Quiltstory Block Party

I've decided to enter a few blocks into Quiltstory's Block Party.  There are three categories, Traditional, Modern and Creative, and I've found a block to enter for each category.

For the traditional category, I am going to submit my most recent bee block for the 3 x 6 bee:

These are hand pieced hexies sewn onto White Kona Cotton with 3 borders surrounding the hexagons.

For the modern category, I am going to submit this block:

This is a bee block for the last round of the 3 x 6 bee and is a rainbow wagon wheel design.

For the creative category, I am going to submit this:

This block measures 8 1/2 x 11 inches and was made for Natalie in January for the solid bee.  This block was fun to make and design using the paper piecing method to create the striped triangle. 

Be sure to head over to Quiltstory and check out all the awesome block submissions!

p.s. If you haven't already entered my 100th blog post giveaway to win some yummy fabric, be sure you do!  Details here!

WIP Wednesday {2.9.2011}

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If you haven't already, be sure to enter to win my 100th post giveaway for your chance to win either a charm pack of Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda, or selection of fat quarters of It's a Hoot by Momo for Moda! 

 See details here. 

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I can't believe its another WIP Wednesday already!  I swear the weeks just go by faster and faster.  I actually had quite a few finishes this week, including my New Wave quilt for baby Mason, my Mini Stacked Coins quilt for baby J. J., February's bee blocks for the Simply Strings bee and solids bee, as well as bee blocks for my beehive in the 3 x 6 bee.  Whew, I'm tired just looking at that list! 

New Projects

DQS 10

I've started a few new projects within the past few days, including work on my Doll Quilt for DQS 10.   I have been going back and forth between two ideas in my head, and just haven't been able to commit to starting one or the other.  I think my partner will like either choice, but I'm so afraid she will get my Doll Quilt and look at it and say "what what she thinking?  This is awful!"  Haha.  I don't really think she would say that, but I want to make something she will LOVE! 

I decided to do a mock up of both ideas using up some of my scraps with the hope that seeing both ideas completed in fabric will help me decide (and double bonus, a scrapbuster project for me, and I think I will turn these mock ups into some pillow covers for the living room, or some wall hangings to decorate my sewing room with.) 

My first idea is a mini strings quilt.  I am just using scraps for this little mock up...I was initially thinking of using Central Park for ths project, but I came across a Hope Valley FQ bundle, and I think that will suit my partner a little better, so I think I'm headed in that direction instead.  I went to town cutting teeny tiny strips, about 3/4 inch to 1 1/8 inch.  and turned them into this:

I started with 4 1/2 inch squares of paper, and string pieced my teeny tiny strips with a 3/4 inch wide strip of white as the center (it finisheds a teeny tiny 1/4 inch wide).  This little mini block measures 8 1/2 inches square, only about 21 more teeny tiny squares to go for the finished product!

Amy Butler's Sew Along

I received quite a few gift cards to Barnes and Noble for Christmas this year, and while they come in great use when downloading books to my Nook, I think it would take years to use up these gift cards only on Nook books.  I am typically not one to buy sewing or quilting books, but I came across Amy Butler's Style Stitches, 12 easy ways to 26 wonderful bags at my local Barnes and Noble, it was in my shopping basket before I even thought about it. 

Imagine my surprise when I got home and was checking out blogs in the blog-o-sphere, there is a sew along using this book that began in January 2011, that works through the book, sewing one bag each month!  I'm a little behind, but I figure there are a few bags in this book which I have no desire to make, so I figure I will eventually catch up.

I pulled out some fabric to get started on bag #1, the Cosmo Bag, shown below.

I think I am going to use some of my AMH Innocent Crush yardage I purchased a while back and havent found the perfect project for. 

I'm thinking of using the Loves Me Loves Me Not for the main exterior fabric, and the Woodcut passion for the lining.  Hopefully I'll get the pattern pieces cut out in the next few days and maybe some actual construction on this bag this weekend!

