Stephanie and Joe Quilt Adventure- Jenn

I had fun with this challenge. I found fabric that reminded me of the two characters then found quilt blocks that I had not done before (minus the friendship block- I just like that one)

I did Calico Puzzle, Tennessee, Contrary Wife, Shoo Fly- my interpretation, Friendship Star, Split Nine Patch, Hourglass 2 and Hourglass 3. This created a great Nine Patch Sampler Quilt too.

I see her as a Puzzle, she would be a contrary wife for sure, she is always trying to shoo away trouble, they are friends and lovers, she is split on which lover to choose and she is always running the clock down somehow, too often. So there you have it. Of course I found some cherry fabric to incorporate into it.

The back is done in a blue fabric to symbolize her relaxed feel- blue jeans and a Tshirt. The Tennessee block- deals with her being his Sunshine, her laid back flip flop style with some blue jeans and then all her comfy things, cake, pizza, coffee.... The rest of the blocks symbolize both of them somehow.

I quilted it with half circle waves in red thread. Then used some scrap red binding I had- which I altered to make it thinner.

I chose a rectangular shape due to the area this quilt will be located in my house, once my hubby gets home because I found even standing on my desk I am a tad to short to pin it up there. *SIGH*

Crazy Grandma Mazur

I have been feeling a lot like Grandma Mazur lately. She seems to be the sweetest thing around, but a little on the crazy side. Well, I am the sweetest thing west of the Mississippi and I have gone a little crazy. I was putting this quilt together and thought I was doing great. The colors are really neat and seemed to be going together well. Well the pattern is suppose to be Grandma's Cross. The pattern was going together good and I thought the cross was going to be pretty done in the purple. Well, I looked away for just a minute and something happened. Oh well! I honor of Grandma Mazur, I give you my version of Crazy Grandma Mazur quilt. It isn't quilted yet but will be later today. I will then post it on my etsy account and try to sell it as a baby doll quilt.

Sally Sweet, "Hero"

I finished all the applique and embroidery on my tribute to Sally Sweet, "Hero" quilt top. It's not quilted yet as I have plans to put it with several character tribute mini quilts to make a larger one. But I wanted to share this one now that it's got all the "tid-bits" on it, lol.

Good Times With Lula

Finally I have one finished! I managed to quilt it last night at my sister's birthday party and I bound it this morning. Still needs to be washed and have the label added but I can do that tomorrow. I like it and Hannah just loves it! It's the perfect size to cover up her shoulders and head on the way to the car too, to block the wind.

My Lula Quilt

I finally got my Lula quilt done. I haven't gotten it quilted just yet, but I love it. I thought the wild, tiger strip with the various colors just described her perfect.

My Tribute to Sally Sweet

I wanted to post a picture of my project now that I have it together. I still need to do some applique work and embroidery on it, but you'll at least get an idea of what I'm heading for. The subject for this mini quilt it Sally Sweet who seems to be pretty popular, lol. I had to do this as a tribute to my all time favorite scene. Sally to the rescue in dress, heels, school bus, and Uzi!

I'll post a photo of the completed quilt when I'm finished. (I just figured out that I could post a picture on here, lol.) I've really loved this challenge!

Sally Sweet Top Finished!

Ok, I posted a pic of this laying somewhat together... but wanted to post a pic of the top as sewn. This is it! Tada!

Originally I intended to make a small Sally Sweet and 5 other characters and put them together, but I have decided that several of the characters I can use the same colors, so those will get put together in one, scrappy top. Then a few others I am just going to make the small tops and finish them and let my kids use them as doll quilts or sell them.

I think I will back this one with the purple/white/black with spiders and maybe sell it. It is 24.5 x 24.5" square.

Good Times With Lula

My first mini quilt top is done! Though, like Lula it didn't quite cooperate the way I wanted. I squared up HSTs and blocks and sewed more blocks together and lost a bunch of points. Sigh. My daughter Hannah loves it though and I will quilt it and give it to her as a play quilt. It is 24" square and is an original design based on traditional HSTs. I am thinking of baking it with the black fabric with the maribou slippers all over it and binding it with a bright lime.

Free Giveaway

Bad Lula Potholders up for grabs at my blog in a free giveaway!

The Bad Lula Block

I added a few fabrics to my Lula fabrics and set out this evening to make 4, 12" blocks for my Lula mini (is that an oxymoron?) However I miscalculted my measurements not once but twice and the result was a 6" block with 27 pieces and 18 HSTs!! Ooops!


Thank God I only squared up the HSTs I needed for one block because my baby was fussy and I figured I'd do the other three in the morning. All the remaining bits are going into the trash. Not the scrap box, the trash! The one horridly sized little block is getting borders and being turned into a potholder.

