Hello again,

For a while now I have been very fascinated by collage quilts. I have picked up a few books about it and follow a collage quilt group on FB, but I had not yet ventured into making a quilt of my own. Last year ( just before we moved and I made one last visit to all my favorite quilt stores in and around Intercourse, PA ( weird town name, but true. Why they changed it from “Cross Keys” to Intercourse I will never understand!) I picked up this pattern: The subject seemed so appropriate and I thought it would be a great way to venture into collage quilting. I had SO much fun making this one, although I have to say that the instructions were rather vague and I’m sure I did a million things the wrong way! But I like how it’s looking so far and that is all that matters, right?! 😉 I still have to straight stitch around all the applique pieces with black thread and then it will be done! Maybe I can share the finished project next week.

Other than the applique quilt, I sewed a label to my scrappy flower quilt ( Hey, I have to follow the advice in my own preachy post, don’t I??). I used a leftover flower block from the front, so this label was super quick and easy to make. I thought I had come up with an ingenious way to finish the edges (a quick zig-zag around the outside, mimicking a serger), but it turned out very messy and uneven. I will NOT be using that method again!

I also picked up this adorable book when Martingale had its huge sale a few weeks back: and just HAD to start this little number:

It consists of 18 teeny, tiny embroideries ( they measure 1.5 by 2.5 inches!) that you then combine with scraps to make this little quilt. I decided to make mine in blue, rather than red. I’m a rebel that way ;). It is just so much fun to add embroidery to a quilt, and this one was a lot of fun to work on in the evening.

This is my progress so far and I’m hoping to get the whole quilt top done this weekend so I can big stitch quilt it!

On the house reno front, we have now successfully removed wallpaper from all but 2 rooms in our home! As you may recall, there was wallpaper EVERYWHERE ( even on the ceiling in one of the bathrooms!). Our latest victory was the hallway, where the wallpaper wasn’t ugly or anything, but it was damaged in some places and was also pretty dark in color and absorbed all light. A bit of a dark hole therefore.

The walls need a bit of repair and then we’ll be ready to give it a nice coat of paint. And then we’ll move onto the dining room! I have grand plans for that room, which will have to get done in stages I’m sure. ( I am great at having the ideas and the vision and then leave it up to my poor husband to figure out all the math for materials and execution ;)~have I mentioned that he is a very patient man?? Thank you J, for putting up with all of it! ). Right now the dining room has a low, thin chair rail and some pretty overpowering floral wallpaper. That all has to go. In my mind I see a beautiful room with white wainscotting about 3/4 of the way up, with a dark color paint on the top quarter of the wall….

Let’s see how that works out!

Finally I have to share this super cute container that I found at HomeGoods this week! I needed something to hold my Fat Quarters as my collection has been growing lately and I ran out of room…oops! Anyway, this sweet little stand was on clearance so I scooped it up and brought it home.

And look how much more room I have now for MORE Fat Quarters!

Finally I just want to tell you all a great big THANK YOU for reading my blog! I realize that there are a LOT of blogs out there, and I really appreciate that you choose to read and follow mine. I have nothing special to share, no big corporate sponsorships, and not many giveaways, so I really appreciate you all. Just thought I would let you know 😉

Until next time~happy creating!

Monique