More QAL Progress

These are the blocks Bea and I made for the Penny Patch QAL so far.  We need to have 32 done, so only 14 more to go.  Bea sewed a few, but she preferred doing all the ironing, which made making these blocks really fast.  We had a system down after just a few!

This bird block is my favorite of all of them.  The color scheme of red, white, and blue is probably my favorite.  Hopefully the yellow adds a !pop! of color.

I’m going over my cousin’s house later this week to help her get her blocks done.  I volunteered to do all the ironing and help with pinning, so maybe we could get all 60 of hers done in a few hours? 

Hope you are having a great day!  Thanks for visiting!

Parade of Elephants {plus a giveaway}

The giveaway is now closed.  The winner was #144 Scrapatches.  Thank you everyone who commented!!!!

Thanks for visiting today!  There are lots of wonderful stops on today’s schedule for the April Showers Blog Hop and it is raining mug rugs!  I have a parade of elephants to share.

I made four mug rugs—one for each daughter plus me.  The fabrics are all sorts of scraps I had handy and charms from a low volume swap.  The pattern is from the Patchsmith on Craftsy and is very affordable at only $1.99.  She has lots of patterns to choose from (I may have gotten more than one…).  The backing is a cute cherry print so they can be reversible.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great mug rugs on the hop today!

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10th

Hayley @ Mrs. Pickles

Karen @ Sew Much 2 Luv

Mélanie @ Les passions de Cliodana

Cindy @ Quilt Doodle Doodles

Jamie @ Busy Bee Quilts

Judy @ That Other Blog

Regena @ The Distracted Domestic

Amy @ Domesticity and other Ponderous Things

Denise @ My Whittle Adventures

Heather @ a Reformed Heath'n

Marica @ ~Englating~

Much thanks to Erin at Sew At Home Mummy for helping organize and cheer on all the participants, and a big thanks to Madame Samm for all her hard work!!! 

Now for a fun giveaway!  Leave me a comment to be entered to win two mini charm packs of the Boo Crew by Sweetwater from Quilt Taffy.  What would you make?  I’ll be using mine to make a tabletopper for Halloween this year.  Do you think that’ll be enough time or will I be working on it at midnight on October 30th?!?

International entries welcome.  Followers can have a second entry—just let me know you follow!  Have a wonderful day!

Two Turkeys Kissing

My daughter said, “Look, two turkeys kissing!” when she saw these pillows.

They measure 18”x18” and are made from Laurie Wisbrun’s  “Olive the Ostrich” (not turkey) line of fabric and various scraps.

I did straight line quilting about 1/8” from the seam lines with charcoal thread.  Then I did a bunch of lines around the ostriches to help frame them.

I used leftover fabric from other projects for the backs.  The closures are envelope style.  I haven’t got up the courage to do a zipper back yet.  Soon…

It feels good to have these done before Valentine’s Day.  Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Southern Fabrics

It’s already January 22nd!  Have you finished your bee blocks yet?  Started them yet?  Thought of what fabrics you want to use?  I have a lot of bee block commitments this month and am happy to say I’m about halfway done.

The Make It Modern Quilting Bee is thrilled to have Southern Fabrics as one of our monthly sponsors!  Southern Fabrics sells on both their own website and Etsy. 

A few months ago I needed to round out my stash with some colors that were lacking, and just by chance I found Southern Fabrics on Etsy.  They have many different fabric scrap packs available—I was really pleased with how many strips were included in each of the packs I purchased!

I’d love to get this V and Co Simply Color Scrap Pack.

Of course Southern Fabrics also carries tons of charms packs, jelly rolls, and layer cakes, and has an amazing selection of fat quarter bundles and yardage.  One of the nice things about this shop is the daily deal.  You can score a charm pack or jelly roll for way below the retail price!  Like their Facebook Page to see the current giveaway and (if available) a coupon code. 

Thanks to Southern Fabrics for sponsoring our Make It Modern Quilting Bee!!!  This month Kelie and I will randomly pick a winner from all the people who posts a pic of their blocks by the last day of the month (which happens to be a short 2 Thursdays away).  The winner this January will have her choice of any charm pack at Southern Fabrics.  So get those blocks done, photographed, and in the mail to be in the running!