Ongoing Projects

p.s. i quilt's postage stamp quilt along.  This project has kind of fallen by the wayside...I'll get back to it one of these days...



Scrappy Mug Rug Swap  While my mug rug is done, I have a few little "extras" I'm working on to send along to my partner.

Weekly Stats

Completed Projects:  3 (I'm lumping all those bee blocks as one!)

New Projects:  2

Currently in Progress:  4  (not too shabby!)

100th Post Giveaway!

**This giveaway is now closed**

In honor of my 100th blog post, I'm hosting my first giveaway!  The following two fabric prizes are up for grabs:

1.  A charm pack of Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda,

2.   Four fat quarters of It's a Hoot by Momo for Moda ( Malt and Sky Trees, Marshmallow Malt, Brown oval dots, Turquoise Bandana).  This is what I am using for my Postage Stamp quilt, in Rachel, from p.s. i quilts postage stamp quilt along, and love it so much, I had to purchase some yardage as well. 

You have two chances to win, please make sure I have your information to contact you either through blogger or your comment.  Please leave a comment for each of the following:

1.  Become a follower

2.  Tell me your current favorite line of fabric

Good luck!  Pass this on to whomever you like, the more the merrier!  The giveaway will run through Monday, February 14th at 8pm EST.  Mr. Random will announce the winners on Tuesday February 15th.  First winner gets to pick their prize, second winner gets the remaining choice.

**This giveaway is now closed**

February Bee Blocks

This weekend I was able to get all of my bee blocks completed for February, including my blocks for my beehive in the 3 x 6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee. 

Here they are in all their glory, I had initially planned on making my entire block out of hexies, but I quickly realized, that while I love hexies, hand sewing is just not my thing. 

This block is for A Blond Quilts, Bryanna requested navy blue, white and a burnt orange for a throw quilt she is making. 

For AmieJ Designs, Amie requested aqua, brown and orange for a quilt for her couch. 

For 2 May Boys, Dawn requested rainbow colors with grey and white for a quilt she is working on.

For erika4303, erika requested red black and white

For Sunnyauh, Jennifer requested red, white and aqua and is making a quilt for her guest bedroom. 

Lastly, this is for Techalum, Donna requested "make it a rainbow" and said that she liked rich jewel tone colors.

Hopefully my beehive likes their blocks!

This block is for the Simply Strings Bee.  Allison sent us these fun heart shapes along with some scrap strips in a variety of blue, green, and pink prints.  She requested that we include at least one strip from our own stash in her color scheme per heart. 

This is such a cute idea and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with in arranging these adorable hearts into a quilt!

For the solids bee, Gwen requested Mondrian blocks, which are color block blocks with sashing in between each color block.  I ran out of grey sashing, I really wanted to break up the two end pieces of khaki a little more, the more I look at it, the more I may dig through my stash to see if I have any scraps of Kona Coal laying around to do just that...

But for now, here is the finished product:

I have one more block to complete for February, my MQG is putting together a quilt for Project Linus, and I want to make another block to donate to the quilt. 

These blocks will be on their way to their new owners in the next few days, hope they enjoy!

PS....

A little birdie told me that my 100th post will be comming up, and I'm feeling a giveaway to celebrate!  Stay tuned to win some yummy fabric...

Completed Mini Stacked Coins Quilt

The Mini Stacked Coins quilt is completed!  It measures appx 46 inches x 46 inches, a nice baby sized quilt.  Again, I used this quilt as my inspiration, and just adjusted the layout to my liking.

I used quite a few Robert Kaufman Play Day prints (love those elephants!) a few Kona solids and a few random left over prints for some other kiddo quilts I had worked on last year.

The back is Kona Orange and a Kona turquoise blue with a sashed piece of leftover scraps from the front.  I free motion quilted this using my favorite stippling that shows up really well on the back of the quilt.

The quilting step (particularly if I'm going to free motion quilt) is definitely my favorite part of the quilting process.  It's like a blank slate you get to put your design stamp on to enhance the fabrics on both the quilt top and back.  For those who may be wondering, doing the binding is definitly my least favorite part.  Now that I've gotten the hang of machine quilting the binding on to the back using Red Pepper Quilts binding tutorial, I don't mind it as much, but in the scheme of things, it's still my least favorite part of the process.

This quilt and the New Wave quilt will be soon off to their new owners, hope they enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!

I will be linking this post up to Sew Modern Monday over at Canoe Ridge Creations, be sure to stop by and see all the wonderful modern creations! 

Completed New Wave Quilt

Well, I took Mr. Machine to the repair shop, and was told that there were quite a few machines ahead of mine to be fixed, so she wasn't able to tell me how long I'd be without.  Luckily, my aunt, who I'd started sewing with last year (Hi Aunt Linda!), out of the goodness of her heart let me borrow her machine until mine is back! 

Last night I went and picked up Mr. Machine 2.0 (her machine is the EXACT same machine as mine, so I was able to pick up exactly where I'd left off) and got to work finishing up my New Wave Quilt.

I used Oh Fransson's New Wave quilt pattern, and adjusted the size to a baby quilt.  I ended up using 9 rows and 5 columns with the sashing in between each row, so my finished size is about 42 x 47. 

I really could not be happier with the way this turned out.  I think I want to buy that Alexander Henry 2D Zoo by the bolt!  I just love everything about it, and it's by far my favorite favorite kiddo print.

Here is a close up of the quilting on the front.  I free motion quilted a loopy design just in the "waves" of the quilt and left the white sashing pieces (about 1 1/2 inch wide) unquilted.

I wanted a simple back to show off the quilting, but had to incorporate a little piecing.  I used a strip of the 2D Zoo, Kona White, Chocolate, and one of the Kona green colors...I must find a way to label my Kona colors, or just buy one of those handy dandy color charts!

These closeups show off the quilting design a little better, its been washed so its already nice and crinkley!

I'm hoping to get the Mini Stacked Coins Quilt finished this weekend, and both quilts will be off to their new owners!

WIP Wednesday {2.2.2011}

As for whats in the works this week, I've put together the backing for both the New Wave Quilt and the Mini Stacked Coins Quilt, both are basted, and the quilting is well under way on the New Wave Quilt.

I am totally digging this loopy quilting (thanks Kati for opening my eyes to this!!) I am just quilting the "waves" and not quilting the white sashing, so the effect on the back is this:

Unfortunately my machine decided it had had enough about 2/3 of the way  through quilting this bad boy, and it quit on me  :(  Actually, Mr. Machine made a really bad grinding noise, the safety warning came on, and the needle is now stuck in the needle down position.  Mr. Machine is now on his way to the repair shop, and hopefully we will be reunited soon.

Now that I am machine-less, I started to work on basting the Mini Stacked Coins quilt, and it is now folded and sitting, waiting patiently for Mr. Machine to return to us so it can be quilted.

I've also made some progress on these hand sewn hexie flowers for my 3 x 6 bee blocks.  I do have to say, I really like using the paper templates (I used cardstock, so they have a little stability) vs. the teflon plastic ones to make these.  I am noticing that my hexies just don't press as nicely when using the teflon templates.  Oh well, live and learn.

As for finishes this week:

My mug rug is complete!  I used verykerryberry's tutorial for single fold binding, and am super happy with how it turned out.  This may be my go to binding method for mug rugs, doll quilts etc.

I also whipped up these fun spring-y nook sleeves for both my mom and I.  And get this, Amy, who I met through my local MQG meeting last week, and was the inspiration for these e-reader sleeves, well we began conversing via email, and it turns out she lives right down the street from me!  Too funny, I'm sure there will be many sewing get togethers in the near future for us!

Here's to wishing Mr. Machine a speedy recovery, so that he is returned to me and the awaiting quilts that need quilted soon! (Yes, that red light is the equivalent to his unhappy face right now) :(

Be sure to head over to Freshly Pieced and checkout all the wonderful WIPs!