Yay!!!! A finish!!!

In the midst of all our preparations for the Pet Show, I managed to finish my Apple of My Eye table topper! 

Yay!

You may remember that this is from Jolie Maxtin's pattern (she was so sweet to even send me a template!) from the Mug Rug Hop....and I had even more help from Jackie when I needed some fabric for the bias binding!  Thanks, ladies!

Here is my finished topper:

Here is a closer peek at the bias binding:
 

I'm loving the back just as much as the front!

I love polka dots!
 

What have you been up to, this weekend?

More merriment and mayhem coming up this week, and the Pet Show begins on the 11th!

Love,

It's Finished!

I wanted to share my finished table topper with you . . . this one took a while, but I love it. I began this for Sunni's Farmers Wife in Your Life blog hop, and I thoroughly enjoyed making the squares and designing a home for them. 

I used the fabrics from the Butterfly in the Crossroads squares (I've heard from some quilters that this is also called the Tulip block) for the scrappy binding.  

I prefer a narrow binding on my toppers, so I cut the fabric strips just 1.5 inches wide. I know, some of you are gasping at my maverick ways, but I do use a single thickness of fabric on some toppers, since no one will be pulling it over them and snuggling . . . I figure they don't have to be quite as durable. It makes for a nice, narrow edge, and I think the color changes add something to the topper.

I have some other projects started, and I hope to show you some peeks soon. Till then, hope you find some time to sew - and if you need more fabrics or supplies, please visit our lovely sponsors!

I'm linking up today with the Shady Porch linky party, and with Katherine's Corner and Margaret at The World as I See It. for the Thursday Favorite Things linkup!

I'm also linking up with the Thursday Think Tank at Making Rebecca Lynne!

Love,

The Fun Begins!

Welcome, blog hoppers! Welcome to the Lilypad! We are thrilled to be part of the Sew We Quilt Table Toppers hop --- featuring mini quilts that can be displayed on our Ackfeld wire frames.

Some of you that are hopping over here may not know why I say "we" here at Lilypadquilting . . . it's not the royal "we" that I am referring to. I share this blog with my mascot, Padsworth, a frog of some renown. (Wink)

He has his own web site, too: Ole Frog Eyes virtual design wall for quilters. He helps out here at Lilypadquilting, and we enjoy his antics. 

Let me show you my table topper for this hop:

It's a very simple block, called the Log Cabin block, and I made it to finish at 12 inches, which is a very nice size for the frame.

It's an old and traditional block, and I think that when someone comes in and sees it, it says, "A quilter lives here."  Personally, I think it also says, "And she is interesting and creative and has superb taste in fabrics and design."  But I digress.

You just need some fabric strips with nice contrast, like these:

and you start with a red block, because the hearth, or fireplace, is the "heart" of the home:

  . . . and you just keep building!

Madame Samm said we didn't need to show a tutorial, so I'm just giving you an idea of how the block is constructed. You can easily find log cabin blocks on the web. 

Once you quilt it and bind it, with a little hanging sleeve on the back, you have a mini-quilt to go on your frame and display with pride:

Okay, okay, Padsworth . . . get over there and I'll take your picture, too!  

Be sure to hop around and see all of the other table-topper display quilts!  

Here is the list for today:

Snoodles (haha! You're here!)

Lesley

Sharon

Dawnmarie

Piece Peace

And check each day at Sew We Quilt to see a list of bloggers that are participating!

Before you leave, be sure to enter our Colonial Needle giveaway, too!  Just scroll on down to the post below! And stop in at the next stop on our Colonial "hop," which is SewCalGal's place!

Love,

Right Down to the Wire!

Well, Easter Sunday found me with my roast chicken and sides percolating happily in the oven whilst I stitched down the facing on my table topper! 

I bet y'all have been in that situation before, haven't you? Where you feel like you absolutely must finish it, and then you hop up and down happily when it's done? (Grin)

Well, here it is! 

It would have been pretty on a green tablecloth, but I just rolled with what I had. You can see the quilting pretty well here - nothing fancy like Amanda did, just outline stitching for the most part. If you would like to see some wonderful stitching on one, check out this link and see what she did to quilt hers (it's gorgeous!).

I wanted an outdoor picture, so here is one:

And just to prove that I actually DID finish it (oh, you doubter, you!) here is a picture showing the back with the facing and my label:

I'm linking up today with the party over at Amy's One Thing, One Week Challenge -- what a motivator that has been for me, on several projects! 

I have some more of those lovely pieced charms from the Flora pack, and the gears are turning on another project for them . . . in the meantime, won't you leave me a comment and tell me about a time that one of your projects went "right down to the wire"? 

Love,

Table Topper Center

I'm still working on my Easter table topper, and I've changed the center, as promised. Instead of the cute bunny that Amanda used on hers, I decided to make a basket with more of the lovely eggs from Flora charms.

Here is what it looks like now:

I must apologize for the yellow tint to the photo....had to take it inside, since a thunderstorm was booming outside. Most inconsiderate of Mother Nature, but it couldn't be helped. Sigh.