Another Favorite Thing

In one of my recent blog posts a few people mentioned the Wonder Clips I used to hold my binding in place when I machine sew it on (they would be great for holding it in place if you hand stitch it as well).

I thought I’d share another recent “find” that has made my quilting life a little easier.  How do you store your bobbins?  Sadly, I’ve been storing mine wrapped with my daughters’ hair ties and tossed in an old cigar box.

Seriously, I had no idea what colors or how many bobbins I had jumbled in there! 

While we were on vacation some new toys from Nancy’s Notions arrived and I tried out my new bobbin boxes this morning.  Wow, what a difference these little cases make!  I can actually tell what color thread I have on my bobbins and can tuck the little thread tails under the bobbin so I don’t get any tangles while they’re stored.  I wish I had found these a few years ago!

I’ve seen a few different bobbin storage ideas but this was the first that looked like it would work for me.  The two boxes were $9.99 for a set and totally worth it!

See & Sew

One day last week my daughter was really excited to sew a dress.  She picked out fabric from my stash and drew several designs, not understanding what a pattern actually was.   So, in the excitement of it all, we drove to Joanns to look through the pattern books and she picked out this pattern for her dress:

The front says “Yes!  It’s Easy” but sometimes I feel like the tissue paper kind of patterns are anything but.  Step 16 literally says, “Turn facing to inside, turning shoulder straps out; press.  Turn under ends of facing to clear zipper teeth SLIPSTITCH to zipper tape.”

Incomprehensible to me since I don’t really have any garment sewing experience.  But, I had about two hours to get the dress sewn.  So, what did I do???

I made it up!  Thank goodness I’ve been sewing long enough to know the rule to sew right sides together.  I just winged it and figured out a way to get the bodice lining sewn to the dress in a relatively unhaphazard way.  The dress looks great from a distance, and pretty good up close.  I omitted the zipper and put about 4 inches of elastic in the back instead.  The dress was done by 10pm and my daughter stayed up late for her “fittings” so I could adjust the elastic and situate the straps, and she happily modeled it for her dad who was mildly impressed.

We used coordinating Barbie fabric from Over the Rainbow.

Here is the back sans zipper.  I kind of like the elastic better, to tell you the truth, because she can get herself dressed without my help.

My first love is definitely quilting, but sewing the occasional dress is fun, especially if it means spending time with my daughter.

{Just Three} Goals for May

Last month I missed the linky for {Just Three} due to a husband on travel and very limited computer time and was really bummed.  I just returned from vacation last night and—yay!—the linky party is still open!  Here are my goals for May:

1.  Finish my twirling around quilt.  This one is basted and ready to quilt, I just need to get some time and get it done.  The picture is an old one, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.

2.  Finish my granny squares quilt.  I started hand-quilting it and I’m not sure if I like it or not.  I think I need to get more done to decide, but I’m pretty sure I’m committed now and won’t be ripping out the stitches.   Again this is an old pic.  I have twenty squares already joined in a quilt top, backed with a DS Quilts pink floral print.

3.  Make my bee block for Beejeebers.  This one looks relatively easy, so I should be able to cross this off my list quickly.  The photo above is courtesy of Linzsews.

Here’s to a great month of sewing…and finishing!!!

A New Chair, and Something to Share

Have you seen this chair before?  I saw one just like it in Nancy’s Notions catalog a few months ago and was smitten.  Here is the link.  I double-dog-dare you to click on it.  The chair legs are brown instead of red, but I think it’s the same exact chair and it costs $220!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Did I use enough exclamation points???  I think a $220 chair deserves that many.

Guess what I paid…

Yes, only fifty bucks.  It was my lucky day at Joanns.  I usually pay cash for everything I buy, but I wrote a check that day since I didn’t have enough cash with me because I was only there to buy a $1 wooden birdhouse for my daughter to paint.  I remembered that the chair I saw in the catalog was over a hundred bucks, but I didn’t remember it was that expensive until I got home and looked it up.  This chair really livens up my sewing room and is very comfortable—the perfect height for a shorty.  Maybe your Joanns has one?  You might want to check it out for a deal like this!

