Wednesday, October 29, 2008

four way swap ~ part one

4ws ~ for laurajay
19.25" x 17.5"
free pieced
machine pieced and quilted

Four Way Swap is a doll quilt swap between laurajay, lucyellen06, calamity kim and myself. It first started early this year with a swap between laurajay and I. Then after that swap, lucyellen06 joined in our next swap. After that swap, calamity kim joined the mix. I am honored to be included in a group of such talented quilters. These swaps have challenged me creatively, and I feel that my quilting has improved because of these swaps. And above all, I have met some dear friends.

4ws ~ for laurajay

I mailed off my packages for four way swap last week. Lucyellen06 received hers, but is torturing me by not opening it yet. (open it lu!) Laurajay recieved hers, and was a kind friend and opened hers this morning.

4ws sneaky peeks

Each round of our swap has had "rules". We each contributed a rule. The rules for this round were:

1. include birds
2. include neutrals
3. include recipient's color of choice (red and/or aqua for laurajay)
4. include liberated piecing

4ws ~ for laurajay

I was a little stumped as to what to make laurajay for this swap. During Doll Quilt Swap 4, Millie Quilts made this cute quilt. Laurajay's son loves alphabets, and I thought that an alphabet quilt would be just the thing. After a quick chat with Millie Quilts, I got started. I used Tonya's letter tutorial to make the letters. Lucyellen06 had sent some beige fabric with letters on it last round - perfect for the binding. And I used some number fabric for the backing. And being the lazy person I am, I used a micron pen on the backing for the label and heat set it with a dry iron.

4ws ~ for laurajay

now if lu would only open her package....

4ws ~ for laurajay

On a sad note, Marguerite's rat died last night. We will miss her. She was very sweet and gentle.

RIP Nibbles

16 comments:

Rebecca said...

how beautiful. love the colors, but i don't understand your liberated piecing reference? what's that?

Unknown said...

I love how the quilt came out! Beautiful! Liberated piecing is the best... so fun! I am sorry about your pet rat.

John said...

as for the four submitted rules ... let me take a wild guess at which one was yours ... ! : )

LauraJ said...

I'm sorry about M's rat. Did she have a name?
Thank you so very much for that quilt. I'm going to hang it in A's room right by his pillow so he can dream of letters all night long. I'll show you a pic!

Amanda Jean said...

I LOVE the quilt! it's so perfect in red and aqua. lovely!!!

Fran said...

What a lovely quilt. Did you send a picture to Tonya? I'm sure she would love to see it.

So sorry about your pet. It's always hard to loose a pet, no matter if it's a cat or a dog or whatever.

~~Fran...:c)

Sarah said...

Please tell M that I am very sorry about her rat. I know you all will miss him/her.

Laura and Aaron are going to love that quilt.

audreypawdrey said...

So beautiful! I love the red and aqua together. I am sorry about the pet rat, they can be such great pets.

Pat said...

Nice little quilt. Sorry about the pet rat. I never thought I'd say a rat was "cute" but the photo you showed is really adorable.

Mary Johnson said...

I love the alphabet sampler!

I'm not fond of rats but the loss of any pet is sad.

Tonya Ricucci said...

Whee, so much fun. It's great ya'all are swapping together. What a great color combination and those letters are marvelous.

jacquie said...

sarah,
your letters are the BOMB! i'm in awe.

Doris said...

Great alphabet quilt! I love it!

Anonymous said...

Hi I love the vibrant colours you use in your quilting. I just had to look at the other posts on this page. Beautiful!

We used to keep a lot of pet rats (rescues and a batch came from a lady who was emigrating) so I know how special and full of personality they are. Please pass on my condolences to your daughter.

Kristin Shields said...

Marvelous!

JennyTheArtist said...

I wish I could join in your swaps. I'm just not "that" confident in my quilting skills right now. Gorgeous quilts! And I KNOW how difficult it is when your loved pet rat passes away...