Spring Water Designs: Quilts and Other Modern Day Heirlooms
More Mountain Baby Blanket donations have come in, and it didn't rain yesterday ~ so I could take some pictures.
These lovelies are from Carol Crager. She sent tops, backs and binding! Thanks Carol for your generosity! 
I finally got around to finishing my Block #5 of the Snowbound Block of the Month from Bunny Hill Designs. I had started it in early May, and set it aside for other projects. I was finding that I needed a little break from my evening handwork. I didn't really know why, but it wasn't thrilling me.
Then I quit putting off my trip to the eye doctor, and got a new prescription for eyeglasses ~ like magic, hand applique is fun again! Why do I put these things off so much? ...I know, that was a rhetorical question. Anyway, ironically I finished this snowman block on one of the hottest days of the year so far. Now to start block #6 ~ maybe I can get it started before the July block comes out :)
I finished my Project Quilting Challenge quilt last night, and got it entered this morning just under the wire. The theme for the challenge this week was was Log Cabins. The quilt had to be a maximum of 36" square (that's what mine measures), and I could use as many fabrics as I wanted, but one of them had to be used both front and back.
I actually like to do that occasionally with my fabrics, especially if a solid color is needed. Some fabrics are just a softer, lighter version of the front on the back side, and because of the way the fabric is printed, some are a solid color on the back ~ so check the back sides of your fabrics out, I've heard the quote that you've paid for both sides, you might as well use both sides. After all, that makes your stash twice as large as you thought!
I used this fabric both front and back to add to the half square triangles in my tree block ~ I wanted a tree block in the center because that's where logs come from :)
Log cabin blocks look great with a scrappy look, so the more variations of fabrics the better (I used all Jo Morton fabrics in this quilt). I surrounded the center tree with 6" log cabin blocks, and just turned them in different directions until I found a pattern that was pleasing to me.
For the corner setting triangles, I kept with the log cabin theme and made two large 18" square log cabin blocks and cut them in half on the diagonal.
I like a traditional log cabin quilt, so I kept this one very traditional looking with the fabrics, and I quilted it in the ditch.
Logs...traditional with just a couple of twists :)
It's been an incredibly busy week, and very productive. We have a lot of neat stuff coming up, but nothing that I can show right now ~ so let's look at some quilts! These are some of the quilts that struck me at the Annapolis Quilt Show a couple of weekends ago. 
Both of these are Circuit Rider Quilts. This show was the first one that I noticed finished Circuit Rider Quilts being displayed in, and they really caught my eye. I'd walk around the corner and say Ahhh, and it would turn out to be a Circuit Rider Quilt, so I guess I really need to make one of these one day!
This Pineapple Quilt was really cool. I just loved the colors,
...and the way the pineapples were pieced. 
This picture was taken for my friend Carolyn, who is making this same quilt pattern designed by Rose Hahn. It's just beautiful. 
And I must be really into animal quilts lately, because this one tickled me. It had some really neat embellishments, and I kept looking at it so I had to take a picture of it. 
I had a super good mail day! This is a little goodie package from Karen Way over at Sew Many Ways. I won one of her Sharing on Sunday Give-Aways! She is having a new give-away every Sunday as a thank you to her blog readers. I've been a follower of hers for a while now, and really like her Tool Time Tuesday posts ~ so hurry on over there today and check it out :) Thanks Karen!
The other great mail I got was fabric!! These are some brand new goodies from Moda that I have put in my ebay store fabric section and they are going quickly! And I've added some Kona Cottons in great reproduction colors ~ Rich Red, Bone, Khaki & Black for those Baltimore Album and Civil War quilts. All are Free Shipping, so the price you see is what you pay!
I'm also always adding great book finds to the ebay store, and I have a bunch more fabrics that I will be adding in the next weeks, (even some Jo Morton fabrics) so check back often!
We had our weekend of family fun, and Lisa's baby shower went off without a hitch, so all is good here. But I especially wanted to share a wonderful surprise and bonus that was the cherry on top of my special weekend. Here's the back story: 
It's red, white, and blue time of year, and Jo Morton Club time again too (yea I know, where did the month go?). So, this is my version of Jo's Daffodil Hill. I wanted another little Americana mini so I did mine in all patriotic colors and used the great little star print for the border and alternate squares. I decided to just keep the star border, so I didn't piece more little four patch blocks for the borders like in the original. Just me going for my theme of Simplicity again :)
And for those of you who like Americana and fun give-aways, Mary over at Quilt Hollow is giving away this cute patriotic quilt (yes, a complete quilt!). So hop on over to her blog and leave a comment to be in the running ~ and tell her that Dawn sent you on over from Spring Water Path!
Besides my Jo Morton sewing, I've got some other really cool projects in the works. I just got to open a box full of these yummy fabrics that I'm cutting into today! This collection is called Summer Song by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs. They are really fun fabrics that just make me smile to work with them.
And here's a peak at what I'm doing when I'm not sewing this week ~ Heather and I are working on Ducky things! Lisa's baby shower is this weekend at my house (Rubber Ducky themed), so I've been cleaning, and cleaning, and doing other silly things like rolling diapers to build a diaper cake centerpiece. 
