Taking Val's Piggy Bank Challenge again!

Just wanted to drop by and let you know that I am taking Val's Piggy Bank Challenge again. My "piggy" is actually a bear!

This past month, I emptied my Bear and took my savings to the Coinstar machine at my local supermarket. If you exchange your coins for a gift card, there is no charge to sort them. So it was a no-brainer to get an Amazon gift card.

I then used my Amazon gift card to buy myself some gold sandals because a girl can never have too many shoes or too much fabric!

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

What's New Pussycat? A Quilt for Angie

Angie turned 5 last month. She wanted a quilt for her big girl bed. She loves cats and the color red.

Here is the finished quilt.

When in doubt, I always turn to Yellow Brick Road which is my TNT (tried 'n true) pattern. It goes together quickly and allows me to use a myriad of fabrics, patterns and colors. I had been collecting cat fabrics for Angie but as usual, I had collected more cat fabric than I could possibly need...

I think that little kid quilts should have lots and lots of colors and patterns to look at. The quilt looks a little garish in photographs, but I think it will be a hit with Angie. The quilt is en route to Oregon, and I'm waiting to hear how she likes it.

Here's a close-up of some of the cat fabrics. Most of the red fabrics are ancient fat quarters from my Stash.

I use some large pieces of cat fabric on the back. There is more feline fabric left over so Angie will definitely be getting some kitty cat pillowcases soon.

The quilt was machine quilted by my friend Val. She even did a kitty cat pantograph.

Here is Angie's baby quilt which I made in 2012 which was the year that I started blogging.

Thanks for visiting.

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Sandie's Scraptastic Star Quilt

Sandie finished her Scraptastic Star Quilt yesterday at our July Brown Baggers Meeting. It is her own design. No scrap is too small! It is for her baby niece in Idaho.

Sandie was my first friend when I moved here in 1992. We met at a quilt retreat. I didn't know a soul and Sandie walked right up to me and asked me to go to lunch with her. That was the weekend I learned that you could buy fabric without any project in mind and you didn't have to wait until your current project was finished... the rest is history! (Or herstory!)

Sandie can be found at The Lone Quilter. Although we are happy to report that she has rejoined her Brown Bagger buddies, so she is alone no more.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Showing Off Joannie's Latest T-shirt Quilt

Joannie has finished her latest t-shirt quilt commission! As usual, it is magnificent!

Below are some close-up shots of her work. Joannie doesn't settle for plain, old ordinary sashing. No, she uses tiny half square triangles, flying geese and pieced strips. We counted and think there are 38 t-shirts in this quilt. It is a gift for a recent graduate who has moved to Arizona. His Mom cried when Joannie gave her the quilt. Our friend Terri did the beautiful all over machine quilting on her long arm, using a free hand puzzle meander design with gold thread.

Hats off to Joannie! Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

If This Quilt Could Talk...Presenting Logan's Quilt

Sometimes it's not the pattern, but the fabrics that make the quilt. Last summer my friend Val hosted an I Spy fabric swap. I signed up for two spots and in the end I received 400 different four-inch squares. While I have plenty of novelty print fabrics in my own stash, it was so much fun to swap with other quilters and receive new-to-me fabrics, many of which I had never seen before.

Held by two of my favorite quilt holders, co-workers, Julie and Lauren.

Here are a few close-ups of some of the fabrics in the quilt. I used the I Spy squares to make the 4-patches plus added fabrics of my own as the large alternating squares. This quilt includes fabrics from my stash that are over 20 years old, to brand new fabrics that I bought on my trip to the Missouri Star Quilt Company, plus a few scraps from the dog bed pile (thank you Kim G. for the Minion donation).

I spy pigs, pie, pencils, ostriches, trains, mushrooms, popcorn and taxis.

More mushrooms, hockey skates, frogs, crayons and winter hats!

Every time I look at this quilt I see something new. There are fabrics in here from baby quilts and pillowcases that I made for my niece Rachel (turning 20 next month), and my nephew Ben (almost 6 feet tall at 15), as well as fabric from my Mom's 75th birthday quilt and some chicken fabric that my Mom brought me back from Pennsylvania Dutch Country more than 20 years ago (yes Mom, I finally used it).

Quilt Stats: This is just a simple 4-patch block alternating with a plain patch. There are 49 4-patches (196 fabrics) plus 50 plain patches which comes out to 246 different fabrics. I set it 9x11. It was meant to be twin size, but it's very large. I'll come back and add specific measurements because I know that someone is going to ask...

This quilt is for my darling Logan who will turn 4 this month. He is my friend Anna's little boy. He calls me "Aunt Fancy Nancy." Naturally I have lots of leftover charm squares and I plan to make one for Logan's little brother Cameron as well as one for Baby Nate.

In homage to my friend Marion, I also pieced the back and inadvertently made a reversible quilt.

There are 13 more fabrics on the back of the quilt, including some really old Debbie Mumm prints from when I learned to quilt back in the late 1980s.

This quilt owes a lot to my blogging friend Val who organized the fabric swap, quilted my quilt and also hosted the piggy bank challenge that I used to pay for her quilting services. Thanks Val!

Beautifully quilted with all types of transportation: cars, trucks, helicopters and airplanes.

Linking up on Friday to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF, Needle and Thread Thursday and Crazy Mom Quilts. Linking up on Wednesday to Let's Bee Social.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Happy 4th!

I have a patriotic pedicure!

And a new pug flag for my garden! Elvis loves it, he think it looks just like him. LarryPug is not impressed...

Sadly, my wardrobe is lacking and I do not own a Pug-themed 4th of July t-shirt. Nor do I have any patriotic quilts, although I do have patriotic place mats made by my friend Joannie, aka the place mat queen.

Have a great 4th of July!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy