Really, I love the color red…

I do…

it's the color of my hair…

it's an important color on the Texas Flag…

…and the Texans' football uniforms (especially Battle Red day!!)

and it's the color I chose for this week's Project Quilting challenge!

Aren't those fabrics fun???

I had such a great time playing with them all week!!

So, the picture above shows a little bit of my inspiration…

I wanted to do an applique block with some embroidery on there and then I wanted to surround that block with a bunch of blocks in a traditional pattern. 

So, I grabbed this book (Inspired by Tradition) by Kay Mackenzie (a sweet friend I met at Quilt Market in Salt Lake City in 2011) and picked a traditional applique block, Indiana Rose. Love it!!

I added strips to the top and bottom and wrote a bible verse on it…Ps 100. 

"The Lord is Good, and His love endures forever!"

I love love love this verse!!!

Then I looked through vintage quilting magazines for a block pattern that struck my fancy…

I found this one:

it's called "Hole in the Barn Door".  I love this wonderful block…and I love the randomness of the fabric choices. This is one of my "things" right now…To take a bunch of fabrics that go together and randomly put them back together!! :) 

So once I had the top together, I added borders! Love!!

So, the next step…the quilting. I wanted to do something a little traditional and different from what I normally do.

To start, I did stippling in the middle applique block so that the applique would puff out. 

The rest of the quilt (minus the borders) was perfect for straight line quilting. Then the borders…the borders were perfect for using a template to quilt them! I used a "ribbon" template, some chalk, and my even feed foot. Next time, I'll probably use my FMQ foot instead…we'll see!

All in all, I think it turned out quite well!! 

Here are some other close ups!

My interesting top and bottom red strips on the middle block not squaring up is another one of my "things!" (I seem to have a bunch of them this year!) The original block was 10" and so I added little mini borders. Apparently, I didn't square it up right before adding the top and bottom strips. So when I squared up the whole block to 12" to match the "hole in the barn door" blocks, they ended up a little wonky. My philosophy is that I am not perfect…only Jesus is perfect…and in my artistry, there will be mistakes. Obviously, I'll have to be a little bit more precise if I'm entering my quilts into a juried show. It's part of my quilting journey to figure out what works where (seams, squaring, cutting…etc…) and each project reminds me of these wonderful truths!!

So, in my tutorial for my One Anothers Quilt, I promised you I would post a video of what chain-piecing was all about…So here ya go…(excuse my wild iPhone-ness)…

 

Fun, huh???

I can write up a tutorial for this little red quilt if you'd like me to…anyone want one? Leave me a comment and I'll whip one out if there is interest!!

This next week, I'm going to embark on my Michael Miller Madrona Road Modern Quilt Guild Challenge and finish it before Thursday which is when we leave (my two oldest kids and I) for Austin for a weekend of Youth and Government and Revelry!! ♥

Here's what I've got to work with…sooooo excited!!

It's going to be so fun…and how about that scripture???? Soooo wonderful!!!

and a quick recommendation for a money blog that I stumbled upon last week…

…and then we saved

{this pic is from their blog…I love it!}

Just a little reminder that there is support for those of us getting out of debt. I also love Dave Ramsey's fb page! Their reminders are so spot on. 

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled crafting…

Next week, I have a lot to start, finish, and enjoy! Stay tuned to watch all of the wildness unfold!!