...And Heather helped me make this little duck pond (the ducks have numbers on the bottom like a carnival duck pond, and that's how the guests will "choose" a favor bag). The duck pond originally was a tub of water ~ but apparently as a group, Chinese-made rubber ducks don't float upright, so we resorted to plan B, which will probably be the less messy way to execute it with Elsie in attendance :)
While working on this month's Jo Morton Club project (I'll show you that later this week), I've been making these signature blocks for the Jo Morton Stitchers' Siggie Block Swap. 
These traditional little blocks are really easy to make. First layer a 2.5" dark square on a 3.5" background square and sew from point to point. Chain stitching these makes the job go faster. 
Then you can sew an optional seam about a half inch from the other one, and cut between the stitching lines. This allows the corners to be saved as half square triangles and eliminates the waste of just cutting off the corner triangles.
Do this on both sides, and press toward the dark squares.
Then Voila...I'm making 135 of these little blocks to swap. Now I'm working on signing my name...and signing...and signing...
And ~ the voting is up for the Project Quilting challenge, and my Scout Memory Quilt from yesterday's post can use some votes. As an added perk, when you vote, you also get entered into the giveaway :)
The Project Quilting Challenge this week sparked me to make the memory quilt from Bobby's old Scout uniform components that I've been meaning to get around to. (The challenge this week was to make a quilt from recycled materials that had all had a life as something else before this quilt, and to embellish it with at least three different materials).
I cut up, rather mercilessly, his cub scout and boy scout shirts, which I have to say was a little bit scary. These included his official uniform shirts from Cubs and Boy Scouts, his Tiger Cub Tee Shirt and Pack and Troop Tees. I also had two of his Bandanas, from Bear and Webelos Cubs that I cut up and pieced through out the quilt.
The embellishments for the quilt include all of his award and council patches, award ribbons, pins, button, and his bandana slides. 
I even pieced the backing with leftover uniform pieces, and then included a pocket from a pair of cub scout pants to keep small keepsakes in. I still need to make a label for the quilt though. 
So now it's hanging in our basement rec room where my husband hosted years of den meetings, and tons of raucous cub scout memories linger :)
I've been busy sewing here the last few days, with several projects in the works that I hope to be sharing with you in the near future, but today was a drop dead gorgeous Summer day. So my husband and I both took a day off from our work and spent the day enjoying the Summertime in beautiful St Michaels Maryland. 
This is a charming place to visit, so I thought I'd share some of my Summertime treat with you. The Hooper Straight Lighthouse is located here at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. 
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch dock side and watched the boats coming in. 
It's a town full of history and classic old buildings.
...And wonderful gardens. We walked all over town and spotted some beautiful garden nooks. 
I loved this orange plant. If anyone knows the name, I would love to know it ~ I have the perfect spot for one of these in my garden :) 
Not alot getting done here on Spring Water Path this weekend. I've been feeling a little under the weather ~ I didn't even make it to Civil War Sunday at the shop yesterday, or Heather's concert at church :( I seem to be feeling a little better today though, so hopefully I'll get something from my massive list done today (yes, my name is Dawn, and I'm a list maker). I did play around with some quilt blocks the other day though, so I have a little something to show you (new quilt project coming up soon using these blocks). In the meantime, I made a couple of pin cushions using them. 
If you need a quick gift idea you can pick these cute little guys up in my etsy store. It's a Good Needful Thing :)
So I have tons of gardening and housework to do. Lisa's baby shower that Heather and I are hosting (at my house) is coming up in 2 weeks, and I have soooo much to do before then. I did get to lay around with my laptop and look up baby shower ideas this weekend, and really spent some quality time with my datebook (did I mention that I'm a list maker), so I think I have my life all mapped out, and executing it is all in the realm of possibility now. 
Last week was our Jo Morton Club show and tell sessions, and because life has been getting in the way, I'm just now getting the pictures up to share. So without further adieu...
Dawn Burchett shared her darling Star Flowers and Berries. The pattern was first published in Jo's Little Women Club 4, and can be also found in Jo's book called Vintage Journey. 
Our Keystone Medallion quilts are starting to come in. Our goal was to have it finished through the pinwheel border this month, and to have the whole quilt done by next month. This lovely blue and gold one is from Sheri Thompson.
Mitzen Mitchell is working on this cute red and green one. This makes me want to get back to work on my red and green UFO project.
Rose Mary Swartwood went ahead and finished hers this month. I love the use of the tan background fabrics with the deep red and blues. 
And we always like to share some of the projects that keep us busy when we're not working on Jo quilts. Rose Mary is working on this cute jars quilt. Her choices of friut and veggie fabrics were perfect. 
Mitzen brought in some of her Japanese Embroidery projects. Her work is exquisit, and the pictures I took just doesn't do it justice. I loved the textures and colors of these braids.
There were no words for this beautiful geisha. Click on the pictures to get a better view of her stitches. She is studying with a master and has almost completed all of the levels. It always amazes me to see the works of art that the talented ladies in our group produce on a regular basis. 
