Ocean Waves Quilts

January and February "block of the month"

There just hasn't been a lot of sewing going on here at Ocean Waves Quilts. My excuse is that life has been very busy. That's my story and I am sticking to it, lol. There always is time to do a bit of hand work though, that's why I just love having a small applique project that is easily portable.

    These are the first two blocks in the free "block of the month" by Bunny Tales that I posted  here earlier. I had bought a bunch of fat quarters that went together a while back at Joanns. I think I liked them because they were different from the color combinations that I usually buy. 

    These fat quarters are in lilac, yellow, sage green, and a periwinkle blue. I bought some white on white fabric for the background. I think I will make  all of the blocks in these colors to blend together, proably for a wallhanging.  Another friend in our "ladies of the evening" group, said she is  going to use the monthly blocks for door hangings to change each month.  That would be a great way to use up scraps, and coordinate the colors to the season.

    Therre's a storm headed our way, so maybe I will get inspired to get down in that sewing room, and SEW SOMETHING!  Stay tuned....................

Free Block of the month.

Bunny Tales  is offering a free Block of the month on their blog. I am working on the January and February blocks. I am doing them in applique', but they also can be done in red work. I hadn't done hand applique in a long time. It's great to have a project that fits in a small bag, and can be worked on anywhere. Check out the site, I will post pics of mine soon. Stay tuned................

Friendship braid quilt

I have been slowly but surely working on this quilt whenever I have time to sit at the machine. This is a great quilt to make with jelly rolls. I had collected a lot of my favorite fabrics, so I cut my own 2 1/2" strips. This is good mindless sewing.

    I haven't decided whether to put them together as is, or put a fabric strip in betweeen. I am leaning towards adding a strip in between, as I have some gorgeous hydrangea fabric that would coordinate perfectly.

    This will be a king sized quilt. I can't even fathom quilting one that big, so it may be the first quilt ever that I have machine quilted by someone else. Stay tuned.........

Quilters are generous people......

I really have found this to be true! Recently there are two sites giving you free directions to make blocks. I am enjoying making one of them myself. Every day I hear about a quilter donating her quilts to charity, or to someone that is sick.

This economy has everyone so down about money, and most of us probably have to cut down our expenses, even quilting supplies. I decided I would like to offer my hydrangea wallhanging pattern for free for one week. All you have to do is e mail me, I will send you the pdf file, you just print it!  This is for personal use only. You can't sell it,or sell the item once you make it. You can tell your friends to visit my site, and I will send it to them too. Copyright 2008, Ocean waves Quilts.  I hope you enjoy this pattern, and put a little spring-time in your life!  Barb

working behind the scenes................................

  I have been working behind the scenes, making a hand quilted wall hanging that I can't show you, because it's for a gift, and the recipient reads my blog.

    Then we have some baby quilts and baby gifts in the works, but their mom's read my blog.... So, you will have to take my word for it:) I am sewing!  Babies babies everywhere! 

The friendship braid quilt is progressing, I have at least 7 braids done. I will post a picture update on that one soon.

I thought I would leave you with a picture of this ladies man( my grandson Camden, 3 months old) to brighten your weekend,lol!  My son Jared always wore a red hat when he was little too!

It doesn't look like a lot..........................

 I had some gift certificates burning a hole in my pocket from a local fabric store. They had a 50% off sale for a month, so it was time to use them!

 I had some projects in mind for CHRISTMAS next year. (Kathie and Peggy are invited to roll their eyes here:). I bought some white on white, and what I thought was a nice white muslin to transfer photos, until I get it home, and find it has off white swirls in it, lol.That would NOT be good for photos, the people would look like they had a disease.

     I bought some backing fabric for a couple of baby quilts I have in the works. 12 yards of Christmas prints completed my purchase. I didn't happen to have much in the way of Christmas fabrics in my stash, other than fat quarters.I now have the yardage to plan table runners, or a tree skirt. I also got 8 spools of variegated  machine quilting thread that was 25 % off.

    Now the question is, what do  I sew first? I have the friendship braid quilt going, and haven't worked on that since Christmas. I transferred a bunch of vacation pictures to do a photo quilt, and just haven't felt like getting into anything. I think I am in a sewing slump. Or maybe..it's because I have so many projects to choose from, I just don't know where to start! I am going to cut out a couple of the free BOM patterns, as I need some hand work to tote around. So....stay tuned.................

Somtimes I knit............................................

  I saw a sweater and hat similar to this hanging in a yarn shop. I am not usually a fan of red/white/and blue, but it was different, and cute. The sweater has white star buttons, and the hat has red ones. 

 It was an easy project to bring on vacation, and knit in airports while waiting.It is made out of a soft cotton yarn, just waiting for some little boy to wear it! Leftover yarn made the blue and white hat. The sweater was easy and fun to make. I found the pattern for free on the "Lion Brand" yarn site. It is called the "one stitch baby sweater". It is made all in one piece, then just sew up the side seams. It only has two buttons, kind of like an open jacket. It goes from 9 months size,(this set is that size) up to a 3 or 4. If you are a knitter, check it out!

I forgot....

to show a picture of us all dressed up, on our way to "formal night". It really is such a beautiful sight to see thousands of people, all dressed up, in such a gorgeous setting. It reminds me of the "Titanic"...but let's no go there...lol.  

Ladies of the evening..................

..have requested some more vacation pictures. That's the problem with digital cameras, we have our pictures online, and in the camera. It takes a while to "get them in a book" So, before the beautiful vacation becomes a distant memory, here are a few more pictures.  In this first picture, that head in the water is Bill. It is not easy to get a picture in Megan's bay, St. Thomas without anyone else in it! This is a gorgeous island that is owned by the cruise line. 

There isn't much to do here, except relax and enjoy the beauty of the place. EXCEPT, they do have that crazy thing that crazy people do...... From this picture, you can get an idea how high this was. Bill said "The scenery was beautiful", and It was awesome"! I am glad he enjoyed that ride! Being a person that doesn't like heights, it was not for me.   See the hammock picture above? That was MY idea of relaxing:)       

Block of the month...............

 I found this great block of the month on "Ellies quilt place". Each month she will be giving you the directions for a block of the month that can be either done in redwork, or applique. It is in english also, so scroll down.  Stay tuned...............Barb