Another Set Done

Have you entered my giveaway?  Go here.

These tried to defeat me, but I prevailed.  I completed the fifth block in the latest set this morning.  Yesterday, I did these two.  The first one went together faster than I thought it would, although it still took a couple of hours to complete. 

This next one just made me crabby.  With those "Y" seams, it didn't want to lie flat.

I just doused it with Mary Ellen's Best Press.  Think of it as pepper spray for fabric.  Then this morning, I finished the top-stitching on this one.

Here is the entire set:

Also yesterday, I finished the binding on the Pretty Little Ponies doll quilt.  This one is completely finished now.

I wasn't sure about that deep blue binding, but I like the way it brings out the deepest blues in the background fabric.  Kylee's favorite color is blue.  When I purchased the background fabric, I envisioned more blue.  To my eyes, it is more red.  I brought out the blues as much as I was able to with the blue pony and the four-patch blocks.  The blue binding sets it off nicely, I think.

Now I'm ready to get going on the quilting for Camlyn's doll quilt, which I'm calling Castles in the Air.

I already have figured out how I want to quilt this one, which is half the battle in my sewing room.  I've decided against that stripe for the binding in favor of a more candy stripe binding.    But before I do that, I'm going to start on my next doll quilt for Irish.  It's going to be a Double Irish Chain using these fabrics:

I'm excited to get started on this one because I love these fabrics, and I think it's going to be cute.  But since I'm always three steps ahead of myself (which means I fall down a lot), I've been thinking about the fifth of these five doll quilts I've been making for my friend Lisa's granddaughters.  This one will be for Allison.

Allison is the youngest of the granddaughters, and so, like Irish, she hasn't lived long enough to develop any particular favorites.  Nevertheless, her mother asked for her quilt to have something to do with butterflies and to include reds and purples.  I've given this one quite a bit of thought and finally came up with a pattern in a book I had on my bookshelf called Joined at the Heart, by Ann Moscicki and Linda Wyckoff-Hickey.

The pattern in the book makes a larger quilt, but I'm going to adapt it to make it doll quilt size.  It will look something like this:

and it will be made using some of these fabrics.  The floral fabric with the black background will be for the outside border and the back.  Since taking this picture, I've already changed my mind on some of the fabrics and added a few more.  You can get the general idea, however.

And as long as I'm talking about doll quilts, did you know there is a new monthly swap in town?

We'll be starting up at the end of March and we have about 20 enthusiastic doll quilters now!  Doll quilts are such fun to make.  They only take a few days.  I was writing to one of our members this morning that one of the things I like about them is that they don't have a lot of time or cost invested in them because of their small size.  That means I feel more inclined to take risks creatively.  Even if I completely destroy the quilt in the process, it's easy enough to start again and do something I like better.  
Click on the image above for more information.  This swap will be ongoing and new members are welcome.  Join in whenever you like.
Now I'm off to get my crock pot started.  I'm trying a new recipe for Chicken and Dumplings today.  I have to drive into town, and so I'm making dinner this morning.  After I get home this afternoon, I'll make my dumplings.  Hopefully, it will be yummy.  If it's good, I'll tell you about it in another post.
I'll be linking this post to: