the next few weeks.  I am telling myself that if I can get those two UFOs out and ready to work, then on my reward for making some progress on them will be to pull fabrics from my stash for the new one I am dreaming about.

Hopefully I will be back later today with pics of my progress!

Am I the Only One...

...whose cats decide that the best place in the entire house to lay down is ON TOP of whatever quilt project I am currently working on?

I am making a pieced back for a baby quilt and I laid it on the back of the sofa to check the size.  As soon as I came back with the quilt top, this is what I found.

Star Quilt Finished

Since it is WAY too hot to be outside, what better way to spend a holiday than doing a little quilting!  I started my star quilt in March at Craftapalooza.  (Craftapalooza is what my girlfriends and I call our semi-annual get togethers when we spend a week crafting.)  I found the pattern on the Oh, Fransson! blog, it is from the Sparkle Punch Quilt-Along.

I loved the way it turned out, and was anxious to get it quilted.  But I couldn't find the 'perfect' backing in my stash and ended up ordering some.  I loaded the quilt on my long-arm about a week ago and have been quilting it a little bit at a time whenever I've had a few minutes free.  This morning I finished the last two passes on it and put the binding on.  I LOVE IT!!!

For the quilting, I did my 'signature' loopdy loops.  I wasn't brave enough to try something new on this one because I liked it so much and did not want to mess it up.  The loopy design is one I do a lot and even though it isn't fancy I think it looks good.  I like the contrast of the pointy stars and the curvy quilting.

The star quilt is in the washing machine now and I can't wait to see it all wrinkly and soft.  It is going to go right onto the back of my sofa.  This might be my favorite quilt of any I have made so far!

First Post!

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now.  The hardest part has been deciding on a name!  Every brilliant idea I came up with was clearly not original because someone else already had it.  I finally found one that I like and is not already taken, so no more excuse not to get started.

Night Owl Quilter is actually perfect for me because I am definitely at my best after 9pm.  If I didn't have a full time job I'm pretty sure my bedtime would be somewhere around 2am.  Plus, I collect owls and they have a special meaning to me because I am a member of the Chi Omega sorority, for which the owl is a meaningful symbol.  I may be 20 years out of college, but I love my sorority and am still close friends with so many of my sisters.  Obviously, I am also a quilter and I expect that most of my posts will be about my quilting and other crafts that I love.

So, expect to hear about my quilting, fused glass, knitting and other crafts, plus my 2 cats, my super cute nieces and nephew and anything else that crosses my mind.  Thanks for visiting my blog!