Marian Edwards DreamWeaver

a happy, happy place...

Right now i'm in, as i like to call it, a happy, happy place... creating and sewing to my heart's content.

Happily plugging along with a few projects...

namely,

my Dear Jane corner blocks, which are close to being finished.

Bottom left corner... the bottom half, done!

and the top half prepped...

and here's the bottom right corner block, which is coming along nicely too.

i just need to applique the tiny star points and then it's done!

Then there's the 'ScrapBasket Sampler' sew-along i'm doing on Facebook (Quilts by Cheri ~ Friendship Group)

These are the blocks we've made over the past two weeks...

the first ten blocks have been pieced together, in random style.

and the loose blocks are this week's blocks.

It's such a fun FB group, with lots of happy chatter about Cheri's patterns & books, not to mention all her wonderful free patterns.. she is extremely generous!

There's one book in particular, which has caught everyone's attention and i simply couldn't resist ordering my own copy from Amazon.

It arrived three days ago... and i'm over-the-moon happy with it!!

It's simply wonderful... 160 pages crammed with the most delightful primitive designs, including wool applique & stitcheries. I've already picked out a few designs i want to make, but before i do...

there's two doll quilt swaps i've signed up for...

The first, being the SQT annual doll quilt swap, and this year i'm partnered with Candee (from Illinois)... she makes the most delightful small (doll) quilts and i can't wait to see what she makes for me. I have designed a little doll quilt for her and i'm in the process of selecting some fabrics from my stash.

The second doll quilt swap, is Lori's 'Humble Quilts' doll quilt swap, which she started two years ago. I'm happy to say this will be my third Humble Quilts doll quilt swap. This swap is a little different because it's a mystery doll quilt swap... meaning, i know who i'm making a quilt for, however, i don't know who's making a quilt for me. I am still deciding on a design for this little quilt, one thing for sure it will be made with CW repro fabrics, and it will definitely be scrappy :))

Just when you think i've got my hands full with the aforementioned projects, i've signed up for yet another swap... a SQT basket block swap. We could sign up for 1-5 sets and yes, you've probably guessed it.. i've signed up for five sets. There's five blocks per set, so that means i'm making 25 basket blocks in total. Call me crazy, but i LOVE basket blocks and these blocks are so darn cute, and they come together very quickly.

As you can see i've already made a start. I've made one BB in each set, which means i've yet to make four more repeats of each set, which shouldn't take too long :))

you gotta admit, they're pretty darn cute!

ohhh i almost forgot about another small quilt swap i'm doing with my friend Karen, who also happens to come from Illinois, and she just happens to know Candee too!

Karen & i were swap partners last year and we had so much fun that we decided we'd do another small quilt swap, with each other. I'm happy to say that Karen's quilt is almost ready to be posted.. it just needs to be washed first - we both love the crinkly vintagey look of washed quilts. Sorry, i can't show you a picture because she reads my blog, and i want it to be a surprise.. but i promise to show it to you as soon as she receives it :))

Now, as i'm reading over this post i've come to realize that since my last blog post (3 weeks ago) i've undertaken six projects... no, it's actually five projects because my DJ has been an ongoing project for some time now.

But wait a minute, i've suddenly remembered one more project i've kept hushed these past three weeks.

It's a small project i've been working on and now i'm happy.. really happy to report that it's finished and i can finally show you...

but it's a tease sneak peek only.. sorry :((

OK just one more peek...

Sadly, that's all i'm at liberty to show you right now because this little 'mystery' project is going to be in...

  Summer 2017 issue!!!

Do you think i'm just a tad excited.. you BET!!!

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On this happy note i would like to wish you all a very Happy & Safe Easter ❤❤

DJ triangles & corner blocks...

Since my last blog post i have churned out an additional six DJ triangles - that's a total of 12 triangles (my goal for Feb), which means all the left side triangles are done & dusted... yay!!

It also means that's it, as far as the triangles are concerned!

That's right, all 52 triangles are FINISHED for good... woohoo!!

Pinch me, coz i still can't believe it lol, but here's proof.

52 triangles on my DJ design wall, and i couldn't be happier!!

and here's another pic of the twelve (LS) triangles i made last month.

At this point i thought it was time to take a little break from Dear Jane.

So, i picked up a UFO which i haven't touched in years :(( and i'm happy to say, i'm making good progress. I'm almost halfway through quilting this signature quilt, a SQT block swap from 2011.

I am determined to get this 'not-so-little' quilt finished by the end of this month!

After a five day break from Dear Jane, i was itching to get back into it.

Yep, it was time to tackle the last of the DJ blocks, aka the BIG Corner Blocks.

Since finishing the triangles and seeing all the blocks on the design wall, it dawned on me that red was the obvious colour choice for the corner blocks. The more i thought about it, the more i liked it... yep, a muted red would be perfect!

Next thing i knew, i was pulling out all the muted reds i could find, in my fabric stash, and after what seemed like forever - swapping this one, for that one (and vice-versa), i finally settled on these four lovelies :))

Before i had a chance to reconsider... i promptly got to work, cutting out the shapes for the first block - the top left corner.

OMG look how BIG it is!!

It came together without too much hassle, only a few unpicks.... so that by the end of the day, i had finished my first corner block... happy, happy!

The following day (last Tues), i started on the top right corner.

i love those tiny, pesky triangles.. they are so cute lol!!

triangles pieced and in position, it was time to tackle the applique star... which i did, nice & slow.

by the next day, i had completed my second corner block.. yay!!

so happy with my two corner blocks.

On Saturday afternoon i started prepping the bottom left corner block.

 As you can see i have only prepped the bottom half. I find it's much easier to break each block into smaller sections.

and here's what i accomplished today...

half a block finished, and i'll tackle the top half, tomorrow.

Then it's onto the fourth (and last) corner triangle.. the bottom right.. woohoo!!

here's one more pic of the twelve triangles and the two corner blocks...

By this time next week, i hope to start sewing the sashing onto the blocks, and joining the blocks into rows.. i'll keep you posted :))