I made a template just a little bit smaller than the eggs on the dresden wedges, so that they wouldn't overpower the little basket.
Here is a closer peek at it:

Here's the little egg in front, with more decorative stitches, like on the large eggs:

I'm working on quilting the topper, and then I'll decide whether to use a traditional binding, or use a facing as Amanda did on her blog.

I'm not sure which way to go --- those scallops could be tricky with binding, and the facing may be the easiest way to finish!

More progress to show you soon!

Love,

Farther Down the Trail . . .

Here are a couple of photos of my Easter table topper's progress . . .

This is a picture of the foundation for the topper. You saw these eggs in progress -- here they are, all completed, and the wedges in a circle, ready to sew together.

I am really liking how this looks, and I hope that you like the way I am "tweaking" the pattern. Amanda used embroidery on the inner petals, but I don't have a machine for that, so I am using a pretty stitch from my lil machine, and then I will put the applique in the middle.

Here's a close up of the stitching on the inner petals:

 (Uh, yes, I do see the stray threads needing to be clipped. Ahem.)

My daughter thought that all the Flora eggs were beautiful, so the center motif will be a basket and more eggs!

You may think I've been moving slowly on this project. Have you ever tried to sew or quilt with a frog in your sewing room? I mean seriously. Do you understand the havoc a young froggie can cause?

Padsworth was convinced that he could be of assistance on centering the outer flower petals on the wedges, and insisted on pulling his share of the applique over "just a little bit."

Then I turned around to catch him trying to snip those threads! 

I told him he was just too young to be handling those scissors . . . he isn't even a year old yet! He's just too stinking cute for his own good, you know? How do you discipline that lil face? (Grin)

Hey, if you want to try the table topper, all of the instructions can be found at Amanda Murphy's Design blog, and all of the templates, too. Just make sure that your studio pet is behaving! 

Love,

Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail . . .

You may remember my post about sewing along with Amanda Murphy on the Easter table topper. You can see the different steps to constructing this cute project here, here, and here. 

This has been really fun -- first of all, I'm working with Flora, by Lauren and Jessi Jung, for Moda -- what's not to love? Gorgeous, sumptuous colors, evocative of Old World fabrics . . .

(All of these images are from our fabulous sponsor, the Fat Quarter Shop.)

Ahem. 

'Scuse me while I mop up my keyboard. I tend to drool when looking at these fabrics, and I have some right here close by. (Grin)

I have cut my wedges from the Curio fabric, and I showed you the pieced charms that I cut the eggs from; now it's time to show you some of the wedges with the eggs applied!

I think they're so cute! Now, I don't have a machine with all of the bells and whistles that Amanda has, but there are some decorative stitches on my lil' Brother (that I love with all my heart) and this was a good opportunity to try them out!  See what you think of these --- and please be kind, OK? I did try these when I first received the machine from my loving sister, but since then, not as much.  So, some of them surprised me, and the needle went in the opposite direction of where I expected!

 There are a few "skips" in this one, but overall, it's a keeper!

I like how this one turned out!

This fabric has leaves on it, and the stitch makes leaves, too!

Kinda hard to see this one, but since it is subtle, it lets that fabric shine!

Well, there are twelve more wedges to make, on this bottom section of the table topper . . . then it's off to my stash to choose fabrics for the petals to go on top!

Happy sewing, everyone!

I'm linking up with the party over at the Shady Porch today! Check out all the fun links over there!

Love,

Need a little advice here . . .

Hi ya'll! Remember this?

It's my table topper that I made for the Farmer's Wife in Your Life blog hop, that Sunni hosted. I'm gripped with indecision. Simply slammed with doubts. My brain is in overload mode, and that is plumb dangerous. 

I have a question for you, the special Lilypadquilting peeps:

Should I applique butterflies in the blank areas, like this:

Or should I embroider butterflies and maybe some text, like this:

I guess the text could be something sweet and sappy about butterflies, and spring, and things like that. 

Or should I just leave it like it is --- simple, and get 'er quilted?  Personally, I kinda like how the background lets me focus on those blocks, but then again . . .

The binding will be a narrow, scrappy one, with the left-over fabrics from the blocks: pink, green, blue, lavender.

Please! Help me out here, and leave a comment to tell me what you think! (Grin) I'm leaning toward the third option, but if you think I should do differently, won't ya tell me about it?

Love,

A little eye candy . . .

Blog Hop Party-goers can click here to go to our giveaway post! 

Hi Lilypadquilters!

I thought I would show you some sweet pictures today, and let you take a guess at what I'm doing.

I have a charm pack of luscious Flora, by Lauren and Jesse Jung for Moda, and I'm slicing and dicing. I choose two charms that have a pretty good level of contrast, and swap pieces, like so:

Here are some samples of what I achieve:

Aren't they gorgeous?

Betcha can't guess what I'm gonna do with them!!

Hmmm, I guess I'll give you a hint. Check out this post on Amanda Murphy's blog. See what she's making? Well, I'm sewing along with her!  And I'm gonna have enough of these to make two! Yay!

Have fun sewing today!

Love,