Come What May

May is my month for the Stash Bee.  I am calling my quilt “Come What May” for that reason and because it is kind of an “improv” type of quilt, I am just sewing together the blocks willy-nilly as they come in the mail and will see how it turns out.

Here’s what it looks like so far.  I’ve received blocks from Tanya, Miki, and Jenelle.

I also finished up my Aneela Hoey quilt.  The binding/borders are a little wavy, but it’s in the dryer right now and I’m hoping to get some better (less wavy) photos of it tomorrow.

I really like this pattern.  It’s by Sew Bittersweet Designs and uses 2.5” squares, so it would be a perfect scrap-buster.  I am so into scrap quilts right now, how about you?  I’ve spent every spare dime I have buying scrap packs on Etsy the past few weeks.  It was a great way to get some designer fabric I’ve never seen in real life.

I stippled all over this quilt with gray thread from Connecting Threads.  The back is Kona Ash, the borders are Alexander Henry Heath in a dark pink, and the binding is gray with white polka dots. 

If you look close, the fabric isn’t white, it’s the pale pink square dots from Sherbet Pips.

Have a wonderful weekend!

FNSI Results

I finished most of the blocks for my Twirling Around quilt using Little Apples, Sherbet Pips, and A Walk in the Woods. 

Most of my blocks finished a little bigger than the 8.5” called for so I could trim everything down (yay!), but 5 were too small, so I need remake those five before I can put the top together.

I am using the white with light pink square-circles instead of white.  Unfortunately, at night it is a little bit difficult for me to tell what is the right and wrong side.  So while chain piecing I sewed to the wrong side *twice* and had to spend some time with the seam ripper today.

Also, I am taking part in two charm swaps this month.  The first is called Over the Rainbow Charm Swap and my color is yellow.  The two fabrics are Half Moon Modern by Moda.  The other swap is called Charm-tastic Color Swap and my color is orange.  I had a yard of the AMH Innocent Crush in my stash, and the other orange is a blender print from the LQS called something like Bear Essentials by P & B Textiles.  It was $11 a yard!  And, I bought another orange print but when I looked it in the car, I nearly fainted because the circles had glitter on them.  There was no way I could use that for the swap, and it was $11 for the yard, too!!!!!The lighting was pretty dim in the store, but I think it was a wake-up call that I need new glasses.

FNSI

I have been sewing the past hour and will stay up a little later to get more of my Aneela Hoey fabrics made into quilt blocks.

I will also have an hour in the morning to myself when my lovely hubby will take all three girls to gymnastics…woohoo!

Linking up here at Handmade by Heidi.  Can’t wait to see what everyone gets accomplished!

Overindulgence of the best kind

No, I’m not talking about Jamaican Me Crazy at Bruster’s Ice Cream.   The mail lady just dropped off three parcels for me!

The yellow in the upper left is for a Rainbow Charm swap I joined, and I just joined another one but haven’t gotten my color assignment yet.  The fabrics are Half Moon Modern and I already used a charm pack of them to make something, but I can’t remember what!!!

The fanned out fabric is a fat quarter pack of “Hello Pilgrim” by Lizzy House.  And the yellow in the upper right corner is a cute coffee cup print (although I only drink tea so I like to think of it as teacups) and I think the other is called Metro circles.  I was on a yellow kick after searching for yellow fabric for the charm swap.  And I got a yard of Kona melon pink.  It coordinates really well with Ruby.

The Walk in the Woods fat quarters are to round out the fabrics for a quilt I am in the process of making.

The pattern is called Twirling Around and it’s designed by Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs.  Double the purchase price is being donated to a charity that helps mothers in Haiti.  When I saw that, I had to buy the pattern!  I am using a Little Apples charm pack, a Walk in the Woods charm pack, and some scraps I bought on Etsy of Sherbet Pips.  I just love the colors!

This quilt top is going together amazingly fast.  I got myself organized and have chain pieced everything, which I have never done before.  I’m not sure why I waited this long.  Wow does it work!!!  So that is my new thing I have tried this week. 

And then this arrived today too.

I’m not exactly sure why I bought them, if just to have a piece of quilting history.  When I first started reading blogs regularly, I saw the “Flea Market Fancy” quilt on Crazy Mom Quilts and really thought the fabrics came from flea markets.  I had no idea there were “lines” of fabric out there!!! 

So, would it be heresy to mix these fabrics with my all time favorite fabrics, Alexander Henry’s “Farmdale?”

Don’t they look good together?????!!!!!  What kills me is that my Joanns sold all the Farmdale floral prints for a long time and I never bought any.  Instead I paid about twice as much for them months later.

Finally I picked up this pattern for a new pincushion. 

My green tomato pincushion has never turned up.  I did, however, find a tap shoe filled with pins in the drawer of the bedside table in our guest bedroom.  How did that happen?  Esther is my best guess.

I can’t wait to make this turtle!  If it turns out nicely I plan to make this as part of my “Pay It Forward” debt (lol).

My sewing room is almost completely reorganized and painted.  It will probably be another month until it is ship-shape and I’ve painted the ceiling.  All the walls save for a little alcove are painted, my desks are put back,  my stash is in its place, and my machines are plugged in, so I am ready to go for the Friday Night Sew In.

Bea has been home sick for the past 3 days, so I haven’t been able to get out and buy any white thread to quilt my Flora charm quilt.  Now that we skipped completely over spring and it’s summer in full swing here in southern Maryland, I won’t be needing that quilt anytime soon anyway.  My plan is to finish up all the blocks for my Aneela Hoey fabrics quilt and do my two bee blocks.  I’ve been talking up “movie night with dad” all day to get the kids excited about spending tomorrow night out of my hair.  How about you?

I’m linking this post up to Trying New Things Thursday.  Melissa has a great tutorial on making lazy HSTs, which came just in the nick of time because one of my bee blocks requires an awful lot of them, and I love to be lazy!!!