Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Saving Riley Blake Gingham


As an educator of elementary children, it's always a good idea to use visuals to make your point. My friend, Karen Walker, brought me some Riley Blake scraps from her last jelly roll quilt. we dumped them out on the ironing board and spread them out.....


When I told Karen that Riley Blake is considering discontinuing their line of gingham fabrics, she just looked at me as if I was crazy, then she said, "let me have those gingham scraps back!" This next picture is what that jelly roll looks like without gingham fabric.


Seriously?! Not the greatest seller now!


Here are those little bitty scraps made into 1 3/4" half square triangles and they sure do look good with that bottom triangle made of gingham!

Okay friends, go out and buy some RBD gingham and let your opinions be heard!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

A Perfect Picnic Blog Hop


I am going to beg forgiveness up front. I think I have waaaayy too many pictures, but I have had so much fun with this project. I have thought about it every single day! I woke up thinking about it almost every day. You can just scroll down to the picnic if you're in a hurry :) 
My idea was that the quilt would be multi-functional. Not only would it be a quilt, but it would be able to carry the dishes, silverware, napkins, and games. So, I started by drawing......


Two sets of pockets, one set inside the ant panel, then another set inside the Celtic knot panel.





The corners are also pockets


The pockets hold the silverware, napkin rings and game bag.



The games in the pouch are Farkle and Life Stories.




I put handles on the quilt for easy transport.




It has been amazingly hot here....in the 90's....too hot here for us to have fun on a picnic, so we thought maybe we should try to have an after dark picnic! We weren't sure there would be enough light for this idea though, so we had a practice run!


It was so silly! We just piled things on plates and tumbled outside about midnight. Our neighbor, who was walking his dog, thought we were nuts....but there was enough light!


We did throw out the picnic blankie again at night with a little more thought. Here's our basket all packed up. I made the napkins, basket liner and game pouch from Riley Blake fabric. So easy to work with! The napkin rings are made by me as well from polymer clay.


Our menu for this evening adventure was.....wine, fresh mozzerella and heirloom tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives and marinated mushrooms, also French bread and sharp Irish cheese with some watermelon and blueberries for dessert.



You might notice the red and white polka dot laminate fabric....I put it down to save the quilt from drippage :)




The next picnic was with my 4 year old neighbor, Cassidy and her Momma. We waited until the sun started to go down and it was cooling off. Cassidy made the sandwiches herself and also brought some trail mix. I brought juice, watermelon, blueberries and cookies.


Cass had fun searching out the treasures in the pockets.


The girl makes a mean salami and cheese sandwich! I am thinking of hiring her to make my lunches for school next year!


Even an ant came by....can you see it?




Madame Samm, this was the best idea ever! ...and Mary at I Piece 2-Mary was our ever supportive cheerleader! Thank you to Peterboro Basket Company and Riley Blake Designs!

Here are my picnic friends du jour.....amazing women with super fun picnic ideas! Stop by to see them all.....

Quilting Quietly  ........that's me!