Redville Quilt and More

Well, hello there strangers!!  Just busy living the dream here!!  Quilting is the name of the game.  I can’t share all the quilts yet…but soon. 🙂  When I wasn’t quilting, I was Spring Breaking!  I took the girls to visit my mom in New Mexico for Spring Break.  It was an all girls’ Spring Break.  Don’t feel bad for Scott, Sarge and my dad….cuz I think they enjoyed the bachelor life for a week. 🙂  It was our first trip to the Albuquerque.  We had a wonderful time!!! BUT I couldn’t get Bugs Bunny and his “I should have taken a left turn at Albuquerque” out of my head!!  Especially since Paulette blogged about making a stop at Pismo Beach here!! LOL!!!  One of my all time favorite Bugs episodes!  You know the one…where he and Daffy end up inside the cave full of riches and the Genie.  “Here we are Pismo Beach!  All the clams you can eat!”  Well…you know he should have taken a left turn at Albuquerque. 🙂

I thought I would share some little finishes of my own from last year.  I have grown to love little quilts and whipped up a few simple ones when I had a couple of hours to myself.  Literally, with a couple of hours I pieced AND quilted 2 little quilts!!!

Redville.  I will explain later where the name comes from.  I am in LOVE with precut mini charms!!!  I used a single Candy Pack (2 1/2″ precut charms) of Moda’s Metropolitan Fair by Barbara Brackman and less than a fat quarter of Jo Morton for the border and binding.  It has been bound, washed and dried in this photo.  It finishes at around 18″x20″ and the borders are around 3″ finished.  I also double batted.  I cannot remember what combo of batting I used though!!!!  This is what happens when I wait 7 months to blog about it!!!  I know at the time I was experimenting with the look of different batting combos.

I love feathers!  Feathered border really dresses up an otherwise simple quilt.

The back.  Again, just a fatquarter I had in my stash.  I even have a little label and hanging sleeve on it!!!!  I was really on top of my game that day!!

Here is an inside photo.  The sun really makes the fabric take on a brighter red.

 Simple, yet effective quilting.  Well…feathers may be simple but ever so pleasing to the eye. 🙂

Here is a before quilting pic.  I just freehanded the spine with white school chalk.  I also found the center on my borders and my binding allowance.  That way even though the spine is freehand, it has some balance.  This little beauty hangs in the mudroom.

 And no, I do not still have Christmas decor up.  These pics were taken in December. 🙂

Surprisingly, that chalkboard is my favorite in the mudroom.  It was given to me by my very dear friend, Patti.  I had been in search for a chalkboard for the mudroom for some time (thank you Pinterest).  A place to keep messages and the girls’ dance schedule.  This old chalkboard came from Patti’s farm.  She says she remembers it even as a little girl hanging in one of the barns.

 It was where they would write cattle feeding or medicine schedules for the animals. At some point, the rope and the chalkboard part broke.  Patti brought it to me and thought I could swap the chalkboard part out and use it.  Well, upon close inspection and cleaning it, I realized the chalkboard was a solid piece of slate.  The back side was rough.  I asked Scott if he could “glue or something” it back together.  And he did!!!  I wanted to keep it as close to its original form as possible.  Hence there is a little piece missing and the broken rope is still attached.  Scott securely attached it to the wall cuz it weighs a ton.  As you can see, the girls like to leave little notes too. 🙂  I feel very fortunate to have such a sentimental gift from my friend.

Oh the show isn’t over yet!  Redville has a twin!  Greenville!  LOL.  Greenville is actually the original.

Greenville is named after a family vacation to the South, where we spent some time in Greenville South Carolina.  We took in some Civil War history while we were there.  Since I already had a Greenville, I thought Redville was only appropriate. 🙂

The back.  I forgot to take pics of it all washed and bound before I sent it off on its travels.  You may see Greenville if you go to the Primitive Gatherings Booth at a show.  Greenville is on a national tour!!!  I spotted Greenville in Lisa’s latest blog post here.  Primitive Gatherings has an amazing selection of reproduction precuts here.  Both quilts are a great examples of making a little quilt with some precuts and fabric.  A couple of hours later, you have an awesome mini quilt or 2!!

Back to work for me!!