Quiltapalooza!

I've been getting a lot done in the quilting world here...lots of tops getting finished (OK, two in a day, but that's a lot for me!)...

One for Kitty/Kathy (I don't know what I'm supposed to call her).  She gave this one to me quite a while back and now I finally got it done.  I covered it with the usual Dr. Seuss feathers/swirls, which goes well with the paisleys in the red fabrics and feathery swirls in the light green.  I am supposed to get together with Jean and her parents sometime this week since they're visiting the coast, so I can hand it over when I see her.  I have a couple more little things she gave me--Christmasy panels--but I can't remember what I was supposed to do with them...which backing goes with which top...?  They got scrambled up and now I just don't know what I'm doing.  The backing to this I pulled from my stash because I couldn't find the piece that was supposed to go with it...I think I found it later amongst the stash, but I'm not quite sure.

And one for Laura, Lauri's mother-in-law who loves green and lavender.  I came up with a hearts and loops alternating design that worked really well.  I hope she likes it!

Clearly my camera phone doesn't take good pictures in low light...for some reason the flash didn't go off.  I also need a better place to display quilts...I have an idea...I'll have to work on something...more details as I think them up!  I'm actually thinking of some of the hanging systems from the quilt show Linda and I went to in Covington.  They used pants hangers!  Seriously!  Lots and lots of pants hangers.  And fishing line.

Emma's cake was pretty cool.  I had to go to two different bakeries to get the cake made.  They did a fine job, spelled things correctly, although they got a little squished at the end.  Still legible and spelled correctly, so I'll give them a solid B+ on the execution.  It was chocolate with vanilla custard filling (yum!).  The second bakery had the edible art photocopier (which the first one lacked), so I had to go there to get it done, and cost an extra $6.  Unfortunately, when you put the art thing on, first you have to trim it to size, and you probably need to put it on when the frosting is still really wet so it melts into the cake a bit.  I put it on when it was still somewhat chilled and after putting it in the fridge overnight, the art stuff peeled off a bit and didn't cut well.  It also seemed really thick; almost like a fondant.  In the end, it wasn't all that edible and made cutting the cake difficult.

I found these candles for Emma--she loves everything black and white and patterned.  These candles cost more than twice as much as the cheap Betty Crocker candles, and they only came in packs of 12, so I had to supplement a few candles to make the correct number for the traditional confectionery bonfire.  This year, totaling 15 mini flaming torches!

After the teenagers had snarfed down pizza, chicken wings and cake, and they had scurried upstairs for the requisite hours of giggling, I got to work making 9-patches.  OK, after I had gotten Ben medicated and sent to bed--so really it was between 10 pm and midnight when my eyes were getting all sticky and I couldn't see straight anymore.  Just so you know, it's not the 9-patches that are crooked; they're just hanging crooked on the flannel.  OK, so they also need some ironing.  So what's my plan with these delightful scraps?  If I make 81 blocks, I should be able to make a king size quilt top with sashing and borders.  I may be able to do with the squares I have cut right now, and I know I have another baggie of 3 1/2" squares sitting around here somewhere.

I found a pattern that uses 5" charm squares to make square in a square blocks, although I may try to alter it for 6" squares since I have quite a lot of them.  It's from Me and My Sister Designs and is called "Bertha".  Every 36 squares makes a quilt about 24 x 27.  324 of them should make a bed quilt about 72 x 81--twin size.  But that's a few more projects down the road.  I'll just keep making 9-patches.