Now that's bright!

I got a few quilt tops done in Dec. but didn't have time to get them quilted. Now that most of the busyness is over, I can get back to some quilting. I pulled out another child's quilt, and quickly stitched it in the ditch, sewed on some binding, and stitched that down with a decorative stitch. I managed to get it done in time to bring it to our Jan. quilt guild meeting, to donate to the Women's Rural Resource Centre. They always have a need for quilts of almost any size, and I thought a bright one might make someone's day!

Look at what I made this morning1

A friend opens her house almost every Monday morning for anyone that wants to come to make cards. We each bring our own supplies, and coffee and tea are provided. We always have a wonderful time - we see what everyone else is making, and we get inspiration from other cards, magazines and the other ladies that are there. Sometimes, I don't get any of my scheduled projects done, but that's fine, because I've usually picked up a new card idea, or I've spent the morning looking through my friend's magazine collection (and believe it or not, sometimes I get quilt-y inspirations from card-making magazines!)
This morning was no exception....
On Sat. night I randomly pulled a stamp set off my bookshelf, and challenged myself to make a card with that set - and if I couldn't find any inspiration, the set had to be donated to charity or sold, so that's what inspired this card. I chose the two blues for the left-side panel, and then used the coordinating inks, plus the dark brown that I used for the key, and randomly inked up my "Linen" background stamp; I also used the same 3 inks to stamp the different elements for the top panel on the left. A quick punch created a slot for the top panel to slide into, and a brad holds it in place. A bit of ribbon in the same brown finishes the details on the card - hopefully it's "manly" enough for cousin John's birthday!

This quilt is finally finished!

I heard of a local group that was in need of some quilts, so I started madly pulling fabrics from my bins. At that point, I didn't really have a plan, just wanted to see what inspiration struck. I had lots of fun fabrics, but it wasn't until I started checking out quick-quilt options that I decided to do the tried-and-true Split Rail Fence.
I thought of making it "on point" (the blocks are set on the diagonal), but I didn't have a lot of fabric left over when I finished cutting the blocks, so I very carefully cut my precious bit of leftover navy fabric - and then realized that I had cut most of the fabric the wrong size, and now didn't have enough to set the blocks on point. So, back to doing just a straight layout. I sewed several strips, and then when I started laying out the strips, I realized that if I turned every other strip "upside down", I'd get an interesting secondary pattern - navy or green pinwheels.
I also no longer had fabric to use for borders or matching binding, so I used some leftover backing fabric, but, as the saying goes, "Finished is better than perfect!" and that's what it is!