And on to the share part.  I am giving away a copy of a book called I Love Patchwork.  If you haven’t seen the book before, you can check out the reviews here on Amazon.

To enter, simply tell me if your favorite new(-ish) line of fabric.  The author of the book, Rashida Coleman-Hale, has her first line of fabric called Washi.  I just purchased some and can’t wait to use it.  If you are a follower, you can have an extra entry!  The giveaway ends on Sunday, April 22nd and I will post the winner that night.  Open to international entries.

Overwhelmed!

In a good way…by fabric!  My cousin is learning to quilt, and we’ve volunteered to test a pattern called Colorblock by Holly at Bijoux Lovely.  My cousin has already picked out her fabric, but I thought I’d make one for Veronica and I am completely overwhelmed by my fabric choices, although I have narrowed it down considerably.

Never in my short-quilting-life have I ever had so many choices!!!  And this is the first time I have enjoyed trying to put different fabric collections together.  The pattern only uses 7 fabrics for the top (not including sashing), but I have accumulated so much great fabric that it’s so tough to eliminate some of the prints.  I have definitely decided to use that leafy print on the bottom left for the backing.  It is one of my first fabric purchases ever—and from Joanns.  It feels thinner than the designer fabric, but I distinctly remember getting it on a half-off red tag clearance sale, so I didn’t pay more than $1.50 a yard for it.  It is high time I used it and it really coordinates well with the other fabrics.

I am overwhelmed in other, not so wonderful, ways.  My husband has been on business travel this entire week, so I haven’t done any sewing. at. all.  My oldest is home on spring break this week, which has mostly been really helpful,  but it also has been crazy…a lot.  Last weekend I finished quilting my Flora quilt, and I cut strips for the binding one night after the kids went to bed.  But when I held it up to the quilt, I hated it.

The quilt has a yellow lattice print border, and the binding against it looks green.  I am really disappointed at how it looks together, so I am just going to use the rest of the border fabric I had left over to make matching binding and leave it at that.  

So, I don’t think I’ve ever shared that I am into my SIXTH year of breastfeeding. Yes, you read that correctly. I am only 34, so I have been breastfeeding 17% of my life.  I know breastfeeding is a beautiful thing, etc etc, but I am ready to have my body back. 

Overwhelmed is definitely the way I have been feeling lately!  I’m hoping to get some sewing done this weekend and have a quilt top and a finish to share next week.  I hope you all have a happy Easter!!!

Trying New Things Thursday

Over the weekend I finished up a wall hanging to enter into the Tangerine Tango Challenge.  Along the way, I did lots of new things:

1.  I used fabric choices that were definitely not something I would have ever chosen on my own.  Orange is not a color I am particularly drawn to, and my palette was limited by the fabrics available in my very small local quilt shop.

2.  I took a class!  I signed up for Cathedral Windows by Machine just to get myself out of the house.  Getting out more is one of my New Year’s Resolutions.   BTW, there were three other people in the class and the median age was 68.  I only know this because they were discussing social security…for like a half hour…really.  Another of my New Year’s Resolutions is to start a local Modern Quilt Guild here in southern Maryland.  I’ve already recruited a handful of quilters and I can’t wait to meet more people in real life without having to fly to Utah or London.  I want to do those things too, but with a baby it’s just not really possible for a few years.

3.  I did mitered corners.  I followed an online tutorial that I can’t seem to find now, and it worked like a charm.

4.  I added corners to the back of the quilt for hanging via a dowel.  I saw this method somewhere a while back on another person’s blog and it worked like a charm, too!  This photo is before I added the binding.  The binding covers up the raw edges perfectly and then later I can slide a dowel into the two corner pockets for hanging.

5.  I quilted this with different color threads.  I have used other colors besides cream or white, but this is the first time I’ve ever used such bright colors and had the lines stand out so much.

I am linking this up to Melissa’s Trying New Things Thursday.