Made it into the Finish It Up Challenge

My "Orange Pile" fabrics from Pat Sloan's online retreat from back in February finally went from what you see above to what you now see below!

I had gotten the blocks done back on the original retreat weekend, and used Pat's recent Finish It Up Challenge to set them into a quilt top by the deadline (which was yesterday). My original intent for the borders is what you see plus a pieced inner border between the brown and orange ones, but I decided that finished would be better, so there's no pieced inner border ~ but I can live with that.

I had big plans for the Finish It Up Challenge, and pulled out several older, not-quite-done projects, but with getting ready for, going to, and recovering from Quilt Market, I was lucky to get even the OP quilt top done. I plan to leave the other projects out though and try to do one a month to move some of them along. What "works in progress" do you have that you can take to the next level? I'll keep you posted on how mine are going.

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Sunday's OP Accomplishments

Well, I got to sew some more blocks on Saturday before going to work, and I was hoping to have my whole OP quilt top done by this evening since I was off work today. But alas, life didn't go as planned. Here's my excuse/um, I mean story :)

Heather and I had decided that we would run out today after church to spend Books-a-Million gift cards that we both had gotten at Christmas time. I mentioned to her about a local guild show that was going on this weekend and we decided that we'd check it out before going to the book store, after all it would just be a little out of the way. So off we set on our adventure ~ Did we mapquest the location? ~ Do we have a gps gadget?...ah no. I had gone to this quilt show a few years back, and I did have a little card with their location address on it, you'd think I could get us there from that right ~ but, I seem to forget that we live in an area in central MD, halfway between Baltimore and Washington DC that is growing faster than anyone can keep up, so the area was totally unrecognizable to me! After driving around way longer than we should have we (Heather) finally found the building where it had been held, but there was no quilt show. Huh? We double checked the address, and yes we were in the right place, but still no quilt show! Well I was just about ready to call my co-worker Mary who is a member of that guild and see if the location had been changed or what, and Heather looked at the card and noticed that the date of the show is March 22nd not February 22nd ~ oops. (I know Mary, you can laugh now.)
So as not to be discouraged I decided to swing by a quilt shop that is in that area, after all I was in a mood to shop! Well it seems that quilt shop is closed on Sundays :(

So instead of sewing my OP top I spent all afternoon finding a quilt show that wasn't there, and going to a quilt shop that wasn't open! But I did get to the bookstore and bought the April Quilt Magazine along with some others, so it wasn't a total loss.

The picture at the top is how I plan to set my OP quilt, 5 rows of 4 blocks with no setting in between. I have the first row sewn together. Here is a picture of how I plan to border my quilt. I'm going to use 2 inch scraps for the pieced inner border.

...Since this weekend was all about playing with colors, and to prove to some of you that yes I can do bright colors, here is a block that I did in some hot colors. I think this will end up in a quilt of all different bright colored blocks.

I've already decided that I'm going to use this block again to do a graduation quilt for a friend in the school colors. It's a fun block to make and very versatile. If you need the block pattern, or if you have missed the OP weekend and you'd like so see some other wonderful orange creations check out Pat Sloan's blog (the OP button is on my sidebar).

Enjoy the rest of your day!
~ Dawn

Friday's OP Progress

I'm done "OP-ing" for tonight, but here is what I accomplished before I stopped to fix supper. I got nine blocks done. These all have the orange as the "circle fabric and my blues as the center fabric. My sashings are all my greens and the corners are browns. Here's a close up of one of the blocks:

Tomorrow I have to go to work in the afternoon, but in the morning I plan on making some "negative" versions of these blocks using the orange in the center, blue as the circle, browns as the sashings and greens in the corners. I think that will mix things up a bit. Then I'll have to do some thinking on how to set them all. I do like the corners on them, I played with leaving them off of some blocks earlier, but I've decided to go with corners on all the blocks. Other than that, I have no set plan for what I'm doing ~ this quilt is kind of making itself!

Enjoy!
~ Dawn

Ready for the OP!

I'm all ready for the OP! I'm off from work today and I told the family that today I'm "OP-ing" - that right there was enough to have them leave me alone -- My son didn't even know what that means, but he said he didn't want any more information :)

So I'm off and running, I'm ready to start cutting up my Orange Pile. I've downloaded the pattern (available on Pat's blog today - see the link on my sidebar):

I've got my buddy fabric piles all ready to go:

Maddie is here helping to search for more stray fabrics that can make their way into this little creation today. She wants to know what this OP thing is all about:

I've got some books on CD from the library:

I've got tea, and am ready to take note of what everyone else is doing out there :

...and I've got chocolate! I think this is the perfect day, what do you think?
More later on what actually gets made from this combination...

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Getting Ready for the OP!

Are you getting ready for the big Orange Pile Challenge? (Haven't heard about the OP? Check out the OP Challenge link on my sidebar) Pat Sloan posted this weekend about adding some more buddy fabrics for your orange pile. I've picked green as my next buddy fabric to go with my oranges and dusty blues ~ and for some interest, I'll throw in some browns to round out my OP Team.
Here is an up close of some of the fabrics in my color combination. Get those OPs going and pull some buddy fabrics. The great OP Challenge begins on Friday!!

We had a busy weekend, so I didn't get to do much sewing. My daughter, son-in-law and little granddaughter have moved from 7 to 1 1/2 hours away! So we went on Saturday to see their new house, and it's really nice. They have a cute townhouse in a very nice neighborhood that is close to just about any shopping you could imagine. Now I just have to do a search of the quilt shops in the area!

And my other news is that I have had another design accepted for publication, so I've been busy making quilt mock ups and calculating fabric requirements for the fabric company! This one should appear around Christmas time ~ I'll keep you posted!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

The OP Challenge

Pat Sloan is having a "Virtual Retreat" in February that she's calling the OP : Orange Pile Challenge. The OP runs from Friday, February 20th through Sunday, February 22nd. There will be postings leading up to the date on her blog (follow the link button and scroll to OP posts) telling more about it ~ it's kind of like a mystery. I've never participated in one of her Virtual Retreats as they always seem to fall when I am away or working. I do have to work on Saturday that weekend, but I figured that I would jump in for as much of it as I can! I hear the online retreats are fun with lots of posting of pictures, blog hopping, and give aways ~ all you have to do is comment!

So here is my Orange Pile with my first Buddy fabric chosen:

What can I say, when you say Orange to me, it translates to Cheddar ~ I'm really a reproduction gal at heart. Here is a closer view of my buddy fabrics, they are dusty blues and the one has little orange "berries" on it!:

I don't know what the blocks will be that Pat is planning, but I figured what the heck, what's one more project started right! Stop back for more details on the OP as it approaches, and send me pictures of your Orange Pile!

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn