My Hop Stop ~ linh crochet

It's my turn in the spotlight of the

Red, White & Blue Blog Hop!

My thanks to each and every one of you for hopping on in ...

My special thanks to Jane and Madame Samm for all the arranging!!

Everyone who participates in this hop,

from the quilters, hoppers, and organizers,

you make this event so much fun and

share such inspiration and encouragement ...

Thank you!

Without further adeiu,

here's my Red, White & Blue ...

The first block I made is a slightly modified version of a pattern I found in the

Summer 2010 Quiltmaker's Small Quilts magazing ...

the pattern is called Stars over Texas by Jo Morton ...

and while I really liked the design and idea of her pattern ...

well ... take a look:

The original block was 8x8, stopping at the red border and would have had cornerstones.

Needless to say, I enlarged the inner block, added the two additional borders and decided to miter all the corners ... thought it looked pretty cool for a 12 1/2 inch block.

I used Hometown fabric by Sweetwater.

Think now I'm going to use it for a pillow front because ... well, I like it ... alot :)

So, I had intended to stop with just that block and turn it into a table topper somehow,

then ... I'll be darned, but I got an itch to sew a bit more and dug through my stash,

found some more red, white and blue fabrics and ...

Well, I started with one blue one, found out I cut enough for two, and couldn't make just two so made a third which I believe should be enough for a table runner ... eventually :) :)

I honestly cant tell you the name of every fabric in those blocks, but the block is from the book Lazy and Lovin' It by Joan Hawley,

using the Lazy Angle ruler by Creative Grid

... LOVE IT!!!

Okay, okay ... any girl with half a brain

(and I'm not claiming I even have half)

would have stopped there ... and I was GONNA!

Well ...I'll be danged (again!) BUT

and I blame it all on Lesley over at The Cuddle Quilter

who just HAD to make a block that I was drooling over

on the very first day of the hop

so much that I had to go out and hunt up the magazine

she used to make the block from

.... which by the way, was from

Quiltmaker's 100 Block Vol. 5 Collector's Edition ....

(yes, my picture in the dictionary when looking up obsessed quilter!)

So ... I head to my stash again ...

pull out some more red, white and blue fabrics again

and

TaDa!

(this is where the ticker tape, balloons and noisemakers all fly free)

Good grief ... after all that hype, you'd think it'd be a bit more exciting than that, but heck ... what can I say, I guess you had to be on this side of my computer monitor ... sorry for the let down .... :) :) :)

But I really like the block and, I cut some "streamers" from the red fabric and appliqued them onto the white backing and made this banner from the block ... it can be either a wall hanging or a table topper ...

I think what made Lesley's block so special,

I decided after I finished my block,

was the dark, hand quilting she did around the block itself ...

very cool and one I may have to attempt again ...

I promise less hype next time ;) HA

How about to make up for the wee-let down and lack of ticker tape,

I have a giveaway???

Besides, if you've made it all the way down to the end of this post,

you've earned yourself some sort of chance at a reward ...

You game?

Red, White and Blue themed, even :)

Okay ... first, I do request that you are a follower of my blog