Happy Thanksgiving (and Moo-velous Giveaway Results)

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

And congratulations to Barb Vedder, who will soon be receiving a package of udder-ly inspiring bovine fabrics and scraps!

A Moo-velous Quilt and Giveaway

 

I finally finished this "moo-velous" quilt - it's been over 25 years in the making!

My youngest son's kindergarten teacher had a classroom full of kitschy cow decorations.  It all began as a joke, but appreciative parents kept supplying more cow-themed goodies until the cows took over the room!

Of course I planned to make her a cow-themed quilt, but when she got wind of my plans she politely begged off.  I had already begun collecting cow fabrics, so I decided to make a cow medallion quilt for myself.

Initially, I tried to use only fabrics with cow designs, but I wasn't happy with the results - let's just say the seam ripper got a lot of use!  After many years of trying and giving up, I finally decided it was time to finish the quilt and move on.

I experimented with lots of interesting techniques as I worked on the quilt.  One the earliest was fussy-cutting (see the centers of the Ohio Star blocks above), which has turned out to be one of my favorite quilting techniques!

I recently asked Diane Knott of Butterfly Quilting to long-arm quilt the top for me.  I finished up the binding a few weeks ago, but didn't have a good opportunity for picture-taking until recently.

I still haven't added a label, as I'm undecided about the quilt's name.  My best idea is "Life is Moo-velous", but I would love to hear any ideas you all might have.

As I mentioned before, it's time to moo-ve on from the cows, so I'm offering some bovine inspiration to anyone who is interested.  All the fabrics below will be included in this giveaway.

My quilt started with this fabric panel from Joan Kessler for Concord Fabrics.  

There's also another panel of shapes to cut out and appliqué, or use for fussy-cutting.

Also included:  scraps, unused blocks, and some additional yardage.

Yes, this is all vintage fabric (mostly from the mid-late 1990s), and no, you won't hurt my feelings if you're not interested!

If you ARE interested, let me know via the comment section.  If multiple folks are interested, I'll draw a name on Wednesday, November 25th and notify the lucky recipient.  If you are a no-reply blogger, make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you!  

A Little RSC Progress

 I have not had many active Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects this year.  I finished a few RSC projects from previous years, and made lots of leader-ender blocks.  I also started making 25-patch star blocks part-way through the year, and added to that collection as the year went on.

I've been trying to use print fabrics for the 25-patch star blocks.  Here are the results from October's RSC color, yellow.  

And since I'm trying to knock out as many blocks as possible before the end of the year, I went back and made some aqua/teal blocks as well.

I now have all the rainbow colors completed for this project, so next I'll go digging through the black and brown scraps for some useful prints.  I currently have 32 blocks made and would like at least 48 blocks before I start assembling.

I've also been making Bonnie Hunter's latest leader-ender block, Easy Breezy.  I try to keep a stack of leader-ender parts stacked up near the sewing machine, but I've run out and need to replenish my supply.  I'll keep making these through next year, as I don't have nearly enough for a quilt yet.

I leave you with this amazing map from the National Hurricane Center.

It seems like I've talked about hurricane warnings in every post this summer.  Turns out I wasn't far from wrong!  The map illustrates the number of days spent in the dreaded "Cone of Uncertainty" for tropical weather predictions.  This year is definitely one for the record books!