Charming Chatter

Simple Things Parade!

Woo Hoo - I've been so looking forward to parade day - nothing better than a parade of B-E-A-utiful quilts!  First off, Carol and I want to thank you all!  These quilt alongs are a lot of work, and we were chatting today about how grateful we are for all of you ladies - who have been so excited, so kind, so encouraging - you all made this such fun for us - so THANK YOU

 
for making this Quilt Along a great experience for us! 

I'll be posting pictures of half of the quilts here - and Carol will be posting the other half on her blog!  So, if you don't see your quilt here, it's over at Carol's Blog!  If, for some reason we missed your quilt, please let us know! 

And, one more thing before we get to the parade - all of the instructions for the quilt along will stay here on the blog - for you to finish (or even start) your Simple Things Quilt.  Simply scroll down on the right-hand column under "Free Patterns & Tutorials" and click on the "Simple Things" button - to take you to all of the instruction posts!

Okay, here we go - here are those PRETTY quilts (in no particular order):

1.    Vicki from The Pickledish Patch made this lovely quilt:

 
Love the fabric you used - and your bright spirit Vicki!  THANK YOU so much for being my greatest cheerleader in this Quilt Along!

2.    And, Kathrin, who is originally from Europe - and now lives in Thailand made this lovely quilt

 
Kathrin ended up giving this to a friend, and was hoping to make another one!

3.    Well, guess what - Kathrin was able to make another one, here is the second lovely quilt she made:

 
Love your quilts and your garden Kathrin, and I've so enjoyed our e-mail chats - thanks so much for joining us!

4.    And Sharon of Lilabelle Lane Creations made this lovely quilt

 
using the ever so lovely Ruby fabric!  I'm so happy we got to meet in cyberspace - and I found your lovely blog Sharon - it's now a permanent fixture in my Google Reader - so I can see all of your other cute projects!

5.  And, Nancy of Tattered Garden made this lovely quilt

 
Such pretty fabrics Nancy - and I love your blog (also in the google reader), too!  Thank you for being such a Sweetie in our quilt along!

6.    Angela of Country Scrap Quilts made this lovely quilt

 
I so love the bright and cheery fabric you used Angela - and love your blog (also added to my google reader), too! 

7.    And, Angela of Country Scrap Quilts! also made another lovely quilt

 
So get this - Angela was kind enough to e-mail a share this fun story.  Both she and Carol of Cornfield Quilts made one large and one small version of the quilt - and they traded their smaller quilts - how fun is that?  Thanks so much for joining us - and sharing your fun story, too Angela!

8.  Sandie of Crazy Bout Quilts made this lovely quilt

 
with her gorgeous vintage sheet collection - and it turned out so pretty!  Sandie's been a bloggy friend and been in my google reader as a blog I love for a long time - thanks so much for joining us Sandie!

9.  LeAnn of Sewing Straight Stitches made this lovely quilt

 
I just love the rich, dark colors she chose - so very classy LeAnn!  And, LeAnn is also a Charming Girl with such a wonderful blog (also in the google reader) - thanks so much for joining us!!

And, of course I want to thank all of you who joined us, but haven't quite finished your quilt tops yet - we really enjoyed quilting along with you!

Alright, without further ado, the Random Number Generator picked #2, that's Kathrin from Thailand!

Congrats Kathrin!  You won

 
two "Ruby" charm packs!  Please e-mail me your mailing address - and I'll get them mailed right out to you!

And, Carol is having a giveway on her blog too - so be sure to check out all of the other lovely Simple Things Quilts - and her winner HERE!

Really, thanks so much girls!  This was such fun! I got to stay in touch with old friends, I got to make new friends - and my google reader grew with lots of new blogs to inspire, and you all had fun and made such beautiful quilts - Win, Win, Win, Win, Win!

(sorry, did I sound like Charlie Sheen there? - couldn't help it - this really was FUN)!

TTFN,

Kelly

Simple Things QA - Quilting & Binding!

Wow, girls - we're down to the home stretch one the

 
quilt along!  You all have made some really cute quilt tops!  This week is quilting and next week will be binding!  And, we'll have a parade with photos of all of the finished quilts on Carol's Blog and my blog on Thursday August 4th! 

NOTE:  You do not have to have your quilt quilted and bound to be entered in the parade, but we want to give everyone the chance to finish if they'd like to finish!  To be included in the parade, you only need to have the quilt top finished! 

 

For this week - the only instructions are quilt as desired!  Carol's quilt and my quilt were quilted with pantographs - but free motion, quilting in the ditch - whatever tickles your fancy - just quilt it to MIY!

For binding, if you'd like to look at a quick and easy method - please check out my binding tutorial HERE!

 

Please link up with your finished quilt tops or finished quilt HERE or you can e-mail a photo of your quilt to me or to Carol so we can include them in the parade!  Oh, and of course, there will be a little giveaway for those who finish their quilts (or quilt tops) - so be sure to link up or e-mail - I'm thinking a little "Ruby" fabric is in order for all the hard work you girls have been doing :)!

So looking forward to the parade!  Happy quilting and binding girls!

TTFN,

Kelly

Simple Things QA - Assembling The Quilt Top

Hi Girls!  A quick note before we get started today - my quilty, bloggy friend Polly of Aunt Polly's Porch has cooked up another sweet treat at the Moda Bake Shop!  A Christmas tree, ric rac, fussy cut ornaments - so CA-UTE!  Be sure to check it out!

Mkay - I think this is the FUNNEST

 

Quilt Along we've ever had!  Really - you all have been so cheery and excited!  You've picked such pretty fabrics - THANK YOU all for making this so enjoyable for Carol and me!  We only have 3 weeks until the parade - yahoo!

Here is Mr. Linky - so you can link up and we can all see your finished quilt tops:

 

For instructions for the larger version, visit Carol's blog HERE!

Assembling The Quilt Top

1.    Gather all your stuff (except the binding and backing)!

2.    Lay out your blocks in 7 rows of 7 blocks each as follows:

 
3.    Stitch together your horizontal rows of 7 blocks each, and stitch your 7 rows together.

4.    Gather your 1 1/2" x 28 1/2" and your 1 1/2" x 30 1/2". 

 
5.  Stitch one 1 1/2" x 28 1/2" strip to the right, and one to the left side of your quilt.  And stitch one 1 1/2" x 30 1/2" strip to the top, and one to the bottom of your quilt.

6.    Lay out your border blocks - 10 blocks on the right and left side, and 12 on the top and bottom of your quilt.

 
7.  Stitch your border blocks together into 2 rows of 10 blocks and 2 rows of 12 blocks.

8.  Stitch one row of 10 blocks to the right and one row of 10 blocks to the left side of your quilt.   And, stitch one row of 12 blocks to the top and one row of 12 blocks to the bottom of your quilt center.

 
9.  Stitch one 1 1/2" x 36 1/2" strip to the right side and one to the left side of the quilt.  Stitch one 1 1/2" x 38 1/2" strip to the top and one to the bottom of the quilt!

And, voila

 
 
your A-DOR-ABLE Simple Things Quilt Top is complete! 

We have a few fast workers who have already finished their quilt tops - and they're SO sweet!  Can't wait to see the rest!

Happy Quilt Top Assembling Girls!

TTFN,

Kelly