I originally designed a slightly simpler block to use for Lula and I will try again with it and the same fabrics, just not tonight. :-)

Sally Sweet

Yesterday wasn't a block day on the calendar, but I made one anyway, because I only needed ONE to finish my Sally Sweet quilt. Somewhere above here is the block. Today wasn't a block day either, because it is the intro pic of the next
quilt. So today I cut my sashings for Sally. In this terrible picture, the side-to-side sashings look like they are too short, but that is only becauce the blocks are not all sewn together yet. They will be fine, trust me. And this is the quilt in it's entirety. It also qualifies for a Black and White (and ONE other color) Challenge I am in. Now! On to something else!

Fabric purchase!

I bought fabric today toward my first 2 quilts for this challenge! I have in mind to do 3 or 4, since they're little. I originally wanted to just make a quilt with blocks that reminded me of things or people from the books, but the more I thought about it I couldn't think of a way to do that and decided instead of one quilt it needed to be a mini-series. And the challenge was born.

I'll bet you can't guess what or who my 2 quilts will represent, just from looking at the fabric!

See if you can!

Off to a "Sweet" Start

I am following a "Quilt Block (almost) a Day" calendar. Today's block was a stupid appliqued penguin. Who needs that? But in keeping with the spirit of the block (if not the letter), I made an appliqued Snowball block of Sally Sweet, Transvestite Extraordinaire. LoL. Here is my drawing of the prototype, alongside the block in its finished state. It is 6.5" square and is just one of the surprises I think I have up my sleeve for my mini quilt. If I am as clever as I think I am, LOL.

Bumbling Bounty Hunters Miniature Quilt Challenge

This is a challenge inspired by the Stephanie Plum series of books by Janet Evanovich. I love those books and have recently met a lot of other quilters who do too. I was thinking, "I wish I had a way to kind of incorporate the characters from the stories into a quilt." Here is my solution!

The rules for this challenge are easy. The main idea is to think outside the box, explore and create and have FUN! Since it is a miniature quilt challenge the finished quilts should be between 14"x14" and 24"x24". You may make them rectangular, square, oval, circular, star shaped, etc. However it is you want to do it. Take one character from the book and turn them into a mini quilt. For instance, maybe Lula reminds you of bold colors and animal prints--run with it. Or maybe Ranger is army camoflage or a quilt made with lucisous chocolate brown velvet.

You can use traditional blocks, applique (hand or machine), paper piece, etc. Quilts may be embellished with sew on accents (like beads, etc).

Use any character from any book in the series, which include but are not limited to:

Stephanie Plum, lingerie buyer turned bumbling bounty hunter. Jersey girl.

Lula, ex-hooker and current file clerk at bonds office, likes shooting people, spandex, loud colors and animal prints.

Connie Risolli, bonds office manager, very Italian, related to the Jersey Mob.

Vinnie, owns bonds office, pervert, likes farm animals and Joyce Barnhardt

Grama Mazur, mid-70s, free spirit. Likes purple sweatsuits, her .45 long barrel and giving Stephanie's mom a hard time.

Ricardo Carlos "Ranger" Manoso, bounty hunter extrordinaire, Cuban-American, does security, dresses in black, mysterious.

Joe Morelli, very Italian, vice/homicide cop, owns a red Ducati and Bob the dog

Bob, reported Golden Retriver, huge, orange, dumb, eats furniture, watches ESPN, poops mountains

Joyce Barnhardt, totally nasty, wears black leather everything, has red hair teased to the sky, finds mysterious mountains of dog poop in her yard all the time

Diesel, in the between the numbers books, large blond guy, has special powers kinda like a super hero

Sally Sweet, tall hairy Italian guy, musician, transvestite, drives a school bus

Mooner, total stoner

Albert Kloughn, Stephanie's sister's boyfriend, lawyer, reminds people of the Pillsbury Doughboy

Valerie, Stephanie's once perfect sister, has a baby by the Clown (Albert Kloughn)

Mary Alice, one of Valerie's daughters, thinks she's a horse.

Angela, one of Valerie's daughters, perfect child

Some other ideas: Donuts, Birthday Cake, Cluck-in-a-Bucket, Heavily Armed (everybody!)

The deadline for your quilt's completion for this challenge is December 31st 2009. You have almost a whole year to be creative! Also, bear in mind that it's not a swap so no pressure. No one will see your quilt but you, and us if you chose to share pictures!

If you want in on this challenge, just leave a comment with your e-mail address (in the format of soandso AT somewhere DOT com) and let me know. I'll add you so that you can post on this blog with pictures of fabric choices, quilts in progress, finished projects, etc. You can make one quilt, or many! Whatever floats your boat.

If you are interested in watching the progress of the challenge, or just LOVE the Stephanie Plum books, or are just plain nosy... feel free to follow this blog with NO obligation to make any kind of quilt whatsoever.

Also, feel free to take one of the graphics from the side bar to add to your personal blog as a link back here so that others may join in!

Blog Rules:

No cursing

No offensive material

No advertising. Upon your quilt's completion, if you own an online shop and wish to make your quilt available for sale, you may say so. Otherwise advertising is a no-no. When you join the challenge a link will be added to the right with your name and either the title of your blog, personal website or shop (your choice)... just let me know.