My House is Full . . . . . .

Just in time for the parade, my finished "Full House" which I have named "Christmas in the City".

My project finished at 41" x 42" and has approximately 423 pieces.

The fabric is Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater.

The pattern is Full House by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

This is Lifetime Quilt #78 and my second finish for 2012.

My first two projects of the year have a total of approximately 1.422 pieces.

I got a few requests for my town house pattern, here it is:

The roof is a 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" - For the roof cut a 5 1/2" square diagonally twice use one piece- for the sky cut a 3 1/4" square diagonally once, use both pieces. Trim to correct size.

Door - red in picture - cut one 2" x 2 3/4" piece

Windows - green in picture - cut five 1 1/2" x 1 3/4" piece

Siding - black dot print in picture - cut three 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" pieces, one 3" x 1 1/2" piece, three 1 1/2" x 1 3/4" pieces, and five 1" x 1 3/4" pieces.

Once all the pieces are correctly sewn together you get a town house that is 4 1/2" wide x 10 1/4" long.

Someone left a comment saying that my town houses reminded them of Meg Ryan's town house in the movie "You've Got Mail", one of my all time favorite movies. I bet I've watched that movie nearly 50 times. No wonder I thought I needed some town houses!

Additional Note on Sweetwater's "The Neighborhood" pattern - I just received the pattern in the mail, those cute little cottages are appliqued! I thought they were pieced. I'm not in the mood for an applique project now but am thinking maybe I can convert the applique patterns into pieced patterns, stay tuned for further updates!

Melinda at Melinda Quilts has made the pattern and said the applique wasn't that hard, she machine applied her cottages. Click here for a looksie.

All In A Row . . .

I got my town houses done . . .

I just loved the look of the snowflake print on the roofs of my town houses so that's what I went with for all of them.

And my Carrie houses are done too. . .

I decided to mix up the roofs on these houses.

This pattern is gong together very quickly, even with my small adjustment. I think you still have time to make this pattern and join in on Sherri and Sinta's Full House parade, even if you haven't started yet!

I enjoyed making Carrie's houses so much I looked around for some other houses,

I think I like the looks of this Sweetwater pattern called "The Neighborhood", it has a summer beach town feel to it. I've noticed that there is still plenty of Hometown by Sweetwater for Moda fabric available, and several online stores have it marked down. There's something to be said for being the last one to jump on a bandwagon!

Another Year of Schnibbles . . .

I'm so excited Sinta and Sherri decided to host another year of Schnibbles sew along, or as they have named it, "another year of schnibbles". Catchy title don't you think, right to the point!

For the first Schnibbles sew along I managed to finish 3 out of 12 and not a one made as called for in the pattern, but I love them all.

The January sew along pattern is Full House.

I love this pattern and after seeing Carrie's Christmas houses I decided to make my Full House using Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater for Moda to go in the guest room with my Countdown to Christmas quilt.

I love this pattern so much I didn't see me making any changes, it's hard to improve on perfection.

So I made my first house then got to thinking maybe I wanted a more of a "Christmas in the City" theme.

And wouldn't some townhouses look nice . . . . maybe I'll be making some changes to this pattern after all.....stay tuned!

First Finish for 2012 . . . . .

My Starry Eyed quilt is done. Although, I'm not calling my project Starry Eyed, mine is called Countdown to Christmas. That's just what I've always called it in my head, I know, that's the fabric name not the pattern name, but when this quilt is out, I'll be counting down to Christmas so I think it suits.

The last time I blogged about this quilt someone left a comment about my wonky stars not being so wonky! I followed the directions to a "t" but somehow mine all came out looking the same!! I'm a neat freak even when I'm not trying to be a neat freak!

Just in case you missed my earlier posts regarding this project here's the lowdown:

I used Angela from Fussy Cut's Moda Bake Shop pattern, Starry Eyed. The pattern called for 16 inch finished blocks, 4 across by 5 down. I increased my block size to 18 inches and went 5 blocks across by 5 blocks down. My quilt finished at 90" x 90".

The fabric is Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater for Moda. It took an entire fat quarter bundle plus almost 4 yards of background fabric to make this quilt.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 77 and my first finish for 2012.

This quilt has exactly 999 pieces.

I usually come up with some change for most patterns I sew, sometimes just a little tweaking, other times a complete overhaul. I felt that this pattern was perfect just the way it was, so other than changing up the size a little, my quilt pretty much looks like everyone else's, which drove me crazy. So I made one little change, just to be different, but I won't tell you what it is, see if you can spot it.

I made my quilt bigger to fit my guest room bed, once it's quilted I think it will be a near perfect fit.

One of the reasons I bought this bed was the interesting feature of being able to change the fabric in the headboard. I bought additional yardage to cover the headboard when I have this quilt out.

I decided to go with this piece of fabric.

I looked forward to making this project from the first time I saw it, last summer. It was a fun project and went together quickly and easily. I asked Angela about creating a site where we can see all the quilts made using her pattern, a popular request according to Angela. She plans to share the photos as soon as she has time and will blog about it when it's ready. I can hardly wait to see some projects made with fabric other than Countdown to Christmas.

A Couple of Updates . . . .

James River Blues is home from the quilter . . .

Connie Lancaster at Quilts Plus quilted this top for me. This quilt was originally headed to the family room, but my red couch was bare after I put up my Christmas quilts so it landed here instead. If you've ever wondered what color couch is the best color to showcase your different quilts, it's been my experience that red couches are the best!

I've just got to share this with somebody, and since no bodies are coming to my house you get the news . . .

Not only is my $4.99 Home Depot Poinsettia still alive, it looks better today than when I brought it home over 6 weeks ago! Leaves continue to open and bloom. I've never managed to keep a plant alive this long, let alone thriving! It's the only thing blooming in my neck of the woods, at this rate, I think it may make it to next Christmas or at least Valentines Day!

I'm also sewing, hopefully the weather will cooperate so I can get some good pictures of Starry Eyed, it's all done!